Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Pearls among the Pigs

[General Skill: Weaving has reached level 38 | Rewards: +1 Finesse, +1 Artistry, +38 EXP]

[EXP requirement for Level 17 has been reached | Rewards: +10 in all stats]

[2215 EXP to next level]

Scarlet’s hands momentarily stopped in their operation of the weaving loom as she received the notification of her latest level up. She he’d in a squeal of victory as she returned to work, continuing to sing her happy tone, if a slight bit more enthusiastically.

It had been a year and a half since she had first started to become her mother’s assistant, and the growth really did show. She now had so many new skills and stats.

Name: Scarlet Wright	Age: 2	Race: Human
Level: 17	EXP to Next level: 2215	Talent Points: 1
Bond: None	Bond level: N/A
Class: None	Class level: N/A
Health: 187	Mana: 354	Stamina: 278
Strength: 235	Fortitude: 175	Dexterity: 239
Finesse: 405	Agility: 197	Reflexes: 206
Intelligence: 392	Wisdom: 280	Charisma: 210
Deception: 195	Artistry: 390	Magic: 278
Hereditary Bonuses:  Tier 2 Business Manager (Father) - provides a small bonus to learning money management based skills. Tier 4 Spirit Weaver (Mother) - provides a moderate bonus to learning cloth based skills.
General Skills: Meditation: lvl 68 (+68 mana, +68 stamina) Exhaustion Resistance: lvl 20 (+24 stamina) Strength Training: lvl 25 (+50 strength) Mana Sense: lvl 47 (+47 mana, +47 intelligence) Mana Control: lvl 53 (+53 mana, +53 magic)  Magic Appraisal: lvl 40 (+40 wisdom, +40 magic) Dexterity Training: lvl 17 (+34 dexterity) Sneak: lvl 21 (+21 reflexes, +21 deception) Reading: lvl 35 (+35 intelligence, +35 wisdom) Decoding: lvl 20 (+40 intelligence, +20 wisdom) Memorization: lvl 25 (+25 intelligence) Calculations: lvl 12 (+24 intelligence) Acting: lvl 10 (+10 charisma, +10 despection, +10 artistry) Lock Picking: lvl 10 (+20 finesse) Knitting: lvl 42 (+42 finesse, +42 artistry) Weaving: lvl 38 (+38 finesse, +38 artistry) Stitching: lvl 21 (+21 finesse, +21 artistry) Embroidery: lvl 16 (+16 finesse, +16 artistry) Fabric Felting: lvl 11 (+11 finesse, +11 artistry) Fabric Bonding: lvl 7 (+7 finesse, +7 artistry) Tailoring: lvl 8 (+8 finesse, +8 artistry) Dress Making: lvl 12 (+12 finesse, +12 artistry) Singing: lvl 15 (+15 charisma, +15 artistry) Dancing: lvl 10 (+10 dexterity, +10 artistry) Agility Training: lvl 6 (+12 agility) Multitasking: lvl 12 (+36 intelligence) Ambidextrous: lvl 10 (+10 dexterity, +30 finesse) Drawing: lvl 15 (+15 finesse, +15 artistry)

 

So many skills! 

Finesse and artistry had suddenly become some of Scarlet’s highest stats because of them all, and they had given her a fat chunk of EXP too.

...Still, with the exponential growth of EXP requirements and the increased difficulty in leveling up General Skills as their levels get higher, it didn’t look like she would be reaching level 20 before her 3rd birthday, unless she received a serious boost.

With her hands still moving along, working at the loom, her eyes wandered over to where her mother was working on her latest commission, one made by the local Duke for his daughter’s wedding to a prince.

Maria stood there with her giant spider bond, her needle moving through the fabric as if through water, she worked at speeds that were mind boggling to observe. With every stitch she made, the spirit thread provided by her bond caused the fabric to merge into a seamless fit. The cloth made from the spider’s silks had been changed to a beautiful pearly color that shimmered even in the dullest of lights. The dress looked like something that a goddess in an anime might wear.

She really had to be the best seamstress in the land, and had every right to be proud of it.

After all, how many people out there had managed to get a [Dress Making] skill of level 173 at the age of 19?

Scarlet had been shocked to find out just how skilled her mother really was, and how long she had been practicing. Though most people would have been able to tell in an instant because of her Class.

In this world, one would receive their Class when they turned ten years old, and that class would stick with them for the rest of their lives.

Of course, the Class could be Evolved, but in order to do that, one would have to bring the class to its maximum level and satisfy the skill requirements, and while you could grow a few levels with just ranking up its unique Class Skills, it suffered from the same problems as using General Skills and the number of skills available was not nearly so numerous.

In order to evolve a Tier 1 Class into a Tier 2 Class, you would first have to reach a Class level of 25. This was just about possible for a normal person to do in 20 or so years. But getting to level 50 in order to go from Tier 2 to Tier 3 could not be done. At least, not without hunting monsters for EXP.

Because of this, people without combat related Classes usually remained at whatever Tier they managed to get their Class at, instead of risking their lives against monsters. And the initial Tier of their class was determined by the level of the skill related to that Class when they turned 10.

In the case of Scarlet’s mother, in order to have to have leveled up her Weaving related skills to at least level 75 before her 10th birthday in order to get her Tier 4 class.

To put that into perspective, Scarlet had spent around 10,000 hours meditating since the day she was born, but still only had a [Meditation] level of 68. She was probably only about halfway to 75 if you considered how the difficulty of leveling it up was increasing.

Of course, there was one major advantage that her mother had which made it possible.

She had used a ‘Talent Point’.

Talent Points were a resource that you received once every 10 levels and they could be spent in order to enhance one of your general skills.

The enhanced skill would grow at double the normal rate and any time you used the Skill, the results would be as if the skill was a whole 10 levels higher. The result of overreaching your current skill level also provided a boost to the skill’s rate of growth as well. This, along with the way that certain skills bleed into each other, had allowed Maria to receive explosive growth before she had ever gained her Class bonuses. And because of her early passion for sewing, she had grown enough skill levels to have earned her first Talent Point at the age of six, which she had immediately spent on [Dress Making].

Scarlet wondered what it would be like if her mother had gotten her second Talent Point in time before her 10th birthday to spend on a second related skill. If she would have managed to reach the 100 skill level check in time and get a Tier 5 Class instead. The dress she was making was already otherworldly in its beauty, she couldn’t even imagine an even better one.

With a flourish of her sewing needle, Maria finished the dress and canceled her Class skills and her bond’s [Spirit Thread]. “Done.” She said with a cheerful smile as she looked over her work. “So, what do you think?”

“Beautiful.” Scarlet said with reverence. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that her mother had placed enchantments into every thread that would attract the eyes.

“I’m glad you think so.” Maria said, laughing for a few moments… and then starting to stumble and fall to the ground.

“Mama!” Scarlet shouted, climbing down from her chair in front of the loom and rushing to check on her mother. “Are you okay?”

“D...Don’t worry. Mommy is okay.” Maria said, trying to reassure her daughter, even as her face was becoming pale.

The moment Scarlet touched her mother’s arm, she used her [Magic Appraisal] to check on her mother’s status and found that the woman was running extremely low on mana.

While Maria had no general skills related to magic or mana usage, all the Class skill and Bond skills she made use of had been draining her of her mana reserves. 

Being a full grown adult, level 42 and having a Tier 4 Class, Maria’s total quality of mana was just shy of 2000, even without any general skills that boosted it. It was 4 times as much as Scarlet had, but after 15 minutes of maintaining her skills in order to create the dress, she had drained herself dry.

In order to help her mother stabilize, Scarlet took half of her own mana and using her [Mana Control] gently channeled it into her mother.

Scarlet immediately felt a little shaky from the sudden expenditure, but she didn’t care as the color started to return to her mother’s face. “You used too much mana.” Scarlet said in a scolding voice. “If you feel tired you should rest.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Maria said, giggling as she was lectured by her 2-year-old daughter.

“I’m serious! Mama needs to take better care of her health!” Scarlet said, pouting angrily as her mother squealed at her cuteness. But her anger subsided as her mother gently brushed her hair with one of her soft hands.

“I’m sorry. I was rushing to finish it. I should have been more careful.” Maria apologized. “The deadline was today. I had to hurry.”

Because of its beautiful sheen, the spirit threads produced Maria’s bond were a very valuable material, one that only a handful of people could create, since it required a unique bond. But actually making it costs a large amount of the person’s mana. 

The duke who had commissioned the dress didn’t seem to understand just how much mana it would cost, and the requested timeline hadn’t been a reasonable one. Maria had spent two weeks putting all the mana she had into making that singular dress.

If they had been in the game world, you would have just popped some of the MP potions that came pouring out of the woodwork in order to help yourself keep going, but those aren’t so easy to come by. Potions could only be made by someone with a sufficiently high [Alchemy] skill and would require both materials and the maker’s own mana in order to create. So they were really expensive.

“You should have just substituted in different materials from time to time.” The voice of Judith, the family maid said as she entered the room. 

Well, Scarlet said maid but… Judith was not exactly there because she wanted to be.

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Scarlet had been shocked when she found out the truth about the no nonsense woman with the dark skin and French maid outfit. She had just been wondering why Judith did not have any Bond, as she thought everyone was supposed to get a bond when they turned 5. That was when Scarlet’s mom explained it to her.

Judith was a slave.

It seemed that slavery was something that was wide spread in this world and that those who ‘committed crimes’, debtors or those who were sold off as children by their parents would be stripped of their Bond and their Class and be made into slaves. Maria had shivered when explaining it. As if it was a fate worse than death in her eyes.

Though rather than becoming a slave, Judith was born into slavery, as her parents had been slaves. So she couldn’t even say how traumatic it was to have one’s Bond, the spirit beast that was supposed to be the other half of your soul, ripped away from you.

“What!? I could never do that!” Maria shouted as the scandalous suggestion, giving something other than her best effort for a wedding dress.

“Why not? It isn’t like those nobles would even be able to tell the difference.” The maid huffed.

“But I would!” Maria said with a shake of the head. “You just don’t understand the importance of art.”

“Clearly.” The maid replied flatly. “Now if you are quite done, the both of you should go and get some sleep.”

“Both of us?” Scarlet said in surprise.

“Yes, both of you. The two of you have been working too much. You need to sleep.” Judith said sharply. “Honestly, your mother isn’t the only one who needs to watch their health. Those shadows under your eyes are getting larger by the day.”

Scarlet winced at the mention of the shadows under her eyes.

Despite being able to replace sleep with serious meditation sessions, some effects of a lack of sleep lingered.

Scarlet tended to avoid looking at mirrors, because while the shoulder length red hair and bright green eyes she had inherited from her mother were pretty… the effect was ruined by the dark shadows underneath her eyes.

If she was an anime character, she would be the friendless, creepy stalker-girl who loomed over people in the background and practiced the occult. 

It… It wasn’t like she cared. 

Being pretty wasn’t everything you know! Wasn’t it better to have a good personality! This is why she had preferred the online world! No one could judge her based on her appearance there!

“But I’m not tired at all.” Scarlet mopped, not wanting to be confined to her room.

Judith didn’t seem convinced, but Scarlet’s mother came to her aid. “She’s been spending a lot of time inside with me lately. She probably needs some sunlight.” Maria suggested.

“...Very well. I will escort the young miss outside, but you are to go straight to bed. Understood?” Judith said, waving a finger at Maria.

“Yes ma’am.” Maria giggled in response. 

“Honestly. What did I do to deserve having to look after a pair of trouble makers like you two.” Judith said with a sigh, prompting more giggles.

“Now be good, and don’t cause Judith more trouble than you need to.” Maria said as she leaned down and gave Scarlet a quick hug. “And thank you for sharing. It really did make me feel much better.”

It seems she noticed the sudden jump in her mana.

While most would have said that a child Scarlet’s age having enough [Mana Control] in order to supplement the mana of other people was absurd, Maria accepted it as the only logical answer, and chose not to make a big deal out of it.

After all, her daughter was a special little girl.

“You and mama are close.” Scarlet said as she walked just a few steps behind Judith as the woman escorted her outside.

“I have been looking after your mother since before she became the Mrs. of this house. Even if she is now married to the master, I can only think of her as that little girl who would sneak into my room at night to hide.” Judith explained.

Scarlet’s mother had been with them from before she got married? She hadn’t known that. Scarlet pondered this until they got outside.

“Now, make sure you don’t exert yourself too much.” Judith cautioned the girl. 

“Okay.” Scarlet said. She didn’t need to do much moving about for her training anyways. 

Walking out into the dirt yard Scarlet found a pair of straight sticks and then sat down with a stick in each hand.

Taking a deep breath and focusing herself, Scarlet found an image to hold in her mind and then started to draw in the dirt with her pair of sticks, doing her best to use both hands at the same time.

This was extremely effective training, as it trained [Multitasking], [Ambidextrous], [Drawing] and [Memory] all at the same time. And while she was doing it, she could also sing a little tune from her past life and train [Singing] as well. 

Scarlet was almost always singing, due to the ease at which it can be done with most of her other activities. If she wasn’t meditating, running, talking or eating, she was probably at least humming a tune. Still, [Singing] couldn’t be considered any way related to weaving, so she didn’t receive any bonuses to its growth and it leveled up slowly.

Well, that didn’t matter. The tunes helped her to relax anyways.

Scarlet continued this activity for over an hour, attempting to draw whatever characters and animals she could while using both hands, and enjoying herself.

All the while, Judith stood nearby, watching her with a soft expression… Though her eyes would occasionally drift to the large wooden wall often in the distance, marking the camp at the base of the mountain. After which she would have to do her best not to shudder as she looked away.

There was no form of magical restraint or chain on Judith to prevent her from acting up, because there was no need for one. The mere existence of that camp was enough to make her behave, terrified of being sent there herself.

Scarlet had found out about it a little while ago, but wished she hadn’t. Judith’s status as a slave had already repulsed her values as a warm blooded American. But to make matters much much worse, her family did not own just one slave.

That camp in the distance was home to over five hundred who would be forced day after day to work in the mines, until the poor conditions eventually cost them their lives.

That was her father’s business. He owned and operated a slave mine.

“Scarlet. I need to start preparing dinner. Please behave yourself while I am gone.” Judith said after two hours had passed.

“Okay!” Scarlet called back, pretending to remain focused on her current activity as the woman turned and walked away.

She waited for a few moments, just in case, before jumping to her feet and making a mad dash for the other side of the house, towards the one place around where she could reliably get what she was looking for, the pigpens.

While not strictly speaking a farm, the house did keep a pair of large pigs which they fed sloop to and housed in a large and muddy pen in a sectioned off part of the back yard, just far enough away so that the smell from them wouldn’t be too bad.

Reaching the pen, Scarlet ignored the smell and the pigs themselves and started to focus her [Mana Sense] as much as she could, scouring over the mud until she could sense the tiniest of little flickers.

Moving to the closest one, she started to dig into the mud with her fingers, scooping it to the side until she found what she was searching for. It was a tiny little rock, half the size of a grain of rice and an ugly reddish brown color.

It was a magic stone.

The stone had probably come from some kind of small monster that wasn’t even qualified to be given a ranking, such as a fanged rat or a two-finned trout. Monster that an ordinary person might stumble upon while hunting without giving it a second thought.

The stones were so small that they were hard to pick out and they weren’t worth even a penny, so they would be tossed out with the rest of the undesirable parts when the monster was gutted. And just like the rest of it, it would end up in the sloop that the pigs would eat and then… Well, Scarlet didn’t like to think about that part.

The point being, that there were hundreds of these tiny little treasures scattered throughout the pigpen, building up over the years, and with her [Mana Sense] at its current level, Scarlet would be able to find them.

Granted, she wished that she could have higher quality materials to work with, but beggars can’t be choosers. 

Even if she was capable of hunting real monsters herself, there weren’t any around.

She was living in a thoroughly settled area, where all monsters that were any kind of hindrance to the farmers and traders had been routinely stomped into the dirt by the Kingdom’s Knights for years until there were none left in the region, with barriers erected to make sure that none would suddenly appear. There was no goblin encampment nearby, or any sort of magic forest in covenant walking distance, like in the stories. Scarlet was in a monster free zone, and didn’t know if she liked that or not.

Scarlet continued to move about the pen, scavenging for the magic stones that no one else would have been able to find until she had a dozen of the tiny things.

They were so small that even her tiny little hands could easily hold that many in the center of her palm, and while other people might say they are worthless, to her they were the greatest treasure of all.

“With this, I should be able to make some enchanting dyes.” Scarlet said to herself, smiling broadly as she imagined her long standing goal finally being achieved.

It was questionable how well dyes made by such low quality materials would turn out, but it was the best she had. Even if it was shit, it should at least let her grow some levels and have better odds in the future.

However, as Scarlet had refined her senses to search for such small things, she had ignored her surroundings, and as a harsh and male voice reached her, her heart plummeted.

“What do you think you are doing?”

Scarlet spun about, instinctively closing her hand and holding it close to her chest as she looked up at the tall young man who had snuck up behind her and was looking down at her with the most villainous eyes. His gray hair matched that of rat Bond as it watched them from the man’s shoulder.

“B...Big brother. You’re back?” Scarlet stammered, her heart beating fast in her chest.

One of Scarlet’s half brothers, the only one who hadn’t yet gotten married and moved out, Jamie was a nasty person and being 16 years old, he towered over Scarlet like a giant.

“Father and I had just returned.” Jamie said with a smirk. “Now tell me why you are playing around in the mud like a pig? Is it that you can’t contain your true nature while we are gone?”

Seriously? What was with this guy? Who is insecure enough to bully a two-year-old? What, was he going to try to steal her candy next?

No sooner did Scarlet think this than it seemed to start to become reality. “What do you have there?” Jamie said as he noticed that she had something in her hands.

Scarlet momentarily froze before remembering that the magic stones she was holding were actually completely worthless, even if Jamie could recognize them for what they were, which he couldn’t. So rather than trying to hide them, she just opened up her hands to show them.

“They’re just small rocks.” Scarlet said, holding out the small magic stones for Jamie to see.

“Is that so?” Jamie said, glaring at the rocks for a moment before holding out his own hand. “Alright, hand them over.”

“Wha?” Scarlet said, pulling back her stones and once again holding them close.

“‘Just small rocks’ huh?” Jamie said with a smirk, having called her bluff.

BASTARD! SHAMELESS BASTARD!

Anyone who purposely goes out of their way to level up their deception should be dragged out into the street and shot!

“Hand them over.” Jamie said, and Scarlet went into shock as he reached out and grabbed onto her arm, trying to force her to let go.

Jamie was not strong. Despite being nearly a full grown adult, he was low level, and had a Tier 1 merchant class of some kind. All together, his strength stat was probably about the same as Scarlet’s own. Maybe just a smidge higher.

But even so, as his hands gripped onto her arm, Scarlet’s mind slowly slipped into panic mode. The feel of his hands on her skin sent shivers up and down her spine, awakening phantom memories inside of her soul, and she did the only thing that felt natural to do. She opened up her mouth and let out a scream. And with her 15 level’s in [Singing] it was quite the loud and high pitch scream.

Seemingly panicked by all the noise that Scarlet was making, Jamie slapped Scarlet across the face, trying to get her to shut up, though the girl only continued to scream. She didn’t even notice the hit, despite it giving her a bloody nose. She was too far gone.

“Shut up dammit!” Jamie said, pulling his arm back to slap her again, when a thick white cord wrapped itself around his neck and the young man felt himself pulled with significant force away from his younger half-sister.

“You dare.” Maria snarled, glaring down at the punk who had struck her daughter with all six of her shining green eyes.

Maria had used [Spirit Merge] with her Spirit Bond, causing her to gain four additional eyes as well as four spider legs which grew from her back. The woman looked absolutely lived, as she held one end of the rope that was currently around Jamie’s neck.

Jamie attempted to scramble away, his eyes showing just how terrified he was. His rat Spirit Bond abandoning its master, wanting nothing to do with this.

Even if she wasn’t from a combat class, Maria was two years older than him, was more than seven times his level, had a Tier 4 Class, and the power of her Tales Spinning Spider Bond. Maria could compare to some of the city knights when it came to combat capabilities, even without any directly combat related general skills. 

In a fight between her and Jamie, she would destroy him. And now, she was mad enough to rip him apart.

“Stop this at once.” A cold voice cut through the air, one that could cause Maria to flinch. 

Jonathan Wright walked up on the scene, his eyes as cold as those of the hawk bond that sat on his shoulder. The 50 year old man looked more like 60, with his gray hair and greatly receding hairline, along with a face that bore too many wrinkles. He dressed in the way of a man who was not a noble, but wanted to show off his wealth anyways.

“Help me! She’s trying to kill me, father!” Jamie shouted, begging for help.

“Quiet.” Jonathan snapped at his son. “Release him.”

“But he…” Maria started, but a single look for the man who was supposed to be her husband shut her up. The cord that was around Jamie’s neck disappeared. The spider features faded as she ended her [Spirit Merge].

“That… that’s right. Punish her.” Jamie said, enthusiastically, until a glare was directed in his direction.

“I said quiet you fool. Anyone with eyes can see that you are the cause of this mess.” The man said, hardly glancing at his still panicking daughter, who was still completely oblivious to her surroundings.

“But… but Scarlet… she was…” Jamie stammered, trying to make his excuses.

“I don’t care. We are on a schedule, and I don’t have time to deal with your shit.” Jonathan said. “I sent you out to prep the horses and instead I find you making trouble. Now stop embarrassing me and do as you are told.”

“Y...Yes father.” Jamie flinched, though Jonathan didn’t wasn’t even looking at him, he was already heading back towards the house. As his father went, Jamie glared at Maria. “Don’t think that this means anything. To my father, you two are nothing more than property.”

Maria gave him a look and her spider raised its front legs and crouched down, as if ready to pounce, causing Jamie to scamper off.

As soon as he was gone, Maria rushed to her daughter and threw her arms around her. “Are you alright sweetie? Are you hurt?” She said as she brushed her hands through the girl’s hair and held her close.

At first, Scarlet flinched away, but as the scent of her mother reached her, along with the familiar feel of her mana, she finally started to calm down. After which she buried her face in her mother’s chest and continued to cry.

“Don’t cry dear. Please don’t cry. Mommy’s got you. Everything is going to be okay.” Maria said as she held her daughter.

The two of them crouched there together, Maria comforting her daughter as the sun started to set in the distance… until the pigs came and knocked them over looking for food.