Unfortunately for Jeb, the discussions were all much higher level than he was able to keep up with. It didn’t help that his mother had been Seventh Tier at her last birthday celebration, so the Family was giving her incredibly specific advice.
“Did you manage to Evolve your Breadmaking Skill how you’d hoped to?” his Aunt Zephra asked.
His mother shifted her head side to side, clearly trying to decide how best to answer. “Not directly, no. Part of it ended up getting consumed into the Baking Skill, while part split off into Yeast Control, but that’s been better for me than I think my goal would have. It’s been really nice to be able to help Aunt Esther with some of her more complex brews.” “Do you know what direction you’re hoping to Evolve it into going forward?” That question came from his grandfather.
“I’ve been reading through the different paths that Baking can go through, but it doesn’t seem like there are too many that would be useful given my life. Most all of them specialize in some subset of Baking, and I didn’t work this hard for a Generalist Skill just to have it convert into a Child Skill again.”
That exchange was the closest to something Jeb could understand. He realized that he wasn’t even entirely sure what his mother’s Class was, let alone what her progression had been. Still, it was clear from the conversations that the focus of the night was nearly entirely on connecting what had happened sixteen years ago to the next sixteen years of goals.
It really highlighted for Jeb how different their approach was to his own. His mother spent ten minutes explaining exactly how she’d approached baking ten thousand loaves that ranged from a pure flour loaf to what was only bread by the loosest conditions to help merge Breadmaking into Baking. He, on the other hand, could barely think of a decision that he’d even spent ten minutes deliberating on. When she shifted her explanation on how she managed to make Yeast Control was fascinating, though.
It was clear that the rest of the family agreed. “You never told me that’s how you got it!” his Aunt Esther exclaimed.
“I think that might be a novel route to it,” his grandfather agreed, “but I’ll check the Skill Histories and see if anyone else experienced something similar.”
As the conversation stretched late into the night with no signs of slowing, Jeb realized he wouldn’t be able to stay up the whole time. He hadn’t been able to contribute anything, either, which he was a little sad about. The conversation shifted over to Pseudomagical Skills, which he had never heard of.
The fact that they contained Magic in their name was enough to make him perk back up though. His sister elbowed him lightly, “sure, when we’re discussing a potentially first ever method of unlocking a Skill, you look half asleep. The second that someone mentions Magic though,” she mimed perking up in her seat.
Jeb let out a slight chuckle, as did the cousins sitting closest to the two of them. “What can I say? I’m the de facto Magical Theorycrafter in the house,” he said, jokingly.
His sister didn’t seem to take it as a joke, though. She just looked at him for a moment before nodding. “I guess that’s fair.”
Their bickering had thankfully ended before either missed an explanation of what Pseudomagical Skills were. It came down to the nature of Classes and the Paragons. Since Magical Skills were inherently related to Marcus, common knowledge held that only Classes under his purview could get Magical Class Granted Skills. Whether or not you could earn and maintain Magical Skill with a non-Magical Class was hotly debated.
Apparently there were no well-attested Magical Skills remaining in Classes belonging to the Unnamed after the Seventh Tier. What was well attested, however, was a number of so-called Pseudomagical Skills. They had what appeared to be completely Magical Effects, and some even used Magic.
Seeing that the younger members of the family all looked confused by the quick explanation, his Aunt Esther gave an example. “My husband,” she said, gesturing to his Uncle Albert, “can instantly distill a pot of liquid, separating it into different components. It costs him Mana to do so, and,” she gestured at Jeb, “now that we have a Mage of our own, the way he does so is similar to the way that Jeb uses his Glyphs or Song.”
Jeb blushed a little at the comment. He hadn’t known that his family had been watching him as he cast Magic. “What Classes can get Pseudomagical Skills?” he asked.
Everyone looked around, nobody wanting to be the one to speak first. When their eyes all landed on his grandfather, he snorted, “Oh sure, just because I’m the oldest, I have to teach the children.” He winked at the row where Jeb and his sister were sitting. Looking left and right, Jeb saw that all of the young members of his family were sitting there. This might have been the first time that any of them had heard of Pseudomagic.
“So far as we can tell,” his grandfather said, “every Class gets a Pseudomagical Skill by the Ninth Tier with no particular effort. With focused work, they’ve been reliably attested as early as the Sixth Tier without learning a Magical Skill, and as early as the Fourth Tier if the person learned a Magical Skill, though there are obviously far fewer examples of that.” Jeb wasn’t sure if there were fewer because so few people learned Magical Skills or because learning a Magical Skill tended to give people Magical Classes.
His grandfather continued, “most often, people with Classes of the Unnamed unlock their first Pseudomagical Skill around the Eighth Tier. Once you’ve unlocked one, though, there are two major Theorycrafting paths: trying to unlock more Pseudomagical Skills or optimizing the Skill that you’ve unlocked. There are less than a handful of cases where someone has been able to both Evolve a Pseudomagical Skill and also unlock a new one.”
“Do you have one?” Jeb asked his mother.
“I do,” she confirmed. When she didn’t seem inclined to say what the Skill was, Jeb debated whether or not he was supposed to ask. Thankfully, his sister didn’t have the same hesitation.
“What’s your Pseudomagical Skill?” she asked, vibrating from excitement.
“It’s related to my Baking Skill,” their mother said, to nods from the other adults. “I can add some protective effects to the breads that I bake. Last time I had my birthday Theorycrafting, I decided to work to enhance the effects of the protection, rather than working on another Skill or any of the other facets of this one.”
Jeb had so many questions, but the conversation moved on before he could voice any of them. A few hours later, the first of his cousins started to bow out, citing how late it was. Now that they were no longer the first to leave, Jeb and his sister made eye contact and both nodded. The two of them made their apologies and went to their rooms to sleep.
He woke up relatively late that next morning. The sun was nearly out of the horizon when he finally made it down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Good morning Jeb!” his mother said, far more chipper than normal, “the fire starter worked really well today!”
“Good morning,” he replied, “sorry that I left early last night.” She waved a hand dismissively.
“Honestly, we were mostly impressed that all of you stuck it out for that long.” His mother didn’t elaborate, so he didn’t push.
“You seem more energetic than usual,” he commented.
His mother smiled softly, “your sister’s present was also fantastic. Would you like some?” Shrugging, Jeb accepted the mug of dark liquid. It was bitter to the taste, but not unbearably so.
By the time that he had finished the cup, the rest of his family was gathered for breakfast. Now that he was looking for it, it was fairly easy for Jeb to see the lines of Magic that traced through the bread. It didn’t remind him in the slightest of a Glyph, a Song, or an Enchantment, but he supposed that could just be because it was Pseudomagic, rather than Magic. He still made a note to try learning it when he had the chance.
As his extended family said their goodbyes and were sent on their way with baked goods and other foods, Jeb snuck out. He took his lute with him and made his way over to the Library. Along the walk, he adjusted the tuning ever so slightly and began to Enforce it.
Yesterday’s Enforcing showed him that he would still need to put Unaspected Mana into the lute, if only to help smooth the different Elemental Manas into one cohesive Enforcement. It also showed him how lacking the Sand Mana was compared to the other Mana types in the lute.
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Jeb wanted to rectify that problem as soon as he could. It was one lesson from his childhood that he knew transferred perfectly to Magic: the quality of the final product was only as good as its foundation allowed. Lost in his musings, he didn’t notice when he was at the Library door.
This time, the Librarian was not waiting for him to enter. Shrugging, Jeb opened the door. He heard two voices in conversation suddenly stop as he did.
“Sorry, did I interrupt something?” he asked, “I can come back another time.”
He heard the Librarian sigh, “no, that’s alright, Jeb. We were just finishing up anyways.” Turning the corner, Jeb saw that the Librarian was speaking to the Bard.
“Good morning!” Jeb called out cheerily, “sorry that I haven’t finished binding the lute yet. There’s just been so many things that I’ve needed my Mana for.”
“I see what the Librarian was mentioning,” the Bard commented, ignoring Jeb’s apologies. “Though I think that I detect a fifth First Tier Element in the grain. Is that the case?”
Jeb cocked his head, “what was the Librarian mentioning?”
The Bard chuckled dryly, “he was concerned that I had told you to start using Glyphs to Enforce your lute. You don’t feel like I pushed you into doing that, do you?”
Jeb thought back to when the Bard had taught him Lute Enforcement. “I don’t remember you doing so,” he said honestly, “though I guess you talking about the similarities and differences between Bardic and Glyph Magic might have sparked the idea in me.”
“And that fifth Element?” the Librarian prompted.
“Oh!” Jeb looked at the Librarian in confusion, “I gave you the Glyph for Attune Sand Mana yesterday, right?”
The Bard let out a laugh. “Where did you learn a Sand Glyph?” he seemed both incredibly amused and legitimately curious.
“I didn’t, I made the Glyph,” Jeb said.
The Librarian’s gaze sharpened. “What do you mean you made the Glyph?” he asked.
Jeb looked at him, bewildered, “I thought I told you? I was trying to make Least Create Soil, but soil is made of sand, silt and clay, so I decided to start by making Sand.”
The explanation seemed to mollify the Librarian, and the conversation moved on. “So, Jeb,” the Librarian said, “what are you here for today?”
“I was wondering if I could access the Enchanting Repository again,” he said.
“Hmm? What are you looking for?”
Jeb considered how best to phrase the request. “I know that my bees are Elementally Attuning themselves. I would really like to help them with it. Is there some way to just have an Enchantment that passively Attunes a small amount of Mana.”
The Librarian stared at Jeb and sighed. Pages began flashing through his eyes. They began flipping faster and faster until the Librarian’s eyes looked like a single volume, rather than someone looking at a page.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5643/100
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Total Statistic Load: 327 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 203 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 44 Magic Affinity: 53 Mana Depth: 29 Charisma: 30
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Mana: 885
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Glyph Attunement: 24 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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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 Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Enchanting
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)