Planning Skills
Luckily, Julia’s old barn was very close to the house; Amelia was still a little embarrassed about her outfit.
“I haven’t cleaned up in a while,” Julia said. “Just warning you.”
When Julia opened the door, Amelia saw what she meant. A thin coat of dust was over practically everything in the barn, and there were more than a few rotted planks.
“Yeah. This… doesn’t seem like the best place to undo my shirt.”
“Well, we haven’t needed to use it in a while. I was kinda hoping your [Clean-Up] spell could do the work for us.”
“It only works on bodily fluids right now,” Amelia sighed. “Maybe at higher levels, but right now it’s useless when it comes to actual cleaning.”
“Huh. Well, if you give me a minute, I can clean up a stall for today. When Jens gets back, I’ll see if he can help me get the rest of the place in a good state.”
“Alright. Do you mind if I take a look at my spells in the meantime?”
“Go ahead.”
Pulling up a chair, Amelia opened her menu and began scrolling through various spells and skills as Julia picked up a broom and began dusting one of the stalls of the barn.
Now, what should I look for?
Well, I know I’d like some combat skills. The [Telepathy] and [Unblemished Beauty] skills in particular would be quite useful. If I wanted those specific skills, I’d need to reach level 5 or 10 to get Lilith to [Bestow] them. So, I’d need to do some combat training. Let me see what the various [Weapon Proficiency] skills are, if there’s anything that feels right.
After some scrolling and not finding the right section, Amelia had a thought.
Is there a way to look for specific skills? Looking at the border of the skills menu, Amelia noticed a button near the top with an odd symbol on it.
Hmm… what is that? An upside-down triangle with another rectangle underneath? It most likely represents something, so what would that be? Unsure, Amelia pressed the button anyways, and another menu popped up.
Ah- it was a funnel! So this menu lets me search for specific skills or spells. Typing ‘proficiency’ into the word filter, a large number of options popped up- both the actual proficiency skills and those that needed them as prerequisites.
Let me see if those skills have any ‘type’, she thought, opening the [Axe Proficiency] skill at the top of the list.
Axe Proficiency
Type: Weapon
Level: 0 (0%)
Proficiency in using axes. Improves with training and practice.
Ah. Now, if I add ‘Weapon’ in the type filter… As she did so, the list shortened. It was still quite long, but at least she was confident that everything in it was what she was looking for.
After scrolling through all manner of weapons, from bows and bombs to mallets and machetes, she found one that would serve her purposes quite nicely.
Needle Proficiency
Type: Weapon
Level: 0 (25%)
Proficiency in using needles in combat. Improves with training and practice.
Perfect! I’m not sure what type of needles it refers to, whether it’s knitting or sewing or something else, but I’ve already got a little experience in it! It does specify ‘in combat’, so it may not transfer over fully to my sewing, but it should do so at least a little, since it works the other way. Now, let me see if I can find any skills or spells connected to needles. Reopening the funnel menu, she removed the type filter and changed the word filter to ‘needle proficiency’, resulting in a far shorter list of skills and spells popping up. After skimming through, two in particular stood out.
Anima Needle
Type: Active/Weapon
Cost: 5 MP
Duration: 5 + 0.1Mag minutes
Allows you to telekinetically control 2 needles for the duration of the skill.
Requires level 3 Needle Proficiency.
Cornexus Needle
Type: Passive/Weapon
Proficiency in using thread alongside your needles in combat.
Requires level 2 Needle Proficiency.
If I do end up using needles as a primary weapon, the range may end up being a big problem. With the Cornexus skill, I can deal with that without any concerns about using too much MP.
The [Anima Needle] skill may drain MP very fast, but it’s going to be worth it. It doesn’t specify combat, so I could use it to help with sewing and knitting- and I’m most likely going to have a lot of people wanting new clothes soon.
Closing out her menus, Amelia looked over at Julia, who had cleared a stall of most of the dust. “How much longer do you think it’ll take?”
“There’s enough space here I’ve cleared of dust. Just let me get a stool and some containers, and then we can start.”
“Alright.”
Going over to the cleared-out stall, it was rather simple. A removable bar a bit above waist height blocked the entrance to the wooden stall. Most of the dust had been moved to the back.
“So, how are you planning we do this?”
“Well, I did some thinking and I figured the best way would be to have you lean over and rest on that bar, so you can stay still and comfortable while I milk you. If you were on all fours, there wouldn’t be enough space between your tits and the floor for me to fit a bucket.”
“Huh. What’s the bar there for normally?”
“Mostly so the cows knew there’s a boundary. They were strong enough to break it, but we had ours trained well enough that it could keep them in place for milking. The rest of the time we just let them graze.” “Huh. Sounds like it was a good system.”
“Yup. We’re probably going to have to remodel it eventually- make it better for humans. We can consider this a sort of test-run!”
“Alright. Do you want me to move the bar, or just go underneath?”
“Just go underneath, if you don’t mind. It’s simpler.”
“Got it.” Bending down and going to the other side of the bar, Amelia turned around as Julia was bringing over a large pail and a stool.
“You ready?”
“One sec.” Untying the leather string keeping her blouse in place, she pulled down the flaps past her breasts, then untied her bra as well, getting her nipples out in the open as she leaned down on the bar. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“Great. Tell me if I’m being too rough.”