Master Of None

"Gil! Listen, you definitely should make a ton of the elemental arrows and I will store them in my inventory. Then you can use whatever ones you want in a set. But I want you to use the horned rabbits paralyzing poison to make some paralyzing arrows too. I would prefer to have some arrows that won't kill an opponent. Some situations don't need us to kill things." Walker was dead set in this and Gil did not look like he would argue. 

"Fine, but we need to get more crystals so i can use the my new arrow crafting skill." Gil practically bounced in place. He had lost a lot of his normal coolness after figuring this out. However the more walker looked at him the more he realized something. Gil's eyes were sunken in and he had dark circles under them. His body had plenty of scratches from traveling through the brush in the woods in search of prey. 

"Actually first you need to go help your mother since she said to have you go meet her in the garden. Then you need to rest since it looks like you haven't slept since you left." This was final, Walker would not let up on this for any reason. If Gil was going to rush off to train it was fine, but there was no way Walker would let him train to death. 

"But I need to test this dagger and make-"

"Nope, your mother. Then go rest. Then you can play with the arrows and the dagger. I will even get the crystals all set up for you while you sleep." Walker gave a little but still refused to let Gil get away without resting. "And here I thought Remey would be the one that I would have to yell at about rest. Did you notice that the alchemy lab wasn't putting out smoke when you got back? That's because she realized she needed rest." Walker used his trump card. If Gil knew that he was lagging behind everyone including Remey who was more stubborn he would have to go rest. 

Gil stood up and left the forge grumbling about wanting to try out his new dagger. Bur Walker paid him no mind since he knew his party would have made him rest too. It was all a part of being a family. They needed to look out for each other even when one of them was being way too stubborn for their own good. 

Walker left the wandering blacksmith who was still tinkering with a few small things left over from the materials he had been given. It was clear that he refused to waste a single bit of material. The odds and ends had become household tools like knives, rakes, and there was even the start of a wood cutting ax. Walker couldn't help but wonder how many people had kitchen knives made of dragon scales. 

When Walker came to the front garden again to see how Gil was doing he found that Remey and Su were standing next to Gil and his mother looking at the ground. Midnight had even made her way outside and was growling at a small mound of dirt that seemed to be rising up higher by the second. 

' Long term quest: Return of life has been completed. 

Requirement:

Bring back four species of extinct plants.

Reward: 

1000 exp multiplied to 10000 exp

A visit'

Walker and the party had completely forgotten this quest that had shown up when the immortal king had given walker the seeds from his city before it fell to ruin. "Guys get away from that! This has to be that ancient Lich!" 

The rest of the party heard him and jumped back away from the rising mound of dirt. Gil's mother had no idea what was going on but hearing that there could be danger she followed the others and stood behind them. Midnight was still growling louder and louder as the mound of dirt grew. 

Soon brown pieces of rotted wood started to show. The mound was falling away revealing a large decrepit coffin. There were roots and small insects crawling from it. The aura of death and smell of rot was strong. "Ahhh, I only have five of these coffins left. It takes a few years worth of energy to use them and project my consciousness. But I did leave you with a task. You humans completed it a little faster than i expected." The familiar voice of Immortal King caused them all to freeze. 

"Hmm no greeting, and here I thought you would all be happy to hear my voice." The malice dripped from each word as the rotten brown coffin started to fall to pieces revealing a barley help together skeleton. There were bits of cloth that hung to the bones along with various black lines on the bones. It looked like it had been infected. "I use one of my most valuable magics to see the results of your work and nothing. Well at least I am present to see the blooming of the weeping willow. However I seem to be too early, a shame." The voice was strangely sad but Walker could see bits of bones falling off.

"We were just surprised that you actually came to visit so soon, Welcome to our home." Walker was afraid that the Immortal King could do something terrible. He had no idea that he could escape the ancient ruins. 

"I will only be able to project myself for a little while longer, I have not escaped the accursed ruins of my home. But I am glad to have used this magic now. You all look a little different." The skeleton's jaw clacked together as if it was laughing at them. "You in particular look the most different, a true hero title? That worthless Cosmos would loathe to have you in his sights." The clacking of the skeleton's jaws increased as more of the bones lost pieces. 

"Oh little dragon, how did you like the condensed understanding I gifted you. Very valuable right?' Midnight shrunk away while still growling. However she did not look to be running. It looked like she was instead waiting for a chance to attack. "Don't go doing something you will regret. I may not have any power using these old bones, but if you anger me I will release the largest swarm of undead in your direction possible. You have no idea the true depth of our catacombs." The threat made every single one of them retreat backwards yet again. 

The skeleton ignored the party and touched upon the oozing vines. It looked to be remembering something fondly and did not speak. The blood fruit bushes were small but had sprouted large enough to show off sprouts of small green leaves."These are doing well...You human farmers have advanced much better over the last decades…" 

Walker looked at the others. They didn't look like they wanted to even speak on the compliment that was just given to them. "Even more surprising is this weeping willow. We had little saplings like this one lining out streets.' The skeleton had approached and reached out to touch the unbloomed buds of the weeping willow. 

Walker couldn't help but wonder how large the weeping willow was supposed to get if Immortal King considered the large tree to be a sapling still. "We thank you for the compliments. We took your words to heart and tried our best to grow the seeds you left in our care. We even asked for a farmer with a mastery skill to help us out. That is how the weeping willow is grown so tall already."

Walker had hope that his polite response would keep the Lich in a pleasant mood. "Where is the spirit lily? You could not have started to grow it already, or have you?" The skeleton looked about and waited for a response. The empty eye sockets of the skeleton were degrading fairly fast but not fast enough. They still held a sense of impending doom. 

"It is in the back training pond, it needs to be left untouched or else it will die and we will be unable to replant again." Gil's mother spoke up. The shaky voice she used was showing her fear for the craziness that was happening. This was something that she could never have imagined happening in her lifetime. 

"You must be the farmer...interesting. Then show me the spirit lily, I may lack power but I should be able to feed it before I leave. I want those to exist again most of all." It looked like the desire to see some of his city to return was more powerful than wasting time on other things. Walker could not even start to understand how this would feel. 

With a deep breath and some shaky first steps, Gil's mother started to walk around the mansion to the pond in the training field. The skeleton that was being used by Immortal King was right behind her. Not a word was being spoken as they walked. 

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