Rylan groggily rubbed his eyes and sat up, the world spinning around him. His surroundings were pitch-black, and for a moment he wondered where he was.

Then the rancid smell of the bamboo bucket hit him, and he suddenly knew his exact location.

I’m in the cooler?! What the fog—

The events from before came to Rylan in a rush. He’d been working in the kitchen, Seth had been pissing him off, and there was this fly...

His eyes widened, not that it helped him see.

I have a Skill! I’m a Quinthar!

And from his last memory before Ethereon started ‘integrating’ him—whatever that meant—Seth had realised as much.

And yet, Rylan was still in the cooler.

I bet Seth didn’t tell them I gained a Skill, so they locked me in here as punishment for the incident or something.

Normally, he’d be pissed off, and probably praying to Zeph for a change, a swift release from his confinement, but right now, Rylan was too elated to really care.

He’d already gotten his change. Compared to him gaining a Skill, the fact that he’d ended up in the cooler again was a minor matter.

He pinched the skin on the back of his hand to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Pain had never been such a relief, but he still couldn’t help but worry that it somehow hadn’t happened, that it wasn’t real.

Well, he’d just have to check.

Rylan cleared his throat. “Ehm, Blessed Ethereon,” he spoke softly, partly out of reverence, and partly out of an inane worry that someone might hear him talking to himself and think he’d gone foggy in the skull. “Might I perhaps see my Status?”

For one long, terrifying moment, nothing happened. But then, he felt a prickling in the back of his neck, like someone—or something—had briefly glanced at him, and a rectangular frame of light appeared before him, hovering in the air.

He watched wide-eyed as more light swirled in front of him, forming glowing letters and numbers that filled in the centre of the frame.

Status

Mana Pool: 10/10

Attributes

Strength 1

Dexterity 3

Endurance 2

Mind 0

Perception 3

Presence -1

Free points: 3

Skills

Knife-Throwing, Rank 1

Quint Structures

Mana Core, Tier I

Mana Pool, Tier I

Quintessence Credits: 100

Rylan gaped at the floating text in wonder. Tears welled up in his eyes but he hurriedly wiped them away when they started to make the letters blurry.

It’s real... I really did it.

After taking a moment to compose himself, he scooted back against the rough stone wall, and started poring over his Status Window. I guess I can kind of see why people call it that, with the border around it, and the way you can still see through it.

Sitting there cross-legged in the dark, damp room, he hungrily went over the glowing lines one by one, recognising some things from stories, and trying to make sense of others.

He actually had mana! One of the simplest ways to make money as a Quinthar was to sell mana to power things like firemetal for heating or cooking, or glowmetal for illumination. It wasn’t worth a lot, as a single Quint Cube could be expended for as much as 1000 points of mana—as long as it was drained very slowly—but still.

A Quint Cube was worth about a bronze quarter and a bit or two. As there went eight copper bits into a bronze quarter, that meant it was about 100 mana to a copper bit.

His current Mana Pool was worth a whole tenth of a bit... and it refilled for free! It was essentially a wellspring of value, which he knew could be improved. But he’d get to that section later.

First, he pressed on to his Attributes, the things he’d always dreamt of knowing.

For starters, his Strength was a 1. Well, that was pretty all right, he supposed, he hadn’t even necessarily expected it to be net positive.

From what he understood, the Attributes were boosts provided by the spirit to the flesh. In that sense, muscles had little to do with the Strength Attribute, except as contrast. If you saw a skinny guy lifting a lot of weight, he probably had a high Strength Attribute.

His Dexterity, however, was actually a 3!

High, as he’d always hoped and suspected. The cut he’d made into his thumb earlier really had been a rare occasion, as his fingers had always felt rather nimble, and he rarely stumbled or fumbled anything. It was very gratifying to see that he’d been right, and that his spirit was indeed reinforcing his coordination.

An Endurance of 1 was not bad either. It made Rylan wonder if that was something innate, or if that was something he’d developed in his spirit by being stubborn and working hard.

His Mind was a 0, which... well, to be honest, it was the Attribute Rylan probably understood the least. It had something to do with thinking, clearly.

He was quite sure he wasn’t stupid. Then again... if he was stupid, would he be able to tell?

Rylan's brows drew together.

Of course, Attributes were supposed to just be boosts. If a very buff person could have a low Strength score, then surely a smart person could have a low Mind score, right?

Satisfied with that explanation, Rylan moved on.

His Perception was at a 3 as well!

This was a little unexpected to Rylan. He’d realised he was sharp-eared, and had a well-developed sense of smell, but the extent of it caught him off-guard. Then again, this was only a boost, so maybe his natural senses were a little dull, and his Spirit just compensated for it?

Rylan shook his head, deciding not to dive too deep into that mist-eel’s den of thought.

Finally his Presence was a -1.

Rylan stared at that number for a while.

From what he understood, Presence was the Attribute linked to most social Skills. Did this mean his spirit was underdeveloped in this area compared to some baseline, or was it actively hindering his ability to connect to the people around him?

He hoped it was the former, but if it was the latter, well, he supposed that just meant it really wasn’t his fault if he rubbed people the wrong way sometimes, right?

Except... he now actually had the means to do something about it. He had received three free points upon gaining his first Emerald-Grade Skill, after all.

Stolen novel; please report.

Rylan stared at his free points for a long time. Tempting as it was to spend them right away, improve himself in a very noticeable manner, he knew what a limited resource the points represented.

There were not a lot of ways to increase one’s Attributes. Supposedly, it could occur from natural growth of the spirit, but that was a very slow process.

Then there were Enhancers, the different kinds of precious gems rewarded for clearing Dungeons, but Dungeons didn’t exactly grow on clouds, and they were generally hogged either by noble families or free cities.

Theoretically, Rylan could always stumble upon some hidden Dungeons while exploring the Cloudsea, but the odds of finding one in the immediate vicinity of an inhabited island were obviously rather slim, and the deeper one went into the Cloudsea, the harder it was to find one’s way back.

By contrast, the free points from Ethereon were—in a weird way—easier to obtain. However, Ethereon’s rewards came with diminishing returns. For his second Emerald-Grade Skill, Rylan would only get 2 points. From the third on, only 1.

And of course, the most important use for those points was to raise his Attributes to meet the requirements for new Skills. But he still had no idea what those requirements were!

His eyes fell on the next part. His Skill: Knife-Throwing, Rank 1.

He frowned.

“Ehm, Blessed Ethereon, could I trouble you for a little more information about my Skill?”

This time, the reaction was practically instantaneous, and another window popped up to the right of his Status.

Knife-Throwing

Rank 1

Effects

Blade guard

Stable flight

Forceful impact

Attribute Requirements

Strength ≥ 0

Dexterity ≥ 3

Perception ≥ 3

Ooh, so the Skill protects my blade, stabilises its flight, and increases its impact...

Rylan couldn’t help but note that it said nothing about improving his accuracy, or the blade’s speed. Other than providing a more stable flight, his Skill didn’t seem to change the arc of his throw at all...

I definitely need to practise!

While his fingers itched to get started with that—and to try out his new Skill—Rylan was sitting in a small, dark, bare room without any knives on him, so he moved on to the Attribute Requirements.

While he’d learned basic arithmetic, he wasn’t familiar with the symbol in between the names of his Attributes and their numeric values. However, the moment he laid eyes on them, Ethereon seemed to whisper its meaning into his spirit, and he understood it to mean ‘equal to or greater than.’

That meant the requirements for the Knife Throwing Skill were a minimum of 0 in Strength, 3 in Dexterity, and 3 in Perception. Well, even with what he felt were pretty high Attributes, he’d just barely met those requirements... It was starting to make sense why only one in a thousand people unlocked a Skill.

The question now was, what other Skills did Rylan meet the requirements for? Or rather, could he meet the requirements for, after distributing his free points...

I could raise either my Endurance or Strength to 3, and use the last point to bring Presence up to 0. If other Skills have similar requirements, that should open up a whole bunch of them, right?

On the other hand, he only knew the Attribute requirements of a single Skill now, which was not a lot to go on. Moreover, Sapphire-Grade Skills probably had some kind of requirements too. If he could get one of those, the rewards would probably be much greater...

Rylan gritted his teeth, his enthusiasm souring a little.

The Thistlethorns clearly still had him at a large disadvantage in terms of information. Perhaps it was even enough to explain why nearly all the Thistlethorns were Quinthar. Maybe Enhancers had simply made the difference by allowing them to meet the Attribute requirements they knew existed for certain Skills, thus massively increasing their chances to gain one.

Shaking his head, Rylan firmly decided he wasn’t going to make any hasty decisions, and turned back to the final section of his Status Window.

“Blessed Ethereon, might I know more about my Quint Structures?”

A split second later, a third window popped up, to the left of his Status.

Quint Structures

Installed

Mana Core, Tier I

Mana Pool, Tier I

Available

Mana Core Tier Up (1000 Q)

Mana Pool Tier Up (1000 Q)

Mana Shell (100 Q)

Quintessence Credits: 100

Rylan read over the new window with great interest.

He’d never heard of Mana Cores before, but when he focused on the unfamiliar words, Ethereon once again seemed to whisper meaning into his spirit.

So an Emerald-Grade, Tier I Mana Core produces approximately 1 point of mana per hour...

Despite himself, Rylan was a bit disappointed at that. His dream of getting rich quickly by just selling his mana seemed to be out of reach, for now.

But it can be upgraded!

It seemed like asking Ethereon to install or upgrade Quint Structures in his spirit wasn’t cheap, however. Focusing on the letter Q, Rylan quickly came to understand that each unit of Quintessence was equivalent to a Cube. He’d known Quinthar were capable of absorbing those, but had never really quite understood what they needed them for. It seemed pretty clear now.

One thousand Cubes to upgrade a Mana Core to the next Tier... that’s insane!

A thousand Cubes... that was worth over 300 Silver Florins; more than enough to settle his debt.

However, at the very bottom of the window, it also stated his current budget, which was a full 100 units of Quint! 100 Cubes!

“Blessed Ethereon,” Rylan said, nervously licking his lips. “Might I... withdraw a Cube from my reserves?”

He held up a shaky hand, and after a moment... a voice spoke inside his head.

《Local Cube conversion requested. Generating 1 Quintessence Cube at a cost of 10 Quintessence Credits.》

“What? No!” Rylan quickly exclaimed, retracting his hand like he’d burnt it. “Stop! Abort conversion!”

《Process terminated, Credits refunded.》

Once he’d recovered from his heart attack, Rylan opened his mouth. “Blessed Ethereon, why... why does a Cube cost ten Credits? Aren’t they worth exactly one Credit?”

《Query not understood.》

Rylan blinked. Query... not understood?

He was starting to get why some people believed Ethereon wasn’t one of the Great Spirits. Not that he really understood what the Great Spirits were, or what they were capable of, but he felt like this wasn’t it. Ethereon seemed so... mechanical. Lifeless.

“Ethereon,” he started after a moment. “Forgive me my rudeness, but... who or what are you, exactly?”

《Query not understood.》

Rylan’s brows furrowed. “Then, can you tell me about Skill requirements?”

In lieu of an answer, the window displaying his Knife-Throwing Skill closed, then reopened. Rylan stared at it, but didn’t get anything from the glowing letters.

“Ethereon, please list all the Skills for which I meet the requirements,” he tried.

《Query not understood.》

Rylan sighed, leaning his head back against the rough stone. It seemed like Ethereon wasn’t going to be much help in closing the gap in knowledge he had with the Thistlethorns...

But I don’t need to stay beholden to them. I can find other people to teach me.

In the meantime, he decided to hold off spending any of his stored Quintessence on the only Quint Structure he could afford: the Mana Shell.

As awesome as it would be to have a protective layer of mana covering his body—and no matter how much the conversion rate might hurt—if push came to shove, he might need the Cubes more.

Now he just needed to wait for someone to let him out of the cooler, so he could show off his new Skill, and have a nice chat with the Thistlethorns about the anklet, and his future.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he’d missed dinner... and probably wouldn’t be getting any, since he was in the cooler. Bunch of clodpolls. Just wait till they find out!

As if on cue, Rylan heard approaching footsteps echo through the hall.

He got up and carefully felt his way to the door, wary of accidentally kicking over the bucket. It was probably empty, but you could never be too sure.

With his ear pressed to the door, he could easily hear the sound of a chair scraping over stone in the distance, followed by a greeting.

“Hey Loukas,” a voice spoke. Even through the thick bamboo, Rylan immediately recognised it as belonging to Grumpy Gordo, the oldest of the Thistlethorns’ guards. “What brings you to my impromptu little guard post this evening?”

“Got a letter here for your ward,” the young guard that Zahra was courting replied. “Arrived by gull in the afternoon, but I guess Rylan never swung by the post station. Is he awake yet?”

“Not sure,” Gordo grunted. “Haven’t heard any cursing or complaining yet, but Rylan’s been in the cooler a time or two, so who knows. Let’s have a look, shall we?”

Rylan blinked. Wait, is Gordo here to guard me? Why though? And a letter? Who could possibly be sending me a letter? Is it just an excuse for Loukas to pas me a message from Zahra or something?

Footsteps approached the door, then, accompanied by the sound of jingling keys, so Rylan backed up a little, but they just came to a halt in front of the door, and it didn’t open.

He still flinched when three loud bangs rang out, the sound of a fist hitting bamboo. “Oy, you awake, kid?”

Rylan huffed out a breath. “If I wasn’t before, your smell certainly would have woken me as you approached.”

“Good!” Gordo replied, the grin evident in his voice. “Evening naptime is for little kids, not young punks like yourself.”

Despite himself, Rylan felt a smile coming on. “Then how come I always seem to find you asleep at your post?”

Gordo let out a short burst of laughter. “He’s awake all right. Have at it.”

Receding footsteps accompanied by jingling keys and off-tune whistling let Rylan know Gordo was moving away again, leaving Loukas by the door.

“Hey bud,” Loukas said softly, “You all right in there?”

“Well, the bathtub is a little small,” Rylan replied dryly, “but other than that, I’m most satisfied with the accommodations.”

Loukas chuckled. “Sounds like you’re doing all right, then. So... is it true? Did you really get a Skill?”

Rylan’s mouth fell open. “What? How do you know about that?”

“So it’s true then?” Loukas asked excitedly. “Rylan, that’s amazing, congratulations!”

“Thanks Lou, but, seriously, how do you know?”

“How could I not? It’s all everyone’s talking about!”

Rylan stared at him, uncomprehending. “But... if everybody knows about it, then why am I in here?”

It was silent for a moment. “That’s a good question,” Loukas soberly replied. “It’s kinda... weird, isn’t it? Hey Gordo, when are you supposed to let him out?”

“I’m not!” Gordo shouted back. “Was told they’d come for him in the morning, but that’s the next guard’s problem; my shift ends in two hours!”

“What the fog is going on?” Rylan muttered, partially to himself.

“I’m not sure,” Loukas said slowly. “But if Zahra or I find out, we’ll let you know. Oh, almost forgot: here’s your letter.”

With a noise of metal scraping against metal, the hatch in the door opened up a sliver, and in the dim glow that momentarily entered the pitch-dark room, Rylan saw a tiny length of bamboo slip through before it clattered onto the cold stone. Then the hatch closed again, leaving him in the dark.

“Hang in there, Rylan,” Loukas said. “I’ll be back later if I can.”

Then his footsteps started to recede.

There actually is a letter? Wait, how in the hazy depths am I supposed to read it in here?!