It took about a week for Cerise's family to settle into the routine of this new caravan. Mister Aldo started everyone moving after a cold breakfast, but also stopped in the early evening, deciding on the days progress by a combination of the sun's position and the state of his oxen. The [Wagoneers] told them how Mister Aldo preferred to take a fresh team on their first caravan with the help of the prior team's lead. At the end of his route, he kept a new lead ox from his trip and sold the rest, buying a new, fresh team to train.
The caravaneers did take Cerise up on her offer, and the mentoring happened mostly at the evening breaks, turning into "pot share" talks. The [Wagoneers] that came to talk with them in the evenings learned early to bring foodstuffs for Cerise's mother to cook and share out leftovers from for the morning cold start.
Mykhal made friends with the Steady Hammers, and soon a few of the off-duty guards brought their own meal fixings to the pot, sharing their own experiences and expectations.
Cerise's parents did their odd "long talk" routine while discussing how much she should talk about with Brower. A point would be raised, they would go about their day, considering, and later on raise another point or provide a counterpoint if they disagreed. No matter how silly or irrelevant a point was that was raised, it had to be addressed. Neither of her parents liked being dismissed, and "long talks" were serious. Talking that way took them two days to set the limits of what Cerise could cover with their permission.
Thus on the third day, Cerise and Brower took to stepping aside for [Healer] talks during the two traveling rest stops.
She gained the Teaching skill while enlightening Brower on why Cleansing was a core [Healer] skill. The concept of simple lifeforms too small for the unaided human eye to see, and so prevalent, so much a part of a healthy world and body, boggled his brain. When the idea settled, it took his Treat Disease from low Beginner into the middle of the Practiced. She also had her profile open, her focus on her Heal Disease skill, and watched as her own skill rose from Beginner-8 to Practiced-6. That confirmed for Cerise that focusing on her skills through her profile helped signal to the Voice of the World that she understood her skills.
Cerise was not the only one teaching during these conversations. Brower's practical experience as an adventuresome sort had taken him through dungeons and up and down the gnomish border. He could recount from memory hordes of plants with different medicinal properties. Most were considered poisonous, but as they discussed the different effects of these toxic plants, both of them gained in their anti-toxin skills, and Cerise's Brew Potion skill grew to max. Also, her Herbalism skill re-listed at Practiced-3.
Sometimes, Mykhal would deliver his latest hunt to them to study its anatomy while they dismembered the carcasses. He tried to find a variety of creature types, but the family agreed that crysts took precedence over variety. And Mykhal's ability to find those mana cryst bearing monsters got noticed.
"If my team's [Scout] returned with a few more cryst mobbies, I would think the area rife with dire beasts and suggest the nearest Free Lancer factor sponsor a hunt for a mana well or new dungeon around these parts. They aren't, though, and we're running on the lower side of average to be honest," Brower said. His voice was quiet as he spoke to Mykhal after he dropped off the fourth cryst-bearing monster carcass in a row for their anatomy practice.
Mykhal shrugged. "I have more time to hunt, and the cryst-mobbies act different from the ones without. It's ... Well, it's hard to say why they're different, but they are."
"Uh-huh," Brower said, patently unconvinced.
Mykhal did not try to convince them. He did go hunting with one of the Steady Hammers' [Scouts], again returning with a cryst-bearing carcass.
The [Scout] shook his head when asked his opinion. "I couldn't make sense of what he pointed out. I'm betting the rare for his class has to do with being some kind of monster hunting class, and it's just a class perk."
That seem to be enough to assuage any jealousy about Mykhal's hunts.
Cerise asked Brower about that and he said, "Rare skills and classes just mean that not a lot of people meet the requirements to take them. It doesn't make them any better than a common class. In fact, some argue that rare classes are often mostly very specific ones, and the downside of being great at one thing is being not so great at all the rest. Besides, he's good about sharing his bounty."
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Aside from having more time to hunt, Mykhal also had more freedom to schedule his training. When he first started to see the small gains from Elar's Pool building, Mykhal became a dedicate of physical training. Cerise found him struggling to lift large rocks near their camp one morning, and scolded him for bad posture and form.
Mykhal said, "This is how Sorkha showed me!"
So Cerise marched over to the Steady Hammers part of camp and rounded up Brower and Sorkha. "Mykhal was trying to lift some rocks, and how he was doing it, he said he learned from Miss Sorkha. I'm hoping he was doing it wrong, because my Triage skill started screaming 'injury imminent'. I'm hoping that warning came from a synergy with General Anatomy. Mister Brower, your Anatomy skill is way ahead of mine. If I'm right about the synergy, I'm hoping you'll get a better intuition of how to fix the dangerous part of what he's doing. Miss Sorkha, if he's not doing what you showed him, I would appreciate a demonstration of what he should be doing so I can be his watcher while his muscles are learning the forms, like Dad did with us when we were learning Staves."
Mykhal's expressions went from offended to embarrassed to flat to resigned and ended with a silent "oh" of understanding-based acceptance.
Sorkha's morning grumble became a poorly suppressed snicker as she watched Mykhal's face. "I'm good with that. Brower?"
"Just a moment," he said, his gaze distant in the way of one focusing on their profile. "And I'm ready now."
Mykhal went to a rock nearby about the size of the one he had tried to lift in front of Cerise, squatted down, and leaned forward. When he wrapped the rock and started to lift it, Brower yipped, "Abyss no! Stop that!"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Mykhal removed his hands from the rock and sat on his butt. "Seriously?"
Sorkha frowned. "I didn't see him doing anything wrong."
"Remember how your back hurt for weeks after you helped lift the wagons when the land shark flipped them?" Brower asked.
"Yeah," Sorkha said, looking a little green.
"Remember having to go to a Healing Hall, and finding out that two of the discs in your spine got popped out of place?" Brower continued.
Sorkha just nodded, looking pale underneath the green.
"The boy was about to do something similar," Brower finished.
Sorkha looked from Mykhal to the rock and back a few times. "Do that with me, please. Whatever you did with Mykhal."
So the two [Healers] watched on as Sorkha squatted down, leaned forward, and rose to standing holding the rock. Then she squatted back down and set the rock down. She did not even look flushed.
Cerise set her face into her palm and sighed. "Your Might is at least High, isn't it?"
"Yes, actually, it is," Sorkha boasted.
The two [Healers] exchanged exasperated looks, and turned to Mykhal.
"No more weightlifting advice from Sorkha," Brower ordered, earning a squawk of outrage from the team leader.
"The things that are exercise for her Might are going to break you," he continued, ignoring Sorkha. "That's the first problem. The second problem was that lean-in. Bones hold weight; muscles move weight. That lean-in was fine for pulling the weight to you, but you want to get as many bones as you can to take up the load of that weight." Brower explained more, and helped to correct the form problems in Sorkha's exercises. She stuck around to listen in and tried a few of the changes herself.
They ended up a little hurried on breaking camp, but none of them minded.
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Cerise woke the next day with strange bits of dreams lingering in her memories. In some, she ran forever and never went anywhere. In others, she pushed boulders up hills only for them to roll back down before she reached the top. In another, a man was trying to sell her bands of lead weights "so you maintain neutral buoyancy in the water".
That last fragment of dream gave her an idea. She used some of her cordage twine to measure Mykhal from his feet to his neck. Then she made him weight bags to strap to his ankles, thighs, waist, chest and back, and forearms.
"Fill those with rocks and heavy things and do your regular running around!" She said when she gave them to him.
Mykhal was a good sport, teasing her just a little -- until he came back from his run absolutely drenched.
"These are great! I can already feel myself getting closer to my limits!"
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In the evenings, Cerise and Mykhal got out their journals and scribe boxes that her father made them, and sat back to back while they wrote about their progress that day. Cerise had some fun creating a phonetic cipher to better capture the sounds of the lands they had traveled through.
In the north of Druerjan, people spoke with longer vowels and softened the more clicky letters, like Ts and Ds. Toward the area they joined Miss Sanyel's caravan, those T and D sounds were slurred more than softened, but in Va' Treborant, the higher strata spoke with a crispness to their diction. Most of the [Wagoneers] and Mister Aldo's caravan used shorter vowels and most of the consonants kind of popped in their mouths.
Mykhal pouted when he saw her cipher. "You don't trust me not to read your journal?" he asked.
She laughed. Then Mykhal realized what he had just admitted to, and blushed. When she stopped laughing, she taught him her cipher.
"Except," she said as she went back over it with Mykhal, "it isn't really a cipher, I guess. It's a different alphabet, and a different focus on spellings."
Mykhal shot her an inquisitive look so she elaborated. "The spellings we have are based on how the posh strata speak. These spellings are about the sounds the actual person we're quoting speaks. If I'm not quoting someone, I just write the words the way I would speak them."
He started using her different alphabet, too.
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Not long after Cerise made the weights for Mykhal, he came back from his hunt beaming. When asked, he proudly proclaimed, "I leveled!"
That evening, as they were journaling, he passed her his book, where he had written in "their" alphabet, "I got my last class skills slot!"
She looked at him with eager excitement, biting her lips not to blurt out her question. Mykhal grinned, just as excited. He cupped his hands on his scribe box top, turning so he faced her and their bodies partially blocked anyone's line of sight. Then he concentrated a moment, and Cerise's Mana Sense picked up on mana moving from his chest to his hands. After another moment, he relaxed into a smile and lifted his thumbs, giving Cerise an opening to look into, and he flicked his gaze between her and his hands with a silent encouragement to look.
She leaned forward and peered into Mykhal's cupped hands. A dimly glowing orb of light flickered between his palms.
"No way!" She breathed. That was a spell-skill! She mouthed at him, "You're a [Mage]?!"
Mykhal shrugged at her.
"How did you learn that? How did you do that? Can I touch you while you're triggering it?" She asked keeping her voice hushed.
"It's my last class skill, I just activate it, and sure! Now?" Mykhal answered, equal parts proud and eager to share the cool thing with his friend.
Cerise readied herself to try using both her Mana Proprioception and Mana Sensing together to watch how the mana that made the light orb moved through Mykhal. He triggered his skill at her nod, and Cerise felt an echo of the flow of mana she sensed in Mykhal moving in herself. She felt her Mana Pool dip.
[Lend Potency] learned! Comprehension assessed at Beginner-0.
The light Mykhal was making flared up. The pair jerked, startled, and Cerise's mother looked over. "What are you two up to?" she asked.
"Nothing!" Mykhal said.
"Something!" Cerise said at the same time.
Cerise's mom gave them a stern look. Mykhal nodded his head for her to come over, and she did. He cupped his hands and held them toward her, cracked open just enough for Cerise's mother to see his little orb of light flutter in his hands.
"Oh! Stop! Fast!" Cerise warned.
Mykhal did and looked at her, questioningly.
"You just went over your Mana Pool," she said softly. "By morning, you'll be fine to cast again, but you don't want to get mana sore! It sucks! And adding mana to your body when you're sore just makes it worse, so the most you can take for the headaches is tea of Weeping Ma'alas bark."
Mykhal grimaced and made a gagging face.
Cerise's mother wore a concerned expression. "Don't play with that around the caravan."
Mykhal looked up at her, and a bit of seriousness edged into his expression. "No, Mama, I won't," he agreed
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A few days later, they were two thirds through their route with Mister Aldo's caravan and three days out from Va'Velton as they bedded down for the night.
They woke at the sound of a scream.
Cerise
Race: Human
Age: 13, Youth
Total Level: 12
Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]
Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman
Pools:
Health: Moderate
Stamina: Good
Mana: Good
Attributes:
Focus: High
[Arcane Healer Novice] (12)
Arcane Healing: P-5
Heal Wounds: P-7
Heal Toxins: B-9
Heal Diseases: P-6
Triage: P-9
Stabilize: P-6
Diagnose: P-5
Pain Block: P-6
Slumber: B-6
Paralyze: B-3
General Skills
Slots: 2, Used: 1
Acting: P-9 (I-9)
Animal Handling: P-3
Appraise: P-2
Blades: P-1
Clear Mind: B-4
Cleanse, Greater *†: P-2
Cooking: P-9 (I-3)
Cyphers: P-1
Dispel *: B-0
Drawing: P-4
General Anatomy *: P-2
General Craft *: P-8
Herbalism *: P-3
Hunting: B-6
Lend Potency *: B-0
Logic: P-9 (I-3)
Mana Proprioception *: P-4
Mana Sensing *: P-3
Natural Weapon Combat: P-4
Oration: P-8
Potion Brewing *: P-9
Quick Stepping: B-8
Research: P-9 (A-4)
Scribing: P-9 (A-8)
Staves: B-3
Stealth: P-0
Surgery *: B-9
Teaching: B-3
Skill Unlocks
Mana Sight
Mana Scent
Mana Hearing
Tame Monster
Dull Pain *
Lend Vitality *
Sense Life *
Heavy Blow (Staves)
Quick Thrust (Staves)
Sweeping Blow (Staves)
Counter Strike (Staves)