I: Greetings, Swagger. I am another of Forrest’s partners. I am pleased we have a method allowing us to communicate directly.
S: Hello, Interface. Will my interface be able to become intelligent?
I: No. I am a very rare type of interface.
FR: There are things about me you don’t know, Swagger. I’ll explain why I have a sapient interface later.
RS: It is very exciting to speak with you, Swagger.
S: Thank you, Rhetta. And for having Belenay Sholut make my barding. I love it.
AS: I’m sorry we didn’t think of inviting you to a party earlier, Swagger. Rina is the only smart one here.
CS: I just want to say I am jealous of my brother for having such a smart, handsome, stallion.
KS: I agree with Carrie!
Rina was getting impatient, “It wan’t smart. Why woun’t Swagger be able to join a party? Everyone tol’ me he could think like people. Anyway, Forrest, when can we ride?”
“Alright. I’ll join you in just a second. Carrie, do you see Ronkel, Harron, and Rahun talking with each other over to the right? Would you go get them please? They probably will all have special interest in Swagger’s new capability. Rina, please give Uncle Barrie party leadership so he can invite people while we are riding.”
A moment later, Dad said, “Thank you Rina. I’ve got it.”
Looking at Rina and Swagger, I wasn’t sure how to get on safely without bumping Rina. “Um, Rina, I think I have to take you down from Swagger for a second,and get on him first. Then I can pull you up to sit in front of me safely. Okay?” She agreed and we went through the maneuver. I’m glad she doesn’t weigh very much.
I saw that Dad had added the four folks Carrie was speaking with. I whisper something to Swagger.
S: Hello, Ronkel and Harron. Rahun, now we have two ways to speak!
Three heads turn to stare directly at Swagger instead of Carrie. I smiled at their expressions of surprise.
R.I: Hi, Swagger! I am Rint, Ronkel’s interface. I’m so happy we can talk now. I’m like you, new to knowing that I know I exist and being able to talk to others. Hello, Rina, everyone.
S: Hello, Rint. I saw R.I in the list but didn’t know who you were.
RR: Hi.
Arrjee added the reins of Kossa’s horse to his own. He brought the two horses over to two young Covargh adults I had seen but did not know. After a short conversation he returned, saying his friends would train with the horses to help them rank, then return them to the stables.
As he was doing that, Carrie’s group walked over and joined ours. When he got close, I could see Harron begin carefully examining Swagger. His head was slowly looking up and down, from his tail to his head. Then he walked to the other side and continued his scans. Ronkel and Rahun were petting him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the stable masters were speaking telepathically.
“Swagger,” Harron informed, “you are a very healthy horse. If I didn’t already know you were sapient and had an interface, I wouldn’t know you were anything other than an outstanding stallion.”
S: Thank you, Harron.
Ronkel said, “If your Analyze were Rank A, believe me, you would know.”
“Swagger and I owe Rina a ride. We’ll be watching party chat.” It was only 15:38, so the sun was still fully above the horizon. But I activated Dark Sight anyway, wondering if Swagger would want to learn it or go with the common magic Torch instead. “Let’s walk once around the parade grounds, then maybe trot outside the gate. If you want, we can do a light gallup on the road outside town.”
“Yeah, please, yeah!” my cousin exclaimed.
S: We’ll be back in a few minutes. Rina would like a real ride.
RB: It’s still bright enough for some energetic running, but you’ll need to be more careful in the dark.
FR: I’m sure Swagger will soon be learning either Dark Sight or Torch. He’ll still need to watch his footing in the dark, but I’m sure he’ll be okay.
RB: Do you mean Swagger can learn common magic or ki skills also?!
I: We believe so. By the way, I am Forrest’s interface. Hello, Rahun.
RB: This is unbelievable. They told me Swagger would be sapient, but there are two sapient interfaces at the academy also. Wow!
R: I’ll probably end up moving to town, but I do live on campus right now.
I was analyzing people as we circled the crowd. Just before heading off campus,
Achievement: Analyze, C
Nice! I quickly analyzed our mount.
Swagger – male Horse, age 3, 82 stones
Level 11 Stable Master, 3528 XP worth
[Learned Skills], 7 defeated
“82 stones is like 820 pounds, right?”
More. 14 pounds per stone, so 1148 to 1161 pounds.
“Can you just show me the weight in pounds?”
No. The unit of mass on Heere is stone. Get used to it.
Since [Learned Skills] was in brackets, I thought I might be able to expand it. I could.
Running
People Conveying
Common Labor
“Heh, People Conveying must be his equivalent of Horse Riding. We’ve got to help him make that list broader.”
Yes.
I made Swagger’s windows go away and compared Rina.
Rina Rallee – female Covargh, age 6, 4 stones
Level 0 student, 1057 XP worth
[Learned Skills], 0 defeated
Her only learned skill was Running. She’s going to get a broader list as well. We were off campus now and I indicated with a light squeeze of my knees that we could go faster now. I was sure Dad and everyone would be discussing Swagger’s new status, but I wanted to share my accomplishment.
FR: Swagger weighs 82 stones. I just ranked Analyze to C! He only knows Running and People Conveying right now. We’ll be teaching him a lot more later this evening.
RS: Congratulations, Son.
AS: I can’t wait until I start ranking my Analyze!
S: Will I be able to learn it?
FR: Yes. Mom made sure I learned it on my first day. It is extremely useful! We’re starting to gallup, so we should focus on the road. We’ll head back in a few minutes.
RR: This is fun! Swagger is so fast, and Forrest’s arm around me makes me feel safe.
After over 5 minutes of galloping, I had Swagger slow down and turn around. I asked Rina if she wanted to ride without my direct support. She was willing to try if we slowed down, so we trotted leisurely back to campus without incident.
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Dad had decided to focus on training, and Mom and Carrie joined in. Ronkel suggested a very small group head away from the crowd to focus on teaching Swagger some of the basics. She suggested just Rahun and I join them. I could see that Arrjee felt left out, and asked him and Kossa to join us. She declined, talking about too many gardeners. Arrjee said he’d just mostly watch. He probably knew more about horses than I did, so I was happy he agreed.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I analyzed him and saw he had 10 learned skills, but I know his Analyze and Meditate were capped until he leveled. Everything else is probably ahead of my ranks. I didn’t even try counting Ronkel’s skills, and I stopped counting Rahun’s at 25. There were no brackets around their class names, so I couldn’t open those skill lists.
If you desire, I can filter the lists to exclude their F ranked ones. When you rank Analyze to B, you will gain finer control.
“Okay, cool. Show everything for now. I don’t know enough yet to know what I don’t want to know.”
Everyone had dropped the party except Ronkel, Rint, Rahun, Arrjee, Swagger, Interface, and me. That’s still a lot of cooks, or I guess on Heere, gardeners. After reaching a corner of the grounds,I started the discussion. “Swagger, there are a LOT of skills available. There will be quite a few that you will not be able to learn without hands, but you will be learning a whole lot in addition to Running and People Conveying. But even before any more skills, there are some basic interface commands you should know.
He had no trouble using Time and Map. The Map only showed places he had been since this evening, so we could not trace back to acolyte’s cloister. His interface must not have started keeping track and unfogging until he was aware he had one. He was excited to explore the various Queries he could perform on himself. It turned out that his HP regen was D, SP regen was rank C, his Running was B, and his People Conveying was C.
Rahun was the first to start talking about skills. “You know about Analyze. I agree with Forrest that you should learn that this evening. You also saw that you have regeneration skills for stamina points and hit points. You will get a third one, once you decide on whether to learn common ki or common magic skills.” Arrjee speculated that his regens had been capped by the lack of the third one, and we all thought that made sense. We spent a few minutes discussing what those skills were, and the pros and cons. He ended up deciding to go with common ki so he could have Dark Sight like I do. He didn’t think much of the idea of attracting attention with Torch
Ronkel summarized, “Well then, sexy stallion, let’s teach you Analyze, Meditate, and Dark Sight this evening. After you learn them, they all rank up in capability as you use them.” He didn’t know what Meditate was, and we explained it was a way to enhance all his regeneration skills, and eventually help him rank up other skills more quickly. It took a fair amount of time for him to learn them, and most of us stuck with it until well past midnight. Arrjee headed to bed before then, though, reminding us that he had to be doing his grades in the morning. At 1:17 Swagger announced happily that he had learned Dark Sight. During this extended lesson, I ranked my Teaching to E.
Rahun had him check to see that he had learned Ki Regen as well, and he had. Everything he learned began at F. We speculated that his third regen could catch up, but he would need to use Analyze and Dark Sight a lot in order to do so. I explained how his health point regen would also benefit as ki regen went up, just like it had from stamina regen. Swagger said he also planned on learning Make Water soon; it was the first skill he saw me trying to use.
By then everyone else had long since abandoned the parade grounds. Earlier, word got out that Swagger had an interface, and a number of people had congratulated him during the evening. He gently neighed back to each well-wisher in acknowledgement. Ronkel wanted a late evening stretch, so she transformed into a hawk and flew away.
Rahun cast a Torch at low intensity to respect our use of Dark Sight, and he and I escorted Swagger back to the stables and untacked him. Rahun made sure I learned the proper jargon. He wouldn’t stand for ‘unsaddle’. He knew I was inexperienced, but he said I didn’t need to sound like it. We fed him some oats, which were a special treat for the horses. They could get water, hay, and fresh grass whenever they wanted, but grains were kept on hand for variety. Next Tuesday I’d have to bring him another peach.
I revealed to both Rahun and Swagger my status as an immortal and how it relates to my six-day disappearances. I probably could not have kept that secret from a telepath anyway. It took some extra explanation for Swagger to understand the concept of serial immortality, but in the end he got it. It made sense to him now why Interface was sapient, but then I had to explain why Rint was sapient also. We made sure Swagger understood that he too would be reincarnated, but he probably would not remember his current life. That got into a related discussion about awakeneds, some of which Rahun had not even known.
“By the way, Forrest, you could keep such secrets, just not right now. Your undisciplined mind leaks thoughts like a sieve. I’ll be holding classes on mind discipline, but I need to work out a schedule with the academy. I’ll see if Dorra Marson is interested in assisting; she would be much better than I in matters of emotional shielding. As you get the opportunity, keep playing Straight Face with your friends; deception is an underlying element.”
|| Thank you! I’ve been told about my leaky mind before.
Dammit, I haven’t played that in weeks.
“I know.”
Rahun headed to his apartment, and I spent the rest of the night in Swagger’s stall, with us mostly meditating together. He had laid down and sort of curled up like a dog. He said that outside he preferred to sleep standing due to potential predators, but he felt safe in his stall, especially with me there. That made me feel good, and we ended up back to back as we began our meditation.
‘Mostly’ meditating, because at some point I fell asleep. Interface woke me a minute before 4. I had a dream this time of Arrjee, Swagger, and I playing in the clouds. There was a mazed path that we were slowly following, and that’s all I remembered.
----------------------------------------
Your stats are already at 100%.
“Before I forget any more, I’m going to take a few minutes to finish last Tuesday’s diary entry.” Interface acknowledged. From where I left off I added a lot more about Grandma’s hand, including everyone who contributed to making it. I also wrote about the gloves Carrie made, and the integrity glyph she had embroidered on the right glove with her gold thread.
“Well, that Tuesday didn’t go to plan at all. I was able to hold my First Aid class and attend apprenticeship, but everything else was unexpected. Some of it was wonderfully unexpected, though. I prepared for a long discussion about plumbing with Merz Sholut and expected to discuss drafting tools with Mista Smithson. I’m not going to spend another three and a half hours on plumbing during this sixdays. I think I’ll review what I learned for a while, then study animal husbandry. I always thought that name was dumb, but two worlds use it, so it can’t be that stupid. That reminds me, I also want to learn about beast anatomy; I remember how ignorant I felt when I healed that fawn.”
I agree; both studies should prove useful.
“Oh, I want to quickly review some basic drafting tools as well. Geez, there is so much information available to me!”
Pace yourself. You are blessed with infinite time.
“Technically, that’s Jacques, but I know what you mean.”
Does it bother you that Forrest is not directly immortal?
“I can’t deny that it does. But I know Forrest will be remembered through more lives than I ever could have been as a mortal. So I’m okay with it. And who knows? I could be on Heere for another 5000 years, until I’m desperate for something different.”
For my review, I had Interface speed through the first plumbing class at an extra 33% rate. That reminded me that I needed an overview of civil plumbing; general and household plumbing were important, but the first step would be to plan for the whole community. So I spent another hour on that, at normal rate. It was a good thing I hadn’t started the discussion with Merz; I would have had more questions than him. I also realized these lessons were based on modern Earth technology; I needed to interact with people to find out how aetherial capabilities could be utilized. Not to mention, I don’t really know the extent of Heere technology.
“Interface, I’m a dumbass.”
But you have adequate people skills.
He knows I’ll think that ‘encouragement’ is funny. He’s right.
After my studying session, I thought of the skills I had learned recently, Teaching, Basic Archery, Horse Riding, and Make Water. Teaching was E, but the other three are still at F.
“Query skill Teaching.”
Teaching allows you to share your knowledge more effectively with others. It has four contributing attributes: intelligence, wisdom, perception, and charisma. Level is not a factor; although if students do not perceive you as qualified to teach them, your effectiveness may be hindered. At Rank E you begin to have a better capability to present the information logically and coherently, and start to have a sense of which students may need more attention.
There was only one other description I was interested in right now. “Query skill Make Water.”
Make Water is a common ki skill which allows you to produce clean, potable water directly from the aether. Endurance is the underlying attribute, and rank is the primary factor in the rate and volume of water produced. Rank F values:
Production: 100 drops/minute
Ki used: 10 ki / 100 drops
Stamina used: 25 stamina / 100 drops
“How many drops per ounce and per milliliter?”
591 drops per ounce
20 drops per milliliter
Yeah, I knew I wasn’t making a lot. Kind of stark to see the numbers, though.
“That’s four hours per liter, right?”
Yes, if your ki and SP kept up, which neither would
It makes sense that making a permanent something from nothing has a notable cost to it. Water production via hydromancy must be much cheaper per ounce, but that water doesn’t last. As my rank and production go up, the cost should go down, or this wouldn’t be useful for anything except providing water to birds
“I might use an occasional free point for charisma. It is still going to keep falling further behind regardless, but maybe I should pay it some attention.”
It is worth considering.
“Thinking about that attribute reminded me that I may not know the full effect crossing wisdom’s threshold had. You told me that it helps integrate intelligence and perception, but is there any other effect directly associated with wisdom itself?”
The enhanced integration is significant unto itself. But if you are expecting to become wise beyond belief, think of the higher level people you know. How many of them seem to have ‘wisdom of the ages’ or some other godly degree of understanding?
“Integration it is, then.”
You are wise, grasshopper.
“Query To-Do List.”
1. Don’t die
2. Learn bo and bow
3. Bring plumbing to Cottages
4. Learn Make Water skill
5. Don’t bitch
6. Plan your days
7. Spend quality time with Swagger
“Progress! Delete items 2 and 4. Add item, ‘Learn mind discipline and play Straight Face’. Add item, ‘Train with Abbie’.” I’m sure Onre and Harron were keeping her company, but I hadn’t seen her in two Tuesdays.
Items 2 and 4 deleted, other items shifted upward. New Item 6, ‘Learn mind discipline and play Straight Face’. New Item 7, ‘Train with Abbie’.
“Thank you. I’ll start my diary entry now, and afterward we can watch something.”
Your choice this time.
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Secondday, 1 Sixhmonth 726 KE, 15.255
Today began with a discussion with Asiel and Orian on how the campus had expanded its stable and corral. Dad showed up at their apartment very early, and Ronkel joined us. The topic changed to the prisoners who assaulted me, and that they had made it my decision on whether to press charges.
After that, I went to the corral and met with Swagger for a little while. I completed learning Make Water (finally!). I spent a couple hours at Dorra Marson’s class and gave a First Aid lesson, which is something I do every Tuesday now. I was also thinking of what to do with the damn three prisoners.
At 9 I met Dad, Uncle Ralf, Ronkel, and Asiel outside the jail. I had formed a plan, a strategy I guess, involving letting the prisoners go. Instead of punishing the Lord and his two mercenaries, we would use them to send a message to the Priestess Cult. The first part of that was to allow them to complete their information-gathering mission. We didn’t tell them everything, like I didn’t mention Grandma’s involvement with Sterbian and the scroll. But they learned what had happened with the scroll being damaged and Sterbian being cursed. Lord Rose acted like a decent person, but I fully remembered how he had planned on killing me. Oh well, as Interface told me, “Nobody is perfect.”
Our underlying message to the Priestess was simple; we had no intention to interfere with her business, but we would do what we needed to do to remain safe. Dad added the brilliant idea to have him and Ralf wear the hoodies Skawa had gifted them weeks ago. Both hoodies had the same gag text. The fronts read, “I GOT PRANKED BY SKAWA AND ALL I GOT”, while the backs read “WAS THIS STUPID ENCHANTED JACKET WITH A HOOD”, three lines of text each side. It was perfect. Without making any threats, there was the strong implication we had friends in high places.
Anyway, we gave them back all their stuff, including their three horses. I kept acolyte’s things, including the most valuable of all, Swagger. They rode off to who knows where. Damn, I guess I own acolyte’s staff now. Ralf didn’t bring it to the jail when he brought all the other stuff. Maybe he didn’t want to remind them of it, because we were letting them purchase her items. Or maybe he just couldn’t carry it along with everything else. The only thing Lord Rose bought back was a recording crystal.
I had time to head back to Swagger for a while before apprenticeship. Sun and Ferret were putting in a shift as stable boys, and learning about being grooms from the new Stable Master, Rahun Borrel. He is a veterinarian and telepath, so pretty much a perfect choice, especially considering he has a dedicated attitude to those under his care.
At apprenticeship, I met the two new academy students they had told me about. They seem nice enough; both are 13, so it will be a while before they get classes. I remember Onre saying that at his First Duchy academy , unleveled cadets didn’t form permanent parties, but I’m not sure ours will have the same rules.
Cottages has started a training program to help and encourage everyone to begin leveling again. A “Ranking Grounds” has been established on campus, and voluntary sessions are held every evening for three hours. I was planning on taking part, but it ended up we had a more important trainee. My young cousin Rina invited Swagger to a party; it not occurring to her that horses don’t have interfaces. The joke was on us, because Swagger does! He can even talk to us via the party interface. So some of us spent the remaining evening until late at night teaching him the basics of being an interfaced person. Before we were done, Swagger had learned Analyze, Meditate, and Dark Sight. He can’t get classes, but nothing stops him from learning other skills, except that many of them sort of depend on having hands. There are a lot that don’t, though!
Today I learned Basic Archery and Horse Riding, and ranked Teaching to E and Analyze to C.
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“Do we have time to watch Fight Club?”
There are almost 3 hours remaining in this sixdays. The run time of Fight Club is about 1.9 hours.
“Let’s watch it then. And I’ll spend the remaining time in meditation.
Agreed.
…
I had known the meme concerning ‘First Rule’. Thank you for sharing its source.
“You are welcome.”