“Hmm? Weren’t you just here for an assessment?” he asked me.
“Yeah. I’m hoping to get another one.”
“It’s still going to cost you one gold coin, just like the first time. Are you all right with that? I can’t imagine that your stats would have changed significantly in just a few days’ time...”
“I know. That’s all right.”
“Well, all right... As long as you understand. That’ll be one gold, please.”
I pulled the coin out of my bag and handed it to him, along with my adventurer’s card.
“Thank you. I’ll begin the assessment now, so please wait just a moment,” Father Graham said.
Just like before, the crystal emitted a light, and the assessment was complete.
It seemed like such a simple process that I couldn’t help wondering how I might do it on my own, but I had no idea how it worked. What’s the key here? Was there something special about the crystal itself, or was it some unique power that Father Graham wielded?
Either way, it was clear that doing it myself was beyond my capabilities at present.
“All done. Now then, if you’ll excuse me...”
“Thanks. I appreciate your help.”
After bowing deeply, Father Graham left the room. I wasted no time checking my updated stats.
If nothing had changed since last time, then I could conclude that the plants I’d brought back with me were nothing but junk. But maybe, just maybe...
Chris
Class Affinity: farmer
HP: 10 (+7)
Strength: 5 (+8)
Vitality: 7 (+3)
MP: 1
Agility: 4
Unique Skills: poison immunity
Normal Skills: none
Sure enough, my secondary stats in the parentheses had subtly increased. My HP and vitality had each gone up by one, which was all the evidence I needed to confirm that at least some of the plants I’d eaten in Patia Forest had latent performance-enhancing properties.
It might have seemed like an insignificant improvement if you were only taking into consideration the sheer numerical values, but it was actually pretty remarkable if you thought about how ingesting ten times the amount might give me a tenfold status bonus. I didn’t know that would happen, but it felt like the logical conclusion, at least.
Admittedly, it did feel a little bit like cheating...but, the circumstances being what they were, I could live with that. I was willing to do everything I could to get stronger.
Riding high on my successful expedition, I stopped by a stall to buy meat skewers for three on my way home to the hotel.
When I opened the door to my room, I saw Ralph and Hester sitting on the floor, deep in conversation. The moment Ralph saw my face, he threw me the most menacing glare I’d ever seen.
“Hey, what gives?! Who the hell leaves their roommates for a whole week without even saying anything?!” he yelled, getting right in my face.
“Huh? But I told Hester I was leaving...”
“Yeah, I know—’cause she told me! But you didn’t say anything to me, did you?! And if Hester hadn’t woken up as you were leaving, you probably wouldn’t have even said anything to her either!”
“Well, I’m back, aren’t I? So what’s the big deal? At least let me sit down. I’m exhausted.”
I pushed past Ralph and took a seat on the floor.
“Where the hell did you go, anyway?” he asked me. “Wait... You’re not moving out, are you?”
“No. Now calm down and have a meat skewer.”
I grabbed some skewers for myself and threw the rest of the bag at Ralph.
Ralph must not have eaten a proper meal in days, because the moment he laid eyes on the skewers, his eyes lit up and his anger completely vanished. He wasted no time chowing down on one.
“Thanks, Chris,” said Hester.
“Don’t mention it. You can return the favor sometime when you’ve saved up enough from adventuring.”
“Sho! Veh’d uh go?” Ralph piped up again.
“Ugh, stop. Wait till you’ve finished eating, will you?”
“So, where’d you go?!” he said after swallowing.
I was surprised that he was so interested in what I’d been up to. Honestly, I’d kind of been hoping to stave off any questions with the meat skewer offerings, but Ralph seemed undeterred.
It was kind of a pain to explain it all, and I really just wanted to continue my plant experiments...but I knew he’d keep pestering me if I didn’t at least tell him something.
“Remember how I told you I hid in the woods for a while? Well, that’s where I was. I went back and camped out there for a bit,” I said.
“The forest, huh? Well, that’s no big deal, then! Why did you wanna go back and spend another week there, though?”
“There was just something I wanted to check out,” I said evasively. “Anyway, how’s the adventuring been going?”
I was just trying to change the subject with some small talk about their progress, but the moment I asked, the smiles they’d worn while eating the meat skewers suddenly disappeared, and their expressions darkened.
Damn... Why do I have a feeling I’ve just opened an even more tedious can of worms?
My gut was telling me I was going to regret asking, but it was too late now.
“Awful, actually. We’ve been slaying five goblins a day for one silver coin, but a room here is four coppers a night, and we use up the other six just on meals. We’ve been struggling just to get by. If one of us gets injured, we won’t even be able to take on five goblins anymore, and if we can’t do that, we won’t have money to eat.”
“Sounds rough. Good luck out there.”
“Hey, we were actually thinking—” Ralph began.
“Nope. Absolutely not. I can’t afford to do that,” I interrupted.
“Hey! You didn’t even let me finish my sentence!”
I actually had a pretty good guess what Ralph wanted to say, considering the solemn mood I’d found them in when they’d clearly been starting to consider the possibility that I wasn’t coming back. I’d have bet good money that the rest of that sentence was: Why don’t the three of us form a party?
“Why don’t the three of us form a party?” Ralph said.
It was word for word exactly what I’d predicted, and I couldn’t help but snort.
That must’ve pissed him off, because he looked ready to bite my head off again, but Ralph just clenched his fist and stayed quiet.
“Well, that doesn’t change my answer. It’s not happening. I can’t afford to team up with you guys,” I said.
“Don’t give me that! You managed to survive for a whole week without doing any adventuring! You’ve even got enough money to treat us to meat skewers! Come on, help us out here!”
“I worked hard for that money. If you’re gonna talk to me like that, then you can give those meat skewers back.”
“S... Sorry. I was out of line.”
It was weird hearing him be so meek. He really must have been desperate for a meal, because this was completely out of character for him.
To be fair, they did have it hard. It was a tough life, fighting goblins from sunrise until sunset, all to make a single silver coin. And since they were splitting it between the two of them, each only ended up with five coppers. Starvation seemed like a pretty unavoidable fate if one of them ever suffered even a minor injury that might slow them down.
We were roommates now, so I’d have been lying if I said that I didn’t feel a little sorry for them...but I really didn’t have the means to help them out right now.
That wasn’t to say that I wouldn’t give it some thought, though—if they could be useful to me somehow, that was.
“Hey, what blessings did you two get from the Heaven’s Blessing Ceremony?” I asked.