The Beast and the Sage

The library was interesting. Like the safezone as a whole, it wasn't really what Levi had expected. It was basically just a library. A presystem library. It had far more than just skill tomes. It had an extensive collection far beyond that, and that was just what Levi gathered from a quick glance. The only real thing different was that all the books seemed completely nonfiction.

Levi wondered why there were no fiction anywhere and if it was anyway related to what Rick had said about the music being scrubbed. It was certainly something to puzzle out, but that would have to be later. For now, he had things to do.

He did think the library was worth a little extra exploration. If the library was set up this way, Levi felt there had to be a reason beyond simply to provide atmosphere. There was a pretty good chance he was wrong, but it was always best to take a closer look at things in situations like this.

Looking through a few topics he was interested in, he found skill tomes mixed in with actual books. Thumbing through a skill tome for dressing out animals, he found the information highly specific, containing an abundance of information he felt was entirely unnecessary, such as specific names for anatomy like tendons. Levi assumed that information may be helpful for when someone was highly advanced in the skill, but not for him.

Skimming through a pre-system book on hunting in the South East US, he found it contained all the information he needed on field dressing, skinning, and butchering animals, but in addition to those skills, it contained information on tracking and the best for methods of hunting and trapping specific varieties of game.

Levi considered for a moment. On one hand, his class description said he could use skill tomes for study, but on the other, without them automatically granting the skills, he didn't really think they'd be as helpful as pre-system books for him personally.

He tucked the book on hunting into his pack and put the tome back on the shelf. He decided he'd add a book of general survival skills to his list of books to snatch for study.

While searching for a good survival book, he stumbled upon a copy of The Total Outdoorsman Manual, which covered both hunting and a fair amount of survival skills. He traded this for the hunting book he had before.

He liked the fact that it covered hunting as well as a number of survival skills, but still felt like he needed a book that leaned more into survival with a better set of all-around skills.

As luck would have it, The Ultimate Survival Manual: 333 Skills That Will Get You Out Alive sat only a few books away. 333 skills was a no-brainer in this situation, though Levi had little hope that they'd all translate as such in the system. But he also felt like he'd be able to intuit which would and wouldn't. Most of the content should be helpful in some way or another. And having access to that many potential skills to reset Parched Soul was nice.

Thinking he was done with the section, he headed to find the Spell Tomes... when he noticed The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, and had to grab that too.

'Crap,' Levi thought. Out loud, he said, "I need to get out of here before I try to take the shelf, too."

"What'd you say?" A voice said from behind him.

Levi turned quickly, but he wasn't nearly as spooked as he'd been when Paige had scared the life out of him.

It turned out to be the old lady who had pointed him in Paige's direction.

"Oh, nothing, I was just saying I want all these books, but have to prioritize."

"What, are you an idiot? Just take the Profession and Skill Tomes you want and be done with it, unless you just enjoy reading..." Grace looked at the book in his hand, "What is that, a homesteading book?" Her face scrunched up in even more confusion. "You know what, I'm not even going to ask. Did you find Paige and do that 'favor' you had to do?"

"Yeah, I did." Levi paused, he knew he shouldn't say anything, but... he really hated that she thought he was an idiot, "And by the way, there's a good damned reason I'm not just grabbing Tomes."

"Yeah? That's great. Good luck, darlin'." Grace turned to walk away.

Levi stood for a second, even more frustrated, then followed her down the aisle, "Seriously, my class prevents me from using Tomes." Levi had really wanted to keep his class details a little closer to the vest.

Grace did stop at those words, turning, "Your class prevents you from using Tomes? That is absolutely shit. What kind of class is that?"

For whatever reason, maybe because he really just needed to talk to someone, or maybe because she seemed like a rather feisty but overall harmless old lady, Levi told Grace about his class. Before he'd gotten far into explaining, they'd ended up sitting at one of the study nooks in the library, where he had told her the entire story. To his credit, he held his shit together and didn't raise his voice or get frustrated.

For the most part, Grace, who'd exchanged introductions with him by this point, just nodded and listened.

When he was finished, she pulled out a joint and waved it at him. "You're stressing yourself out over nothing. You need something to help ease your nerves?"

"No thanks," Levi said, holding up a hand.

Grace raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look.

Levi chuckled lightly, "Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against it, but it makes me so anxious I will barely be able to function. Honestly, I was more worried about you pulling it out and waving it around inside the library. Then I thought, who the fuck cares?"

Grace tucked the joint away, and gave him a knowing look, "I have some friends like you. I pressured one to smoke with me once. I thought they were going to have a heart attack. But, sorry, I don't have any booze... yet, at least."

"How do you even have weed?"

"Why does everyone keep asking that like it isn't obvious? I asked if I could bring it."

"Huh. I wouldn't have thought to do that," Levi answered with a smile.

Grace barked a laugh. "That's kind of funny. To hear you tell it, you thought to ask every damned question possible in that situation."

"I didn't. There were a lot more questions I could have asked. There were a lot more questions I didn't ask," Levi countered.

Grace pointed a finger at him, "Which kind of proves my point, doesn't it. Just because Rick cut you off doesn't mean there weren't a hundred more questions you could have easily thrown at him. And where did that overthinking get you? Here. And what are you doing about it? Overthinking. You're one of those types that's so smart you're stupid sometimes."

"Well, what am I supposed to do? What would you do?"

"Well, bless your heart," Grace said, in the way Southerners used it to call someone an idiot. "What would I do? What the hell does it matter? I'm not you. But you're missing something important here."

"What's that?" Levi was sincere, too. He'd spent his whole life hearing 'boot-to-the-backside' pep-talks. Perhaps it was actually because Grace was so rough around the edges that she was able to connect with him.

"Why are you so hell bent on making your class something amazing? I mean, let's say you decided to stay in the safezone. Nothing is stopping you from living out your days here, safely. And even if you let that cursed debuff or whatever drain all your mana... what would it matter?

And not only would it not matter, you could still spend the rest of your life picking up whatever skills you wanted and making yourself useful, if not incredible.

Yet, why has that never been an option for you?"

Grace let the words rest and gave him a moment to think.

Levi's face grew confused. After a moment it seemed to sharpen and focus on a single thought. "Because I'd hate that. It would make me miserable."

"Exactly. Your class isn't making you run around developing the best plan to turn yourself into something awesome, your desire is. And at this point, I'm starting to think that the system just gave you what you really wanted... no, it gave you who you are..."

"But what about the debuff? That's a lot to deal with," Levi asked.

"You mentioned it earlier, balance. You demanded a lot and you got it, but it didn't come cheap."

"Yeah, so that doesn't mean I'm stressing myself out about nothing," Levi challenged.

"Boy, I ought to smack you. Didn't you listen to a word I just said? You're stressing yourself out because what you're doing is a choice, and you don't have to do it. You will, but you don't have to.

So if you're going to do something you don't have to do, the least you can do is commit to it, and don't let yourself worry about it. Just be you." Grace paused and gave Levi a look over. "And that's not a bad thing, you know. I mean you're in here in the library, trying to get your shit together, while most of the other idiots are out there either acting like it is the first day at college or like they got lost on aisle 1 while looking for aisle 2."

Levi nodded slowly. "I think I get it."

"You don't," Grace said harshly, and then a little gentler, "But I guess it's a start.

Levi tried to change the subject suddenly, pointing at Grace's collection of Tomes. "So Witch, huh?"

Grace's eyes narrowed and one arm pulled her tomes closer. "No... Alchemist."

Feeling he had the advantage for the first time in the conversation, Levi pressed. "Alchemist is a profession. And you know that, because you have the Profession Tome for Alchemist, right fucking there."

"It's a Class and Profession," Grace insisted.

"No it isn't. You know it. I know it. You know I know it. And for what it is worth, you are pretty damned good at being a witch, in my opinion," Levi said with confidence.

Grace sighed and slumped back a bit in the library chair, but rather than seem defeated, she seemed almost happy he'd figured her out. She had a wicked grin across her face and her eyes glinted like a woman far younger. "What makes you think I make a good Witch, and how the hell did you figure it out so easily?"

Levi laughed, and his chest felt lighter, not only because he wasn't the one still in the fire but because she'd actually helped him sort out his thoughts quite a bit.

"I didn't figure it out, I made an educated guess. You have Profession Tomes for Herbalist and Alchemist, with Skill Tomes for those Professions, but I also saw Tomes for Minor Charm and Minor Hex. I've been mulling it over this entire conversation, and Witch kept being the best guess.

As far as why I think you are a good Witch, and to be clear I don't mean good Witch, but rather good at being a Witch... this entire conversation is why.

You listened, you offered the weed but didn't press.

But, you gave me wisdom and a bit of what I needed to see. You helped me. And your price for that, for now, was the information you got out of me.

Here's what I believe about witches, based all the stories I read growing up. A witch is neither good nor bad. Most of your dealings are just that, business, transactionary. Unless, of course, you piss off a witch or gain their favor.

Across all those stories, witches are sought by kings and peasants, villains and heroes. And the main thing a witch does is tinkering with the fate of others, pointing people to new destiny, for good or bad. No one leads a person to a new fate like a Witch's favor or her ire.

And so, you seem to have a knack it, as far as I can tell. But you should probably work on how well you lie, if you want to keep that a secret.

By the way, why did you want to keep that a secret?" Levi finished with a question.

"I thought it would be easier to be a Witch if no one knew I was one," Grace answered.

"Exactly," Levi answered with a grin, glad to finally feel like he was winning.

"You are really good at this stuff, huh?" Grace said. "Almost scary to see you scurrying around like a squirrel after nuts, and then suddenly pounce for the throat like a lion. And to think I thought I had you figured out." Grace chuckled and shook her head.

"Don't take it so hard. I've been at it a lot longer than you and even I don't have myself quite figured out," Levi said with a smirk.

"Well, I'll guess keep a secret if you will. I know you want to keep tight lips about your unique class, but is it alright if I say you're a Sage, if someone asks? Also, you just tell everyone I'm an Alchemist... at least for now? Is that a deal?"

Levi stuck out his hand, "Hell yeah that's a deal."

Grace smiled the first genuine smile of happiness Levi had ever seen across her face. "So it is. And also, consider this as officially having a Witch's favor, Levi The Insatiable Sage. It may not be worth much now, but maybe it will be by the time you cash it out." Grace gave Levi's hand a firmer shake than he'd expected, then stood and left.

Neither said any form of farewell, both feeling all that needed said had already been said, both feeling better from the exchange.

Ding. Enriching Experience has reset Parched Soul of the Sage.

Parched Soul of the Sage has been paused for 36 hours.

Levi didn't exactly feel happiness about that, but there was a sense of relief. A pressure that had been building for the last two and a half hours suddenly lifted.

It was unexpected though. He'd thought he'd needed to chase after Skills and abilities, and here a single conversation granted him more than he'd expected with all the work he had planned.

Maybe his new life could actually be more than chasing new skills and abilities. He'd actually let himself be Levi for a moment and had a conversation, and he was rewarded more than if he had learned a new Skill.

Maybe there was more to his future than he understood. Maybe he did need to slow down a bit and relax.

In any case, it had bought him more time. And he always needed time.

Still, he did have Skills and Abilities to chase after. So he got to it.

_____

Paige had almost immediately stopped worrying about what was affecting her behavior. It wasn't that she simply let it slip her mind, but rather that more important things had taken her focus.

As soon as she'd walked back into the safezone, she'd received the system notification everyone else had gotten.

______

SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT

The final person has arrived in the safezone. 150/150

...yada, yada, yada...

Adapt and survive. Grow and prosper.

_______

Paige hadn't really cared about or paid attention to the vast majority of the system message, and just skimmed through it.

But she did pick up on the most important part, in her opinion. Also, though she wasn't sure exactly why, she did get a pack complete with her care package, though she'd been outside the safezone when the final person had arrived. She was pretty happy about that, but decided to open it later, heading toward what mattered to her.

She went looking for the livestock.

She'd ran until she'd found the animals, all penned up on the opposite side of the safezone, sectioned off into their different species. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to run as fast or without stopping before she'd gotten her class.

The closest to her were the goats. As far as she could tell, the vast majority were screaming, 'Feeed me, feeed me,' on repeat.

'Fuck talking to the goats,' she thought.

Farther into the pens, she saw pigs, and beyond that were cows which actually had a lot of acreage to roam.

'Cows it is,' Paige thought.

While making her way to the cows, she gathered up as much dry tall grass as she could to feed them.

Approaching the fence, she offered the clump of the dried grass. A couple of cows meandered over to the fenceline and let her give them the grass.

She tried to use her skill, focusing on one of the cows. Paige spoke, "Hey there pretty girl, how are you doing today?"

She got back a moo that she was pretty sure meant 'eat shit.'

"Well, fuck you then," Paige said pulling her clump of dried grass back and then offering it to the second cow.

The second cow snatched what she had remaining in her hand and chewed. She stared at Paige with what Paige interpreted as intelligent eyes. So, Paige focused on her Skill trying to put everything she had into it.

"Hey girl, how are you?" Paige reached out and patted the cow's snout.

In return, the cow turned to the other cow and mooed. And Paige was pretty sure she wasn't crazy when she interpreted that as, 'She doesn't have any more food. Let's go.'

At that point, Paige would have jumped the fence and tried to fight the cows if she thought she had any chance of winning. Fortunately, she was saved by a rather smooth voice.

"Relax, babygirl, you are trying way too hard." A voice said. Paige couldn't quite locate it, but as soon as she felt something brush against her leg, she no longer had to.

She pulled away quickly, ready to beat whatever dared touch her leg into paste.... but, she saw a cat. A calico cat. A male calico cat. A healthy looking one, as far as Paige could tell. That was beyond rare. Borderline impossible.

"Indeed, I am a specimen to behold. And the pleasure is all yours."

Paige gaped for a moment and then got her head on straight. "I mean... you're talking. Like, really talking. Not like the cows." Paige was certain there was no way a cat could speak so well, unless something was different about the cat or her ability had caused it.

"Well aren't you as sharp as my dullest claw. Yes. I'm talking. That's okay though, I don't need my ladies smart anyway," the male calico said, as he rubbed against Paige's other leg.

Paige kicked at him, which he dodged with ease. He jumped up onto a fence post and stared at her.

"Hey, sweet thing, I'm trying to help you out." The cat added a flick of a tail. "Chill baby."

Paige breathed in deeply. No way was this happening. It wasn't that she hadn't expected it... but now that it was actually happening, she felt excited. But also still wondering why a cat was speaking like this. It was cat-like in personality, but again, just a cat.

"First off," Paige said pointing at the cat, "I am pretty sure this is the coolest thing that's ever happened in my life. Secondly, I don't like you and I'm about ten seconds from kicking you as hard as I can and see if cats always land on their feet with a broken spine." Paige paused to take in a calming breath.

"So if you know what is up with the cows and why you're different, I need you tell me. And also how you speak this well? Because you're just a cat."

"Well, I guess I'll throw you my best guess. You're trying to use your Ability on domesticated animals. That's like trying to give catnip to a hamster. Sure, it will probably eat it, but it won't appreciate it quite the same.

As far as me being such a smooth talker, your guess is as good as mine. I have no memory of even thinking about speaking before that Ability touched me."

"So you're saying none of these animals will respond to Beastspeak like you do?" Paige asked.

"Oh honey, no one responds to anything quite like me. And the Ability is called Beastspeak? I like that... I just FEEL it... you know," the calico said with another flick of his tail. "But based off my feeling, your best bet would be that old billy goat over there. He's so horny, he may as well be feral."

Paige grimaced looking over at the goat. She watched as he literally pissed in his own beard.

"Eww. By the way, you know you're domesticated too, right?"

"Sweetheart, I kill three times more than I eat per day, for the fun of it. My reaction time is faster than anything I've ever faced. I can take care of myself. And if you were smaller or we were bigger, you'd be on the menu. We cats are simply smart enough to know what is good for us. If you need to call that domesticated to feel better, I won't stop you."

"That's fair. That's why I never really liked cats. But, I guess you're not so bad after all." She reached to pet the calico, "Thanks buddy..."

The calico leapt in the air, swatted at Paige, and took off meowing, "Don't touch me you filthy whore."

Things weren't off to the best start for Paige, but she knew one thing... nothing was going to change if she stayed in the safezone.