I could see people starting to move again after my fight with Carlos. We had won the match. The Honorable duel was ended with Rex's team being victorious, and Rixnala was clearly struggling with that. She was cussing under her breath and circulating among the people who she sent to the battle, pointing fingers and saying a lot of things in a very low voice.
After Rex said that the strong ones were the ones who won, she became even more aggressive with them, even slapping a few of the Rodenti with an angry expression. No one said anything, and no one tried to stop her, almost as if this was natural. This made me feel very strange about the situation. If this was a human, people would be doing something to stop them. Or at least that's what I would like to think.
Either way, after about 2 minutes of her tirade, she turned back to Rex, still with rage in her eyes, and spat out the words.
"Fine. You won. I leave. Family can stay."
She started walking towards the exit of the village, but stopped just after going beyond the arena. She even took a few steps onto a small raised platform that was likely used for when they had to make any big announcements or something and started to scream.
"You live thanks to little brother. The weak stay together, it seems. But I still offer chance. The mighty. Come help my family. The first family. Carve name in history. Receive honor forever. Or stay and vanish. No one will remember."
She continued to walk away now with a more satisfied expression, and little by little, the warriors from this particular family started to join her. Some were the ones that were already by her side and others that were close to the houses. They walked without looking back, ignoring the gasp and then attempts of other Rodenti to make them stay. In no time at all, a large group of Rodenti left together with Rixnala, leaving behind most of the too young, too old, or too weak to fight. This included those who had arrived later during the duel after having gathered the Eater blood from the giant Eater corpse that was outside.
Rex turned to the elderly Rodenti who was guiding us through the city and said, "Don't worry. You safe now."
But the man just shook his head. His small gray beard and even longer whiskers shook with the movement.
"How? The warriors, the strong ones, are gone. We can't hunt without them. And we can't feed our young to grow them without help. I thank you for trying to provide some assistance. But Rixnala was at least going to let us die without suffering. Now, we will struggle until there is no one left."
"Hang on," Riley stepped forward. "The big reason why you needed the warriors is because of food?"
"They hunt," the Rodenti said. "Also protection. But food was the first thing they would do."
"Okay, then that's fine. I think I can help you with that. You still have some of that blood, right?"
The elder Rodenti turned to someone who had arrived in the middle of the jewel and asked them if they had stored Eater blood. They confirmed, saying that they gathered as much as they could, which amounted to a couple of barrels. But there were two more to be taken from the body, but the body started to decompose, which made the blood evaporate.
I found that mention odd. As far as I could remember, Eater blood shouldn't evaporate like that. I usually saw it being absorbed into the land. But maybe this was a new version of whatever skill they had to make sure others didn't take advantage of their bodies.
Still, that didn't change the fact that they had a couple of barrels of Eater blood. Not water skins or small bags. But barrels. Likely more than enough for someone to take a bath. This meant that even without {Quick Tier 1 Evolution} they should be able to get a large number of people from tier 0 to tier 1. While that wasn't going to solve all the problems they had, it would already help a lot. And Riley seemed to have the rest of the solution for this issue.
"Say, have you ever eaten one of these?" They pulled a mushroom from their bag and showed it to the elderly Rodenti.
He stopped and sniffed the mushroom for a moment before nodding. "Yes. It's not very tasty, but it is something we can eat. But they don't grow here."
"Have you tried?" Riley asked.
The Rodenti nodded. "Yes. Never worked."
"Okay. But let us try in a different way then. Because I know how to make this grow very fast. How much food do you still have?"
He glanced at someone else who was listening and gave them a nod before the other Rodenti, a woman who was also outside fighting the big Eater, spoke up.
"3 days. That's all we hide from Rixnala."
Riley nodded, "That's a bit on the low side, but I think it can work."
I glanced around and there were a good 30 people still in the village. Growing enough food for that many in just 3 days sounded like a tall order. But Riley had a confident expression.
"These work great. They grow really quickly, and that's even without me using any of the skills that can help them grow."
"You have skills to help the plant grow?" Michael asked.
"They are stored on my {Memory Bank}."
Unconsciously, I was also nodding along. Riley had shown me that skill sooner, and we even tried to see if my {Elemental Imbuement} would work with it. But as it turned out, it didn't seem to be the case. I couldn't have a plant element or something on my staff because of it.
"You knew?" Astrid asked, noticing my nodding.
"I did. We tested if {Elemental Imbuement} would work with it, but it didn't, so I just kept quiet. I didn't see it as something important," Astrid had a slightly hurt expression, "Sorry for not mentioning it."
Michael sighed and just looked away. "You should have told us. Maybe we would want that."
Riley's eyes went wide, "Sorry, I didn't even think about that. You're right. I'll let you know if I get any new skills that I keep just for myself."
"That's fine, that's fine. Just caught me off guard, that's all," Michael shrugged.
It was pretty obvious that my companions were upset about that, and in hindsight, I should have realized that this could be a problem. But before I could speak about it and apologize, the Rodenti started gathering around Riley. The idea was to create a Gray Oyster mushroom farm. And by following exact specifications, it should help this particular type of mushroom to grow really quickly. Especially in a very damp area like here. And then, people could use the Eater's blood to reach Tier 1 so they were able to activate the plant growth skill that they got from Riley.
As a result, they should be able to grow a steady supply of mushrooms as long as a couple of people were willing to spend their days casting the skill over the fungi. Since it meant that they would be working for everyone's survival, it should be something they were more than happy to do. Eventually, the farm could grow enough so that the extra use of skills wouldn't be necessary. Or even better, they might be able to get skill evolutions related to plant growth, which would be even more effective.
Riley got those skills during their first levels when they were still in the Silk Fortress. But they never had the chance to use those skills often enough to create a variation or an evolution.
We gave a few more minutes for Rixnala to be truly far away and not thinking about returning. Even though Rex said that, we didn't have to do that, as he was sure his sister wouldn't come back after saying that she was leaving.
"Rixnala mean, but no liar. She said she leave, then she leave," the Rodenti explained.
Even then, my paranoia didn't allow us to just rush out for the barrels. We eventually got them, and while Riley and Rex were building the mushroom farm, the elderly Rodenti, called Mickey, was asking for help. He wanted to set up a line for the Rodenti to level up.
Since they needed help, they needed people to protect them. They were giving the blood and the priority to the young and energetic, then to the adults, then to those who were a bit older but less interested in going out. Next would come those who were wounded but still wanted to do their part, with the elderly being the last group since they were the ones who would end the least amount of time taking advantage of the high level.
I argued against that specific setup since, from what I understood, if you had the System, you were likely to live for longer. But Mikey was adamant on that front. As a matter of fact, he himself would be the last one to use the blood to level up.
During this time, Michael and Astrid were close by and we were having a conversation through the System.
Michael: Are you giving them {Quick Tier 1 Evolution}?
Cassandra: Honestly, I don't know. There's a part of me who says no because giving that to the Rodenti doesn't sound like a great idea. But on the other hand, I do want to help them. So I'm conflicted. What are your opinions?
Astrid looked around, and after a long pause, replied.
Astrid: Better not.
Michael: What? You don't think we should give it to them? You?
Michael turned towards her with a confused expression but making sure not to speak anything out loud.
She nodded
Astrid: Yes.
Michael: Why?
Astrid: I do want to help the Rodenti since they are defenseless, but there are too many of them. Imagine if half decide to leave and spread that skill to others? We could end up creating an entire civilization of giant rats who can quickly reach tier 1.
Michael: And why is that a problem?
Cassandra: Because if we do that and people like Rixnala get a hold on that skill, what do you think would happen? Do you think they would just enjoy the spoils and go on with their lives, or do you think they would think of that as an invitation to start attacking everyone? Suppressing those who are weaker and making sure that only those who were on their side would receive the skill?
Michael: But if we give it to enough people, then that's not going to be something special. Everybody's going to have it."
Astrid: Every Rodenti is going to have it. Just them. Not the humans, not the Lumerin, not the Aranean, nothing else. I agree that we should be trying to help people, but unless we have a way to give them a skill that they can't give to anyone else, I don't see how giving {Quick Tier 1 Evolution} is a good idea.
Cassandra: Do you think that's possible?
Astrid just shook her head.
But we got a different answer from someone else.
System: Currently, users do not have an ability to give skills that cannot be shared with others. However, that is theoretically in the realm of possibility. Would users like to create a quest to develop this ability?
Cassandra: What form is that going to take? Is it going to be a skill that we need to have or what?
System: System is unsure of the final form of this particular ability. However, as the System knows that it is possible for you to receive it, it is also possible for it to be something that everybody is able to do.
Astrid: do it. I'll be the one taking the quest.
Michael and I glanced at her and gave her a nod.
Cassandra: If there's anything we can do to help, let us know.
System: While user Astrid will be the one with the quest, System is able to get any information from other users if other users are willing to share that information. Would users like to make Astrid's quest for a restricted skill to be shared in the party?
Cassandra: Does that mean that all of us will be stuck with that skill?
System: Incorrect. User Astrid is the only one who will be with a quest currently active. Other users will be able to have their own quests. However, doing so will lessen their contribution to user Astrid's quest.
Cassandra: Just don't add Riley and Rex for now. We need to check if they are up for it. But I don't see why they wouldn't be.
System: Unfortunately, System is unable to restrict the quest only to users Astrid, Michael, and Riley. If users wish to perform such quest, all party members will be helping in the completion of the quest.
Michael: Okay, can you hold on to that, then? Just so we can talk to Riley and Rex before we make that quest to be a party quest?
System: Acknowledged. System will hold on until further confirmation before making quest available to all party members. However, quest for user Astrid is already active. Current progress rate, 33%.
Michael: Already? That's nice. Means maybe it's not as hard as we thought.
Michael smiled, but I just shook my head.
Cassandra: Keep thinking that. When I had a quest, it started off big, but then it took a very long time to finish.
Moments later, Riley and Rex came back, having finished setting up the mushroom farm, with Riley even already planting the one mushroom they brought. It would still take some time before the plant growth skill could be used since it took a few hours for the spores to settle, but it was a nice first step.
We had a quick conversation with them about the quest, and when Rex asked why we wanted to restrict a skill, I admitted to him about my {Quick Tier 1 Evolution} skill and explained why we were wary of sharing it with anyone. Rex seemed to take the explanation in stride and accepted without arguing against it. But both he and Riley wished to join the quest so we could all get that as soon as possible.
I had some doubts we would be able to do that while we were still helping these people, but maybe it would happen fast enough with all of us working together. And if not, we were at least somewhat confident that in a couple of days we would be able to leave this family of Rodenti to be at least self-sufficient, even if their main diet would become mushrooms instead of meat or whatever else they were eating before.