After uncle Dorthna, Ark was the second person to find out about Melmarc’s status as a potential Gifted.

Melmarc told him first thing in the morning when he woke up.

There had been a bit of grumbling on his part about how Melmarc should’ve woken him up immediately it had happened. Regardless, there was nothing but joy from Ark. He was almost more excited about it than he had been when he gotten his own skills.

“So are we on our way to a Basher class?” he’d asked.

“No.”

Melmarc broke down the events for him, and by the end of it Ark had a mild frown on his face. He was equally against [Rings of Saturn]. That was unless it was going to be a powerful skill, in which case he thought Melmarc should take it.

His relief was palpable when he found out it didn’t necessarily guarantee it would be strong.

Ninra was the next to learn about it. While she was joyous, celebrating the news, she didn’t seem all too excited.

Ark was the first to notice, and he looked at her suspiciously.

“What?” she asked.

“You don’t seem very excited.”

Ninra shrugged. “What can I say. My dad’s a Delver, my mom’s a Delver, my brother’s a Demon Lord, and now my other brother’s going to be a Gifted. It’s like finding out you’re an aunty. It’s amazing the first time, but it kind of loses its punch after too many nephews and nieces. You’re still happy, but you’re kind of used to it.” She looked at Melmarc. “I am excited for you. I really am. But now I’m just overwhelmed with the great burden of being the only normal person in the family.”

They were in the kitchen and she returned her attention to the breakfast she was cooking and stirred the contents of the pot.

All their lives she’d been the only one who’d never been interested in being Gifted. It wasn’t a thing about assumptions. She just really didn’t care much for it. She actually just wanted a normal life. Go to school, graduate, find something she loves doing and settle down. She didn’t want the noblesse oblige that came with Classes.

Now she was talking about the burden of being normal.

Maybe it’s different now that she’s the only one, Melmarc thought.

Ninra stopped stirring the pot, covered it, and looked at him. Her faced scrunched up. “What the hell’s wrong with your face?”

Melmarc looked away. “Nothing. I just thought—”

“We just thought you didn’t want to be Gifted,” Ark beat him to it.

“She doesn’t.”

They turned at the sound of their uncle’s voice and found him standing by the kitchen door.

“That wasn’t what she meant by the burden of being the only normal person,” he explained.

Ninra let out a relaxed sigh. “At least somebody gets it.” To Melmarc and Ark, she added: “Do you know what it means to be the only normal person in the house? You guys brought a demon into the house just a few days ago. Yes, you didn’t know, but it had horns and didn’t look normal. A normal person would give it over to animal control or the police. But not my idiot brothers, you actually brought it home and turned it into a pet.”

“It kinda paid off,” Ark said.

“Of course it did.” Ninra rolled her eyes at him. “Then mom and dad come home and see their kids are raising a pet demon, and what do they do? Nothing. When this pet demon starts biting their son, they also do nothing.”

“You kinda did nothing too,” Ark pointed out.

“Of course, because I’m a part of this family and I already know that normal here isn’t normal out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love you guys and your eccentricities. It’s just that I’m suddenly saddled with the realization that in the future I’m going to have to be explaining to you guys how a pet velociraptor or some shit isn’t a suitable birthday present for a four-year-old.”

Ark nodded. “I guess I can see your point.”

Melmarc had a feeling a four-year-old might like a velociraptor for a pet, depending on the four-year-old.

Ninra turned and checked on the food once more. “But it’s my husband I’m going to pity the most. How do I bring a man that wants to marry me here without having him shit his pants? How am I going to explain to the love of my life that I’m not going to be creepy,” she turned and pointed the ladle at them, “like you guys.”

From the door uncle Dorthna looked confused. “Husband? You’re still single.” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand and chuckled. “I give it another ten years before you have to start worry about that.”

Ninra chucked the ladle at him, and he ducked out of the way, making a retreat into the living room.

She snatched another kitchen utensil and went after him. “At least there’s a benefit to being related to a Gifted, I don’t have to be careful when I whoop your ass!”

She ran after their uncle with a spatula raised high over her head.

“Uncle Dorthna! I just want to talk!”

Ark and Melmarc exchanged a look when she was gone.

“Who’s going to tell her that she isn’t really normal either?” Ark asked.

Melmarc shrugged. “I vote the fearless Demon Lord.”

………………

Melmarc spent the remaining two days before the school trip doing research.

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If he needed to get cool skills he needed to learn new tricks. His aim was a Strength type class. Fist of Thunder was a good starting point, but there was a reason Juggernaut was one of his preferred classes.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all juggernauts were tall and wide. He understood that he would put on a few more pounds if he became a Juggernaut, but he also knew he didn’t have to look like an oversized body builder on steroids.

Some classes made physical adjustments to the Gifted, but it was never anything out of hand. For example, it didn’t suddenly give the person two extra arms. Although, there were some Delvers who somehow had extra limbs.

The Juggernaut wasn’t a versatile class. In fact, it was one of the most specialized classes there was out there. But it ticked all the boxes Melmarc wanted.

It was a very difficult class to put down. They were very sturdy and had resistance to almost all types of attacks. They were slow, compared to other classes, but they were almost impossible to beat down. And their fights were quick. A Juggernaut was designed to end any and all fights in one blow.

But with what he knew about skills, there was a very unlikely chance that he would be getting the class. So he needed to diversify. He had to be realistic now. It didn’t necessarily have to be a Strength type, but it still had to be powerful.

He spent both days outside the house, walking the neighborhood. He kept his eyes out for every and anything that could be useful.

He found a few people playing rugby, and while it looked like a skill that would inspire a Juggernaut skill, two days would not be enough to gain anything of real impact on his possible Skills selection.

I’m more likely to get a skill that helps me survive being knocked down.

After a little bit of roaming about, he ended up at the park where people played different board games.

It was a simple park where families brought their kids and their dogs. On one side of it were tables and chairs of cement built into the park where old and young people played board games.

He made a quick search on the benefits of board games in developing skills and found a few points he thought were useful. He expected more intelligence based skill but was a bit surprised to find that there were some Agility types skills that it could help develop.

What do you know, he thought as he put his phone away. No strength type.

He only had two days before he would be going out of town so he needed things he could develop on the go. Who knew what other things he could do out in Massachusetts.

When he joined the group, he was welcomed by a young boy who had beaten him after an hour long game of chess.

It was the only game he knew the basics to that didn’t seem too simple. He had learned it when he was small but hadn’t really played the game much.

He played two more turns with the boy and lost both, but the number of moves it took for each loss had been more than the one before.

He lost himself in the games and played all the way into the evening until everyone started packing up. He watched a few of the games when there was no free spot left and learned strategies and techniques.

Eventually, he had to go home.

He went back the second day, and played some more. He got his ass handed to him a few more times but succeeded in winning three games and dragging two to a stalemate.

Despite his defeats, it would be a lie to say he didn’t enjoy himself.

When he woke up on the morning of the school trip, he’d gained a new skill. It was called [Echo Draw], and it allowed the Gifted cut twice in one ‘draw,’ whatever that was. All he had really gotten from it was that it was another sword skill and it replaced [You Are Not Alone].

He had really been hoping it would’ve taken [Rings of Saturn], instead.

……………………

Melmarc packed a few things for the trip. A charger. A power bank. A pair of clothes. A spare charger since Delano loved to forget his charger or just outright misplace it. And a pair of shoes. It was meant to be a short trip so he didn’t need much.

Everything fit nicely in a back pack.

Uncle Dorthna gave him one of his many credit cards, which was actually a custom whenever one of them was traveling out. Melmarc slipped it in his pocket and promised not to lose it.

Ark made him promise to bring back a souvenir before he left the house, and Ninra just asked him to fall in love.

Dorthna told him that he was sixteen and that whatever he was doing, he needed to use protection. They were all weird advices and he took them with an awkward smile and a barely suppressed grimace.

The students whose parents allowed them go for the trip met at the school premises.

With the holidays still in session, there was no actual need to clean the school, and it was clear that the janitors had been slacking off if they were actually required to work.

Everything was covered in snow. The main walkways, the sidewalks, even the lawns.

Melmarc emulated the other students, stepping carefully on the slippery ground as they made their way to the school bus.

He met up with Delano and Eroms at the bus where the other children were gathered. The noise of children muttering to each other filled the space. Random snatches of conversation reached his ears.

There was a boy talking of actually getting laid during the trip and Melmarc knew uncle Dorthna would be proud of him.

After a while of waiting, he slipped his air-pods into his ear and found his way to the internet. He pulled up a video of a chess match between chess masters and started watching.

The game was quick and simple, yet he didn’t need the brain of a chess master to notice the beauty in the simplicity.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and it shook him from his focus. He tapped his screen to pause the video and turned around.

“Yo!” Delano greeted with a raised hand.

Beside him Eroms waved as well.

“On a scale of one to ten,” Delano said, “how late are we?”

Melmarc removed his air-pods and put them in their case. He looked at the bus that was still locked.

“Well, the teacher’s not here.” He slipped his air-pod case back in his pocket. “So I’d say you guys are quite early.”

Both of them had backpacks of their own, filled to bursting. Actually, both of them didn’t. Eroms was the only one with a bag.

Two to be precise.

“Is Eroms carrying your bag, D?”

Delano looked at the bags on Eroms’ back. “No?”

“He’s not your porter. Take your bag back.”

“Just hear me out, alright.” Delano raised appeasing hands. “Just hear me out and I promise it will all make sense to you.”

Melmarc shook his head. “No. Eroms, give him back his bag.”

Eroms looked down at Delano and took off the smaller bag. He handed it to him and he took it, grumbling.

“This is a load of bull. What’s the use of having a strong and big friend if he can’t carry your things for you?”

“You have big friends simply because you have a friend that turned out to be—is that a second bag on your shoulder, Eroms? Were you carrying three bags?”

Eroms nodded. “One’s for my clothes and the other’s road food.”

“Road food?”

“Yes, road food.”

“Delano, what’s road food?”

“Food you eat on the road.”

“And is that road food for the three of us?”

There was a slight pause before Delano answered. “It is kind of big this trip, isn’t it? But no, it’s just for him. Eroms doesn’t travel without road food.”

Melmarc looked between the both of them.

“Road food,” he said one more time.

“Yep.” Delano nodded like it made perfect sense. “Road food.”

This was the first time Melmarc was hearing about it. But to be fair, he hadn’t traveled with them before.

All he could do was accept the truth that was offered to him.

Road food. He shook his head while Delano laughed at his apparent confusion.

It wasn’t long before the teachers that were to travel with them arrived. From what Melmarc could tell, it wasn’t that they weren’t around, it was that they had simply been converged in their own meeting.

After a brief announcement, one that told them to follow the teachers’ instructions in all situations. They were asked to remain wherever the group was and never move alone.

Mrs. Ella was always a straight-laced woman. When she spoke, she always went straight to the point. She said what she had to say and didn’t beat delay, stall or dally.

They went on the bus and their trip began quickly.

The bus held a row of two seaters on both sides, and Melmarc sat next to the window. Delano sat next to him at the aisle. Eroms sat just behind him with a blond girl.

Steady chatter filled the bus as the driver shifted the bus into gear. The bus trickled slowly forward, then picked up speed. In a matter of time, they went through the school gates.

The trip had begun.