It's a me! Able!
4 'Cycles' old now.
So it's finally time to get that cool version of swordsmanship!
I actually worked hard to train swordsmanship and all that.
Let's see what all those skills are;
Novice swordsmanship, lvl 2, F; 5809/120000 exp. (+)
-Novice swordslash, lvl 1, E; 35799/220000 exp. (-)
-Novice swordthrust, lvl 1, E; 255/220000 exp. (-)
-Novice swordsmanship footwork, lvl 3, E; 46432/260000 exp. (-)
-Novice (Sword)-block, lvl 1, E; 49200/220000 exp. (-)
-Novice (Sword)-parry, lvl 1, E+; 99372/220000 exp. (-)
-Novice (Sword)- redirect, lvl 1, D-; 140212/330000 (-)
"Now, son, all you need to do is press that little plus symbol next to your skill, and tell me what skills are available." Duke, the semi-worthy to be called my biological father said, not realizing I had already started to discern my choices.
Basic gifted-swordsmanship E;
Swordsmanship focused on the future, you'd be surprised if you repeated the process again.
Basic swordsplay D+;
The act of battling with a sword.
Apprentice swordsmanship F;
The mastery over the usage of the blade.
*Note; 'Why think about the future? Think about the here and now!'
I choose to quickly report my choice, since this was obvious "There's 'Basic gifted-swordsmanship', 'Basic swordsplay', and 'Apprentice swordsmanship'. I'm choosing the former."
Only the best.
That's my motto.
And I honestly don't care much about swordsmanship, though it seemed that Duke didn't agree with my choices "What!? Choose 'Swordplay', choose 'Swordplay'! That's what your supposed to do! You were supposed to get 4 other 'Play' skills and get 'Blademanship', a D+ skill with our own family skill! Two D+-rank skills working together is something no other noble family can cause!"
I stood unfased, as weakness would open myself to 'heir-chance dropping syndrome' "Father, You may think that this is not intelligent, but; if we wish to empower the future of our great lineage, I must pierce the veil. And; If I followed your instructions, I would be certain to be only slightly stronger in skills than the other heirs of the grand dukes. What I am doing, is called a gamble."
"But you could also be ruining our future if you fail!"
"That's what back-ups are for."
"What?"
"My little brother, the back-up for if I die or am not worthy. Make him take the path I was planned to follow, while I pioneer the mountain trail." That sounded cool, I hope that coolness = how convincing I am.
Duke honestly paused for a moment "-I'll allow it."
"Wait, really?"
"Yes," Duke said with a sigh "But, you must not be announced as a child of our great family."
"Hasn't that happened already?"
"No, you're known as the child of a higher-class sub-family within the house. If you're succcesful, you will be announced as the first child of the house. Is this acceptable?"
"Yea, sure."
I'm surprised that this father of mine, would allow that. Though I wouldn't complain about more freedom of time-management.
"Are you sure, because; If you accept you will be known as the grand-nephew of Osgar. Not the heir of the family."
That's a hard choice, but... Freedom of choice and time management requires it "I say; I accept these conditions on the condition that I have complete control over how my time is spent."
"That is acceptable," He said "I will need to make preperations, just know that you'll be living in a different room, and that you're now of the 'Nercos' sub-family."
He sighed once more and left my room.
Duke is obviously a very irresponseable parent, 10/10, would pick as a parent again!
Any responsible parent would chain my machinations for at least a few more years, but Duke was stupid- smart enough in this case, to allow this small form freedom.
Now, let's stop wasting time.
I took out a wooden sword from a cabinet, and started to practice.
----------------------------------------
"Young one, this is your new room." Osgar said to me, who was carrying a few old books, every book from Arcae that I could find so far in the gigantic library.
I quickly looked around for a suitable place to put them all, I choose the corner.
The space was filled as I liked, without much inefficiency.
"How long will I stay here?"
"Until the 7th cycle, where you shall leave with a guide to a dungeon hub."
"When will I be able to gain a beast?"
"The 5th cycle."
"Oh, I believed that children were only able to make such contracts at the 7th cycle. When will I be able to enter the house's dungeons?"
"The private ones or the public ones?"
"I'd like an answer for both."
"The private ones will be available from the beginning of the 5th cycle, while the publicly known ones shall be open for use at the 8th cycle."
"I will have a majority control over time-management except factors necessary to not cause rifts with other members of the house, correct?"
"Affirmitive."
Osgar Necros Drake
An elder of some noble house.
Very powerful (Within this day and age)
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
82 cycles old.
'Inspect' had gained the fun function of telling how old someone is, now I no longer need to be rude while asking a woman her age!
(It's a christmas miracle!)
And no, that wasn't really as funny as I thought it would be! I guess jokes like that are not that funny actually. So I'll probably still make them, since I don't think about my jokes.
I'm actually getting slightly better these days, can't you see, with the fact that I'm actually going to explain what I understand this 'Essence' thing is.
Essence, it's something, I don't know what, I do know what I can use it for!
I can use it to buy skills from the boxes of azure, I can use it to 'Boost' the evolution of beasts, and some skills use it as fuel.
These are things that could actually matter to me without me working my ass off with all nighters and replacing the blood in my veins with liquid caffeine. like; It can be used as a catalyst for magic spells, yep magic is a thing that exists! Not that surprising actually. Something about reality-wells and how it can cause the act of matter going into a sub-vacuum state somehow.
Another thing is artifacts, like real artifacts, the good stuff. The stuff this era doesn't have. Essence materialized as a round core is called an 'Arc' and is super good for things, I don't know what though.
That's it really. Now how to gain it;
Essence can be gained through murder, yep, good ol' fashioned murder. Humans, beasts, monsters, all of them. All essence ready to be appropriated by the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP of the people's republic of China.
That's what I can do anyways, some skills can generate essence by turning sentient beings into fun little essence generators, somehow. No, I don't how. If I did, I'd be demanding death row prisoners.
Others generate it with souls, again, in a way I don't understand. I'll not be listing everyone of them, so that's the end of essence and what it can do.
But that Arc, that's something I can make with a bit of trail and error. I do know the minimal amount of essence needed; Around a hundred million or more.
So that's far into the future.
Now, magic.
Magic is cool, most of the time. making a rock out of dirt isn't cool, but shooting a rock with magical powers into someone's eye-socket is cool.
So, magic needs mana, pretty cliche, 'eh? Sometimes it's arcana or something, but magic usually needs fuel, some use cooldowns with some weird explanation. But this is the classic 'Mana = magic' formula.
So; I can buy a skill to do with mana (C rank or higher consistantly) with unbelieveable levels of essence (Somewhere in the billions minimally), or about 3~ skill points (Minimally).
There's also a B- rank skill called 'Mana manipulation', what you need to do is pretty simple, feel it, and then move mana. Then j' get ya skill.
It's basically the way you should learn magic, by the words of one of the books, the one about magic, 'Magic and it's basic intricacies'.
So, two goals; first, get 'Mana manipulation'. Second, get enough essence to make an Arc.
And the final one. Three, see what 'Basic gifted-swordsmanship' becomes after another component-merge, as I like to call it.
I'd rather start with gifted-swordsmanship, then mana manipulation "I'd rather like a slave of my own, may I purchase it personally?"
And the answer was; "You may not leave the premises of the house, though rarely, a festival of merchantilism happens around the mansion, and you are allowed to roam there."
"In how long will such a thing occur?"
"I do not know, the house does not organize it, it happens spontaniously when a group of merchants set up shop, and then it cascades into the 'Festival on the hill'."
That's weird "You may leave now, I am to plan my routine."
Now, let's see... 'Mana manipulation' is easier to gain the more you use mana, in whichever method chosen, including skills. So I'll be able to keep using 'Inspect' without worry currently, but practicing 'Mana manipulation' is best to do with full mp...
----------------------------------------
A small creature died with a squeal.
I had killed it while it was kept inside a cage.
Sparklight dyntile (lvl 1) killed; 1 essence gained.
-'Basic gifted-swordsmanship' gained 2 exp.
Killing such creatures is the fastest way to get exp, the most efficient way to be exact.
Though I'd get more skill exp if I did it the 'Honorable way', and since there are a lot of such weaklings in the start of baby dungeons.
Though they're annoying to bring out of the dungeon without contracts, so they're not often given to me for the slaying. So I kill them when possible.
Today was one of the days where I need to waste time conversing with another child to placate others, and no, I don't enjoy working with children. Most of the time.
Corrupting the youth with a fun ideology is pretty entertaining actually.
Well... It's not actually corrupting the youth, I tell them the truth and give them a choice of three ideologies, one of which being my own. Figure out which one is mine on your own.
I used one of the few artifacts I am allowed to keep with me, one that cleans something after you let it take some mana. This time making my sword nice and clean from the blood of that beast.
And yes, I've finally been able to get my hands on a metal sword. Yay me!
I sheathed the sword and waited for a servant to guide me to the place.
The servant came a few minutes after I began resting.
I let him guide me, as he is a slave, and he shouldn't be able to mess with me.
And he did not, but I still needed to make sure...
?????
The slave of a noble.
Slightly weak.
16 cycles old.
Just so you know, if I don't know their name at first, I won't see what their name is.
The slave just went away on his own, since his order had been completed.
It would only take a bit for the child to arrive, though I don't know what gender they would be.
I used the forbidden art 'Pupil-eye divine art' (Name still in progress). Yes, the name is bad, I have better things to do than think of a good name.
Now, it's time to mess with the morality of a young'in.
I finally heard the door creak open, with an adults words "Don't worry Anias, I've personally met with him, he's... Nice. I'm going to speak with mister Osgar, make sure to have fun~" He sounded like a pretty good parent, maybe a bit neglectful. But for this place, pretty good.
I heard the steps of a child, then the closing of a door.
I waited for a few moments, until I was pretty certain that parent was no longer there.
I looked back behind me.
Anias Seth Drake
A young noble girl.
Weak.
6 cycles old.
"I ask you, child, what is the meaning of life?" A simple question, one that most have an answer to, but not a child.
She seemed slightly shocked, while she seemed to be thinking, I was connecting the dots from her unnatural hair and eye color 'The blessing of blood', or, in this era 'The acursed physique of ichor'. Though it may be extremely dangerous for others if I mess with her ideology, maybe even cause the creation of a crazed battle manic. But... The question was; Do I care?
But since she should have at least some talent, be less of a total asshole and show even the slightest kindness.
"To be a good person?" She said.
To her, I scoffed "No, that is not 'The meaning of life' as I mean it. That is the goal of some, the meaning of life is the goal of all living beings, not just a person's."
"Then what is the meaning of life?"
I chuckled slightly "You see, there's a good chance, there is none," I paused for a moment "There's a chance that humans came about by mere chance, and that our existence is meaningless. You want to know why you live? Well, there is no reason.
There would be no fundemental difference even if you were not born. Humans search for meaning, while there is none."
"What about Gaia's will? Is there not purpose within that." She said after a long thought, most humans, even children, do not like to no there is no reason to live.
"That is not a fundemental purpose, that is not the purpose of life, for she did not create us with her own hands, was it not within verse 'Man 6;53' that it said 'For man came to being, if not for Gaia's will, then due to nature's whim'. Nature created us, not Gaia, and that means her will is not the purpose of our life."
She couldn't argue with that, she probably only just started being properly taught all the specifics of the church, if she had studied it properly she would see the line 'For nature made man with a purpose, to change the landscape, to change the ordinary, to be intelligent, to rule the lands.' That is an obscure verse hidden in the original testament.
How did I get the original testament, which had been lost to time? It was just laying there in the library, and I saw the use in keeping the church happy and also beating it in the head with it's own bible(?), I'll just call it a bible.
"There is no higher purpose, we search for it, but there is none. This is the contridiction of human existence.
There are a few ways to deal with this, one is nihilism, the other existentialism, the last; Absurdism. Those are ones that accept it, instead of running away from reality."
The child with an x and a second x chromosome, was confused, but was actually listening.
"Nihilism is the philosophy that rejects all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.
Existentialism is the philosphy that believes that there is no higher meaning, and believes that meaning is made by the individual for themselves.
And Absurdism... That's the philosophy that believes that the universe is meaningless and chaotic, and says to that 'Who cares'?"
"But enough about that existential crisis," I said, as if the reflective words had not been spoken "We're still children, so we should do children things!"
The red haired girl nodded while confused and thinking about my words, she was not yet old enough to just dismiss my words due to the fact I was young.
"Let's see..." I thought about what fun things I could do with her, something I would find entertaining "You suddenly appear in a prairie, the grass a lusterous green, and a forest in the distance, you can't make much out in the distance outside of that forest. What do you do?"