Could it be? I thought to myself, I know Mother is powerful, but how is she THAT powerful? I really must learn more about this world...
Two months after my first birthday, I finally pieced it all together. I've been hearing rumors being spoken among the maids about a "witch" that destroyed the slum, but spare those who were victims.
Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there are witches in this world, considering I am an reincarnated person, I never noticed how deep the hatred for witches run in these people's vanes. Other than rumors about the attack on the city, there were also gossips of witches doing everything bad imaginable: Torching forests and villages, destroying acres of farmland overnight, killing off travelers on the road.
In short, witches are basically blamed for anything bad that happens. How did it come to this? I often wondered, but nobody explained it to me. If only I can teach baby-me how to read.
You see, I already picked up on this world's languages quite throughly. It's language, at least in this country, is a mix of our German and Italian. A strange combination, sure, but I knew those two languages back in my last life. Living long has its benefits, and I never stopped learning. Occasionally, I would hear Mother talk to herself in Chinese, but she never bothered teaching it to baby-me. Probably a product of patriarchal society's influence on her.
And we have many chances to try to read and learn the alphabets of this language. For example, when we're in Father's study.
Father's study got reports lying around everywhere! Some are nailed on the board behind his desk, most are sitting in stacks on his desk, and some are just randomly distributed around the room. And Sebastian- I learned that's the name of Father's butler- always brings in more reports by the hour.
Funny thing, I realized when we made our first visit to Anne and Jill's house, Sebastian and Zion are brothers! No, not twin brothers, but siblings nevertheless. Sebastian is the older one, and they do look sort of alike, if you only look at them from the side.
So, if I got all the chances to learn how to read, and I did, why didn't Baby-me? Well, for one, she's not interested at all in learning how to read. And she's still perfecting her speech, which she still gets mixed up with occasionally, despite all the secret coaching I give her.
I've heard the maids talk about how amazing we are for being able to speak so fluently at such a young age, but it's not good enough for me!
Oh if only I can influence other people than baby-me... and I did try. Amy, who Mother assigned as my personal maid, never seems to change or do anything I tried to get her to do mentally. It was a complete failure.
Nevertheless, being in a room with bunch of written documents has its benefits. I would tell baby-me to stare at the pages, even if she doesn't recognize what it is saying.
No matter, we all have to start somewhere. As long as she looks at enough characters, she will start to recognize them, or so I hope. It was the unintended side-effect that finally did the trick, however.
I never really considered this before, but Amy reported everything to my mother, and I mean everything. So Mother learned what I was trying to do, and decided its time to teach me the alphabets. Hurray unintended side effects! Long live Amy! Time to get down to business biatch!
And to everyone's surprise, Little-Me picked up on the alphabets really quickly. Duh, she got ME to coach her, even if she doesn't realize it!
...It's depressing to think about, that nobody will recognize me for what I'm doing. Endure, I must endure! Only three years and ten months left 'till I'm free!
Perhaps it's my hallucination, but it seems Little-Me is getting easier to influence... but I can't really tell since time in my inner world is relative, and I have no skill for it to keep track of my progress.
As Little-Me learned how to read in a startling two weeks, we started getting access to more information. I could ask Father for the newspaper, not for him to read what he thought was appropriate for my age. I guess Little-Me is in a bit of a state of constant confusion at this stage, since she doesn't understand many of the terms but she reads on at my urging nevertheless.
That's how I pieced together the rumors and the talks of a "crazy powerful witch" and her attack on capital city... that it was Mother who caused the destruction to the city I saw from the 5th floor window.
Still, it did surprise me to learn that my city, which has no castle like any capital city should in stories, is the capital city. I guess when Father talks about "Central Command" he's talking about that fortress in the middle of the city.
Then, one day as we're reading about another commentary on the incident, Little-Me somehow got the bright idea to ask Mother. Perhaps my thoughts have unconsciously influenced her thoughts...
That shined more light on the matter, it turns out, and confirmed my suspicion. Especially when Mother starts brainwashing- Ok, educating- us into how terrible some people are and how they need to be killed off. A bit scary thing to say to a child, but I guess this world is harsher on its inhabitants then my old world was.
She never did directly said it was her fault, but I can tell from her tone. That and the look of "How do I say this..." on her face when we asked her.
A few months passed this way, with me wondering around free around the mansion and Vio by my side. Vio the kitten, that is. I tried to get Little-Me to name her "Violetta", if only because that was the original name I wanted to give my daughter Elaine back in my old world, before my wife shot it down. To my frustration both now and back then, my suggestion never got through completely.
Violetta was a bit too hard for Little-Me to remember, so she ended up naming the kitten just "Vio". I don't see her usually when we're in the house, but she loves to play with me out in the yard... which is strange. Very strange indeed. Cats are, by nature, lazy back in my old world. Oh well, I guess she's little different.
Free! I can't go outside the estate, but I have achieved freedom! And you know what that means? I'm getting more stat points! Woohoo! More stat points! Hurry up and work off those damn negative stats from that Nine Yin whatever seal!
So when I'm not encouraging Little-Me to read more and more, I'm encouraging her to explore every nook and corner of this place, and vice versa. This should come in handy.
... Just not for the maids, and certainly not for my personal maid Amy. She's having trouble keeping up with me since I'm physically small and goes through openings she can't around the yard around the house. It's quite fun, actually, and I convinced Little-Me that we're playing Hide-And-Seek with everybody hehehehe....
Other than that, Amy's fun to chat with, for a change. She's from the Empire of Britannia, unlike everyone else, which makes her veeeeeeeery interesting. I made sure to stress that to Little-Me as much as possible.
"Amy! Amy! What is a witch? Why do Mommy say they're bad people?" For example, I would question her and wait for her answer. I'm pretty sure she's not suspicious of me for anything. Probably just passing off my constant questions as children's curiosity. By the way, Amy's actually fourteen... even if she looks short like an eight year old.
"Witch ARE bad people Pray, they do a lot of bad things..."
"Like what? Like what Amy?" Muwhahahaah my curious nature must be rubbing off on Little-Me, I didn't even need to prompt her to ask that follow up question and she did it herself! I count that as a victory for me!
Amy doesn't really go into the details of what they do, or how they do it. I think she consider those information too brutal for a one and a half year old kid. True, but I'm 131 years old counting my last life. I'm sure I can handle it. Oh, how I wish I could say that.
Except, even if I could and did, I would most likely be labeled as demon-possessed or the weird creepy child if I do that.
As far as I can understand, Witches are born human, but later awakens their powers and go all homicidally crazy. Nobody knows what drives them crazy or why they hate other humans, they just do. At least, Amy doesn't know. Nor does any of the other maids and butler I questioned.
Anyways, I gathered that there are two evil witch forces fighting to eliminate humanity. They declared war on all human settlements suddenly seventeen years ago, forcing human empires to stop fighting each other to face them instead.
That's how absurdly powerful they are. Witches and their natural ability to manipulate mana... which I guess makes me a witch too. They attacked everyone on all the continents except the Western continent, where Mother came from apparently. I confirmed that when I asked Mother where she's from.
The lecture on our family heritage, however, was quite long and arduous... even I started to get bored of it. Nevertheless, I learned that we are of royal blood from the Empire of Xing on the Western Continent, and the Empire of Xing basically IS the Western Continent.
Little-Me got no clue what Mother's talking about, but you bet I'm ecstatic! Holy sh*t, taking over this world is going to be easier than I thought! All I need to do is take over Xing first, defeat the witches, and take over the other countries! Mwuahahahahaah bow before your future ruler peasants! Mwuahahaha.... haha I guess it's too early to think like that. There's probably tons of things I don't know or understand yet...
If there's anything else I've learned about Xing, it's that its people respect their ancestors a lot... like, too much. There's no value in worshipping dead people you know... or is there? Perhaps the dead spirits can actually do something in this world? There is mana here after all... whatever, I haven't seen any so who cares?
At least Mother didn't stop there and went into talking about Father's side of the family. I hope she's not expecting me to memorize all of those names and positions and clans and connections or whatever, I wasn't exactly taking notes. I mean, sure I noted down the important parts, but the exact names...? Well most of them are dead anyways, so who cares!
Of course, Jill and Anne comes over to play often. We settled on a playdate every Sunday, so that was something to look forward to. The arrangement also provides me with more sources of information.
I can't just ask them something they don't understand, but I can nudge them toward those issues in the hope that they will, in turn, ask their parents. Then I could slowly extract it out...
Or I tried. But Little-Me and the twins are mostly concerned about what they should play and how the games work rather than the outside world. Damn it!
...All in all, these are what I learned over the past few months:
We're in the Nation of Amestris, apparently a unified state formed from many smaller countries in a formerly chaotic region a hundred and nine years ago. Our calendar also starts on the year Amestris was founded, commonly abbreviated down to "A.F." Amestris, the land of alchemy. It's our greatest weapon against the witches and other nations. Unfortunately, there is no overall school system to teach everyone alchemy, which I thought is the most stupidest decision by the government ever!
These people doesn't get the concept of common education! What is wrong with them?! Instead of teaching as many alchemists as possible to boost our military power, the people of this world still adheres to the apprenticeship system. Ugh, how primitive!
Well, enough about this corner of the world. We're on what they call the Central Continent. Aside from us, there's also the Empire of Britannia here. To be specific, Amestris occupies the lower half the Central continent, and Britannia the upper half.
Aside from this one and the Western Continent (aka Empire of Xing) where Mother came from, there's also the Northern Continent, Eastern Continent, and the Southern Continent. Out of the three, the Southern Continent was the hardest to get information on.
All I could gather is that it has been completely overrun by witches... that and we're the only country bordering it by land. Yikes...
Moving on, the Northern Continent is populated by monsters and dangerous beasts, apparently, if you don't count the witches that controls half of it. The other half of the North's controlled by a empire called "Drachma", who are allied with the witches. I guess that means they're not a human country.
Last but not least, the Eastern Continent is shared by two superpowers: the Reim Empire and the Britannian Empire. Dang, that means Britannia is the only empire to span more than one continent!
That also means they are the most hard-pressed by the witches, seeing how large their empire is. From what Amy says, Britannia is known as the "Empire of Knights", though they are also the leading country in terms of number and quality of mages.
The Empire of Reim, as I found out, is this world's equivalent of the Roman Empire! They have pretty much the same values, emperors, Legions, all that cultural stuff. Except they banished slavery some five centuries ago, when their supposedly Immortal Priestess came into power. I have my doubts about her immortality, thought. She could very well be replaced secretly by substitutes to maintain an image of a powerful backer for the Reim empire, maintaining its reputation. That's certainly what I would do if I'm the Reim Emperor...
Beside these main continental powers, there's also an island chain alliance that rivals an empire in power, called the "Seven Seas Alliance", ruled by a King whose name I have yet to find out. They're situated to the South of the Eastern Continent, judging from the world map hanging in Father's study. There's also a mysterious small island nation far to the North of the Seven Seas Alliance, but nobody seems to talk about it.
That's about as far as I know. The Reim empire has their Legions, the Britannian empire has their knights, the Empire of Xing has kick ass martial arts practitioners like Mother, though she told us the correct term for her is 'Martial Arts Priestess' instead, and we Amestrisians have our Alchemy. Not sure what kind of power the Seven Sea Alliance has, but I doubt I would have to worry about them now, since they're not on this continent.
Oh wait, almost forgot to mention the other two main world powers. They may not have any land of their own, but they basically operates in every country except Xing, who has a distrust of foreigners it seems.
There's the Church of Freya. Freya is the Goddess of Life and Healing, so most of the healers are from Church of Freya. It's quite interesting, I overheard a maid talk about the chants they use to invoke healing. It's basically a praise of the goddess and a request to her to aid the wounded. The interesting part is that, the prayer only works for ordained priests of the Church. If anyone else tries to use it, nothing would happen... and the Church keeps a tight lid on how their powers work. That's as far as I know about the Church, since I've never met someone from it.
That brings us to the last world power, the Witch Hunter organization. They are primarily responsible for suppressing newly awakened witches in each village and leading the human army against witches. Interesting how the empires just seemingly handed their authority to them... most odd indeed. Gotta find out more about the organization... but they're even more secretive about their inner workings then the Church of Freya is.
But enough about the world powers in this world, I don't give a sh*t about them today!
Why? 'Cause its my second birthday! Woohoo! Aunt Julia brought Anne and Jill with them too! I wish I knew more people, but having them celebrate my birthday is enough for now! Yay me! Two years old and only three years to go until I'm free!
It's also a milestone for my stats, since we finally managed to work off more than half of the total negative points that stupid chi seal gave me!
Status WindowName:Pray Meyer AndersonAlignment:HumanityBloodline:Esper- LightningClass:Champion- ChildAffinities:Lightning, Fire, EarthAge:2 years oldRace:HumanGender:FemaleTitlesFirst Come First Serve!, Champion of the One True God, The Chosen OneFame:0Infamy:0-Health:100 / 100Health Regen:0.7 / SecStamina:20 / 20Stamina Regen:1.3 / SecMana:20450 / 20450Mana Regen:2.2 / SecChi: 3848/3848Chi Regen:38.48 / Sec-Strenght:10 (-82)Agility:10 (-80)Vitality:10 (-65)Dexterity:10 (-108)Intelligence:565Wisdom:182Leadership:15Luck:57-Skills
Passives
1. Gate of Truth- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
2. Incorruptible Soul- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
3. Unbreachable Mind- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
4. Outer Mana Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
5. Inner Chi Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
6. Prodigious Learning Speed- Initiate LVL 5 (11.24%)
7. Greater Battle Instincts- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
Actives
1. Absorption- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
2. Alpha Stigma- Initiate LVL 1 (78.65%)
3. True Alchemy- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
4. Outer Mana Core Manifestation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
Transcendentals
N/A
Specials
1. Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 8 years)
So far as I can tell, the only stat that went down was my luck, by three points. For absolutely no reason at all. But never mind that, there's only 335 negative points left to go! (That's 465 points worked off!) I guess I should have celebrated back when that crossed the halfway line, but I had the "+1 whatever stat" window deactivated and I was really focused on finding out about the world! Things I gotta learn to survive and conquer!
Though I don't know why my health and stamina regeneration increased, since I don't see any stat related to them, I did managed to work out how the rest of the stat works:
Leadership stat is self explanatory, though I gained 5 from taming Vio.
For mana, I had 20 thousand to start with. Now I have 450 more... and 45 more stat points in my int. I guess my initial mana level wasn't related to my stat, but that makes sense since it was boosted by the bastard above.
I'm guessing my initial 170 wisdom counted as just the regular 10 when it comes to calculating my mana regeneration rate, since the 12 point increase gave me 1.7 more mana regen per second.
Chi regen rate looks to be directly proportional to how much Chi I have. For my 3848 Chi level I got 38.48 chi regen per second, so that was easy to figure it out. As for my Chi... I'm pretty sure that's the effect of the Nine Yin Cultivation Seal. It does have cultivation in its name. It took me a while to figure out, but it's increasingly by half a percent per day. Now that, that is Amazing...
Does half a percent, or 0.005% sound like a small increase to you? Well, tell you what, its by day and its exponential, which means I will have 922 thousand chi by the time I gain full control over my body! I'm not sure what the average is, but surely that is something to be amazed at! And most importantly, I'll have a staggering eight and a half billion chi by the time the seal worn off in 8 years! Muwahahahahaha brace yourself people! *Cue Dramatic Voice* A new God is in the making hehehehehehehehehehehe.... All shall praise me! Praise me!
Hmm what else? Nothing else really changed... except my skills leveled up! I'm a bit afraid of prompting Little-Me to use the active skills since I can't control what she does 100%, only influence her thoughts and desires. So the active skills are all at lvl0 initiate, except for my alpha stigma skill, which leveled up way back when Mother first demonstrated her demonic power... er I mean saved Amy!
The other skill that leveled up is my "Prodigious Learning Speed" mwuahahahha I now have a +5% bonus from all the efforts we went through to level up that skill. Hundreds of hours of reading! Eavesdropping on the maids' gossips! Sitting through Mother's boring family heritage lectures!
Oh well, I think that covers it all. Back to my birthday party, I eagerly awaits my birthday present... ohohohoho what will it be? A wand? A sword? No, both too dangerous. Something less dangerous... ooooooh what is it?! I wanna know so bad!
Here it comes! I see Father walking toward us with a... disappointingly small gift box. Aww, I was hoping for sometinng really good.... damn!
No wait, size isn't always what matters most, it could still be something good...
I tear open the box eagerly. Awaiting me inside is... a small rod? What the hell is this? Some kind of mini dil- Ugh! Go away bad thoughts! Sometimes I curse myself for having experienced to much things in my last life on Earth. We were pretty... um creative with things back there.
"Daddy what's that?" We spoke as we points toward the thing.
Father looks a bit dejected since we didn't look happy as he might have expected at his gift, but then his face instantly cheered up when I asked. "It's a torchlight Pray, like the lights we have in our ceilings, but you can carry it around!" His beaming face tells me he's immensely proud of this gift.
Actually, this is exactly what I need! Woohoo! Time to go exploring in the dark baby! There's a few spot in the house that I didn't dare go in before, since they have no lightings. But now, there is nothing to stop me anymore! Woohoo! I love flashlights! (With an 'a')
"Thanks daddy!" Little-Me shouted as she hugs Father's waist. Then promptly shines the thing into Father's eyes... hehehe good one Little-Me!
Oh, it's actually very bright... it seems Father has been temporally disabled. Sweet, this could be my surprise weapon! Destroying people's night vision... hehehe the prank is formulating in my head as Little-Me experiments around with the torchlight's control. Ooh you can turn down the volume of the light... neat!
"Mommy?" Little-Me looks at Mother expectantly. Hehehe, who could possibly say no to such a cute face! I will take over this world with cuteness! Long live Fluffy!
"Well sweeties do you remember what you said you wanted last year?" A year ago...? I may have photographic memory but I don't have Perfect memory... yet... how am I supposed to remember that far back? Is it a natural trait in females?
"Um... I wanna fly like Mommy?" Little-Me asks reluctantly as she imitates Father's inquisitive stance, with a hand at our chin and forehead knotted together in concentration. Kind of looks like The Thinker statue back on Earth...
"Yes! Good job honey!" Yay! Mommy- I mean Mother!- picks us up and swings us around in a wide circle! It's like one of those old amusement park rides! I loved those things! "Mommy is going to teach you how to fly!" Woohoo! Best day ever!!! I want to fly around! There's so much I haven't seen yet!
For a second there, a spark of worry shot through my head. If I can influence Little-Me... can she do the same to me? ...No, probably just a fluke that I used Mommy instead of Mother... yes, that must be it! Just a fluke! No need to worry about these things!
"We're going to start with training your body for a year ok honey?" Uh oh... hard work. At least I'm not the one taking the burden of it phew....
"Ok!" Poor Little-Me has no idea what's coming for her... If those training methods in Wuxia novels are any indication, its time to lift some borders and cultivate under a freezing waterfall, or run through a field of blades without touching any of them. Gah, they sound great in novels but in reality... its really scary...
Aunt Julia got me a pair of expensive looking leather gloves... not the best choice Aunt Julie! i'm still growing! Though that's what I thought, I didn't let it spread to Little-Me and spoil her celebration.
Mother gives a startled gasp at the sight of the gloves! Is it something good?
"Julie! Oh, you shouldn't have! Are those what I'm thinking?"
"Of course!" Aunt Julie looks quite proud of her gift at that moment, "The best dragon skin glove on the Continent! I had it specially made for Pray's hand size. They don't usually make child-size ones, you know!"
Dragon skin?! Ohohohohoh yes!!!! Dragon skin gloves! I gotta try it out! C'mon Little-Me! Put it on!
...wrong hand!!! The other one! Yes, now try that one! See, it fits! Good job little-me!
Then the notification box came up. Ooh, I see, no identification skill needed? Neat!
Custom Dragon GlovesQuality:A++Durability:500 / 500A specially prepared Dragon-skin glove. Made from processed black-imugi skin from Britannia. This is a one-of-a-kind glove as it is the only child-sized version made from that imugi's skin. As to be expected of Dragon skin, it has excellent paranormal power conductivity from within and strong elemental resistances on the outside.
Hohoho... aw damn it I don't know how to use any special power yet! Gotta find a way...
Then Anne and Jill came up and presented together a... collar? What for? Oh, for Vio, of course!
You see, Anne and Jill's kittens, which they named Mr. Snuggie and Mr. Fluffy respectively, both wear distinctive looking hot pink collars on them, so they wouldn't be mistaken for strays. That makes sense, considering the four of them have the freedom to run around the city as they want... and with Zion the butler shadowing them, but I don't think they've noticed that yet...
But I don't have to worry about that, at least, mostly because I can't. I'm still stuck here... sadly :( The mansion is indeed big... and the estate as well, but I've been basically through most of it with Vio already...
We ended the party with a game of hide and seek with our cats... I think they're big enough to be called cats, at least. Not that I'm a veterinarian in anyway.
It was an excellent day^^
The Next morning, Mother woke me up extra early... why? Why?! Why would you do this to me, Mother? The sun's not even up yet!
"Rise and shine Pray! We start your training today!"
"um... ok... Mommy can I go baaack to sleeeeep?" Gaaah, little-me is too tired to speak clearly damn it! We have a reputation to maintain here! You've got to speak clearly! Everyone knows us as the genius kid who learns anything perfectly and in a fast manner!
"No!" Though her tone's quite strict, I can see doubts on her face. Just a little push... "And don't you give me that puppy-face Pray! It won't work on me!"
Aaaaah damn it all! This is inhumane treatment! I deserve 10 hours of sleep per day! ...and Mother doesn't seems to hear my complaints
Mother slings me onto her shoulder and marched into the courtyard... which has been flattened and clear out into a flat area. When did that happen? This grassless field wasn't here yesterday?! Did Mother do this?
Well, I guess if Mother can raze a whole section of the city to the ground, our courtyard never stood a chance. Poor courtyard... I'll miss running around in you!
Then I got dropped on the ground quite unceremoniously... what was that for?
"Pray! You must be prepared for anything! If you're dropping to the floor, you should've reorient youself!" Waitwaitwait what? Reorient myself? I don't think I'm ready for something that advanced yet!
Can't we start with something normal? Like a hundred push ups? I doubt Little-Me can do that anyways, but this is too harsh!
"Re-re-reorient myself?" Ah, that's right, Little-Me doesn't know some words...
"Do you want to fly like Mommy?"
"Yeah!"
"Do you want Mommy to teach you how to fly?"
"Yeah!"
"Good girl, then be prepared ok? It won't be easy!" Um can we start on easy mode please? Pretty pleeeeease?
"Ok!" Oh you have got to be kidding me, Little-Me you're agreeing too easily! *sigh* Why does kids have to be so gullible? A few words and they're all fired up!
So we started the hell training... 'cause it was literally hell for me. I'm pretty sure this is NOT what a kid should be put through! Twenty pushups on the first day?! Run ten laps around the field?! Lift that heavy-looking rock up twenty times? This is Child Abuse! I'm going to tell on Mommy! Oh wait...
Even when we give Mother our best poppy-eye look after collapsing from the exhaustion of running two laps around the field, she never gave in.
I don't like this side of Mother! *sob* This is hard work! I'm not cut out for physical labor...
And Little-Me shares my sentiment completely! Though I must say one thing about the stamina of kids, it replenishes so quickly...
*Sob* "Mommy is a... a... MEANIE!" *Continues running*
...........
........
......
...
.
A year has since then passed and I've done nothing but physical training. I'd thought Mother would teach me how to use air step or whatever it is she does, but "Noooooo, you must have a fit body first Pray! Don't be greedy!"
*sob* This is so unfair!!! Why do I have to go through this?! Can't I just become OP like those MC's in other stories? Hard-work? I'm not an illegal immigrant!
I had a few brief moments of relief when Aunt Julia brought Anne and Jill over and saw me practicing for the first time. I thought she would save from this... or perhaps I can save myself?
"Aunt Julie!!! Anne! Jill! Let's play!" I prompted Little-Me to greet them as they steps down from their carriage. Let's hope Mother let me off the hook here... I have a completely legitimate excuse! Playtime is important too! Wait, what is Mother doing? No, anything but that... !!!
"Say, Julie, don't you think it's time for Anne and Jill to start training as well?"
"Now? They might be almost three years old, Silv, but they are still kids. Don't you think they are a little too young?" You're damn right Aunty! This is a violation of child protection laws! Hmm I'll have to implement that later...
"Nonsense! Everybody starts training around this age in Xing! I don't know why you Amestrisians don't, that's why you're all so weak!" Um... everybody? You sure about that Mother? I could provide a few counter-examples... like Anne and Jill here!
"Weak? Ohoho, I'm sure you're mistaken Silv, we might not be as strong as your people are physically. but we make up for it in here" Aunt Julie points her finger to the side of her head. Uh oh... I don't think Mother would take this provocation easily...
"Really now Julie, is that what you Amestrisians think about us? I'll have you know the higher levels of Xing Martial Arts can only be performed with enough enlightenment of the mind! Pfft, trying to compete there? You don't even have any enlightenment yourself!" Huh? Enlightenment of the mind? What the hell is that? Let's see, I seem to recall something along the line from Wuxia fantasies... understand of the way the world works? Or something like that???
"Hmmph! You people only know how to destroy things, how could you possibly claim to have any enlightenment?! We alchemist can both destroy and create! Don't you dare throw your Xing propaganda on me!"
Uh oh... Either this is an age old debate between the two of them or the world's going to end today. I don't know how strong Aunt Julia really is, since she never showed her alchemy in front of me, but from what I gathered from Anne and Jill, it's "sparks! Pretty sparks!"... which pretty much means I have no clue what it is. But she must be strong right? To have the nerve to stand up to mother?
Oh good, it looks like its the former. Who knows how long this debate has been going on? I most certainly don't!
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"How about this, Silv," Aunt Julia caved in first, "If you teach them your Shinbo skills, I'll let them train here with you."
"Grr... you know about our policy Julie... we can't teach foreigners! Teaching Pray is already in the grey territory!" It is?! Well damn, if only there's a Xing official I can report this to...
"Pfft, as if you royalties care about rule you made up yourself!" Ah I forgot, there's royal Xing blood running in Mother's veins. And by extension, in mine as well. "And besides, nobody else here knows what we're saying anyways. And no one who knows what Shinbo is would hear about it, I'm sure your husband can arrange that."
Say what?! Father can actually do something? Well, I think he's the one that called the military police to fall back from the old slum before Mother razed it to the ground, but I'm still doubtful about his authority... I mean, seriously, what kind of General just sits in his house and read reports all day? Don't they have to do troop inspections and stuff? Father has never gone outside the city since I was born!
Oh... is that it? Did he take a leave so he can stay here with us? Hmmm... I've never known him for being such a dedicated Father, mainly because I'm with Mother most of the time, but the more you know...
It was evident to anyone watching that Mother was teetering on whether or not to teach Anne and Jill whatever this "shinbo" thing is.
Mother and Aunt Julie continued to talk for a few minutes before reaching a consensus... meanwhile I've taken the time to tell Anne and Jill to tell their mother "No!"... like I said, kids are pretty gullible hehehe... They're turning around! What will be the verdict?
"Anne, Jill, would you like come play with Pray everyday?" Say no say no say no say no...
"No! Um... Yes!" *Gasp* Wha-wha-what?
"Is that an Yes?"
"Yeah!" Traitors! I trusted you, how could you betray me?! *sob* You don't even know what you're getting into! It's Hell's training!
"Good! Well, I'll leave them to your capable hands then, Silv." Wipe that grin off your face Aunt Julia! I won't call you Aunty for a whole month! Take that! I swear, you will pay for this!
"You have nothing to worry about Julie! I'll take good care of them... kukuku..." Mother grins back at Aunt Julia... I guess she has a thing for being a teacher. Or maybe she just want more opportunities to show off?
"I'll be borrowing a room here then, SIlv, if that's fine with you."
"Why of course you can! How about letting the three of them sleep in the same room? I'm sure they would love it." Mother leads Aunty into the mansion, to get a maid to prepare her room, probably.
Yes, yes, yes! That is a great Idea! Wait, how could I forgive Mother so easily? *Gasp!* Oh no, have I betrayed... myself?
Well, it looks like the two traitors by my side has already forgotten about what they just signed themselves up for... and they're also pretty happy that we will be room buddies! Woohoo! Hehehe this will be fun...
The feeling of excitement lasted only until Mother came back... and hell's training resumed. Oh the humanities!
So we passed the remaining months until my third birthday practicing everyday, and boy was it grueling...
It really pisses me off that Anne and Jill caught up to my level of physical training within a month! How dare they! It took me three solid months to reach this point *teary eyes...*
I blame it all on that damned Nine Yin Cultivation Seal and my god-damn negative stats! Which, by the way, is almost gone... at last!
It is most certainly not because little-me and I felt lazy about our training before they got here... certainly not!!!
I hate to admit it, but Mother's hellish training really did a number on my negative stats... its like they've never been there in the first place... that or its just effective training.
Two months after we started training altogether, we celebrated Anne and Jill's birthday, which is only a few months before mine. I convinced Amy to help me buy a batch of ferrofluids and some small magnets... kukuku that look of surprise on their face was so worth it!
Of course, it took hella long for Amy to get what I'm asking for. Mostly because the six batch of... random stuff she thought I was asking for weren't it at all! These people have almost no ideas about magnets and ferrofluids... and the closet definition they got is so jumbled up I'm not even sure what it's referring to.
For those of you that don't know what ferrofluid is... think of water that is attracted to magnets... hehehe it's fun to play around with^^
And so the rest of the year until my third passed, and Anne and Jill and I passed that time pretty much in a constant state of exhaustion from all the "training" Mother pushes on us... I suspect Mother may have some traits of masochism in her... After all, I got plenty of them myself!
On to my third birthday!
Oh God bless you , Mother, for not making me do any practice today! Just like with Anne and Jill's birthday, we got a day off today! Woohoo! Praise heaven!
Aunt Julie, damn her, got me my worse nightmare... gravity rings. I mean, I suppose I should be excited at the sight of a new magic item... but somehow I can't help but feel depressed... it's just going to keep getting worse isn't it?
Jill and Anne got me... oh a set of notebooks and pens? How thoughtful of them... too thoughtful of them. I'll bet Zion recommended it to them. Speaking of which, it looks like Zion's enjoy their stay at our mansion, since he is Sebastian's brother, I'm sure they had a lot to catch up on...
Of course, we only smiled and thanked them, how nice of them! This is what I've always wanted!
Father, well being himself, got me a decorated bracelet... which I can't seem to find a function of.
"Daddy what is this for?" Is it just worthless jewelry? I mean, we're freaking alchemists, can't you just make some gold yourself? Actually that might be against the law... who cares, I'll do it later anyways hehehehe...
"You'll see later Pray, you'll see later..." Father's grin looks a bit secretive... you know, I've always wondered back in my old world, how could a character smile 'secretively'... but now, I understand what they mean completely! Ugh, tell me! I want to know!
Ah good, Little-Me's as impatient to find out as I am, so all I'll need is a... little... push... aha!
"Daddy what is it? Tell me! Tell me!" Teary face! Muwahahaha I know for a fact that this sucker can't stand up to this face! "Why won't daddy tell me? Does Daddy hate me?"
"Wha-wa-what?!" Oh that completely flustered face on his face. Priceless! "Of course not! You're daddy's favorite princess! Come give daddy a hug..." Well he certainly didn't wait for me to come over to him before he picked me up and hugged me... too hard! Aah, we're three years old damn it! No more bear hugs!
"Daddy?" Mwuahahaha I got him at his weak spot! He can't possibly deny me now!
"Yes princess?"
"What is it?" Little-Me waves around that bracelet in question. "What is it Daddy?"
"That er, um..." I think he muttered 'how do I say this' under his breath, but it's a bit too quiet to hear clearly... "um... Pray, you must keep this a secret ok?" Why does he look so serious?
He looks around like a fugitive, then brought me up to his face level, looking at us seriously serious... then whispered, "It's an anti-magic bracelet Pray, when you wear it the gravity ring looses its effect! You can turn it off by twisting that red gem on the right. You must not tell Mommy about this ok?"
"Ok!" Ah sweet jesus, this is perfect! Anti-gravity ring? That's a HELL YES from me! Woohoo!
"Better get your rest Pray" Mother chuckles as she walks toward us from Aunt Julia, "Ahem, Anne, Jill, come over here." Whoa, she sounds so serious... I have a bad feeling about this! ...That or there was something wrong with the food. That lemonade tasted a bit weird know that I think about it...
Anne and Jill runs over to us, with Mr. Snuggie and Mr. Fluffy trailing behind them. Vio too. When did that little cat went over to the other two cats?
Great, now that everyone's looking at Mother... just say it! I can't take this suspense anymore! Mother!!!
"Ahem, can anyone guess what I'm about to say?" She grins at the three of us kids, "And you better not spill it Xix, or you won't hear the last of it."
Ignoring Father's weak smile, I urged Little-Me to put on her pouting face again... hehehe. Oh wait, that doesn't really work on Mother, damn it!
"Oh alright, stop giving me that face. Ooh you look so cute when you do that!" Ugh, it worked I guess, but I'm also currently being crushed in Mother's hug... can't. breath. help!
"Alright kids! Starting tomorrow, I'm going to teach you something nobody else in Amestris has ever learned before!" Is that a trace of guilt I see on your face Mother? "I'm going to teach you... drum roll please! dadadadadadadadadam.... Xing Martial Arts!" I guess I got my tendency to use sound effects from Mother eh? Wait what? Martial Arts? We're actually going to start that? *Screams in ecstasy!*
FINALLY!!! I've been waiting so long for this! Almost a year of exhausting physical exercises!
"Starting tomorrow, you'll do your physical exercises AND practice chi techniques!" NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo! MORE training?!
I thought for sure that we're going to sit down like Buddha or something and cultivate our chi? Isn't that how it works in stories?
But lady Fate wasn't done messing with my birthday just yet, because as my birthday party comes to an end, Amy the maid steps up to me and kneels down on one knee before me...
Uh oh, I don't like that serious face. Serious faces always bring bad news. Always.
"Pray, I got something for you," Whoa, seriously? That makes her the first servant to get me anything! "This is a Britannian noble-style dress I order just for you! Remember me with this ok?"
Ok! New style? I'll admit I've developed a taste for new dresses... wait remember you? Oh, don't tell me...
"Amy, are you leaving?" Little-Me got a little bleary eyed at that. It's pretty much a given since Amy has been constantly by our side, offering refreshments when we need it too... bu-bu-but, she's leaving?
"Smart as always, Pray. You see, I still have family left in Britannia, so I have to go back to take care of them. Be strong for me, Ok?"
"Ok... but whyyyyyy? Amy, stay with me!" Whoa, I did not expect Little-Me to be so attached to a maid... well I guess I am different from her after all.
"Daddy, Amy can stay with us right?" Tell Amy to stay you formerly useless Father! I added that 'formerly' because he actually got me something useful today.
"Of course, honey, she can stay with us as long as she wants." Father replies while looking inquisitively at Amy.
"Master Xix, I've talk about this with Master Silvia, and she agrees. It's time for me to go back."
Amy leans down and gives Little-Me one last kiss on the forehead, before turning around, grabbing her travel case- when did that get there? Never noticed all day- and proceeded to walk toward an awaiting carriage near the front gate.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Silvia, Miss Julia, and Master Xix. It has been an honor to serve at your mansion." She turns back for the last time and gives a small curtsey, before boarding the carriage, shutting the door gently as the carriage rolls away...
Little-Me cried herself to sleep that night...
For once, Vio snuggled up to Little-Me by herself as she sleeps on our bed.
Mother spends the next three day keeping us busy with the anatomies of the body. At least, what they think it is, anyways. I can see clearly on her chart that several main points are quite mistaken believes... they really need some quality doctor here. I think she's stuffing all these stuff in our head to distract Little-Me from the absence of Amy's figure. Now that I think about it, I could always see her following me out of the corner of my eyes. I guess Little-Me got quite comfortable in her presence...
There is something new I learned, much to my surprise. Or perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, since this is a complete different world after all...
Apparently, there are these chi-pathways in our body, similar to the blood veins, called Meridians. There's also specific names, named after some dead people I don't really care to remember, for each major meridian points on our bodies. I think I'll just stick to the likes of 'right palm meridian' or something like that.
Then, on the fourth day, Mother brought us to a large, dojo-like room on the first floor... oh it is a dojo, complete with training dummies on one side of it, and bunch of blunt weapons on the other.
Here, we're told to sit, and clear our mind of everything... which is quite easy for me with my years of experience... there's not much to do on a hospital bed back in the old world, when I got tired of virtual reality.
"Clear your minds of everything, and don't think about anything either. We'll do this for the entire week, so practice, ok?"
"Ok!" The three of us answers in unison... Well, I guess little-me drew the short end of the stick here, since she can't possibly clear Me from her mind... oh she doesn't notices me. That's nice. Damn you...
So that's how we spend the week, basically falling asleep during meditation and waking up when we hear Mother's voice yelling at us.
Grr, c'mon little-me! Just stop thinking about that chat you had with Anne this morning! This is more important! Master this skill for me so I don't have to!
I don't know what exactly I was expecting from little-me, but half of it was waiting for the notification box to pop up saying that the meditation skill has been learned... which never happened. Why? Is it because she is actually a native?
Either way, Mother didn't talk anything about receiving the skill, so I assume they don't see their own status windows and stuff... like NPC's.
Then we switched to maintaining the meditation but also focusing our mind on our own body.
"Feel inside your stomach. There is an energy there, waiting to be used. Feel it. You must keep your meditation up if you want to feel it."
Hmm, I guess she's referring to Chi? I've read in some fantasy novels that Chi comes from the stomach... wait a wuxia novel? No, it was something else... what was it? I remember someone said it in an show before... Ian? No... Iroh? Maybe... aw well, whatever...
"Tell me when you feel it" Mother says to us as she takes a meditative stance herself.
"I feel something!" Whoa! Anne sure is fast, Little-Me haven't feel anything yet!
"I need to pee!" Oh, nevermind, she just need to pee. Of course, I was expecting too much...
C'mon, Little-Me! You can't lose to them here! Remember how fast they caught up to our training level before? You must wipe that shame away! Feel it! Feel whatever it is!
It's one of the greatest mysteries in life, or at least in this life, that I never really knew how much of an influence I have on Little-Me. Sometimes, we're completely in sync and it almost feel like we're the same person, yet sometimes it feels the exact opposite... strange... I think its learning toward the former but I'm not really sure...
In the end, Little-Me did got that 'feeling' down first, after three weeks of almost falling asleep again. It feels... odd, like something is there, but isn't. I've never felt this thing before in my old life on Earth... guess that's the difference between a manaless world and this one.
It took another frustrating two weeks for Anne to get it, then almost another week until Jill feels it too.
"Good, now remember that feeling. Once you have found it, it should be pretty easy to find it again." Huh, it has actually been pretty easy to find that feeling... Chi again, in the last three weeks as I waited for Anne and Jill to feel it as well.
"We're not going to do a set of postures. Remember their order!" Mother gets up and motions for us to get us three to get up as well, so we do.
Then she sowed us a slow set of... oh is that Tai Chi? That's... yup that's that one... Yeah, it's Tai Chi alright. I did practice it back in my old world, back when I was in.... about the seventies... it never really did much, to be completely honest with you, though I was there for another reason...
Hehe, this would be a piece of cake! I know all these steps! Move your hand higher Little-Me!
We did one routine together, then Mother told us to do another one by ourselves. And by that, I mean I was guiding Little-Me the entire time... she forgot the steps halfway through anyways.
It took another four tries for Mother to get satisfied with our postures and for us to actually remember it... it has something to do with muscle memories, according to Mother. Which is strange, since muscle memories shouldn't be as easy to train as we just did... but it worked! I don't know how, but it did! Interesting...
Finally, Mother told us the next day we're going to channel chi when we do it as well... why tomorrow? Little-Me can still keep goin- Oh, its sundown already, how did time past so fast? Hmm...
So the next day, we goes through the Tai Chi routine once again, before Mother gives us the go ahead to try drawing our chi as we move slowly... and ILittle-Me can't.
I know why, it's that damned Nine Yin Cultivation Seal... but nobody else knows, including Mother.
We tried for another whole month, during which Anne and Jill already got the technique down. Oooh, so jealous... !!! But it will be worth it... think of the 8 billion Chi I'll have by the time I'm done with this accursed seal!
Aw man, Little-Me's feeling quite depressed since she can't get it no matter how hard she focused... poor girl, it's not your fault! Blame the bastard!
Then Mother decided to try something else, which I overheard talk to herself as "risky... but it would do the trick!"
Er, that doesn't sound good. Can we skip to the next part already?
Apparently not, since Mother then tells Little-Me to sit in a meditative stance again and start meditating, while she takes the same posture behind us. Then I feel her hands on my back. What for I can't tell, but it looks something like this, I think...
Spoiler :
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2f9B5Riqw.png [http://i.imgur.com/9B5Riqw.png]
Then I feel a gust of... is that Chi? Bursting into my body, flooding through veins I've never felt before and technically shouldn't exist if I know my human anatomy... but it's there, and I can feel it. Ah, such a wonderful feeling, I feel like I'm strong enough to do anything!
Then it started. At first, it was just a slightly ticklish feeling, then it feels like the Chi in my chi veins are twisting around like snakes... boy that was uncomfortable. But it only got worse, by the minute! The twisting chi got more and more violent... and it started to hurt, like it burns... oh sh*t it's burning! IT'S F*CKING BURNING me alive! Help! Aaaaah it's like the Chi Mother poured into my body's on fire!
Little-Me has a far lower threshold for pain and is already on the floor rolling around, trying to put out the fire that is inside her, while screaming Bloody Mary... for my own earlobes, I cut off the connection between her sense of sound and mine. Whoa, haven't done that in... years now if I remember correctly... haven't really needed to do this since Little-Me got past her crying stage as a baby.
Mother's freaking out around me while Anne and Jill just looks at us confused... as am I. What is happening here?
...Finally, after what feels like hours of being burned alive from the inside out, the chi-fire fades away and I feel Little-Me's consciousness fades away... poor girl, that must have really exhausted her...
W=Little-Me didn't wake up for a whole month... I counted the days, judging by the 'Age' shown on my status window... its far more specific then it needs to be, really. I could feel a bit of that old insanity coming back to haunt me... oh no, go away! Stay away from me!
When Little-Me finally wakes up, we still feel oddly weakened and exhausted for some reason... even though we just slept for a whole month.
"Mommy?" Mother's sleeping by my side. Oh, I'm in Mother's room, on her bed... still, why do I feel so tired?
"Pray! Are you ok?" Mother looks really worried. Didn't doctor tell her I'll be fine? Oh wait, they don't have doctors here...yet...
"I'm ok Mommy, just..."
"Just...?" Boy, she couldn't have looked more worried.
"I'm hungry Mommy... and so tired..." Little-Me whispers as she slowly falls back to sleep. Guess she can't recover that quickly after all.
It's another five hours before Little-Me wakes up again, this time with Mother's anxious face by our side. Looks like she's been there without moving since I woke up last time.
"Mommy?" A bit of confusion in Little-Me's mind... don't worry, I'll take care of that...
"It's alright Pray, everything will be alright." She smiles weakly as she brushes our hair gently, it is a nice feeling once in a while... "Here, eat some of this."
What is that? It looks like... some kind of porridge, the kind you'd find in Chinese cuisine... oh, it is. Did Mother made that?
"Wait, hang on Pray, we're going to heat it up real quick." How? I wanted to ask, except I can't. You don't have microwaves in this world do you now?
"Xix, heat this up." Mother orders Father... who I just notices now is sitting on the other side of the bed also looking at us. Then he puts on a white glove with red circular drawing engravings on it and snaps his fingers.
A small cooking flame shots out as he snaps his finger, conveniently moving itself to under the bowl of porridge Mother's holding and heating it up.
Convenient... and a disappointment. I guess that's Father's flame alchemy...
The warmed porridge is actually quite good... like really, really good. Ooh, I taste Shark Fins, this is awesome!
"More, Mommy! pleeeese?" Little-Me asks as she pouts cutely. Aww, good girl, you actually learned when to use it by yourself! Mwuahahaha this counts as one of my greatest achievements of all time!
"Of course honey, Mommy will be right back, ok?" Mother takes the now emptied bowl and flies out the room, presumably to get another bowl.
"It will be alright Pray, don't worry about a thing." Father speaks up from his quiet place.
"Ok daddy. Will Mommy be ba- Blah!" Oh dear god, that was a disaster. Little-Me just starting puking everything out on her bed... and the smell of the puke is only making it worse for her! I think she ate too fast there. It's like drinking water after you've been under dehydration for hours; you can't eat or drink to fast right away, or your stomach will only backfires on you...
All in all, it's another six months before Little-Me finally feels strong enough to walk again. Mother was pretty much by our side when we're awake, as was Father. Don't you have some work to do?
So we got off the bed for the first time in seven months. Ah, it's good to be back on my feet. I wonder what happened.... wait what? We turned back to the window we just passed by.
Is that... fields? wheat fields? Yeah, looks like it... but there's none around our mansion in the city... oh.
"Mommy, where are we?" We asks Mother, who's behind us at the moment.
Unexpectedly, it was Father who answered, as he swoops down and picks us up. "This is our country house, Pray. We thought it would be better for you to recover here, with the better wind and sun."
Hmm, I guess that sort of make sense. But more importantly...
"Daddy, where's Anne and Jill?" Where are the twins? Shouldn't they be here as well?
"Honey, they're at the capital city." Mother answers, "They can't be here with us, I'm sorry. But don't worry, they've learned everything they should know about shinbo by now, so they're in good hands."
Shinbo? Oh right, the first level of Xing Martial Arts... I see, so they have already mastered it. I've got to catch up to them somehow...
"Mommy, can I learn it too?" Mother and Father looks a bit hesitant there... like there's bad news for them to tell me...
And it is. Bad news, that is. Father brings me back to the bed again, before setting me down on it. Then he and Mother grabbed the other two chairs in the room and comes over to sit before me.
"You see, honey, what Mommy did last time is called Chi-healing. I poured my chi into your body to feel why you can't get your chi to start flowing around.
So? We look at Mother in synchronized confusion. She takes a deep breath... that's never good...
"Pray, I need you to be strong for me, ok?"
"Ok mommy..."
"Pray, you have what we call "Nine Yin Chi Curse"... its a very rare curse that has never been seen in the last thousand years... until now." Ahh, knew it has got to be that curse's fault! Probably something to do with the fact that my chi never once flowed in my chi-path before...
"What is it Mommy?" Little-Me's still a bit confused.
"You see, Pray, the curse blocks your Chi from ever flowing into your body... honey, I can't teach you Martial Arts. I'm sorry Pray..." Mother's getting teary eyes, as am I...
"I-I can't learn to fly like Mommy?" Little-Me's quite devastated... its been her goal for such a long time now, its practically her life goal at the moment.
"I'm sorry honey, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Mother keeps repeating herself... oh no, damn ninjas cutting onions! Don't cry, me! You know it will be lifted once you're 10!
Little-Me and Mother cried together for quite a while, as Father wraps his arms around us, drawing us into a big hug.
It was quite warm and comfortable, a soothing feeling I haven't felt in a long time...
Mother regains control over herself about half an hour later, and excuse herself to go make dinner... while Little-Me refuses to leave the bed in her foul mood, realizing her first dream has really, really been crushed... poor girl..
It isn't for another three days until Father managed to get Little-Me out of the depressed mood... yes, you heard me right, the normally useless Father actually did something. I think he left for a day while Little-Me refused to move, except when she needed to use the bathroom, though I don't what Father left for.
Then I found out... he went to get me a textbook.
A textbook on Alchemy.
"It's ok Pray, there are many powers in this world." He says as he hands me the thick book titled "History and Basics of Amestrisian Alchemy, Part I & II"
"What do you say, do you want to learn Alchemy like Daddy?"
"... ok daddy..."
Father and I started spending more time together since then, talking about alchemy and whatnots, sometimes while we walk the fields around the little country house we have. It's a little comfy house, but without any servants like our old one.
Alchemy, unsurprising as it turns out, is based on the concept "All is One, One is All" Now, where have I heard that before? It's really right on the tip of my tongue...
Like it was fantasized on old Earth, the Circle of Alchemy is its basis, serving as the conduct to draw out the power of the Earth.
Or as Father calls it, the "Energy of deep underground movement." I doubt they know what tectonic plate movement is in this world. Nevertheless, it is quite impressive they got a definition so close to it.
From there, Alchemists use runes that symbolize a certain element, and draws them on the power circle. Then the alchemist connects the runes in a specific order before drawing power through the circle, fueling the alchemy. Depending on what rune is invoked and the order it is aligned in, Alchemists can create anything they want, as long as they know what it is composed of.
Neat, but I don't need that. Remember? I got that 'True Alchemy' skill and the 'Gate of Truth' passive... if only I can use it!
So Little-Me learned everything she can from Father, surprising him as well. Hehe, guess he didn't expect that we'd have photographic memory eh? During that time, I cringed many times at the misconceptions they have in the book about how some parts of the world works... noooo that's noble gas you idiot author, don't call it "odd", that's its nature!
Before I knew it, and I didn't really notice my fourth birthday to be honest, it's the week before my fifth birthday. Also, the last birthday before we celebrate my tenth birthday. According to Father, that's because "many children don't survive through their first five birthdays, Pray. That's why we always celebrate them. But once your past that age, most people are healthy and fine, so only the next tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth birthday are celebrated afterward."
That actually makes sense... cherish what you have, while you have it, eh? I guess I really need to improve the hygiene habits of this place...pre-industrial age worlds aren't exactly the cleanest places compared to old Earth's standards.
Then we rode a four-horse drawn carriage back to the capital city. Apparently, my fifth birthday, like all fifth birthdays, are to be hold in the central cathedral. Mother did mention any church building is fine, but she insists on going to the main one in Amestris. And we're not that far away either, Father' s country house is just five hours north of the Capital City, in Father's jurisdiction as a brigadier general.
Then we arrived in front of the Church that... looks like any Christian churches you'd find on Earth, really, but really big. With buttresses around it too, and all those pretty colored window arts.
Eeeeexcept its a Church of Freya, who is definitely a more feminine God than Jesus...
Huh, I can see a group of other kids like me. Guess I'm not the only born on this day in the capital. Oh, its Aunty Julie with Anne and Jill in the audience! Little-Me waves energetically toward them, and they waves back in the same high spirit, before a high priest herded me to the other waiting children. Mother and Father took a seat on the front row, next to Aunt Julia and her husband.
"We gather here today to celebrate the arduous journey these children have faced growing..." The priest guy drones on and on and on and on and on about how hard it is for most to successfully lives through the first five years... wow how bad is public health in this world? For them to be this serious about it? I guess I had my own brush with Death as well... except I've been actually Dead, so I wasn't that particularly worried.
"...now, we shall ask the gods for the blessing. Each one of you will step up here to this circle before me, and wait for a God's voice. Be respectful, and be thankful for whatever blessing the Gods choose to give you. And remember, the Gods see everything..."
Everything eh? I wonder if they can really see through my mind... or see some of those God granted skills... this would be interesting...
I'm pretty far in the line, only three from the last guy in line, so I waited patiently for each kid to go through the process.
Some kid got multiple God's blessings, with the most being three God's Blessings. There was also a poor guy that didn't get any. The priest quietly escorted him down and into a different hallway after half a minute of waiting. Poor kid... I wonder what they're going to do...
Finally, the line dwindles down, and it's finally my turn. We walk up the pedestal with high spirits, a slight skip in my steps. Then we quickly reached the center of the circle before the priest. He lifts his white-oak staff in the now familiar manner and begins to beseech the Gods to give me my blessings. then he stops and looks at me expectantly...
Am I supposed to do something here? Sweat drops down Little-Me's brows as she feels everyone's stares boring into her back. ...Twenty seconds... twenty five... twenty six... twenty seven... twenty eight... twenty nine... oh no, one more second and I'll be escorted down by the Priest! Oh, what to do? What to do?!
Just then, a divine light shines through the top of the cathedral, and forms into a white circle in the air above me.
Down drops out a winged man in white armor... that looks suspiciously like a painted version of the exoskeletons we had back on old Earth... uh oh...
"Yo!" He smiles down at me casually. Everyone's staring back between he and I in shock by now. As if there's anything casual about this!
"..." Little-me's quite shock as well, though not me. Oh no, not me. And I know exactly what I want to say...
"?" He looks inquisitively at me, a twitch at the corner of his mouth, almost turning into a grin. Oh, that's the last straw you-
............
.........
......
...
.
"BASTARD!"
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PR'd version will be put in as soon as I get it... lesson learned, never post a holder... you guys don't like it it seems :P
Spoiler :
Huh, Ironically the title I had already for this chapter ended up being very much true...
Yeah, sorry guys, I just finish typing up the last chapter... and boy, lemme tell you, that was quite the chapter. Also the longest by far... but don't worry! There's a lot of development, unlike chapter 4... 3+ hours of straight up writing and thinking, not to mention the two I already put in before Dinner... who knew I had so much stuff in my mind for this story! Gah, must. write. it. all. out! I think I was in a trance... is writing trance even a thing?
Another piece of good news, I found a PR!!! Woohoo! This calls for a celebration! *Pops out the champaign!* Cheers everybody! His name is thebarathorn, god bless him... All PR credit from now on goes to him!
Since I send it to him this late, after midnight, it's only reasonable that he won't get to it until tomorrow... so please wait a bit folks! I'll post it as soon as it's been checked and errors fixed, or when I finally notices it, hehe. This will serve as my Author's Note I suppose.^^