CHAPTER 3 - OPERATION: SURVIVE THE KNIFE (LITERALLY)

‘Hey!’ I called, trying to alert the man. Not being able to move didn’t help whatsoever. Surely there was something in my new range of abilities that could help me in this situation.

Mind speech. I could talk to him? No one would want to hurt a talking potato, right?

I grunted in thought, trying to activate it, but it didn’t seem to be working. I watched in slow motion as he reached down and grabbed me, a wicked smile on his lips. Drool trickled down his beard. He held the knife in his other hand and twirled it slowly, catching the light.

He looked like a murderer. He probably would be a murderer in a few moments.

‘C’mon, please!’ I called out desperately, ‘Please! I’m just an innocent potato! Potato lives matter!’

But still, he didn’t react. He placed the edge of the knife on my skin and I could feel its coolness, its sharpness. Its deadliness. He pressed me against a chopping board and raised the knife higher, about to bring it down and split me in two with tremendous force.

‘NOO!’ I screamed with all my might, attempting to shut off my vision. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t watch myself be killed in cold blood by a man without a single ounce of mercy.

“Who said that?” He spun around, looking for the source of the voice.

‘You can hear me?’ I thought loudly, both surprised and relieved.

“Who said that? Come out now, and I won’t hurt you.” The knife had left my skin, and was now brandished in his right hand.

“Honey?” A woman’s voice came from the other side of the room, obviously concerned. “What’s going on?”

The man held a warning hand to his lips and said softly while backing out of my vision; “There’s someone here.”

I wanted to sigh in annoyance. ‘It’s me! In front of you? The potato?’ Wow, that came out strange. Never in my entire life would I have thought that I would ever be saying something like that.

The man strode forward back into my area of awareness and I watched him hold the knife out at me. His arms were tense and the look on his face was strained, like this wasn’t the first time he’d ever threatened someone with a knife before.

“You. What are you?” He asked.

‘What does it look like? I’m fucking potato, you moron.’ I said instinctively. But after a second's hesitation, I realised maybe that wasn’t the right tone to take with the person who held the weapon. ‘Now put the knife down. I’m not gonna hurt you.’

He didn’t.

I wanted to scream or shout, maybe even throw a tantrum. How was I supposed to calm him down? I wasn’t supposed to be a potato. I was the baron. He should’ve been the one to calm me down. Mentally sighing, I decided to just play the nice guy. I could bear talking to a commoner like a friend for a little while, if it depended on my survival. It wasn’t like anyone was watching, anyways.

‘Listen.’ I began. ‘I’m just as confused as you are about this. All I know is that three months ago, I was just a normal person like you were. Then suddenly, a magic stone appears and turns me into this!’

For some reason, this caused the man to dart forward and brandish his knife even closer to me. “You’re an L’Der, aren’t you? I can’t let you live. Your horde, your gang might just be outside, ready to slaughter us.’

Now I was even more confused. ‘An ‘L’Der’? What the heck is that? And also, no, I’m not an ‘L’Der’. I am Winston Sepera. You may call me June-’

The man interrupted me. ‘An L’Der, short for ‘leader’ or ‘elder’. It’s what we call people who’s wish has been granted by the magic stones. You seriously don’t know about them? Have you been living in the ground these past few months?’ He said impatiently.

I would’ve rolled my eyes if I had any. ‘Well, duh. I-’ I didn’t know what to say. So many thoughts were racing through my mind, muddling and confusing my thinking. On one hand, I was an ‘L’Der’, like the man had said. Apparently, this made me dangerous. He said I had a horde of some kind? I scoffed at the thought. Gangs were trash that my men put down daily without breaking a sweat.

On the other hand, I wondered how he’d known. There were others like me? Others who’s wish had been granted?

‘Yes, I am an L’der. I think. But as I’ve told you, I’ve been growing in the ground for the past three months. I have no knowledge of whatever went on during that time. Please, I beg for your sympathy. I am as weak as you are, trust me.’ I pleaded, desperately searching for an ounce of kindness in him.

“Who said I’m weak?” But then he seemed to pause for a moment and consider my words. “Fine. I still don’t trust you, though. How are you talking, by the way?” The knife now dangled by his side, seemingly uncaringly, but I knew it could flash upwards at any moment and slice me in two.

‘I’m… not sure. I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with a skill of some sort?’

The man, for some reason, chuckled at my question and tapped me with the blunt side of the knife. “You really don’t know anything, do you? How did you become like that? A potato, I mean.”

Before I could answer, he called over his lady. “May, come here. You’ve got to check out this little fella.”

Great. More people to laugh at my sorry state.

“Oh? Is it some kind of monster?” She asked as she came into view.

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The woman wore a pretty green dress that snaked down past her ankles. Gold thread lined it, and though it was expensive, I could clearly see the frayed edges. From this, I deduced they were probably a peasant couple who lived on the outskirts of a town.

‘I’m…’ I began proudly, then stopped. If I told them my status as an ex-baron, they could kick me out in fear. Barons were terrifying to commoners, after all. Also, technically, I was no longer a baron. So, I just opted to use my preferred name. ‘I’m June.’

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time.” The man said, then turned to his wife. “Can you hear it?”

She looked a little confused, and rested the back of her pale, slender hand against his forehead.

“Are you alright? There’s no monster here.”

“No, no, look.” He said, brushing her hand away and pointing at me. “Her name is June. The potato. She’s an L’Der. She’s been asleep for the past three months, so she doesn’t know anything. I think she was one of the early awakeners.”

I frowned. Her? She? They really thought I was a female? However, I had bigger problems to deal with at hand. ‘Excuse me, but could you tell me what happened when I was asleep? What’s an early awakener?’

The man nodded once and placed the knife back onto the kitchen counter beside me. As soon as he did, a few lines of text appeared before me.

[You have completed the quest {Operation: Survive The Knife (Literally)}.]

[Distributing quest rewards…]

A flash of white filled the room, accompanied with a strange tingly-warm sensation that surrounded my entire body. When I could see again, the words had changed.

[You have ranked up! Your title has been changed to {Not So Lil’ Spud}.]

[You have unlocked the use of Xera!]

[Xera is a magical energy that allows the Gifted to use supernatural abilities and powers.]

“Woah, you’ve already ranked up? How?”

I groaned in frustration and shouted. ‘I don’t know, ok? I don’t know what the heck happened! Can someone explain what’s going on? What is ‘Xera’? What are these floating texts?”

The man laughed and seemed to feel a little more comfortable around me after the outburst. “Calm down, little lass. I am Riyan, and this is my wife, May. You’re an L’Der, which means your wish was granted.”

‘Yes,’ I thought. ‘You’ve told me that.’

“Early awakeners are what we call the first few people to awaken. I assume you’re one of them, as you didn’t know anything about this.”

‘I... I guess I am.’ I said. I was beginning to understand this a little. ‘So you’re telling me there are more of those magic stones? They granted more wishes?’

“Huh?” Riyan seemed genuinely surprised that I didn’t know. “Yes, of course. Each one grants the finder a wish, and transforms the people around the finder into ‘Gifted’. The L’Der is then transferred to the path of whatever he wished for. The most common is ‘The Path to Riches’. Everyone who was gifted by the magic stone is then marked with a symbol somewhere on their body. We call that the Symbol of the Stone. Each symbol is unique.”

‘What happens to the Gifted?’ Part of myself was already thinking back to the day I had become a so-called ‘L’Der’. The only people around me had been my servants, and… my uncle, Salazar Sepera. Had he been gifted too?

“The Gifted get access to a system that allows them to level up alongside their L’Der. After the appearance of these stones, the kingdom was thrown into chaos. New factions rose up with the increasing numbers of L’Ders. Some helped others who weren’t Gifted. Some tried to overthrow the leaders. And some…” His voice trailed off as he glanced at May.

‘What?’ I asked, oblivious to what was happening. ‘What did they do?’

“Some went on massacres, slaughtering to ‘progress on their path’.” His facial expression turned dark. “Our daughter was one of them who were killed.”

‘Ah.’ I said flatly. What else was I supposed to say? I couldn’t console a filthy commoner. ‘So my rank up just now? What was that all about? Riyan?’

He blinked a few times and patted May on the back softly. Seriously, what was with all this touchy-la-la stuff? Couldn’t they control their feelings?

“Sorry about that. Only an L’Der can rank up, and they do so when they have progressed a certain amount on their path. Most of the time, it will unlock more skills. Oh, yeah. One more thing. L’Ders don’t have access to the levelling system like the Gifted do. They use ranks to determine their progression.”

‘I see, I see. How do you know so much about this, anyways?’

He gave a sad smile and lifted up his chequered shirt, revealing a small symbol seemingly burnt into the left side of his stomach.

¶

“Both of us are Gifted’s of Kearen, King Of The Alleyways.”

‘Kearen? Never heard of him before.’

“You wouldn’t have. He doesn’t like to create a ruckus and-”

Gurgle.

“-and it’s long past our dinnertime.” He finished, glancing at May, an embarrassed look on her face.

‘Ah yes, of course.’ I said hastily, watching him pick back up the knife. ‘Now about that, I’m sure we can talk about this.’

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. You’re quite cute, you know? You remind me of my daughter.”

‘Remind you of your daughter?'’ I thought, but not out loud. How did I remind him of his daughter? I was a baron. Not some peasant family’s daughter.

‘Hey! Strange texts!’ I called out. ‘I’m a man! What did you do to me!’

To answer my question, a single line of text appeared before me.

[Side effect of {Mind Speech}. The speaker’s voice will sound extremely squeaky due to your genderless body. Receivers may perceive this as either female or male.]

‘Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.’ I wanted to scream. Everything about this situation I was in right now was horrible. ‘Calm down, June. Calm down. At least you’re still alive, right? Also, you’ve got a bunch of cool skills to try out.’

Riyan picked me up and placed me in May’s soft, warm hands. “Why don’t you talk to her for a bit while I prepare dinner, huh?” He suggested.

I readily agreed. ‘Sounds good to me!’

I directed my thoughts to May, and started off with a simple; ‘Hi, I’m June.’

“June?” She exclaimed. “What a nice name! I’m May, and, before we have dinner, I have a question I really want to ask.”

‘Anything!’ I practically shouted back in excitement.

“It’s just… It’s just…” She began nervously.

‘Yeah? You can ask me anything,” I offered. What could I say? I was a gentleman.

“Why did you get turned into a potato?”

I lost all excitement immediately, and if I had hands, I would’ve face palmed.

‘Autocorrect,’ I answered flatly. ‘Godly autocorrect.’