Once he got back to the walls, he finally dismissed his final construct after creating a new pair of crutches. From there, he followed Asami Miki through the gate. She didn’t pause to even look at anyone else as she continued on her way, so he didn’t bother to do more than to nod at the Manelle family as he passed them by.

Celys looked as though she wanted to say something, but held back. Instead, she quickly gave a few instructions to the guards before gathering up her husband and following along.

Considering how awkward it was to try to look over his shoulder at the same time as he was moving forwards using crutches, he soon stopped trying. Which meant that he was now watching Asami Miki walk ahead of him, her impossibly fluffy tails swaying to and fro as she walked. In fact, that was pretty much all he saw of her besides her lower legs and the back of her head.

It was soon apparent that she was heading back to the Manelle family home, which made him feel more than a little bit awkward. Ashamed? He hadn’t exactly been polite when he’d left earlier that morning, nor had he been particularly… mature in the way he’d reacted to Celys’ orders. Sure, he wasn’t inclined to listen to someone who was literally trying to order him about. But he still could have handled that differently.

And, he suspected, he’d be hearing about it soon.

By the time they were sitting on the comfy cushions in the living room, Joram was on edge. He didn’t know what Asami Miki wanted with him, besides the vague idea that she really enjoyed the scratches and massage, nor was he looking forward to the talk he anticipated from Celys.

“Relax,” Asami Miki said, sounding bored. “You’re too wound up. Breath. Meditate. Something.”

Instead of meditating, he pulled up his notifications and went through them.

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the following Skills:

- Improved Accuracy

You’ve leveled the following Skills:

- Concentration 7 -> 8

- Improved Accuracy 1 -> 3

- Lucky 5 -> 7

- Privacy Mode 3 -> 6

- Quick Manifesting 4 -> 5

You’ve gained the following attribute points:

- +1 Speed

- +1 Intellect

- +1 Charisma

- +2 Luck

You’ve gained the following Title:

- Fox’s Favoured

You’ve gained the following Achievement:

- Pathless Slaughterer

The attribute gains were more than welcome. A new Skill was also nice, and upon further inspection, basically did what the Skill claimed: improved his accuracy. That said, it didn’t give him any hard numbers, which made him inclined to start practicing on a shooting range or something so that he could try to track any progress.

The other Skills improving was also welcome. He was really starting to see how [Quick Manifesting] was affecting his manifestation times. And given that Metacreation Powers tended to be on the longer end of the spectrum, he was over the moon.

The new Title made him a bit wary, though. If he could get a Title from something like that, was it a conditional Title? If Asami Miki, from whom he strongly suspected the Title originated, suddenly lost interest in him, would the Title vanish?

Not that he minded getting the Title, as it gave a good boost to the favourability ratings of any fox or foxkin that he interacted with. Considering his below-par social skills, he strongly suspected that it would wind up carrying him… a lot.

Then there was his new Achievement.

Pathless Slaughterer - I

- You’ve done what few have ever accomplished. By slaughtering over one hundred foes without taking a Path, you’ve proved both your determination and lethality.

- Benefits:

- Increase all damage to foes by 10%.

- Increase all experience gained by slaughtering your foes by 10%.

- Increased learning speed to learn new Combat Skills and the speed in which they level.

If he’d ever considered staying Pathless for longer than it took to find a Path that called to him….

Damn, that’s a crazy Achievement, he thought, still not quite believing what he was seeing.

‘Indeed,’ Avi piped in from beside him, getting both is attention as well as the attention of Asami Miki as she sipped on a mysteriously steaming cup of tea.

The thing that really triggered his curiosity was the “I” in the name, making him think that this Achievement was specifically made to be upgraded. And, he couldn’t help but think, to encourage people to stay Pathless longer.

But, what would be the point of that? He wondered, still fixed on the Achievement.

“To make more efficient Exterminators, of course,” Asami Miki said, looking at him as though she were trying to figure out if he were daft or something.

Joram looked at her for a bit, trying to figure out just what she wanted, and what she knew of… everything.

“A lot, but not all,” she said, once more annoying him by reading his mind. “Get over it. It’s as natural to me as breathing is to you,” she said, then tossed a tea biscuit at him.

He reflexively caught it, then refrained from throwing it back at her, not sure if his new Achievement would do something weird. Like making the tea biscuit actually hurt her, or getting a ridiculous Skill like “Death by Biscuit” or “Food Fighting”. So, he ate it.

For the first time ever, he saw her look at him in shock. Did she not expect me to eat it or something?!

“No!” she cried, looking unreasonably hurt, causing an inexplicable twinge in his chest.

Now feeling a bit bad, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he decided that it would be better to just stare out the window until something changed.

It didn’t take long before Celys and Nalun returned. They quickly found him and Asami Miki in the living room and joined them, sitting beside the albino vixen.

“I’m not… that,” Asami said, giving him an annoyed look. “I have colour! See?” She said, pulling one of her tails forward to show him its red tip.

Joram just nodded, still at a loss for how to deal with her. At times she seemed like the mysterious woman who knew more than everyone else. While at other times she struck him as… juvenile.

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Which got him another glare, but he was starting to get better at ignoring them, so that wasn’t so bad.

“Joram,” Celys said, now holding her own cup of steaming tea. “We should discuss what happened at the wall.”

He braced himself for a lecture, silently wondering if he should “age” himself so that he wouldn’t be treated like a kid. When he thought that, Asami Miki sat a bit straighter and fixed him with an intense stare.

“The first topic is your blatant disregard of authority,” Celys began, then went on at length into the importance of listening to orders and the rules in general.

Then she went on to explain how important it was for people to listen to the one in charge, especially when the village was under attack. When people stopped listening to orders in favour of doing what they thought best, then discipline broke down and soon the efficiency of their garrison broke apart and died. Everyone needed to play their role, and only that. People playing the [Hero], more often than not, got their people killed as they tried to save the would-be [Hero] from their mistakes.

“Next,” Celys said, taking another sip of tea to rehydrate herself after such a long monologue. “Are you truly Pathless?” she asked, fixing him with an intense stare.

He got he distinct impression that Nalun wouldn’t brook any lies. Not that he could lie about being Pathless.

“No,” he said, letting out a long breath. “I don’t have any Paths,” he finished, then stared pointedly at Asami Miki.

“Then, how do you explain what… you can do?” Celys asked, still not quite believing him.

“He’s telling the truth; he’s Pathless,” Asami Miki finally spoke up. “You could say that it’s… innate,” she finished, giving Celys a slight shake of her head.

Both the Chief and her husband exchanged a look before returning to stare at Joram once more.

Celys was about to speak once more when Myra and Kalduin stepped around the corner, then stopped when they noticed the atmosphere.

“I’ll go check on lunch,” Kalduin said, quickly abandoning his sister.

For her part, Myra looked torn between staying and leaving until the decision was taken away from her by Asami Miki.

“You. Sit over there,” she said, pointing at the cushion beside Joram, then turned to him. “I said, call me either name. Not both,” she said, confusing everyone present.

“Fine, Asami,” he said as Myra reluctantly sat beside him, then gave him the side eye because of his tone.

“Better,” she said, ignoring his tone. “Myra. You’ve done well in your duties as a [Miko]. Well done,” she said, nodding to the now flustered Myra. “But. Stop being silly. People live together because they need each other. They also need each other to let them know when they’re being silly. Listen to people more.”

Joram vary carefully avoided looking at Myra directly. The poor woman was so red at the admonition that she matched Asami’s red fur.

“You,” Asami then turned to Joram. “You’re just as silly. Stop it. People need other people, no matter the race,” she said, giving him a knowing look before addressing the both of them. “She likes you. Deal with it. You like him. Deal with it. I’m going to be staying by your side, Joram. So, deal with it,” she finished bluntly.

An “ancient fox” that’s as eloquent as a four-year-old, he thought with great amusement until a tea biscuit bounce off his head.

“Rude.”

Joram then, very deliberately, retrieved the tea biscuit and ate it, enjoying the look of horror on Asami’s face as he chewed.

“Deal with it,” he replied, his tone dryer than the biscuit.

That was, apparently, a step too far. Asami’s tails all poofed-out before she launched herself at him, yelling: “Give me more tea biscuits!”

* * *

After that rather embarrassing display, he was assigned to fix the mess he’d made outside of the west walls, or pay to have it done, his choice.

Grumbling, he set off to fix the damage, but not before heading to the bank to make another deposit, and to exchange some currency.

He’d gotten a whopping 1,882 bronze coins from the battle, along with 203 silver coins, 5 Grade D cores, 20 Grade C cores, and even a Grade B core from his first kill.

He decided to hold onto his cores for now, but deposited most of his coins into the bank. He didn’t anticipate needing too much cash for now, and if he really needed, cores were a generally accepted form of currency as well.

Then he was off to do his cleanup. He really should have expected that he’d be responsible for cleaning up his mess, so it wasn’t really any skin off his back to do so. Instead, he viewed it as an opportunity to practice some [Telekinesis]. Any practice was good practice, in his books.

So it was that he spent the next six hours moving earth with his mind, all the while being gawked at by the guards due to his skulk of spirit foxes. And Asami, when she showed up shortly after he started working.

He was seriously contemplating assimilating some foxkin DNA so that he’d fit in better. At least then he’d at least look like he fit in with all the foxes that had taken to following him around. And Asami.

She was, quite frankly, unnerving. As he worked, he was able to get a better look at her, taking in her features more than he’d been able to thus far. Mostly because he’d been way too uncomfortable around her to really get a good look at her. But over the course of those six hours, he realized that there were similarities to Altaea, and Avi, that he hadn’t noticed before.

For one, her overall figure. Sure, she was still a good ten centimetres shorter than he was, but her overall proportions were the same as Altaea’s. The next thing that he noticed was that even her facial features made her look like she could have been Altaea’s sister. Sure, probably a sister from another mister, but the resemblance was indeed there.

As for the similarities, they pretty much ended there. Her personality was completely different, as were her mannerisms. And she was blunt. And pushy when she wanted something.

“So, you’ll buy more tea biscuits when you’re done?” she pressed for the third time.

“Yes. That is, if there’s a store still open by the time I’m done,” he replied, trying hard to be patient with her.

“Good, good. Make sure to buy more tea as well. The good stuff, not cheap stuff.”

“Yes, yes,” he replied, but silently wondered how much that would cost him. Should he have kept more money in his inventory?

By the time he finally finished, he got another notification that made him smile.

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the following Skill:

- Telekinesis

You’ve leveled the following Skills:

- Concentration 8 -> 9

- Privacy Mode 6 -> 8

- Quick Manifesting 5 -> 6

- Telekinesis 1 -> 3

You’ve gained the following attribute points:

- +1 Intellect

He blinked at the new Skill, then gawked at its description as a new sensation flowed through his body.

Telekinesis

You have unlocked the ability to affect your environment, and everything in it, with your mind through impressive use of willpower.

The mass, number of things you can affect, and the range at which you can affect them, scales according to proficiency in this Skill as well as your Intellect.

This Skill uses Mana. If you do not already have access to Mana, this Skill will unlock that for you.

After checking his status, he found that he now had a Mana Pool, which explained the odd feeling he was still experiencing. It was almost like he had another heart that was pumping a different kind of blood through him.

“Hmm, good job,” Asami spoke from his side, causing him to nearly fall over in shock.

After stabilizing himself, he turned to her and spoke.

“Don’t do that!” he said, then took another few breaths before continuing. “What do you mean, ‘good job’?”

“Just that,” she said, shrugging. “It’s good to have both in your system,” she said, tapping his chest with her index finger, right over where he felt the odd circulation originating from.

A bit perturbed, Joram thought about things a bit more. What would having mana in his body do for him? Would it interact with his psionic power in ways that he wouldn’t like? Or would it prove to be more beneficial? Would the two sources of power in his body interact with one another? Or would they be like oil and water?

Then he remembered the Skill Book he’d looted that morning and retrieved it from his inventory to see if he could get any more information out of it.

Pyrokinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Pyrokinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows the user to create and manipulate [Fire]. Higher skill levels increase the volume of [Fire] that can be created, the intensity, the volume that can be manipulated, as well as the range at which it can be created and manipulated.

This Skill uses Mana. If you do not already have access to Mana, this Skill will unlock that for you.

He contemplated using the Skill Book right away, but decided to hold off for now. He had just unlocked Mana in his body and was hesitant to do anything more before he got used to what he already had.

“Ooh, good stuff,” Asami said as she leaned over to have a look at what he was holding.

“You enjoy using fire?” he asked, mildly curious as to whether or not her red-tipped ears and tails had anything to do with that.

“Mmm, yes,” Asami nodded, now looking the most serious that he’d ever seen her. “Fire is the best. Gets rid of everything if you’re good enough with it,” she said, nodding to herself again.

“True…” he replied, not really able to argue the point given her likely lack of understanding heat, temperature, and kinetic energy.

Though, he wondered if that really mattered in a world full of magic that was governed by a seemingly all-powerful System.

Asami looked at him again, this time a bit puzzled.

“Let’s see if any stores are still open!” he said enthusiastically, taking her by the arm before he once more realized that he needed both hands free to work his crutches. “So, what are your favourite flavoured tea biscuits?” he asked, trying to keep her distracted.

And much like the four-year-old that she acted like sometimes, it worked just as well as it had… in the past. Ridding himself of those thoughts, he worked very hard to pay attention to Asami’s enthusiastic commentary on the virtues of a myriad of different flavours that he’d honestly had no idea existed up to that point.

Luckily for them, the tea store was indeed open and ready for business. Unfortunately, his pocket book suffered greatly as Asami went to town, as it were. By the time they left the homey shop, he had six different, and expensive, teas as well as a dozen different flavours of tea biscuits. And a whole new tea pot that also came with four matching cups. And five trays.

He had put his foot down when she’d suggested a fancy strainer. He bloody well had one of those already, so he wasn’t going to waste even more money on another one.

What both surprised and pleased him after he’d paid for everything, was that the nice lady had packed away everything into a small crate-like box for them. He then thanked her again, giving her his second-best smile, which got him a wonderful smile in return, as well as an open invitation to return at any time.

A bit disconcerted after that, he let Asami drag him back to the Manelle’s place, deep in thought.