Sten entered the main house of the orchard with a grim set to his lips but satisfaction radiating from his eyes. His basic gathering-satchel held the required solblooms and Livia knew at first glance that he had satisfied the hidden objective. He had healed something on the brink of death, stabilizing it and giving it a fighting chance. For now, that was all he could do. But as Livia closed her eyes and accepted her first assigned [Rare Quest] as completed, she gave him the ability to do more.

[Skill upgrade: Blood Control -> Advanced Blood Control]

It was still a Skill for a pugilist, but it was up to Sten how he used it. The advanced version could help him exert control even over the blood of others, but that was a two-edged sword, and hinted at future paths to his Class. When he had taken the time to savour the moment he gave Livia a single nod, and Roldy took that as his cue to play the last part of his brilliant performance.

"I take it Hyde's [Quest] went well, I'm sure you have questions, but for now just leave it at the beast having mystic powers, unexplainable to non-casters such a..." He got no further before Sten gave him a questioning look disbelieving enough that it shut him up. Kalle could have told him that wouldn't work.

"I could smell Livia in the forest, your wolf isn't the only one with a nose Harold," The pointed words made Roldy scratch his head in embarrassment. "No hard feelings?"

[Ooh, he's good Livia. I think you may have finally found a real warrior.]

"No, it's not like I would have agreed to meet with Livia, without knowing the real point. That said, how exactly did you make the [System] give me a special task?"

This was the tough part, how did you explain away influencing the [System] so directly?

They would not be able to do this with everybody, just come clean. They would need to come up with a better excuse. But this was also a necessary test of Livia's ability to judge character. If her intuition was enough to truly guide [Pitch Perfect] in a way that let her read the receiver as much as her own Skill-infused choice of wording hinted. If he's not trustworthy the Skill wouldn't be making me put such emphasis on being truthful, right? Or am I already becoming like them and trusting to Skills too much?

Her own hesitations saved her, because Sten had a theory of his own. "Just what [Guild Masters] do?" Them being able to provide opportunity to other Classes so easily should be well known, but other people's Classes were nearly all an enigma. Livia laughed nervously. "I suppose [Organizer] may still be more important in a smaller place like here in Salcret, but this is why they have so many larger [Guilds] in Dormata, you see?" Sten's face was inscrutable but he gave her a solid nod. Livia took her time exhaling, despite the whole-body temptation to release all the tension at once.

Sten had more questions, about if she could read lower tier Skills only or if she had found out what [Quest] to give him by talking to his family? If she knew of a way to upgrade the Skill even further, or do anything else unique?

The truth was her [Quest] system let her simply pick a target and then showed her every available [Quest] she could provide, with options for things like reward and deadline. But with him not having even considered joining the [Guild] at that point, Livia felt it would be best if she skirted around the subject. Livia instead provided a distracting display of her vast swath of knowledge regarding different Classes, including rare ones that would become more common in Mr Beard's future, made possible by the [System] voice reminding her of specifics and feeding her tidbits of information. Together it all painted a picture that impressed him greatly despite his reservations. He was actually surprised. I'm starting to see why both Kalle and Roldy followed her despite her being so careless with words and her rather casual demeanor.

Kalle found out there was always a bigger fish, as he finally met someone he couldn't beat at Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Roldy and Oscar agreed to exchange pointers on healing and sparring later. Sten was laconic but they could tell he was comfortable, Kalle and Livia both got the impression it was almost like he was getting used to being himself.

"So, it's going to be another 2 weeks before I can issue another [Rare Quest], I won't be able to hand these things out like candy," There was the basic version as well, but to their collective disappointment that had proven to provide no rewards at all, it was just a way to familiarize people with the [Quest] system and make sure they didn't get confused later when on a time limit. "Nevertheless, Guild members will take priority unless we've all agreed to use a cooldown for recruitment. So, have you decided, are you interested in joining us?"

The word almost brought a tear to Sten's eye but he kept his cool. He had always been a deeply loyal person, but his father made it impossible to direct that loyalty towards the family without enduring a life of misery. He still believed healing was his true calling, he had never enjoyed hurting people despite the addictive nature of training and developing your natural ability. Here was his opportunity to be a part of something else, where the people accepted him and his path both.

"I will accept." The grim line to his mouth remained, but the group in front of him were quickly learning to observe his eyes instead. They had been glittering quite a few times.

He left soon afterward, citing preparations to make at home, but promised to be by the [Guild Hall] later when he had some time free. Livia felt that it could hardly have gone better. Now we just need to figure out when to break it to him, definitely before he meets a bunch of other guild members in Dormata, but probably the sooner the better since we're deciding to trust him anyway.

Little did she know that Sten had been able to tell whenever she lied, or even skirted the truth. The signs of nervousness were just evident to someone who had spent so much time reading people's intentions and bodies. When you trained week in and week out with the same group of people; Sure first you observed when they were hesitant, confident, tiring or hurting. But eventually you had experienced everything, fighting somebody having a bad day, somebody recently fallen in love, he had even caught on to one of his sisters' pregnancies before they themselves did one time.

He just had a knack.