Predictably, Lucas did not end up getting any more sleep before dawn came. The first light cresting over the horizon found him already at work in the house's front room, picking up where he left off with his healing tome transcription. Sounds of one of the adults rousing carried over soon after and Lucas wasn't left to guess which one for long.
The creak of a door being inched open preceded a concerned call from his mother, "Lu?!"
"In here!" Lucas replied without looking up from the page before him. However, when his mom came shooting into the room while his words practically still hung in the air, he set the stylus down and stood to greet her.
Before he knew it, he was caught in a crushing hug that's intensity could only be matched by the speed with which it shifted to the woman holding him at an arm's length and beaming down at him. "You're finally out! And you're a [Healer]! Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Lucas chuckled. "I'm not fully a [Healer], though. I got an [Aspirant] Class."
"How did you--oh, nevermind. That actually sounds kind of perfect for you..." she took on a thoughtful expression for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, come on into the kitchen with me. I'll make you up some food and you can tell me everything." She practically dragged him after her, but even though Lucas had scarfed down a small batch of muffins earlier, he felt he could still eat and had no issue with following along.
Though he did not simply sit around and wait while his mom got to work cooking, despite her protest. He had an uncapped [Cooking] Skill to level now, and he could easily recount everything he'd told Eugene hours earlier while beating eggs as well. Together, they whipped up some fruit-stuffed pancakes with sweet cream to drizzle over the top and moved over to the dining table, where Lucas continued to detail the changes that had come to his status.
[*ding Congratulations! [Cooking] has reached level 12!]
As he was talking, Lucas carefully skirted around the topic of his soul world and the form it had taken. It had never seemed important that she know Lucas could vaguely recall having a past life--it hadn't always seemed important to himself considering the limits of his recollection, after all--so telling her about that strange world he'd gotten a glimpse of would've just opened a chest full of issues. When his mom personally broached the subject, gave a boring description of a recreation of the village wherein he had to pick from a multitude of uniquely outfitted villagers to choose his Class.
Eugene joined them soon after, so Lucas didn't have to deflect for long.
"Good morning. Again," the man greeted Lucas and leaned down to kiss Mary's forehead.
Lucas's mom immediately froze and glanced over at him, where he tactfully ignored her tension and returned Eugene's greeting. Slowly, as the two of them talked, Lucas perceived her tension gradually loosen and relax. Eventually she let out a long exhalation and joined in on their conversation.
"Wait. What did you mean by 'again'?" Mary suddenly asked Eugene.
"Oh," he set down the bite of pancake he'd been about to take, "I was woken up in the middle of the night by this one baking muffins," he gestured at Lucas. "We caught up and discussed all the Class stuff before I returned to bed."
"And you didn't wake me?" Lucas's mom asked with a bit of warning in her voice.
Eugene hesitated before quickly answering, "You had a long day, Yesterday. I didn't want to wake you when you so clearly needed the sleep."
Mary thought that over for a heartbeat. "Ok," she answered lightly and squeezed Eugene's hand, "just know that is the sort of thing I don't mind missing some sleep for."
"What's this about a long day?" Lucas interjected. "Were there a lot of patients coming to the clinic, or something?"
The adults exchanged a loaded glance before his mom answered. "It wasn't a big deal...but a patrol of guards had to come in during the late evening for injuries received in a goblin ambush. I got everyone cleared up just fine, but it took more time to handle than I would've liked."
"Goblin ambushes are pretty rare...there's not a horde springing up near the village, is there?" Lucas directed his question at the only guard present in the room.
Eugene laughed. "Nothing like that," he assured. "The way I hear, there was only a single emaciated goblin and the idiots fell right into a crude trap it had set. It was getting late and the unlucky fools weren't watching where they were walking at the time, but even still they had no trouble dispatching the monster."
"That's good, I guess," Lucas said.
"Mm," Mary grunted as she took a drink, "better than a horde, that's for sure. Luckily, hordes mostly form out in the plains where they are most dangerous. The worst case scenario in the mountains around here wouldn't be a horde, it would be a single solitary monster that out-levels any given person in the village."
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Lucas absentmindedly knocked on the wooden tabletop.
"Well," he tentatively started, "I don't suppose you'd allow Eugene to take me on a patrol to get some levels?"
"This is not the best time to be bringing this up," Eugene pointedly looked at Lucas, then turned to his mom, "but it would only be after he has filled all his Skill slots and gotten all the levels he can in the village."
"That is something we should talk about then," Mary stated. "For now, absolutely not. And not till it is confirmed there are not more goblins around setting up traps anyone could fall into. I know you have goals, Lu, but there is still plenty of time ahead of you. Don't be in such a rush to go looking for a danger you might not be prepared for."
He nodded his acceptance, even though he didn't think he was nearly as ill-prepared as his mother likely did. Lucas killed his first monster a long time ago, now, and a repeat performance didn't sound all that difficult. She was right in saying that he had plenty of time, however. Lucas would heighten his combat abilities all he could within the village's walls, and in the meantime he would further his study of healing magic at his mother's side. There was no need to rush.
"How about we discuss what Skills you should take?" His mom suggested.
"Sure. I already have a few ideas for the rest of my Class Skill slots, and that's all kind of up to what I can make with mana manipulation, but I haven't even started to think over what to do with my General Skills."
"Wasn't there one you wanted to get after your unlock, but the slot was taken?" Eugene asked.
"Right, [Running]," Lucas nodded. "That solves one slot. What do you two think about the other three?"
"[Timekeeping] Skills are often very useful," Mary thoughtfully suggested. "Of course, there is anything that would help with activities you do every day, or just daily life in general. You could also do more physical Skills that might combine with each other. Loads of possibilities." She finished off with a shrug.
"What about a mental Skill?" Eugene asked her. "Something like [Multitasking], or something to help with memory, could be applied to pretty much every aspect of life. It would help with his healing education as well."
"There are memory-enhancing Skills?!" Lucas leaned so far forward, he practically left his chair.
"Woah," his mom motioned for him to back up. "Yes, there are. What's got you so excited?"
Lucas sat back, and thinking quickly, he said, "That would just be super useful. It would boost my [Fighting] Skill as well as [Arclight Renewal]. It would be almost like having another [Learning] experience boost for those two. Not to mention all the other things a memory-enhancement would help."
"Then it sounds like you've got two down, and two to go," Eugene chuckled at his enthusiasm.
"There's time for that later, though," Lucas finished off the last of his food and stood to take care of his plate. "I shouldn't be in such a rush to fill the slots that I miss out on better Skills, so I'll just let the ideas come naturally. I'm going to get back to my writing, though."
He turned around and glanced between the two adults, then addressed his mom. "The clinic is already set up and now that I have [Arclight Renewal], I can take care of any patients that come by. Take your time."
As he walked through the door, he smiled as he heard his mom speak under her breath, "That kid..."
Lucas was happy for the two of them. Happy that their relationship was taking a step forward. He had no illusion that their mutual affection was a new thing, but they had always tried to hide it, or at least keep it vaguely subtle. He couldn't fathom the reason behind that choice, though, and thought they would be much better off now with everything more or less in the open.
He shrugged to himself, abandoning the effort at parsing the adults' backwards thinking. There was plenty of transcription to be done, and he didn't need the distraction.
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Three days later, Lucas finally found time to get out and work on the number of things he couldn't at home. His mom had been driving him hard in his studies over the last few days, and he'd seen to every single patient that came to their clinic before she could do a final checkup. Needless to say, Lucas had received a number of levels during that time.
[Congratulations! [Aspirant of the Storm] has reached level 22-23! You have 130 free stats!]
[Congratulations! [Rapid Regeneration] has reached level 12!]
[Congratulations! [Arclight Renewal] has reached level 16-23!]
[Congratulations! [Identify] has reached level 11!]
[Congratulations! [Cooking has reached level 12-13!]
[Congratulations! [Learning] has reached level 22-23!]
Lucas had been so busy, in fact, that he hadn't even had time to test some of his Class Skills since the selection. His work had payed off in levels, of course, but he'd begun to get so impatient that his mom eventually kicked him out of the house because his work ethic was dropping. On the positive side of things, Lucas had also managed to fill one of his General Skill slots in that time.
[Congratulations! You have learned [Keen Mind]!]
[Keen Mind: the hallmark of a precocious child. Increased natural learning speed, memorization, and memory recollection per level.]
[Congratulations! [Keen Mind] has reached level 2-9!]
It was a stroke of luck, getting [Keen Mind]. Lucas had actually been trying for a more common Skill at the time--one that only boosted memorization, but he'd earned a more advanced version instead. He'd spent the entire previous day testing its limits, and even though it was still quite low level, it was proving a wonder.
On another note, Lucas was getting tired of seeing [Congratulations!] over and over again. He needed to figure out how to customize his notifications already. There were a number of improvements to the default he'd thought up, but all efforts to will the changes into being had predictably proven fruitless. Still, he wouldn't give up and continue trying.
The plan for the day, however, was to finally test out [Accelerant Frame] and maybe fill another slot or two. A storm had passed recently, leaving most of the environment cold and wet, but the sky was presently clear and the sun was shining. It had been a while since Lucas had visited his tree hollow and now was the perfect chance.
Just as he was nearing the north gate, however, he was stopped by someone calling out to him from behind.
"Lucas! Wait a minute!"
Lucas quickly spun around and took a ready stance, prepared for anything. Charging up to him in a hurry was none other than the [Hunter] Harry, whom he'd last seen running off into the night after a failed ambush Lucas had turned back on him.