The tell-tale jingling coming from the staircase alerted everybody that Beth was coming. By default conversations wrapped up, people not wanting their words to be stolen from their mouths mid-point as her sphere of influence descended into the common room of the inn. Beth had lived there for almost four months now, and as such was just as much the part of the furniture as most of the staff there. They’d reached an agreement about her attendance. In general she didn’t linger within the common room so as to allow conversation to flow but weekly she’d have a meal in there among everybody else where she was fully welcomed to sit chat and eat. Some locals chose to avoid it that night but others who weren’t regulars chose to come on that night just to escape the work talk for a while. In general people with high level skills had an associated job and as such struggled to talk about work without talking about things Beth wasn’t allowed to hear. As such it was a great way to force a change of conversation.

Beth had undergone a transformation herself. She was now adorned with a collection of jewellery. Primarily smaller pieces that hung tightly to her skin to avoid the risk of catching on things. In addition to the original metal bracelet she wore she now had a collection of different styles including both wooden and glass pieces. She’d even been able to produce some rings and though she wasn’t wearing all of them, they still adorned almost all her fingers, leaving only the ironically named ring finger bare. These designs were simplistic comparatively, more simple than the smaller size would require. Further some of the ring patterns clearly reflected elements of the bracelets though you could be convinced this was in an effort to create a cohesive matching set.

Beth had learned a lot over the last four months and worked hard to get there. As she hobbled through she grabbed a spare pastry for Dom. He never audibly showed any appreciation but she was confident he looked forward to it. By this point she was confident he could read her mind, or at the very least her string of consciousness. She wasn’t convinced he could dig around for information Beth wasn’t thinking of, but maybe that was thanks to the fact she had occasionally trained her mental fortitude with it’s raising level but hadn’t even bothered to attempt to block Dom out. For one she wasn’t even sure she would be able to and didn’t think the mental feedback would do her any good. But primarily it was because Dom didn’t seem to care all that much. He certainly listened and reacted but he didn’t hold it against her. Having spent all that time with him and having talked to the locals she was also convinced he was considerably older than even his wizened frame implied. People who were old themselves talked about attempting to gain an apprenticeship with Dom or even their parents having a run in with the elderly man who made the most incredible jewellery.

He was too old now though, he obviously wasn’t able to do much anymore, though his mind remained as sharp as ever. It was extremely depressing t to Beth and she couldn’t help but feel pity for the man as much as he disliked it.

As she walked over, at a speed she couldn’t have imagined when she first broke her leg she pulled up her stat screen.

Name

Bethany Oakfenny

Title(s)

Solarslut, Flawed Honorary Sister, Dom’s Apprentice

Mana Type

Cosmic (rare) 1

Level

5

Trial Credits

530

Skills:

Traversal (uncommon)

5 (25 Trial Credits)

Trial Taking (ultra-rare)

2 (12 Trial Credits)

Half-staff (common)

1 (8 Trial Credits)

Communication (common)

3 (16 Trial Credits)

Bartering (common)

1 (5 Trial Credits)

Busking (common)

1 (5 Trial Credit)

Mental Fortitude (rare)

2 (14 Trial Credits)

Social Tracking (uncommon)

2 (10 Trial Credits)

Butter Churning (uncommon)

4 (24 Trial Credits)

Metallic Jewellery (common)

4 (24 Trial Credits)

Wooden Jewellery (common)

2 (12 Trial Credits)

Glass Jewellery (common)

2 (10 Trial Credits)

It was getting more than a little busy and Beth was going to have to reorganise the information sooner rather than later. She was hoping to consolidate her Jewellery skills sooner rather than later. She’d been sat on the brink of level 5 in both Butter Churning and Metallic Jewellery for a good while now. But Dom had outright told her she still wasn’t ready in Metallic Jewellery yet and seemed to strongly discourage she took that step with her Butter Churning either. Which was a shame as Beth was itching to see how her mana would interact with those two processes. But she trusted Dom implicitly especially when it came to levels.

She’d reached the point where she would unironically refer to him as her master. She hadn’t forgotten her primary purpose for being here though. She’d planned out various ways that she was going to pay her way to finding him. She didn’t currently have any savings, even with the occasional boost from the post office her funds were none existent and she was living pay period to pay period. She wasn’t willing to hang around any longer than she needed to though, even with the potential money earning she had access to. After all even once she hit level 5 she was nothing compared to the locals. No her best bet would be to load up and hope for the best. Plus while she was confident in her jewellery abilities she knew she wasn’t a natural and wouldn’t show anywhere near that level of improvement once she stopped working under Dom. In that sense it was a near opposite to her Butter Churning which she continued to improve without any insight from others.

The town was much the same temperature it had been when she first arrived, the seasons there seeming to be much less drastic than they were back home. According to the brief conversations about the weather she’d had, something she was almost obligated to do as a brit, apparently location could account for remarkably drastic changes in temperature and she was in one of the warmer areas. Much like the weather the infrastructure of the town hadn’t changed at all either. No new shops opened the people in the street seemed the same week in and week out. She’d found out given the high level of everybody local people levelling in their so called, core skill, were few and far between and were always cause for celebration. She hadn’t personally attended any of these parties due to her lack of levels, but they seemed like the highlight of the month if not year when they did occur.

Beth nodded to people she recognised as she walked, waving through the window to Jason as she went past the post office. Before reaching the jewellery shop. As always the front door was unlocked and the cleaning supplies were out and ready to use. Since she had first started working there she had been the oly person to come through the front door. She hadn’t even seen Dom using it, he just always seemed to be there whenever she needed and wasn’t there when she didn’t. Having finished her tidying she headed back into the workshop. She had left some strips of wood to soak overnight to make them more flexible. It was as she was doing this that she heard something extremely surprising, voices coming from the shop. Beth couldn’t help but wonder what was being discussed and while the workshop door wasn’t as open as it had been when she first travelled through, it was still ajar though and given the supreme control that Dom appeared to have over all things, she assumed it was intensional. As such she sidled up to the door and peered through. It wasn’t somebody she knew well it was somebody she’d seen before. It was the person who had sent the expedited message way back when she had started.

She missed the exchange happening between them, it was clear however that Dom was attempting to protest clearly not wanting to take the commissioning that was being requested. The other figure, who remained information less began to get agitated and that agitation bled into the very room. Beth felt it hit her and it was a level of desperation that consumed her very soul as though Even she required this commissioning to go through even if at vast cost to herself. She had taken a step out across the doorway into the main shop when Dom shouted something a the figure. In an instant the feeling that had consumed Beth was gone and Dom for just a fleeting second met her eyes and shook her head ever so slightly. Wisely Beth stepped back into the workshop.

The two power houses continued their discussion their voices raising but still not reaching Beth. The familiar pressure being something she wasn’t willing to risk pushing back against. Anyway it felt slightly different than it hard in the post office as though she was being pushed at by a pear rather than an apple, barely different but still just noticeable. Eventually a not inconsiderable bag of gold was passed across and the pair seemed to reach some sort of agreement, the figure left once more and Dom moved some of the coins that had spilled back into the bag. He was muttering angrily as he did so, something extremely uncharacteristic for him. Eventually Beth felt the pressure lessen and she could hear the words Dom was saying.

“These rich and powerful think even the laws of biology bow to their whims Come on in Beth” he said slightly louder. Beth walked inas Dom raised a small cylinder of white powder, something Beth hadn’t noticed but that was clearly left behind by the figure.

“This isn’t even safe in a single dosage. I don’t have enough years left to waste some of them just because they demand it.” With that he threw the cylinder across the room. As it flew the lid fell out causing the powder t give the floors a thin coating. Floors that Beth had recently brushed.

Dom had the decency to at least look like something approaching sheepish as he saw the mess he had made.

“Sorry Beth, I let my feelings get the better of me. If you could sweep that up then lock the door and come into the back. I don’t want any more unexpected visitors. Beth sept quickly eager to work with Dom once more. It’s clear Dom was clearly given a commission and if Beth was lucky enough he’d talk her through the process. She’d never seen him work, was wasn’t even 100% sure how much he could do given his condition. Either way it was the most exciting thing to happen all week. As such she finished her sweeping quickly, wishing she had a skill to help; not that she would waste such a thing, and headed into the back doing the closest thing to a skip she could manage given her cast.