Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Foundations

The day they leave the camp is the day that representatives from the Royal Academy arrive. People with awakened bloodlines are separated into age brackets, and are told to go to different demonstration areas. Despite their claims of neutrality and cooperation, there are rumours that the Military and some private nobles are incredibly upset about the Church’s move to recruit that healer from a while ago.

This all became public when someone from a high position (some say a Count, another say a member of the Royal Family), ordered a poster put up announcing that the provisions and supplies are courtesy of this list of people— there are about two dozen families written there, as well as some very high profile names, but the Adventurers’ Guild is notably absent, perhaps excluded. People read the list and realized that they have more options other than the Church or trying their luck to be accepted in the Royal Academy.

In any case, even though they should be representatives of the Academy, it’s clear that these people have affiliations to different factions. There is a retired knight, several nobles, and even a high priestess.

Seeing as a lot of people still haven’t experienced the awakening Festival, these representatives have declared that they will be staying for a month, and Bodil’s group is instructed to come back soon after their Festival. Marcheline has decided to delay her own demonstration, but keep up with the rumors for the time being. She wants to know what happens if one of the “darker” bloodlines presents itself.

They’ve said their goodbyes to their friends in the camp, especially the people that were also in the same caravan to get to the Capital.

It is one week after the group has entered the capital, and they’re once again pulling their carts and wagons towards their new home.

————

The area assigned to them is much smaller than what they would have received as farmers. For a group of twenty, they have five hectares of undeveloped land. It is rocky and windy, the trees aren’t ideal for houses, but at least they have access to a creek.

The area would be enough to build pens for mounts and other animals, maybe even build food storages, but it’s not ideal for the production of food or any other necessary supplies. They would receive animal feed and tools once they get the mounts, and a small allowance for their own food. Other than that, they’re pretty much free to develop the area however they please. There’s a lot to do.

Marcheline wasn’t a survival expert back on Earth, not by a longshot, but there’s still a clear advantage from the mere exposure to a lot of information. Information that she has relayed to the village during the seven years she’s lived with them.

“Put up the tents!” a small boy points somewhere near the trees, shouting after he confirms it with Tristan.

Tristan looks around, then,“Effie and Brian, check for salt in the soil, then you can go explore with your friends, here’re your baskets,” translation: gather as much firewood as you can, “— look for termite mounds. The rest of you help me clear the rocks over here! Nick, where’re you-”

“The chickens need to get settled.”

“But—

“The. Chickens. Need. To. Settle.”

“MARCH! GET YOUR FAT VARMINT OUT OF MY HERB SACK!” another person screams.

“Is it my fault that you can’t tie a proper knot? Varm is just—“

“I’m gonna eat it!!!”

With a lot of bickering and fighting, they still manage to achieve a lot by nightfall. Nick has fashioned a temporary cage for their travel-worn chickens, the kids have built a new community oven in the shape of a bunny (still needs to dry before use), and they’ve flattened out a decently-sized area with the help of wooden buckets and carts.

That night, they forego tables and chairs, opting to sit on the ground and eat. It’s a nice picnic.

During dinner, Bodil says, “A kiln and a lot of pots and cups. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of sun tomorrow. Also we’re running out of meat, didn’t that guy say there’s a lot of small wild animals around here?”

Therese, a girl with light brown hair and a warm smile, raises her hand, “My sister and I set some traps. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Alright, then neeeext…” With the help of the light from the bonfire, the Chief looks at her task list, then makes a disgruntled face, “digging. A lot of digging.”

There are groans all around. “We could build our workshops after that! What do you think, March?”

Marcheline peeks out from behind the map she’s inspecting, “I’m not sure if this would work, but let’s experiment with Scarlett’s abilities. We’ll try to loosen the rock and soil, then someone else,” she makes a scooping motion, “bucket them away.”

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“Gods, yes!” One of the older girls cries out, “Please let it work.”

Her sister punches her, “Don’t jinx it.”

————

The next day, before the sun rises, they scour everywhere for large flat rocks, ones with a wedge shape. Once they’ve chosen a spot to dig, Marcheline positions seven of the rocks in a line, the sharp tapered ends digging the ground at a slight angle, while the thicker sides are facing up— they could be hammered down.

“We’ll use these instead of shovels.” Marcheline says while pointing to them, then she turns to Scarlett, “The moment I form the party, immediately use [Earth Slam] on those wedges.”

“You’re a Caster?” The girl asks in amazement.

“In a way.” Marcheline says as she picks up a long pole. It has a little bell on top of it. It’s hollow on the inside. “Form party.”

[SC Progress: 37.5%]

“Earth Slam!”

Phantom boulders appear above the six wedges, immediately falling straight down. Six blasts, stone chips and soil fly everywhere. The flat rocks don’t dig down like a shovel, they are hit by a counterweight that causes the soil on top of the wedges to get flung into the air, like a seesaw getting slammed on one end.

Scarlett’s phantom boulders disappear into nothingness.

Then she gets a status [Daze], which is the number one drawback of her hero bloodline. After attacking, she gets dazed and is unable to take her next ation. The status will have to be dispelled, or it will disappear by itself after a minute has elapsed and she’ll come back to normal. Of course, another option is if someone were to forcefully give her an action surge— cutting down the time she’s has Daze.

“Whooo!” “Yeah!!”

About half a dozen teenagers cheer.

Marcheline temporarily disbands the party to inspect their work. She sets aside the pole containing ten Soot balls. Their initial Skill Cast is made up only by their number at the start of the party forming. It’s a good thing that Scarlett’s speed is higher than the balls.

The onlookers begin removing the loosened ground. The power of each boulder should be just enough to shave half the HP of anyone at level 1. Give her good souls, and she’ll kill them in one hit. But a limit of six targets huh…

Then again, for comparison, if Marcheline at level 15 could deal two targets 280 damage on her Mana Bolts skill (just one target actually, since the other bolt will hit a random enemy)…

Scarlett could deal 340 damage to six targets. At level 1. Damage dealers really are a different breed. It’s a blessing they can’t easily use their skills without a Caster.

For the purposes of digging though… they could loosen about a cubic foot of hard ground per target. Looking at the length of what they’ve dug, it’s almost enough for a casket. At least their own bones and muscles won’t feel the backlash from striking rocks. She turns to Scarlett, who’s just coming to herself, “How do you feel?”

“Um, I-… I don’t know. I just blanked out for a while.”

“Keep going?”

Scarlett turns to the expectant look of Tristan and the others. She puffs up her chest, “Yeah!”

Marcheline would like her to do well. She thinks back on the locations on the map, the conspicuous absence of a very convenient dungeon with defense-specialized souls. In the game, the dungeon is opened much later in the story mode, a landslide on a cliff. If she wants early and exclusive access to it… what’s stopping her?

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