Having reached the ‘get to know Chadwick’ part of the list about two weeks in, Seth was apprehensive. He had admittedly been avoiding both that item on the list and talking to the man in general, which made suddenly trying to get to know him feel unbearably awkward. He managed to drag his feet by buckling down on camping practice and Virtue training for another two days before Levi threatened to help. His dad was understanding about it, but firm. Seth managed to get Levi to let up through the simple expedient of lying.

Miraculously, this actually worked. Seth was somewhat surprised until he remembered that Levi couldn’t sense his emotions anymore. Growing up, anything but very mild lies of technicality had never worked. After a day or two, Levi’s occasional questions about what Chadwick had said in their imaginary conversations started to feel pointed. Seth worried that Levi had realized his oversight, and didn’t want to admit he had lied. With great reluctance, he decided to try to get something out of Chadwick.

That evening, after cramming the one-person tent back under his bed, Seth turned to Chadwick, who was doing stretches of some kind.

“Uh, excuse me, Chadwick.” He said awkwardly. “Sorry to bother you.”

“Yes?” Chadwick said quietly, straightening.

“Do you know all of your abilities? Do you want more detail about them? Or the new one you get for becoming a Wanderer? Knowing the specifics could be helpful?” Seth asked uncomfortably. He kept himself from talking too quickly, but it felt like the breath in his chest was tightening up the more he said.

Chadwick raised an eyebrow. The visible flex of the muscle in his face pulled it so hard it became a diagonal line on his forehead.

“Why?” He asked simply.

“I have an ability that lets me learn more about other people’s abilities. Well, its two abilities. But one is kind of part of the other? But they do separate things. I guess the main one could help with the other one though. Anyway, I can tell you more about your abilities if you want. General stuff or specifics about one or maybe two, it depends. The specific one kind of hurts me a bit.” Having no breath left, and his chest feeling tingly, Seth stopped rambling.

There was an awkward pause as Chadwick was either considering or judging Seth’s conversational skills.

“Interesting.” Chadwick said, bending his arms behind his back to clasp one another. His torso muscles practically pulsed. “That could be useful information I suppose. Could you provide these ‘general details’ first?”

“Um, ok.” Seth said, a bit stilted.

He had already studied Chadwick’s Gene essence clump, both to sate his curiosity and because it was easier when someone held still. Seth had been worried that Chadwick would catch him staring in the middle of the night more than once. The perception from his Gene essence projection didn’t actually require sight any more than it required hearing, but having a physical sense on the subject helped somehow.

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“Based on the size, you probably have four abilities. Two from birthright, one as a Wanderer, and then Wandering Nature maybe? From the density, one of them is at the basic level, but probably not two. That will be the Wanderer warrior ability. There are a bunch of colors, and I don’t know most of them. I think all four abilities have Vital essence, though?” Seth said ponderously, making a show of peering at Chadwick and pausing as if in contemplation.

Chadwick went very still and stared at Seth intensely. It looked a bit like he was flexing, but Seth was distracted by the ominous glare. Not for the first time he wished he could sense emotions like his dad even though Levi kept warning him off learning the skill.

“How precisely did you ascertain that…general…information?” Chadwick asked in an oddly formal way.

“I have a basic essence use ability.” Seth explained quickly. “I can sort of visualize your abilities and tease out details from the image.”

“What essence?” Chadwick asked.

“Gene.” Seth replied.

“Huh.” Chadwick said, posture easing. “You’re wrong, by the way.”

“Oh, sorry.” Seth said, glad for the tension to ease. “What about? I’m still learning.”

“I do have four abilities, but the fourth one isn’t Wandering Nature.” Chadwick explained. “I hope to get that soon, but I actually got a third ability training with my father. Then Standard Warrior was my fourth.”

“Oh, good job!” Seth said, slightly impressed, but mostly happy that his guess about which warrior ability Chadwick had was right.

“Thank you.” Chadwick said sourly. “Now, if you want to look at one of my abilities more specifically, go ahead.”

“Great!” Seth said a bit too excitedly. This was what he had been hoping for, to prove to his dad that they were getting along. “I have to touch you to do that without hurting myself badly, is that alright?”

Chadwick shrugged, so Seth stepped over and extended a finger to poke him. He tried to focus on the extra dense part of the Gene essence clump with the ability. There was a shooting pain in his forearm and a tan pane appeared in front of him.

> Standard Warrior: Those who stand at the front and fight for their lives can be granted this enhancement to durability, proprioception, and all forms of strength.

>

> Basic: Develop an unnatural ability to do greater harm with your blows while suffering slightly less.

Seth mentally focused on making the information visible to other people, something he hadn’t tried before.

“Can you read this?” He asked Chadwick, gesturing at the pane with a red hand.

“...no.” Chadwick said, only glancing at the pane before returning his gaze to Seth. Specifically, Seth’s arm. “You do realize you’re bleeding? Badly?”

Seth looked down at his arm. And the red creek running down his robe. And the small puddle of blood on the floor. He also realized that it really, really hurt.

“ARGHF!” He exclaimed loudly and incoherently.

Levi was there suddenly, Chadwick following right after. Seth hadn’t even seen the noble leave the room.

“Focus your Virtue around the outside of the foreign essence.” Levi said quickly, wrapping a cloth around Seth’s forearm. The outermost veins from hand to elbow had split open. “I’m here, just follow my lead.”

Levi began pouring Virtue into Seth’s arm, and Seth blindly did the same.

“Thank you, Chadwick.” Levi said as he guided Seth out of the room.

Chadwick nodded absently. As Seth was led from the room, he saw Chadwick pulling a small book from one of his bags with a pinched expression.