Failure had never tasted so bitter. Even when I was stronger, I had been weak, and my sister was gone because of me. She was turned into an antiform, and I almost saved her. Even if the curse was what took my power, I could have done more. I could have done it if I had focused on my skills and improved qi control. This was all my fault; I should have worked harder.

I tried to lift my hand, only for pain to lance up my arm. The sun still shined through my window, and I could almost imagine it was all a dream. Maybe I had overworked myself the night before and had a nightmare. How else could I explain my being useful? I mentally shook my head.

My body was screaming, and I couldn’t move. That hadn’t happened since my father taught me strength conditioning.

Somehow father found me and took me home. That was the only thing that made sense. My door opened, and the man himself stepped inside. All I could see was his handsome and youthful face. I failed to inherit his heroic chin or strong jawline. The only thing I could claim from him was our shared brow and brown hair. Though Violet’s shared our father’s manageable hair.

Father’s words didn’t match his shaking shoulders. “Son, you fought remarkably well for your first time against the antiforms. Traces of your power still linger in the forest, and thanks to you, much of our livestock survived. You did well; if not for you, your sister would have fallen sooner, and I would have died.” Father said.

Stamina 112%

Debuff: Physical Exhaustion

+3VIT

VIT 12

+5STR

STR 25

+5AGL

AGL 17

Qi Control lvl15

I made more gains in a single fight than in years of farming. But the only time I could fight was against antiforms. My curse wouldn’t allow me to do anything more. Heroes were the only people who sought out the antiforms to fight. Even if I wanted to go after them, my father wouldn’t let me.

“You’re not fit to be a hero; you should remain a farmer. Life will be difficult without your sister, but I’m sure with time, you can manage. Suzie’s brothers have mostly left their father’s farm to seek their fortunes elsewhere, and if you marry her, you can combine the land. With time your intelligence will increase, and so will your influence.” Father said.

“Suzie doesn’t like me, and I don’t want to be a farmer. I want to be strong like you.”

My father sighed and sat on the floor. “I always knew this would happen, but I thought it was a sign when your ability to grow things manifested. Son, I’ve fought against antiforms, demons, and foreign powers for most of my life. The kingdom of Tudor treated me more like a branch of government than a person. Whenever it was time for me to retire and enjoy the riches I earned, there was always another catastrophe or some forgotten tomb opened. I missed my sister’s wedding, my father’s last years, and your birth. I finally left after you were born with talent suited for a quiet life. You weren’t like your mother or me. I took it as a sign. Then Violet was born, and the antiforms attacked. I was out in the field without my weapons, and your mother ran out to deliver them. I saw your mother again today. It’s been years.”

I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t listen to me. “Why did you tell me she died in childbirth?”

“Sometimes it's easier to lie than to let my son know his mother died because of him. The antiforms will hunt you until you die; you are cursed by one of the four gods. Violet has been turned into one of those things because of you.” My father sighed as I shook.” Is that what you wanted to hear, son?”

“No, I wanted you to train me so we can take revenge on them.”

The hero who lost his wife and daughter shook his head. “I won’t use my son as a tool or bait for revenge. You are too old to become a hero. And no number of items will help you reach my level. The only way to break the curse on you would be to find Rot’s reincarnation and kill them. Unfortunately, that’s impossible for you.”

My father looked empty of all hope. “I’m going to go get a drink and try to get some sleep.” He walked out, and I heard the clinking of his armored boots.

I closed my eyes and the day's events played over repeatedly. All the hours I wasted trying to gain a single STR had been a waste. If I had focused on my skills, things could have been different. Qi control had to be mastered if I wanted to defeat the antiforms. Father was right; I couldn’t beat them unless I mastered my power. The antiform that poisoned Violet claimed to have been built to defeat me. If that was the case, I needed to prepare countermeasures of my own. Maybe I could get more familiars.

From what I read of the familiar book, I could get up to 6 familiars. 1 in the beginning, then 1 for every 20 familiar bond levels. Every familiar I gained would rapidly increase my points. From what I could tell familiar bond could be increased by spending time with my familiar. There was also a familiar bond skill tree. Most people didn’t bother with it until they reached a point where they couldn’t get much more exp. One part of that skill tree was familiar care which greatly increased a familiar’s stat gains. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to unlock the skill.

Hours flew by as I heard movement in the house and then nothing. For hours more, I waited as my stamina gauge slowly ticked down. The inferno of power that was my father spent time in our stables before leaving.

The words left me before I could bite them back. “Wait, don’t go.”

For a moment, he stopped; maybe he heard me and looked back. I couldn’t say for sure. He left on horseback instead of on foot, and I didn’t think he would ever return.

The stamina gauge was slow to go down even with my increased STR and VIT. I was left bedridden the whole night as the monsters in the forest invaded our farm. Few of the powerful dogs remained to stop the goblins.

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Morning came the next day, and I slowly rolled out of bed. I thought about doing pushups, but they wouldn’t do much for me. Instead, I needed to make my familiar strong and wait for the antiform to return. Next time, I would be prepared.

After going downstairs, I saw that the house was a wreck. Talismans and accessories were ripped off the walls our out of closets. Each were items that could have been sold for multiple fortunes. It was fine; they belonged to father anyway. Most of the pantry was emptied, so I ate a bite of toast and made my way outside. Most of our fruit trees were picked clean, and my pill recipe book was gone. That was fine. I knew the stat reactions to most ingredients well enough. Few of the rare ingredients remained, but that wouldn’t slow down my progress. I had water, dirt, and my power; what else did I need to grow anything I wanted.

The fruit trees would bear fruit again; beavers had managed to sneak onto the property and were already hard at work damning up the pond. The underground spring still poured water onto the farm at an alarming rate while the beavers worked. I searched for some ingredients to make pills even as I felt Slim’s presence change.

I approached the slaughter barn where the old goat had formed a chrysalis around himself. Slim was undergoing a change, and it would take at least a day to facilitate his rank up. I could stop the transformation and kill the goat if I acted now. That would give me more than enough exp to level up. While the temptation was there, it wasn’t powerful. Slim was worth more to me than a few levels. If he managed to rank up, he would be the strongest creature on the farm. That might deter some goblins in the forest from stealing from us.

My chores continued as the dogs ran up to me and rolled over, showing off their bellies. I clapped my hands, and they got up and let me pet their heads. Then I fed them a mix of chicken and goat and suddenly I had a problem. Their food supply wouldn’t last long. Bobby was gone, and we needed another donkey or several to keep the farm safe. Also, I hadn’t checked the money I had saved or if my father had cleaned out the accounts in the city.

Maybe I could try hunting in the forest. There were deer in there, and I had some dogs more than capable of hunting them down. I counted a little under 10-second rank dogs on the farm. We had another 20 high first rank and plenty of puppies. Normally we would sell the extra pups to other farmers, but I didn’t have the contacts my father did.

Kara needed time to grow older, and I needed to master all the cultivations skill tree skills. Qi control was a must, but I needed to finish potion and dig into pill making. Giving potions to the animals, I would rely on would help a lot.

I saw a rider some distance away. Depending on the seamstress, they were flying Baron Charles’ Rooster or hawk. They were about four hours ride from here; there were other farms if this was their destination, but they were a day down the road.

After feeding the dogs, I fed the goats and pigs while making plans to hunt in the forest with the dogs. But, of course, that wasn’t something my father would do. Instead, he would snatch up the deer himself or have Violet do it; I shook my head, refusing to think about it.

I made some successful potions and added them to the dogs’ food. They seemed to get a kick out of that and fed upon their meals even more hungrily. After that, I made a mental note to purchase a large cast-iron pot from the witch’s while I went to town.

My connections to the animals started to grow stronger, or I finally became aware of them. Whenever I thought an animal should do something, one came to do it. It was in the power that they consumed.

I went to the stables to see several horses without their owners. Yesterday when the anti-egg formed, many of Macduff’s party charged into the forest. None but father and I made it out. Or if they were still alive, they were hiding somewhere. Each horse was branded with the count’s sign, and I couldn’t use them. Even plowing the field with them would be risky. So father left me with an unbroken yearling.

She was much stronger than me without even trying. Mary was a Noma horse bought from a local breeding farm shortly after weening, and our connection was weak because of it. There wasn’t a prompt to make her my familiar, which meant not even three of my stats were higher than hers. There was a familiar qualifications skill in the familiar bond skill tree that lowered the requirements to make a familiar bond, but I didn’t have it yet. I needed time to develop, and she was my only hope of getting to town quickly. Not only did I need to break her, but I needed to then increase her strength enough to pull a packed wagon alone

Of course, being unbroken wasn’t the same as being my enemy. So I filled her trough up with oats and poured a potion on top of it to give her a stat boost. Most of it was meant to boost her intelligence, but I had plenty of STR-boosting roots in it. She happily ate while I brushed her coat and slyly did a trick. I grabbed a rope and laid it across her back while brushing her.

The second the rope touched her back, she jumped and kicked her hooves out, shattering a board on her wall. Mary continued eating and didn’t even look at me. I went to the woodshed while she was eating, grabbed a replacement, and returned to see her zooming around the stables. Finally, Mary came to a stop and pranced up to me.

She glared at the rope in my hand, and her ears dropped. I knew what was coming. “Help,” I said and froze. No one was here to help me. The dogs were outside so they wouldn’t scare the horses, and Kara was a kid. I knew a single blow from Mary would kill me, but I couldn’t back down. I had to show that I was in charge. My instincts told me to run.

Just the day before, this wouldn’t have been a problem; I was strong enough to beat back almost anything. That power wouldn’t do a damn thing for me, but maybe I could use it. When I had that power last night, I felt confident and in control, like nothing could stop me. Maybe what I needed was that courage here.

I took a step forward, then another slowly but deliberately. Mary stomped her hooves, and I thought she could charge me at any second. My body was frail compared to hers, but that didn’t mean she was in charge. I had to show her that this was my farm, and she wasn’t going to do as she pleased. Even if I wanted to leave while I was here, I was in charge. I patted her shoulder, and the little yearling whinnied like it was all just a fun game. With her level of intelligence, it might have been.

While I kept a hand on her, I moved over to her side with the rope. She let me put it on her and didn’t kick. I left it there and took a step back. “If you leave it there while I replace the board, I’ll give you another treat,” I said, unaware if she could understand me, but she left the rope on.

Potion Craft lvl65

+1INT

INT 10

All morning it seemed like the only thing I did was make potions. Before, I only made potions off and on when I felt like it. Father and Violet got most or asked for them to feed some of the animals. Now that I needed the dogs to defend the farm, I wasn’t so greedy with them. While I had the ingredients, I would use as many as possible. I couldn’t replace Fred, but many of Fred’s pups were still around. His red fur was easy to spot. Mary would take some time to break, but we have made progress already. Now I needed to check up on my familiar.

“You’re sad.”

While her voice in my head was a little distracting, she had managed to quiet it down and gain some agency. That was rather scary. Goats weren’t normally like that. I wondered what was going on in her head or where she got the information. Did she read my mind all the time?”

I poured her smoothy into a bottle with some goat’s milk. She needed to be much stronger even than the others. I was weaker than I had ever been before. The beavers still hadn’t gotten the water under control, the goblins had clearly carried off a few goats and piglets, and we had an unknown visitor on their way.

Kara’s mental voice changed a little. “I’m sorry.” This time the words sounded without the vibrating effect.

I rubbed her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just weak.” I said

It shook its head, letting its black ears flop. “No,” The little goat said.

“Well, that’s not how I feel right now.” She turned her head to the side. “Was that too many words?”

“No, your strong.” She said.

“If we fought, you could easily overpower me,” I said.

“Wrong strength,” Kara said. She looked up at me wither her horizontal bar eyes. I could sense more of my power in her than most.

Familiar Bond lvl4

+1WIS

WIS 9

This farm was my power base, and there was a massive vacuum right now. But while I was here, it could be filled. Maybe it wouldn’t be filled as well, but it was possible. Two of the horses in the stables were stallions, one was a gelding, and the other two were mares. Not counting Mary, that gave me to potential to breed and sell horses. I could buy more horses and start breeding.

The next farm over was normally a day’s ride, and our property line was most of that day. My intelligence had increased again, and I could feel my influence spread even further. With more wisdom, my influence would spread faster. If I continued making potions, my intelligence stat would increase. I could raise my wisdom by making good decisions.

But then what would I do about the antiforms. How long did I have until they attacked again? Then there was the root of the problem. If I killed Rot's incarnation, I would be free of his curse.

With those thoughts, a seed of hope planted itself in my heart. Once I gained back my power and combined it with the system, maybe I could save my sister. No one had ever restored an antiform’s humanity, but I nearly beat it back before. With my full power, there had to be a way; if not, then what was power like that for.

I left Kara to nurse with those thoughts while I walked inside. Toads hopped around snatching up flies while fish snatched them up in turn. Massive bugs buzzed around only to be hunted down by larger animals. I had barely added another point to my intelligence stat, and already I saw green sprouts spread out around the property. New sprouts covered the outskirts of the forest as I made my way back to the potion-making shed.