💪 Side Quest: Hidden Skill Room — Apprentice Painter

🎮 Dungeon Classification: Hidden Skill Room  

📜 Prophecy Fragment:  

“Mastery begins with patience, and the smallest stroke can change the course of fate—or spill the essence of the canvas into the world.”  

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🧭 Today’s Trial: The Mushroom and the Mischief

I stood in the middle of the Hidden Skill Room, brush in hand, trying to paint a mushroom that, in my mind, was supposed to glow like a relic in the heart of an enchanted forest.  

In reality… it looked more like a confused blob of red with a dash of white. The cheap, rough bristles dragged unevenly, leaving streaks that resembled raw, weeping wounds more than forest fungi. It felt less like painting and more like wrestling a greased spoon. The paint smelled faintly metallic, sharp against the earthy undertone of the canvas.  

My thumb glistened with a streak of crimson I’d smeared on myself. Tobito, perched on the edge of the worktable with his usual mischievous grin, pointed and laughed.  

“Ah, the great mushroom artist emerges!” he teased. “That thumb… it’s supposed to grip the brush, not audition for abstract expressionism!”  

I squinted at him, holding up my painted finger. “What are you doing anyway?”  

He waved a parchment in the air—ink blotches already staining his sleeve. “Making a list. Armor, swords, shields, potions… all the essentials. Organized this time.”  

I eyed him suspiciously. “And who replaced my sword with… chopsticks?”  

Tobito didn’t even falter. “An upgrade! They require finesse—a lesson you clearly need before you can wield a proper blade. Don’t worry, the new list is for proper gear, with exact gold costs.”  

I raised an eyebrow. “Excellent. How many coins do we have to spend?”  

“One,” he said solemnly, holding up a single, tarnished coin.  

“One?” I echoed, incredulous. “What happened to the rest?”  

Tobito shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “Room and board. Food, heating, cleaning supplies… and my snack fund. It’s rough out here. But here’s the thing: you’ve got time. Work on your skill. Learn to make things, sell things… you’ll get gold, eventually.”  

I nodded slowly. “So… I need to get a lot better.”  

“Exactly,” he said, tapping his parchment—only for a candle’s flame to lick the edge. He yelped, blowing furiously until the parchment smoked, scattering ash across my canvas. The flecks landed on the blob, adding accidental texture. Tobito grinned sheepishly. “See? Even lists need patience.”  

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🎨 The Tapestries and the Hum

My eyes wandered to the walls. Three tapestries hung there, breathtaking and impossibly detailed:  

- A sword plunged into stone, sunlight glinting off its edge.  

- A sunrise spilling golden rays over a sleepy town.  

- A potion bottle, threads shimmering with strange inner light.  

I reached out and touched the potion tapestry. The fabric was cold and slightly damp, and a faint, electric hum vibrated against my palm. I could almost smell the crisp ozone of a successful enchantment.  

For a moment, the blob on my canvas looked less like failure and more like the start of something alive. The prophecy echoed in my mind: “The smallest stroke can change the course of fate.”  

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🎭 Tobito’s Tips for Aspiring Artisans

- Mess First, Master Later: Smudges aren’t mistakes—they’re proof you tried. Paint smells of persistence, and sometimes a thumb smear becomes a mystical mushroom cap.  

- Gold Isn’t Everything (But It Buys Snacks): Start small. Sell your first creations to earn a few coins. One coin today could buy tomorrow’s upgrade—or at least cover a potion refill.  

- Look, Learn, Lift: Study everything—the tapestries, the tools, even the crinkle of parchment. Inspiration hides in sound as much as sight. Tobito says, “A clever artisan turns curiosity into currency.”  

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The room smelled faintly of paint, clay, and old parchment. My fingers were sticky, my neck ached, and the candle flame on Tobito’s scorched list finally settled. I looked at the “blob” again.  

I picked up the brush. No, not a greased spoon. A tool.  

Taking a deep breath, I pressed the tip—not hard, but with the precise, patient weight of a warrior raising a shield. A streak of white shimmered faintly, as if the mushroom cap had stolen a sliver of moonlight. The ash Tobito had scattered caught the light, giving it a crystalline, otherworldly gleam.  

The smallest stroke.  

“I think I’ve earned a gold piece,” I said.  

Tobito, still fanning smoke from his parchment, didn’t look up. “Keep working, Apprentice. The next dungeon doesn’t accept credit.”  

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✨ Next Trial Tease:  

Brewing or Sculpting? The Judge is already waiting in the next room.  

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