Chapter One - Regrets and Rewards
Day 17
Jade woke slowly in the darkness. The stillness covered the room like a blanket, making her acutely aware of her own breathing and the grumbling of her stomach in the silence. Sitting up, she reached for the pocket watch in her ring, pulling it out to check the time: 5:03am. She’d gotten barely three hours of sleep after her siphoning finally finished, though she’d napped intermittently while it happened. Despite that, she felt refreshed, courtesy of her advanced constitution. Thankfully, there were perks to being superhuman.
Not wanting to wake her fellacai, she slid carefully out of bed, making as little noise as possible. Unfortunately, they’d kept her company during her pain because she couldn’t concentrate on blocking off their connection while siphoning Tadashi. She padded to the door, slipping into the hallway easily even without light. Between her enhanced vision and the strange feel she now had for the world immediately around her, obstacles weren’t an issue.
That didn’t mean she was the only one awake, however, as she came face to face with a guard in the hallway and recalled she was only wearing a longer shirt that barely covered her bits. She’d shucked the dirty robe after five hours of torture and hadn’t felt like throwing much else on. Smiling awkwardly as they made eye contact, she whispered, “Oh, uh, hi. Just going to the bathroom. Excuse me.”
He nodded, purposefully keeping his eyes on her face as she slid past him to get to the bathroom. She should have guessed that with the royal family present things would be different, but she hadn’t quite equated that to people present outside her door. She could see another guard standing watch at the end of the hall, but took refuge behind closed doors as she locked it behind her, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Might need to start wearing more to bed…” She muttered to herself. This wasn’t the first time her sleeping attire caused an awkward circumstance, and loathe as she was to worry about it, she wasn’t living in either modern society or a private home. Not to mention the attempts on her mostly happened at night. Fine. At least for the foreseeable future, she would make an effort.
Shaking her head, she used the toilet as the tub filled, shucking off that last bit of clothing to slide happily into hot water. She’d done a quick magical clean, but nothing got the last of the scum off like a good soak. Relaxing, she addressed the rest of the dots. She’d only checked the yellow one last night, but left the cheery green to greet her this morning.
Congratulations! Because you acquired a basic understanding of Brewing, Cleaning, Cobbler, Cooking, Farming, Fishing, Herbology, Mining, Skinning, and Weaving, your skills combined. You will forevermore be known as a Provider.
Hallelujah! One more combination for the books! She’d picked several of those from as many people as she could yesterday, eschewing some of their more magical options to try and get things to intermediate. Thankfully the candidates and their families were skilled, because she wasn’t sure when she’d get experience for most of them otherwise. The professions weren’t exactly on her daily docket.
It was a little crazy to think about, being her eleventh fused skill, which meant she’d eliminated 99 from her sheet. At least that made it more manageable, not to mention the boost it gave to everything. With a smile, she pulled up her stats.
Name: Jade Winward
Age: 18
Strength: 35.13
Dexterity: 37.25
Constitution: 37.11
Intelligence: 36.15
Magic: 38.97
Charisma: 30.46
Luck: 28.79
Special Abilities: Adaptable², Domain, Instinctual Insight, Keen Senses, Siphon³
She was quite satisfied, having managed two to three points in everything. She’d focused on physical stats from her human compatriots, while choosing to take the incorporeal stats from a load of fellacai. It balanced fairly well, though perhaps she should focus more on charisma and luck, since they were lagging. She’d thought Tadashi might have made up the difference, but his charm just wasn’t as much up to par as she thought.
Then again, even if his score was in the thirties, 1% of that was still only .3 of a stat. Yes, that was a lot, but also just comparable to siphoning three humans. The stats were easily made up by quantity, and the skills were where quality really shone. She was really trying not to think about missing out on taking the legendary experience in creation magic that both of the parents offered. At least she’d gotten it from Briar.
Xuxa’s box was still there, tempting her. At least she’d found natural weapons on a few of the fellacai, so she didn’t feel as bad about not taking that. To be honest, when she told them the strings would go away on their own, she wasn’t being honest. She’d never seen them go away, except in death.
Taking a deep breath, she focused her magic on that string, trying to detach it without causing backlash. Concentrated on the thought that she wasn’t going to use it, she was relieved when the system popped up a new box.
Warning: Are you sure you want to dismiss this target? Dismissal incurs cooldown penalties. Yes/No?
She hesitated for just a second after seeing the red box, then clicked yes. It was better to get rid of the potential harm from being attached to an irate dragon. To her relief, the connection dissolved without further issues. She didn’t know if the penalties would only apply to Xuxa or to everyone, but it was a risk she was willing to take. As much as she wanted the benefits, empowering a potential enemy that much wasn’t going to happen.
Satisfied that she’d resisted the enticement of greater skills, she pulled up her list.
Crafter
Advanced 5
81%
Creation Magic
Master 8
58%
Crossbows
Beginner 10
59%
Dual Wielding
Intermediate 1
39%
Eating
Advanced 3
91%
Elementalist
Advanced 10
68%
Empyreal
Master 2
68%
Explorer
Advanced 10
68%
Firearms
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Intermediate 2
47%
Flails
Beginner 7
53%
Gauntlets
Intermediate 6
77%
Light Armor
Intermediate 9
87%
Merchant
Master 1
3%
Natural Weapons
Beginner 6
96%
Obscured
Master 2
60%
Performer
Advanced 4
77%
Polearms
Intermediate 4
69%
Provider
Advanced 4
65%
Resistor
Advanced 9
75%
Shields
Intermediate 2
29%
Siege Weapons
Intermediate 2
63%
Special Magic
Intermediate 6
10%
Time Magic
Intermediate 2
92%
Unstoppable
Master 2
27%
Weaponmaster
Advanced 6
59%
Whips
Intermediate 2
47%
The compact catalog was a relief, though it was clear to her she had at least one more combination to go. With so few things on her list, the combat skills stood out to her. She thought there were a few potential options, but as long as she raised crossbows, flails and natural weapons to intermediate, she’d likely have an answer.
Looking at it also made the regret of not taking from a dragon deeper, especially as creation magic was one of the few that stayed exactly the same, despite using it to make the queens. It was still her highest skill by far, but the thought of how much higher it could have been if she’d taken it from Tadashi and Xuxa was numbing.
Most of her skills moved less than ten percent. She’d gotten dual wielding and time magic up to intermediate, but her advanced and master skills barely budged. If her stats hadn’t gone up, she might’ve questioned things.
To be totally fair, most of her improvements went into becoming a Provider, so she shouldn’t complain too much. She’d been fairly limited on what skills she could take, given that the majority of her targets were the flock of fellacai. She just hadn’t come into contact with nearly as many people.
Taking a few deep breaths, she shook her head. No regrets. She made her choices and she’d have to live with them, knowing she was trying to look out for the future of the kingdom.
Getting out of the tub, a quick flick of water magic dried her off as she pulled the plug, combing out her hair as she sorted through her outfits. What was the plan for today? She honestly had no clue. It took her a moment to count and figure out that it was Friday. There hadn’t been classes all week, so she was just going to assume they would restart on Monday. She knew the dukes were opening the portal to send the refugees back today, but was she expected to help with that? The delegations were still in town, too.
Everything was up in the air, but eventually she settled on a comfortable maxi dress with boots that she could pull on without taxing her left arm, eschewing her armored corset. She only had two of them currently, and they could both use some cleaning. How did one clean leather? She vaguely remembered cosplayers talking about spraying vodka, but it was probably better just to ask. She carefully pulled her hair half back using only her right hand and a bit of special magic to pull things into place, opting for pretty but casual today. She pulled out the fellacai bangle and necklace she’d made, deciding she wasn’t going to let her time with Briar ruin her enjoyment of them.
Ready to face the day, she glanced at the clock to see she’d spent about half an hour all told. Which was why, when she exited, she was surprised to see a nearby door open, with Derrick and Ashanna at a small sitting table having breakfast. The guard stood just outside the door, and she felt much more comfortable as she nodded politely to him.
Glancing up, Derrick motioned her over, and she made her way over, closing the door behind her at his gesture. “Good morning.” She greeted them with a smile as she took the seat they’d left for her. “I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be awake this early,” she admitted ruefully. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was up right now. Mornings weren’t exactly her thing, but she supposed reducing the need for rest negated the effects of sleeping in.
Ashanna laughed softly. “There never seem to be enough hours in the day, so we always get an early start. I’m glad you’re up, as we have a few things to talk to you about.” Jade raised a brow questioningly. She thought they’d gone over most everything last night, but she supposed there was always more to consider. Before she could ask, her stomach rumbled, reminding her that there was food in front of her and she woke up hungry.
Huffing in amusement, Derrick pushed a plate towards her as he said, “Eat something, will you? Don’t want people to think we’re starving you.”
Grinning, she started putting things on her plate as she retorted, “Anyone who’s seen how much I eat wouldn’t believe it for a second. So what’s up?” She was being careful, trying not to move her left arm too much as it twinged in pain whenever she stretched it very far, and the laughter turned to mild concern.
“Your arm isn’t any better today?” Ashanna asked carefully.
Stopping, Jade closed her eyes as she took inventory with her spiritual magic. She’d been hoping her increased constitution might help fix her, but it looked like she’d been too optimistic. Letting the magic go, she opened her eyes and shook her head. “Nope, it’s exactly the same as yesterday, so it looks like I’m stuck like this for now.” If there wasn’t any natural healing, it would only change if she figured out a way to magically heal it. However, no one really knew how to patch up a spirit. Despondently, she took a bite, not wanting to think about it.
Derrick couldn’t help but frown. “It’s going to be hard to keep it a secret if you can’t eat normally.” She nodded in agreement. It would be strange if she couldn’t use a knife to cut things and insisted on eating with only one hand. If she had to set everything down to reach for anything else.
Swallowing, she finally conceded, “You’re right. But maybe it won’t be that big a deal. I’ll just try to eat separately for a few days, see if I can’t figure out a solution before it becomes an issue.” With a thought, a pearly white hand attached to her by a string appeared, reaching over to grab a plate of eggs and bring it to her as she tried to lighten the mood, “In any case, with magic I’m not helpless, and I can just say I’m practicing my control. As long as someone covers for me to help grab things and I don’t have anything that needs to be cut, I could probably manage to eat publicly.”
Pausing, she half shrugged, “Although my archery class might need to be canceled. Without magic, I won’t be able to practice, and if I’m using magic anyway, it’s more efficient to just use it completely.” That actually smarted. She quite liked archery, and the thought of not having it as a viable option was irritating. Dual wielding with small blades was also out of the question, though at least that was private tutoring and Brady already knew her limitations, so he could help her work out a new path. Thankfully, she’d already siphoned that to intermediate.
Ashanna nodded slowly. “Yes, but I believe you wanted to rearrange some of your schedule anyway, so we’ll be able to mix it into that. Unfortunately, Eric is occupied in Mianach for now, and he usually takes care of class arrangements. I’ll have a chat with him on Sunday and see what we can do.” That gave her two days to try and get things under control. No pressure.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Derrick flipped his hand, producing a small platinum card from his ring. “Given your new title, this is your upgraded library pass.” She happily put down her fork to accept it, looking admiringly at the design. Eric did great work. Now she no longer had to steal Will’s pass, and she had legitimate access to the forbidden archives!
He wasn’t done yet, though. “Usually we prepare a stipend to upgrade a noble’s estate when they become a duke, but given your status, we’ve got two options. There are a few empty estates we can give you, or there are several plots of land that are currently undeveloped. Camille suggested a few plots for your future stores as well.” He paused, then gave her a look as he went on, “With the circumstances, we’ve also agreed to grant you one of the mines in Mianach and some land to set up the community you suggested as a reward for your merits in saving the city. Count Whitby has agreed to help oversee the process for you.”
Jade stared blankly. Estates, land, and a mine? She supposed she should have thought about dukes being landed nobles, but it simply hadn’t occurred to her that they would try to set her up from scratch. It took a minute to wrap her head around it all, and they waited patiently as she absently nommed food while considering. Finally, she swallowed and nodded. “I’d prefer land to make my own estate, rather than taking over one. And places for my shops would be lovely. Camille undoubtedly knows more about what we need for that than I do.”
She paused as an idea came to her. “I have to thank Brayden for helping out in Mianach. I trust he’ll do a wonderful job setting it up, but he can’t watch over my estate forever, given all he has to do for his own. As a more permanent solution, I’d like to ask Elena Bateman to be my steward.” She smiled a bit smugly. Who needed other nobles to adopt her? Jade could just make her part of her own family! Plus, she trusted her to do the job well and look out for the people, given her roots.
Derrick looked thoughtful, but nodded. “You’ll have to ask her, but that might be a very good solution to the problem.” He seemed pleased, because it would honestly fix a few of the messes she’d accidentally caused.
Ashanna clapped softly. “Lovely! Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about the delegations…”