“Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.”
Democritus
Namir POV
Watching over the little lord as he fiddled with his ear was momentarily confusing till he revealed the earring. Some elvish sorcery had kept it concealed or, if not hidden, unnoticed even by me. I did not know why I was surprised to see a sliver of the lodestar nestled within the hollow earing now that the enchanted elvish cover had been removed.
Some of us took decades to grow in levels to develop our metier fully. Others would flit between them, picking the easy, low-hanging fruit to grow in strength. There were benefits to both methods. It was challenging to level your skills when flitting between metiers like a butterfly.
Kai worked at a different speed, his progress starting five years ahead of schedule. His progress scaled by a factor of four with his multiple metiers. It had been perversely pleasant to assume that his absence from a Lodestar would have slowed his progress for a month or two. He had assumed it would only be a short while before he asked the Vievisier for access to the Thorpe’s Lodestar. But no, he had bought his own. Why not? Had that drawn the attacks? His mana was not supposed to be leaking any longer, but would the sliver have had a similar effect despite the elvish enchantment?
He was resigned to some form of insane new revelation. He settled in for the wait. At least you knew that more curve balls would be coming now. Listening to Arawn’s complaints about the boy made much more sense now that he got to experience them in person.
Kai lay down.
Namir could imagine the process of choosing a new metier was being offered up now. Yet that is not what he witnessed.
Suddenly, the boy’s body seized.
Rigid as a rod, it relaxed for a second before it began to . . . grow. The trousers were the first to start riding up now elongating legs. Next, the tunic started to slide up the torso. Worried, Namir undid it before it could cut into his own ribs as the boy’s chest began to swell. He placed a hand on the boy's swelling head. Watching in amazement, a young man appeared from the boy in mere moments.
That had to have put a huge strain on his body. His training skill, ‘Remaining resources’showed Kai’s health, stamina, mana and psi rapidly depleted. He rushed to dig out a health elixir. Who died on touching a Lodestar? But in the end, it wasn’t needed. Although he did note that the physical cores that represented and stored the boy . . . the young man’s metaphysical mana had shrunk in the process or perhaps stayed the same size but now looked smaller in comparison against the larger palms, wrists and arms of Lord Kai.
What had Bjorn and Varvara been feeding us?
Even still, the boy did not wake up.
So he continued to wait.
. . . and wait . . .
and wait . . .
. . .
Finally, the boy stirred.
. . .
Kai’s POV
“Well, you’ve gone and done it now, haven’t you.” Muttered Namir as he commented on the new me. “Care to explain your growth?’
I sat up, finding my new perspective a little higher than I was used to. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. They hit the floor sooner than expected. I was awkwardly disorientated in my movements. I lifted my hands to my face seeing the difference in size ignoring him for a second as I took everything in.
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Before finally answering him, “My soul and vessel are still in the process of acclimatising.” I summarised the dialogue of the system. “I think I’m a man; my soul knows that, but my body has yet to grow up that much. The system tripped over the discrepancy when I touched the Lodestar to change my main metier rather than simply adding an extra using ‘multiple minds’. Ageing me seems to be its go-to solution. Last time, it aged me to the system's starting point for most children: five years old. This time, it aged me to the unlocking age; I’m ten now.”
“Happy Birthday! But that doesn’t explain the growth.” He growled gesturing at the most obvious difference from a few moments ago.
“An added complication. There appeared to be some giant blood in my vessel when the system was assessing me. It included that fact in the assessment and aging.”
“Giant blood?” he rose an eyebrow.
“Apparently.” I shrugged. “That’s what triggered the growth that followed along with my age. I think.” I had some suspicions about where that blood might have come from, considering what we had been imbibing earlier, but I was surprised that they had failed to mention it.
“You think?” He questioned unimpressed.
“Do you know any better than me? It isn’t like the system comes with a manual or helpdesk.” I bemoaned the lack of a manual to min-max my results without a little trial and error.
“No, I guess not. But how are you going to explain this to our hosts?” He pointed out.
That was the question. I assumed that most individuals did not suddenly shoot up over nice. Hiding for a year or two was not really an option. I could sneak out of the village but that would leave me in the middle of nowhere in what had to be the most inhospitable area of the compass kingdoms I had the pleasure ever to visit. “Breaking free of a curse or debuff.” I hedged.
“That could be part of it, I suppose.” Namir sounded unsure. “Something to keep you compliant by the humans while making use of your mana and healing, maybe.” He pondered. “But even if the most unobservant host did not notice the jump in your stats, your height is impossible to hide.”
“You can tell my stats have jumped?” I asked, getting distracted from the height issue.
“If you are ten, I can’t see you waiting to play with your system. Besides, despite your hesitation over your new size, I can judge a pupil's strength and speed fairly accurately, and you are moving quicker than before. I would have to see a spar to judge your strength and stamina but . . .”
“I’ve gained a couple of years and a tenth toward most of my stats,” I explained sparsely. “What if we don’t explain it at all? As in, ‘I went to sleep and woke up taller. We think something my family did to me has finally worn off. Maybe its something I ate?’”
“Silence is sometimes the best policy.” He shrugged in return.
“I thought honesty was the best policy,” I replied.
“In your case?” both eyebrows raised at that. “Certainly should be with me, though. Did you forget something if you are being fully transparent?” He quizzed, used to the fact that I would require further prompting to reveal all. “Anything else you changed?”
“Ah, yes,” I answered, looking to the ceiling. “I’ve also moved on from my child metiers. I am no longer a singer, a sailor, a merchant or a mage.” I continued to draw it out.
“Your mother, father, sister and tutor might be slightly displeased. But they are not here, and I am not offended. What did you choose to replace them?” He drilled down.
“Based on the requests our hosts had of us. I chose Hunter as my first choice.” I started with the simplest one.
“Good, good, I can work with that.” He nodded in approval. “Patrolling with the Giants will give you many opportunities and some new skills to learn as well as level up your appropriate ones to help level the metier.”
“If that is all we are being asked to do. Then I should be able to pick up the first levels fairly quickly.” I agreed. “Maybe Ivar can lend me a bow.”
“You’ll be lucky to find one in your size, although I suppose your size is a little larger now, and with the stats behind you, it might not be an impossibility.” He mused. “Your second choice?”
“Healer.”
“Bishop Bailie will be happy to hear that his teachings are finally penetrating your skull. He is still daydreaming of you entering the church at some point. If not as a career, then at least as an acolyte on your circumnavigation.” His positivity toward my choices was refreshing. “How about your third choice?”
“Psion.”
“Psion?” He asked, sounding less confident about this choice. “I’m assuming that has to do with your mana less methods of magic.”
“Yes, these are the skills that use Psi. I haven’t pushed as hard as I could have with those skills. The permanent reminder might prod me to try a little harder.”
“Very well.” He raised his hands as if stating it was up to me, which it ultimately was. “And your fourth and final choice?”
“Sage.”
“A scholar?”
“Of sorts. I hope to be a little wiser, but it lends itself to learning and teaching. I aim to pick a fair amount of knowledge about glyphs and runes before we leave, and if the system is all-encompassing, it might just catch that the knowledge Aleera is currently stealing and handing out freely to my cousins also represents my hard work and worth some experience.” I complained, knowing that there was little I could do about it.
“All in all, a very well-rounded individual. I’m surprised you did not choose Smith for all your tinkering.”
“There are only so many hours in the day, and four directions seemed more than enough to pull me apart.” I demurred. “Maybe next time.”
“Next time.” He snorted.