With my class changed from apprentice magician to outlander, I was excited to see what new boons were available to me. Not waiting any longer, I opened my list of available boons.
Codex: Automatic Translation
During communication, draws information from other codexes to provide translations between languages. Accuracy of translations improves over time with active use.
Codex: Common Sense
Draws upon other codexes to provide ready access to information considered to be common knowledge and social expectations.
Codex: Critical System Updates
Expands system functionality to support operations considered critical by primary society.
I didn’t even look at the second and third boons offered to me before selecting the automatic translation boon. I didn’t care how useful the other boons might be when offered exactly what I had been hoping for when selecting the class.
With my new boon integrating, I took a moment to read over my future options a bit more carefully, along with the boon I had already selected.
The automatic translation sounded almost too good to be true aside from the last line in its description. I wasn’t overly worried by it though. Even if the translation wasn’t completely accurate to start with, anything was better than my current situation.
I was somewhat amused that common sense was considered a boon by the system. The effects of the boon were quite enticing. These people I had found myself traveling with had plenty of strange mannerisms and wondrous equipment. I had so many questions that hopefully the boon would help answer.
The final boon worried me a bit. Considering how many of the updates offered to me were negative, I considered the boon with trepidation. Deciding it was a problem for later, I closed my interface.
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As large slabs of grune meat roasted over the fire, I sat and practiced more magic. With the addition of the capstone boon from the novice magician class, everything was noticeably better. It wasn’t as extreme a change as when I first got either the enhanced mana manipulation of perception, but it was still a welcome edge.
As I was weaving together another invisible force spell, my purple mark caught my attention. Opening my interface, I was very surprised to see that my boon had already finished integrating.
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Name: Kyo —-----
Class:Outlander
(1/100%)
Mana Pool: 120/200
Codex: 72.38%
MR:254
TPEL:40
Boons:
System Initiate: 10
Novice Mage: 10
Outlander: 1
Emergency augmentations: 2
Environmental Conditions:
Mana level: High
System Messages:
New Boon Available
Update Available
Taking a quick look at my available boons, I found that only the other two offered before were available this time. I didn’t trust the update, so I selected the common sense boon.
Closing my interface, I focused on the conversation my companions were holding. I still couldn’t understand a word of it. Before I could grow too disappointed, I noticed a difference. Every so often, some of the words seemed to convey some meaning.
The effect was similar to how I intuitively knew how to use some parts of the system. I couldn’t follow the conversation, but I was able to slowly pick out some of the words.
After a quarter-mark, the food was finished cooking. I still didn’t quite know what people were saying, but I could pick up the general topic. The words for ‘food’, ‘not’, ‘burned’, and ‘surprise’ were frequently used as people cut out their portions.
Taking a slice of deliciously seasoned grune meat for myself, I enjoyed a few bites. The flavor was even better than the steaks that I had occasionally had when I was younger. I found the meat to be perfectly cooked and the seasoning to be impeccable.
Deciding to try out my new boon. I attempted to tell Robert what I thought of his cooking. I was able to slowly pull out a few words I needed from the codex, but I didn’t have anywhere near as many as I would have liked. “Food good. Happy.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing upon hearing my less than eloquent comment. Getting over his surprise quickly, Robert broke into a large grin and cut me a second portion from the roast. I could only make out a few words from his reply. This included “I”, “happy”, “food”, and “more”.
Like the first drops of a downpour, this remark led to everyone else trying to talk to me at once. With so much at once, I could hardly pick out more than a couple of words at a time. Trying to actually figure out what people were saying was beyond me.
After a moment, to my relief, Martin held up a hand to silence everyone. He then spoke slowly and clearly for my translation to pick out most of the words. Skipping the snippets that didn’t immediately translate, I was mostly able to piece together what he said. “You learn talk fast. That good.”
I was delighted to be able to finally speak with my companions, at least to an extent. I opened my interface to try and explain. “Talk boon.”
Frustrating though my limited vocabulary was, I could see that Martin understood. He turned to address the others. “Talk slow. Help learn talk.”
With those instructions, my champions spent the night holding half understood conversations with me.
Though I lacked a sufficient vocabulary to exchange much relevant information, I was perfectly happy to finally be able to converse with them at all.