469 Herbalist Shop

[BONUS]

There existed a collection of ancient symbols that could be used to imbue whatever they were inscribed upon with tangible magic power. Doing so was called Runecarving –– an ancient art practiced by a few supremely skilled individuals.

Ren's interest lay in Runecarving. This Life Skills would greatly add boon to his crafted items.

If carved correctly and imbued with rare and valuable Runestones, these magical runes could be used to enchant mundane items and even upgrade magical objects, as well as breathe life into arcane constructs.

This convenient transfer of magical power had enabled Runecarvers to create equipment so powerful they were worth an arm and a leg. The abilities acquired by these items were based on the Runestones carved on them.

There was a limitation in carving Runestones. As a rule of thumb, it was only possible to upgrade magic items that didn't already possess multiple magical properties. Carving a magical rune on a [Longsword] or a pair of [Boots of Speed] was possible. But adding a Runestones to legendary or artifact equipment wasn't possible.

It was also impossible to enchant an item with more than four different runes. In addition, runes don't stack with themselves, and specific runes couldn't be applied multiple times to the same item.

To date, there were twenty different Runes that Ren knew, and each had different effects when carved into a piece of equipment. Each of these Runestones could be carved on armor, weapons, and wearable items to make them magic items or enhance their existing magical powers.

So far, what he got from Inti was Algiz rune x5, Ansuz x4, and Dagaz Runestones x7. Each of these had different attributes and effects.

And the last of the Arcane Life Skills was Spellwarping, but Ren only had minimum knowledge of it. It was a dangerous and volatile thing that allowed one to reshape and transform the raw essence of magic itself.

Spellwarpers could use their powers to warp magic, craft unique enchanted items, or even leave permanent Spellmarks that granted others a silver of their capricious magical abilities.

The marks created by wild magic were varied like magic itself and could come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. The magical attributes they imbued on the subjects were even more varied depending on the marks.

These Spellmarks usually manifest as crisscrossing blue lines that cover large areas of the body, like the [Alloy] Spellmarks. It would either grant resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, or upon suffering, the person with the mark could add the damage to his HP.

So far, that's what Ren knew of the Arcane Arts. Moving on, Ren continued forward in the land of the elves.

It was already dark and Pii rested on his shoulder while giving him occasional directions. Since Ren had long ago deleted his [Dark Vision], he opted for the good old RPG style [Torch] to light his way.

He also didn't stop [Foraging], for there were herbs and plants that only bloomed at night. This venture of his into the middle part of the woodland didn't come without troubles and mostly in the forms of Elves.

Wild Elves, Dark Elves, Guard Elves that didn't take kindly to other races. These creatures had their ATP in the one hundred or more, so they didn't pose any threat to Ren.

When the game time struck twelve in the morning, Pii was back on its wings in full health, and it proceeded to guide the way until they stumbled upon a Herbalist Shop in the middle of the woods.

Flora's Herbalist Shop was carved on its placard. The shop was inside an ancient tree like Hubert Trinket Shop, and the interior of the shop was a state-of-the-art harmony between nature and architecture; its setting reflected the environment in both quality and effects.

Though Ren had to admit that it was a jungle inside with some of the plants trying to eat him.

Navigating his way towards the counter, a woman of twenty-one or so with dreadlocks of green hair shied away when their eyes met.

Ren used [Probe] and found that the woman was Flora, a half-elf and owner of this Herbalist Shop.

Even when Ren was in front of her, Flora showed no sign of greeting, like he was invisible in her eyes.

Flora didn't hate visitors, but she lacked the most basic social interaction skills like introducing herself, being polite, and –– the most serious thing –– she didn't remember that visitors weren't used to the chaos she lived in.

It confused her that customers didn't find it funny when her plants tried to bite them or when they were poisoned by pollen from her exotic flowers scattered around the shop –– only really doing something about it if there was danger of death, which had almost happened more than once.

And, of course, Florin had her own set of quests. But Ren wasn't interested in them.

"Hello. I'm here to buy and sell the herbs I collected in the forest," Ren started.

"Augh . . ." Flora opened and closed her mouth, didn't know what to say. Her answer was a short nod and a turn of her face to the side.

Ren didn't bother since he was only curious about the items she sold and the prices of his herbs if he sold them.

Exploring the herbs and potions in her lists something piqued Ren's interest. "These bottles are weird."

Florin's face whipped in Ren's direction with a wide smile on her lips. "I like to use wooden bottles with grafts of small flowering seedlings attached. As long as those flowers are alive, the potion will still be good to use. If the flowers die, so is the potion."

This was probably not true. Ren thought. But it was just one of the many oddities of this strange woman, but . . . who knows?

While Florin kept talking about flowers and her favorite carnivorous plants, Ren sold some of the useless herbs he didn't need. It was better to sell the plants in a Herbalist's Shop, for he could sell them double the price than in regular shops in town.