Adam and Martin traded off throughout the night so that both of them got a chance to get some sleep. In the morning over a breakfast of hardtack, while Jay still slept the sleep of the young and exhausted, they compared notes in more detail.
Martin started it off with a simple question. “What the hells happened back there?”
Adam sighed. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he wanted to tell Martin. In some ways the man was the closest thing to a friend and confidant that he had, but he was also very aware that he was also nearly as enslaved as himself. His old wariness warred with his respect and gratitude towards Martin’s constant assistance, but in the end necessity won out. He really didn’t know if the things in his head were real, figments of his imagination, some strange form of the System Assistance, or Szellem screwing with his head.
He stifled a groan, and tried to explain the unexplainable. “So, I have these weird skill image things running around in my head.”
As he paused to draw breath and continue, Martin interrupted with, “Already? Dang, nice work.”
“Wait, what?” Confused again, he started swearing at himself in his head. It was frustrating to never have a clue what was happening, and he added reading through the books he had to his mental list again. He also planned to beat Martin to a pulp for being a terrible teacher when he was capable of it.
The older man scratched his head, looking sheepish. “I never really explained any of that, did I?”
“No. No you did not.” He couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice.
With placating gestures, Martin started talking. “People don’t start seeing the impressions until near the end of Apprentice, so I thought we had plenty of time. Heck, most people only start paying attention to them after they evolve. The short version is that they are the living embodiment of your boons and skills.” He reached for his waterskin, so Adam took the chance to question a revelation.
“Boons and skills? I thought it was just my skills?”
He had to wait while the man drank, but he continued soon. “Well, it depends on the boons your class has, but I’m pretty sure your class has some. Essentially, any boon that has a name should have an impression. They’re basically free passive style skills anyways.”
“Huh. Didn’t realize that.”
“Yep. Do you remember what yours were?”
“Mother’s Endurance and Intuition. The descriptions were less helpful than expected,” Adam grumbled sourly. He was still irritated that he had no real idea what either of the boons did.
“Yeah, System descriptions are like that at times, but they aren’t really necessary either in your case.” Adam raised an eyebrow, causing Martin to chuckle. “No need for funny looks. The Mother tacked onto the front just explains the variant, but the basic versions of both Endurance and Intuition are fairly well understood. Endurance is mostly what it sounds like, it just keeps you going, and the variant only determines what areas it applies in. With a multi role class, it should apply to basically everything, you lucky bugger. To make it better you just have to put some effort into pushing yourself farther and farther, although it only ever affects your stamina.”
Adam fought to still his excitement as Martin took another drink. When he went for a second, the boy managed to catch the slight smirk the man tried to hide. Not only did he know the boy was dying to know more about Intuition, he was purposely delaying the information just to mess with him. He threw his hardtack at the man in retribution. “Prick. Hurry it up.”
The older man barked a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Someone’s a grouchy bear in the morning.”
“Really? How long have you been waiting to use that one?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Only a day, I’ve had other things on my mind.” He shuffled around, then got back to it. “OK. Intuition is on the other end of the spectrum. From what I know, it works at full capacity from the moment you awaken, but you have to learn to listen to it. That can apparently take a lifetime, so don’t expect quick results. More importantly, Intuition is heavily variant dependent. That means that the Mother tacked onto the beginning will determine not just the breadth of your intuition, but it also affects the depth. The narrower the breadth, the deeper your understanding. Get it?”
The boy rolled it around in his mind for a while making sure he comprehended it as best he could. With his intuition being limited to his kids, he figured it must be quite comprehensive. The issue was how did Mother’s Intuition interact with Mother Knows Best? Not having an answer himself, he put it to Martin.
“Now that is an interesting question. I wish I could answer it for you, but it’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. From what little I know, they two should give each other a good boost, but I’ve no idea how that would show itself.”
“Fair enough, I guess. What else do I need to know about the… What did you call them again?”
“Impressions. The main thing is just to study them as best you can while you use the skills to see how they interact with each other and, more importantly in the beginning, your class. As you become more comfortable with your abilities their impressions will change to reflect that growth. They’ll change in all sorts of neat ways. The impression for my swordsmanship skill originally was a boy with a stick. Over the years he’s not only grown into a man and gained an actual sword, he’s also integrated into the fortress impression of my class. Got himself his own little training area now with all sorts of swords to practice with.” The man smiled proudly at his accomplishment, but Adam didn’t notice. He was focused on something he’d said.
“Hold up. Did you say your class has an impression? And it’s a fortress?”
“Well of course it’s a fortress. I’m a guard, and my class impression reflects that. What’s yours anyways, you never said.”
For a moment, Adam could only blankly stare at the man. “I… I have no idea.”
Another chuckle from the man was followed with excellent advice. “You should probably figure that one out.”
“No kidding, but how?”
“Well, tell me what you have so far, and we’ll see if we can’t figure it out.”
And so Adam told him. He spoke of the old crone with her cottage and herb garden, and the bear in the mouth of the cave that had a copy of Jay sleeping in the back. He even mentioned the brief glimpse he had had of Multitask that felt like glass and feathers. In the end, Martin was just as stumped as he was.
“Well, none of them stand out as an obvious answer. It doesn’t help that you can only really see three of them right now. Which ones are you missing right now?”
“Counting the boons? Hearth Call, Shhhh, and the two boons Mother’s Endurance and Intuition. Add in the class, and that’s five.”
“Where’s Instant Family?”
“Oh, that’s the boy in the cave. He wasn’t there until I used the skill.”
“Well, I guess that makes about as much sense as the rest of it. Impressions are almost always strange and mystifying. For now, I’d say stop worrying about it. You’re not only still young, but you’ve only just awakened, so you’ve got years to figure it all out. Maybe the new tutors for the kids back at the estate can help you out, although I wouldn’t get into specifics with them.”
“Yeah, alright. Thanks for the help either way. I wasn’t sure if they were real, or I was losing my mind.”
“They can be a little distracting when they first show up. Either way, let's get back to what happened yesterday.”
“Oh, right. Well the old crone in my head threw Jay’s avatar on the bear’s back, so I thought they were trying to tell me to have Jay climb on my back and walk out. If he had laid down we might have just strolled on out with none of the trolls any the wiser.” He grimaced. “Not that it worked out that way.”
“Sounds like a decent plan, so what went wrong?”
“Turns out that Jay is terrified of bears.” Martin simply stared, his mouth slowly opening wider as Adam went on. “Kid took one look at me and started screaming. I’d told him I’d be carrying him bear back, but he just took off running as soon as I changed. He was so terrified that he never loosened his grip on the Trollburn vials, but I was a little worried they’d break before I could get to him. I was lucky he was runni-”
He had to stop talking because Martin was laughing too hard to follow the story anymore. Eventually his laughter woke the other boy, who joined them for breakfast. Jay tried to hide behind his biscuit while Adam regaled them both with the story of their flight from the troll herd and Martin laughed.