Chapter Five - An Insightful Afternoon

Chapter Five - An Insightful Afternoon

Cleaning

Rank D - 44%

I grinned at the results, wiped my forehead dry of sweat and stretched until my back pop-popped in a most satisfactory way. The sun was starting to dip already. It was crazy how much fun you could have just exploring.

So far, I had covered two of the houses next to the Inn, both of them much bigger than the homes on the Inns other side. They had enough bedrooms and space for big families, and the quality of the furniture was much better. I even managed to find better brooms and a mop that looked almost brand new and that seemed to stay fresh no matter how much I used it.

A magic mop! Or one that was just really well made.

I had three more homes to work on in this corner of the town--the section that I suspected was reserved for the richer inhabitants--then I would move all the way to the other end in the poorer section where I could see the peaked roof of a church.

Nodding to myself, I stepped out of the last house, Bonesy in my wash bucket and my mop and broom slung over my shoulder.

I should have been paying more attention.

A white hand clawed out towards my face and I squeaked as I bent over backwards to avoid the swipe aimed right at me.

I fell on my bum, then rolled to the side as a claw raked through the ground where I had fallen. My hand shot out and I grabbed Bonesy, swinging the head around to slice through the next swipe aiming for my face.

It worked, making the ghostly hand vanish for a moment before it reformed. It was a big enough window of time that I was able to roll again, then climb onto my feet. My skirt and blouse was soggy where they had rolled in the grass and my hair had gone wild, but that was secondary to the ghost that turned and tried to claw at me again.

Not this time, buster, I said as I swiped Bonesy through one arm, then the other, then with a yell that was totally not a squeak, I swished the skeletal head through the ghost from top to bottom.

I panted as the ghost faded away to nothing, leaving only a glowing dust behind that soon sparkled away into darkness. Oh my goshness, I said as I tried to calm my beating heart. I looked this way and that, taking in the homes all around me and inspecting everything.

That had been close. Way too close. And so easy to avoid too. All I had to do was stick my head out of the door and look around and I would have been fine. This wasnt home--I had to remind myself--where things werent out to kill you all day every day.

My grip around bonesy tightened and I shivered.

Ding! Congratulations, you have made Sentinel Ghost of Threewells by Darkwood Level 1 come to a sticky end!

I stared at the prompt. Was that a stick pun? I asked.

Clearly the menu systems in this world were all quite evil. It was something to take my mind off my latest near-death experience... and now I was the one making puns. I groaned and looked up to the sky, taking in the huge blue expanse with the occasional distant birds and the strange balloon in the dista--

I blinked and focused on what looked like a tiny--or very, very distant--oblong balloon. It was brown-ish grey, with a large red mark on its side and a faint trail of smoke behind it. Not something organic, not with the way it hung motionless in the sky.

What is that? I wondered.

Ding! For repeating a Special Action a sufficient number of times you have unlocked the general skill: Insight!

Holy moly! I looked around. I hadnt forgotten the whole ghost almost-eating-my-face thing, but this was certainly a nice distraction. Insight! I said as I held up Bonesy

A Skeleton (Level ?) head attached to a stick.

I laughed, then pressed a hand over my mouth to keep the sound low. Looking up, I stared at the tiny distant shape and thought insight as hard as I could.

An airship.

A flip fluffering airship? I gasped.RêAd lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only

There were magical airships around! The world had just gotten a million times cooler. But those were things Id never get to see if I stayed in this ghost-town...

Oh no, the puns are catching up.

If watches existed.

But airships did, so why not?

I took what little stuff I had found that was useful. A nice silver candle holder with a mirrored hand protector that would keep the light out of the holders eyes, a pretty painting of a boat on a river with a dragon flying in the background in a nice frame, a few spoons and table knives made of silver, and tossed them all into a rough sack I found that was hole-less. They were the sum total of my riches.

When I found civilization my first stop was going to be an antiques store where I could sell all of the stuff and make enough to fund any future adventures!

I pulled out my map and checked it out. It seemed that I had cleaned and explored the--I was going to call it Western--part of the town completely. The Evil Hole of Great Evil was just to the East of where I was, which was totally off limits because I was pretty sure the only respawn I would get was as a ghost to haunt the next poor adventurer and that wasnt neat.

More grinding!

I had to admit, cleaning had never been so much fun. Or grinding for that matter. There were real, tangible benefits to all of this and I loved every moment of it except for the moments where I was nearly dying. Those I could do without.

I arrived at the southern end of the town and realized that I would need to update my map a lot. But before that, more sneaking!

Moving between two homes, I kept myself low to the ground, my haversack and cleaning gear and things left next to a house behind to reduce the noise I made as I moved around.

It seemed that at some point the road leading into the town forked and never reconnected, so that the road I had been exploring for the past day and a bit was disconnected from the one I found now. This road ended at a big gate that was left ajar, just enough for someone to walk through if it wasnt for the huge pile of branches stuffed by the entrance.

There was another well, which made three! I was right about the name!

My silent cheering at my discovery froze up when I peeked around a corner and found the old church I had seen a while ago. It was a large building with two bell towers and a small graveyard behind it. One filled with ghosts. A quick snoop revealed five glowing forms wandering in circles.

Five too many.

I still snooped around a little. The buildings nearest the church looked like businesses. A blacksmiths shop, a supply store of some kind, a shop with a stick-like symbol before it. I took note of what I could see, then backed away.

Too much for me to handle at my level.

Maybe it was best that I just... move on. But then that would leave my quest undone, and something niggled at me about it. It didnt have a timer, exactly, but I could tell that the longer I waited the harder things would get.

No. It was best that I stick around and at least try to see what I could do. There was another tower to visit at the far end of town. Close to the evil ghost but not on it. And there were ghosts that I might be able to chat with.

And of course more stuff to explore.

I entered a house as far from the church as could be and did my usual snoop and clean routine. Then, nearly an hour later, as the sun was setting, I used the last rays to update my map, scrubbing out mistakes with some spit and rubbing, and checked on my skill growth.

Insight

Rank E - 14%

Cleaning

Rank D - 84%

Come morning I would hit Cleaning rank C and probably Insight rank D. Two handy skills to have, but neither combat based. Still, I wasnt without options. I would try to lure some ghosts closer to me and take them out with Bonesy. Insight had come from repetitive actions. Cleaning from a smaller number of actions, but it was a class skill.

Cinnamon Bun was obviously not a combat class, so for a fighting skill I would need a whole lot more repetitions.

I could do it, I knew I could!

I believe in me! I said.

Rrrr, Bonsey agreed. And with that, I packed up and snuck back to the spot Id slept in the night prior.