Ch 4 Get to Spend

Waking up in the light of dawn I froze a moment. Then let myself relax. It was tomorrow when I would meet with the captain to train. For today I suppose I could do something else. Something had been bugging me in the back of my head, but it was like a fog took over every time I tried to think about it. What was my name?

Everyone just called me ‘little miss’. I know I was a bastard. But did my mother not even name me? Or is there perhaps something wrong with my name? A stigma? They said I would get system access when I was ten, but I already have it. I can call up the store now. But for some reason I can't access my own status page?

Scrolling through the store there is a plethora of options. So many things I could use to improve myself and my life. But how would they react? They’d ask how I’d gotten it. And I wouldn't be able to prove anything. Unless I showed them my status. Which I couldn't do as I didn't have access myself.

I knew my credits at least. Which was an anomaly. I think my being a reincarnator did something to mess up the system. For all I get is an infinity symbol. The sideways 8. So, there's no limit on how many credits I can spend? I can try and buy a skill I suppose. I don't have any in my list of skills, because I don't know my list.

Whatever. I'll just go ahead and buy knitting skill at novice rank. That should help my proficiency at least. They can call me a prodigy or whatever. I want to buy swordsmanship. But I think the captain is too smart for that. Maybe after some training?

What else do I want? Is there a learning speed increase? Something that can help me pick up skills faster?

I’ll find one. It helps pick up academics 5x faster. Good enough I suppose. I'll keep looking to see if there is anything else.

There is. 5x for athletics and 5x for crafting. I take both of them as well. Technically they are ‘Talents’ and not skills. But I can buy them. For a buttload of credits, but I have more than I could ever need.

Then I saw that I could upgrade them for even more credits. Basically, I had novice rank and could upgrade to as high as grandmaster. That might seem a little too fast though. There were 5, 10, 20, 50, 80, 150. I think I'll go with 20x for now. As I age up, I can upgrade them later. So 20x faster learning speed for academics, athletics, and crafting. That should do me good. And I'll go buy read, write, and speech novice level for Alterty language. That should help me seem more mature too. I won't be able to check them anytime soon. But I can always upgrade them as I wish. Thanks to free credits.

I keep looking through the system store. A quick glance at Marsha, she seems to be focused on her needle point still. So, I can sit here and focus. There were all sorts of bloodlines and skills and spells. I thought of how cool it would be to cast an arcane spell. But I wouldn't be able to use it in front of people til I was 15, so best to wait. I could get small magics. Like hover though? Maybe water breathing? That would be neat. Something to practice in the meantime. It doesn't seem like I'll ever be left alone anytime soon.

Maybe I should buy a bunch of young noble lady skills. Like etiquette and needle point? I try to think of what a young noble lady is supposed to be able to do. I go buy novice etiquette and needlepoint and dancing. And sewing. Hmmm what else. Voice? Singing too. Dictation! I would likely need that. It's best to get all these now before I start talking for real. What else? Is there a skill that will help with walking? Some kind of grace? I scroll through and find a talent called ‘gilded grace’. Reading the description, it says, that while I'm perceived to be a lady I will have the grace of one. So long as people know me to be a young noble, I'll have the grace of one? I guess that isn't too bad. But I'll keep looking. No, wait. I'll check to see if it can be upgraded. The upgrade is much better. ‘Glittering Grace’ all who see you believe you to have the grace of a noble. Thats much better. Its two ranks higher so basically journeyman rank. But I'll take it. Is there an even higher rank? ‘Grace of the Noble’ the highest rank. The description is basically, you will always have the grace of the highest noble. Even more so than the emperor. I so don't need that complication. I'll go with glittering for now. Its good enough for child me. As I grow older, I might rank it up.

What else does a young noble need? Oh! How about always smelling clean and fresh? That would be a good one to have. Especially as a child. I look through the skills and talents and don't find any. So, I start with the spells. I did find one. It's called Cleanse. Basically, it cleans you up. I want it, but it's an actual spell. I could use it secretly. I don't think about it and buy it. Then rank it up to journeyman. The description says it will give me a full body clean. So that's what I need. Like a bath replacement whenever I want.

There is one more thing I want. It's going to be a big spend too. An inventory. I want the most complicated one I can get. The problem with that is those are soul based and I'm only five. So, there is a limit on how big I can get it.

I scroll though til I get to inventory and start with my selection process. First, I start with growth. So, it will grow as long as I age up and can spend more credits on it. Then I selected spatial expansion of course. Then weight reduction. Then stasis. Then recall. Then organization. One last thing I really want. Is to be able to enter it. So, I choose to make it habitable. Which means I can turn the stasis off too. Or portion the stasis to certain parts. I'll also have to get a portal spell. Almost forgot.

The total is in the millions of credits. But it doesnt feel real. Like I'm not spending my money. I select yes and I'm given the warning of how big I can make it due to my age and size. A whole 50 cubic ft. It felt tiny. But huge at the same time. Since itll stay organzied. Basically it was 4 ft wide, 4ft long and 3ft high. It was a cubby for me. I could fit in it if I needed to. But that was more than enough space for now I suppose.

I go back to look at portal spells or something similar. I found the most simplistic portal, just for opening inventory. I buy it at journeyman rank. That way I can walk through it, instead of just reaching in and pulling my arm out.

Do I want a pet home? Get a bonded companion? Maybe when I'm older. Theres no way to hide one now. The baron would find out. And my maids would discover it. I can't disappear like before. Is there anything else I want?

I think for a few minutes. Just huddling under my covers. Marsha hasn't moved from the couch. The dawn light has been brightening. But it's still early. I need to make changes now, while they don't know me that well. If I add something later, they’ll notice if something is new. Maybe pick an instrument to be good at? How about piano and violin? I already chose singing too.

Do I need an emotional controller? Something to keep me calm? That might be a good idea. So, I don't get visibly upset at times. It would help make me seem more mature too. But I shouldn’t rank it up either. I need to appear to be a child still.

Looking through the store for emotion skill there were a few. I found one I like. Calm mind had a good description. Just keep your mind calm. I bought it at apprentice rank. Then I had an epiphany. Resistances! Now would be the best time to get them. I could buy them low and earn them high. Or I could buy them high and never notice they were being used on me. So, I'll buy them apprentice rank. And notice when they're being used and be able to fight them!

I started hunting for resistances. There were of course elemental resistances. Like fire, ice, lighting. Then the damage one like mind, slashing attack, poison attack, blunt damage, piercing attack. There were so many resistances. Over 30 of them. I wanted them all, but did I need them all? Like I didn't think I would need heal resistance? That sounded like a necromancer thing. Protect your undead from holy magic. Not for me. Maybe I should buy heal? Would always come in handy.

So, I picked at my resistances til I had a nice collection. All at apprentice level. Except temperature. For hot/cold I took it at expert. Never would I have to care about the temperature again. I could dress freely how I wanted to.

I didn't buy any of the magic spells I wanted. But there were a few tempting things. Like regeneration. I could buy it low. And heal fast. Or buy heal and speed up my own healing. Decisions. If either were noticed I'd be in big trouble though. I can buy regeneration later at a higher lvl skill. But I never knew when I would need heal. So, I went ahead and bought it at expert.

If I needed it at a lower skill I could use it. If I was ever in trouble I had it on hand. There would come a time I needed it. I just knew it. Thinking that I also bought cure at expert. I just had the thought of being stranded somewhere and not having it but needing it. Not for me but someone I cared for. I would do anything for those I cared for.

Now if only the maids assigned to me were actually here for my benefit. I wanted to know who put them up to this. I had never seen them before so they couldn't have been the baron. So where did they come from, and why?

I knew the captain genuinely cared for me. So, I reciprocated. He gave me such warm joy. I kind of wish he was my father, but I knew that was unlikely. If he was, he would have been kicked out and I with him. That might have been a nice life actually.

I think I'm about finished in the system store. Got my young noble lady starter set. Got my inventory set up. Got my resistances. Got my learning speed up. Got my Alterty language skills set up. Wait, do I need another language skill? Should I just get them all? I look at other languages.

I could get the Dragons language! It was super expensive, and I'd have to hide it, but I could! Maybe when I was older, for now I'll get fey and kin all at novice level too. They don't seem much different from Alterty, more like dialects than different languages entirely. I suppose we all use the same system. We learn the same language basically. Well, I'll learn them too.

I also have cleanse, hover, and water breathing. Just for fun and knitting so I can do more with it. Are there more needle workings I could get? There were a lot of needle works skills. I already had needle point, so I chose cross stitch and embroidery as well. I think that would be enough.

If I wanted to keep anything to myself, I could now that I had an inventory. I'll look later. For now, it was nearly an hour after dawn and Marsha was starting to look over at me, so I yawned and sat up.

“g’morning.” I said to her.

She nodded to me, setting up a dress for the day. I got out of bed, sliding down the side. She undressed me and had me redressed in moments. The new dress was pretty, in a soft way. The panel on top was a cream color, and the lower panel was a darker cream. With a ribbon in the middle. If the fabric wasn't so starched it could be mistaken for a nightgown.

I made my way to the kiddie table where a serving platter was sitting under a dome. Marsha had set it up already. I wonder what had kept it warm.

Today's breakfast was oatmeal with fruit. It smelled sweet, likely honey. I wasn't a huge fan of honey. Usually, it was too sweet. But this more natural honey was just right. Stirring the fruit in I sat and ate. Marsha handed me another plate. It held a small pile of scrambled eggs. I ate those in between bites of the oatmeal. It really was a wonderful breakfast.

As I was finishing up Marsha held a warm wet cloth to me. So, I let her wipe my hands and face. I suppose this will become the norm now. Instead of having to bathe after every meal. I was getting better and small adjustments of my hands, but glittering grace was doing the heavy lifting now.

Since I wasn't to do sword training today, I wondered what I would do instead. Marsha wasn't one to speak. So, I didn't think to ask her. Instead, I looked around my room. There wasn't much to it. A grand bed that could fit five of me, two couches with a low table. My kiddie table with a single chair by the windows. A fireplace to the other side. And the wardrobe that kept all my clothes in. There was a small desk off in the far corner, but I didn't know why. Most of it was done in light wood with light fabrics. I didn't have any toys or anything. Not that I needed them. But there wasn't anything to actually do in my room. For some reason I had the thought that Marsha was actually mute. So, I didn't want to force the issue. I wouldn't mind knitting some more, but that was with Misha. And I don't think I could learn needlepoint at this time.

Not thinking much about it, maybe I could poke at the desk and see if there were any writing utensils? Marsha just watched me go about as I liked. The desk wasn't too tall as I climbed into the chair. I would be a good fit for a young woman. As most of this room is. I looked through the drawers and did find some loose paper. But more than that I found an ink pen. Not the have to dip-in-a-well pen. But a holds-its-own-ink pen. The kind with a metal nub. Like what a calligraphy pen looks like I think. Or from what I remember. I hold a sheet of paper close to the edge of the desk, as I'm sitting on my knees to be level with it. I tapped the pen on the page a couple of times. There were a few droplets of ink. Then I started to draw. This is something else I didn't think about. I turned away from Marsha and quickly as I can buy novice drawing skill.

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The drawing skill helped me hold the pen better. And made it easier to keep a smooth flow of my wrist. My 20x learning speed means I'll likely rank this up faster than norm. But that's beside the point. I could draw.

I always wanted to in my past life. But I could never get my hands to cooperate. They were always too shaky or too weak. I drew simple things I knew of. Like a sword. Or a book. Things it was known I had seen. Then I progressed to things in my room. Like the couch and my bed. Then the food I had eaten.

I was running out of paper shortly. So, I stopped. There were a good fifteen pages of my drawing. You could see the progression. I had used both front and back. I hadn't tried to draw anything I hadn't seen in the manor. Such as a dog or cow. As far as anyone here knew I didn't know what those were.

Marsha was standing over me when I leaned back. I was a little startled by her. I nearly jumped but she caught me before I fell over. Sitting on my legs like this should have hurt. Thankfully I bought pain resistance as well.

She was looking over my drawings. Then she picked them up and sorted them by the order of which I drew them. I'm not sure how she could tell. But she could. So, I made to get down off the desk chair when Marsha brought out sticks of color. And more paper. I brightened immediately.

I could color! I took back all my pages and started coloring them in. This was fantastic. Some of the drawings were terrible, but I could make them look better with color! I could tell I was increasing my proficiency of academics because it was getting easier to tell where I should put the colored sticks at what angle. I was honestly having fun.

Marsha had gone back to her needle point, but I had barely noticed. I do enjoy sword practice, but that was a practical thing. Knitting wasn't too bad. But this? This was just fun. We stayed like that until Misha came in with lunch. I had gone through the new stack of pages and recolored my old pages. Marsha had supplied me with even more paper.

“Well, looky here! Seems to me you two are too quiet in here!” Misha exclaimed, as she set just three plates onto my kiddie table. Marsha quietly packed her things into a basket and nodded goodby to me. I waved at her and started putting my papers into a neat pile.

Misha just chatted the whole time with me. “Well little miss, come eat. I picked the best of today's menu for you!” I nodded to her and made my way to my seat.

She lifted the domes and unveiled the plates. There was a sandwich of meats, a platter of cooked veggies and a bowl of fruits, that were unsugared. It all looked good. “Thank you.” I said to Misha. She paused and then continued. Today's special is pork! With dark greens! And your favorite, fruits!” I don't know why she was so excited about it all. But it did look tasty. So, I started by picking up the sandwich. It was too big for my hands. Misha caught on quickly and cut it into fourths. Much easier for me to eat. It wasn't a square sandwich I noticed wider and oval. I suppose they didn't have square pans to bake bread. They just set it in the oven.

I ate the bites of sandwich and bites of veggies. The dark greens were a little too bitter for my palate and so I tried to tell Misha that. By pointing at them and saying “bitter” she was all consoling and coercing me to eat them anyway. So, I did. I saved the fruits for the last and enjoyed every bite.

Once more after I finished my meal. Misha had a warm wet cloth and wiped my hands, arms and face. She was gentle with it though. So, I didn't mind. I wanted to cast cleanse, but I didn't know if she would notice, so I didn't.

She packed the plates on the cart and set it in the hall. “What shall we do now, little miss? Do you want to read? Or knit?”

Decisions. If we read, I can skill up my reading and speech. But I wanted to knit too. “Both?” I asked her. She laughed at me. “i see how it is. Why don't I get you set up to knit and I'll read to you while you knit, is that what you want?” I nodded my head sharply. Exactly what I wanted. I wanted to hear more stories and learn more words. I also wanted to learn to read, but that could come later I suppose. How would I go about asking for tutoring? As we are now, I'm learning the barest of things. I can barely talk as it is.

Misha set up my knitting for me. The pink sheet, which she had taken with her yesterday. “So, I think I'll tie this off for you and you start a new one. What do you say?” I thought about it for a moment. “Why not I try?” was my response. Misha responded. “I could have you try, but if you mess up you could lose the whole project. So, I want to finish it off and we get started on a new one real fast, ok?” I nodded to that. “I pick color?” she blinked at me. Then smiled. “Of course, little miss, I'll let you pick the color this time!”

She pulled out a trunk. A legitimate trunk. Full of yarns. I was in awe. She must have some kind of spatial. I stared at her for a minute. Just wondering what kind. Then I went back to the yarns. I wanted to dig through, but I could see they were organized, I didn't want to mess that up. I poked and prodded. The ones on top were the thinnest. So, I avoided those. Then I realized there were shelves and moved them out of the way. I tried pulling it up but didn't have the strength. Misha gave a laugh and pulled the trays up. Standing tall were seven trays of yarn. Thin to thick. I went for one that was a little thicker than yesterday's. And purple this time. a darkish purple. not too dark I'd have trouble seeing the different strands, but dark enough that I'd enjoy looking at it more than the pink sheet.

Picking it up I held it out to Misha for inspection. “Thats a great one to use! And I have plenty of it!” She seemed excited for some reason. I just nodded and went to look for the sticks. I mean knitting needles. Misha stopped me. “OK! Since you got the start down, I can give you your own set of needles! She held up a pair of needles that were the same size and shape as yesterdays, but the stopper was bigger, and they were metal instead of wooden. They were also bright pink. I sighed and accepted them. “Thank you.” I said as politely as I could.

I guess I was stuck with them now. But it's fine. I could use them at least. And they would be easier to use now that I have the skill. I sat down on the couch while Misha packed her trunk back up. I wanted to get some yarn. My own so I could work on it whenever I liked. I suppose I could ask at some point.

“I have more yarn?” I asked Misha. “Huh, what do you mean little miss?” “I have more yarn for later?” she blinked at me a couple of times. She gave it a moment's thought. Then she started pulling the tray back out. She reached in and grabbed several skeins of yarn. Then a basket from somewhere. Putting the three new skeins of yarn in the basket, she pulled another pair of needles. The ones I had used yesterday and put them in the basket as well. This gave me hope. I could work on different projects and just keep going. She set the basket to the side then finished packing up her trunk of yarn.

“Ok little miss! Here’s three easy yarns to practice with, blue, green, and yellow! And the needles from yesterday. I don't want you to make anything on these needles though I just want you to practice making rows. And undoing them, ok?” I nodded to that, just for practice was fine. At least I could do it in different colors.

Then I held up the purple I had. “Make something?” I asked her. Misha nodded. “Yup! This is to make something today! Instead of a boring square I'm going to show you how to make a triangle though!” ok, that sounds interesting. I tilted my head to the side. “Because then you can make your own washcloths!” oh, that was neat. Making my own washcloths would be super nice. So, I started to cast on again. But Misha stopped me. “Nope this time you're only going to cast on a few. Alright?” I nodded and did as I was told.

With only five cast on it was a very small row. I looked to Misha and saw what to do next. “Ok next row add two, one near each end. Second to last stitch, ok? Can you do that for twenty rows?” I nodded to her and started. It didn't take that long after doing 20 rows. Misha read from the book she selected. Some kin fairy tail of them gaining the power of flight. It was honestly the most childish book I've heard so far. But it was easy to listen to. Misha had a nice voice after all.

When I finished the 20 rows I showed Misha. It wasn't very long maybe my arm length? She nodded to me and started counting the stitches in each row. I hadn't bothered. With the novice skill I had improved greatly in just one day.

“Alright! This looks great! Now, I showed you how to decrease stitches, so you have to stitch two together right? She asked me, so I nodded. “Ok then do that for the second and third last two of each row. For twenty rows!”

So, I began again. Another 20 rows. It was easier than yesterday at least. My hands were more dexterous and able to move the needles how I wanted to. The needles themselves were almost as long as my forearms. So, I kept going til I had the 20 rows done. So, I showed Misha.

“Well done, little miss! It seems like you got the hang of this alright!” she once more counted the stitches in each row. It did seem like a nice triangle. Not quite perfect, but that was more due to the tightness of my weave. I couldn't keep the tension throughout the project as I was just too small. Misha looked down at me as we sat on the couch. “Ok, now do a row of five and I'll show you how to cast off, alright?” I nodded to her and quickly finished the row of five. She then had me turn the project to her as she showed me how to cast off. It wasn't hard simply pulling stitch over stitch, then when you get to the end pull the yarn though and tie a knot. And it was done. I have completed two knitting projects.

I looked at Misha. “Again?” I asked her. She faltered for a moment. “of course, do you want to make another triangle or something else?” I thought for a moment and remembered my pink sheet. I wanted to redo it. Could I make a scarf? I remember getting those donated all the time in the hospice. But I hadn't seen anyone wear one, so I didn't know the word for it. Or how to ask the word for it. So, I made a try.

“Wear?” I asked. She looked at me for a moment. “You mean something you can wear?” I nodded to her. She brightened all smiles and cheery again. But I had seen something in her eyes. Something sharp. “let's make a shawl then! It's a big rectangle people wrap around their shoulders when it's cold, ok?” she looked at me quizzingly. So, I just nodded along. “Any color you want it to be in?” I thought for a moment then held up the blue she gave me. It was a pretty sky blue, but the yarn looked warm.

She nodded to me and started telling me how to judge dimensions. I just looked at her confused. She muttered to herself and showed me how to count stitches when you wrap them around the needle to cast on. To figure out how much yarn you need to cast on.

That was a much better explanation. Then she asked me how big I wanted the shawl to be. Which had me pausing. If I made it kid sized id outgrow it in a couple of years. But if I made it adult sized it be too big for me for years.

I looked around the room for a moment. Then I pointed at my kiddie table. Which was about the size of a coffee table in my old life. Which would be the perfect size for an older me and larger than I needed now, so I could use it as a blanket now and as I grew up a shawl. Or maybe I wanted it to be a blanket as I grew up. Maybe I should make it a throw blanket size? I looked at Misha. “Blanket?” I asked her. She blinked at me. “You want to make a blanket?” I nodded. “Lap blanket.” I stated calmly. “Oh, you want to make a lap blanket for an adult. But on you that would be full sized! I get it now!” she exclaimed with joy. “Ok, let's do this. You can make a blanket! but from squares!” I tilted my head sideways in confusion. “I'll have you make squares of different colors of yarn, and long as they come out neat, they you can weave them together to make a big blanket!” she exclaimed loudly. She seemed more excited about this than I was. but I grinned at her and nodded. “How?” was all I asked. “let's see. If you can make a square about one foot in size, then we can just measure that way! I'll pick up some yarn for you! You want it all in blue?” I shook my head and held up the blue I was holding and petted the yarn. She gave me a look. “Oh! You want that texture! I got you! I'll get some more just like that! And I won't get pink, I promise!” I grinned at that.

I didn't know how long that would take me, but I have something to look forward to now. For now, I would start with the blue I had one hand. Misha helped me figure out how many stitches and rows I would need. It was a lot apparently. So, I got started on it

We stayed like that the rest of the afternoon. Me knitting and Misha reading children books to me. I sort of wanted to look at the writing and get an idea of how to write. But I was focused on knitting now. I wanted to be able to create my own blanket. And have it to myself. I didn't know what the season was, and I had temperature resistance but still. My own blanket? That was cool.

Eventually it came to an end when Martha came in with dinner. Again, only with three plates. I put my knitting down. My little fingers were cramping with how much I was putting them through. They were hurting as I had pain resistance, but the muscles themselves were trying to stop working. I massaged them out a bit.

Misha packed up the books but set them out on the low table between the couches. I suppose I was allowed to look at them. Martha set the three plates down on my kiddie table and showed me the plates. One was a plate of steak, one of cooked veggies and the last was something with bread. I was a little disappointed, until she snickered at me and brought forth another plate from the cart. A bowl of sugared fruits. I smiled at her. Then she turned away huffing. But I started eating. I was hungry. It didn't seem like much, but I had been working most of the afternoon. Knitting took hard focus getting it right. I likely ranked my skill up. The hours just passed by. Misha barely had to help or correct me while I knitted today.

I ate quickly, even the bread. I was fine once I put the fruit on it. I was hungry. I drank the water that came with every meal. Wishing for juice or soda. Or milk even. I could never really handle milk though. When I was done Martha set it all on the cart and pushed it into the hall.

“What shall we do now little miss?” I thought for a moment. Then I looked over the children books. Getting up, I picked one up and pointed at the words. “Teach?” I asked her. She took a breath and smiled. “Alright I can do that. Do you want to bath and change first?” I looked down. I hadn't done much today, but if all I was going to be doing is reading, I might as well get comfy. So, I nodded to her.

Martha drew me a bath, the water a little higher this time. Up to my waist as I sat in it. I didn't lay down this time. I did kick my legs a bit though. She washed my hair and wiped me down. Then she had me lay back and she rinsed me off. Something about it had me nervous. So, I was doing what she said but I had a hand behind me as well. So, at any time I could flip over. I didn't lay down fully, and she didn't dunk me under. She poured a little water over my face which had me spluttering and fighting to get up. She let me up instantly.

I stood there in the tub shaking for a few moments, she just watched me. I don't know what happened. I don't know why she did that. But it felt like I was going to drown.

“Are you alright, little miss?” My head was cloudy for some reason. So, I nodded to her. She pulled me from the tub and dried me off. She put me into a nightgown and sat me on the couch.

Picking up a book from the stack of children books, she opened the first page. Martha started reading, as she did, she held the book in front of her lap so I could see the words. She kept her finger on the word she was speaking. I would mumble along with her. My mind was foggy. Like I had done something wrong. But I panicked. That wasn't my fault.

Something happened to me in the tub. But I couldn't tell what. My mind was fading and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

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