[Congratulations, you’ve acquired the skill [Premonition lvl 1].]
Premonition: Reacting to something that is already in motion is almost too late. Forgo the events, observe your surroundings, make deductions, be one step ahead. You’re able to judge the incoming trajectories and consequences based on your knowledge.
The whole package deal, huh? Not just incoming attacks. This also incorporates some of what Martha told me about ‘reading people like a book’. Just the thing I tried to do with locust 1 when it was about to jump. I’m really satisfied with this. Skill advancements for the win.
“I told you, it doesn’t disappoint.” Martha breaks me out of my inner world with a mocking grin on her face. “Let’s get a move on, I really don’t plan on missing dinner.”
I can’t argue with that. I’m starving and gawking at the description won't pacify my belly. I still throw a few more glances at my new Skill levels, mesmerized by the progress.
Maybe some risk is worth it huh? A few more runs like this and I could get all my Skills to max.
“Don’t even think about it.” Martha is back to reading me. “I don’t need to look at you to know what’s on your mind. You’re not the first reckless kid I had to deal with and your minds all work the same.” Her face suddenly grows tired as she talks about kindred spirits.
“But I won the bet, didn't I? Doesn’t that mean we’ll come here to grind levels?” I ask in outrage, no dancing back from a deal.
“Oh sure, you did. We’ll come again. Sometimes. Maybe once a week.”
Wha-? No… I got played.
I realize my horrible mistake. We didn’t specify the terms…
“Just how much free time do you think I have? I can’t always chaperone you around. There are many other students for me to guide.” She says matter of factly.
Just for me alone, we have to plan ahead, think of which Skills suit my Class and more importantly me the best. Then some testing, exercises and lastly polish. Martha has to do the same for dozens of other kids, if I were to multiply the load on my brain by say sixty then my head would explode. Like, might actually.
This raises the question. “Martha, if you don't mind, just what level are you?” I ask cautiously. Still a sensitive topic, try not to make a bad impression. “I’m just really curious if you don’t-”
“I know what you meant. You’re far from the first kid who asked me the same question. Although be more mindful with others, if you don’t see someone’s level assume they’re that much stronger and make sure not to ask this question.” She lectures, not like it's my first time hearing this.
Then she continues walking without a word. Is she thinking or just ignoring the question?
“I won't give a concrete answer but let's just say I’m more than forty times your level.” She hints with a proud little smile on her elderly face.
Forty times that's like… level 700. By the Gods, no wonder she teleports without concern and looks only so old despite being alive for centuries. Mom and dad told me that the mana in the body through the Endurance and Mana stats can increase one’s life expectancy and even so, this is ridiculous.
Also, some races like the elves live naturally longer, much longer than humans. BUT level 700? Wait, no 800?!?! She could wipe the floor with mom and dad without an issue. Wait…
“Is Bennett also?” I really hope not.
“It is not within my right to share such information.” She answers in a blink as if the phrase has been ingrained into her brain. Then she smirks and says. “Considering he’s roughly the same age, served and fought in as many battles and retired a few years after me...”
Is this her saying Yes in a very roundabout way because of the rules? Smart, also shit.
By the Abyss, he’s way off. I'm more than 800 levels down from the old goat and I doubt even his stat would allow him to live long enough for me to kill him.
We continue walking towards the edge of the Bolna Forest, soon reaching the main road leading back to Granhall.
“Hey, Martha. Are beasts also born at level 1?” I ask.
Would be reasonable if they did. Although… never in my short life have I actually seen such weak and low-level creatures. Even on the outskirts of any forest. As if they didn’t exist.
I somewhat understand why the wait till the ninth birthday is a blessing in disguise. Just imagine if two-year-old me learned explosion magic and blasted a hand or feet off.
Martha slows down to walk next to me and looks down at me, the answer formulating in her head. “Not a bad question. And to answer it I’d have to say yes and no.” What the heck does that mean? “You see, the offspring of beasts are beasts themselves with the System present. Actually, do you know what's the difference between animals and beasts?” She asks, giving me good food for thought.
“Beasts are stronger?” I ask. She just shakes her head with a growing smile. “Okay then, beasts have elements?” The second guess.
Her smile widens and she tilts her head to the side while raising an eyebrow.
Ok, I’m getting closer.
For a few more minutes I focus my entire processing capacity on the question when I get an idea. I didn’t have the System from birth so why do-
“Animals don’t have the Journey Guide.” I propose my final answer.
“Bingo. The System only opens its arms to creatures old, wise and or strong enough. You see, we humans have three classes as a result of partly our strength and mostly our intelligence. Beasts like that wolf you killed can also have three classes, however, their first is more of a species slot than an actual class.” What the fuck? Not three classes?
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Have you ever wondered why Identify tells you what they are as the name of their species and not a Class? That species slot is in no way inferior, quite the opposite I’d say. Imagine focusing on speed and receiving a boost from your stats while your body evolves alongside it, allowing even faster movement.” Looking at her face, she might actually be considering looking like a freak if it makes her deadlier.
“Anyways, back to your question. Beasts can be born in one of two ways. Either as an offspring of another beast or if an animal lives long enough, absorbs enough ambient mana and stands out from the average. Since animals aren’t integrated their bodies are relatively mana-poor so they act like a dry sponge in water. This imbalance pulls more mana into their body throughout the years and when their strength reaches the threshold, they awaken as a beast.”
That’s… nice I guess? They have to work a lot more for their Status than me. I just grew up and poof, System. This still doesn’t answer the mystery of the lack of baby beasts.
“So then why don’t we find any really low-level ones like level 1?” I ask again since we went a bit off track from my original question.
I’m already on Eli’s wild question ride so I might as well keep going. Martha doesn’t seem bothered by my curiosity, probably from the years of caring for kids.
“That’s because you’re searching in the wrong area. You’d guess that since babies are weak they’d live on the edge of the forest, far away from anything stronger… That’s a misconception. Only the strong have the right to…” She hesitates. “have kids. Babies come to the world deep in the woods and don’t leave their parent’s side for quite some time. Just like you did.” She assesses, then steps to the side of the road, waving at me to follow suit. “Animals supposedly don’t start at level one when they change, although I haven’t confirmed that with my own eyes.”
We stop there and after a few seconds, I hear something rushing down the road in our direction. I peek at Martha who seems completely unfazed so hopefully nothing dangerous.
Whatever it is, they should hurry the hell up, I wanna rest and eat already, like really bad and now we have to wait for some stupid thing to pass.
Soon a dust cloud, loud stomping and rattling signal the arrival of the… giant lizard pulling a carriage?
The creature is huge, bigger than a horse and likely twice its weight. Silvery green skin, or rather scales, glisten under the sun and short muscular legs are pulling its load down the road.
[Varanus lvl ??]
The carriage behind it is decorated to a dumb degree. Blue poses as the main color with silver adornments and a crest depicting a lion's roaring face. It looks sturdy but graceful at the same time… also expensive as hell.
Four knights in similarly decorated armor on horses flank the carriage from the front and four from the back. They look menacingly our way as the convoy drives by, flexing on the poor common folk.
“That was the ride of the ducal house.” Martha thinks out loud then turns to me to explain. “The Azural family, overseers of the northern region. Wealthy to no end and with tight relations with the imperial family. A true powerhouse in the Empire. What I don’t understand is, why take a carriage? Why not a Skywhale?” She looks doubtfully after the dust trail.
Must be nice to have everything. Almost limitless wealth, servants awaiting your every wish, even being friends with the imperial family… Truly an enviable position.
“What was that big lizard and why not a horse? What are Skywhales?” I rapid-fire questions.
Those are the only parts of the summary I don’t get. Whales live in the water, why would they fly?
Martha just chuckles at my innocent question. “Oh, I sometimes forget how little you’ve seen of this world. You see, the varanuses are more tenacious than horses so they can travel longer distances. Those beasts can also fend for themselves quite well, even scaring some of the weaker predators away, providing uninterrupted travel. Lastly, they are a status symbol. Silverback Varanuses are rare and absurdly expensive, it's a show of wealth and power.”
Damn silver spoon, huh?
“As for your other question, there are safer, faster and grander ways of traveling. Namely flying, especially on the back of the gentle giants of the skies. There are maybe less than twenty of those creatures in the entire Empire, imported from far away, from the Federation. They are the greatest of all mounts .” With that she walks away, leaving me just staring after the carriage with my mouth wide open and eyes the size of an apple.
By the Gods. Basically having a flying mansion on a big fish… I want one. I really hope the mercenary business pays well. If it does I might reconsider my options. Money rules.
I run after Martha to catch up to her and when I’m next to her again she continues. “There are only four ways to become rich. Inherit it, steal it, work your ass off for it and… I’ll let you find out the last one yourself.” She winks.
Uhhh. Always the fun part, always…
“Me personally, I prefer more nimble mounts like a Goa, you wanna see?” She asks, changing the topic lightning fast.
I don’t know what a Goa is but it sounds fun and as long as we get it done quickly my stomach can endure. “Sure, let's be quick.” Then I remember. “Oh, right. Why don't we just teleport back? Actually, why doesn’t the ducal dude use teleport?” It’d make the whole trip thingy a lot faster, also I really don’t wanna walk right now.
“I’m not sure I could.” Martha says while looking at the sky as if counting something.
This surprises me to no end. A level 800 mage couldn’t take us back with a snap of a finger?
“I could maybe move myself, surely not the both of us and even just I alone is a big maybe.” She huffs. “We’d learn this later but whatever. The mana usage of space magic gets higher the heavier and the further you want to transport. Teleporting others is also difficult. Endurance resists all mana influences, almost all, including Space mana so to teleport someone with a ton of Endurace would be insanely inefficient.” So her act of teleporting around in the Fort is actually really costly… is she just lazy? “However in some rare cases space magic is used for long-range transportation. A good example would be to deliver the most crucial letters or to rapidly deploy a high-level elite combatant through a portal to a battlefield. The latter is only usable around one or two times a year as it takes so long for the crystals to recharge in the capital.”
A year to recharge? Just how much mana is used at once… Ridiculous.
***
Every time. Every single time! The snaking line of people waiting to enter Granhall is the bane of my stay here. Waiting in line is boring, even more so when I’m this tired and hungry, Martha took out some jerky from her bag to make the wait more bearable but time still flies in slow motion. The late spring weather and pleasant breeze really make me want to just lie down in the grass nearby and take a quick nap.
“Why didn’t you just teleport us inside?” I ask Martha, hoping to skip the line the next time.
She looks at me and raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t expect you to be a rebellious child. Breaking the law without batting an eye, huh?” She lets out a small laugh. “But no, we simply can’t. What use would city walls be against smugglers if anyone could just teleport through them? Magic can be both the means to execute or prevent something. There’s also a priority entrance for large forces or people of high authority, sadly we don’t qualify for either of those.”
Oh yeah, the accomplice of wealth whenever inequality strikes. Authority. Also, I kinda doubt the Fist lacks any sway in the city, the priority entrance is the bare minimum
“I gotta hand it to you, Eli, you did impressively well. Only kids older than you get to practices and survival camps in the forest." This makes my chest swell with pride. “Bar the part about almost dying.” She adds, quickly deflating me.
“They also have to take down 100 levels worth of beasts on an outing? Without Hadron crystals?” I have a long way ahead of me then.
“Not a hundred. Three times that.” She corrects me.
This destroys my self-esteem even more. Damn, am I that far behind?
She sees my conflicted face and flicks my forehead with an amused grin. “In teams of six, you little devil. We rarely work alone, usually taking on jobs in six-person squads or larger units.”
A huge smile crests my face.
Hold up! That means… I’ve done really well. I’m not just a helpless deadweight. I’m sorry mom, dad I’m not so sure about that slow and steady promise anymore.