Jeb did a quick stretch and remembered to turn his Notifications back on. The book recommended shifting between different running paces to ensure that you didn’t end up in a Child Skill, which Jeb saw no reason to ignore. Sure, it only happened rarely, but that was more than never. Also, it meant that he could run the way he had been taught, starting slow to get your body ready to move quickly.
As Jeb started running, he realized that this could also be a good time to start on one of his Meditation Skill Quests. He pulled up the quest notification to confirm.
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Begin Your Journey of Introspection (Update Available) Minor Quest First Tier Meditate in Motion for 24 Hours Some find that the path to silencing the outside world comes when pushing their body to excel. Practice this for 24 hours (0/24 completed).
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He paid careful attention to the feeling of the run. At first, he focused on the feeling of the wind blowing by his face. Each breath he took began to feel like taking in the wind. Each breath he released rejoined the wind going past him.
As he started to fall deeper into that meditation, Jeb started to feel where the idea didn’t work with him. After all, at his core he was not wind. Right now, at least, he was Earth and Water.
And so, he shifted to the feeling of the ground beneath his feet. Jeb was running on one of the paths that his family had throughout the farm. This one encircled all of the central buildings. With each step Jeb felt the ground beneath his feet shift. He felt his body adjust for the difference without his input, and then felt the force as he pushed off, taking his next step.
Thoughts came and went without his holding on to them. Jeb was starting to understand some of the benefits of Meditation already. Sure, his body was aching, and his breath was coming in harder, but he could almost tune that out and just exist in the world as he ran.
The sun had nearly finished setting by the end of dinner, and the stars were shining as he ran. As Jeb rounded out the first lap of his run, he noticed the sweat dropping off of his brow. He could feel something inside of him trying to connect with that idea, but gave up on it quickly. After all, focusing on the feel of the pavement was working well enough.
Still, as ideas came and went, Jeb noticed that he kept returning to the sight of the stars. There was something so perfect about the sight of them. Unlike with the sweat, there was no piece of the System drawing him to ponder them, just himself.
Jeb continued running around the buildings until he got the Notification he had been waiting for.
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Congratulations! By running past the limits of your Endurance, you have unlocked the Physical Skill: Running. +1 Endurance
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He wasn’t sure if the System was going to count all of the time he’d run as Meditation, so he was curious how much of the Quest he’d actually done.
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Begin Your Journey of Introspection (Update Available) Minor Quest First Tier Meditate in Motion for 24 Hours Some find that the path to silencing the outside world comes when pushing their body to excel. Practice this for 24 hours (5.3/24 completed).
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That wasn’t right. Even if he’d been perfectly meditating the whole time, that would have been less than three hours. Jeb looked at the sky, and saw that it was starting to grow light again.
Apparently the book had been wrong. As Jeb washed himself off, he went through the numbers. He apparently had needed to run twenty minutes per point of Endurance, assuming that it was still a function of Endurance.
That was something to ask his grandfather about-
Oh no, his grandfather had been waiting for hours for him. Jeb rushed to his grandfather’s workshop, hoping that he was still awake. Thankfully, his grandfather opened the door when he knocked.
“Did you need to do something between unlocking Running and coming here?” he asked.
“No, I just unlocked Running. I apparently needed to run for twenty minutes per point of Endurance.”
“I was wondering if that might be the case. Do you have time for a quick Theorycrafting lesson?”
The answer to that question was obvious. “Always!”
“Every Skill also has its Type. Running, for instance, is a Physical Skill. It’s well known that different types of Skills are more easily acquired by different Classes, but there’s some evidence that goes all the way to Type. Every so often, someone with a Mental Class that still belongs to the Unnamed finds that it takes them longer than normal to unlock a Physical Skill. But, since most Skills have criteria that depend on intention, it can be hard to know if it really did take them longer. On that note, how did you know that it took you twenty minutes per point of Endurance?”
Jeb explained the Meditation Quest he had, and his grandfather nodded.
“That’s a great way to use a Quest to keep time,” he said, “which, on that note, you might want to look into getting a time-keeping Skill. I didn’t bring it up at dinner, mostly because I forgot about it. Most Classes get one by Seventh Tier, but especially if you want to do things which are time-sensitive, it can be worth trying to unlock one earlier.”
That sounded fantastic to Jeb. “How do I get a time-keeping Skill?” he asked, excitement boiling over.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Hmm? Oh, I would have to look again. There aren’t a lot with well-known criteria, and most of those won’t be useful to you, since they’re so specific. Still, I’ll start looking. Anyways, let’s get down to the business at hand.” His grandfather led him out of his workshop and over to the seed shed.
“Now, most Identification Subskills are sight-based. Soil Savvy uses more of your senses, though. That’s a part of what makes it a good first Identification Skill, since it helps if you ever need another Subskill that isn’t based on sight.”
Jeb felt like he should be taking notes.
“Ah, but I’m rambling. Anyways, here are two soils. Which is better for wheat?” He held out two jars.
One jar was clearly filled with sand. The other look like it came from the garden outside. Where one was dry and pale, the other was dark and seemed to be full of life already.
“Before you answer,” his grandfather preempted him, “use your other senses too. Try feeling the soil, smelling it, really experiencing what the soils are.”
Jeb did. The sand just ran through his fingers, while he could imagine roots hanging on to the garden soil. The sand had no smell, while the garden soil smelled like growth.
“I think this one is better for wheat,” he said, gesturing towards the garden soil.
“Great job! What about between these two?” This time his grandfather replaced the sand with what seemed like clay. Again, Jeb assumed he knew the answer right away, but he still felt the soils. The garden soil felt the same, though that wasn’t quite true.
Jeb decided not to try to figure out what felt different about the garden soil that time, instead switching to the clay. It smelled better than the sand, though still not like something he could grow wheat in. The texture was too tight, it would choke out any roots.
“Still the garden soil,” he said, gesturing again.
“Hmm? Oh, good eye.” They continued through a few more rounds, until Jeb could start to feel his eyes closing while he focused on the soils. His grandfather clearly noticed too, because he stopped Jeb.
“I sometimes forget that you children still need to sleep,” he said. “Go to bed, come back to my shop whenever you wake up again.”
Jeb tried to protest, but he was exhausted. The run had taken a lot out of him, and it had been a long day before that. He’d meant to practice lute again before he fell asleep, but by the time he got to his room, he barely remembered to take his shirt off before falling asleep.
He woke late that morning, sun already well into the sky. Blearily wiping the sleep from his eyes, Jeb remembered that he needed to start working on Lifting. He looked at the Skill description in the book again.
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Physical Skill: Lifting Qualification Criteria: Lift weights for three minutes per point of Strength you have every day for a week.
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If Lifting was going to be like Running, he also would need to go for twice as long as the book suggested. Though, Jeb wasn’t sure what that meant here. Would he need to do forty two minutes a day for two weeks, or eighty four minutes a day for a week? He honestly wasn’t sure which he was hoping for. Still, Jeb got down and started doing body-weight lifts, using his hourglasses to track the time.
Just before ninety minutes, he felt limp, but could tell that his System-enhanced body would be rebuilt again the next day. After quickly cleaning himself, he went through his lute exercises again. It was harder somehow. His hands hardly felt like they belonged to him anymore. Still, unproductive-feeling practice was still practice.
After finishing with the lute, it was time for lunch. “Just get up now, Jeb?” his grandfather asked.
“No, I’m sorry, I just wanted to do the Athletics preparation and then practice my lute,” Jeb said.
“I figured. If I hadn’t seen you at lunch, I would have been worried. Do you have anything else you want to do before we work on Soil Savvy again?”
“I don’t think so,” Jeb said. They finished eating, helped clean up, and returned to the barn.
Once again, Jeb’s grandfather had him choose between sand and the garden soil. This time, however, he made Jeb justify his choice.
“The sand doesn’t seem like it could hold water, and it doesn’t feel like it would be good for the roots,” Jeb explained. That seemed to satisfy his grandfather, so he continued on, giving Jeb the clay once more. The soils kept getting better and better, until Jeb failed to choose the correct soil.
“Let’s try again,” his grandfather said. “Which of these is better for growing wheat?” He held up a jar of sand and a jar of garden soil.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
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Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 519/100
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Total Statistic Load: 117 Physical Load: 58 Strength: 14 Dexterity: 8 Endurance: 17 Vitality: 15 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 59 Intelligence: 16 Willpower: 20 Magic Affinity: 12 Mana Depth: 3 Charisma: 8
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Mana: 210
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Glyph Attunement: 6 Least Conjure Water Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient Tier 3 Spell
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)