“Productivity is being able to do things you were never able to do before.”
Franz Kafka
After an entertaining evening discussing magic with Varvara and her family, we returned to our guest home. I would return to work with Varvara on my runes regardless of whether I hunted or healed knowledge was my drug of choice. Regarding that, it was time to take my next steps. There was a reason I had delayed. The last time I tried to shift my core metier, it cost me more time than I expected.
“You’ll watch over me.” I checked with Namir.
“Of course.” He replied. Then I went to lie down.
I took my Mithril earring off. It was a private project of mine that held a secret. Inspired by the Bishop’s Loderstar ring, I had made my own personal link to the light out of my secret sliver of the Lodestar. A ring would have been too obvious, but an earring, well I was following in my father’s footsteps. Besides, it had the elvish enchantment for ‘notice me not’ woven through its outer surface. The Celtic knotwork was a mithril cover that twisted off to reveal the blue luminescence of the lodestar beneath it. My mana had kept it alive the mithril allowing it to pass through freely embedded in my skin it drew on my general circulation much like my physical cores pulling what they needed.
It was time to switch out the singer metier; I had outgrown it.
Welcome, Lord Name: Callen Kai Caelus Kasai Silversea!
The welcoming window opened once more and filled my vision. It was going through my status one line at a time.
Age . . . Error!
This is why I had held off messing with my metiers for so long, only briefly adding a new one with a multiple mind. Something about the newness of my multiple minds not triggering the initial error when I first attempted this. The error it had found before as it detected the difference between my physical vessel and my metaphysical soul.
Age . . . Physical 111 months child . . . Soul 787 months adult . . .
Age . . . Physical 111 months child . . . Soul 787 months . . .
Age . . . $%&^*
Compromising age calibration . . .
Harmonising variance. . .
Modulating . . .
Age: 10 years old (160 months)
Arithmos Adolescence Achieved
Free points available for distribution: 150
I’d missed my seventh birthday! I had not been expecting a party or presents, but it would have been nice to mark the turning of time. Although technically, at least according to the system, I was now 10! That was going to have an impact. I could finally assign my free stats. However, it appeared that the initialisation and system checking still needed to make a few more changes.
Giant blood detected . . .
Enlargement of vessel engaged . . .
Available resources detected Health, Stamina, Mana . . . (Experience)
Resources consumed to facilitate changes . . .
Vessel Growth enabled . . .
Vessel growing . . .
Grown . . .
. . .
Despite being as focused as I was on my internal world and the system initialisation, I still felt shooting pains up and down my body as it was pushed past and through its natural limits. The physical sensations showed my clothing to be tight and constricting now that I’d grown up! Or rather, I’d been grown! I was used to the system messing with my age, but it had never messed with my vessel before. Exactly how big was I? When did the foreign giant blood enter my system, and how? Had I turned into a giant? Who exactly was I? The system, perhaps picking up on my panicked thoughts, summarised the recent changes.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Lord Callen Kai Caelus Kasai Silversea
Age: 10 years (160 months)
Race: Arithmos (Adolescent)
Height: 5 feet 9 inches
That was going to be difficult to explain, but I heaved a sigh of relief. I was still human or as close to it as I had been. Not ridiculously tall either, but not bad, considering I was still only a 10-year-old (13 and a half in old world years). In a Thorpe of Giants, I would still look like a child, but I was catching up to Namir, and I was confident that I would stand over 6 feet tall when fully grown. I was now my big sister’s big brother in more ways than one. I would have to be careful connecting to the lodestar again lest I became her legal big brother in terms of age as well.
The system, however, still had not finished with its changes to my mortal vessel. It continued to work through the lines of information my status held.
Multiple tolerances detected . . .
Transformed into passive resistances . . .
Resistances: Cold (Lv5), Ice (Lv3), Pain (Lv39), Poison (Lv11)
So that was an option—something to train up later. The giants clearly had high tolerances of resistance to the cold, seeing how they strode around in furs that did not completely cover them. Unlike myself, who went bundled up in an inner layer of enchanted elvish robes and an outer layer of whatever I could cobble up from artic bear, wolf or hare fur.
The System finally arrived at what I had come here to do.
Please confirm your choices of metier: Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage . . .
The list of possible metiers was longer than my arm. But the four above had taken me as far as they could within the limits of exponential experience required to level them any further. It was time to trade out and trade up for some more suitable metiers for my location, journey and dreams.
What would my skills support?
What might I have to do?
Where did I need to go?
Who did I want to be?
. . .
I spent forever looking at my options and debating my choices. There were some difficult decisions to consider—a certain level of soul-searching. Eventually, I made my decision. I chose the metiers and assigned my stats.
I lay there enjoying the rush as my stats jumped ten per cent nearly across the board, the bounce in vitality relieving some of the pains of such a quick growth spurt.
Now, it was time to face the world or rather Namir.
I was sure he would have some opinions.
I opened my eyes.
“Well, you’ve gone and done it now, haven’t you.” Muttered Namir as he commented on the new me.
Status
Level: 63
Title: Lord
Name: Callen Kai Caelus Kasai Silversea
Age: 10 Years 0 months 0 days
Métier: Singer Lv 12 -> Hunter (Lv0)
Métier: Sailor Lv 13 -> Healer (Lv0)
Métier: Merchant Lv 11 -> Psion (Lv0)
Métier: Mage Lv 8 -> Lv10 -> Sage (Lv0)
General Experience: 1,246,000 /3,276,800
Health: 2000 Stamina: 2000 Mana: 2000 Psi: 2000
Trait: Long-lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength, Charming, Lucky
Vitality: 179 -> 200
Endurance: 182 -> 200
Strength: 177 -> 200
Dexterity: 181 -> 200
Senses: 180 -> 200
Mind: 180 -> 200
Clarity: 178 -> 180
Magic: 190 -> 200
Charisma: 165 -> 180
Luck: 170 -> 180
Free Points: 150 -> 2
Resistances: Cold (Lv5), Ice (Lv3), Pain (Lv39), Poison (Lv11)
Skills Tier 1:
Dance (Lv100) Sailing (Lv100) Singing (Lv84) Trading (Lv83) Meditation (Lv85) Time Sense (Lv84) Balance (Lv75) Fishing (Lv60) Sneak (Lv57) Acting (Lv56) Drumming (Lv55) Whistling (Lv50) Farming (Lv59) Knots (Lv55) Draw (Lv58) Listening (Lv50) Stitching (Lv50) Humming (Lv50) Insight (Lv50 ->51) Glide (Lv45) Poise (Lv43) Grace (Lv43) Charm (Lv42) Composure (Lv41) Ambidextrous (Lv40) Silent Step (Lv32) Inspect (LV40 ->42) Sketching (Lv35) Drafting (Lv34) Lie (Lv26) Deft touch (Lv24) Posture (Lv22)Riding (Lv20) Cook (Lv26) Etiquette (Lv20) Appeal (Lv20) Sight (Lv20) Scent (Lv20) Detect (Lv20) Taste (Lv20) Measurement (Lv28)Carpentry (Lv20) Blacksmithing (Lv11) Mining (Lv10) Teaching (Lv10) Underwater breathing (Lv6) Hunting (Lv 5 ->10) Skinning (Lv 5->7) Skiing (Lv5->7)
Tier 2:
Quick reflexes (Lv79 ->80) Sense Mana (Lv75 ->77) Spellcraft (Lv63 ->65) Spellsong (Lv63 ->65)Eavesdrop (Lv63) Order (Lv49) Linguistics (Lv40->41) Memorisation (Lv40) Recall (Lv40) Composition (Lv40) Stealth (Lv40) Mind Sense (Lv37->38) Knife Arts (Lv33) Misdirection (Lv26) Haggling (Lv25) Observe (Lv31 ->32) Martial Arts (Lv25) Transplant (LV20) Cruising (Lv49) Dart (Lv25 ->26) Heal (Lv18 ->21) Treasure Sense (Lv17) Intimidation (Lv12)
Tier 3:
Echolocation(Lv69 ->72) Expel Mana (Lv70 ->71) Mana Manipulation (Lv69 ->70) Gale (LV68 ->70) Boil (Lv53 ->59) Ignite (Lv44) Melt (Lv44) Absorb Mana (Lv42) Command (Lv40) Deception (Lv26) Bargain (Lv23)Freeze (LV20)Racing (Lv34) Analyse (Lv18 ->19) Flash Step (Lv15 ->16) Seismic Sense (Lv14 ->15)Danger Sense (Lv12 ->13) Smuggling (LV5 ->6)Telepathy (Lv7->8)
Tier 4:
Block Status (Lv100) Iron Man (Lv69 ->70) Parallel Processing (Lv50) Material Manipulation (Lv40) Stone shaping (Lv33->35) Mana Drain (Lv30) Flight (Lv20 ->22) Sonar (Lv25) Seafaring (Lv22) Air stepping (Lv7 ->8) Contract (Lv5) Magic Carving (Lv5) Rune Carving (Lv3)
Tier 5:
Mind fortress (Lv26) Omniglot (Lv25 ->26) Weapon Prodigy (Lv23) Music Prodigy (Lv31) Polymath (Lv14) Astral Projection (Lv3 ->5) Spatial Vault (Lv1 ->5) Multiple minds (Lv5) Enigma (Lv1 ->2)
Tier 6:
Sense Soul (Lv2)