Jeb called Least Shape Water - Efficient to mind and pushed it onto the sheet of Waterweave. Sheet after sheet crumbled into dust as he put enough Mana into them to impress the Glyph, cast it, and repeated the process. When he was about to collapse from pain and exhaustion, Jeb quickly collected his Quest rewards.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Glyphmastery Third Tier Scribe Chain “Scribe a Third Tier Glyph”. You have engraved Least Shape Water (Efficient) onto Waterweave. Rewards: 58 Experience, Mana +20
As Jeb’s body collapsed beneath him, he reflected on the fact that adding another hundred Mana to his pool when his soul was already in pain might not have been a good idea. To his relief, the intense spiritual pain did nothing to stop him from drifting off to sleep. If anything, it seemed to help him lose consciousness.
When Jeb woke, he saw the first few rays of sunshine breaking the horizon. He went downstairs and ate breakfast with his family.
“What are you going to do today?” his grandfather asked.
Jeb probed his soul, seeing how much pain it was in. “I was only able to Scribe five Glyphs before the pain was too much,” he said, “and I don’t think that I can do that many again today. That only takes a few minutes, so I thought that I might try to get my daily quests for Running, Lifting, and stretching done so that I can help raise those Statistics a little. Other than that, though, I have no real plans.”
His grandfather nodded. “You might want to check on your hive to make sure that it’s ready for the winter.”
“Do you know what Mana Aspected bees do over the winter?” Jeb asked his grandfather. His grandfather just stared at him, and Jeb blushed a little. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“Let me know what they say, though,” his grandfather called after him.
At the hive, Jeb chatted with the bees about his new Skill. Their conversation quickly turned to the changing of the seasons, and Jeb remembered to ask what the bees would do over the winter.
They danced their confusion. Of course they would go to sleep, like bees always did in the winter time. Jeb nodded and moved the conversation on. He wasn’t sure what else he would have expected.
He quickly ran, lifted, and stretched, collecting the rewards for each.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Athletics First Tier “Stretch” You have improved your Dexterity. Rewards: 1 Dexterity, 19 EXP
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Running First Tier “Run” You have outlasted your Endurance. Rewards: 1 Endurance, 19 EXP
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Lifting First Tier “Lift” You have grown your Strength. Rewards: 1 Strength, 19 EXP
Once Jeb had finished the Quests, he started practicing the Ephemeral Song. He still couldn’t hold more than two senses at once, but his ability to spin them up faster was certainly improving. It was shocking how much of a difference the extra Mana made.
He would have expected that another ten percent Mana would give him around ten percent faster progress. As it turned out, though, Jeb’s productivity within each bout of learning the Song increased. The extra time he was able to add at the end of the session meant that he was progressing far faster than he expected.
At the end of the day, Jeb returned to his room and started Scribing Waterweave again. He was shocked to find out that he was able to complete the Scribing Quest another five times. He wasn’t sure whether he was training his soul to be more resistant to damage or if he was just better able to deal with the pain, but either way it was nice. There was a small voice in his head that told him he might be doing permanent damage.
Jeb ignored that voice. The adults in his life would have absolutely warned him if that were the case. At the very least, there would have been an oblique note about soul damage in one of the books that he read. Since he’d seen and heard nothing to suggest permanent damage was possible, Jeb embraced the pain and collected the Quest rewards, once more falling asleep in the midst of intense pain.
He spent three more days following the same routine. He woke up, ate breakfast, talked to the bees, did his daily Quests for Running, Lifting, and stretching, worked on his Ephemeral Song. Before bed, he Scribed Least Shape Water - Efficient five times and collapsed asleep.
When he woke up after four days of the pattern, he saw that his entire family was gathered downstairs. “I take it that we’re starting the harvest today?” he asked. His family nodded, and Jeb tucked into his breakfast all the more. He knew that he would be exhausted by the end of the day.
When everyone had finished eating and cleaning up from breakfast, they made their way out to the fields. A few of the other townsfolk were already there, and the adults started to catch up with each other. Jeb held back as he always had.
His sister started walking towards the adults and he stopped her. “Where are you going?”
His sister looked at him, rolling her eyes, “we’re Classholders now, Jeb. That means our input is technically welcome at harvest planning.”
Jeb nervously followed her. As he had expected, the conversation was almost completely incomprehensible to him. Rather than talk about what the plan was explicitly, each Farmer only suggested changes to the previous year, often in the form of reminders of earlier harvests.
“Harvesting the Eastern fields like we did twelve harvests ago meant that we had slightly less loss compared to last year,” one grizzled Harvester said. Apparently that was a controversial claim, because the crowd erupted into loud arguments. It took Jeb’s grandfather a shockingly long time to reestablish order.
Even though he couldn’t participate, Jeb did his best to try to follow what was happening. Even if he was likely going to work with his Aunt Esther to dry and preserve the crops this year, that did not mean that the same would be true in the future. After all, no one knew where his Class was going to progress. If he did end up getting some sort of Farmer Mage Class, there was a chance he would have Spells which could automate a lot of the harvesting.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Jeb shook himself out of his daydreams of being able to clear entire fields with a wave of his hand when he saw that the crowd was starting to disperse. “What did I miss?” he whispered to his sister.
“Great question,” she replied, “I honestly have no idea. I think that we’re starting with our fields, though.”
That happened every year, so Jeb was unsurprised that it would be true again. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tonight, then,” he said, heading towards his aunt’s brewery.
“Where are you going?” his sister asked, confused.
“Grandfather thinks that I’ll be most useful to the harvest if I work with Aunt Esther to dry the crops we need to dry. She agreed with his assessment, and I can’t think of any reason that wouldn’t be true.”
“Oh.” If Jeb didn’t know better, he would have thought that his sister was sad about the fact that they wouldn’t be working in the fields together. “Well, see you tonight, then.” With a hug and a wave, the two siblings went to their assigned stations.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 8193/100
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Total Statistic Load: 358 ->370 Physical Load: 127 ->139 Strength: 29 ->33 Dexterity: 22 ->26 Endurance: 31 ->35 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 231 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 54 Magic Affinity: 57 Mana Depth: 39 Charisma: 34
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Mana: 1080 ->1580
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Glyph Attunement: 28 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 Shape Water - Efficient Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water 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 Water Mana - Efficient Tier 2 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 Attune Sand Mana - Efficient Tier 2 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 Glassblowing
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)