Inclement weather

The storm was raging viciously above him as he ran, the rain coming down so heavily the ground was streaming. He hadn't even reached the river when the first lighting strike hit ahead of him.

He hadn't been too concerned given how far away the other strikes had been but this sudden strike so close by had him breaking stride.

Where the lightning struck a flickering blue creature rose to its feet, the creature could be no more than a foot tall with long spindly arms, its hands pressed against the ground.

The sound of electrical discharge and some static like shrieks sounded as it rounded on Daniel, darting forward in odd stuttered steps, sometimes bounding and sometimes losing its body altogether as it zipped forward as pure electricity.

"Oh hell no!"

Firing off a couple of quickly condensed fireballs at the incoming little monster Daniel cast Radiance on his now drawn mace and moved to intercept the creature. His first fireball had been dodged easily but the next sent the creature tumbling down, it zipped in and out of forms as though struggling to maintain itself, eventually staggering back up.

By then Daniel had already arrived in front of it and brought his mace down, as the mace made contact he felt pain in his hand and wrist and saw the arcing lightning connecting with his skin.

[98 exp]

The blue gem it dropped was recognisable as common quality and he quickly scooped it up as he heard more lightning crashes close by.

He turned his head to see the strange jittering motions of 3 new lightning creatures quickly approaching him and another lightning strike come down closer to hand.

"No chance, I'm out"

He immediately turned and ran, his MP had bottomed out from his over caution with the first one and he had the feeling he only managed to catch it because of the lucky fireball.

Even killing the first one had led to him taking damage when it hadn't even been able to attack him directly, he dreaded to think how quickly these would kill him. He sprinted forward and was entirely unsurprised to see them keeping pace with him easily.

They didn't seem to be able to close the distance or perhaps were unable to attack him while switching between forms to keep up, either way he had no illusions about what would happen if they did catch up to him.

Approaching the river he didn't even consider slowing down and instead vaulted straight over the water, twisting in the air. His last few points of mana were used on a final diminutive fireball aimed at the water's surface.

The splash of water he left behind him certainly seemed to either confuse or hinder the little devils as they stopped for a second before noticing the cowering Crackbills in the reeds nearby.

Once again saved by the short attention span of his attackers he watched over his shoulder as the Crackbills were one-sidedly slaughtered by the maniacal little electric creatures.

His remaining sprint home was uneventful but his eyes darted between the lightning strikes he saw, there were a fair amount falling in the patch of mountains to the west and it reminded him of nothing more than an invasion.

"Something in those mountains pissed off the weather, if the storm thinks it warrants that many of those things to deal with then I don't want any part of it.

Arriving back home he decided to store his gear and loot and get the resources for a fire out and ready.

As he stored it he saw how the Colony storage butchered the dragon and was surprised.

"Component pieces?"

Komodo leather spool x 3

The amount of meat it gave him was also a great boon, he was worried it would have spoiled over the time he was away.

Looking carefully at the common blue gem in his hand he couldn't wait to get Tom over.

"Holy magic and lighting magic on my mace, I could get a cape and look like Thor"

Adding it to the other stored items he hurried inside to start his fire.

.....

As he nurtured the fledgling flames he started a bath running. He didn't have much in the way of recreation over here and didn't know how long this storm was going to last.

"I guess a hot bath and some more food? Maybe I could take up whittling or something? No, for now I'll just check how my stats are doing"

Hermes: Level 12

Exp: 0664/1300

HP: 321/395

MP: 08/95

Strength - 18

Endurance - 15

Agility - 18

Intelligence - 19

Wisdom – 15

Free Attribute points: 0

Free Skill points: 3

*Transfer energy – 5997

Skills:

Dimensional Transfer LV 7

Storage space LV 4

Flame LV 1

Grim touch LV1

Radiance LV1

"Alright not bad, I should level up when I hand the quests in, then maybe check out the potential skills list in the bath. Not a bad rainy day plan"

[800 exp]

[Single slot copper ring]

[500 exp]

[Beehive Well]

[Congratulations Hermes, you are now level 13]

"It gave me a well for the Picking the Flower quest? How do I?"

After some experimenting while he stood out in the rain he found the well waiting for him in the Colony construction tab, highlighted as ready and at the top of his list. This made him consider the shack, after a little more experimenting the shack disappeared and reappeared on the construction tab.

"It's like I can pack them up and store them as needed! City reforms can happen without loss, great news! Okay, let's get this well down and get out of the rain.

After placing the stone arched well near his berry bushes he settled down in the bath with a bowl of berries and honey.

"The more I eat the more I'm helping humanity, snack time is a must"

Settling back to relax he spent the time grazing and reading potential skills to buy. As the rain eased off he checked through the construction menu and started to plan his crops.

"I've got a well now, I may as well get some allotments down and make a good start, how's my bank balance?"

[38 silver, 12 copper]

"Okay, I think the basic allotment was 4 silver right? Now, I'm going to take a punt here and assume they have some special effect on the growth. Either way these should do for now"

He placed two basic allotments and one allotment with a shed close to the beehive well and his already planted berry bushes, these were all nicely visible from his lodge porch and he was looking forward to enjoying the very visible reminder of their progress every morning.

[20 silver, 12 copper]

"Right, now for some seeds"

Carrot seeds - 10 copper

Broccoli seeds - 20 copper

Old beard seeds - 20 copper

Lettuce seeds - 20 copper

Meckle berry seeds- 30 copper

Squeg seeds - 30 copper

Seed potatoes - 30 copper

Gorge root seeds - 40 copper

Zing snap seeds - 60 copper

Fast runner bean seeds - 80 copper

Frost radish seeds - 1 silver

Fire chilli seeds - 1 silver

Life leek seeds - 3 silver

Dark cherry starter - 6 silver

Emerald apple starter - 6 silver

Silk vine starter - 8 silver

Honey tap seeds - 10 silver

"..... maybe an almanack?"

As the store page refused to react he decided to just buy 5 silvers worth or the cheapest seeds and hope for the best. When they arrived in small paper packets with a picture of the ripe example on the front of each he did his best to guess the distance needed between them. He used the half finished ink and some scrap paper from the undead altar to make note of where he'd planted each type, leaving the list in the new garden shed.

Each of the uncommon seeds were interesting to him but the seeds for the Frost radish got extra special treatment and extra space. Each one glistened like ice, tiny little specks in his palm twinkling with an inner light.

The rain was only light as he worked, the thunder and flashes to the west had stopped before he finished. He wasn't sure if he'd wasted the day or taken a useful step forward when he finally did finish but he'd enjoyed the change of pace.

"I know enough about plants to know I shouldn't have planted the seeds out of season, but given I have no way of knowing what the seasons are here trial and error was going to have to be used at some point, why not now to get a head start."

Washing up and laundering his clothes he checked the Colony construction tab one last time.

"The smithy is what interests me the most, I need to figure out how to mass produce tools and weapons for the future of the city. What the hell am I saying? I don't even have my first colonist over here yet, 3 years isn't gonna go that fast."

Shaking his head and resolving to stay away from the city planner for a while he grabbed his spear and got to work on the slimes around his dome, he still had an outstanding core collection quest he needed to finish.

"It's an RPG for now, I'll get this quest done and see what new ones the panel has for me to start"