Author’s Note: No author’s note this time, I have nothing to say really lols.
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Charles opened his eyes. It was his 5th birthday and his mother promised that today she would let him out of the house for the first time. It seems that she was afraid someone might steal her precious child from her, because he learned to read, talk and walk before he was even a year old. He felt it seemed silly but he didn’t want to make his mother unhappy. He wants his mother to always be happy. He quickly got out of bed and tried to forget his nightmares. Every night since he got his name, he had nightmares about another person, who suffered through life and eventually gained power and comrades. Only to lose all but his powers after fighting the gods. His dreams never went further than that point though. The dreams were always hazy and unclear, and he forgot them really soon, as if cursed not to remember them. So he didn’t mind them much, it was the first few minutes after he awoke that got to him, he felt like he wasn’t himself.
Shaking his head, he quickly got dressed and ran down the creaking stairs. Today was extremely special, not only was it his birthday and his mother would let him out, Brecknom and Storean promised to start training him today. Apparently the 2 people his mother hired to run the store were not average people, they used to be adventurers of some sort. And even though they never told them stories of their past adventures, they told him many stories of heroes and villains. One night, he woke up suddenly for apparently no reason, he decided to open his window to let fresh air into the room, and instead saw Brecknom and Storean sparring in the back yard. Storean conjuring fireballs and small gales to asssualt Brecknom, whereas Brecknom just nimbly dodged the projectiles or dispersed them with a well-aimed strike. Brecknom let loose 2 light blades with his wooden sword with flew towards the mage while he rushed in behind the blades. The light blades deflected the spells casted towards him but eventually lost power just before they reached him, but by then Brecknom was in range to slash at Storean’s neck. But Storean calmly smiled before he teleported a few meters away.
That’s when they stopped to take a rest and noticed Charles. Apparently his mum told them to never show Charles anything regarding fighting or violence, so in exchange for Charles keeping quiet about seeing their practice match, they promised to train Charles in both physical combat and magical arts when he turned 5.
Until that age, he spent his days in his room next to the window overlooking the street, reading books about the world and stories of heroes and legends. He learned to speak in a relatively formal way of speaking that nobles tend to speak in. He learned multiple languages with ease. He learned etiquette and how to behave like a proper gentleman. He read scores of music and understood how music was made and instinctively understood how to create songs that would draw peoples’ attention and hearts. He learned on the biology of nearly every creature recorded as well multiple theories in the fields of magic. He learned how to read maps and make accurate charts. How to navigate with nothing but the sky and his surroundings for clues. After reading so many books, he learned a skill called “Identify” which started at Intermediate level 7. It could identify most things in detailed forms. Somehow it was surprising he could read these many books, but his mother always managed to find him any book he wanted to read, as long as he looked up at her and made a small polite smile. She would flush, carry him up and hug him tightly before giving him the book within a week. The first time he did this he unlocked the charm stat which weirdly enough started at 250. Too bad he can only see stats if they pop up for the first time, children cannot access their stat screens by themselves until they reach 10. They also could not see stat gains
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
When he was 3, Storean took him to the kitchen, and began to teach him how to prepare and cook ingredients. 2 weeks later, using what he learned and recipes and theories he read from books, he had progressed to the point where he could not only identify and procure food in almost any environment, he could prepare masterful food form even the foulest tasting poisonous ingredient. Given time and materials of course. In fact, when he first made a meal for his mother on her birth day (she wouldn’t say how old she was) her mother was so happy she had hummed for 3 days straight. The smell from the food he made had actually attracted people to the store, even though they didn’t sell food. A little side effect he gained from that event which he hid from everyone, was a nearly unnatural degree of control over knives and daggers as well as a keen eye for weak spots. Where to cut for most effect or where his blade could slip in and out, making a cut without letting it bleed. Perhaps it was his knowledge of biology combined with his natural genius that let him understand how a body is made and how to move with the flow, as well as information on how basic blacksmithing works, but in time he could use and maintain any blade, as well as use it on anything. Seemingly solid armor was cut in 1 stroke by a rather dull knife he made out of wood. Surprisingly his mother thought the armor was damaged by Brecknom and was angrily scolding him. Charles seeing how scary and angry his mother looked, decided that in this case honesty might not be the best policy. At the end of the day however, he still did not know how to make his own weapons, even if he wanted to he had no materials or tools to use. And he had a feeling his mother did not want him to be involved with such things, and would not get them for him.
He walked down the stairs and into the dining room. On the table was a cake, which he knew was extremely expensive because it was hard to make. Brecknom and Storean was already seated and waiting for him. His mother had left on a business trip a few days back and had not returned yet. They celebrated for a few ours, then Charles put on some training clothes and walked to the back yard.
“It’s time for you two to keep your promises, ok?”
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Author's Note: Meh, kind of wordy and short. I think i suck at this fiction writing thing.
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