Homesteading in a fantasy world

Bert took a moment to gather himself and then guided Rich a bit further away from everyone. “The trait is an interesting one for what it can offer but most importantly it affects you. Well yes, basically every trait affects yourself but this one goes a lot deeper than just you’re physically stronger because you have stronger muscle fibres. This trait changes your perception of the world.”

Rich looked a bit taken aback by this news. How much did this trait change his personality? Bert could see the contemplating look that Rich had and let him have a few more moments before he continued.

“You are thinking about if this trait changed who you are then I’m afraid to tell you the answer is yes. The most common effect of this trait even the lower version is that it makes you more receptive to nature and its needs.”

“I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I have known people who would think this is an unacceptable amount of influence. There are many different minor effects it can have but the strength of them depends on the person; some can’t ever pick up iron weapons for example.”

“If you have a strong personality the way the trait affects you is a lot more subtle, but no one can completely mitigate those effects. Now some people might think this is good, some bad but let me tell you some things that are definitely good things.”

Rich was a bit disturbed but that only lasted a few moments he did not feel his choices were different like he was forced to make different decisions, but he made them because he understood more. And when a trace of memory came up and reminded him how everything changes you even your dog, he let go of the worry that this trait changed him. Everything changes you in the end.

“If you live in nature so not in huge cities or the mountain halls of the dwarves your energy regenerates faster. If you own land, it will be even better, and it can have a lot of other effects as well as I’m sure you already know.”

“It can also reinforce your energy getting it to a higher tier and that might be extremely useful. It also enables the use and learning of energy-based nature magic. There are a few different forms of it but the one that I know is called druidic magic.” To the last part, Rich looked with quite a bemused face.

“Don't look at me like that. I didn’t name this form of magic. Energy-based magics are not widely known and are usually developed and kept secret in different organizations or societies.”

“Of course, basics are quite widespread because there are lower versions of the trait that are quite common in some areas. There are three forms of energy-based nature magic that are extremely well developed. One is what the beast tribes use. Theirs is a lot more focused on the self and becoming a stronger form of the animal that their ancestors once were. Of course, there is what I know druid magic it’s the most flexible and the last one is used by the elves mainly to shape their cities.”

Rich tried to keep his face from revealing how much joy it brought to him to learn about all of this but failed which made Bert quite happy to see that his words are being appreciated. “But those are the main points and I’ll be happy to teach you more about this form of magic but for this knowledge, I would like in return to know how to get that trait.”

“Is this something you would be interested in?” Bert said in a hopeful voice. He hoped that his willingness to teach his form of magic would be enough, but his face fell when Rich started to speak.

“I’m afraid that this is not enough. You see I’m a simple farmer or at least I was and there are a lot more things about the wider world that I am uninformed of if you could also help me in that department, I would be extremely grateful?” Rich could see the tension flowing out of Bert when he got passed the first part of his sentence. But he didn’t answer immediately but thought about his answer.

This would be giving a lot of information and my time for perhaps getting nothing back. Bert looked up and ask in a serious voice. “The knowledge you would tell me will be able to help me get the same version of the trait as you?” This gave Rich pause; would he be able to give it to him?

He sought answers from his class to know if he could take more apprentices and it turns out he can, but he went deeper to get a better idea of what requirements there were. An apprentice needed to have an empty class slot or a class that can be a part of the homesteader class.

There was more as he dug deeper. He couldn't give anyone his apprenticeship that had a rare class even if it was a farming class. It needed to be below that rarity for him to be able to overwrite a person's class with his apprenticeship.

“This would depend on a few things but let’s make the trade a bit easier for you. I would want knowledge of the wider world and its workings and just the theory behind energy-based magic and in exchange, you get the knowledge that I have.” Bert thought about this for a few moments, but this simple change made it a lot easier to deliver on his part and he started to nod his head. Rich put out his hand for him to take and he returned it.

“I guess the trade has been made. It’s quite simple in fact. It’s my class it’s a bit special and if you get it, you get that trait of true nature connection.” It was hard to see astonishment on Ursine face, but currently, it was quite clear to see, and it got only worse as Rich continued. “With this class that I have I can take apprentices and this version of the class has the nature connection trait also given as soon as you get it. So that's about it.”

Bert finally got out of his stupor and spoke. “That's about it he said it so casually. This is the first time I’m hearing about this being an option in a regular class pick. For burning shit's sake, he said it so casually.” Bert kept rambling on as Rich looked at him with quite a lot of amusement.

When the swearing and ranting finally ended Rich explained a little bit more and when Bert learned about the apprenticeship requirements, he quickly checked his achievement page and let out a sigh of relief. In one of his class slots was an uncommon herbalist farmer class that he simply hasn’t had time to focus on. Need to thank Tom for not leaving me time to level that class.

They discussed a little bit more and came to a deal that perhaps in the future they might actually go through it. Bert would teach him proper druidic magic while he was apprenticing under him to get the full homesteader class and get something he had wanted since he learned of the trait true nature connection. But that will need to be revisited at a later date.

While most people would be afraid to give out this kind of information and to some extent, it was true with Rich as well, he knew that he needed to trust someone and while they spoke he worked on tamping down his fear of what might become of this.

When he thought back about all that he had seen here most people would probably break or couldn't handle the changes. Now it would be a lie to tell that he was not afraid, but he had the courage to overcome all that might frighten him.

He was not always like this. Before the war, he might have been a bit braver than your average person but the war truly made him brave, not afraid of the next moment that might lead him to his death. It was the reason why he was still alive and of course a huge amount of luck.

So now again he leveraged his luck and hoped that it and courage would take him through one of the most scariest parts of his new life. Revealing information that other people might deem useful enough to get truly interested in him.

While this was going on quite a different situation was happening between Falyr and the three apprentices as they had no idea what to say or do when Bert and Rich just walked away without a moment's notice.

They eventually fell into silence as they all looked at how the training was done. Arthur was looking with quite an interest trying to soak in as much as he could. But to George and Emma’s surprise, they seem to do the same. It seems that going through the dungeon and Rich’s teachings had changed them quite a lot from their former selves that did not want anything to do with fighting.

Eventually, they saw Rich and Bert coming back with smiles on their faces. Falyr was a bit annoyed at their smug faces. He had to be here for over half an hour. At least the awkwardness had lessened over time.

He was quite annoyed that Bert took Rich away as he really needed to talk to him about the dungeon and who knows how much time they were planning to spend in the village. When Rich was close enough, he was a bit confused to see his apprentices still there. “I thought I said that you had free time until evening. Oh, wait I guess I didn’t say it. Oh well like I said we will be here quite late into the evening so feel free to do anything you want.”

The apprentices just rolled their eyes at that, already used to the forgetfulness of their teacher. They just shook their heads and said they were quite interested in looking at the training but when they saw Falyr's eyes and his look they made a hurried excuse to check out the village and left quickly.

Now even Rich and Bert picked up on how annoyed Falyr actually was and Bert quickly gave out multiple apologies which Falyr reluctantly agreed to and started to relax a bit. His annoyance returned when he did not get answers to what they were discussing but Rich quickly diffused the situation by asking if he had anything to discuss.

Falyr looked at Rich with a calculating look. He quickly came to the decision and spoke. “Yes, there are a few things but perhaps my office would be a better place to discuss.” To that Rich nodded and started to follow behind Falyr. He had not extended an invitation to Bert. He looked at the backs of Rich and Falyr and spoke. “I guess I deserved that.” And just like that, he sat back to the place he was before and started to think more about everything he had learned.