"Alright Ozlo, here's fifty shards for your next upgrade into scholarship. Go on."
Ozlo pulls up his card and places the shards into his hand.
Scholarship: Rank common, growth/utility.
This card will increase the mental capacities of it's holder by 10% per level.
Current Level: 2
Required Soul Shards to level 0/50
"Alright, here goes nothing..."
Ozlo absorbs the shards into his soul-space, allotting them to his Scholarship card.
Scholarship: Rank common, growth/utility.
This card will increase the mental capacities of it's holder by 10% per level.
Current Level: 3
Required Soul Shards to level 0/125
"Great lad, now add these ten to your Graceful."
"Alright..."
Ozlo adds all the shards to his cards until Burgin tells him he's done.
"Alright lad, go ahead and read them to me."
"Okay..."
Scholarship: Rank common, growth/utility.
This card will increase the mental capacities of it's holder by 10% per level.
Current Level: 4
Required Soul Shards to level 0/250
Graceful: Rank common, growth/utility.
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This card will make the user more nimble and reduce clumsiness of it's holder by 10% per level.
Note: May every step you take be purposeful and with elegance.
Current Level: 3
Required Soul Shards to level 0/125
"Perfect, and I'll just tally how much you owe me here in my ledger. How do you feel? Smarter? More nimble?"
"Nimble?"
"Stand up, walk around for me."
"Alright..."
Standing up Ozlo takes note of how he feels. "Huh, this does feel different. I'm more aware of my movements and how each of my limbs flails about. I should fix that..."
Ozlo walks back and forth a bit, slowly fixing what errors he sees in his posture and gait. "That should do it. If I don't bend so far forward and I move my limbs purposefully instead of just letting them swing around freely I should be able to avoid walking into most objects. I always hated smacking my shoulder against the doorway while running up to bed."
"Ozlo, boy. Are you there?"
"Huh?"
"Ozlo, how are you doing boy?"
"Oh... I'm fine. Thanks for asking Burgin."
"You seem more than fine. How are you feeling."
"I'm feeling... How am I feeling?"
Ozlo takes a moment to ponder how he feels. "Well, my feet are sore, my legs are tired, my shoulder aches from all that exercise with the CDF and my soul feels overly full. It's probably a good thing that Burgin only gave me as many shards as he did. If he upgraded my Scholarship to five or my Graceful to 4 I might have "burst", I wonder if-"
"BOY."
"Huh?"
"I said how are you FEELING?"
"Oh. I'm feeling alright. A bit tired, and my soul feels full."
"I see... I see... Ozlo. Tell me, what do you think about the weather?"
Racking his brain, Ozlo replied. "Oh well, it's alright. The sky is blue so I don't think it will storm anytime soon."
"Ozlo, what do you think about my shoes?"
Glancing downwards, Ozlo looks at Burgin's shoes for what feels like the first time. "Your old boots? They look alright, probably need polished but I don't see a point if you just keep dragging them through the ash and muck."
"HA! I knew it."
"Ok..."
"I knew you weren't an invalid, just a bit slow. And now that we've sped you up a bit. Forty percent to be exact, you're on par with most of the boys your age. Maybe even better."
"I am aren't I..." For the first time in a long time Ozlo felt... Normal. A bit smart even.
A sinking feeling suddenly overtook ozlo. "Huh, so what now?"
"What?"
"What now? How do I work these shards off? I really want to keep this card, life without it would just be..." Panic filling his mind, Ozlo started to stammer.
"Calm down boy, I'm not going to take your card, even if you were to leave my shop and abandon your apprenticeship I wouldn't do that to you, it just seems cruel. But don't relax too much, your days just got a lot harder."
"Harder?"
"Yes boy, HARDER! You'll still need to do your daily duties, handing me things, working the bellows, bringing me my drink. But now you'll be learning, and not just that cold forging crap. I'm going to turn you into a real and proper smith or my name isn't Burgin the Bu-. Ahem. Or my name isn't Burgin. Which it is."