The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

“You choose the strangest phrases, my friend,” Cai said, shaking his head and pulling a small booklet out of a pocket. “I took this from the warship; it’s made things a lot easier. You don’t mind, do you?” I shrugged and he went on. “Good. Making notes is much easier than trying to remember everything and everyone’s names. So…”

“Ah, you’ve got everyone in there?” I asked cautiously, my heart sinking.

“Yes, Jax, the entire population of the Tower,” Cai said proudly, “And I’ve made notes on their skills, their aspirations, and where I think they’d be best utilized.” My worst fears were realized as Cai flicked through the book, showing me page after page filled with tiny, cramped notes. This was going to take forever!

“Ah… wonderful…” I said, forcing a smile.

“It wasn’t easy, I can promise you, but I think you’ll find it was worth it.”

Chapter Fifteen

It was nearly five hours later when I realized that my brain had totally shut down, and I’d been staring at Cai blankly while he spoke. I’d been lost in the pleasant daydream of banning all paperwork forever, when Cai stopped and looked at me.

He was clearly waiting for something.

“Ah, that’s…great?” I tried, and the frown I got let me know I’d totally buggered that one up.

“What’s great, Jax?” he asked, and I frantically cast about, trying to remember his last words. After a minute of obvious struggling, I gave up, sitting upright and looking Cai straight in the eyes.

“Okay, mate, I’ll be honest. I totally zoned out there; the infodump was just too much. Sorry, man.”

“What?”

“I… I’m sorry, man. the massive amount of information was just too much for me to absorb. I was paying attention, I just drifted for a minute. So, any chance you have a summary for me? Recommendations?” I asked hopefully, and Cai snorted, shaking his head.

“Jax, the last half hour was the summary.”

“Oh…”

“Okay, then…” Cai said, letting out a rueful little laugh as he looked at the book in his hands. “I suppose it is a lot of information. How about I give you the short, short version?”

“Thank you, Cai, that would help,” I said gratefully.

“Okay then…” he said, quickly sorting through a couple of pages and marking them for quick reference. “I’d suggest we split the farmer group, there’s ten now in total, including Amoth, one of the Mer who’ve joined us. I recommend keeping six as dedicated farmers and asking four to become gatherers and growers. One of the people from the group overall could be chosen to train in magic that will help, if you have any.” He looked at me, as though to make sure I was listening, and I nodded, holding up a hand and turned to where Oracle had made herself comfortable on the end of one bench.

“Oracle, what spells, Skillbooks, or memories do we have that would help? Narrow it down to the most appropriate three, please, and choose ones that we can afford to give out to help them grow. We won’t be using the higher ones for a while yet.” Oracle smiled at me and dove into the shelves, rushing from one to another and checking titles, pulling a book here and there only to replace them a second later. It took less than a minute all told; then she was back with us, three books in hand.

“Okay, this is a Spellbook called ‘Nature’s Boon’; it enhances the growth of any plants inside the casting area by ten percent, it lasts three days, and it can be stacked up to five times over before it expires."

"The second Spellbook is called ‘Gizmo’s Growth’ and gives a chance for exponential growth, provided there’s enough water in the surrounding area. This spell can be recast every two days, needs a hundred mana per cast, and gives a ten percent chance to create five more plants similar to the first with each casting…there’s a warning at the back of the book, though; something about not letting them get too wet, but it’s unclear…” She shrugged, put the first two books down, and moved to the third and final. “This is a skill book, called ‘A Time to Sow’, which teaches the skills any good farmer needs. It covers the various soil types, what kind of plants grow best where, and how to take cuttings and increase their yield. We’ve only got one copy of the skill book and of Gizmo’s Growth, but we have three of Nature’s Boon.” I nodded, thanking her.

“Okay, then, who do you recommend for each of these, Cai?” I asked, and he spoke up straight away.

“I’d suggest that Timoth be given the skill book, as he’ll retain more than any other, and as the highest skilled, and only professional Farmer we have, he’ll be in charge of the entire group, for now at least. Rin would do well with Gizmo’s Growth; she’s the halfling and has the highest intelligence of any of the farming group, and Tel has the second highest and is particularly interested in herbs and learning some of the alchemical side of things, so I’d suggest giving him ‘Nature’s Boon’. He can split his time between working with the growers and working with Esse, the Mer herbalist.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said pushing the stack to one side.

“Make sure they understand these come with the expectation that when they get skilled enough in their use, they’ll teach others.”

“Of course. When is that, usually?” Cai asked, and I turned to Oracle.

“It depends on the individual, but most can teach a spell they know to another after they’ve reached level twenty in that spell. It’s a basic version that can be taught; the student always gets a weaker spell than the teacher, as they don’t understand the little bits that the teacher knows instinctively. The only way to learn a spell as the caster knows it, is to have the caster create a Spellbook, and learn it from there, as