Lord Koravin had short blonde hair and light hazel eyes. He wore an ornate fur coat that was covered with a light dusting of white snow. A sword was strapped to his belt, and he gently carried a small bundle in his hands. Based on the design of the sword, I knew that it had been magically enchanted to a significant extent. Something like that would cost about 500 Etronian gold coins, the average yearly income of 50 normal people.
“It’s good to see you, Riomed!” Armond Feldrast said happily. “It must have been freezing out there. Here, let me help you heat up.”
Armond pointed a single gloved finger straight up into the air, and a flame appeared a few centimeters in front of it. He summoned a Hellfire spark with such ease. If I had tried to do the same thing, it would give me a headache for several minutes. Count Armond Feldrast walked up to Lord Riomed Koravin and held the flame such that they could both feel the heat.
“Thank you, Armond,” Riomed said, smiling. “I’m here to present the next Lady of Sableton.” Though Riomed’s words had a formal diction, he delivered his words with the cadence of familiarity. Clearly, he just wanted to show his daughter off to an old friend.
I knew a lot about Lord Riomed Koravin, because he was still alive by the beginning of [Ferrum Online]. Lord Koravin was the leader of Sableton and a level 40 Magic Knight. Once the original Thale Feldrast had taken control of the Northern Realms, Riomed Koravin led the rebellion. He was also the first named NPC to be killed by Hellfire.
Lord Koravin pulled back some of the fabric to reveal an infant’s face. The child couldn’t be more than two weeks old. Her eyes were closed, and a few strands of blonde hair had already started growing on her scalp. Her skin was pale, and she was shivering slightly.
[Observe, level 5]
Name: Nina Koravin
Class: None
HP: 1
MP: 1
Fortitude: 1
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 1
Charisma: 1
Talents: [Lie Detection], [Doppelganger]
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Wow, her Talents were almost as powerful as my own. There were two Talents in Ferrum that altered everyone’s behavior: [Observe] and [Lie Detection]. When activated, [Lie Detection] would allow the user to know when someone has told a lie, unless the liar had a ward or magic item specifically against it.
Whereas most nobles wore a Ring of Mind-Shielding that prevented their minds from being targeted by [Observe] and other forms of mind magic, most did not wear the “Liar’s Ring,” because wearing one meant you intended to lie. To adapt to [Lie Detection], most nobles merely wouldn’t lie. Naturally, the nobles of Ferrum found plenty of other ways to be deceitful.
“Wonderful!” Armond said. He directed his next sentence to Nina. “I suppose I’ll be working with you when your dad kicks the bucket in twenty years.”
“Hey!” Riomed interjected with a smile. “I’m still four years younger than you. What makes you think you’ll outlive me?”
“We Feldrasts are favored by the Goddess; She would never allow for me to suffer an early death,” Armond said with an impish smile.
Everyone in the room was silent for several seconds before Lord Riomed Koravin exploded into raucous laughter. Walter and Melissa looked on in confusion, and Tabitha lightly swatted him on the arm, though she was grinning slightly.
Wiping tears away, Riomed said, “You know, Armond. Blasphemy is still frowned upon, even in the Northern Realms.”
Even though his words implied a harsh rebuke, Riomed’s tone made it clear that he fully supported and enjoyed Armond’s joke.
“I don’t understand,” Miriam said with a frown. “What’s so funny?”
Armond’s expression suddenly tightened up as if he had just been caught telling a dirty joke in front of a child. “Well… uh… I’ll explain it to you when you’re a bit older, okay?”
“Okay!” Miriam said with a smile.
----------------------------------------
Months passed.
Melissa and my mother started reading Introduction to Transmutation Magic to me when I sat in my crib. Through various happy and sad intonations, I was able to convince Melissa to hold me on her lap when she read the book to me. With that, I began to slowly gather information on the written form of Common.
The process was somewhat slow due to two factors. The Common alphabet was phonetic, unlike English. The unfamiliarity of the language slowed me down. A certain letter always mapped on to a certain sound. For example, my first name, Thale, was written with only three letters: ᛀᛣᚩ or Th-ae-l.
The other factor slowing my progress was sickness. Less than two weeks after Lord Koravin’s visit, I came down with a fever. It became very difficult for me to move while I was sick, and the racking cough I had developed caused me to occasionally cough up blood.
Based on the symptoms, I knew that this wasn’t some deadly disease that I had contracted. The problem wasn’t the disease, it was the Trait I had gained at birth: [Sickly].
[Sickly] is a highly detrimental Trait that prevents the person afflicted from developing their body to any significant extent. [Sickly], like the less detrimental Trait [Frail], causes all the afflicted person’s physical stats to be halved. In addition, [Sickly] also doubles the harmful effects any diseases, maladies, infections, poisons, or venoms have on the afflicted person.
That Trait was my biggest problem. [Sickly] was a significant detriment to any character in [Ferrum Online], and it was next to impossible to remove. It wasn’t an illness. It was a mere quantification of my own weak body.
I knew of one solution to my [Sickly] Trait. The original Thale Feldrast had solved the problem of his weak body by transforming himself into an undead. He had figured out a method of retaining his intelligence as a magically animated zombie, though it left much to be desired. He had turned himself into a lich, and he could only retain his intellect if he consumed an innocent soul once every ten days.
Needless to say, I would need to think of a different solution.