I had arrived back at my farm as the sun set, and the amber light painted itself over the clouds. It turned into violets and reds as the sun set, and I found Ophelia sitting on the ground, staring up at it. Mirchie had nestled herself onto her lap, and both of them were barely away from a newly constructed rabbit house. The quality of the wood, the housing, and even the small crackling of flames coming from the interior suggested that it might have been far better built than my own hovel.
I approached beside her, and she looked up at me. “This is not my first time seeing the sunset, but being able to do it off Father’s land is new. I spent the entire day outside.”
I nodded, and sat beside her. “Are you actually planning to stay here?”
She didn’t turn her attention from the setting sun. “Possibly, if you will have me. I had already received word from one of the wait-staff that I was the designated successor of Elias’ land. Since the land is not blighted anymore, I am not capable of going there in the mornings. Likewise, I believe the assets were either burned, or seized by the church.”
I chuckled. “Guess you’re like me now, huh?” I tried, leaning into her body. Mirchie jumped from Ophelia’s lap to mine, immediately squeaked and shivered, then bounced back to the living corpse. Ophelia gently pushed me off, her teeth chattering for a moment.
“You must look into your new class and get it tamed. That witchmark—either from your Winter Court or from the Dead Goddess—is far too severe. I can feel the chill on you, Lady Hart,” she dryly stated. “And unfortunately, I must share in that kinship. I would like to rebuild my manor on my land, but replacing an entire mansion will require far more than what I currently have.”
I nodded again, and looked at my fields. “Jasmine and Madeleine are going to be discussing what to do about the Silent Path. Jasmine’s coming tomorrow to help me with the trellises. They wanted you to go when night falls to the Cat’s Cradle and discuss a plan.”
“You are not joining us, Lady Hart?” she responded, turning her head to face me while the sun finally dipped down over the horizon. Ophelia looked far more mature and sharper now that she had ascended.
“No. I want to focus on farming. Maddy gave me the money to buy some seeds and manure, and… I don’t really care about that part of the job. I think it’s between you and Madeleine.”
She spat on the ground, though her spit was red and strong. “It is really not. The Silent Path is our next obstacle, no matter how you see the problem. There are more Night-Things than vampires, and if you wish to sell to them, you ought to care.”
“That’s the thing, Ophelia. I can’t imagine the reason your kind is so obsessed with these things is just because it’s carrots and vegetables, right? I saw you eating meat, so…”
She shook her head. “All Night-Things subsist on Vitae… which I believe you are calling Anima. A blood crop is a source of vitae and flavour created by someone capable of making it. I know the prices seem large to you, but to us, it is very, very minor.”
“I don’t really get how. Isn’t gold and silver just mined or something? Or I guess a [Vendor] can produce them.”
She nodded. “Mortal gold and silver is. Monsters, as your kind calls us, earn it differently. Our [Vendor] farms are far more efficient, but our leaders gain the [Lair]. Why do you think adventurers keep raiding them?”
“A [Lair]?” I repeated.
“Father’s house was a [Lair]. Wealth stored in a [Lair] multiplies through interest. If we start with 100 gold, it is not unheard of to have a room filled with thousands within a fortnight. The issue for us is that your queen has minted ‘true’ money, and our society doesn’t really need it. It lets us live in yours.”
“So, criminals have a massive source of money.”
“No. Bosses do. Wealth is just one form of their power, then comes clans, guilds, lineages. Villains are stronger yet.”
“What is a villain?” I teased. "Like, from a book?"
Ophelia looked at me. “Your [Farm Girl] is considered part of the lesser classes—Commoners, as you mortals refer to them. A [Farm Girl] is a novice, Lady Hart. When you advance into a [Farmer], you become what is considered a proper Commoner. A [Farmer] then becomes a [Master Farmer]... an expert.”
“I knew that already,” I responded.
“I am aware. But it’s because of that you probably think everything is a strict one-to-one. That is true for commoners. For Monsters, like me… we start as Monsters. A [Vampire] is a monster. We then ascend through our actions into a [Boss]. My father was a [Vampire Lord], the typical path. If we do not do things to change our destiny, like meet a budding necromancer, we would never naturally become an [Ancient]. That is similar to you commoners.”
“And a villain?”
“A Villain is the equivalent of your Expert. I do not know what an [Ancient] becomes, but a [Vampire Lord] becomes a [Count], and they tend to own provinces. They shape the very land they live on—a [Goblin Underboss] makes the areas around filled with strife and slavery, for example.”
“Goblins exist?”
“Yes, they do, Lady Hart. Moving on—your new class, a Hero, as you probably realized, is far, far different. You start as an Adventurer—an [Acolyte] in your case. You were given tasks, and aligned yourself to become a [Necromancer]—a Hero. Now, any Commoner class, like [Farmer], or other [Hero] class like… [Cryotheurge] is absorbed into your [Necromancer] as a role. When you reach the maximum power of a [Necromancer], you are allowed to ascend again. However, your ascension is based on the roles you had. Your roles can only go to a smaller maximum, but when trained, are fully absorbed into your main class.”
“What does that mean?”
“When you finish understanding how to be [Cryotheurge], you no longer have to set it as your role to use its powers as [Necromancer]. I believe that is how your… Adrian, cast [Daylight] as a [Paladin] and [Inquisitor]. He already mastered [Farmer] into his [Paladin].”
“You’re oddly well informed.”
“Elizabeth Bazerie is a [Vampyre] near her ascension, and if she succeeds, she will become a [Blood Witch]. We do not have ‘titles’ like ‘Expert’ or ‘Villain’ for heroes that ascend—they become known by their new class. Which brings me back to the main point: If you do not deal with the Silent Path, the [Blood Witch] will deal with you.”
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I frowned at her statement. “Why?”
“Because you are in direct competition and opposition to what she does. She enslaves and dominates the populace. You create an army out of the dead. Those two are not the same, even if your root—[Acolyte]—was. She is a bonfire to your campfire, and will snuff you out to continue her blaze.”
My frown deepened. “You should go see Maddy then. I’ll… try to deal with my field, and see if I can come to a decision then.”
She nodded and got up. Mirchie jumped from her lap and ran to her house, away from me and my chill. I pouted, but I had work that needed to be done.
I finally pulled up the quest log after I had summoned Rattlejack, Munch, Crunch, Lunch, and Big Boy from the ground. I finally named my zombies!
Since I was here, I didn’t need Mirchie to manage them, as I gave them orders to begin tilling the fields and preparing it. Since I already had carrots growing, I set up the 81 spots for strawberries, another 81 spots for the potatoes, and then 81 spots for the peas—which I couldn’t grow without the trellises.
The undead slowly dug away, and I gave Big Boy the manure. He held it idly… and I realized the issue. While using tools was simple work, I wouldn’t be able to command them to fertilize the fields.
Would that mean they wouldn’t be able to maintain them against insects and disease, or even harvest?
I guess Ophelia could, but I had a feeling she would murder me in my sleep if I tried telling her I wanted her to throw manure on the fields, and then harvest crops.
At least I found the limits to my common-soul creatures.
Yet, I couldn’t advance any of them. My necromancer quest needed three advanced minions… but my [Advance] spell only allowed me to make one. I was glad Ophelia counted as a minion, but that led to an issue.
How do I make advanced minions naturally? I could easily make more common ones, but I frankly didn’t really need more help just using tools. Rattlejack and the Zombie Boys (and I was proud of that name!) could easily work through the night and have the entire place tilled and watered if I wanted.
But they wouldn’t fertilize, harvest, or maintain.
I chewed my lip on that thought. I had only used common souls—the bandits were common, going against my hypothesis in the Mortis Agrariae—so maybe the quality of a soul came up? But then when I examined the bodies, it only said lesser beings as well.
My heart beat at the thought.
I’d have to kill more, collect bodies, and collect souls to experiment. Would an uncommon soul in a common body make it advance? What makes an uncommon body? Is it the quality of the person?
And that wasn’t even going towards the other one. [Cryotheurge] needed a Frost Conduit. What the hell was a Frost Conduit? This one, at least, I had a lead on. The pretty boy from the bar, Adrian’s friend… Mini, I think?
He seemed to recognize the [Winter Court] and my class-made role. I could inquire with him about it for sure. That one was simple to get a lead on, but the other topic came back.
There was no way of skirting around it. I would have to acquire bodies to experiment, to test, and figure out. The tooltip didn’t aid anymore, but…
I pulled out my 24 bone daggers I had made out of the wolf’s ribs. I apparently cracked two, since a wolf should have 26.
I looked over the set, and waved my hand.
The cool chill of winter flowed from my palms, and the frost surrounded and encroached the dirt and grass. It colored it white in its frozen blanket, and the howling surrounded me. Mirchie angrily squeaked, as I saw the flame inside her new house begin to sputter and frost coat the windows.
Ophelia even made her windows? What a sweet girl.
I turned my attention to the bone daggers in front of me, and saw them begin to shift. While before they were crude and simple flying knives, they became more jagged and sharp. The teeth serrated, and the blade formed a gully. Green light shimmered over its bone-white form, and the hilt became wrapped in black leather.
I lifted one up, and it was noticeably heavier.
That… gave me a lead. Levan was a name I knew too well, often considered the father of the cult. Legends say he had become the first necromancer, and thus, his books had been banned from most scholarly circles.
Which… was weird. I don’t think I ever read a book from Levan, yet I knew who he was. When I closed both of my eyes, I could see the ghastly shape floating. Black, tattered cloaks and a pale, white face. Chains looped around his waist like a belt, and floating, ghostly hands hovered behind him.
[Lich].
The word came as a whisper from my Dark Mother. And so did a city, one fairly nearby to Oakheart.
Talbotton.
If I wanted to investigate the mystery of how to create better undead, I’d have to go to Levan’s home town, and desecrate his false grave.
Big Boy groaned at me, still holding the manure. I frowned, and got to work fertilizing the fields. I had my workforce plant the seeds and water, and then, I went to sleep.
I had three promising leads.
Talbotton for the undead.
Mini… Maxi? For the [Cryotheurge]—which did remind me I should actually look at what abilities I had gotten for that role.
And then the Silent Path.
Thankfully, my farm was now on the growing stage, so I didn’t have to be here and water. I would need to inspect every so often to make sure diseases and insects wouldn’t come… and, given how fertile my fields were, I imagined encroaching animals.
Fuel for the compost heap.
What plot thread?
