"Compromising doesn’t mean that you are wrong and someone is right. It only means that you value your relationship much more than your ego.”
Anon
“Wait for me!” I sprinted for the dock. Father was just pulling out of the dock the wind catching in his shells. I continued to sprint down the dock launching myself of the end towards the end of the leaving boat.
Ding! Sprint (Lv 1)
That was a surprise, but I wasn’t going to make it. It was nigh on impossible to turn a jump into a dive mid-air and I flailed in flight. I reached for the boat only to find out unfortunately that it would be just out of reach despite the slightly longer length of my arms and legs. I plunged into the water only to be suddenly dragged along by my father’s arm as he leaned out the back of the boat to catch me and then hauled me over the side.
“Running a little late today aren’t we.” He smiled at his own joke. “Were you hoping to make a bigger splash with your arrival?” He laughed.
“Very funny,” I muttered as I headed towards the front of the boat in the hopes that I would dry off a little in the wind. Luckily it wasn’t too cold either in the water or out of it. But the combination of the too along with the wind was a little bit chilly so I used my amulet to dry myself off. Looking at it I considered Lady Acacia’s words. Here was a fantastic example of runes at work. Mana in effect out. The difference was that it was powered by a gemstone. I wondered if there was a separate branch of gemstone magic, a question to ask her later. Once the heat had dried my clothes I was able to enjoy the fresh wind on my face as we made the brief journey to our little dock.
A short walk later we were leaving the town again having picked up our cart and hiking up towards the cliffs before heading on down to our boat.
“Ready to set sail.” He asked me as I stowed the rope nodding in the satisfaction that it was put away properly.
“Aye aye captain.” I mocked up a salute before blasting our sails with wind and shooting us out of the harbour. Any other boat would have required them to put out their oars and row far enough out from the leeward side of the island to catch the wind. One of the benefits of having magic. It was not yet as efficient as an outboard motor but give me time to level up my skills or even better yet a new spell and maybe one day it would be.
I checked my Hud to make sure that I had everything up and running. Mana sense and echolocation were building a map of my surrounding as we set sail for the mana reef still out of sight. It was a little scary to see the seabed drop off until it was out of my sight. Leaving me much like most men completely unaware of what the depths might hold. I didn’t like that and kept the skills up and running anxiously waiting for the moment when the sea floor began to rise and the mana reef appear in the distance.
“Let’s see what we caught today! Where did we leave them again?” He asked as we arrived over the reef. He could tell we had arrived in more or less the correct spot but without my ability to see what was under the water he would have had to swim around or at least keep sticking his head under the water to find where we had left them.
I pointed us in the correct direction. First, off we checked our traps pulling them up and emptying them before resetting them again. Then we moved on. Each day we tried a different area of the reef. This was not so that we wouldn’t overfish a particular area there seemed to be plenty of fish even when we came back to the same spot each day.
No this was to continue our hunt for pearls.
We might have agreed to stop hunting for them within the lagoon but we had made no such concession about the sea. Furthermore, the ones we found out here on the reef seemed to grow even larger than ours when we could find them fuelled as they were by the higher concentration of mana in the waters below our hull.
It was for the pearls that my father finally let me out of the boat.
Swimming in the sea was different to swimming in the lagoon. The waves higher the waters deeper. I was left straining my senses in every direction as I attempted to be aware of everything around me. I had grown comfortable and complacent swimming in the lagoon. Here on the open water, I remember the giant fish we had seen like the Goblin shark and the tall tales our father had told us and was as cautious as I could be.
We dove in pairs. Not together as you might think but attached by a rope one of us would wait at the top floating face down with a wider view of our surroundings while the other would quickly dive down and search for our treasure. When we swapped dives I would point out the area I planned on searching and if it was my Father's turn point out where I suspected the largest pearls to be hiding judging by the glow I could see with my Mana sense.
I pointed out the largest cluster of pearl-filled oysters and it was his turn to dive again. I was happy that I was out of the boat, swimming in the sea gaining the experience rather than simply floating in the boat. He was diving down when I sensed it. Something was moving quickly up through the corral to meet him. I pulled as sharply as I could on the rope bound to my father’s foot pulling him to a stop as well as pulling me deeper under the water towards him when it happened. The gigantic eel burst forth out of a hole in the coral to attack my father. Its mouth bristling with jagged teeth they snapped shut startlingly close to my father’s face. His knife already out to pry the oysters out of the coral was plunged into the side of the eel and as it pulled back towards it ripped a line along the eel to its head. One last stab through its eye left it dead and no longer thrashing. Satisfied that it wouldn’t attack him further, father fled back to the surface.
Ding! Swimming (Lv51) Ding! Diving (Lv 51) Ding! Breath Control (Lv44) Ding! Sense Mana (Lv41) Ding! Quick Reflexes (Lv41)
I lay there on the surface of the water trying to catch my breath in big gasps, a little dazed by the sudden change of events and change in my status. It had been a while since I had been so close to death. But it had also been a while since I had seen so many skills improve from a single moment. Death gave skills and levels in abundance. It had even been enough to push the skills that had been stuck at their first meridian through them. Although I had not received . . . I checked my status I had received a sizeable chunk in helping my father avoid his death and killing the sea monster.
“Time to go Kai.” He threw me into the boat breaking my concentration before hauling himself over the side. Before setting the sails. “Wind. Now Kai!”
“Why?” I asked.
“What do you see happening below?” he asked.
“Fish eating the eel.” Hundreds of smaller fish were feasting on the giant eel that lay floating below us still halfway into his hidden home. I answered confused.
“And further out away do you see anything changing? Don’t concentrate on the individual fish look at the overall movement. Where are they moving?” he asked.
I looked further afield and noticed that they were gravitating towards us. As far as I could see the shoals and individual fish were heading inwards, obliquely, tangentially or on a direct line. There were no fish swimming away.
“Towards the eel, they are all moving towards the eel,” I replied finally understanding his point.
“Exactly which is why we need to go home now. It is only a matter of time before something bigger than we can catch develops an interest and we need to be gone before it arrives. Weave the wind and I will set the sail. Dead ahead.” He pointed.
As I powered the wind, our sails billowed out and we began to move away from where our day had so nearly ended. I looked below as we left. The feeding frenzy was growing as they tore the eel apart still eating from the carcass rather than one another but the size of the fish was gradually growing and we were no longer the only fish fleeing the scene. The smaller fish have eaten their fill and were fleeing as well but now the sharks had arrived and they were happy to eat anything that swam too close to their mouths while they ripped huge chunks out of the eel. The seagulls had started to swarm above the feeding frenzy below. But while they dove to eat the occasional scrap from the water they weren’t safe from being snapped in return.
Time to go indeed. We ran downwind of the wind I brought regardless of which way the wind naturally blew.
Despite our near mishap, our morning had gone well, our little boat filled up with a collection of sea creatures from the ones we caught in our traps, the bags of oysters we had filled and the small shoal of fish we had caught in our nets. We aimed for home.
“That is why Kai if there is blood in the water you get out.” He reemphasised.
“Yes, father.” His point had been made well the waters frothing and foaming red before we had made it out of sight.
“Blood can be used as a lure and any large carcass can create a feeding frenzy but if you hope to take advantage of it. You need to keep your feet on dry land and be hunting from the shore. Remember that Kai.” He explained one more of my new life lessons. “Just remember you don’t know from how deep or from how far the fish will come to visit.” Don’t go bleeding in the water. Got it. “Also maybe don’t mention this to your mother.”
“Ok.” We sailed in contemplative silence back to Wester Isle both of us considering our close brush with disaster.
We never mentioned the eel to anyone else but it demonstrated that even the shallower parts of the sea had their monsters. We continued to sail but dived a little less. Always taking care to scan the area as deep as I could and shying away from any areas which held larger presences of mana and as I continued to develop my telepathic abilities anything which seemed to be able to think just a little too well for a fish.
. . .
Although he never spoke of the eel on the reef the incident changed his father’s mind about the elixir. He no longer spoke against it. The thought that a larger child was a safer child on the open sea clearly ran through his mind. Mother though had yet to change her mind.
“Can I have the elixir now?”
“It’s up to your mother Kai. She is the one you will have to convince.”
“Couldn’t you convince her?”
“The only thing I ever managed to convince your mother of that she hadn’t already decided was to marry me and even then I’m not so sure she hadn’t made her mind up on that already anyway.”
“But . . .”
“Ask your mother.”
“. . .”
“Ask your mother.”
I might have changed my father’s mind but not enough to get him to convince my mother that would be a job for me to do. Although there was not an argument I could make that hadn’t already been made before. Still, that wouldn’t stop me from making them again. I hoped this time without Father to buttress her opinion they would be enough to make her reconsider.
.
. . .
.
I sidled into the room where Mother was working. Spinning her thread and weaving her tapestries.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked quietly
“Kai not now.” She responded equally quietly
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“When will I be old enough for you?” I asked sadly.
“We all grow at our own speed, Kai.” It sounded as if she was trying to justify it to herself.
“But my speed is hardly normal. I spent my first identity considered almost a dwarf because of how slow I grew. Would you have the same for my second?” I asked trying to draw her into a discussion on the matter.
“The smaller you are the less trouble you can get into.” Her reasons were growing weaker, “I hate to think what you will get up to if you could reach the door handles.” She smiled sadly, “At least this way we can still keep up with you.”
“I’m squishable,” I argued my argument equally weak.
“The smaller you are the more you will be underestimated. By friends and foe alike.” She shrugged.
“I’m already older than I look I argued can’t we compromise. At least let me reach the height that I should have already reached.” I argued.
“Why the rush you have more time than most.” She asked.
“We are on a time limit, Aleera will have to present herself in ten years. How can I support her if I still look like I’m two?”
“One extra foot then.”
“Three feet.” I bargained.
“Two and over time we aren’t doing this overnight.”
Two more feet would take me to just over 4 feet. Around an eight-year-old’s height in my old world. But only a 6-year-old in this world. Still, it was a start. “Does that mean I can start my lessons with Lady Acacia?”
“Yes, we’ll let her know at dinner.” She sighed finally accepting that I would be growing up sooner than she hoped. I wouldn’t be a giant by any stretch of the imagination but I wouldn’t be quite so short either. If I added an inch each month the extra two feet would take me 24 months only another year and a half. I was going to have to double the height of my tunnels.
.
. . .
.
That evening at dinner.
“I am sure you will be delighted to hear that we have decided to take you up on your offer of tuition and would appreciate your support in administrating the elixir safely to Callen over the next couple of years.” Mother finally gave us permission to begin the next step in my education.
“Wonderful, wonderful. I cannot wait to get started. I have had plenty of ideas of the different directions we can take his training over the last couple of days.” She declared excitedly.
“Yes, well there’s no rush.” She answered.
“No, of course not.” She demurred reading the room, though I thought I could still see the glint of maniacal enthusiasm hidden in her eyes. “I will of course need to know a little bit more about who and what I am working with.” She subtly asked for a little bit more knowledge about me.
Grandfather intervened, “I’m sure you will get to know him once you start teaching him.” Stopping the inquiry.
“Yes, well the better I understand his abilities the better I will be able to tailor his education.” She argued back refusing to be stopped quite so soon.
“Just think of him as an eight or nine-year-old. Able enough to see and gain skills but not yet old enough to assign his free points. He has managed to develop much the same skills as Aleera.” He gave my basic information while he avoided giving any more details than necessary.
“And his stats?” she kept digging
I interrupted the conversation, “I’m working on my own cascade.” I answered for myself. If I was going to be working with her on a daily basis there was no point in hiding everything from her. Grandfather may have been defending my privacy but it was not always a helpful thing to do.
“What perks have you managed to have so far?” she inquired intrigued addressing me directly. Ignoring the storm cloud growing on grandfather’s face.
“I have the vitality trait long-lived as well as perks in mind, senses, magic, clarity, dexterity and endurance,” I answered watching as her eyebrows rose higher and higher in surprise.
“That’s . . . impressive.” Despite her awareness of my monstrosity, the extent of it was still surprising and that was with me downplaying the traits as perks. “It is also an interesting order of cascade. I’m surprised that you didn’t become imbalanced, especially achieving it so young when the perks you receive are presumably stronger options for achieving them earlier.”
“Why you only have Strength and Charisma left for a full compass cascade.” She exclaimed.
“What is a Compass Cascade?” I asked confused.
“A Compass Cascade works through the perks for each of the of the cardinal and ordinal kingdoms noble races, it was what they were aiming at with the half-blood kings, a Royal Cascade,” she answered before she looked to the side in thought. “Once we have collected enough strength from your cousins by creating Adals we will have to search for some prospective future subjects with Charisma as their dominant stat. We may need to recruit from further afield as I doubt that is a common stat on the island.” She pondered out loud.
“We will also have to focus on the two final stats in terms of skills and training. Just in case we are unable to find prospective Adals with charisma as their most prominent stat. We will make them the priority over magic for now but I promise to give you the basics to that as well.” She was already modifying her plans based on the little information I had given her. “What level are you at? I suppose free points will not matter for a while yet.”
I looked at my status considering what to say and what not to. It was getting a little long and a little unwieldy. I could only imagine what it would look like in a hundred years, sea monsters permitting. In for a penny in for a pound. But I would be withholding my otherworldly languages, instruments, tier 5 skill, Psi skill, and calling my traits perks instead of traits except for Long-lived seeing as she was already aware of that one. That seemed like an awful lot of secrets to try and keep but equally an awful lot of information to be trusting somebody else with, especially someone who was not family.
My less than kind Grandfather decided that it would be the right time to ensure that everyone’s glass was full with a vintage of Grandpa Smit’s wine, Aleera and I alone having grape juice instead. He raised a glass, “To the Silversea Scions.” He included Aleera in the toast for which I was incredibly grateful and I played along with his game at pranking our newest guest.
“I'm Level 12,” I said as our glasses met our lips. Already aware of my stats, my family smiled as Lady Acacia practically inhaled her drink. It gave us all an inordinate amount of pleasure to see her discombobulated if only for a second.
“Level 12?” She coughed delicately possibly a little wine went down the wrong way but she did far better than my father who looked if anything a little disappointed that the result had not been more explosive.
“Level 12,” I confirmed that I was at the same level as my sister. I did not mention that this level alone was taking me forever to get through despite my large amount of progress over the last month.
“What are you catching out on that reef?” She questioned my father, who had his own little cough as he was drinking and avoided looking at his wife for a moment or two. It didn’t take her long to work out another possibility which might account for the discrepancy in levels. “Are you truly only just past 1 year old? Are you not perhaps Aleera’s older brother restrained from growing through the trait of long-lived and actually 11 years old? No that would not work either as you would be able to assign your stats. What is the lie, omission or assumption that I am missing?” She clearly knew there was a fault in her reasoning but did not yet know where it was.
“My full name is Lord Callen Kai Silversea,” I stated giving her one final clue.
“You’re not just Callen!” She shouted having realized the most pertinent secret of ours to this conversation. “You are the older murdered brother, Kai!” she seemed relieved to have come to the realization herself despite the clues I had given her. “The Royal family, indeed, the entire court, believes you were thrown off a cliff.” She paused. “It can be incredibly dangerous to lie to Royalty but only if you get caught.”
“We didn’t lie about him being thrown off a cliff. It happened within hours of receiving his patent of nobility.” Grandfather gruffly answered for the family.
“And the assassin?” she quizzed, looking for problems that might unravel our story.
“Deceased and followed soon after.” Grandfather grumpily added.
“That should indeed close the loop but you do know that this means that our location, the location of the first new noble house in a century is already known to at least one family with the court.” Then she seemed confused again. “But that still only puts you at around 2 years of age. So still a monster just a lesser degree of monstrosity and uncommonly lucky to survive an assassination attempt before the age of one. Exceptional circumstances make for exceptional stats.”
I supposed that when telling someone that you could fly that would be the shock and afterwards any moderation of the height to which you could do so was in comparison less shocking.
“I’m 2 years, 6 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old,” I answered proud of the extra months as I would be of each extra inch in height once they finally let me consume the elixir. If they would have understood what I meant I would have added ‘I’m over 3 on my world years.’ But that wouldn’t get me any more consideration and telling them that I was in effect a reincarnated soul from another world with many more years under my belt was something I was never sure that I would be ready to talk about with anyone other than my Grandfather who had forced the revelation out of me.
“2 years and 6 months. That gives me 3 years and 10 months extra to work with before you even turn 5. This is simply unprecedented!” She had another drink. Seemingly distracted by the revelations I was unsure if she had noticed Grandfather refilling her glass between sips. “You will have a huge advantage over other nobles enough to make up for your lack of resources out here on the edges of civilization. Who knows seeing as this is outside of all expectations perhaps your Status may very well unlock at age 5. It is all simply fascinating.”
“If you are close to completing a Full Compass Cascade I can only assume you are over 100 in all of your stats with all of the associated perks. You could be a demon in the duelling courts given proper training and taking advantage of your physical perks. On the other hand, you could craft the finest products with your mental aspects. Even enter the Inner Circle City Academic Guilds with ease. The whole world is your oyster you simply have to pick a direction.” She still sounded thrilled at the opportunity to teach me.
I confirmed her suspicions, “I’m over 100 in all my attributes apart from strength and charisma.” I failed to mention luck and if I ever hoped to become balanced I would have to keep exactly how far over 100 I was under my hat if I had to pour my next 14 levels worth of free points into luck if I ever hoped to be truly balanced. The Lodestar church put a lot of faith in it so I was not quite yet ready to write it off completely even though I knew it was possibly quite unobtainable.
“All that leaves left is your skills. How many and what bands?” she seemed determined to work out as much as she could tonight. Lest I run away or my mother change her mind on the matter.
Avoiding my otherworldly skills, I answered, “I have nearly 50 tier 1 skills . . .”
“50 common skills!” she had been doing so well in staying calm over my revelations after her first slip on her poker face. She had shown excitement but not outright astonishment until now again.
“Well, I’ve learned all the skills you have taught Aleera so far,” I added somewhat defensively. I had even waited to attempt spellcraft, spellsong, enchanting, runes and glyphs this last month. I felt as if I had been exceptionally well behaved so far.
“Yes but those are . . . What about your other skills?” She started and stopped before starting questioning again.
This time she let me finish my sentence. “I have approximately 20 tier 2 skills, 10 tier 3 skills and 5 tier 4 skills.” I rounded up and down my skills to keep it simple.
Copper, bronze, silver and gold skills, and so many,” she whispered to herself. “All before the age of three.” She laughed out loud standing. To my parents, she said, “I almost don’t know where to start,” she turned to me, “but I know when! You will join Aleera and me tomorrow. Good night I have much to prepare.” She promptly departed leaving us a little shocked at her enthusiasm
She left muttering her plans under her breath, “Cataloguing skills, yes. Consolidation of tier 1 skills? No too soon. Baseline assessment of stats? Yes. Adals for strength. Need to prepare a list of Charisma-based skills or build on his originals. So much to do, so much to learn.” She disappeared out of sight my super senses following her whispered conversation far beyond where it was natural.
Grandfather chuckled into the silence she left. “And you thought I was bad. Get your rest tonight you’re going to need it. Good luck Kai!”
“She’s hardly that bad.” Aleera defended her tutor. But I just exchanged a look with my Grandfather possibly the only other person to hear her whispered monologue. I was doing this for the magic I silently repeated to myself. I was doing it for the magic.
Level: 12
Title: Lord
Name: Callen Kai Silversea
Experience: 516,900/ 819,200
Age: 2 years 6 months, 2 weeks, 2 days, 18 hours, 30 minutes
Health: 1460/1460 Stamina: 1103/1103 Mana: 1410/1410 Psi: 1460/1460
Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted
Attribute: Celerity, Durability,
Vitality: 146 + 2
Endurance: 116 + 2
Strength: 71 + 2
Dexterity: 130 + 2
Senses: 145 + 2
Mind: 146 + 2
Clarity: 121 + 2
Magic: 141 + 2
Charisma: 61 + 2
Luck: 7 + 1
Free Points: 40
Skills:
Tier 1: Meditation (LV50) Swimming (LV50 -> 51) Time Sense (LV50) Running (LV47 -> 51) Listening (LV37 -> 40) Breath Control (LV40 -> 44) Knots (LV38 -> 40) Stitching (LV37 -> 40)Humming (LV34) Whistling (LV33) Singing (LV43) Climb (LV32 -> 35) Trading (LV31 ->33) Drumming (LV31) Dodge (LV31 -> 33) Draw (LV33 - 35) Knife (LV30 -> 33) Sneak (LV26 ->31) Acting (LV21 ->25) Diving (LV30 ->35)English (LV15) Spanish (LV15) Japanese (LV15) Sight (LV15) Scent (LV15) Detect (LV15) Taste (LV15) Throw (LV15) Lie (LV12) German (LV10) Bussola (LV15) Mathematics (LV15) Sailing (LV25 ->35) French (LV7) Decoding (LV10) Appeal (LV7) Calligraphy (LV15 ->20) Farming (LV16 ->20) Insight (LV4 ->6) Balance (LV16 ->20) Martial Arts (LV2 ->4) Cook (LV3) Ambidextrous (LV 1 ->5) Glide (Lv1 ->5) Poise (Lv1 ->5) Grace (LV1 ->5) Charm (Lv1 ->5) Composure (Lv1 -> 5) Silent Step (Lv1 -> 3) Deft touch (Lv 1 -> 3) Posture (Lv 1 ->3) Dance (Lv 1 -> 3) Sprint (Lv 1) (+10,700)
Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV40 ->41) Quick reflexes (LV40 ->41) Eavesdrop (LV30 -> 33) Memorisation (LV23) Composition (LV23) Recall (LV23) Piano (LV20) Violin (LV20) Trombone (LV20) Saxophone (LV20) Rebec (LV17) Aulos (LV17) Linguistics (LV16) Translation (LV16) Pain Tolerance (LV15 ->20) Stealth (LV15 -> 20) Cornu (LV15) Harp (LV14) Transplant (LV12) Cartography (LV12 -> 15)Misdirection (LV9) Haggling (LV6) Order (LV6) Knife Arts (LV6 -> 7)Poison Tolerance (LV1) (+3800)
Tier 3: Expel Mana (LV40 -> 44) Mana Manipulation (LV34 - 38) Echolocation (LV31 -> 35) Absorb Mana (LV30) Boil (LV21) Gale (LV18 -> 29) Ignite (LV16) Freeze (LV11) Bargain (LV11) Melt (LV11) Deception (LV4) Command (LV4) (+4800)
Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv 20 -> 21) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 20) Stone shaping (Lv 1 ->5) (+4000)
Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 18 -> 19) (+1600)
Skill experience: 24,900 Origin experience: 0 Combat experience: 50,000 Craft experience: 10,000 Trade experience: 10,000 Popular experience: 0 Exploring experience: 25,000
Total Experience gain since last stat check: 117,700