“The creepy paper puzzle was fun,” Burdock says.

“Crepe paper,” I say. “It was crepe paper.”

I’m going to assume the auto-translator is interpreting Burdock’s malapropisms in a way to make it make sense to me, but I’m still not sure how.

“I’ll be spending next year adventuring with the Elite rank party,” Burdock says. “It’s really good that I made Elite with a whole year to practice in. I hope I get a cool class.”

According to Milo, the goblin Hearths are still tussling a bit but none of them want to actually go near Grubwick. There’s too many Elites defending the place now, especially since they started sending goblins to run low-level dungeons to gain skills and level up. Enemy clans stick to trying to ambush them when they’re out traveling, which they won’t dare with human Elites present.

We escort Milo back to Grubwick, and while we’re at it, we keep going and drop Rowan off at Talgarth. We’re a month out from swarm season and he hasn’t spent a lot of time around his own family this year.

Along the way, I keep trying to take Aunt Savannah’s lessons on [Fast Travel] to heart. It’s similar to [Mapping Step], of course, in that they’re both Enhanced Feet skills, but the patterns are different. [Mapping Step] is focused on knowledge, while [Fast Travel] seems to be based on space.

With that, it’s back to Corwen. Once we make it back, the system acknowledges my efforts with a popup.

Skills increased: Survival (Hiking) Skill acquired: Enhanced Feet (Fast Travel) Description: Reduces the time needed to travel to locations you have previously visited.

I have a lot of studying to do and Aunt Rosemary is always getting on my case about my scattered approach to learning. I think I’m learning a lot about these skills in general just from the practice.

I take some time to look through the book of enhanced attribute skills to see what else I might be sleeping on. There’s more potential for space warping with Enhanced Feet but I don’t think I ultimately want to focus on that. It does work for vehicles like skyships, but it’s probably something a helmsman or navigator would be better focused on since only one crew member needs it. No matter. Every level helps in some way.

[Water Walking], [Wind Walking], and [Fire Walking] all sound like great fun skills that I am in no way capable of using anytime soon.

“Why don’t I see more people using things like [Wind Walking]?” I wonder. “I’m guessing it burns Inspiration like mad trying to keep it up.”

Aunt Rosemary nods. “At low levels, you’re only likely to get a double jump out of it.”

“Still useful, but I suppose I won’t be charging through the skies by the power of my own magic feet anytime soon. That’s fine. I want a skyship.”

“You also will want to unlock Enhanced Feet (Soft Landing),” Aunt Rosemary adds. “All the ‘cool’ and ‘fun’ skills won’t help if you get yourself killed by falling off a roof.”

“In hindsight, that would have been a good thing to learn before doing tree-climbing puzzles in the Spooky Grove.”

Aunt Rosemary sighs. “It is difficult to keep you on track.”

“I’ll note that as my next project to burn Inspiration on, hopefully without actually injuring myself in the process. What else? If I want to do crafting, there’s a bunch of things in Enhanced Hands I’d be interested in. Things like [Escape Artist] and [Prestidigitation] look fun, but [Mass Production] and [Sticky Grip] sound more essential.”

“There are reasons why most people focus on a few areas,” Aunt Rosemary says.

“I just feel so spoiled that I got incarnated into a Hearth that has spent over seven centuries churning out Legendary adventurers,” I say. “It feels like everyone already knows everything and there isn’t much left to discover. I even found someone willing to teach some of the Soul skills that are missing.”

“I have no doubt that you will, in time, discover many new things of your own. And there are skills I know about that aren’t listed in that book. I know about enhancement skills that transform someone’s body, giving them claws, hooves, horns, or wings. Some of the Hearths in Thorn have their own specialties of shapeshifting skills.”

I pull out my notebook and start making a list of skills I want to try and unlock over the fall and winter, though I’m not sure how many of them I’ll be able to manage. While the flashier skills are tempting, I put [Soft Landing] at the top of the list.

“I’ve read every book in the village, some of them several times,” I say. “Why are my Knowledge skills still so low? Is it because of my past-life knowledge? I would have thought that would give bonuses to it.”

“The system only tends to acknowledge skills when you learn them properly,” Aunt Rosemary says. “I’m sure you remember many things that don’t appear on your character screen.”

“True, although the specifics of skills are often vague,” I say. “I kind of attribute that to muscle memory, though. Alex knew how to ride a bike. Drake has never even seen one. You probably don’t even know what one is.”

Enhanced Mind (Calculator) is a must and shouldn’t be too hard. And the vitality boosts in Enhanced Heart are vital, of course. Now that I’m finally understanding how these skills work, I have to wonder just how many books I must have read in order to unlock Enhanced Mind (Mental Library) almost immediately, considering I didn’t even have a clue what I was doing at the time.

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Skill increased: Discipline (Long-Term Planning)

I go down to the core room so that I’m not disturbed. I share a room with two other boys, which isn’t going to change since once Burdock leaves for Crux Academy, Raven will be moving in to take his bed. I foresee I will get many levels of [Babysitting] in the future.

There’s an Enhanced Soul skill I’m trying to unlock that I don’t even have a name or hint for but I can feel it on the ‘tip of my soul’, one might say. I’ve been struggling with memories, with who I am and who I want to be.

What even is the soul? I don’t want to think of non-reincarnators as “NPCs” but none of them have a Soul attribute and there’s something indeterminately weird about that. And Estelle was made of aether and not vis, which I hadn’t even realized was possible but I suppose in hindsight it shouldn’t surprise me.

The soul is something inherent to past lives, but it seems to be something specific from Earth. Every life, the Soul counter goes up, like it’s growing more… soulness, whatever that’s supposed to mean. I have a long line of souls tracing back through untold ages. I’ve been afraid of accessing them for fear of being overwhelmed by them. Anything that might have been Drake already got overwhelmed by young Alexander Fizzlesnipe. So in order to access them safely, what I need is an inviolable sense of self.

I center myself. I breathe. I let the core’s aether flow around me. And amid that… I think I’ve found it. The aether from the core flows into me, strengthening my soul and my sense of being Drake Corwen and no one else.

Skills increased: Discipline (Self-Awareness), Recollection (Insight) Skill acquired: Enhanced Soul (Identity) Description: The ability to retain your sense of self in the face of chaos and influences both internal and external. Your Willpower has increased.

There. There it is. My reinforced soul feels (insofar as my soul can feel) just a little bit stronger and firmer. I’ll need to work at it and level it up more, but I think now I’ll be able to try to bring up memories more safely. Not right now, though. My Inspiration is low and I really need a better way to recharge it than thinking about fanfiction or whatever. I’m sure I can unlock a better skill. Right now, I’m happy with what I’ve gotten done today.

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Anise opens the door to our room to find me, Griffin, and Burdock all jumping on our beds. We reluctantly pause our rigorous training to see what she needs.

“I was going to tell you the skyship from Crux Academy is coming,” Anise says. “What are you even doing in here?”

“Practicing Enhanced Feet (Soft Landing),” I say. “Well, at least me and Burdock were. Griffin just didn’t want to be left out.”

“Is it working?” Anise wonders. “I learned it from falling off of things, but this seems much safer.”

“Well, we’re trying to extract the concept of softness from the beds,” I explain. “That way, when we land on the ground, it will seem as soft as a bed. That said, I haven’t actually gotten it yet, but I’m low on Inspiration so let’s go see the skyship! That might be inspiring.”

I head up to the docking tower and examine the flying school bus with all my various sense as it comes in. I’m pretty sure this is a different one and Crux Academy just has a small fleet of ships like this to ferry students to and from the school. I try to observe every detail, from the structure to the clothes the crew members are wearing. They have much more colorful clothing than us, but some of the students are also wearing accessories they brought from Crux.

Skills increased: Crafting (Appraisal), Clairvoyance (Psychometry), Enhanced Senses (Flash Observation)

Basil, Meadow’s little brother (no longer so little), pauses next to me to watch the ship fly away. “To think I won’t be going back to the Academy again…” he says wistfully.

“When do you turn 21?” I ask.

“Last month,” Basil says. “I’m a full-fledged Wizard now.”

“With or without a cool adjective in front of it?” I wonder.

Basil laughs. “Fine, if you want to be precise, I’m a [Nurturing Wizard].”

We settle in for another red season as summer draws to a close. Once the sky changes color, Aunt Savannah gives her report to the Hearth on what she has heard from listening to the wind.

“I hear the moans of the undead and the wailing of restless spirits,” Aunt Savannah says. “The rattling of skeletons echoes across the domain, no higher than Elite rank. Somewhere in the distance, a Legendary lich crackles with magic to challenge the truly brave.”

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All the bed-jumping eventually pays off when I get a system message.

Skill increased: Athletics (Jumping) Skill acquired: Enhanced Feet (Soft Landing) Description: Reduces damage taken from falling.

Simple enough. With higher levels, I’ll get more reductions and be able to safely fall a greater distance. I don’t entirely look forward to training this if it doesn’t involve beds, but I suppose it’ll be necessary.

Next up, I spent entirely more effort than I thought would be necessary doing math. I don’t dislike math or anything, mind you, but I prefer to use a calculator or computer for more complex calculations. I didn’t anticipate having to learn to use an abacus, and the only reason Corwen’s school even has an abacus is to help people unlock this skill. No sense in fiddling with this thing when you can get the system to do it for you.

Skill acquired: Enhanced Mind (Calculator) Description: The system can handle mathematical calculations for you. Your Intelligence has increased.

It has taken me almost eight years to get another point of Intelligence and I feel positively mentally exhausted from doing all that math.

I go to the hearth and relax. I bet I could get an Inspiration skill for staring into the fire, for being around family, or something, but that would hardly be practical for traveling. The skill Enhanced Heart (Hearth Inspiration) is mentioned in the book of skills, which I’m sure all the Hearthkeepers have, but it’s not something that would be all the useful to me.

Cousins and uncles stumble into the hearth with their clothes torn, reeking of undead. Aunt Magnolia, unimpressed, orders them to bathe before we all lose our appetites.

“How bad are the swarms out there?” I wonder.

Anise shrugs. “I’ve just been sniping from the walls so I haven’t really been in the thick of it. The Elites out of school got a little overenthusiastic about killing zombies, though. I heard they were having a competition on how many each of them could kill and it got a little out of hand. Ugh, and it’s not like we can even eat the things.”

“Are they… people who were reanimated?” I ask.

“Oh, no no, that would be extra gross,” Anise says. “No, they’re just monsters shaped like people. Everything outside the walls stinks, though. Thank Heavens monster corpses dissolve after a while if they’re not harvested. So, hey! What do you want for your naming day?”

“I haven’t even thought about it,” I say. “My mind has been overloaded with math.”

“Oh well, I’ll think of something fun!”

“I’m not sure if that thought should fill me with dread or not,” I comment.