It had been three weeks since his conversation with Ceilie. He had been busy with chores, and she made sure of that. Every time he finished with one thing, Ceilie found something else for him to do no matter how mundane the task was, but there was something that he realized. It was all easier than it was before. His stats had been boosted by 5 points each. The change was noticeable. He could do much more before tiring out. In fact, he was even better at doing it. He would do things smarter and end up finishing faster. It was becoming surreal how his hands moved more purposeful when doing the laundry, how washing the dishes in a certain order just made more sense, and when carrying groceries, he had strength and stamina to spare.
'Was this really all due to a +5 to my stats?' He thought, 'maybe there were more to the dungeons "Rewards" than I thought.'
His morning exercises continued, finding that most of his exercises had almost doubled in length, time, and count. This was his first indication that his exercises did anything. Happy that he had kept count on his progress, he would have been furious if he didn't measure things out beforehand. Though a few days ago, he noticed something else. He had gotten slightly stronger and had more stamina than the day before.
'Are my base stats still growing? I know I ran a little bit further back then, that's for sure, but were the stones I was lifting a little lighter too?'
According to everyone, trying to up your physical stats was pointless. Only the mental ones could be upgraded before the age of 10. It was an ingrained fact that commoners went by, despite the rumors of the Nobles using special methods to the contrary. Nevertheless, he had finally seen Improvement and he felt exhilarated.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to notice. Ceilie had spotted the change and so did Elaine. Both had asked what he had did and badgered him multiple times on how much he'd been slacking off or ask if he really did age up so early.
Aging up was different from leveling, it was a sort of balancing system for kids under 10. That way there was still a difference between a kid at 5 years old and a kid at 9 years. Why couldn't it be regular growth like his old world? It's very possible this is a simulation but Lone didn't feel like opening up that can of worms just yet.
There was also a physique system that counted your height, weight and even race attributes but that one didn't really kick in until the age of 15 where most were considered adults, so he couldn't use that as an excuse.
In his very little spare time, he worked on the hole in the wall he had used to exit the village, making it bigger and constructing a makeshift camouflaged door. Which was nowhere as easy as he thought it might be. It took him almost a week and a half just to gather the materials for the door, and another week to figure out how to make it, finally a whole day on how to secure it to the hole. That whole day got him a stern talking to from both May and Ceilie. In the end he considered it worth the price.
Though he had made preparations for future dungeon diving, it was still impossible for him to get out while still under punishment. Even after his sentence was over, he figured that they might keep an eye or two on him. So he decided to find other ways to fill his time looking for anything that would become a good weapon or shield while inside the dungeon. That proved to be a waste of time because there was nothing in the village he could use. Sticks would be cleaned up or burned for cooking fires and most rocks were to small to damage if chucked at anything. The stones he use as weights were the opposite and we're to heavy to use as weapons.
Today he found himself doing the laundry and watching Aaron use his cleanse magic on water the boys brought back. It was a strange site seeing the murky water in the water jugs just get clearer and clearer as Aaron's magic only made his hand get brighter. You couldn't see it as much in the day time but you did feel it if you were close enough. Kind of like spiderwebs on the skin that moved around. It wasn't as unpleasant as it sounded he just couldn't relate what magic felt like better than that.
Aaron finished his spell and turned to look at Lone with a little sweat running down his head and started walking over to him.
He sat next to Lone and took a few heaving breaths.
"So you aged up I hear. Arstain is blessing you with growth boy, so remember to thank him when you get the chance." Aaron rarely preached but when he did, it was more laid back than what you'd expect from a priest. Both him and the nuns gave off the feeling that the church was more of a side job and the orphanage was their main.
Aaron continued, "Looks like all that backbreaking in the mornings you do is finally paying off. Didn't think you'd pull off the noble trick."
This caught Lone's attention. "Wait!, you mean you know how it works!?!"
Aaron shook his head side to side. "No, but I apprenticed for a Noble's priest. She mentioned that Nobles had strange routines. You're actually the first example I've ever seen." He looked into the distance. "If what you're doing is correct, makes me wonder how much of the rumors were true. Though I don't think many kids will have the willpower that you do when it comes to training every morning." Aaron smiled, looking up at the sky.
Lone was a little perturbed that Aaron led him by the nose like that but saw the humor in it, but now he was remembering how he asked Aaron so many questions and didn't get anything like this out of the man.
"Wait a minute, you knew about this and didn't tell me anything about it. Even after I started my "routine"!? It didn't click? You just let me blindly continue without a word? That's cruel Aaron, and don't try to worm out of it. You know what I've been doing an- ow!" Lone was interrupted with a flick to the head.
"Slow down, ya damned fool!" Aaron was now looking at him and continued. "You're lucky I remember anything at all. It was a single conversation decades ago, and I doubt that I have int stat to have any useful information from back then. Look, you getting better just reminded me of it out of nowhere. So just be thankful I felt like saying anything. When I get you back to your mother I swear she..." looking down Aaron paused clasped his hands together and continued "Sorry. I know how much you hate hearing about it but it is true."
Lone rubbed his head and rolled his eyes then said "I don't hate it... I just don't see how it changes anything. Yeah everything you said could be true but she could have died on the way, or given up and I have it pretty good right now. What's the point of getting my hopes up for someone I don't know?" Lone knew his reply was not a 7-year-olds and he could see the hurt in Aaron's eyes when he said it but this wasn't something he was interested in.
Aaron took a deep breath and said. "If only you could have seen the love and fire in her eyes. It truly is a shame." Before he dwelled on it further, Aaron began on a knew line of conversation. "So, does it say anything on your status screen yet?"
Lone knew Aaron was trying to change this atmosphere, to more cheerful but he didn't want to give out too much information yet. "No, nothing yet, but I am feeling like I'm able to do a lot more."
" Well, that's plain as day boy. I'm surprised the guards haven't asked about you yet. Pretending to teach you some sword skills would be the perfect chance for them to hit on May and Cecilia." Aaron said with the grin. "You knooow... One day, May and Ceilie are gonna leave the church, and they'll both need a strong young man to protect their honor from rough Hooligans." This was an unexpected turn Lone wasn't expecting and couldn't understand.
"What does that have to do with me?" Lone didn't know how much the relationships here differed from his old world. So he asked
Aaron continued, "Well, you're going to be a big strong man one day, right? You don't want to leave the damsels in distress."
Now Lone knew what he was saying. It was a knight in shining armor trick to get me to behave. Something along the lines of "You want to be the hero? Then do this." kind of thing. Why he thought this would work on Lone, confused him more than the first question.
"In the time you've spent raising me, what makes you think..."Lone paused trying to frame his words better. "how did the idea get into your head that I would care about that right now?" Lone was seriously questioning with a straight face.
Aaron looked up and closed his eyes. "hmmm... well I've heard that you started asking those kinds of questions from some of the other boys. Looks like your not really the one asking now that I think about it." He began grumbling to himself. "I was hoping you might be in that kind of phase now. It would be easier dealing with that. than your usual."
Lone raised an eyebrow. "I'm not that bad am I?" Lone wiped his cheek on his shoulder. Some of the laundry water got on his face and it tickled a little.
The old man looked down with his own serious questioning face. "You have to see the difference between you and the other kids, right? You never play with the other boys, that's not unusual mind you I've seen cruel things older boys do, or the boy that... well the boys that like playing with dolls and flowers do. But even then you don't talk to them like a younger boy would. You have more conversations with the adults then the children around you. Fire of the first!" He cursed the last bit. Hanging his head and continued. "You've even got the village children thinking your older than you are like a skinny dwarf or something. Mostly because you watch the craftsman working all the time. I've even heard a guard ask if you were half breed."
The half breed statement was not a bad slur but just a description. Mostly used to describe a mix blooded person. One didn't get angry at those things unless you were of a higher status and snobby. It was one of the first language speed bumps he had to navigate. Though there were some terms you should avoid, most could tell by tone weather it was used as an insult or not. Still, it did take a while getting used to it.
Lone wasn't surprised by the comment as he was asked a few times weather he could fix a toy here an there which he did when he could, that did get him called "Dwarfy" more than once. He got it straightened out after a few days of answering questions.
"Well it's not like I can blame them your just the strangest kid around here but if you went to a city you just be another brat. Most kids there have plenty of weird groupings all trying to be there own kind of specific adventurer group." Aaron said with a sigh.
Lone perked up at that. "You've mentioned adventure's before, is it like a job people can get? Or maybe it's a guild people can earn money from" his memories of games and books he read before surging from somewhere.
It happened a few time where he would remember things from his old world would come from nowhere filling his of things his former self did in his old life. When the carpenter was making 2x4s of wood for a building it had sparked his construction history into his head but only after a few visits. Once didn't seem to be enough.
Aaron thought for a moment. "Well... it's not wrong to say that they do odd jobs for money and the guild does pay for confirmation of the work but mostly it's the strong and the desperate that go into that line of work mind they have government jobs for the regular people but the higher paying jobs come from merchant work. The guild just organized the difficulty of each request and puts a grade to it. It does have it's type of groups like the dungeon delvers, the travel guards, investigators, and mercenaries but those are the special ones that are not easy to get into. The most common is material gathering and lowest ranked. I don't have to much experience with the guild other than my failures." Aaron seem to get heated at the end.
Lone was relieved to hear that it wasn't that different from his memories but one thing did catch his attention.
"Mercenaries? They have them go to war for money to? Is it conscription or are they hired for some amount?" He asked
Aaron squinted looking at nothing. "Well they do get hired but the moment you join the guild you relinquish you rights as a citizen of a country same as joining a church as a full member. That why it's not a profession sought out by many. When you become an adventurer you don't get to buy land in the city's or recognized for any feats on the battlefield, as your getting paid mind more than a few get offers to work for an official as private guards and keep there adventure status but that's rare too" Aaron went into another subject from there and quickly found another after that. He had gone on and on while Lone started on the laundry again, half listening half working on bed sheets with sweat stains.
About a half hour later he was finishing up the last sheet hanging on a line, when Maxine called him over to help with some purple potatoes.
After finishing up he had made a decision about his future.
'I'm going to be an adventurer, most likely. I shouldn't have any problem leveling with the secret dungeon. As long as I can get there and back. Just need a good weapon...' he thought.