The First Legacies Of Zion: Omaye

A Herbalist's Quest Of The Moon

FAITH

For the past three days, her family had fallen into a routine. They worked from dawn too dusk, raising the levels of the respective skills albeit slowly, while their level remained stagnant at level 1.

Herbology was actually not that bad of a class to have, just like Colea had once said before, there’s just something about plants that you couldn’t help but loose yourself in. But apart from that every moment with her master had been a pleasure, and not just from the fact that she learnt new things everyday. But because she was 100 % sure she had a crush on the nerd like beauty.

But her crush aside, Faith loved the effects she had on the plants, she loved how much she had grown in such a little amount of time. Being an herbalist did not just mean that you grew plants with special properties, but you also had to learn how to use them, and also learn how to maximize their effects in their raw form. Herbology was also a kind of healing class, the clerics aside most doctors were actually herbalist. They were not as mainstream as a cleric, but since not everyone could afford to get healed by a servant of God, they had to make do with the herbalist doctors around.

“Skills.”

[STEADY HANDS: LEVEL 1: PASSIVE(GENERAL): Increase Stability And Mastery Of All Tools And Weapons By 2%. For Every Level Gained Increase Damage And Effects Of All Tools And Weapons By 5%]

[GARDENING: LEVEL 1: PASSIVE(GENERAL): Increase The Growth Rate And Quality Of All Grown Plants And Vegetables By 5%]

[HERBOLOGY: LEVEL 2: PASSIVE(CLASS): Increase Your Knowledge And Affinity With All Natural Herbs And Plants By 6%, You Have A 2% Chance Of Cultivating Rare Herbs.]

[HARVEST: LEVEL 1: ACTIVE(CLASS): Increase Harvest Speed And Technique By 10%, Reduces Chance Of Herb Being Damaged During Hearvest By 2%. Increases Focus And Intelligence By 3% For 30 Seconds.]

[INSPECT: LEVEL 2: ACTIVE(GENERAL): Reveal And Understand The Level, And Nature Of All Things On Zion. The Levels, Attack, Defense, Health And Skills Of All Beings And Things Can Only Be Inspected When The Target Is At Least Four Levels Above You. Perception Increase By 5% For 20 Seconds.]

Faith had come to realize that herbology seemed to have an effect that so far, Zion has not been able to instill in her……… a proper sense of belonging. With each passing day that she spends in the herb garden, she grew in her knowledge of herbs, their effects, and their uses.

There was a certain method, and classification to herbs or other plants with differing properties. Herbalists believe that there was no herb that was a higher grade than the other, each herb has its own unique properties that complement and accompany other herbs of differing properties. For example, the obsidian red rose had a higher probability of causing hallucinations in living beings, in its raw form it was quite dangerous, but after going through processing from an alchemist there would be a certain decline in its effectiveness. However, the grey valley rose thrives and brings out its full hallucinogenic properties when mixed with other herbs. This flower would use the effects of other herbs to augment and strengthen its own properties. Its effect was known to be so powerful that a long time ago, it was used to create a potion that was so powerful it was able to actually affect reality and make the hallucinations of twelve-year-old boy become real.

But even if she was so good with herbs, there was a saying in Zion, behind every good alchemist, was an equally good herbalist. Because of what her class entailed, she was expected to partner up with an alchemist. The herbalist provides the herbs while the Alchemist process them into something else.

Faith did not like the idea of playing maid to somebody else, she was already a servant and had absolutely no hope of growth until her contract with the Olagoke’s come to an end. So until such a time when she would be free of her servitude, she would much rather prefer being a solitary slave, than a glorified assistant who mind you was still a slave.

“Faith, it’s time for your daily lessons, I hope you’ve prepared.”

At the sound of Colea's voice, everything went to hell. Faith was young, but she could unequivocally say, that she was madly in love with the nerd like goddess standing in front of her. She had not spent much time with Colea, but she had come to a certain understanding of her character.

Colea was like a grown up five-year-old, everything and anything would capture her attention, and unless she chose to be absolutely focused, Colea was someone who had a really short attention span. But such character did not make her stupid, on the contrary, it made her adorable.

“Today’s lesson would be about a plant known by many names. Some call it the catalyst, the origin, the base, and the first, it is believed that the plant I’m about to teach you about, was actually the first plant to have come into existence. As such apart from its herbal properties, a lot of the mystics and researchers on Zion think it holds the secret of the universe and her creation. Are you following.”

Faith nodded her head in complete attention, Faith was many things in life, and one of them was a bookworm who had a love for history. She loved to know the story behind every object or person she has had the privilege of coming across. She believed that everything and everyone had a story to tell, and it was from that story that you could truly understand the person in front of you. Their story will tell you how to judge them, if to trust them, and when to love them.

The world was never kind to Faith, and she had no intention of being kind to the world either, but she also had no intention of isolating her self from the world. Because quite frankly, whether she was on earth or Zion, they both had something to offer, a story to tell. And Faith was a sucker for a good story.

“Any way this plant has had many names over the thousands of years since alchemy and herbology have existed. But the most commonly accepted name of this plant is the [BOND VINE].

The bond vine grows to almost twenty feet long, before it starts to shoot out leaves of varying colors, each of those leaves each has a specific effect and property attached to it. The bond vine blooms a flower once every three years, and every time that flower blooms the special effects of the leaves are increase one hundred fold, making their value priceless at that moment. The flower that blooms will have the characteristics of being a perfect combination of all the characteristics and effects of the leaves that are a part of the vine.

The bond vine is the most basic, and also the most complex plant to have ever existed on the face of Zion. The bond vine can grow alone in the wild, but it has to survive under the nourishment of blood and soul essences, so it would probably be found on old battlefields, forbidden graveyards, or under the protection of a particular monster who wants to harvest its plants and flowers for its own evolution and growth.

However, the bond vine can be subdued, in fact it is the most important part of the herbalist class apart from having your own journal for documentation.

Once an herbalist reaches a certain level, and has proper knowledge about plants, their effects, their habitats and the effects brought about by their natural combination, then that herbalist would be given a seed at an auspicious moment in nature.

The seed would be given when the forces of nature, magic and any other supernatural event align. It boosts the power of the gift and gives the seed a unique property conversant to that supernatural event. And then the seed is given to the young herbalist to nurture and grow.

But it has to be done inside your body.”

“Wait what?” Faith interrupted. Whether it had another meaning from what she was imagining, Faith did not relish the idea of having a ‘seed’ put inside of her. Whether it was literally a seed, or just a s****l reference, Faith did not want to have a seed penetrate her and then grow in her body. She was not ready to be a mother to a human, much less a vine.

“Oh don’t worry Faith the procedure is completely harmless, there’s hardly ever any complication during the ceremony. Any way as I was saying, the seed feeds on your blood, and the blood and essence of other creatures. The bond vine can only ever have twelve leaves in the duration of its life span, the first three leaves decide how the remaining nine would turn out. You would have to nurture the first three leaves by feeding them only with the essence you want to serve as the base for your bond vine.

It could be anything from an essence of fire, to an essence of poison. Then after the three leaves have come into existence, the other nine would be made from a combination of the three first leaves. Each subsequent combination will create a new leaf, with a new effect, until all leafs are completed.”

Faith felt rather enlightened, as someone who has played a lot of games, before Zion became her reality, Faith knew the bond vine was just a fancy name for the soul weapon of an herbalist. It might not be called a soul weapon exactly, but it’s a weapon that can evolve and grow with its owner. The bond vine of herbalists was probably nurtured and grown to help improve other plants, or foster effects that were quite helpful to herbs in the long run. However, Faith had something else in mind after listening to what Colea had to say about the Bond vine.

Faith knew she was not the only one who realized, that the bond vine has the potential to be the most powerful weapon on the whole of Zion. With the proper nurturing, the first plant in existence, will be the most powerful weapon in existence. And this was more her style, rather than just sitting around gardening. She had gained a certain affection for this class, but Faith still very much wanted to crack monster heads and go on adventure.

“Any way, Faith my dear beautiful student. In less than twenty days there’s going to be a supernatural phenomenon that is only seen once every three years, the great moon would be waking up from her slumber, unleashing a wave of powerful moon energy and magic onto Zion. That is the perfect night to get your seed. So we must get you ready.

[SYSTEM ALERT: QUEST]

[TYPE: CLASS]

[GRADE: E+]

[In Less Than Twenty Days From Now, The Great Moon Artemis Will Rise From Her Slumber To Bathe The World In Her Supernatural Glow There By Blessing All Things On The Face Of Zion. You Will Receive The Seed Of The Bond Vine On That Auspicious Night For The Betterment Of Your Class.]

[CONDITIONS: You Must Have Reached Level 10, And Your Herbology Skill Must Be At Least Level 2, A Higher Level, Means A Better Blessing. Your Journal Must Have Proper Documentation Of The Twelve Basic Herbs Of Zion And Their Effects And Habitats.]

[REWARDS: + 3000 Exp, + 10 Skill Points, Bond Vine Seed (Moon Blessed), Night Vision (Moon Blessed), Moon Worker, Herb Bag (Moon Blessed)]

There was a lot of advantage to be had with completing this quest. She might not be able to go above level ten, but the Olagoke’s had brought them into Zion at the worst possible time. There was no way that should this quest be completed, that they would not be able to get stronger. It might not be as much as expected, but it would be a whole lot more than their employers needed. And it would most definitely make life a whole lot easier for them. But with all this aside, Faith was now left with a very big problem. How the hell does she get to level 10 in less than twenty days?