“What do you mean magic is more suitable? Didn't you always want to run laps around the opponent and learn how to use the sword?” Dad tries to mask the disappointment in his voice and it's still fairly obvious.

They really wanted me to learn close combat just so we could have even more things in common. More parent-child bonding. A part of me wants to go melee just so they wouldn’t be dissatisfied while my rational part knows that would be stupid seeing my Status.

“I’m sorry, I genuinely am, it's just… as I told you my stats are stronger on the magical side and the Skill I got will help a ton in that department.” I have my head down as I can’t bear to see their cast-down faces.

“Eli, Eli, dear, you have no reason to be ashamed, we are not angry or disappointed with you at all.” Dad quickly lifts my chin. “We did want to teach you how to wield a weapon but that’s just parental pride. As we said every time, whatever you choose we’re happy if you’re happy. If you feel like magic suits you more, we’d be disappointed with ourselves if we tried to change your mind.”

I let a few stray tears run loose at his words. His smile is wide and fake with the shadow of sorrow hidden deep within.

“Sweetie, this is your life and yours alone. we might not be able to help as much on this path as we’d like to, but even so, we definitely won't hold you back.” Mom comes over and ruffles my already unruly hair.

“Thanks again. So, what skill should I learn first, and what should be second and what about the rest? Don't keep me waiting.“ I must sound like a spoiled brat right now.

“Well, the System doesn’t acknowledge anything we’ve done before the Initiation, however, it does remember what we’ve learned and achieved.” Explains mom.

“She means that you already have some of them. General skills represent facets of life that anyone could achieve independent of their Class. These are things that we never forget so the skills aren’t lost even when you swap them out, they just lose their levels and get stored.” Comes the actual translation from dad.

"Oh, that's convenient. Thanks for the info, dad. "I throw mom a look, at which she just snorts "So how do I make this storage appear?"

"Oh that's easy, just think, General Skills." Mom chimes in to redeem herself. “Remember that saying things out loud isn't necessary.” She delivers a quick jab right after.

General Skills.

A window appears listing my available options.

Climbing

Running

Sneaking

Identify

Sewing

Foolish

Observative

Digging

Washing

Dodging

Memorize

Pain Tolerance

Biting

Throwing

…

And the list goes on and on. Despite its length most if not almost all the Skills aren't actually useful, at least not for me. Like the Tantrum or the Picky Eater and Hugging skills. Don't get me wrong, the last one is good but I don't need a skill for that. And Tantrum? C’mon, I don’t even do that, I always explain things properly to everyone, mostly.

"So which one should I pick, like what are the must-haves for fighting?"

"Well for starters I think Identify, Running and Dodging should be there, we'll get Stamina later and if you're going to be a mage then Mana Vision and Mana Shield are vital." Mom's analysis details. She does have a mage class, even if it was mainly chosen for the mana supply and passive effects.

" Definitely need to get her Reflexes or Reaction at least.” My parents make a great combination when they decide to work together. Although despite their momentum, those skills feel a bit melee oriented which shows just how out of their depth they are when it comes to mage builds.

“What about Pain Tolerance?” I meekly ask carefully

It sounds like a really basic skill even if the requirements to acquire it are very much unpleasant. A bad topic altogether considering how I fulfilled said requirements.

They look at each other, sadness and defeat flickering on their faces. “Yes Eli, you should definitely take that one. Let’s hope you won’t need it any time soon.” Says mom in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry sweetie you got that skill this early. I use it, I know how difficult it is to get, and you’re way too young to have it unlocked already.”

I walk over to them and hug their waists, I’m not tall enough to reach anything else. “Hey, hey don't be like that. It was not you who hit me, it wasn’t you who decided to break in. And it was me who foolishly attacked them, but enough of that. Help me get the skills that I haven’t unlocked yet, okay?” I flash a radiant smile to drive my point home.

My encouragement works, somewhat. It'll have to do for now. I just need to distract them enough so they can forget about it again.

Now, skills.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Identify lvl 1].]

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Identify: You’re able to perceive the general purpose of the target's Class of archetype or their Species, as well as their level as long as it's only 10 levels (+1/lvl) above you.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Running lvl 1].]

Running: You are able to run faster and a bit more proficiently on difficult terrain.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Dodging lvl 1].]

Dodging: Dodging incoming projectiles and attacks becomes second nature to you. Increased reaction speed and movement correction when avoiding on purpose.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Pain Tolerance lvl 1].]

Pain Tolerance: You’ve been through enough pain to make you lose consciousness. As someone familiar with suffering you endure the sensation of pain a little easier.

I don’t like the little part. Why can’t it be a lot, or so much?

I instantly use Identify on my parents.

[Warrior lvl ???]

[Warrior lvl ???]

[The general Skill [Identify] has reached lvl 2.]

[The general Skill [Identify] has reached lvl 3.]

[The general Skill [Identify] has reached lvl 4.]

I jump a bit at the random messages appearing out of the blue. This will take time to get used to.

“Wow, three pop-ups, just what level are you?” I ask since the skill was of no help, yet the level-up sure indicates something.

“I’m 246 and your mother is 287 .” Dad declares proudly. Wow, I knew they weren’t weak but this is still very impressive according to my scale. “Oh, and command your System to compress the messages, it's easier to read.”

I do as told yet nothing changes, maybe I need actual messages to test if it works.

“I know another two that might come in handy for you.” Chimes in mom. “So the first is Multitasking, which should be somewhat easy to get, the other is Clear Mind or some other variant of it. For mages, it's especially important to think calmly during a fight as emotions can affect their concentration.”

Nice job mom, not a magical race for nothing. These both sound incredibly good, although calmness is not my strong suit.

“Remember Eli, the System values effort and being too hasty can backfire. The more you develop your skills, the higher level you get them to, the better your choices will be at the next class up. It’s fine if your max level or some of your skills are capped while you work on the others. The progress towards them doesn’t go to waste, it gets stored until the next milestone.”

I… haven't even thought of that yet. It's reassuring to know at least. I know that the better class you get the more stat points it gives, so then there’s really no need to rush. Higher leveled skills = better classes = more stats = stronger me in the long run. Quick maths.

I should really get the genius Skill from the system.

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the skill [Pompous lvl 1]. Would you like to assign the skill to an empty slot?]

“Oh, you son of a-” I catch myself in time, as mom and dad are about to look at me with eyes expecting me to finish it. The reward would be two more laps of running today no doubt.

“So I still have room for four more general skills. Let's work towards the ones you previously mentioned.” My spirit is still sky-high, I’ve never been more inspired to do something. It feels like sleep isn’t an option tonight, not unless I pass out due to all the activity.

“If you’re up for the task then so be it, we’ll start with the mental ones. Let’s do Multitasking, try-”

***

The entire day we did nothing else, besides eating and then filling my skill slots. Dad had to leave for work in the afternoon, however, thankfully mom has been staying home ever since the robbery incident. Multitasking and Reflexes are easy to get but the rest feel nigh impossible.

Mom says it's fine as I shouldn't really be able to get Mana Shield and Mana Sight at my level, which makes me question why we even tried it in the first place. Clear Mind just feels like it's not made for me, especially not today.

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the skill [Multitasking lvl 1]. Would you like to assign the skill to an empty slot?]

Multitasking: One mind can accomplish multiple tasks at once with enough training. Now split your attention even further and be more efficient.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Multitasking lvl 1].]

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the skill [Reflexes lvl 1]. Would you like to assign the skill to an empty slot?]

Reflexes: You react to something despite being barely able to detect it just by having quick reflexes. Now you can respond faster to new impulses.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Reflexes lvl 1].]

Mom managed to come up with another useful skill towards the end of the session, Quick Witted. The skill allows me to find the answer to my questions faster, based on the information I’m working with. She just had to ask questions in quick succession and I had to answer them, correctly, as fast as I could.

It took us a few tries, quite a few.

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the skill [Quick Witted lvl 1]. Would you like to assign the skill to an empty slot?]

Quick Witted: Your thought process is faster, helping you think of solutions before others and making your line of thought smoother.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Quick Witted lvl 1].]

This looks like the most useful one I’ve gotten today. Okay, we don't count the Blessing, that’s just straight-up cheating. Now, since unlocking new ones would be a real hassle I should start making progress in the ones I already have.

But wait, there’s a bonus notification after the last one.

[Your Class [Crimson's Blessed] has reached lvl 2, +6 Free Points]

Finally, the first one down.

***

By now dad has gotten home as well so he joined in again for the first exercise. Throwing acorns at Eli. This one is more irritating than difficult to be fair. My parents aren't allowed to miss on purpose as the intent to hit me must be there for this to be effective. Getting hit with an acorn can really sting and I slowly but surely, but mostly slowly, get better at dodging them.

[The general Skill [Dodging] has reached lvl 2 ->4.]

Despite it getting pretty late, I keep going. There’s no way I’m not getting every possible minute of training out of this day. It’s not like I’m on a tight schedule or anything, this is just me being overly excited after nine years of pointless waiting. Okay nine might be an exaggeration, let’s say four, it's still a lot though.

We start with the physical exercises soon enough. Honestly, this part isn't that much different from the one I’ve been doing for the past two or so years. Running till I collapse.

[The general Skill [Running] has reached lvl 2 ->3.]

[Your Class [Crimson's Blessed] has reached lvl 3, +6 Free Points.]

Nice another one, this feels almost too easy. Naturally, I know it gets exponentially harder later on. Still, happiness is happiness, I'll take it for now.

Early progress is easy, especially if you do something while pushing your limits but man it's satisfying seeing those messages. And I just can't get enough of it, fatigue be damned at this point.

Next, we change to some mental tasks.

[The general Skill [Quick Witted] has reached lvl 2 ->4.]

[The general Skill [Multitasking] has reached lvl 2 ->3.]

Then we mix the two.

[The general Skill [Reflexes] has reached lvl 2 ->4.]

After the last notification, I’m absolutely spent. I drag myself back into the house, eat some dinner and collapse onto the bed.

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the skill [Stamina lvl 1]. Would you like to assign the skill to an empty slot?]

My concern of being unable to fall asleep turns out to be unfounded as seconds after my head hits the pillow I’m already out. Satisfied with today’s progress and excited about tomorrow I probably have the best sleep I have had in months.

Stamina: You have worked your body all the way to total exhaustion, not sparing a single drop of your stamina. Now you’ll be able to utilize that stamina more efficiently.

[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Stamina lvl 1].]

Nice.