Kyle switched with Blaine and soon they were in the room in the tree. He was holding her tight and he didn't want to let her go. He was excited and nervous at the same time. What if it doesn't work? That inkling was in the back of his mind.
Eventually, Lana pushed him way, "give it a try."
Kyle nodded, used the book to get 5 more high-level abilities, then placed his hand on top of the book. Soon, there was an identical one in his other hand. He grinned. He decided to keep the original in case the duplicate wasn't permanent and give his grandmother the copy. He put the duplicate ability in the original book then sat down and deleted the things he didn't want his grandmother to have that he added so far this year.
While he did that, Lana opened the bracelet and started arranging things to make it easier to find what she wanted when she wanted it. It took her longer than Kyle to do what needed to be done. By the time she paid attention to the world, Kyle had her laying on the bed in his arms.
"All organized?" he grinned.
She chuckled, "well, someone decided to buy all the gear known to man but yes. It's all organized."
She could feel Kent nosing around and realized he wanted his lunch so she took care of that.
"Lana, can you tell me… Is the invisibility person still following us around?"
Lana nodded. "Sure is. They still have not managed to sneak under this tree."
"Do you have any idea as to who it is?"
"Me? No. But I bet Paul does. It's bugging you, isn't it."
He nodded. "It means you're still in danger. He worked for Pucket and we don't know who Pucket worked for."
Lana nodded. "We can ask Paul tonight when we bring him food. I do need to grow more stuff for the market stall tomorrow. I'm mostly ready but… We have that portal outing and I'd like to have extra food stored in my bracelet as well in case it's needed. They never tell us what kind of planet we are going to until we are ready to leave."
"We'll be ready."
Lana chuckled, "is that why you bought all that gear?"
He shook his head, "it's… insurance."
Lana nodded and kissed him. "Somehow we'll get through this."
They spent the rest of the evening growing and stowing food and getting dinner cooked for their friends. Lana also added the things she needed to package food to her bracelet. She didn't put it all in there because she wanted to keep things organized. It was enough, she felt, to get through the market event the next day.
When they took a break in their preparations to bring food to Paul they asked, "do you know who the invisibility user is?"
"Of course I do. Right now, I'm not sure what kind of threat he is so I'm monitoring his movements."
Lana smiled, "thank you. So far, he hasn't tried anything that I can tell. I'm guessing he has a high level the amount of time he spends using his ability."
"His record says he's a level-8."
Lana and Blaine were not surprised by this. "We are working on market preps for tomorrow. I'm only going to do one more after that then focus on my research."
Paul smiled, "I'm glad to hear that! I have been marking down the foods that increase my vitality according to my system. It's quite remarkable. Some of your meat dishes increased my strength a small bit as well. There has also been the occasional dish that improved my intelligence and focus. My sleep has drastically improved in quality since I started eating your cooking."
Lana smiled, "I have not been doing the cooking. I taught Kattie and Almin and they are cooking food grown by me. I have also purchased a few cookbooks and will add more in the coming months."
Paul grinned, "so it really is the quality of the food you grow rather than your cooking."
Lana smiled and nodded.
Blaine put his hand on her shoulder, "we need to get back to the tree and grow more stuff. The daylight is going to be gone before we know it. Then grow some more in the morning before the event."
Lana laughed, "and more after the event!"
Paul looked puzzled, "why after? How much food are you growing?"
"My bracelet is a dimensional storage device. Only the three of us and Kattie know about it right now. I plan to stow my team's bags to make combat easier as well as the kitchen. Bringing as much food in there as possible will also increase our hunting time."
[System Inspect: Level 5 Storage Bracelet of Elora
This bracelet contains a storage room that is 10x10x10. If destroyed, all items stowed will be dropped where the destruction took place. If damaged, the bracelet repairs itself one HP per 10 seconds. 5,000 HP total.]
Paul nodded, "my system has storage as well. It's why my room is not as messy as it was when we first got here. The system upgraded and I put everything away that isn't needed." Paul read what his system said about the bracelet and decided to share the information with her. "Enjoy the rest of your evening, I'll see you tomorrow."
Lana smiled, "thank you for the information! See you tomorrow!"
The market event went extremely well. With students getting ready for the next outing, they were busy shopping for weapons, armor, and other gear. The scent coming from Lana's stall drew people like flies. Everything she had prepared sold out. Her biggest issue was she expected people to focus on training, not shopping so she didn't prepare enough. In total, her stall only brought in 1,786 credits.
Blaine ordered dinner just before she was due to close her stall and met her and their friends under the tree. This time even Chekof and Karlen were there so they could discuss the outing.
"Since we don't know what planet we are going to, we can only prepare the best we can." Lana dropped her voice, "I have a way to carry a bunch of things so pack everything you think you need and I'll take your bag once we get there. I don't want to have anyone suspicious of us for going without bags. We will get meat once we get there, hit the market and get a few things. What are everyone's thoughts?"
Karlen chimed in first, "it's great to make us lighter out there and more prepared. This planet is supposed to be more challenging than the last two. The bottom third of our class has to sit this one out because it's too dangerous for them. What I want to know, is everyone good on armor and weapons? This is the last chance to rectify that. I know we both have new team members."
Everyone said they were in one form or another. Duff was the only one who was concerned.
"I'm using the level-1 set of sai from the beast weapons class. Is it going to be strong enough?"
Lana handed him the new sai she got him which were level-4, "return those and use these."
Lana then looked at everyone's watches.
Karlen: 6 (speed)
Blaine: 6 (copy)
Chekof: 6 (transformation)
Rene: 5 (healing)
Tobias: 3 (going to 4, wind)
Lana: 6 (plants)
Kattie: 5 (beast tamer)
Dobin: 5 (earth, going to 7)
Alto: 5 (water, going to 6)
Almin: 6 (metal)
Duff: 3 (stat swap)
Each team had a level 3. Blaine's team was clearly stronger because he had a werewolf on his team. Since the trees had shared Karlen's secret, she knew he was a vampire as well. There were a few instances where the trees showed him taking people into the forest, their eyes dazed. He then extracted blood from them, told them to forget about it, and they returned to their rooms as though nothing had happened. On outings, Blaine was his … assistant.
"If no one has any further questions, I guess we are as ready as we can be. Go rest. Dobin, could you stay back, please?"
After everyone was gone but Blaine and Dobin, Lana asked, "how are you doing on those earth books?"
Dobin chuckled, "I'm almost done with level 7 right now. I'm leaving my watch at 5."
Lana grinned, "perfect."
"Blaine and I have loaded a bunch of our stuff into my bracelet. Did you want to do the same?" She then explained the nature of her bracelet to him.
Dobin thought about it for a moment, "is there room considering how much you're preparing for this outing?"
"One of my cabinets is still empty because I'm leaving the food in the stackable crates. We can put some of your stuff in there. I'll be adding more packing material since we used up all of what I had packed already."
Dobin nodded, "let's do it. I'll wait for you to cook Paul's food and we'll stop by my room before you guys return here."
Lana smiled, "sounds good."
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