The next morning, Adam, knowing he would never go through with it if he balked again, pulled Ruth aside. A quick question and answer session got him a chance for a private discussion over tea in the evening. Before that, he’d have to get through the rest of his day.

With him soon to be taking over the care for the children, he had been given their schedules as well as his own. Having looked them over, he was hoping that he would be able to control them better in the future when he was solely responsible for the three of them. For the moment he only needed to deal with his own schedule, and would see the children only at the times when their schedules intersected. Namely, with Scholar Kleeb.

Adam’s day began with breakfast, or at least the making of. Until he was given the go ahead to actually cook and serve the duke’s children he was reduced to kitchen assistant. Perhaps others would be more distraught by the reduction in status, but cooking was quickly becoming one of Adam’s favorite things about his class. Every growing boy loves to eat, but Adam not only got as much food as he could eat, he also got to make it himself. The combination of unlimited food, a bottomless stomach, and a class boost to learning how to cook was rapidly increasing his capabilities. This had the added bonus of contributing to his combat competence as well. He had added a number of other kitchen tools to his roster of useful weapons, his favorite of which were meat tenderizers, rolling pins, and frying pans.

After breakfast was martial weapon practice. Or whatever it was called when someone attempted to beat people up with household tools. Generally speaking, he refrained from using his mana based weaponry during that time. That was also the majority of the time he would be spending with Martin as well, although there had been a note added to his schedule that stated the man would be reassigned to protecting the children until such time as Adam was deemed to be capable of doing the job without specific assistance.

With his appointment made to speak with Ruth for the evening, Adam knew he’d need to talk to Martin as well. There were few places more appropriate for discussions like that than the large, yet nearly empty, training grounds. The majority of the guards trained while he was in the kitchen, or later in the day, leaving plenty of privacy for their discussion.

“I’ll be talking to Ruth tonight,” Adam said, slightly uncertain. “I need another opinion on my class. I, uh…” He trailed off, not entirely sure if he should explain himself, or how to do so.

It turned out he needn’t have worried.

“That’s a good choice,” the older man said, tapping Adam’s shoulder with a fist. “She’s perfect for helping you figure out what’s going on with all of that. I don’t know the details, but she’s always wanted children. I think she’s starting to see you, and maybe Jay, as the children she never had.”

“I could see that,” Adam replied thoughtfully. Then a sly grin appeared on his face. “Daddy.”

“Wha- Why? Oh, you little shit! Get back here!”

After some time practicing mobile combat, the two took a break on the side of the training grounds after dunking their heads in the horse trough that was never used for horses. A bucket of water from the nearby well, and a couple of mugs sat between them.

“Now that that’s settled, what’s your plan going forward?” Martin had some idea of the difficulties facing the boy, and was invested in helping him get through them.

“Well, I need to figure out my Specialization, obviously, but before that I still need to pin down my next skill. I don’t see a lot of combat in my near future, so my progress is going to slow down drastically. That means I need something that can make a difference in the coming however long it takes to gain some more levels.” Adam drank some of his water, and brushed away the water headed for his eyes. Their break wasn’t long, but necessary.

“Hmm, but you don’t need combat for your progression, do you?”

“What? Of course I do. It’s a combat class.”

“No, you have a Fluid Class remember? It’s a partial hybridization of a combat class with a crafting class, and a touch of life class as well. That means you’ll gain experience from any of those activities. Yes, combat will likely be the fastest way to advance because you can just keep fighting more and stronger things to keep the experience flowing, but you’d need to take breaks or suffer the injuries. Crafting isn’t going to be as fast, but it is steady and safe.”

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Adam interrupted before Martin could go on. “Yes, safe and steady are the hallmarks of my life so far,” he said sarcastically.

It got him a chuckle and some more lecture. “I know that doesn’t sound exciting, but you need safe and steady for a while. Your life has been crazy, not just this past month and a half, but all of it. Some slowing down will let you get a handle on all of the changes before you snap.” He shot a concerned look at the boy- teen, he reminded himself for the thousandth time, knowing he’d forget again. “I’ve known grown mend to lose it after going through half of what you have since you received your class, so please, for me, take it slow for a little while.”

Adam thought it over. The man wasn’t necessarily wrong, but he didn’t quite appreciate certain aspects of Adam’s life either. The boy had never really enjoyed his life before his current circumstances. Maybe back before his parents were killed, but certainly never since. As for how his life was going since he got his class? Adam had a hard time imagining something better.

It was a constant barrage of new things, new challenges, and new choices. Not all of them were good, but they simply added contrast to those that were. In his more upbeat moments even his being enslaved just translated to a job that would push his leveling speed, skill progression, and education with nearly unlimited resources, while having shit pay alongside free room and board. The rest of his experiences were all for the better. He was constantly challenged to use his class to solve problems he came across, and engaged in a never ending scavenger hunt to find the next tool in his growing arsenal. His class and skills were the new toys he had been waiting his entire life to have, and the joy of having them wouldn’t wear off anytime soon. Sure, there was hard work, rough times, and bad experiences, but at the end of the day, he was having a great time.

The only thing that Adam saw as bad was how long it was taking to gain new levels and skills, and the looming threat of the duke and his wife. Their plans threatened to bring chaos and pain down upon him, and more importantly, the children. There was no moral dilemma in his coming duties, however. Any assassin that came to kill children deserved to die in his opinion.

He tried to explain all that to Martin, but knew the man didn’t quite get it. He was too focused on saving Adam from difficulty and hardship. It was refreshing for Adam to see an adult that felt that way, but he no longer saw himself as a child. He had a class, and that made him an Apprentice. He might not yet be a full adult, but he had stepped onto that path.

Looking at the man next to him, he compared Martin’s behavior to his own in regards to Jay, Marcus, and Abigail. There were a number of similarities, and he had to think through them before he saw the differences. The largest was capability. While he wasn’t yet fully capable of taking care of himself in every situation, he was nearing that point, and if Martin kept smothering him he’d never be. Thinking about it, he resolved to help the children stretch their wings when they finally received their classes if he could. Whether or not that resolution was a possibility was up to System Assistance.

Knowing there was no point in dwelling on any of that for much longer he threw and elbow Martin’s direction. “Hey, old man. How about I show you one of the latest weapons in my arsenal?”

“I’ll show you ‘old man’. Nothing you’ve found yet can get the best of me,” Martin declared.

With a smirk, Adam withdrew a wooden spoon from his apron pocket. Martin twitched, causing him to laugh. “You were saying?”

“That thing is evil. How could a class like yours turn that little thing into such a monstrous creation?”

Adam just laughed, putting the spoon back. He always kept one handy since he had nearly tortured Martin into submission the first time he used one. The man wasn’t wrong, he really couldn’t best him in a fair fight, but the wooden spoon was his way of cheating. That wasn’t what he’d be using for their next fight though.

Martin laughed when he saw the meat tenderizer. It was small, even for Adam, although it did look a little like a tiny war hammer. The handle wasn’t very long, and the heads looked like a pair of pyramids welded to the handle at their tips. The grid of pyramidal shapes on the face of each head looked somewhat concerning, but with its small size he just couldn’t see it being useful. None of it looked all that dangerous, even with Adam’s tendency to turn common household items into weapons of mass destruction. “Sure, you can use that toy. I’ll even let you take the first shot.”

Adam smiled and followed him out to their chosen patch of dirt. “You sure you want to do that, old man? I wouldn’t want the biggest injury to be to your pride. How would you face Ruth if you had to give up again?”

“Stop mouthing off and give it your best shot, whippersnapper,” Martin growled out mock threateningly.

As the man watched Adam’s smile grow wide and malicious, he began to think he had made a minor miscalculation. When the meat tenderizer grew even more than the smile, he started to believe he had made a small mistake. When the boy turned to put his wildly disproportionate strength into the overhand blow with the massive spike faced hammer he realized he’d been thoroughly tricked into letting the boy attempt to tenderize his face. He muttered, “Oh, fu-“