Chapter 18: Chapter 18 – A Guilty Pleasure

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Baris picked up his stuff, now bundled in a makeshift backpack, and spread out the cold ashes from his fires. When he scanned the ashes, he saw that they contained some elements that are used in fertilizer, potassium, so he spread it on the young trees, and worked it into the soil with a branch.

"Ashes are good, but one has to be careful. Ashes can also leech potassium hydroxide into the soil, which is an alkaline. It has similar properties to acid, as it can damage skin, and living organisms, but the potassium is still useful once the alkaline neutralizes. Too bad there isn't any limestone around. I could mix the two and sweeten the soil." He thought for a moment. "Although, forest soils are usually acidic. This might balance it out, or help it to balance."

Once he was cleaned up, he moved through the forest around Noobville, and followed the mountain. Before nightfall, he found another spring that ran out of the mountain range. The area was lush, and bright with greenery.

"Hm, what was that new magic? Status magic on. Yes, Terrain Scan." For a hundred feet in all directions, his map filled in with the surface information, which included the elevation.

"Now, time to walk around this area, and scan for minerals. Five scans of each should do it. Detect Water. Detect Copper. Detect Tin. Detect Salt." He smiled. Water was pretty clear in this spot, so he marked it with a stone, and walked around, with his map active so he could see everything that appears.

"It's a good area, as there is water, but no minerals. I wonder. What level is iron?" He frowned as he walked closer to the mountain. "Well, let me refill my manna, and see." He waited patiently, and once refilled, he swallowed several mouthfuls of spring water.

"Not bad water. Good flavor, and good regenerative abilities for manna." He smiled. "Detect Iron." Baris felt a little bit off and checked his manna. "Oh. Because I have never used it before, it used double what it normally would. It's an apprentice level metal ore, but it went from fifty manna for a beginner like me right up to a hundred. Oi, it didn't wreck me, but it took more then I expected."

He sat down and waited for his manna to recover, and casually looked at his map.

"Holy shit. Iron is right in front of me, inside the mountain."

 

* * *

 

"Keep this quiet." The merchant leader said as he moved the barrel into his store, and started to sort it out. "Damn, this is so pure!" He looked at the note again, and the salt.

"Is she sure?" the clerk asked. "We could charge the same amount, and the people would buy it right up because of how pure it is."

"No. No more gouging. We can make a decent profit, and she says there is more on the way, so we won't have to buy that garbage anymore." The two dwarves smirked.

"They will lose their minds when they find out we are no longer buying their crap. All those costs in shipping it here, and no more profit!" The merchant laughed, while his guards saluted.

"Remember, silence about who delivered it to us. Not a word, or this will become a bloody battle." The merchant watched his guards nod solemnly, and waved his hand. "Come on, fill your sacks. Your wives will be quite happy to know that this came out of the ground, and is not a leftover." One of the guards smiled.

"A gift from Nuella. My own lady will be very happy. In spite of the need, she really hated the idea that the salt was from their fucking stables."

 

* * *

 

Baris spent the evening making camp, chewing some jerky, and making sure he knew where the iron deposit was located. After he made the scan rounds, he made a few spears, scanned for hostile presences, and sat down to carve something.

"Spearheads. These ribs will make good points for my spears, as I just have to flatten the end, bore a hole, and push the point in." After he cut a rib, he shaved it so that it was straight, and thinner at the point it was pushed into the spear tip.

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"Hm, not the best design. Next time, I'll make it slide in from the side, and tie it in place with some leather strips. For now, these five spearheads will give me better spears." He cut the ends off his five spears, dug a hole in the end, and pushed in the tips.

"Yep, as I thought. One shots." He analyzed the spears. "Simple, Improved. Much better. A lot more damage and penetration power, however, they are one shot spears. I will do it better next time."

 

* * *

 

"So odd." Baris said as he moved his camp again and again. "There are no wolves down this way, no bears, but there are no farms." He said in confusion.

"As far as I remember, as long as the area was safe, the people would build farms, houses, or even inns. There is nothing." He continued to follow the mountain, and it took him a few days to find out that the area was enclosed by mountains.

"The entire town is nestled in a safe area." He shook his head. "This entire area could grow, have more people, have basic fortifications to prevent wolves from migrating down into the area, and people could farm, or build homes. There are even enough meadows for cattle, or sheep."

Baris continued to follow the bowl around the town, and though it allowed more movement to the west, once you got north of the town, the forests got thicker, and the area grew wider.

"It's like the one who built this town only saw it as a place to put lower leveled people, to either let them grow up, or live out their lives safely. It's not meant to have a future." He looked at his map and shook his head.

"Although I say that, all the basics are provided. Wild fruits, mushrooms, berries, deer, rabbits, fowl, fresh water, and some predators. There is iron, copper, tin, and I even found a deposit of coal." Baris sat down for a moment.

"Almost like someone is forcing it to stay undeveloped, but has plans for it." Unwittingly, Baris hit the nail squarely on the head.

While goddess Nuella looked at this area as a place to keep in balance, it was completely out of balance. Humans, elves, dwarves, and fairies were in a peace time that bordered on war, while the wildlife went out of control. No one built farms, prey species declined as the predators grew stronger, and even sapient species became prey.

The mortality rate, a way to measure how easy it was to die, was way too high for such a low leveled area. Nuella put in repulsion stones to keep the more powerful predators at bay, but it wasn't enough.

Something was manipulating things from the background, while the goddesses only responded to the symptoms. Only a few were able to see the larger picture, while one small-ish human had small glimpses.

 

* * *

 

Nuella smiled gently down at the person she had chosen on a whim. She saw how broken he was, and how close to death he put himself, but refused to put anyone else in that situation with him.

To the goddess who dealt with a sister who cursed her, and lived in a state of being that made her unable to look at the larger picture, she could see all the parts that made him whole. He was a book she could see the cover, and read the inside. She could see the details, and the result.

She was fascinated as this man defied the details. He should have turned cruel, and unfeeling. Instead, he became hurt, and withdrawn. He should have detested people, instead he sought friendship when he could.

She lightly fingered the wristlet he carved, and smiled. She could see the small sparkle of power he had carved into it, even without knowledge. There were thousands of details she had to see to, but this one whole puzzle became a small guilty pleasure in her monotonous day dealing with a sea of details.

 

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