Chapter 04 - Complete Preparations

[Author's Note: Read my other work and enjoy.
Re-edited on 27-05-2022]

The trip went smoothly.

They stopped the minimum necessary just for the horses to rest, and in all the stops, only Pericles got off the wagon and took care of the horses. Meanwhile, Giovani remained attentive on the wagon, seeming to be prepared to flee at the slightest movement of the bushes around.

Looking at the man in front of him, though Pericles.

"Couldn't he try to hide it a little?"

With a mocking thought, Pericles asks.

- Sir, wouldn't you like to go down a little and stretch your legs? It must be very exhausting to be seated for the entire trip.

- Uh! No boy, I'm right here, get this over with as soon as possible so we can get on with our journey.

“How does he expect me to make the horses rest faster?”

Furthermore, if the wolves attacked now, Giovani would not be able to escape with the horses and would have to flee on foot. And sitting all day without stretching his legs, there's no doubt he wouldn't be able to move properly.

...

By traveling so quickly, they were able to reach their goal of the day before nightfall.

It was a clearing, a “safe” place, with protection against monsters, as it had a magical formation of protection in the area, with a small watchtower in the center, this is the same type of barrier present around the village where Pericles lives but on a smaller scale.

- You take care of the horses, I'll prepare a fire. - Said Giovani, who finally dared to go around the surrounding area.

So Pericles frees the horses and starts to feed them and check if something is bothering them, after finishing Pericles tied them to a tree, then turned around to check the area around.

While looking around, Pericles uses one of his skills.

“[Herbalist Sense]”

Herbalist Sense is a skill of the Herbalist title, it allows you to 'see' which herbs are suitable to collect in the range of vision.

Some plants had their presence more highlighted in the eyes of Pericles.

“I recognize these herbs because they are the ones I usually harvest daily, but for now, I will ignore them because my target is the little black leaf plant that parasitizes tree roots, which was not 'noticed' by my skill."

The difference between the plant that was 'marked' and this black plant, is that the first is a plant with the possibility of collecting through the Collect Herb skill, and when collected, it becomes a Material Card, which is usually used in recipes by Production Class.

This was similar to the game's material collection feature, available for the Herbalist title.

This title was unlocked for the player a moment after entering his first Tower, as the player searched any location in the tower area, he would find characteristic herbs with the possibility of interaction.

And when trying to harvest them through interaction, a window would appear asking for permission to collect, when this happens, it would mean that the title has been acquired, and after allowing the harvest, the herb would 'disappear' from the world and reappear as a card, that window and permission was the action of using Collect Herb.

The Card would contain the name, an illustration, and a short description of the object in question, normally the card would automatically be stored in the Item Box when collected if there was space, if not, it could be temporarily carried in a rented guild bag.

This would unlock the Herbalist title, and the option to collect herbs as a Material Card would be made available, and because it is a title it would remain in effect regardless of the currently active subclass.

In the game, herbs respawned in random places, but because they were in large quantities, the value obtained in the sale was not high, so it was more useful to be collected as a source of extra income.

Still in the game, they used to be used by NPCs with the alchemist class to produce potions through the crafting interface.

But in this world, it seems that healers in small remote villages often use them to make homemade remedies, produced by hand, but they don't compare to alchemists' potions and are not storable in the item box.

"This is such a waste, they shouldn't use these Herbal Cards, on lousy quality medicine."

Thought Pericles, even though he was one of the people who contributed the most to the use of Herbal Cards as ingredients of these home remedies in his village.

Normally in these small villages with healers, the younger ones who haven't yet "unlocked" their class would spend their days looking for these characteristic plants with special effects around the forest, they would then pick them up and deliver them to a vendor or the village healer, for a few coins.

After earning their classes, they would tend to look for more profitable ways to get money, the luckiest in acquiring “good” classes could choose more profitable professions, while people with the Villager class would have to depend on their family, for example, to have a field to be a farmer.

Pericles could not choose any of these options, he could only do freelance work, such as helping to plow and harvest another family's crops.

But Pericles had no intention of continuing like this, he had already understood that he couldn't be more than a Villager, so he decided to at least get some monetary support so that he and his sister could have their source of income, without depending on others.

He intended to collect some coins and buy a small field to plant within the safe area of ​​the village. Of course, he could try to create a plantation outside the village, but due to the dangers of attracting monsters, the laws prevented them from creating plantations outside a safe area.

So after turning 14, Pericles struggled to do various jobs, and for some extra gain, he decided to try to pick a few herbs daily.

He didn't expect it to be of much help, either because herbs weren't worth much, or because of the difficulty of finding them in the world, but after Pericles acquired Meryan's Blessing, he coincidentally unlocked the Herbalist title.

With the help of the title, it became easy to collect herbs as he could easily locate them with Herbalist Sense and transport them freely, making them into Herbal Cards.

But what gave Pericles a greater gain in this form of work was the fact that the village healer said that the herbs gathered by Pericles were of better quality than those gathered by others.

Of course, he was mainly comparing him to those children who would normally be the ones who would do this kind of work, but there were still adults who would gather herbs as extra income, for example, hunters also used to gather herbs on the way to the hunt.

But according to the village healer, none of them compared to Pericles, so the payment that Pericles received was a little better than the others, and the number of herbs collected per day was higher too, this made Pericles dependent on this source of income.

It was thanks to these herbs collected daily by the system, that Pericles reached level 5 in one year just by collecting herbs.

This year also made him learn how the herb gathering activity works, he realized that only herbs "perceived" by Herbalist Sense, could be collected by the Collect Herb skill.

Also, there have been cases where "marked" herbs would not allow the option to collect and instead, a message would be shown displaying "Temporarily not collectible".

In one attempt, Pericles bypassed the interface and manually harvested one of these herbs just as he did before unlocking the Herbalist title.

Upon handing this herb to the village healer, he was informed that the quality of this herb was low, as were those brought by other people.

After that event, he took note of refraining from harvesting herbs manually, and at another time when he came across another herb that showed such a warning message, he out of curiosity used the Analyze (Herbalist) skill, and with that was shown something like a timer above the herb.

So he started to wait for the time for it to run out, and when the time reached zero, the alert message changed to the permission one, and with that, he managed to collect it by the Collect Herb skill.

Now thinking with the knowledge he had of the game, he found it interesting, because the collection interface that was implemented only in the Towers, was present in the world outside the tower, and it has the variation of being possible to collect manually, because in the game after unlocking the Herbalist title no longer had the option to interact with herbs until the timer reached 00:00, forcing the player to have to wait until the timer runs out to collect it.

“Children are unable to use the Herbalist Title skills, but hunters probably didn't know the utility of the Analyze (Herbalist) skill, or didn't have the patience to wait for the timer to run out while gathering herbs on their way, so the herbs I collected through the system turned out to be of better quality than theirs."

Pericles stares at one of the herbs perceived by the Herbalist Sense skill, and uses Analyze (Herbalist), in addition to the herb's name, is shown a while telling about it, so he decides to ignore them for now.

He goes towards that black plant and again uses the Analyze (Herbalist) skill, but no information appears, he extends his hand, and no harvest permission window appears. For the last test, he tries to think of the skill as he did the others and tries to use the Collect Herb skill, and nothing happens so he takes the plant directly by hand.

Out of curiosity, he uses the Analyze (Herbalist) skill directly on the plant after being removed from the ground, to see if there is any difference, but even with the MP being consumed, indicating the skill activation, no information is presented.

- For others you are useless, but for me, you will be my greatest help. - Said Pericles looking at the plant in his hand.

Upon reaching his goal, he returns to where there is a firelight, the scene in front of him is picturesque of a real camp.

“I don't think I've ever camped like this before, either here or in the modern world.”

The merchant arranged a pot on the fire and began to heat a soup, while Pericles finished arranging the sleeping place with tattered sacks.

The food was enough to fill the belly.

- I will check the load on the wagon and then relieve myself, you make sure you don't let the fire go out, get more logs if necessary.

Before he leaves, Pericles comments in a miserable tone.

- Sir, I could boil my medicine for my breathing problems, the healer of our village told me to drink it every night.

- It's ok, just don't make a mess. – He replied without understanding why he had been informed of this.

- Eh... - Pericles pleads.

- What is? Speak up, stop stalling. – says Giovani, his face getting irritated.

- Could I get some sweetener? I left the rest I owned to my sister.

- Tsk. – He clicks his tongue in disgust – Okay, but it will come out of your salary.

- Thank you, sir. - Says Pericles while bowing.

Giovani tosses the small bottle of sweetener he carried in his bag to Pericles.

The product had already been used, so the question remains whether Giovani intends to deduct the full amount from Pericles' salary.

"It's going to come out of my salary, he's told me so many times today, that I must already be in his debt."

Pericles laughed at this funny though, as soon as Giovani left, Pericles started preparing his 'medicine'.

“I hope the recipe works like in the game, the crafting was very restrictive so I have to remember to follow each step.”

According to the steps contained in Giovani's diary after his numerous tests, the ingredients are the juice of this black plant, the sweetener, and the alzar oil, the amount for each ingredient was irrelevant, what restricted the creation was the fact that it was necessary to be in the open air, and boiling the ingredients under the moon, so if it is similar in this world, the liquid will have no effect if it is not done under the moonlight.

From the black plant, it is only necessary to squeeze the juice, not letting any other part of the plant fall into the pan, then add the sweetener.

Pericles follows each step and waits for the liquid to boil until it bubbles.

Sweetener is a crafting item, and just like alzar oil, it is low level, so any alchemist can craft it in the crafting interface.

They are also retail-produced items, and because of their cheap ingredients and low MP cost to produce, they are products that even poor people could enjoy, but for Pericles, the sweetener was an item he avoided buying, considering it superfluous.

Soon the contents of the pan begin to bubble, so he takes a half-used bottle of alzar oil from his bag, and pours the contents into the pan.

After a while a black paste forms.

Pericles very carefully removes the pan over the fire and sets it in a corner.

A few seconds later, Giovani appeared, with a curious face.

- Is that thing your medicine? Will you drink this? - He asked in disbelief.

- It's something I need to survive.

He wasn't lying about it, and with a thought, a sneaky smile formed on his lips.

- Would you like a drink sir?

Giovani makes a disgusted face.

- No, no, just get away from me soon, that smell is unbearable.

- You're the boss.

Pericles takes the pot and takes it to an area farther from the fire, but still within the safe area.

It's not the time to use it on this guy yet, so Pericles takes the container where the alzar oil was stored and puts the paralyzing liquid.

Be careful, your hands try their best not to shake, sweat can be seen running down your forehead, and your heart beats at a higher rate than normal.

He managed to complete this without fail, so he returns to the camp.

- I will go to sleep and you are responsible for the fire not going out.

Pericles nods in agreement, as he already intended to stay awake for a while longer.

He needs to check if the effect of the paralyzing liquid is in effect in this world.

But he doesn't have the "courage" to test the liquid on his own body, as he doesn't know what could happen to him if he were left paralyzed and helpless, he was also unsure if the effect would not be greater than expected and could lead to instant death.

Then Pericles returns to the horses' resting place. He takes one of the carrots and dips the tip into the bottle of black liquid.

- Excuse me, horsey, but I need to know if this thing works, I promise you that at most it will erase you... Forever.

The horse ate without fear, and just like what was described in the diary, when ingested the effect was instantaneous, the horse's head went straight to the ground, and luckily the way the horse is positioned to sleep has a balance, for otherwise, he would have made a greater noise when collapsing.

This form is also good for disguise, if Giovani comes to check on the horses in the next few hours, he will think that the animal is just sleeping.

- I just hope you didn't die. - Says Pericles as he puts his hands on the animal, he realizes that there is no breathing and that the animal's heart is not beating.

After checking on the animal, Pericles takes some logs and returns to the camp to rest.

...

The night passed quickly, Pericles tried to remain as vigilant as possible about Giovani, but at some point, he closed his eyes.

The next morning he felt a little refreshed thanks to the rest in the open air, but because of the ragged bed, Pericles feels some discomfort in his muscles.

He then realizes that the sky is close to dawn, but he is not aware of the precise time, the fire seems to have gone out a short time ago, and luckily Giovani is still sleeping.

Pericles gets up and goes towards the horses.

Upon arriving there he sees his laboratory mouse awake and well, as Pericles remembers, the paralyzing liquid when ingested, led to an effect lasting approximately 8 hours.

The horse also didn't appear to have any reprisals towards Pericles, but that's just guesswork, as he wouldn't get any answers if he asked, "Hey horse, you hate me for using you to test the effect of a dangerous liquid with harmful effects. unknown?”.

After running his hands over the horse, checking his body for any apparent problems, Pericles returns his attention to the area around him.

- Complete preparations. I just have to wait until the moment we leave.