After a few minutes of sitting comfortably in the silence, mom came back in and handed me a small bowl of roasted potatoes. The nectar of the gods. The smell alone sent a shiver through my body, and a hungry growl erupted from my stomach. I felt fine so far, but once presented with food my hunger began to protest the three days of famine. I will not deny them any further, the bowl was clean before mom even cleared the room.

“Hey mom?” I called out for her attention, receiving naught but a hand wave in return. “I’ll be back with more in a second” She sighed, clearly two steps ahead of me.

Content and cared for, I fell back against the bed and let the pain of my scars throb through my bones for the first time. Acknowledging them nearly brought tears to my eyes, I caught a scream in my throat before I could disturb mother in the kitchen. Apparently I’d gone further overboard than I thought. A mana bolt of that size realistically should have killed me, the overdraw pains were a small price to pay for living through it.

There was a sudden commotion in the front of the house. I could hear dad’s voice echoing in the old timbers.

“Where is he?” He asked my mother, no doubt getting directions I couldn’t hear. His pounding footsteps drew closer, each deep thud putting more dread in my heart. Daniel was not an angry man, I could only recall a handful of times he’d ever shouted in front of me. However, what I’d done was undoubtedly stupid. I could have gotten us all killed instead of saving anyone. I believe what I did to be right, and I’m relieved Leigh is still alive.

He burst into the room and my heart sank. His eyes were not full of anger, but he only had one left. His right eye now replaced with a long scar across his face.

“Dad I’m-” I choked on my words, interrupted as he tackled me into a hug.

“Thank the gods you’re okay!”

Was dad crying? I’ll admit I was confused, expecting some kind of fall out.

“You’re not mad?” I asked softly, my shoulders screaming in pain as he embraced me. They could stay quiet for now. Though truthfully, Daniel shouldn’t be angry even if I expected him to be. I saved Leigh by providing that distraction.

“Mad? I’m furious! You could have gotten yourself killed running into combat unprepared like that” Dad explained, slowly pulling back away from me and sitting on the edge of my cot, a very serious expression suddenly overtaking his remaining eye.

“But I want to be incredibly clear about something. My happiness at the fact that you’re okay, far outweighs anything else. I heard about what happened from Leigh, I didn’t even see her hiding spot and you saved her.” Daniel began to explain himself. Unable to contain myself, I interjected. I had a thousand things I wanted to say, and for a moment I had to choke back the urge to double down and gloat. ‘I saved her when you didn’t’ that urge felt wrong.

“But you lost-”

Daniel struck me for the first time in my life, a quick and admittedly light smack across my face. It barely stung, but more importantly the shock brought me back to center. Righteous Indignation simmered up, but I quickly choked those feelings back down.

“Don’t you ever say that to me again.” Dad instructed me with a forceful and unrelenting tone.

“I gave my eye to make sure you were safe, I didn’t lose anything. I’d give both of them in a heartbeat if it meant protecting you or your mother. Do I make myself clear?” His hand patted the top of my head, and I could only nod in acknowledgment, not wanting to anger the sleeping giant any further.

Daniel and I weren’t particularly close. I’d studied with mom, and helped out around the house, she and I were undoubtedly a much stronger relationship. With dad on patrol or out hunting as much as he was, I hadn’t really forged that same kind of bond. Hearing his unwavering resolve to be there for me was the final straw. I broke down crying. The tears felt like someone else’s though, warm and wet down my face but distant. Like I was caught in a summer rain.

“Daniel? What did you do?” Mom came rushing in, immediately blaming dad for my state without even a moment to ask questions. When I calmed down enough to avert her ire, they both sat with me for the rest of the night. We had dinner together, and they held me, assuring me everything was okay.

I felt safe, and loved. I hadn’t considered such a thing important before, but experiencing it first hand is refreshing. I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I made up my mind that night to make sure I was never a liability for the people I cared about. From now on I plan to study magic just as before, but I will not neglect training my practical skills. I’m going to join the Militia with dad if that’s what it takes. No one else is going to get hurt trying to protect me, and no one else is going to break my things or hurt my people.

I also slowly learned more about the impact of the attack. Nine people died that day, including Leigh’s mother. She hadn’t said a thing to me about it, and it wasn’t my business to press into her grief. However, mother and I talked about it for a moment and we both agreed she has a standing invitation to join us for any meals she would like to. Apparently, her father was not handling his grief well.

The next several days of my life were spent focused on the immediate issue, specifically the healing of my hands. The mana overdraw burns made it difficult to use my hands for some things, and nearly impossible for others. Simple daily tasks like washing up or eating had become excruciating reminders of my limited capacity. Each stab of pain became an ember to stoke the fire of my grim determination.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

With meticulous planning I had formulated a plan to build those embers into a roaring blaze. Step 1, learn to fight in my new body. Step 2, fight things so other people don’t have to. Step 3, there is no step 3. The genius of this plan was in its simplicity. If I could grow my own power to the point of self sufficiency, the people I relied on now would no longer be in danger. I could protect mother and father as they have protected me. They’ve earned that much.

I hoped to find some penance in this, for it would be decades before I could afford the rituals needed to replace Daniel’s eye.

To that end, I wanted to learn about Dad’s classes. It felt inappropriate when we were both still grappling with injuries, but after a few weeks of healing and returning to our normal routine I did finally ask.

“Hey dad? Can you tell me a little bit more about your classes? Mom explained hers to me already, and if I want to be prepared for my system unlock I think it might help..” I asked sheepishly. Daniel did not respond, instead I felt the parental override take hold as he glanced through my own status.

“With your stat layout and the skills you already have my class layout is useless to you.” Daniel explained, a tone of regret in his voice. “You’re far better served with magic classes, but I’ll explain them to you anyway” and seemingly without being prompted, mother got up from her seat at the table and went to fetch the slate and chalk. That seemed odd at first, but then I was struck with a sudden epiphany.

Mother was the one who taught me how to read and write. She was always the one writing things down for me to practice with. I had never once seen my father participate. We live in a rural village, and educational standards were lacking even in my time. All the pieces are there, Daniel might actually be illiterate. I knew the system could present differently to other people, but it never occurred to me that literacy wasn’t a requirement. The naivety of a sheltered life I suppose.

When mother returned with the slate, Daniel shared some brief whispered words with her before she began to write out his classes for me to read.

Human Child lvl 5

Rambunctious Child lvl 10

Apprentice Guard lvl 25

Junior Mercenary lvl 50

Army of One lvl 75

One Man Militia lvl 96

While it’s worth noting that dad’s levels are much lower than Neia’s, both my parents have shown prodigious leveling for their apparent age. It makes me wonder if the higher mana density has affected xp generation rates somehow? I digress again though, his class list was impressive, but not entirely out of the ordinary. I could draw some pretty solid assumptions on what the first few classes do.

[Human Child] was a variant of the child class, and thus has a wide skill list, being human specific it would have a balanced stat spread.

[Rambunctious Child] was similar, though the tone of its name suggests a physical stamina based class with a more narrow skill list. Taking a level 10 child class is not uncommon for people looking to jumpstart their level 25 class at a higher point. This particular version might provide stamina and endurance boosts for the rest of dad’s physical classes.

[Apprentice Guard] was exactly like it sounded. Increased leveling while studying under a more senior member of the guard, with similar stat spread but a wider skill list. After this one though dad’s list took a sharp turn.

“So, uh, dad? Your first three classes don’t really make a ton of sense with the other three. I think I might be missing something…” I spoke up as I glanced over those final few classes.

Daniel sighed and turned to look at me directly, “You’re right Vincent, they don’t. There’s nothing to miss because there’s nothing there.” He explained curtly, allowing a deep pause to settle in before he realized I wasn’t going to leave it at that.

“Okay” Dad sighed, leaning back in his chair and picking me up out of mine to sit with him. He placed me on his knee and continued his explanation, constantly glancing towards mom as if checking his words for approval.

“You see I never knew my own parents, I grew up in a church near the merchant coast to the south. Lots of trade moving through all the time, lots of sailors, lots of bastard children…” He trailed off. I was suddenly struck by just how similar Daniel and I were in a lot of ways. I was unfortunate enough to know my own parents in my first life and I was worse off for it. The routine abandonment as they disappeared for weeks, only to come crawling back penniless and smelling of booze wasn’t as bad as some of the things they said to me. Some of the things they did. Even now, though, those memories are hazy. Every time I thought back to the early days of my life as Andras Gregori, a fog rolled through my head.

That’s in the past now. Or the future-past? It’s over, I dealt with them and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I have good parents now.

Daniel continued to explain his own past to me though, occasionally jumping over the more inappropriate parts for a child. “I didn’t want to end up out on my own once the system unlocked, at least not fully. So I spoke with the priest at the church and he agreed to let me stay until I got my third class or a class I could make money with, whichever happened first.” There was another long pause as he clearly relived difficult memories.

“I joined the guard to have a place to stay and food to eat, there was nothing else to it. I was a guard for less than a year before a merchant company offered me a position on one of their inland caravans. They wanted to cross from the coast going east. The entire western wilds crossed on foot to the trading cities inland. I knew it was dangerous and I agreed anyway.”

Dad was suddenly cut off when mother cleared her throat and shot him a look. Now I may not be the brightest when it comes to social cues, but I’m fairly familiar with mom’s ‘tread carefully’ stare by now. This was a grim story I’m guessing.

“To put it simply” Dad chimed back up after a moment. “The caravan didn’t take a very safe route, and lots of people got hurt and a lot of people died. We were stranded in the wilds for nearly two years, hunting and being hunted.” his last sentence had a chill beneath his words.

“We inadvertently crossed a dragon’s territory and were nearly wiped out in the first week. Every week after that, like some kind of sick game, it would attack and pick one or two people. Pretty soon we got good at running and hiding, or fighting back when we could. The weekly sightings became every two weeks, and then every month.” A shadow passed over Daniel’s face, I could tell he was grappling with a wound that still hurt him, and I didn’t want to press for more answers. He can speak when he is ready.

“We did injure it a couple of times, but eventually I was the only one left. That’s how I got the [Army of One] class, and I evolved [One Man Militia] after I moved to this village. At the time though I didn’t think I was going to make it out, that’s why I decided to pick such a drastic class. Either I would make it out of there, or the dragon would, and either way she was going to pay for it.” Dad said with a quiet tone of finality, putting a clear end to the story.

The fact that he was sitting here now, telling the story, made it clear who paid the most.