Part 6: KNOWLEDGE
Update 6: KNOWLEDGE
LARA: Did you work until you collapsed again?!
LARA: Be sure to go home and rest before you collapse.
Last time I immediately broke my promise to not pass out. I'll try to do better, I guess.
Luckily, with Lara to save us, no cold this time. I can still manage with just this.
Every time you pass out, Lara's LP supposedly takes a hit. This was true in RF1 as well.
It's not like we had any to begin with though.
MIST: Good morning, Bush.
MIST: The weather is so nice.
Mist is inside the church today it seems.
MIST: There have been a lot of weeds growing in front of my house recently...
MIST: Please take care of it, Bush.
BUSH: Take care of what?
what
why is everything going green
MIST: Oh, you. You weeded my lawn, right?
wait, when did we-
it's not even-
BUSH: ...
I don't even know what happened. That's definitely not supposed to happen at the church and there's some translation funk going on. I sat here for a few seconds just stunned, it caught me so off guard.
I knew this could happen, this little event can be triggered as soon as you have the sickle, but it was just that sudden.
Well, here we are staring at Mist's weed covered lawn.
Let's just not for now. From a few updates ago, I mentioned that the clock tower would open on the 7th, and that so happens to be today!
(This theme is... unique. I can't say it doesn't fit, I...
It sure is something.)
BUSH: Is this some sort of blueprint?
Whoever lives here has been hard at work, it seems.
Totally normal gigantic stone and metal dais in here, nothing to see, I'm sure.
BUSH: There's a memo pad. But it's blank.
BUSH: What is this? It doesn't seem to move...
BUSH: There are various books about the Spirits.
Lots of strange new things in here.
Except for that memo pad. We've seen one of those before.
Looks like this is the resident!
He's got a cool hat.
KANNO: Are you from this village?
BUSH: Yes... but I just moved here.
KANNO: I see. I am the same.
KANNO: My name is Kanno. I heard about this village from Sister Stella so I came all the way here.
BUSH: I'm Bush. I do some farm work around here in the village. Why did you come to this village, Kanno?
KANNO: Because of that Whale Island. I do research on magic that uses Runes.
Ah, yes, the main subject of the plot that I have ignored up until this moment. This game has one, but I'd forgive you if you already forgot.
KANNO: I retired and have lots of free... *cough cough* My chronic illness...
BUSH: A-are you okay?
KANNO: I'm fine. I heard about that island from Stella and decided to come here.
BUSH: Is that right?
KANNO: If you have any questions about Runes or Spirits, you can come ask me.
BUSH: Thank you.
We inch ever closer to that dreaded mechanic. We're still not at the point of being able to interact with it, but it'll only be a few days.
For now, I'll run through Kanno's normal dialogue.
KANNO: The clock tower itself has this mysterious air about it. I find that very interesting.
KANNO: It's so warm. I'm sure strawberry shortcakes will taste great during this season.
KANNO: This is a great place. Runeys only grow in a very specific environment. It is rare to find a place that can grow Runeys at such a stable rate. I cannot wait to research this.
KANNO: By the way, be sure to tell me if you find something. My specialty is ancient magic so I can decipher ancient text.
I'm sure this will never be relevant.
KANNO: Um... Who are you again?
BUSH: Bush!
KANNO: Right!
BUSH: Are you doing this on purpose?
KANNO: Hohoho.
Well, let's get the infodump on the world.
KANNO: I like people who want to learn. So what do you want to know?
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What are Spirits?
KANNO: In short, Spirits are "things that form the world." They exist anywhere in the world and give energy to the earth, plants, and animals.
KANNO: Of course, humans feel them, too. That's why land with a lot of Spirits is fertile and has kind people. With no Spirits, there is the opposite effect.
KANNO: When Spirits gather, they either become "Rune Crystals" or "Runeys."
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What are Runes?
KANNO: Runes, well Rune Crystals to be exact, are collections of Spirits large enough to be seen with the naked eye. You know about the fields on Whale Island?
No, actually. We've never been there.
KANNO: When crops have ripened there, a white orb appears. That is a "Rune Crystal." Spirits are a source of energy for humans. Health can be regained when one touches one of those Runes Crystals.
KANNO: Runes gather at fertile land, so when you till those fields and make it more arable, even more Runes will come.
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What are Monsters?
KANNO: These are the troubling things found inside the dungeons. Not much is known about them. What we do know is that they come from a "gate" that is opened through some sort of trigger.
KANNO: That's why if the gate is destroyed, monsters will not appear for a while. But, regarding what to do about the monsters that are already here...
KANNO: Weapons and farming tools around here all have the "Retornen" spell cast on them. Bush, the ones you have are no exception.
KANNO: Weapons with Retornen cast on them can return the monsters to the "First Forest" when attacked with it. This is thanks to our ancestors who wanted to take care of things peacefully without hurting the monsters.
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What are Runeys?
KANNO: "Runeys" are the things that are born when you grow crops in the fields of the village. Runes and Runeys are both things that joined Spirits become. But, their properties are completely different.
KANNO: Runeys have elements of "Grass," "Wood," "Stone," and "Water." Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Under certain favorable conditions, a corresponding Runey type will multiply. The reverse is also true.
KANNO: Unlike Runes, Runeys can be caught so you can move Runeys around the village to proliferate.
KANNO: You'll have to do trial and error to see how you can increase them in number.
And this is probably why most of everyone hates the runeys.
KANNO: By the way, Runeys can only grow in certain environments. You have to watch out for the Whale Island and dungeons.
So, yeah. The goofy little spirit things is what a lot of people dislike in this game. What's still not been said is that if the runeys are doing badly, your crops will grow slower or randomly wither. On the off hand, you can somewhat increase your growth rate if the runeys are doing excellent in many places.
We still lack the means to really do anything about this, so interacting with will wait for another update or two. It's a time consuming thing to work with, but I'll give working with it a shot instead of ignoring it.
Great knowledge acquired, and much text transcribed, the only thing of interest left in here is to look through the keyholes at these two rooms. Nobody's inside, but they do seem to be set up.
I suppose since Kanno kind of brought Whale Island out into the open, foiling my attempts to manage the pace at which I show stuff off, I might as well do this...
Obvious hint about watering the sapling bears fruit! Or, er, a stalk, I guess.
BUSH: Wow! That surprised me. I didn't think it could grow this big.
BUSH: Still... it's so huge. It's like it reaches the heavens... Should I try to climb it?
BUSH: Oh? Whale Island isn't in the sky today.
And yet my attempts to pace things my own way both succeeds and equally backfires. Normally, Whale Island is situated right above this beanstalk, but on Holidays it moves to Lake Poli.
And that's not like, holiday holidays, I mean Holiday.
The Rune Factory calendar is weird. It only has 6 days per week, so Saturday and Sunday are just morphed into Holiday. Months are also exactly 30 days long, each corresponding to a season. There are 4 seasons to a year, so it's 120 days.
Anyways, I hope you are ready for MORE KNOWLEDGE
BUSH: This stone tablet looks... ...suspicious...
But first, a weird giant rock.
*Sound of something collapsing*
*The chair slowly turns around*
SELPHY: Hiya!
It's like an earthquake hit in here 
BUSH: Why is it so messy in here?
BUSH: What are you doing here in the first place?
SELPHY: I asked Lara to let me stay here!
SELPHY: This library has a lot more books than it looks! I like it!
SELPHY: I organized them all so it's so clean now! Time to start reading!
BUSH: Organized...? You call this organized?
SELPHY: Yeah. All the books I want to read are in the perfect position for me to reach them!
SELPHY: Oh, by the way I discovered a new book while I was reorganizing.
SELPHY: I'll sell you the books I don't want so just come talk to me about it!
As you might've guessed, Selphy will be our resident librarian from now on.
So, uh...
Just to note, this:
is what it looks like before she gets here.
Honestly, it looks like my desk does.
SELPHY: Good morning. You seem so lively so early...
SELPHY: Your're free to read any book here, but there are still lots of books I haven't read yet. Be sure not to take those.
SELPHY: I'll sell you the books I don't need anymore.
SELPHY: ...I wonder what I should read next. I can't wait!
As you can tell, she is a bit of a bookworm. Just a bit.
Although, I can't deny, she's a fun change to the usual ellipsis obsessed, bespectacled bookworms you usually get.
She and Lara are also romance options, forgot to mention that. Honestly, I probably don't need to tell you.
Time for MORE KNOWLEDGE
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~Ask a Ninja~
"Know yourself before your enemy. No enemy is greater than ignorance. Knowing the pros and cons of the weapon you hold is the first step to victory. This book will discuss swords."
"*One-handed Sword One-handed swords allow for fast attacks but lack in power and range. Special attacks are characterized by consecutive strikes."
"*Two-handed Sword Two-handed swords have great power and a wide attack range but lack speed. Special attacks are omni-directional."
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Wow, I feel so educated. 
So a lot of these books are basic tutorial stuff, but there's some lore and flavor books around. You can even go to the second floor.
You may notice that we already have a tiny amount of LP with Selphy. She gets small LP bonuses every time you read a book in the Rune Archives (that's this building). I assume it doesn't count for re-reading the same book, and I've no idea yet if it's a once per day thing.
Well, I say book, but that was more of a pamphlet.
Let's go see the kind of stuff Selphy's reading right now, maybe it'll be more interesting.
BUSH: This must be what Selphy's reading right now. Let's see...
BUSH: ...
BUSH: ...
BUSH: ...
BUSH: ... ... Shocking...
BUSH: (W-well, I guess everyone is into different things...)
Bush is an open minded guy.
Re-entering the building so she actually gets back to her job...
SELPHY: I like the size of this place. Everything you want is just within reach.
SELPHY: The place I used to live was way too big.
Her stock is basically all crafting recipes. No Mr. Shield's guides yet, though. We're too broke worry about these for the time being, but rest assured, we'll probably buy everything in time.
SELPHY: Ah, yes... Surrounded by books... This is the life!
BUSH: You really like your books.
SELPHY: I don't just like them! Books are my life! Books are a part of me! I LOVE BOOKS!
This is also voice acted, and it's most excellent.
Well, that's about all there is to do here for the time being.
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ANETTE: Selphy, you got a package.
ANETTE: Is this a scroll? You'll even read from this? What a book nut...
Anette delivered to here yesterday, despite Selphy still being at the clinic. I didn't show it last update because it made more sense to throw it in with Selphy's proper introduction.
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Speaking of introductions, I just spent half this update on two people. Luckily I can breeze through the rest of this day.
LUTE: It sure is spring. I feel like I could fly if I jumped off Whale Island!
BUSH: L-Lute!
LUTE: Haha, I'm kidding.
Lute is here as it's a Holiday, and we can finally buy some utensils.
He's got a wide array of things, but what we're most interested in right now is the facilities.
The forge is the highest priority, but Bush is too broke to afford that, so the kitchen it is. Luckily, this game doesn't hide crafting behind ridiculous grinds, (looking at you RF1 and 2,) and the three crafting types are available from the start with no house upgrades needed. It's only when you move up to the higher class tools that you'll need the expansions.
MARCO: Starting with Mist and you, there have been lots of people moving to this village recently.
MARCO: Is that the new fad nowadays?
Marco is genre savvy.
STELLA: I feel really good. There are times that you just want to relax because you work at a church all day.
Stella hangs out at Lake Poli on Holidays. Church service in Trampoli seems to be all week and excluding the weekends instead.
Also, here's Whale Island.
Had I not been eating so much dirt, I could've set myself up to have a big harvest today. It'll be coming a day late, unfortunately.
Instead, I only got these few turnips. Past me could have been smart and liquidated everything and gotten the forge today as well, (Rosetta pays you at 5:30 and Lute leaves at 6:00, you have just enough time to catch him for a late purchase,) but I didn't.
Turnips are worth a lot more than their seeds, but aren't that profitable in the long run.
Here's a skill update as I leave myself 1 water tile away from death again.
ROSETTA: Oh, a turnip. You've got some nerve.
ROSETTA: I welcome anything that brings profits to my store.
Mist likes turnips and Rosetta notably comments on you shipping them. Though I feel it's possible it's a little backwards, because if I'm selling these turnips it means I'm not giving them to Mist.
Maybe she just doesn't like them in general.
A new day begins!
ANETTE: Erik, you've got mail.
ANETTE: Hey, this is a girl's handwriting...
ANETTE: ...So it's from your mother. You're living apart from her?
She gets tears in her eyes from this. Anette and Kross probably get that the most, but it doesn't come across well in screenshots, so I figured I'd mention it.
Oh, and I also managed to catch up to Anette early enough today.
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~"Greetings!" - Selphy~
Hello! I just wanted to greet
everyone and also let you know
that I have moved into the Rune Archives.
I found books that were buried under other
books, so come by to read them!
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Selphy sent an introduction letter.
ANETTE: In this season, there are really nice flowers blooming everywhere. I just can't get tired of this scenery.
I also get a turnip delivered to Mist.
ANETTE: There's no one here but I hear voices... Is it a monster?
Daily dose of sadness. I honestly don't know if there's something we can do about this later.
On to less sad things:
TURNIPS GREAT AND GLORIOUS TURNIPS
We're gonna be rich, folks.
...Well, compared to how we have been.
35 Turnips! That's 7,350g!
That may not sound like a lot, but we can improve that.
How, you might ask?
With our fancy new kitchen!
Unlike previous Rune Factory games, this one has a minigame attached. It's rather easy though.
A bar will start sliding from left to right, and bounces back and forth endlessly. It's speed isn't really that fast, but it has a tricky input delay.
We stop the bar in the blue to succeed with our cooking.
Should we hit the green zones, we boost the level of the final product by 1. We also get a crowd from nowhere going "wooaaah" instead of a little success chime.
I think you get some more skill experience for it as well, but I don't know for sure.
The higher level an item, the better it's effects and sell value are. If we got every turnip in our inventory to level 2 pickled turnips, we'd get about an extra 2,500g in profit.
We're not going to do all of them like that of course, But I'll take an extra few hundred gold.
If you hit the red zones, Bush displays his other culinary talent: turning anything into a pile of charcoal dust.
Bush, you were using a knife, not a flame.
how did you do this
Regardless, this ought to be a healthy profit. We keep this up all week, and we'll be able to get the other important items from Lute this weekend.
Um, you're a bit early, aren't you?
BUSH: Oh, Rosetta... It's not time to collect the items from the shipping box, is it?
ROSETTA: It's not. I ran away from home.
BUSH: Huh?! Why?
ROSETTA: Hear me out... My father runs a general store. But, the other day, he forgot to do a delivery and the customer said he was so angry he said he'd take his business elsewhere...
ROSETTA: The deliveries are my father's responsibility It's partially my fault for not making sure of it.
ROSETTA: But when we talked it over, he just said, "It can't be helped."
ROSETTA: Can you believe that?! Does he even care about his business?
Rosetta is serious about business, if you haven't noticed.
ROSETTA: That's why I ran away.
BUSH: But... Won't your father be worried about you?
ROSETTA: It's fine. I left a letter there and being alone will force him to get his act together.
ROSETTA: I'm going to be staying at Mist's place for the time being.
Oh, that can't go wrong at all.
ROSETTA: But don't worry. I'll still be making my collection rounds.
Mist has nothing to say about the turnip I sent or the fact that Rosetta moved in.
That's... very Mist.
MIST: Thank you! I love this Turnip!
I start paying my dues to her underground turnip operation.
Whale Island is here at the normal place today, and it's what I wanted to get to, but there's just been so much new dialogue to cover, so let's enter speed LP mode.
KANNO: I'm sorry. Can you come back later? I'm thinking right now.
Kanno says this. Riveting.
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~(Stella's Diary)~
"Spring, Day 1 (Sunny)
A traveler stopped by looking for a place to sleep even though there's an inn..."
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Stella also has a diary in her room that dunks on Bush.
BUSH: I don't know much about plants used for decoration, but I can tell it's well taken care of.
Lara has a potted plant.
BUSH: I can't really read anything here...
Sometimes when trying to read out of the library, you find shelves Bush is presently too uncultured to read. 
So I read another pamphlet instead.
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~Beautiful Letter~
"A letter is what keeps distant friends in touch and connected. This book was written to aid such friends in mastering the art of communication over distance and to instruct them of its usefulness."
"After you have moved, place a delivery request at your new post office. If you don't, you won't be able to receive any mail. Once registered, ask someone to send you a letter."
"Mail is usually delivered early in the morning. You can also get mail directly from the mailman if you see them on their rounds. If you are not a morning person, check your mail box."
"Once you have received a letter, you can always choose to read it however many times you want, as long as you keep it somewhere safe."
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Something about this
pamphlet feels mildly patronizing.
Before I decide to climb up to Whale Island, I buy a broadsword. The starting farming tools aren't that bad at combat, but even a basic sword outmatches them greatly.
We won't have access to magic for quite a while yet, but I'm going to be using it as well.
RITA: During this season, it feels the best when you drink a cocktail with flowers in it.
Rita has a new line.
Kross sometimes stands at the front of his field and you can talk to him across the fence. This saves you from having to enter his house first.
Now that everything else of possible interest is out of the way, Bush shall climb to the heavens. There's no way this can go wrong.
Music: Whale Island Entrance - Ambient
BUSH: So this is Whale Island... It's a lot bigger than it looked from below...
...Nothing went wrong, evidently.
Ah, no, I take that back. The altitude is getting to us, we're hearing voices now.
WHALE: Ah, a new face... Are you an adventurer?
WHALE: I am below you. Nay, perhaps it is better to say I am above you?
BUSH: Who's there? Where are you?
WHALE: Hahaha. My apologies. My mischief was excessive.
WHALE: I am the awareness of the very whale on which you stand.
Great, even the giant rock whale is messing with us.
BUSH: Whale...? You mean this island?
WHALE: Correct. I was a mere cluster of rocks when I was gifted with awareness by the influence of the Runes and began swimming through the skies.
BUSH: Runes?
Bush, you just learned this yesterday 
WHALE: Runes are collections of Spirits. Although Runes are formed by the earth, there are times when the Runes affect the earth instead.
WHALE: Adventurer... What is your name?
BUSH: I am Bush.
WHALE: Bush, I seek a favor. Although my awareness and body are sustained by Runes, I feel as though the Rune within me grows weak. WHALE: If the Rune were ever to disappear, my awareness would fade and my journey through the sky would end.
WHALE: This would be of grave danger to those who reside below...
BUSH: I understand. I'll search for the answer to your failing Rune. You have my word.
WHALE: You have my gratitude. It is not much, but as a sign of thanks, allow me to guide you.
WHALE: Do you see that stone tablet?
WHALE: It seems to have existed since before I became aware, and I sense a strong magic from it. It may be of use to you.
BUSH: All right.
WHALE: I have yet more advice. Monsters inhabit the lands beyond here. They may reside here now, but they must return to their own world. WHALE: Bush, your weapons are enchanted with "Retornen" magic. "Retornen" is a magic that sends monster back to their original place, their home, to which they must return, the "First Forest." WHALE: Bush, please. Return the monsters lost in this world to their own.
WHALE: I am counting on you, Bush...
And with that, Bush has been infodumped his new main quest. The free land we got was too good to be true, and it so happens that this island is going to eventually crash into it and Majora's moon the countryside.
Bush stands up to be the hero once again, as his future gets suddenly more complicated.
His first act shall be...
To make more pickled turnips.
Actually no, we're going to see what's up here, it will just have to wait until next time. This update's already larger than I'd like it to be.
Join us next lesson as we welcome back another familiar face! Believe me, we're not done introducing new characters yet!