“That it sounds awfully like you're trying to pull my leg boy.”

“Listen you wanted the full story and I got you the full story, it’s not my fault if you don’t believe it,” Liam said.

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m saying it sounds so absurd that I almost wish you would be pulling my leg. Are you sure you haven’t misheard the name?”

“I had a whole little conversation with that guy, so yes, I’m pretty sure I haven’t misheard the name.” Liam frowned. “Why?”

Mr Montgomery looked perplexed, but he evidently didn’t want to comment on the part where Liam said he had a whole conversation with a guy. “I mean do you even know what you’re saying boy? Not just that you have been chosen by a god, a thing that happens to commoners maybe once every generation in this shithole, no you also have been chosen by an unorthodox, long believed dead god?” Mr Montgomery took another drag of his pipe. “If there’s one person with a talent for trouble like that it’s you.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” Liam snorted.

“You shouldn’t.” Mr Montgomery chuckled. “Show it to me.”

“Show you?”

“The ability that you talked about. Show it to me.”

"Uhh, sure."

Liam went over to the desk. There was no shortage of papers around the scribe's desk, but Liam settled on something slightly more challenging. With barely more than a thought, he made an intricate writing pen rise.

It slowly drifted towards the ceiling, as if pulled by an invisible string and stayed glued to it. Afterwards Liam let it back down to the desk again in a controlled descent. Something that had actually taken him quite some time of practice.

“Fuck me,” Mr Montgomery said, surprisingly calm and without any kind of facial expressin.

“So what do you think?”

“I’m thinking that this little trick would solve a lot of ladder climbing for me.”

“But then you would start to rust completely old man.” Liam deadpanned. “I mean do you believe me now?”

“It’s pretty hard to ignore the fact that you have just used a divine power. So I guess there is something to your story.”

“Sometimes I wish there wasn’t,” Liam said. “So what does all of this mean?”

“You tell me,” Mr Montgomery said. “What do you want it to mean?”

“I want to be stronger.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, good. That is a fucking rare gift you got there Liam, I was afraid you would be wasting it away by trying to hide from it or something. Nothing against you, but this isn’t something you can run from like you usually do.”

Liam chose to ignore the little sting to his pride, mostly because it was true. “I don’t want to run from this. I want to use it.”

“Well, it sounds like you have already started using it. You know when I heard there was a noble death somewhere in the old town, I would’ve never thought it was you…” his voice trailed off and a dry chuckle escaped from his lips. “Liam I should never have doubted your capability for drawing in trouble,” he bellowed.

Liam smirked. “To my defense, he didn’t give me much of a choice.”

“A dead nobleman, do you know how long it has been since a thing like this happened?”

“Can’t remember a single instant.”

“Exactly. Not in a single one of my seventy years I spent in this city.”

“Well, it sounds like it was overdue.”

“It was in a way. But it’s scaring the nobles. That's why they do the executions. They’re afraid of you.”

“How could they be? The only reason I’ve been able to kill the noble was because Gravitas gave me some sort of temporary power boost.”

“They don’t know that, and they believe themselves to be above all else, but what if suddenly someone comes along that is stronger? They rule by might, that’s a fragile leg to stand on.”

“Well lucky for them there is no way I can stand up to them. I don’t know what kind of abilities they have, but I don’t have them. There’s barely any trick I can do.”

“That’s normal,” Mr Montgomery waved him off. “You’ve been at it for how long? A week?"

“Half,” Liam said.

“See? Even the washed up halfblood nobles that reside here had almost their whole life to train their abilities. And the inheritance of their ancestors to rely on. They have advantages you will never have, but they don’t know that..”

“So is there no way I can catch up to them?”

“I didn’t say that… but it will be hard. What do you know about cultivation?”

“Well it is increasing the levels and other things to grow stronger.”

Mr Montgomery cocked his head. “Well that’s a somewhat narrow way of looking at it.”

What followed was a brief, but condense, basic introduction to what being a cultivator encapsulated. In the process Liam learned that this inner energy he felt was called mana, and apparently was the building block of divine energies on earth.

Then Mr Montgomery asked him a few pointed questions. Questions about how using his skill felt, and how the energy flowed inside of him. Liam tried to answer all of them as best as he could, until they reached a certain question.

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“What grade is your skill?”

“What do you mean what grade is my skill?”

“Well it should say so in your status screen.”

“My what?”

Mr Montgomery sighed. “Did you not get any sort of information from your god about that?”

“I thought you had realized that already when you asked me about mana. That dick really cut our conversation short.”

“Try to focus inwards on your skill. Try to feel for it. Some cultivators describe it as a piece that is lodged in their soul.”

Liam concentrated and a menu popped up.

“Liam:

Skill List:

“Gravity Control Level 5: E”

“Gravity Jump Level 4: U”

“Well one of them says U-”

“One of them?” Mr Montgomery interrupted.

“Yeah, I have two. [Gravity Control] and [Gravity Jump].”

“Already two?” Mr Montgomery raised an eyebrow. “Well what grade is the other one?”

“E.”

Mr Montgomery dropped his pipe and stared at Liam.

“What?” Liam asked.

“Did you just say E?”

“Yeah, is that not good?”

Mr Montgomery got up from his chair and started pacing the room. One hand clasped on his forehead and murmuring to himself. “Can’t believe that boy…. cursed luck…”

“Old man.” Liam waved at him. “What is it?”

Mr Montgomery turned towards him. “Do you even know what an Epic Skill is?”

“Well it’s better than a non Epic Skill?”

“It*s the achievement of a lifetime is what it is. There are probably not even five people among the nobility in this city with an Epic Skill. Maybe.”

“So it is a good thing?”

“It is,” Mr Montgomery sighed. “It’s a terribly good thing. Do you know anything about the Skill grading system?”

“Nothing, no. Again, the guy didn’t tell me too much.”

Mr Montgomery shook his head. “Well there are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary Skills. Most people really only have common or uncommon skills, hence the name. In most of Chairville’s minor noble houses you are automatically in line to become the house's heir if you’re blessed with only a rare skill. And Epic is a full grade above that, that’s how strong it is.”

“So I’m not just blessed, but blessed with super powers?” Liam grinned. “So I have at least one thing over those nobles.”

That felt Liam with more satisfaction than it should have.

“Well in a way. But there’s more to a skill's strength than just rarity. There's also the level of the skill and the strength of the user to consider.” The man paused. “Still I don’t think that you can measure yourself against the nobles just because of your skill’s grade. Remember that they had literally decades of practice. There is only one way for you to catch up to them.”

“What is it?”

“There is one key to seeking strength that most nobles have forgotten these days, or at least pretend to have forgotten. It’s risking your life. Again and again it’s throwing your life over the clip and hoping when you land that you're stronger. That’s when you will be most attuned with the mana, not just to mention that finding treasures and following your path is something that carries innate risks by itself.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“Much?” The old man said bitterly. “I know more than most maybe, but that can’t be considered much. The few things that I’ve picked up over the years have cost me decades of research. Cultivation simply isn’t something that extends beyond the noble houses currently. Not that anybody could even do anything with that kind of knowledge without being chosen by a god first.”

“Well it could extend to the western part of the empire,” Liam said. “I mean the commoners there would probably like that kind of knowledge.”

Mr Montgomery shrugged. “Sure, maybe. I have no idea what the people there know, or even how advanced they are. If there is one place where information on cultivation is readily accessible, it’s there. From what I heard our nobles are mere children to them, but information travel is scarce as you know. ”

A fact that was heavily undermined by the monster activity that proceeded in the middle of the continent. The huge wilderness was too dangerous for most people to traverse. Even the couriers of the empire only came a handful of times a year to collect their taxes, protected by blessed envoys, and from what Liam heard, even they suffered losses.

The wilderness around Charville, and the whole Eastern plateau really, was milder. There were monsters alright, but they were manageable enough to traverse for at least the opportunity seeking caravans to do their rounds.

Liam digested the information he just heard, while Mr Montgomery blew his pipe like his life depended on it. There was a frown of worry on his face, but also a gleam of excitement in his eyes that Liam had never seen before. All of this was amazing to him.

After a while, Liam spoke up. “So I need to go there, don’t I?”

“Yes,” the man nodded. “I think you do. Maybe not to the capital, not all the way, but if you want to hone those abilities you need to find a place to do that. I know that is no easy -”

“I have a way.”

The man glanced at him. “You do?”

“There is a way for me to leave the city that I know.”

“They’ve put up restrictions boy, and they will be searching the towns next over as well. It’s not enough to run to some hamlet around the city's border.”

“That’s not what I have in mind,” Liam smiled.

Mr Montgomery waited, but after Liam didn’t continue, he let the matter rest. Although Liam could see the interest in his eyes.

“Oh there’s one more thing,” Liam said, remembering the thing that had sat on the back of his mind the whole conversation. “Have you heard of a thing called the Orb of Kaldazia.”

Mr Montgomery gave him a puzzled stare. “I’m sorry, but that name isn’t familiar. it.”

Liam sighed. “Well, it was worth a try.”

“Why? What is it?” The old man asked.

“It’s part of my quest.”

Mr Montgomery stroked his beard. “Well sounds like one more reason to go. I’m not sure what this Orb is supposed to be, but you should have the most chances finding it somewhere in the southern parts.”

“You mean around Eldemar?”

“Around there, yes.” The old man put down his pipe. “That’s where the Barbadians used to have their center of power before we took over. If that quest is somehow related to Gravitas, then I think you should try your luck there.

"Alright. Thank you old man.” Liam nodded. “Thank you for everything you have done over the years really.”

“Oh shush, it was nothing.”

“No. No it was not nothing. I know I should’ve come back every once in a while at least, but I couldn’t after… after you know.”

Mr Montgomery’s face turned soft. There was nothing but sympathy in his eyes.”Oh Liam. I could’ve never blamed you for it.”

“Thanks for helping me with all of this,” Liam gestured around himself.

“It is a gift Liam. You yourself know how many people have dreamed about it, I would advise you to chase it, use it to get out of here and never look back.”

“Oh I will look back,” Liam said quietly. “I will make the nobles here pay for everything that they have ever done.”

Mr Montgomery didn’t answer. There was nothing to be said, all things considered. He could understand Liam better than the young man would’ve imagined.

“Don’t let rage consume you Liam. It is a road that won’t lead to happiness.”

Liam cocked his head. “You have given me the same speech once before you know.”

Mr Montgomery raised his eyebrows. “I did?”

“Yes, after the thing with Grace.” Liam looked down. “I have taken it to heart already back then. It was hard but I’ve tried to leave the path. This is different though. I don’t want to avenge her, or me, or any of the other people they have wronged. I want to find justice.”

“Justice is even harder to find. It is a road that can quickly blind you.” The old man spoke very softly now. “I don’t need to tell you that the world out there is dangerous, but just tread carefully okay? I can see it in your eyes that you need to follow this path. But Liam? If it leads you back here sooner than expected… Well I wouldn’t mind.”