Beth felt a peace she hadn’t know she was missing as she sat alone in her room, with her new butter churn. It had taken a couple of days to be crafted. It turned out there weren’t exactly common to the area and she’d had to explain in detail just exactly what she was looking for. But it had turned out perfectly and was unnaturally light when she carried it to her room. Well dragged is more accurate. She’d gone on to buy the rest of the supplies she needed. All together it cleared out the money she’d earned from the message she’d sent that week but she wasn’t perturbed by that fact. She was just glad to be back to doing something she loved. Something that most importantly she could do just as well without her leg as she could achieve with it. Something she was good at too, not just good but great. She pulled up her skill list to ground herself as she finished her latest slab of butter.

Name

Bethany Oakfenny

Title(s)

Solarslut, Flawed Honorary Sister, Dom’s Apprentice

Mana Type

Cosmic (rare) 1

Level

5

Trial Credits

487

Skills:

Traversal (uncommon)

5 (25 Trial Credits)

Trial Taking (ultra-rare)

2 (12 Trial Credits)

Half-staff (common)

1 (8 Trial Credits)

Communication (common)

2 (10 Trial Credits)

Bartering (common)

1 (5 Trial Credits)

Busking (common)

0 (3 Trial Credits)

Mental Fortitude (rare)

2 (12 Trial Credits)

Social Tracking (common)

1 (9 Trial Credits)

Butter Churning (uncommon)

2 (10 Trial Credits)

Metallic Jewellery (uncommon)

0 (1 Trial Credit)

Beth realised she had a title she could actually work with. She’d been so use to being a so called “Solarslut” she’d stopped thinking about it. But now alongside Solarslut and the unusable ‘Flawed Honorary Sister’ a nasty blemish on her record. Not that she was clear how she could have handled it better. But ‘Dom’s Apprentice’ now that was respectable, that was something she felt she could wear with pride. She switched the titles and felt a sense of relief as another part of her past was shed. This time a piece she was delighted to part with.

She didn’t actually have any skills she felt were due for her to have a Trial in. Well except for Butter Churning but she wanted to get rid of more of the rust before attempting it. But she was aware her training was falling behind in her Half-Staff. After all going after sundown made it tricky to see what she was doing. Not that she knew how much she could go through the steps without full use of her foot. She just wished she could do more.

She headed down to the inn proper to grab food. As always the room quietened when she entered, something she was very use to. She rushed across the room to the bar, hoping to order dinner and get out fast before everybody got too angry at her. People remained staring this time though, even the locals who were very familiar with her appearances and gotten use to her silence causing arrivals remained staring, Mary approached.

“Beth, you are Dom’s apprentice how did you swing that. His stuff use to be the work of legends.”

Beth didn’t know what to say, she wasn’t looking for this level of attention or scrutiny, Fortunately somebody from the crowd shouted an answer.

“I remember my apprentice with the tanner, damn cryptic bastard. It’s like they are required to be as unhelpful as possible.”

Beth smirked at that which the gent noticed and smirked back.

“Get over here and we’ll exchange war stories.” the man shouted.

Beth was unsure if she should, after all she was blocking everybody else’s conversations but Mary gave her an almost imperceptible nod so Beth took the cue and headed over. To a cheer from the table.

“I’m Dennis, this is Terry, Uther and Patrica” The man said swinging his beer at everybody in turn as he introduced them. They were relatively low level. That is to say significantly higher that Beth, all sitting at 21.

Conversation began in the inn again, as lively as it had been before Beth entered. Everybody fairly content sharing horror stories from their childhood. Stories that conveniently wouldn’t contain any details Beth would be unable to hear. Mary brought Beth’s dinner over to the table and she ate mostly in silence. Overwhelmed by the quartet of boisterous friends. They didn’t seem too put out though and made sure to keep her involved while not insisting on her involvement.

It had been far from how she had intended to spend the night but touching base with a couple of people who were clearly without an agenda nor who made her feel the slightest bit guilty about what could and couldn’t be discussed. Well it was better than another night along. Even if she wouldn’t have been up for it every night. She even shared her own stories recounting the tale of how she broken her leg. They all laughed and there was slight mocking but it was clearly without venom and was in line with how they interacted with each other so Beth just let it wash over her. Not dwelling on it and cautiously joining in with gentle ribbing over her own. All in all not a bad way to spend a night, even if she did find herself paying for it the next morning.

So Beth’s time continued she kept making bracelets having been given some new designs to learn. Dom remained hands off after throughout instead talking her through the first and only commenting on the finished products. These comments were always extremely helpful. He remained eagle eyed spotting differences Beth could barely notice even when looking for them specifically. She wondered how many skills he had. He was clearly very old and having reached such a high level in one skill Beth imagined it made everything else easier by association. After all the traversal skill Beth imagined could be combined with others and the more there are the easier they can be combined with others.

On one such occasion when Dom was actually around Beth alerted him to the fact she had a Trial coming up and was planning to take her metal Jewellery further. He didn’t respond beyond a generic grunt that could have meant almost anything. What Beth didn’t feel the need to mention was her plan to take the first two Trials separately the evening before. She’d asked Dom if she was ready to face the next several levels and he’d just grunted once more but she chose to interpret that as in the affirmative.

After work that evening, the evening before her Trial she had stepped behind the shop and immediately flexed her Trial Taking skill. Fortunately she had her timer so could be sure she’d leave before the time ran out. Obviously the hope was that that wouldn’t be necessary as struggling in the first couple of Trials was a real red flag for her future career but the option remained which was helpful. The Trial was eerily similar to the work she’d done directly with Dom, A video played of somebody creating a bracelet and then Beth was provided the resources and expected to create one herself. Having completed it there was a small box for her to place it in. This then pulled up a screen where it commented on any issues it observed with the bracelet much as Dom did. This alarmed Beth at first but it was clear they weren’t expecting perfection and the things pointed out to her were more than valid. When the second Trial was to produce 5 more of the same bracelet, the process of which was demonstrated once more, Beth knew that Dom had been directly preparing her for these Trials. Not that she hadn’t been generally learning in such a way that proved helpful for her general skills but it was obvious it was particularly designed to help her pass these first Trials without difficulty. Not that Beth was complaining. Having the two Trials she’d paid for go so smoothly was the ego boost she needed before heading to sleep and feeling better about the ten that would hopefully follow that next day.