[ 5 days passed.

14% progress on mana sense,

7% progress on vindicator,

3 % progress of all dweller traits,

2% progress on hiker, bodybuilder, flexible and mana manipulation.]

Tonight is a clear night again, and I'm enjoying the purity of the crystal-clear sky. I just don’t tire of it, the undisturbed quiet, the ever so slightly changing embrace of the galaxy, staying the same yet always just different enough that you can feel it's alive. The sight of a million worlds beyond reach, yet probably closer than Earth.

What can one man do but dream, when lost in the endless immensity?

I feel like I’ve learned and accomplished a lot in the last five days and yet it’s a bit insignificant isn’t it?

I got my first unbound stat gain three days ago. One point of strength. Unbound means that it isn’t tied to a trait, and it’s actually really important to gain stats that way because there is a cap to how many stats the system may grant through traits. For Gilfeiths it’s usually somewhere around 100 points with small individual variations.

After strength, dexterity, constitution and even intelligence followed suit. It’s a bit weird having the system bluntly stating that about one week of effort is enough to grow one percent better than the average human. Are we that lazy of a species that, it’s not even two years of effort to go from being average to being twice the average?

Well, considering modern comfort, maybe.

I can believe it for the physical body, but for intelligence it seems really strange.

Well, saying the brain is just another muscle we can get better at flexing is a common enough stance…

Yeah sure, but how did the system decides this stuff. With me being there, can’t we think twice as fast as normal already if we work together?

I don't think that's how it works...

We’ve kind of been doing that with magic.

True, we’ve had some really good progress on magic, but it was mainly on you. Rather than actual intelligence, we're just multitasking.

Yeah, I finally started sensing mana today. All that painful time trying to open to the world paid off. Even with how fuzzy it still is, having a brand new sense is an extremely strange sensation. In all honesty, it’s only thanks to Bob’s experiences with mana manipulation, our latest trait, that I’ve been able to feel something. The tiniest feeling that something is going on in different places in my body as Bob works on trying to clump the particles of mana together. It isn’t an itch, it isn’t a smell, or a sound, or a color, or a taste. It’s something other in every way. I can just somehow pick up that tiny signal and I know some mana is there.

You'll see it's pretty much everywhere. As I’m getting better, I’ve been realizing smaller motes are in everything.

Yeah. I’m not cut in the right cloth to be a mage.

Apparently, while everybody can work on it and eventually start sensing mana, gilfeiths don’t consider magic a viable path in life if they can’t feel mana naturally. Talented mages are usually spotted when still young. Kids who just start doing things with magic that simply obeys their will tend to be… Noticeable.

I’ll get us there bro, don’t worry.

I don’t doubt it. And I’ll keep taking care of us and keep progressing on non magical stuff.

I’ve settled into a good rhythm now. My health is almost back to full, sitting at 107/110.My place is clean and I even built a small stock of food, enough for a few days. I’ve improved a little the comfort of my sleep with some dry hay underneath an old thick goat skin. It’s not really worth an actual mattress, but it’s better than dirt. Sunburns haven’t been an issue anymore as my tan got a bit darker and I've been spending time in the shade, either inside a house or in the forest. My feet had a chance to heal and are swiftly becoming calloused, in no small part thanks to the barefoot training sessions.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The morning training was terrifying again when Pheyis showed up two days ago, but when she’s not there, I walk out of it with enough energy to get some work done. Work is mostly walking around between places carrying stuff, which got me some hiker progresses.

After the dead bird of the first day, I didn’t get any other mark of hostility quite as obvious, but I’m fairly confident some people really worked themselves up into hating me. However, all i'm seeing are only mean looks and disdain, so I don’t let myself care. If all they plan to do is avoiding me and whispering in my back, that just means it’s easier to find the people worth meeting.

Perhaps they believe I’ll crack from the subtle pressure of ostracization, but I can easily laugh that off. I’ve lived and worked in that hellish city we call Paris. Disregard and indifference is the default behavior there.

I'll deal with it when it becomes a problem, if it becomes a problem.

For now, I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, not because anything special happens on the first day of the peak of the second of spring, but because I expect to reach level two by lunchtime. I’m only 5% progress away.

Right, gilfeith timekeeping, Aetmon taught me about it. They have a relatively logical calendar of ten months of 33 days. Those are the first and second of spring, then summer has three months, autumn has two and winter has three. Instead of having weeks, those months are cut into three slices of eleven days, they call those the rise, peak and fall of the months. There’s also a leftover day at the end of the year, between winter and spring, the day of rebirth. I’m not totally sure what happens on that day but it seemed pretty crazy because apparently mana has a cycle that causes the very sharp weather changes which define the seasons.

I arrived on the first day of spring, making it twelve days to gain one level. The next level is supposed to be twice as long. Then levels three to four will be three times as long and four to five will be four times as long as this first level from one to two.

Even if I speed up, that sums to about a hundred days to reach level five and the system translation skill. I think I’ll have enough siacnar down by then that I shouldn’t need to rely on a system crutch anymore.

I wonder if at some point the system would let us travel to those faraway stars, or if it’s at such a high level that we’ll also find a better alternative than relying on the system before having the required level.

Traveling to the stars sounds like a tall order, but maybe we could we use magic to get out of this planet. I haven’t seen a moon yet though, so we wouldn’t even have this first step available.

...

I’m slowly drifting into sleep, the sky up above growing blurry in my field of view when the notice startle me back awake.

Trait formation notice : Star-longer (-) 1%

Star-longer (minor)

You are but one insignificant man in a vast universe. Yet, like for countless others before you, being aware of this emboldens your spirit rather than dampen it. As you behold the timeless beauty of the great dance of the stars, you can only try to dream at the same scale, and long for being more. This Trait currently has no system enforced effect.

This Trait is in its forming stage (1%)

This Trait is in its forming stage, making it more likely to be lost.

This Trait resonates with your race, it is likely to become [Racial] once fully formed, and grows faster than usual.

Uh.

That’s a strange one. A trait that doesn’t even do a minor thing?

Maybe it’s the system figuring out a part of my character, just like those traits I had from the beginning.

But those do have some effect, this one is saying it doesn’t do anything.

Wait, they do?

Come to think of it, I never checked out the details on the traits regarding my character. It just felt right to see them there.

Prudent

While not opposed to new experiences, you prefer to take the steps needed to approach things carefully and you tend to avoid taking risks. This Trait helps you evaluate the risks inherent to a situation and quickly find ways to reduce them.

This Trait has been granted as part of a character evaluation, making it less likely to be lost

Cynical

You have learned to not misplace your trust and your hopes. You know that people mostly move according to their self-interest, and act accordingly. This Trait helps you notice the little lies of those who claim to be righteous.

This Trait has been granted as part of a character evaluation, making it less likely to be lost

Altruistic (minor)

You are a man who occasionally feels genuine and selfless concern for the well-being of others. This Trait makes it easier for others to notice this positive side of you and makes them more likely to answer a selfless act in kind.

This Trait has been granted as part of a character evaluation, making it less likely to be lost

OK, those actually do something. Damn. And here I was thinking they were just here for flavor.

Yeah. It’s nothing to write home about but it’s there.

Well, it says currently, sounds like something will come up eventually. I can’t say that I mind too much that it doesn't do anything except bringing me one step closer to level two.

I didn’t expect looking up would bring me a trait in the first place, I just enjoy watching the sky.

It's soothing.