Jeb didn’t need to think for long. After all, as much as he wanted to improve his future Classes, he still remembered what the point of all his work was. He wanted to spend time with his family.
That in mind, Jeb went downstairs to see if his mother needed any help setting up for dinner. He spent the rest of the night talking with his family, or at least the members who were there that night.
In the morning, Jeb woke with the sun again. He started to limber up to do his exercise when he remembered his grandfather’s advice against doing so. With the extra time before he needed to do anything else, Jeb practiced his lute again.
The scales sounded strange as he switched from string to string. After a few minutes of struggle, trying to find where he was fingering wrong, Jeb realized that he needed to retune the lute. The Bard had made it seem effortless, so he was expecting to be able to do it quickly.
After struggling with the lute for half of an hour, Jeb was almost back to the lute sounding as in-tune as when he’d started. The last five minutes had been the most productive, and Jeb was certain that he could get the lute fully in tune whenever he came back to it. But, that would have to be at the end of the day, or at least after his uncle was done with him.
Jeb went downstairs to breakfast. His uncle was at the table, and he greeted Jeb. “Are you ready to unlock Animal Handling?” he asked.
“I hope so,” Jeb replied honestly. He wasn’t totally sure what to expect. Breakfast ended quickly, as it tended to, and Jeb helped clean up before he followed his uncle to the fields.
“First things first,” he said, “grab a wheelbarrow and clean out the sty.” Jeb looked to where his uncle was pointing. One corner of the sty was certainly much more fragrant than the other portions.
Once Jeb had loaded the wheelbarrow, his uncle directed him to dump it into the compost heap. A few loads later, Jeb was beginning to wish that he had a Move Waste Glyph. Still, he finished cleaning out the sty, placing fresh straw down for the pigs.
“Now then,” his uncle said, “let’s take the pigs out to forage.” Jeb followed close behind his uncle as he walked towards the forest. As they walked, a train of pigs followed them.
“Now, we’ve got too many pigs here on the farm to feed them all through foraging,” his uncle explained, “but it’s still good for them to get some walking in.” After an hour of letting the pigs wander about, his uncle gave a short sharp whistle. At once, all of the pigs returned, once more in a single file line.
Seeing Jeb’s stare, his uncle laughed. “What can I say? There are perks to the Animal Husbandry path.” They walked back to the farm, and Jeb listened to his uncle finish an explanation on how to properly care for the common ailments that the pigs got.
“Now that we’re back, make sure the pigs have enough water,” his uncle said. As he turned to leave, he looked back, “Oh, and don’t use your Spell Glyphs to get the water. Much as I love efficiency, hard work is what gets Skills.” That seemed fair to Jeb, so he made the trek over to the well the eleven times it took him to fill their water trough up. Of course, it would have gone faster, but the pigs were drinking the water as he filled it.
The summer sun was intense that day, without any clouds in the sky. Jeb could feel the benefits from his increased Endurance, but the work was still difficult. Once he’d watered the pigs, he refilled their food. While he worked, his uncle explained the ways that they used the waste from animals to keep soils healthy. Apparently there were nutrients that the animals processed that crops used in the soil. They needed to be replenished to keep the soil fertile.
“That’s really all I have for you today,” his uncle said. “Come back tomorrow and we can do this again.”
There was still time before dinner, so Jeb washed himself and went back to his room. Thankfully, this time he was able to tune the lute without issue. As he ran through his scales, Jeb felt like they were finally clicking.
He could tell when one note was slightly out of tune with the rest. More than that, though, he noticed that he wasn’t placing fingers off tune anywhere near as often as he had been. What was once sliding up and down until the notes sounded like he remembered, Jeb was now just playing the notes as he should.
Once he’d gone through all the scales, Jeb went through the picking patterns he had been taught. They still felt somewhat unnatural, but he was slowly finding them more soothing as they took less effort to play. As his fingers started to grow weary, Jeb realized that he still hadn’t done his lifting for the day.
Here we go, he thought. The first few body weight lifts he did were more to help stretch his muscles and recover from the work on the farm that day than to actually get stronger. By the end of the eighty four minutes, he was once again covered in sweat.
As he went to the well to draw more water, Jeb remembered that he had Least Create Water as a Glyph. I wonder how much better it will work now, he thought. After all, his Mana Depth was triple what it had been before his Class, for all that it was still only 3. He had much more Mana to use as well.
Jeb stood in the tub and focused on Creating the Water above his head. To his surprise, he was able to get completely clean before his Mana ran out. It was a strange experience, to be sure. The Water he made was a completely neutral temperature.
Still, he was clean, and he saved some effort carrying water from the well. What else could he really hope for?
Jeb went to dinner and bed.
The next day was more or less the same. Jeb woke up, practiced a few scales, and then went to learn how to care for the animals on the farm with his uncle. He was assigned to the cows that day, which made him think.
Before Jeb had a Class, he was assigned to feed and care for the cows, which he did so without any System help. Now that he had his Class, he was doing the same. It was a strange realization.
That night, he went back to his room and practiced his scales. They felt smooth now. His picking patterns also felt natural. Still, his fingers grew tired faster than he liked.
The next four days were more of the same. Each day his uncle had him work with a different animal on the farm, and each day Jeb felt like he understood more of what he was being taught. More than that, though, Jeb felt like he was understanding more intuitively. On the sixth day of training, Jeb saw the two notifications he had been hoping for.
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Congratulations! Under the direction of a Master Husbander, you have learned about care of animals. You have unlocked the General Skill “Animal Handling”.
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Congratulations! Under the direction of a Fertilizing Expert, you have learned about maintaining soils. You have unlocked the General Skill “Fertilizing”.
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“Uncle!” Jeb exclaimed, “I got the Skills!”
“Congratulations, Jeb. I’ll let your aunt know to expect you tomorrow.”
“Um actually,” Jeb said, thinking about the days it had been since he saw the Bard, “I’m supposed to meet with the Bard tomorrow.”
“I’ll have her expect you the next day then,” his uncle winked.
“Do you want me to help finish-” Jeb was interrupted by a snap from his uncle. The trough that Jeb had been working to fill was suddenly filled.
“Remember, Skills are really nice. Upgraded Skills from Tier Increases are even nicer,” his uncle said. “And you should learn some new music. I love scales as much as the next man, but even I can only take so many.”
“I’m sorry I just,” Jeb looked at his uncle’s face, seeing a kind laugh.
“Just giving you a hard time,” his uncle said, “it’d be mighty hypocritical of me to tell you not to learn your Lute Skill the right way when I wouldn’t let you use your Magic while working on unlocking your Skills. If the Bard wants you to start on scales, I’m sure there’s a reason for it. Still, if he offers to have you learn some songs, please don’t say no on our account.”
Jeb went back to his room, thinking about that conversation. He devoted himself all the harder to the practice knowing that his family could hear him. Once he had tired his hands out once more, he started lifting.
Thankfully, he had gotten the Skills early in the day, so his body was still mostly fresh. It was worn down from the week, sure, but that was nothing too new. As Jeb finished the workout for the day, he saw the Notification he had been hoping for all week.
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Congratulations! Due to your efforts to develop a consistent routine of pushing yourself past your physical limits, you have unlocked the Physical Skill: Lifting. +1 Strength
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Congratulations! Due to earning a Physical Skill to aid in Running and Lifting, you have unlocked the Synergy Skill: Athletics.
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Jeb went to shower himself off. He was glad to be ready to meet with the Bard tomorrow. Working on multiple Skills at once was more mentally taxing than he had really expected. Now, though, he could give all of his focus to the Bard’s lessons.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
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Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 619/100
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Total Statistic Load: 126 Physical Load: 59 Strength: 15 Dexterity: 8 Endurance: 17 Vitality: 15 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 67 Intelligence: 21 Willpower: 20 Magic Affinity: 15 Mana Depth: 3 Charisma: 8
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Mana: 260
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Glyph Attunement: 8 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 Least Move Air Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire Tier 1 Spell
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)
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