"I found these..." Aurelia puts a couple of rings and some gloves in the table
She did bring candies, also. The surface has a few cinnamon rolls, tea, and other delicious food Lisa helped her pick up.
The items she placed on the table are of cheap materials. The rings are made of copper and bronze, the gloves of hemp. Simple materials that are common in the region, nothing fancy or complicated. I specified that they should just be made of cheap resources, even when they have low enchantments and modifiers.
What I care about is if they do something about my skills.
The copper ring gave +3 to cooking, the bronze one +5. The gloves +2.
In total, if I equip these items I will have 12 in cooking. Not that big, but useful for the most basic stuff.
I have forgotten to explain how skill levels were seen by the players. Combat and crafting skills follow a simple trend in their scaling. Level 10 is when you get good at the basic stuff. I can make good white rice, for example, without the risk of burning the whole place. Level 20 is intermediate, you are above the basics and can do a few of the most complicated recipes.
At level 30 you are at the expert level, and what comes next is mastering each recipe and making them better, hunting for ingredients to push the rest of your skills with their stats bonuses.
And then you still need to reach certain thresholds to use the full potential of each ingredient and even be able to handle the most rare ones or they will be wasted.
Why? Because it is at this point that items start to shine even more. Level 30 onwards is when good enchantments and bases start to appear, crafting becomes powerful enough for you to build anything you need and improve on it, and tradeskills to make money start to make gold rain more often.
This is the point where players usually got into focusing on their gear instead of just grinding levels. Which is what I am doing right now.
It takes in-game years to master a skill to that level, even more to push it to the endgame point.
This is another reason why godly level spells keep almost killing me. All of them ask a Spell Weaving and Magic Control level of at least 30 to reduce damage from overcasting enough. I would still lose HP without enough MP, but I wouldn't run the same risk.
While I am focused into thinking about my designs and plans, Karina comments something.
"At least your hands will be useful for something else than just groping."
My ears twitch in annoyance.
"I have not done such a thing, you brat!"
"Brat?! You arrogant idiot! You have been touching a very sensitive part of my blade!"
"Why is it like that?! I have to use it's skill!"
Meanwhile, Leiva, who is staring confused at us, asks a simple question.
"W-who is she talking to?"
"Oh... She is followed by a spirit that lives in her sword."
"H-huh?"
"Yeah, it is flat as a board and is the one that throws shit around." Aurelia comments, sitting on a chair.
And, as prompted, Karina throws a cinnamon roll at her face.
"Don't talk about my chest size!"
I don't feel bad for Aurelia, she had that coming to her for that comment.
"Give me that damn sword, I am teaching that bitch a lesson!" Aurelia screams.
Karina's anger falls and now she seems worried I will do it and give the sword to her. Aurelia knows about her weakness.
"Forget it. I prefer that you give me a report on what you found."
"Fine!" She sits back with her arms crossed. "We found the old man... And you didn't tell me he was that strong. I had to get serious with him." She smirks.
"He managed to pin her down to the ground." Lisa adds.
"Wow, really?" I say, surprised at this development.
"H-hey! He took me by surprise, alright?! ...but, for a human, I guess he is strong."
Aurelia is annoyed, but I am seeing a potential ally if I could crack his shell open. If I can recruit him, maybe he could be a good asset for when we are ready to explore the Nothing.
I have to figure out what his deal is with Leiva, I guess. Then he might be willing to join me and become a powerful asset to what I am building here.
Tomorrow back to the search for this person with the chickens and to continue paying attention to the mayor. Maybe even looking into the rest of the names.
If we find another dead body it will start to cause a stir in town. The attempt at Ash and Leiva made too much noise.
My next issue comes when we decide to hit the beds. I only brought 3, not 4. I was not expecting Leiva to come when I bought them.
"I have a solution. Boss, sleep with me!" Aurelia says.
I am fearful.
"Are you sure, Amber?" Lisa asks, concerned.
No, I am not.
"I could sleep on the floor."
"Ugh, so annoying. I am not going to do anything to you!"
All the time she is hitting on me!
"It sucks, doesn't it?" Karina comments.
"You shut up." I answer.
But it was one of the only options. I would have preferred to sleep with Lisa or even Leiva, but as she was the only one that offered, the rest just rolled with it.
And although it is still a bit odd for me, I do sleep without my clothes on. After last night I decided that I should just drop the act and just accept that this will be a common occurrence until I get personal rooms for everyone.
I managed to get a nice sleep, although a bit less comfortable for having to share the bed.
Aurelia kept her hands to herself, although, once again, she slept completely naked, surprising Leiva completely.
I am impressed with how easy it is for her to go naked in front of people she just met. I am getting her some sleeping clothes because I cannot have her running around naked in the base.
She doesn't speak much about herself. I wonder what goes through her head sometimes.
I really doubt she is that one dimensional.