Chapter 3

Dropping the stuff she'd gathered up, Rosa nodded in satisfaction.

She had found a rabbit sleeping underneath a tree thanks to her tracking ability and had spent a good ten minutes guaranteeing the kill before she took it down. Alongside that, she found some berries and picked them, finding that she could stack them in her inventory up to a certain point which she assumed was how many she could carry in her hands. On her way back she gathered up dry sticks and branches, ending up with a decently-sized stack by the time she arrived at the circle.

Whilst she did that, she did realize that she could have sacrificed something more mental to a god of knowledge, for instance sacrificing her knowledge of how to make worcestershire sauce to Tzeentch. She probably wouldn't make a sacrifice to a chaos god, that sounded like a terrible idea, but the idea was there. It would likely be super low value though, that was why she still went ahead with her sacrifice to Hestia.

She briefly considered actually lighting a fire and sacrificing that to Hestia, since it fit really well, but Hestia was the Goddess of the Hearth, she likely already had a fire, she just desired fuel for it. Even if she didn't need it, Rosa believed that what truly mattered was the intention behind the sacrifice. She'd put serious thought into what to sacrifice, and so she hoped that would be reflected in the value of the ritual. To be honest, even if she only got a ritual rating of F+2, that was still enough points to unlock crafting which would hopefully make her life a lot easier.

Crossing her legs and sitting down, she closed her eyes and spoke softly. "Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, I leave you these offerings of food and fuel for the hearth in sincerity but from a desire for safety." Again, not exactly literary prose, but it didn't feel right to say absolutely nothing. When her vision flickered and the items were once again gone, she basked in the feeling akin to a mother's warmth, a far cry from the far colder gazes she had felt before. Hephaestus didn't come close to the care and familial affection that Hestia's gaze imparted. Unable to resist it, Rosa smiled warmly, uplifted and inexplicably happy from the encounter.

Though, as she opened up her ritual report, her happiness rose for a much more explainable reason. The ritual was rated as an E-rank, and not just that, it was rated as E+1, so apparently Hestia really appreciated the ritual. E+1 gave her 440 ritual points, immediately lifting her points balance to 1,325, which meant she had enough to unlock crafting. Of course, she also had her quest rewards, so she opened that up, eager for her reward.

And subsequently, she let out some uncontrollable laughter at what Hestia had given her.

Call of Home - When activated, instantly sense the nearest safe place to spend the night. Cooldown: 3 days.

That was honestly incredibly helpful, as well as fitting for what she had asked of Hestia.

She wanted safety, and so Hestia had given her the ability to find a safe place to stay the night, because right now, the day was mostly over and the sun was setting. Alongside that, she also got another 250 ritual points, so she now had 1,575 points total. Since she would have a safe amount to call back on in emergencies, Rosa spent 1,000 to unlock crafting, and immediately opened it up, humming as she skimmed through the list of craftable items.

There was only a small portion that wasn't blank and greyed-out with lettering telling her that she needed a higher crafting skill to make those items. Of that portion, there was an assortment of tools, clothing and other assorted items. Curiously enough, as she selected them, the supplied resources had a dropdown option that let her pick what she wanted to use. Selecting things that were regarded as higher quality meant the overall quality of the final item was raised. For instance, if she wanted to craft an axe and she selected the best quality items from what was available, the tier of the axe was raised accordingly.

It seemed to grab anything in the area around her as well, since she had a lot of things available to craft, such as twine which she could see would be crafted from the grass. What immediately caught her attention though was the 'small game trap'. It required some branches, twine and stones to craft, and the visual display of it looked like a rope trap. The description simply said she would just have to place it down and "voila, rabbits!", as the description itself quoted.

Even better though was that she was already able to craft three of them, the crafting system taking into account what it required and how much of what she required could be crafted from what was around her. She had no twine, but she still selected the option to craft one trap, and after a few seconds where a bar raced across the 'craft' button, a small game trap was deposited into her inventory, which had a quality of F-3.

Selecting it, she was surprised to find that a model of a weird-looking trap appeared in front of her alongside a tick and a cross icon. Pointing her finger, she was able to move it, and so after shifting it a little, she accepted the placement by pressing on the tick icon, and with a muted flash of green, the trap appeared out of thin air. After it was placed, Rosa inspected it, and found that while it was a bit shabby, it looked functional enough. Once a rabbit entered it, the trap would close and be held shut by the weight of the rocks.

Of course, that would require bait, but fortunately enough, she could buy carrots from the shop at a rate of ten carrots to one ritual point, the same as other foods for varying prices, so she could easily trap a rabbit. That was also why she wasn't too worried about finding food for herself, because so long as she had at least a few ritual points she could get some food and water.

With those thoughts in mind, Rosa activated Call of Home immediately, and inexplicably felt attracted to a certain direction. It wasn't like she had to go that way, but she felt that traveling in that direction would bring her to safety. It felt really damn weird having an extrasensory guide, but just as she got used to being looked at by the different gods, she got used to the feeling quickly enough, turning to walk away before turning back and walking towards her ritual circle, coming to a stop beside it and standing silently for a few moments.

Rosa bowed towards her first ritual circle symbolically, saying goodbye to the place she had started, before turning away and heading for her new home.

After maybe two hours of walking, and with the light now fading rapidly, Rosa finally arrived at 'safety'.

It was, as she sort of expected, a cave. However, where it differed from other caves was that it was actually rather well-obscured by a grove of trees, and it took her a full half-hour to actually get to the cave itself because the trees and the brush formed blockages and dead-ends that she had to work around. That led her to believe that Call of Home didn't just find her the nearest place she could sleep at, it found her somewhere actually safe to spend a night or two.

While she walked there, she had activated Heart of a Crafter and crafted herself some proper, decent quality clothing out of plant fiber, and even fashioned herself a cute little messenger bag that now hung from her side. Most importantly though, she had made herself a pair of shoes, so she no longer had to be as cautious about where she stepped. She also made another trap, but this time she used Inspired Craft as well, and the trap that was made was D-2 quality thanks to the two buffs stacking onto each other.

Placing the trap down made it clear that despite the components being the same, it just exuded a different aura visually as if someone who had been a trapper their whole life had worked painstakingly on it for years. Buying ten carrots from the shop, Rosa placed one inside of the trap and then departed, making a mental note to check the trap tomorrow as she walked back into the grove and to the hidden cave. The cave itself wasn't anything amazing, it was only about thirty meters long, a straight path sloping gently down and then ending rather abruptly after straightening out.

But, it was still at least as safe a place to stay as anywhere else, and so Rosa settled down and began to make some plans. Her first order of business was to get a new ritual circle, using the store to help her make it. Since the entire basis of the system was sacrifices and rituals of course it allowed her to purchase things like chalk, incense burners, bells, candles, statues and all sorts of other assorted items.

Firstly, she crafted a fire and placed it down, lighting up the dim cave and allowing her to properly see what she was doing. Next, she purchased some papyrus, a quill and ink for 5 ritual points, then began to roughly draft different ritual circle shapes. After maybe an hour, she finally settled on a hexagram in a circle with a smaller circle joining the inner points together and segmenting the circle into more pieces. Inside each of those pieces, she intended to place assorted ritualistic items to hopefully raise the value of the ritual.

Just as she was about to purchase some chalk and lay out the pattern on the ground, her interface opened of its own accord and forced a quest before her eyes.

Acolyte

God: N/A

Description: A prospective acolyte is nearby. Find and recruit them to your cause.

Reward: 1,000 ritual points, Ritual Dimensional Pocket

Blinking, Rosa read the description and the reward, then reread them twice to make sure she'd read them correctly.

So, someone was nearby, someone who was potentially recruitable. And, if she succeeded, she would get a large lump sum of ritual points, alongside a 'Ritual Dimensional Pocket', which sounded incredibly mystical and possibly powerful. Getting up off the floor and dusting her plant fiber trousers off, she ventured out of her cave and then out of the grove, looking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

The quest said that 'a prospective acolyte is nearby', so they had to be close enough that she could actually find them. With no other plans, she circled the grove, and it didn't take long before she found said prospective acolyte, a young man with blood on his front slumped against a tree. Glancing around, she moved over to him and knelt down, examining him closely and pushing down the mild panic attack she was having.

Some sort of weird knife was stuck in his abdomen, and he was unconscious, so how she was meant to recruit him when chances were high he was going to die she had no fucking idea. Deciding the best thing to do would be to get him into the cave, she grabbed one arm and put it over her shoulder, leaning her head into his side and wrapping her other arm around his leg, pivoting and lifting him onto her shoulders, almost immediately flopping forwards as his weight overwhelmed her.

Growling lowly, she opened her status and upgraded her strength once using 120 ritual points and saving her two free upgrades, then repeated the process, this time being able to lift him with a moderate amount of effort. Ignoring the blood that was doubtlessly now coating her back, she carried him back to the entrance, careful to avoid bashing his head or legs against anything as she picked her way through the trees and then into the cave, laying him down a few paces from the fire and getting a better look at him.

He was wearing a weird headband, there was a small gash above his left eye whilst his left ear was just completely missing and he had more cuts than she realized, but the biggest issue was the knife in his gut. She wasn't trained for this, she had no idea what she was meant to do aside from not taking it out, she knew doing that would mean he would bleed more. But he was still bleeding and if she didn't take it out what was she meant to do with it, just bandage it up and leave the knife in him? That sounded like a recipe for infection if she ever heard it.

Then, her eyes widened as she realized what she could do. Purchasing a stick of chalk for another 5 points, she scrawled a circle into the ground and added six lines to it, mimicking her papyrus drawing and creating an intricate ritual circle as fast as she was able to. Opening her crafting menu, she crafted some plant fiber bandages, annoyed that since there were no medicinal plants nearby she couldn't make a crude poultice, but she'd just have to make do.

Placing the bandages in the middle of the circle, she closed her eyes and spoke hurriedly. "Eshmun, God of Healing, I offer these bandages to you in hopes of receiving enough favor of yours to attain enough skill to save the wounded one by my side, and swear to sacrifice more to your name if my wish comes to pass." Feeling a cold and clinical gaze upon her, she ignored it, keeping her eyes shut until a white flash signified that the ritual was completed.

Opening her ritual report, she crossed her fingers and slumped in relief for a brief moment before refocusing.

Boon - Medical Guidance - For 30 minutes, +500% healing skill

He had heard her, and for that, she was truly thankful.

She didn't get any ritual points, but presumably, that was because instead of a formless sacrifice, she was actually asking for a direct boon as well as not sacrificing something with much value or effort put into it. Putting that aside, she looked upon the wounded young man and analyzed his injuries. The most severe, obviously, was the abdominal wound, and she didn't have the equipment to treat it properly. The shop did have medical equipment and items, which included suture needles and thread, but those were locked behind her medical skill which, like everything else, was by default at F-3.

What she could do though was remove the knife, clean the wound with antiseptic from the shop, then cover the wound with store-bought gauze and tightly wrap that with bandages. She couldn't exactly operate on him, that would just make his chances of survival worse, he was already probably going to die as it was, so all she could do would be to stuff the wound and hope his bleeding stopped and he didn't have a perforated stomach or intestines, because if that was the case, there was absolutely nothing that she could do.

Purchasing the required supplies and wincing lightly at the price, 75 points for one bottle of antiseptic and 50 points for one sealed pack of gauze, she pushed those thoughts aside as she uncapped the bottle, removed his ruined shirt and poured a little over the knife, staring intensely as she realized it wasn't a normal knife. The 'knife' was a bizarre shape, expanding to a diamond shape, and from what she could see, the thickest part was still inside of the wound, so it was probably acting like a plug for a hell of a lot of blood.

That seriously complicated matters, as removing it could see a serious flow of blood pour out of the wound, which would kill him incredibly quickly. Gnawing at her lip, Rosa decided that disinfecting and then packing the wound with sterile gauze was better than leaving a knife in there. Grasping the handle, she said a silent apology to him before pulling the weapon out of him, looking into the wound to make sure none of his shirt was stuffed in there before immediately pouring most of the bottle of disinfectant into the wound, then packing all of the gauze into it, her hands moving smoothly and with determination as she pressed the gauze in firmly, then wound the bandage around his waist over and over again, crafting more as she needed it until his middle was well wrapped with tightly-wound bandages, preventing even a drop of blood from leaking out of his wound.

With that, his fate was now in the balance, she had pretty much no control over it. If he died still, there wasn't anything she could have done differently really. To busy herself, she used the last of the disinfectant to clean his wounds, focusing mostly on his ear, then wrapped them in bandages just to cover them, not wanting to spend quite so much gauze on covering each wound, that was a bit too expensive for her liking. The small wounds didn't matter as much, the gut wound was really the only one she cared to focus on to the extent of waiving the cost of medical supplies. For his ear, she took one bandage and folded it over a few times to use as makeshift gauze, then wrapped a bandage around his head to hold the 'gauze' in place.

Sighing, she purchased a bottle of water from the shop for ten ritual points and used it to wash away the blood on her hands, using the little left to rinse out the empty antiseptic bottle and keeping both off to the side for later use. Since she was starting to get hungry and her patient, if he woke up, would likely also need some food, she decided to start working on dinner.

A bronze pot with a lid for 50 points, a wooden spoon and chopping board that she crafted herself, then two bottles of water for 20 points, some carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic and a bit of salt, each for one ritual point. Finally, she got a sizable chunk of beef for a hefty 25 points, draining her balance to 210 points. Firstly, she filled the bronze pot with water, then she began to chop the carrots, onions, potatoes and garlic, adding them to the pot along with the salt. Next, she cubed the beef and added that in, stirring it all before placing the lid on the pot and placing it on the fire. She still had a hefty amount of carrots, potatoes and onions left over, which would save her just a little on her next meals.

If she wanted to be frugal, she could have done dinner without the beef, but she wasn't too keen on plain vegetable stew, having some kind of meat with her food was pretty much a necessity for her, so it was worth the expense, and besides, in just one day she'd made enough points to easily afford to splurge a little when it came to making dinner. She didn't just make stew because it was easy though, the broth would take in a lot of the flavour and the nutrients of the vegetables and would be good for her patient to have, since he probably wouldn't be eating much.

Whether it was something he should be eating or not she didn't know, her medical skill buff had already run out and now she was back to knowing next to nothing, but at the very least, if he was going to die, he'd die having at least eaten a pleasant enough meal. Snapping her fingers, she opened her crafting interface and made some plant fiber patches, laying them down in two places on the floor before picking up her patient and laying him down atop one patch of the softer material. It wasn't exactly a five-star bed, but it was as good as she could really make, and at least he'd be somewhat comfortable.

He didn't make any noise as she shifted him, but a quick check of his pulse and a breathing check told her he was still alive. Probably a bit anemic from all the blood loss, but he was alive at least. She poked the end of her spoon through the ring atop the lid and lifted it up, setting it aside then stirring the stew gently before replacing the lid and allowing the fire to die down, simmering all the vegetables and the meat in plenty of water.

Once it was cooked, she purchased some crude bowls and bronze forks from the shop, slightly staggered at the 25 ritual points cost per bowl, but she supposed that since the use of a bowl was endless, it was fair enough. The forks cost 5 points each, but she simply accepted that the price was high because they were reusable items. Dipping a bowl into the stew, she scooped up some of the liquid and the bits, then used the wooden spoon to scoop more into the bowl before replacing the lid to keep it warm.

She settled down beside the unconscious man and began to eat, hopeful that the smell of food would wake him up. After a few bites, she was actually caught a little by surprise when he did actually rouse from unconsciousness just a little. She put down the bowl and her fork and went to get the other bowl, filling it with stew and a few vegetables, then brought it over to him and put it close to his head so he was facing it and could smell it. After about a minute, he blinked his eyes open, not really focusing on anything for a moment before he winced, a hand going down to his abdomen as he closed his eyes in pain.

"I tried my best." Rosa said quietly, prompting his eyes to open again as he looked at her. "The gut wound, I...don't know how to stitch wounds shut or anything like that, so I just took the knife out and plugged the hole up. If it hit your stomach or intestines...I can't save you, but...I tried." She said earnestly, nudging the bowl beside him. "You should eat, you'll need it. Do you want me to help you sit up to eat?" She asked quietly, a little unnerved by the focus he displayed, observing not just her but also their surroundings, taking it all in like a predator.

He didn't say anything, simply rolling a little and using one arm to lift himself up to a sitting position, the other arm glued to his stomach. "Poison." Rosa blinked, looking down at the bowl, then back at him, before rolling her eyes. She picked his bowl up and poured some into her bowl, then continued to eat as he watched her. He still didn't do anything though, he neither made a move towards the bowl, nor any other moves, he just kept observing her.

So, she in turn observed him right back. He was physically in shape, she could see that clearly whilst she was helping him, but considering he could lift himself to a sitting position with one arm, his muscles definitely weren't just for show. "Look, if you want to make it likely that you'll survive, you really need to eat." She said plainly, poking at a chunk of beef with her fork as she met his eyes with her own. "Please?" She added, watching as he glanced down at the bowl next to him, then up at her again. He picked up the bowl, and for a moment Rosa was prepared to dodge in case he decided to throw it at her, but no, instead, he laid it down on his leg and grabbed the fork, impaling a piece of beef with it, lifting it to his nose, then dabbing it on his tongue before placing it within his mouth, chewing slowly and cautiously.

After some thorough and thoughtful chewing, he swallowed, then continued to eat, picking out various pieces of food and measuredly eating each piece with the same caution and thought as the first mouthful, right up until his final piece, which he savored for twice as long before swallowing. "Thank you for the meal." He said quietly, prompting a smile from her as she nodded towards him.

"You're welcome. You can drink the broth as well, then it'd be a good idea if you got some more rest, that wound needs rest to heal properly." He nodded slowly, lifting the bowl up and drinking the broth. Rosa mirrored him, having emptied her own bowl, then smirked as he looked towards the bronze pot. "If you're still hungry you can have more." He wordlessly offered her the bowl, so with a smile she went and got him some more, picking out an equal assortment of the different ingredients and a healthy amount of broth, passing him back the bowl, then went back to unabashedly watching him savor each mouthful.

He didn't seem to mind, focused pretty fully on his food, and once he was done, he declined her offer for a third sitting as he shuffled himself to lean against the cave wall, observing her once again. "What's the circle for?" Blinking, she glanced to her side, towards the empty ritual circle, then back at him. She spied a perfect opportunity to see if she could hook him to actually becoming an acolyte, and so, she spoke.

"It's a ritual circle. I sacrifice, and in return, I get power. The only reason you don't still have that knife lodged in your gut is thanks to that circle. I sacrificed some bandages, and in return I became good enough at medical practice to save your life. Well, I hope so at least, you might still die from an infection or internal bleeding. Being frank...I need some help with it. But that sort of question can wait until you're better, right now you're in no shape to..." She trailed off as he got up, in complete disregard for the fact that his abdomen had a diamond-shaped hole stuffed full of gauze.

He took a step forwards, looking down at her, before then looking towards the entrance of the cave, then back at her. "I shall stay to help you for a week to repay you for your assistance, then I must leave." Blinking, Rosa tilted her head to the side, taking her hand back from where she'd been about to grab the machete out of her inventory, and instead, she focused on the fact that apparently him staying for a week counted as her having an acolyte, at least as far as the quest was concerned.

"Well...alright then. Your first order of business is to get some rest, I won't have you keeling over from blood loss because your gut wound re-opened. It's getting dark out there anyway, you wouldn't get anything useful done. Tomorrow, we're going to hunt some large game and I'll show you what I do. I wouldn't suggest trying it yourself though, you need a special connection in order to do this stuff." She spoke in a no-nonsense tone, watching as he went and sat back down with a smile. "Oh, and your shirt is over there, it's got a pretty big hole in it though, plus it's covered in blood, so I wouldn't put it on until it's been washed, if ever." In response, he simply nodded, then closed his eyes, surprising her a little. Ever since he'd woken up he'd been hyper-alert, and yet now, he closed his eyes just like that?

Well, it didn't matter, she was tired as well, so after making sure the fire was truly only embers, she settled down on her own patch of plant fibers, debating whether or not to use the shop to purchase a few blankets and pillows. The blankets would cost her 50 ritual points each, the cost reflective of the quality since they didn't exactly look very high quality, but they would be warm and hopefully comfortable. After some inward debate, she decided that she preferred comfort to frugality, and so she purchased two blankets as well as two pillows, spending 150 ritual points and leaving herself with an exact zero point balance.

She took both out, placed one next to herself, then got both pillows out and put one on her blanket before she got up and walked over to the other occupant of the cave, dropping the other blanket and pillow next to him and earning herself a rather confused look when he opened his eyes. "Trade secret." She said with a smile, heading back to her blanket and pillow and setting them up. Her plan was to roll herself up in the blanket so she wasn't just laying on the plant fiber. It was better than stone, but an actual blanket was better still. "If you get hungry, help yourself to more of the stew, good night." She said politely, folding the blanket over herself and snuggling her head against the pillow, closing her eyes and trying to get to sleep.

A bit hard since there was a total stranger not too far from her, but sleep took no prisoners, and she was out like a light before she knew it.