“At the end of the day, it’s important to know what really matters most in life . . . your sanity, your health, your family, and the ability to start anew.”

Les Brown

At the end of the day I had started anew, afresh in a new world, but it looked like mother was not quite yet ready to let this one go. I had my sanity and my family, we were just working on fixing my health. I was willing to wait although hopefully not too long. To be fair I had not currently worked out an option other than waiting. Which included waiting for this latest revelation to blow over.

“You’re allowing yourself to be distracted from the matter at hand, his magic stat. We are focusing on uncovering the extent of his imbalance.” Grandfather was not going to give up on getting to the bottom of my stats. I wondered if we could call it a day or end at least at the noble nine. No one had ever mentioned luck. Besides, that did not seem like it was related to either brawn or brain anyway.

“Distracted!” Mother shouted, “It is at level 13!” she snapped before she seemed to realise I had not been her only child he had been training.

“Aleera, do you have Pain tolerance?” she quietly asked.

“Yes.” She equally quietly replied. I was unsure whether she was hoping to avoid getting herself in trouble or avoid getting her grandfather in trouble.

“What level is it at?” mother hissed still angry

“Level 21” Wow, we sat there in stunned silence. I guess you don’t know the half of the abuse. But is it abuse if it serves a purpose? Where is the line between cruel and kind if you are being cruel to be kind? At what point does tough training become too much and simply harmful? In a world that rewards, deadly achievements or extreme actions as long as it is done to help do the ends always justify the training?

“Please don’t make any sudden moves, now Aliyah.” Grandfather stood.

I realised that Mother had stood too and was facing off against him having handed me off to my father. It made me wonder what she believed she would be able to achieve against him.

“For twenty years you trained me against an illusionary threat that never came. The house fell, you left, we weren’t followed and aren’t about to be discovered. All that I am left with is a legacy of strength. Strength, that is so far beyond what is required here that I was lucky to be able to find a man to marry me. Something that made the fact that our children survived their births a miracle. When are you going to stop pushing?” she advanced on him but never came to blows. She was smaller in stature than grandfather but as she stood there radiating her anger against him he clearly took her anger and possibly her magical skills seriously.

“When you are strong enough to stand against me.” He faced her down before adding, “Besides he already had the skill judging by his reactions when he joined me on this island and that’s on you, not me, just a part of his life.” His second sentence diffused her anger and she seemed to deflate back to the table. The guilt of being too strong for her children to survive and her own actions eating away at her moral authority. It was I felt a low blow. “He only survived through strength when he was born. The world can be painful whether we want it to be or not and skills to survive the pain are important. People only survive through strength past, present or in the future, whether or not they want to bury their heads in the sand is up to them.”

If I could have I would have quietly exited at this point. But held as I was in my father’s arms I was not going anywhere. There seemed to be five different sides to this family. Grandfather pushed us all, Mother defended us, Father stood to the side, while Aleera was in the middle. Technically I suppose I was in the middle too but although I was very much dependent on them for everything at the same time I felt able to look at it from an outsider’s point of view. My problem was it was all so subjective, bound by the rules of this world that I still didn’t understand so I couldn’t weigh in on either side of the argument.

What I could do was distract them from it.

“My . . . Magic . . . 121.” I wrote on the table.

Surprised by the stat or grateful for the change of topic they focused on the words written in wool.

“Wow . . . 121,” Father said helping me to change the dynamics of the conversation. Leading it in a different direction.

“Another trait?” Aleera asked. Helping to lighten the tension and darker thoughts and emotions still circulating the atmosphere.

“Source . . . of . . . mana.” I replied giving up the last of my hidden traits. I doubted I would have the time or the ability to get any more before I turned 1. And although a dexterity trait would hopefully balance out my latest imbalance it would be just my luck for it to imbalance me in another way. The 2 points in luck clearly were not pulling their weight which reminded me I needed to do some statistical research to work out whether they actually made me any luckier or not.

Grandfather rested his face in hands giving up on predicting my nature as well as the bowing before the inevitable problems it would cause. “Of course,” he muttered. “I know this goes without saying really, but I will say it anyway, we never talk of this again. And that included you Aleera and Kai.” As he said this he put words to action burning the paper that he had been writing notes on.

“Not that I was going to, but why not? What’s so wrong with Source of Mana?” Aleera asked the innocence of youth gradually getting shredded by our family question.

“Because it isn’t a human trait, that’s why not.” He answered the naïve child and me the ignorant reborn listened on in concern.

“Neither were the others though, you said they were elvish, beastkin, and gnomish.” She argued back not quite getting at what he was hinting at.

“Yes, but at least they were humanoid. Source of Mana isn’t a humanoid trait at all. It’s a familiar’s trait. Something they share with their partner for protection.” He explained in more detail.

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“A familiar? What like a beast, spirit or demon?” she asked frowning before looking back at me, smirking then walking off to her room.

“That or a dragonling.” He added muttering to her retreating back.

Where was . . .Wait there are dragons? No one ever mentioned dragons! Although dragonling sounds like a lesser version of what I am imagining. HOW COME NO ONE HAS EVER MENTIONED DRAGONS. That seemed to me to be the 101 of introductions to the Compass Kingdoms. Welcome to our world, we have eight kingdoms named after the winds that move the world, and flying those winds are DRAGONS!

“Dragons?”

“Dragonlings, Kai.” He corrected me. “And familiars have the trait source of mana or something similar. It is what they will offer their partners in exchange for allowing them to become part of society rather than be hunted down. Mages, Wizards, and most nobles will always develop their mana greater than any other stat working as close to imbalance as they can but they can always do with having more mana to power their spells, and familiars with the source of mana trait can provide it.”

“So, Kai can be my familiar then.” Aleera smiled as she returned to the room placing something on my head. Looking closer I realised that it was a pair of animal ears. I couldn’t tell the colour through mana sense or echolocation but it was not appreciated! In fact, that was one of the benefits of living in a preindustrial society was the fact that I had not been subjected to being dressed in a variety of outrageous animal, cute, or kawaii outfits. Where she had gotten them from anyway? I had no idea. It had to have been something that she had made personally.

“Take . . . them . . . off.” I hoped I was making myself clear and leaving no room for misunderstanding.

“Don’t tease your little brother,” Father said although I could see him and mother both smiling at my sister's antics.

The ears stayed a little longer Aleera making her point and proving that I wouldn’t be able to remove them myself at the moment. Before she finally removed them. Leaving me sulking a little inside although it didn’t show on my face. In fact, my mood was soon cheered up as I remember the most recent reveal. Dragonlings!

“Dragonling . . .

Can . . .

I . .

Have . .

One.”

It was well worth the time writing that one out. I don’t think I had ever asked for anything before. I had gone along with everything that everyone had asked of me but if there were dragons one could get as a familiar how could I fail to ask for one. I wondered how big they got.

“No Kai, Familiars are rare and reserved for the rich or the nobility.

I’m . . .

A . . .

noble.” I wrote.

“You are a dead noble!” Grandfather tried to close down the argument but I argued back,

And . . .

I’m . . .

Going . . .

To . . .

Be . . .

Rich.”

The seeding of pearls seemed to be going well. I had discovered prior to my fateful last jump and my current physical disability that if you provided mana to the growing pearls you could increase the speed at which the oyster produced the pearl making them larger and leaving them holding more mana. Yes, pearls were organic gemstones capable of holding mana. We obviously hand’ managed to sell any yet. But now I knew what I wanted to get with my money when we did. Buying the rest of the islands could wait if I had the opportunity to get a mythical beast of magic and might. I wanted a dragon. But then who in their right mind wouldn’t want one.

Exasperated Grandfather would not be denied though. “We will talk about that later at the moment though you are pretending to be dead so you are going to have to wait until you are alive again before trying to get hold of one.

“Skills!” He demanded reminding me of my predicament that I seemed to forget so used to seeing the world through my mana sense and echolocation.

Tier 1:

Meditation (39)

Tier 2:

Sense Mana (LV 38)

Tier 3:

Expel Mana (Lv 37)

Absorb Mana (Lv 31)

Mana Manipulation (Lv 29)

Ignite (Lv 15)

Freeze (Lv 10)

Boil (Lv 11)

Gale (Lv 17)

Melt (Lv 10)

Tier 4:

Material Manipulation (Lv 15)

Mana Drain (Lv 20)

That was weird, Meditation was clearly supporting a lot of higher tier skills. But where were my Tier 1 and Tier 2 mage skills? Aleera had clearly noticed the same thing.

“How come his skills are Tier 3 instead of Tier 1 or 2.” Aleera asked once more annoyed. How quickly she forgot her joy at putting animal ears on me. I was guessing that maybe she had more Tier 1 and 2 skills rather than Tier 3 so I was curious too about the possible answer.

“Would you like to take this one or shall I?” Mother asked offering and olive branch to Grandfather.

“By all means.” He offered the floor to her returning the favour. Their argument was not forgotten or even forgiven but they focused on the problem at hand, me.

“Well, Aleera, Ignite, Freeze, Boil, Gale and Melt all seem to be stronger versions of Tier 1 or Tier 2 skills that he would have had but seeing as he has Source of Mana and applies a lot more mana than most to the skills he has managed to gain the Tier 3 versions without collecting the Tier 1 or 2.”

Hmm, that was interesting. If that was the case could I gain the lesser versions of them simply by supplying less mana? That would be an easy way to pick up some more skill points. Or would trying simply lead to finer control of the Tier 3 skills. Another experiment for another time.

“Okay last stat, then I think it is time for bed. We can sleep on it and come up with some options tomorrow. What is your Charisma Stat sitting at? I am assuming that you have managed to unlock it.”

“Yes, 22,” I answered.

“Finally, a sane number. Who am I kidding none of these numbers are sane. Still I guess you truly have the stats to support being a noble. Your other Grandpa was not completely wrong to contemplate it. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone starting their life as strongly as you appear to have managed to do. Still, you are now unbalanced so there is that.”

Although he had burned his earlier piece of paper he wrote out the numbers he had clearly memorised.

“Brawn 90 Brain 342. In theory, this is just under a 1 to 4 ratio so is no worse than most mages, clerics, or mind-based builds. I think it is the traits acting as multipliers that have unbalanced you beyond what your body can handle seeing as you have the traits for the mind, senses, and clarity stats yet have no traits for strength, endurance, or dexterity stats. You will need to get their quirks by the time you are ten if you plan to don’t plan to spend all your points in them for the rest of your life in order to keep yourself balanced, or spend all your time training physically.”

“He can sail with me study knots, set sails, tacking, balancing the boat and trimming the sails should be great for dexterity and strength. Plus if he can keep it up then we will build up his endurance as well with rowing." Father was keen in his own way to help but again focused on the boat. Not that I minded sailing I really quite enjoyed it. Just felt that he might be forgetting that I was a little stuck right now. We needed a solution to even get me mobile let alone onto a boat.

"Yes, he can focus on that and a few other exercises but only after we get him back on his feet." Grandfather calmed down the enthusiasm.

"We all have a lot to think about." Mother agreed. "So let's sleep on it and we can discuss options in the morning."

"Remember Kai, no midnight practice from now on. We don't want you to unbalance yourself any further." Grandfather pointed out.

"I

. . .

Know."

Or at least I knew now.

Aleera quietly snickered as she took me out of my father's arms and carried me off to bed. "Did I ever tell you the story of the tortoise and the hare?"

Internally, I groaned bereft of my writing implements, I was forced to listen as my sister told the story. Hopefully, the magical hare would eat the magical tortoise. But somehow I thought it would probably be a pointed and now completely redundant story about my current situation.

Bah humbug!