Chapter 05 New tools, skill modifiers and strawberries

I walked in, and the dwarf was wiping sweat from between her breasts as she worked. She noticed me and gave me a cheeky smile before asking. “See something you like?” The stuttering mess she left me in as she laughed and headed into the back made it clear she was messing with me. I did my best to not be upset with her as I stared at her ass.

She pulled out five… Very similar-looking tools to what I was using. Before I could even ask, she told me why. “These are about the same quality. Maybe slightly more durable, but they have room for growth. If ye *ahem* you bring me back five copper ingots, I can improve any of the tools to the next rank. Silver for the rank after then gold for the rank after that. If you can bring me back five mithril ingots, I would recommend selling them before using them on tools, but that’s the last tier…”

She chuckled to herself before saying. “Would be pretty funny seeing someone with a mithril hoe.” As she chuckled, her breasts bounced up and down… I really needed to get laid. Every thought in front of a pretty girl was about a body part of theirs or me wanting to fuck them. I gave her a big smile before exchanging the tools. That gave me another mission.

I offhandedly asked. “How much for a copper bar?” She didn’t look up as she added another item to the forge. “A gold.” My eyes went wide. It would be five gold to upgrade these tools!? No, it would be free if I brought back the copper myself. That was still a very high amount. I asked why, and she answered. “It’s because of other tools and weapons that get upgraded the same way, and stills for making alcohol.”

Ahh, I guess that makes sense. Still, that would be like a field's worth of crops for a year to get one of the five ingots I needed. No, it made more sense to go and try and find copper in the forest, but I was still too weak. Get more crop variety, upgrade field size buy modifiers, and buy the rest of the skills, then worry about upgrading my tools.

Lumber Jack made massive improvements to the point I was closing in on the apprentice. The town carpenter started asking for my common and higher-quality wood. I had no use for it as the wood I was replacing was already poor, but also rotten and full of holes. My house was coming together. The big drafts and openings near eye level with the outside were mostly closed. In a few more days, I will have a functioning house!

Besides felling the trees, I was growing faster at turning them into lumber wood. The specific tools used were purchased for actual money from the pretty dwarf lady. I really should ask her name… And the name of the mayor’s daughter… The orc with the big titties barmaid… The gnomish alchemist. Nerdy dark elf librarian. Sexy catgirl guard. The unmarried adventurer. How the fuck were there so many beauties in this podunk village?

Like a hundred people in the village. Take out the kids, elderly and married and almost every girl left was a fucking bombshell. It made no sense. The men didn’t live up to that standard. I was fine, but some of the men looked… What’s the politest way to say it, UGLY AS FUCK! The town beggar was practically my only competition in the village in terms of beauty. I bet he didn’t have a sex-related skill either.

That would be a big pull for my future wife. Twenty, possibly thirty percent of my stats was a huge game changer even for normal villagers. There were probably more hidden beauties in the village I hadn’t seen yet, either. I know the mayor’s wife is an ethereal beauty, but there was no chance of me getting with her. The same goes for most of the housewives… Seriously, what the hell are they putting in the water that makes them so pretty?

I finished picking up my tools and couldn’t tell that much of a difference. Needed to remember to bring back the corn in a week. With that, I got back to work. Getting to level five in farming only took about a day now. I was gaining over twice the amount of experience, and the earlier levels came faster than the later ones. I could possibly hit level ten in three days, and twenty-five in two weeks if I really pushed. I purchased modifiers for my skills.

Lucky Farming- Increases yield, quality of crops, and experience with gathering jobs by 100%. Decreases the chance of low-quality crops, fatigue from farming, and time for plants to fully grow by 50%. Gives a 1% chance to pick a crop with 1 quality higher than normal.

Handy Tool user- Increases ability to use tools. Decreases fatigue from using tools. Decreases tool wear and increases comfort while using tools.

Smart Minor spell user- Increases the speed of acquiring new minor spells and reduces the cost of using those spells. Choose utility-based spell specialization. Gain .5 intellect boost.

Weird Jack of all- Gain minor proficiency with all weapons, armor, magical affinities, extra specializations, and jobs. Bonus is more effective the more weird the object.

Symbiotic enduring bond- Gain 10% of any sexual partner stats for a day after copulating. The bonus is doubled and permanent for you and your wife. The wife gains a skill that is helpful for farming.

Quality over quantity- Increases crop rating by 1 while decreasing crop yield by 50%..

Harder and Faster- Reduces fatigue and time for plants to grow by an additional 10%.

Sweet Spot (tool)- Hitting a gathering node in the perfect spot reduces fatigue while dealing bonus damage and a higher chance to crit.

Magic specialization (utility)- Animation- Gain instinctive knowledge on the animation school of magic.

Jack of Jacks- Increases the bonus to everything by 10%.

Tool Specialization- Axe- Gain twice the benefits for using this tool.

I had only modified my original skills before I had to take the corn to her. I finally remembered to ask her name. “Delilah.” I couldn’t help but ask. “Aren’t delilah’s pink?” She kept hammering. “Most are, but the one me pa *ahem* my father brought my mother was bright orange and red.” That was an interesting tidbit. Maybe I should look for some special delilah flowers to grow on my farm.

A few more weeks went by, and strawberries finally came in. I loaded up a crate full and headed to the mayor’s house. He was always busy, but so was his daughter. From gossip, I learned her name was Cherry, named after her mother's favorite fruit, and something I needed to look into growing.

She was just as busy as her father most days, walking around the town greeting people and making their days better. I happened to spot her on my way to her home. She was wearing a sky-blue dress today that exposed most of her breasts. I smacked my erection against the crate as I bit my lip, trying to get it to go down.

She noticed me heading towards her and gave me a smile that could melt ice. We got to talking as I walked up to her home. Putting the crate just inside, she closed the door behind us so no one could see. Leaning in she gave me a soft peck on my cheek as she whisper thanked me. “I just wanted to thank you again for doing this for me. Here’s a silver coin for all your hard work.”

The strawberries were probably a tiny bit more than a silver, but I quickly fled as I didn’t want rumors spreading or her to see my erection. I groaned as I heaved the last crate of strawberries up onto the food vendor's table. I would let him sell my produce, and he’d give me seventy percent of the sales. It was now just waiting for the money to start rolling in.

If everything sold all at once, I could make close to ten silvers. That would be a gold coin, but it would take months to grow, about five months to increase my tool to the next level. I had enough to buy a copper ingot, but that would be a huge waste. I needed to keep expanding. I needed to buy new crops, figure out how to make seeds myself, and expand out of just farming and into animal ranching and beekeeping. I also wanted to start pickling and jamming foods for winter.

I walked back into town, waiting excitedly for the next day, as I planned on going to the nearest village for different crops to grow. The next morning, I was greeted by the town guard at my door. “You’re the farmer, correct?” The hot cat-type beastkin asked. “Yes? What’s this about?” She answered matter-of-factly. “Your crops were stolen last night. It was only the crops that were fully grown, thankfully, but we have had another problem since. We found the culprit already, and she ate most of what she stole.”