Jeb followed his aunt out of the kiln and over to the town square. This, at least, was the same experience as it had been every year before. The entire town gathered each day for an evening meal.
Those who had small children or lacked a Class would leave for the night to get some rest. Jeb was excited to finally see what the other side of the experience was like. For the first time, he would be awake with the rest of the town as they all continued to work.
At dinner, someone complimented his Aunt Esther on how quickly she was able to dry all of the oats. “I don’t know what changed from last year, but I heard that Frank was struggling to weave quickly enough to keep up with the incoming carts.”
“I don’t believe that for a moment,” his aunt said, rolling her eyes. “I would believe that he wasn’t able to weave three bags per bag that he needed, but there is no chance that we were working more quickly than him.”
“Still,” the Harvester insisted, “what have you been doing so differently this year?” Jeb leaned in, also curious.
“I’d have to guess that the biggest difference is having someone else kilning with me,” his aunt said, gesturing to Jeb with a nod. “I didn’t need to stop even a single time to readjust the flames in the kiln. He kept the air circulating quickly and the temperature even.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” the Harvester replied, “it sure is a shame that-” He cut off at Jeb’s aunt’s sudden glare.
“That what?” Jeb asked.
“If I had to guess,” his aunt said, staring the Harvester down with a pointed look, “then I would guess that the town believes that you want to set off to adventure soon.”
Jeb shuddered. “Grandfather told me stories about adventuring,” he said, “I don’t really understand why I would want to go.” He didn’t say that he had no idea why anyone would want to go, but something must have shown on his face, because his aunt answered the unasked question.
“For a lot of new Classholders, the only path they see to escape the situation they were born in is through adventuring. In their defense, there are any number of famous Ninth Tier Adventurer who came from humble beginnings.”
Jeb nodded. “And the risks in adventuring are at least unknown, as opposed to the known life that they would face in their conditions,” he continued. Seeing his aunt’s shock, Jeb hurried to explain, “Grandfather mentioned that fear of the unknown and thrill in the unknown are far closer than most are willing to admit. It took me a while to figure out what he meant, but that was my best guess.”
“Well enough said,” the Harvester finally spoke up. “Anyways, it looks like it’s time to go back to the fields. Sue,” he tipped his hat, “I’ll be seeing you.”
As he walked away, Jeb noticed that the crowd was starting to fade. No one was rushing to finish their meals, but those that had began walking back to the fields or their homes. Jeb looked down at his own plate and realized that he still had most of his meal left. Looking at his aunt’s plate and seeing it nearly empty, he began shoveling the food into his mouth.
When he had finished, he and his aunt walked back to the kiln. The rush of hot air that came out when he opened the door nearly bowled him over. “Was it that hot when we left?” Jeb asked.
His aunt shrugged. “Probably not. Without the oats coming in to soak up a lot of the heat, it probably heated up a fair bit more. It won’t cool down too much, though.”
“Why not?”
His aunt just looked at him for a moment. “Because we won’t let it,” she finally said. “The hotter the general air in the kiln is, the faster we can dry out the crops we need. Even if the Harvester was joking, I would love to no longer be the pace limiting step in the harvest this year.”
Jeb saw a fire burning in his aunt’s eyes. It mirrored the fire that he felt burning beneath their feet. As he nodded and called Least Move Air up to show he understood, the first load of oats came pouring out of a crate.
Jeb worked without a break for hours on end. While he had the Mana to do so, he used Least Move Fire and Least Create Fire to keep the kiln evenly hot. As his aunt had told him, they never let a region cool off. Instead, as sections started heating up, she told him to start heating the rest of the kiln floor as well.
In the moments that the fire was stable or his aunt was working to stoke and replace the wood in the fire, Jeb used Least Move Air to make sure that there were no places where water vapor or heat could build up too much. When his Mana emptied, Jeb took turns stoking the fires by hand and turning the piles of oats.
He quickly learned to recognize the way that a pile of oats would change smell as it grew dry and then slightly toasted. By the time that his aunt signaled at him to take a break, Jeb felt like he could do all of the work with his eyes closed. The smell of the air was different when it was stagnant, and he felt like he could connect to the entire kiln when he used Least Move Air.
“This should be our last load of oats, at least for now,” his aunt said, handing him a water skin.
“How do you know?” Jeb took a drink as he listened to her answer.
“They left a message in the latest cartful,” his aunt said, gesturing at the pile of oats waiting to be spread.
“Where?”
“The pile is the message,” his aunt said. Jeb stared at the pile, trying to understand where there was a hidden meaning. When he couldn’t figure it out, his aunt suggested that he start drying it.
When Jeb went to spread the oats into a thin layer across the floor, he understood what the message was. The load of oats that they had been delivered was only half the size that the previous loads had been.
“Aunt Esther,” he called without looking up or pausing. “Was the message the fact that the pile is smaller?”
“Exactly,” she called from where she was stoking the flames. “Next should be feed corn. If you want to dry it by pulling water out, that would be greatly appreciated.”
“Ok!” Jeb saved his Mana, working the oats entirely by hand. Almost the moment that they poured the oats down the chute to be taken to mill, a cart full of corn was dumped into the room. While his aunt started spreading the corn out on the floor, Jeb focused on pulling the water out of it.
His Pollinating Skill started screaming at him, and Jeb strained his mind to ask a question while holding the Glyph and its effect. “Do we need to keep some water in the corn in case we want to sprout any of it?”
His aunt looked surprised. “It would be better if we can,” she said. “I didn’t realize that you were able to talk while working your Glyphs.”
Jeb couldn’t hold the split focus any longer. He hoped that his silence would be enough of an answer. Pulling water out of the corn meant that it took far less time to dry than the oats had. Since the food was only going to livestock, flavor was less important.
Somehow, despite the fact that Jeb knew that they were working far more quickly, it seemed like they were falling behind. When they finished a load of oats, there were often periods of a few moments to minutes where no other oats came down. With the corn, though, as soon as they had sent one load down the chute, another load came through the grate. When they finally paused for dinner, Jeb asked his aunt why that was.
“There are a few reasons,” she said, breathing deeply. She began holding up fingers to mark them as she spoke. “A lot of the Harvesters are more efficient at harvesting corn than oats. Corn is easier to harvest in large quantities than oats. The Skills your grandfather uses to increase our Statistics become more effective the longer that the Harvest lasts without sleep.” She seemed to consider something for a moment, “which is part of why we try to avoid sleeping whenever possible. I’m sure that there’s an element of seeing how quickly we can move, though that would only be a few people. There are probably other reasons, but they likely either tie into one of those or aren’t a primary reason.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Jeb’s mind spun at some of what his aunt had said. He didn’t feel like he was any stronger or faster than he had been the day before, but his aunt’s comment seemed to imply that he should be. Before he could ask about that, the two of them were given a plate of food, and Jeb realized just how hungry he was.
When he was able to focus again, he saw that the plate was empty. Someone came around with a pot of whatever they’d been eating, and seeing Jeb trying to mop the last remnants of the meal up with an end of bread, put another scoop onto his plate. Now that his hunger was less pressing, Jeb found that he was able to enjoy the meal.
It was always the best part of harvest season. Wherever possible, fresh produce featured in all of the foods. There was nothing quite like eating an ear of corn that had been plucked mere moments before it was placed into a pot of boiling water to cook. Truthfully, Jeb had fond memories of sharing a raw ear with other Unclassed children when they had harvested corn in prior years.
The sudden realization that he would never try to hide the evidence of a midday snack in the fields while adults laughed and mentioned their own times doing the same struck Jeb then. No matter what his future brought, it was not going to be the same careless harvest that he had spent with friends and family. Even if he did not remain the crop drier forever, he would almost certainly start giving input into how the harvest should proceed.
With a start, Jeb realized that he might not even be in town for harvests forever. Every Magic Primer was very clear that Mages needed to apprentice under Higher Tier Mages. The Priest, Librarian, and even the Bard had made similar comments. Though Jeb knew that the food hadn’t suddenly grown less delicious, he stopped tasting any of it as he thought about where his future might take him.
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: 370 Physical Load: 139 Strength: 33 Dexterity: 26 Endurance: 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: 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)