Ahhhh. Nice and warm.

Blankets are the best. outside the blankets is cold. Inside blankets is warm. Inside blankets is best.

“Come on Glim, get up. Breakfast is almost ready.”

Mmmm. Breakfast. That is outside blankets though.

After a moment I decided that even though outside blankets is colder than inside, food made it good enough.

As I took the blankets off the chill got me.

Breakfast is nice and warm though. Not the same as blankets, but still warm.

“I have to go check on Charle. With his foot the way it is he can’t come to me. I want you to stay inside while I’m gone, okay?”

“Okay.”

Outside there is even more cold. Inside is warm. Inside is better.

“Good. I shouldn’t be gone too long. While I’m gone, I want you to practice your math skills.”

Dad stopped to stare at me. He knows I don’t like doing that.

“.... fine. I’ll do some math.”

After a few seconds Roth won the starting contest. It’s not fair, I never win.

“I know you don’t like it, but if you level up your math skill to level 10 it should be enough to get you to level five. The village head told me that the focus should be arriving sometime in the next week or so.”

All this skills and level business is always so confusing. Last year they made me use that focus. I didn’t like it. It made me feel weird.

“Glim. You’re fifteen now. That means you will be able to distribute your stat points when the focus gets here. If you level up you will have more stats to use. They could be enough... to heal you.”

Dad looked at the ground now with a frown.

Oh no. I made dad sad again.

“I promise to practice and level up. I’ll do it the whole time you’re gone.”

Yes! Dad smiled again!

“I’ll be back soon. We can go over what you practiced when I get back.”

I can deal with math as long as it got dad to smile. It isn’t useful for anything else but headaches.

Once dad left I pulled out the evil math tables. Somehow, I got headaches just from looking at them. I think they are magic. Dad swore to me it wasn’t though.

He said he would be able to tell if his magic if it was. He is really good with magic so I’ll have to believe him.

I would much rather go with dad and watch him do magic. It is always so beautiful. All the lights and colors. No one else in the whole village can use magic. That makes dad really amazing!

I never understood how he did it every time I watched. After just a few moments and some lights, cuts were gone. Guess that’s why its magic. Very magical.

Focus! I must solve these math problems. No mater how much they make my head hurt. If I get them done before dad gets back it will make him smile again!

Alright. First problem. Hmmmm. Problems with more than two numbers are hard. Those with less numbers are better.

Once I get the answer I take a break before I move onto the next problem. Dad can do math so much faster than I can. He can also do problems with lots of numbers. Some of the problems even have letters in them! How can you do math with letters!? That might just be magic as well. Dad really knows a lot of magic.

After solving five problems my head is already starting to hurt. I remember one day when I went with dad out in the village. He was busy inside talking to the other adults. I stayed outside with Fan. He was bragging about how fast he could do math. He said he can solve twenty problems in ten minutes!

Fan is six years younger than me! It’s just so hard to think about stuff. How does everybody else do it all the time?

Roth told me it will just take more practice before I’m that good as well. I know Fan doesn’t practice that much though. Maybe once I use that focus I will be able to do math like dad!

If I can do math like dad he would smile for days! Dad said I needed to level up my skill first though. Even if they did level up I wouldn’t know. The window has never come back since last time I used the focus.

I think it is just shy. Like the squirrels!

Oh no! I need to do more math! I got distracted.

The next problems even had those parentasis.

No. That was the wrong word. I need to sound it out like dad taught me.

“Pa-rent-the-sis. Parentheses!”

Long words are hard some times. I can sound them out most of the time. Words are much better than math though. I wish I had a word skill. Why did I have to get a math skill?

Dad told me that people can get skills for anything. They just have to do it a bunch to get the skill. Even with all my spelling practice I didn’t get the word skill.

I might have the skill. I could find out if the window wasn’t shy. I had tried to convince the window to come out with my favorite snacks, but it never showed. I even got the squirrels to come out after enough time with my snacks.

I know I have the math skill. That means I have to use it more to make it better. That means I have to do more math.

After a while I have the whole sheet of math problems done! This is sure to make dad happy!

Now that the evil math problems are defeated I can read. Dad has lots of books. He said that he needed lots of books so he can find answers when he has questions. Lots of his books are on plants. Those books aren’t too bad. The words are long and hard to pronounce, but it has several pictures.

I don’t like the history books at all though. I fall asleep every time I have to read them. They are just so boring. They talk about people I never heard of.

Dad said that the people in the book are all really important people. They can’t be that important if I haven’t met them before. Dad said he’s one of the most important people in the village. That means they would see dad if they were actually important.

The books I really like are the story books. My favorite is he book about the hero Jorn! He is a noble adventurer who has traveled all over the land saving people and fighting evil. He is a really strong swordsman who travels with his mage friend. They even saved a princess once!

Dad explained that a princess is much more important than him. That means she must be really great! If the hero had to help someone like that, then he has to be really really amazing.

“Once upon a time. There was a man named Jorn. He lived in a small town called Terth. He.....”

I can’t read very fast, but dad always said I can get faster with practice. Reading out loud helps me keep track of the words as well. Just as I was getting to the part where Jorn meets his mage friend I hear the door open.

Dad is back. Once he takes his shoes off at the door he comes to the living room.

“I see you are reading about the adventures of Jorn again. Did you do your math like I told you too?”

“Yes! I Finished all the problems!”

“That great.”

Dad had a smile when I said that. It was worth it to do the math problems.

“Lets go over your answers. After that I have some news.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I marked the page in the book. I was just getting to the good parts and I don’t want to get lost later.

Once I put the book away dad sat with me at the table and we went over my answers. I only got a single problem wrong! I usually get two or three wrong. This means I’m getting better at math!

“Good job Glim. You did amazing.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Next time I will get all the math right!

“Now I have some news for you.”

Dad started to look a little nervous. That means the news isn’t good.

“The focus arrived today. The village head said that we will all be able to use it tomorrow.”

That means the window won’t be able to hide from me anymore!

“That means I will be able to see the window and use my stats tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. I... just want to make sure you remember what you need to do.”

Dad had talked with me about this several times. I know I’m not the same as everybody else. He said that assigning my stat points might be able to help.

“I just need to use my points evenly, right?”

“Yes. last year you were level four. Hopefully you made it to level five. If you did that means you will have 32 stat points to use. That is four for each stat.”

“What if I’m still level four then?”

“Then you will have 26 points to use. That means three for each stat and four points to put in your two highest stats.”

A long time ago when I realized that everyone in the village smarter than me I asked dad what is wrong with me. He told me he didn’t know. He tried to give me a lot of different medicines he bought from the merchant over the years. None of those bitter things changed anything.

He told me had read in one of his books about someone who was like me but healed themselves. He said that their body didn’t talk to their mind. The thing that cured them was spending points to all their stats at once. Dad said it would heal and grow the body and mind at the same time. That way they would get along better.

I asked to do it last year, but dad said that I wasn’t able to. People can’t use their points until they turn fifteen. I asked him if I could do it early, but he said it wasn’t his rule. He said it was a rule of the world itself. Even if I tried nothing would happen.

“Glim. If this doesn’t work, I want you to know that it won’t change anything. I’ll read some more books and find something that can help.”

Dad held my hand as he spoke. I don’t understand what he is worried about. If I use my points and they help me then that awesome. If I use them and nothing changes then that’s alright too. I still have dad. I still have my bed and warm blankets.

“It’ll be fine dad. If it doesn’t work I can just do more math problems. Then one day I’ll be able to do them like you.”

That made dad smile. Good. I don’t like it when he’s sad.

For the rest of the day me and dad read the adventures of Jorn. Today is a great day. Dad even brought me a treat from Charle.

After a few hours dad made dinner for us. It was a nice and warm stew. Dad can make a great stew. He added a lot of spices. He keeps some of his spices with his medicine. Dad says that some of the best spices are medicines, that’s why we like them so much.

After dinner I helped dad clean the dishes. After that I got to go to my bed and blankets. Once I was moving this morning the chill went away, but it’s still amazing to bundle up in warm blankets before the night gets to cool.

Lots of warm food and warm blankets made it so easy to fall asleep. I woke up to dad gently nudging me.

“Glim. Glim. Wake up. Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”

“Alright.”

As much as I wanted to stay wrapped up in my blankets there was warm food waiting for me. And today there was even the focus thing I need to go to.

After leaving my covers the cold got me, but the warm breakfast helped to fight it off. Once breakfast was over I put my boots on with dad to head out.

I loved walking around outside. The loud birds. the shy squirrels. I even saw a few rabbits now and then. The rabbits always run when they see me. I can’t run very far, but once I use my stat points dad said I’ll get more stamina. If I get stronger then I can go outside more often without dad worrying about me.

Our house is a little bit away from the rest of the village. When I asked dad why, he told me because he liked his privacy.

Soon the rest of the village was visible through the trees. There was a huge crowd gathered by the village head’s house. It must be because the focus is here. Every time it shows up there is a big commotion in the village. It makes everyone smile. That means the focus must be a good thing, even if it makes me feel weird.

The crowd was split into two groups. One was waiting in line to use the focus. The other group were talking about the progress they made from last year. There was a lot of smiles.

Me and dad joined the back of the line. There were only a handful of people in front of us. Way better than last time where we came at the wrong time and waited behind half the village.

The line led to a small tent set up next to the village head’s house. There was a soldier on either side of the tent flap. Both of them looked really bored. Last year dad had explained to me that the focus was sent with a mage and a group of soldiers. The mage was there to monitor and help power the focus. The soldiers were needed to protect the focus. Dad said that even thought this was the lowest grade focus it was still worth a lot of money. That meant someone mean might try and take it for themselves.

Each person would go into the tent when their turn was called. then after a few minutes they would come out and the next person was called in. It wasn’t long before me and dad were next in line. The closer I got to the tent the more nervous I got. I know that nothing would change if this didn’t work, but that didn’t help me any.

“Next!”

My heart was beating faster as I entered the tent. Once inside I saw a similar scene to last year. There was a small table in the center of the tent with a mage behind it in a chair and a stool in front of it. On the table was what looked to be a large clear glass ball with a bunch of black lines running through it.

The mage was dressed in red clothes and looked as bored as the soldiers. When dad came in behind me he raised an eyebrow and spoke.

“Only one at a time.”

“My apologies. My son just turned fifteen last year. I’m here to help him with his first time spending his stats.”

The mage gave it a second, then just shrugged. “Shure, whatever. Not like it really maters out here.”

As I sat down, I had to keep wiping my hands on my pants. My palms just kept getting sweaty. The mage could tell I was nervous.

“Just put your hand on the focus and say the word Status. You will see a window with your stats and free stat points. From there just think about how you want to spend your points and focus on that thought.”

I wiped off my right hand one more time and placed it on the glass orb sitting on the table.

“Status.”

Right after the word was said a floating window full of information appeared.

Name: Glim

Level:5

Health:15 Mana:5 Stamina:27

Vitality:3

Endurance:2

Strength:1

Perception:1

Dexterity:1

Mind:2

Magic:1

Spirit:2

Stat points:32

Skills: Mathematics Lv 10

The shy window is back. And I made it to level 5!

“Congrats on making it to level five Glim! Now remember to use the stat points evenly. Four each.”

The mage gave a snort of contempt at hearing I made it to level five. He might not think it’s much, but it took me a lot of work! I need to ignore him for now. He said that I just need to think about my Stat points to use them.

Alright. Four points in every stat. Four points in every stat. Four points in every stat. “Four points in every stat. Four points in every stat.”

I chanted what I wanted to happen in my head a few times, then spoke it out loud. It couldn’t hurt to say it.

After a second I felt something happening. The distant tingling sensation I got from using the focus started to get stronger. After a second it was overwhelming. Like when you sit wrong for to long and your leg goes fuzzy. Except this is over my whole body. It is still getting stronger though. Soon it feels like my chest is hurting a bit. Then the pain gets stronger and my head hurts as well.

The pain keeps growing and spreading until I can’t take it anymore and fall off the stool and scream. I can hear people yelling, but I can’t tell what they say. I hear some metal clinking and more yelling. After that all I can hear is the pain. Then all at once it’s gone.

I feel no more pain. It feels amazing. After a second I realize I can’t see anything. Opening my eyes is a struggle. Once they are open a see a wooden roof in the dim light of a candle. Looking around I see I’m in a bed with Dad asleep in a chair next to me.

This isn’t my bed or my room though. My throat feels a little dry, but can still speak.

“Dad... Dad. What’s going on?”

My voice is a little weak, but it seems to be enough to wake dad up.

He looks around groggily at first. When he sees me awake and looking at him, he jumps out of his chair and over to me.

“Glim! You’re awake! How are you feeling!? Are you still in pain!? Are you hurt anywhere!?”

His yelling doesn’t help the remnants of a headache I didn’t know I had until right now, but he seems really worried. I must have really scared him when I collapsed.

“I have a slight headache and feel a little stiff, but feel alright otherwise.”

“That’s great! Do... do you feel any better? Did it work?”

It takes me a second to think about his question. Dad could never really explain what was wrong with me. If I ignored my sore body, I felt pretty great. Better than ever actually.

With a though I remembered all the math problems from yesterday and all the details of the adventures of Jorn. It felt like there was always a fog in my mind before. It made it harder and slower to think or remember anything. Now the sun was out and the fog is gone. I could see whatever I wanted.

Besides just being able to think faster and remember my body just felt.... more. Like there was always a disconnect before. Now that was gone and I felt whole. It is a wonderful feeling.

“I think so dad. I can remember all the math problems. I can solve them in my head. I can remember things with no problem. My body feels great as well. It’s hard to describe it. It feels like there used to be a heavy blanket on my mind and body. Now someone took it off and I can see and move freely.”

Dad was holding onto me the whole time I spoke. By time I finished tears had started to form and fall away from his eyes. He hugged me tight and started to speak muffled by my clothes.

“Thank the gods! My son is healed!”

A moment later a very disshelved village head entered the room. He looked very tired and worried.

“Roth, what’s going on? Is glim alright?”

“Alright? He’s healed! It worked, glim is healed!”

Dad broke from the hug to yell to the village head with tears. The village head looked shocked, but soon smiled and congratulated me.

“Well that great news. Congratulations glim. Now you have been asleep most of the day and night. I imagine you are very hungry. I’ll go get you something to eat, then you should get some more sleep.”

With that the village left out the door. Dad was still hugging me, but after a few moments he started to let go and sat back in his chair next to the bed. Sitting up fully I moved my body a bit and it felt great.

Dad was sitting next to the bed with red eyes and smiling like he just won the lottery jackpot.

Lottery? What’s tha-

The village head entered the room with food and interrupted my thoughts. He brought some dried meats, some cheese, and some water. Not four course meal. but I didn’t realize exactly how hungry I was until I saw the food.

I had to make myself slow down as I ate or I was going to choke. After a few minutes the food was gone and I had a full stomach. It tasted amazing. Once I was done, I started to get sleepy again. Even though I just woke up a few minutes ago I guess my body was still tired.

I tried to remember my thoughts from earlier. something felt off. Like I knew things, but at the same time didn’t it was right on the tip of my tongue, but this food coma wasn’t helping me to think.

Well I can figure it out tomorrow. For now I need some sleep.