Chapter 4 - Billy Confides

Billy trudged up to Farmer Tim’s farmhouse, still feeling like a beaten sack of potatoes and twice as lumpy. He was relieved to see that the farmer was out in the yard, fiddling with a shovel. His eyes flashed as he calculated his battlefield.

“Hey, Farmer Tim,” Billy called out, approaching the scrawny old man. “I heard you lost your glasses.”

The farmer looked up from his work, scowling. “You aren’t what… Yeah, I did. And it’s been a real pain trying to do anything without them.”

Billy nodded skeptically, his eyes flashing like he was a time traveler about to save the human race from zombies in the first of multiple world instances. “I’m here to help you find them. You put in a request?”

Tim snorted. “Right. I did. You’re not exactly what I was hoping for, but…”

Billy reached into his pocket and pulled out his Adventurer’s Guild pendant, holding it up for the farmer to see. “I have a Gift. It helps me find things. And right now, it’s telling me you’re full of shit. So let’s just cut the crap, put your glasses on and I’ll get on my way. ” His eyes flashed dramatically as he met his foe’s gaze.

Tim’s scowl deepened, but he also looked intrigued. “How does your Gift work, boy? How did it tell you about…” The farmer gestured to his face and then around himself.

Billy shrugged. “My Gift didn’t tell me shit. I just figured you couldn’t have filled out the request form if your vision was as bad as you made it seem. And “petite enough to fit into tight spaces” is the perviest old man line I’ve ever read.” Billy’s grin widened as Farmer Tim’s shoulders sagged.

The old pervert grumbled as he took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on.

“You know,” Billy chided, “filing a false request is considered quite the crime, as far as the Guild’s concerned.”

The farmer’s face scrunched up and he waved his hand as if he was fanning away a bad smell. “They have bigger problems to worry about than little old me. Anyway,” he said, perking up a bit, “if your Gift isn’t a lie detector or a glasses finder, what is it?”

Billy shuffled nervously. “Isn’t it considered rude to ask people what their Gift is?”

Tim scoffed. “Only if you’re one of them stuffy nobles who get carried around and get fed grapes by beautiful women or whatever. Besides, we’re friends. Our friendship has been forged by the, er, secrets that we now share. Here, look.” The farmer took a pot of dirt, popped a seed into it, put his hand over the top and channeled magic into his hand. The seed sprouted, grew and transformed into a small plant right before Billy’s eyes. “See? I grow things. Your turn,” he said, with a cheeky grin.

Billy, excited to have someone to brag to, read off the description of his Gift and explained how it had manifested so far. The other teens in town were too busy picking pockets and bragging about their own Gifts to give two shits about his.

“So, you haven’t been using it actively yet?” Tim asked.

“Actively? No, my Gift is passive.”

Tim scoffed. “So is mine, but that doesn’t mean it’s ONLY passive.” The farmer pulled up two stools and motioned for Billy to sit. “Look, it’s obvious that nobody’s gotten around to tell ya the birds and the bees yet, so grab a seat and lemme explain.”

“Holy shit, a mentor/mentee sensei montage? I’m in!” Billy hopped onto the stool and sat up, playing the schoolboy as best he could.

The old man took a swig of a flask and, in his best school teacher voice, explained. “Look, your Gift is at F-rank. When mine was at F, my Gift could let me passively sense plants around me. But when I channeled my Gift, I could give plants a little extra boost. Increase their sturdiness, give em a little color, more nutrients and whatnot. Using your Gift, or your skill or whatever you choose to call it, trains it like a muscle. It gets stronger. It ranks up. Sometimes, you get to direct in what way it gets stronger. I chose to focus on single plants growing faster instead of lots of plants getting a smaller boost. But my point is, you’re not using yours. You’re just waiting for it to happen. You have to focus. Push power into it, or out of it, depending on what you’re after.”

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Billy listened to Farmer Tim's words with rapt attention. He had, indeed, been waiting for his Gift to activate instead of actively using it. He focused inwards, on the power that he could feel in his Gift. He pushed, trying to activate it. Nothing happened at first. He kept trying. Slowly, painfully slowly, he started feeling the familiar tugging sensation. He followed its guidance, unhooking the potion from his belt, raising the bottle and then froze, realizing what it wanted him to do.

Billy’s concentration shattered as he remembered the potion bottle. The fight. The body. Jared. An interested cooing broke him out of his spiraling thoughts.

“Ooooh! Got yerself an enhancement potion already, eh?” Billy opened his eyes and saw that Farmer Tim was trying to act casual, but there was a glint in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

“You know what this does?” Billy asked.

“Of course!” The farmer was just on the cusp of yelling. “It’s only one of the most important items a growing boy could want! You can only use an enhancement potion once per tier, but they vastly speed up your progress, expanding the amount of mana your Gift can hold so that you don’t need to train for so long. High tier enhancement potions can even add aspects to your Gift or slightly modify it, but those are very rare and would no doubt get you killed for just knowing where one was.”

Billy looked at the potion in his hand, then back to Tim, his eyes growing wide. “This isn’t, uh..”

“HA! No.” Tim snickered at the mixed look of hope and horror in his young apprentice’s eyes. “That’s probably the weakest enhancement potion possible. Nothing to scoff at, at your tier. But it shouldn’t get you killed. Well…” The old pervert hesitated, seeing the state Billy was in. “Ok, maybe it would? You look like you’ve been run over by a herd of angry cows.”

Billy groaned. “That’s what it feels like. Yeah, I had a run in with a merchant named Jared. He, uh…” He trailed off, looking away. “We met on my way here. It didn’t end well.”

Tim nodded sagely. “Greed does horrible things to people.”

They both sat there for a while, in silence. Eventually, Tim coaxed Billy into testing his Gift further, but the boy’s heart wasn’t in it. He helped around the farm for a bit, his spirits lifting slightly as the monotony of the farm work soothed him. In exchange, the old farmer fed him a cup of bitter liquid that soothed a lot of his injuries.

As night fell, Billy accepted an invitation to stay the night at the farm. He really didn’t want to go back into town after the encounter with Jared. He also didn't want to have to find a place to sleep in the middle of the night. No, Farmer Tim was alright for a lecherous old man. He taught Billy a lot that day. Some things he already knew from the early days with his parents or with other street urchins. Other things, Billy had been curious about but had no way of verifying with a trustworthy source. Plus, the guy seemed lonely. Not just in a single and ready to mingle sort of way. He seemed genuinely happy to have someone to talk to.

Billy lay awake for a long time that night, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. He had never been in a situation like that before. He had thought that he could rely on his Gift to guide him, to protect him. It clearly hadn’t. It had left him vulnerable and helpless. Hell, it had most likely put him in that situation. He didn't know if he could trust it anymore. But maybe if he used it more actively, he thought, maybe he could steer it in the directions he wanted. What was the use of a Gift if you were afraid of what it did?

He took a breath so deep that his lungs hurt. If he was going to get anywhere, he needed to go all in. There wasn’t any point of wallowing for the next few chapters of his life just to give in and use his Gift during an emergency.

Without thinking, Billy reached down, popped the cork of the enhancement potion and downed it in a single swig. He didn’t have time to think about the taste before his chest felt like it was going to split in half. It was as if there was a balloon being forcefully blown up in his chest. He felt like his Gift and his entire torso were expanding all at once, but not in a body builder ‘for the gains’ kind of way. More like a balloon at a kid’s party with tacks and a donkey’s rear end.

After what felt like an eternity, the sensation stopped. He felt a warmth in his chest, like a nice release of warm pee in a cold lake. He could feel his Gift thrumming with power. Almost as if it was a tea kettle, ready to whistle. He felt like he could do anything. He grinned and got to his feet, ready to take on the world. Then he realized that it was the middle of the night and he couldn’t see. Feeling foolish, he slipped back into bed. The butterflies in his stomach waged a war against the warmth in his chest until he fell asleep. He was going to be the best adventurer the town of Deez had ever seen or he would die spectacularly trying. He would spectacularly die trying spectacularly. He would spectacularly die spectacularly trying.