Ember of Invention

Lindle and Thalia had managed to scrape together some energy by the time the three of them walked into Mr. Dalton’s Inn, the Slumbering Scale. There were no real rules for where the ceremony after people returned from their milestone rite had to take place, but when it involved most of an entire generation of people all at once and their families the only place in Glacerhine that had the room was the White Hall.

Since the only people participating this time around were Lindle and Madam Holly however, and the hectic atmosphere at the White Hall currently, Madam Holly had instead rented out the inn instead.

Waiting inside for them was a small crowd of people talking and lightly drinking. Of those who were there for him were Lindle’s mom, Humphrey, whom he had managed to corner after inviting the adventures, said adventurers, including Theodore, who must have returned from his quest and accepted the invitation since Lindle left. He didn’t spot Nothing, but the homunculus could just be hidden away somewhere where they could watch.

The only other person he recognized by face was Mr. Dalton, who was playing host behind his bar. The red-scaled lizard beastman was a former adventurer who had settled down in Glacerhine after meeting his wife. The rest of the invitees were a mix of humans and raccoon beastman he assumed were his self-proclaimed ‘partners’ family.

The last person in the room wasn’t really an invitee, but one of the other elders here to officiate them having passed the rite, an older human man holding a staff with a thick blue crystal as it’s head and wearing ornately decorated robes that marked him as a shaman. Not having been engaging in conversation, they were the first to notice the three of them. Madam Holly shot him a lopsided grin, the shaman giving her a resigned look back. He coughed and thumped the butt of his staff against the ground to get everyone’s attention.

The conversation filling the inn trailed off as everyone turned to look at them. Seeing their gazes Thalia awkwardly shuffled to the side, waving to him as she went to join her family. They all gave her a quick look over, audible sighs of relief echoed from the family as they saw checking in on grandma hadn’t resulted in anything more than exhaustion.

Lindle shot a look at Madam Holly, who didn’t seem bothered by the reputation she had in her own family. They stood as a pair in front of the shaman, who started the ceremony.

“Have you completed the trial set for you?”

“Yes, we-” Lindle said before Madam Holly gleefully dropped the icebox to the ground with a thump, opening it up and showing the balled-up zmey corpse to the elder and the group of people behind him.

“Yes! Lindle did very well as you can see, I helped.” She repeated proudly.

Lindle closed his eyes, leaned over, and slowly closed the lid of the box displaying the proof of their completion. Lindle’s mom and friends looked confused, but Madam Holly’s family looked unphased.

The shaman sighed to himself, saying nothing for several seconds before continuing. “Very well, then you have both proved yourselves as capable of thriving in the wilds of the Glacial Reach as a member of our community. I, Elder Galeomin, with my authority as an elder, will pronounce you having passed your Milestone Rites.”

Taking out a set of pendants, he walked up to each of them. His expression was resigned as he put the first around Madam Holly’s neck, but it softened when he walked up to Lindle. “Congratulations young man. For once I am glad for her meddling, that it has allowed you to receive what should have been guaranteed to you.” He spoke in a low tone of voice as he put the pendant around his neck. Lindle nodded, a bit awkwardly, but gratefully. Despite everything and his future plans, Lindle was happy he got to experience this.

He felt a sudden tingling at the back of his mind as the system alerted him. Blinking in surprise he looked around, as both Madam Holly and Elder Galeomin nodded expectantly. He opened his status.

You have received 1 point of Charisma!

Hunter Gatherer (Feat)

You have proved your battle prowess when in pursuit of fueling your craft. When you are fighting against a guardian or protector of something you intend to use as crafting material, you will receive the [Resourceful Hunter] buff. You will also not harm or reduce the quality of the material you intend to collect unintentionally.

A new stat point was unexpected, it would probably be the last point he would gain from natural development before getting his class, he hadn’t expected it to be for charisma either. Did he get it because of an increase in cultural standing? Charisma was a strange stat, the one Lindle probably understood the least. The shamans had explained that Charisma had an effect on how willfully he could control his soul and move it in tune with his actions, which had an effect on his ability to interact with other souls. Lindle didn’t really get it, but essentially it was a stat, at least in part, that functioned relative to others and not just himself.

As for the feat, well, it looked like Madam Holly had hit her goal right on the mark. It was a feat that encouraged Lindle to go out and find his own crafting materials by hand. He would need to experiment with what exactly it could do though. That would have to wait for later though, as now that the ceremony was over, there was still a celebration to get to.

Lindle closed his status and Elder Galeomin stepped away. Around them, everyone cheered and started a round of applause. Lindle blushed and smiled as Dorothea gave a loud whoop, while Madam Holly received the applause more theatrically with exaggerated bows towards her family, but Lindle thought she seemed genuinely happy to have finally gone through with it. Even with what she said about it not being a big deal to her, Lindle suspected it was still a happy moment for her.

She turned to Lindle and put a hand on his shoulder. “Congratulations partner. Go on and enjoy yourself.” She picked up the icebox and called out to Mr. Dalton challengingly, placing it on the table. “Got some dinner for you to cook! Zmey meat should be an interesting challenge for you, if you’re up for it.”

The innkeeper looked inside before wolfishly smiling. “You’re the one paying, I won’t say no if you also want to provide the food.”

“Make sure to remove the poison in it and try and pack up all the valuable parts for the kid over there when you got the meat sorted.” Madam Holly looked back at him cheekily. “My bad, not a kid anymore.”

Lindle waved her off as he walked up to his mom. “Neither are you!” Madam Holly started laughing as his mom pulled him into a big hug that he happily returned, around them the adventures and Humphrey gave him congratulations and pats on the back.

They delved into the festivities, a bit of music beginning to play from somewhere Lindle couldn’t source as he shared everything that happened with on the rite. Telling them of the grueling trek and the fight with the zmey. He also didn’t bother to hold back his thoughts on Madam Holly, the adventurers nodding knowingly as their guesses and theories on the nature of the high-level elderly had been backed up.

“So?” Humphrey asked. “How does it feel? Feel all grown up now?”

“I don’t feel that much different honestly.” Lindle shrugged. He really wasn’t sure what he expected, there was a literal tangible difference since he gained a stat point, but all he was really feeling was his sore muscles. “Maybe when I become 15 I’ll really feel it, with my class and all.”

Everyone around him laughed. His mother most of all in particular. “Yeah, it’ll feel different, but you’re not going to feel like an adult for a long time yet even then.” She said. His mom looked around wistfully. “I can’t tell if your leaving is going to make that happen sooner or later, people here need to grow up a lot sooner than where I did, but clearly that didn’t matter much to her.” She pointed to Madam Holly who was dancing with an old raccoon beastman, she was pulling him around but he had a wide grin on his face to match hers.

She continued. “I think making your own way is going to matter a lot more than you think, but I know you can handle it. Either way though, you’re still always going to be my son”

There were a few lighthearted jeers as more drinks were brought out. Laughter and chatter filled the air as the evening wore on.

Once people had separated back into individual conversations again he had discreetly asked his mom where Nothing was. She pulled out a small black lantern with tinted glass hiding the inside on a hook, telling him they had managed to build a little alchemical lantern and squirrel him away inside. It wouldn’t produce any smoke and was a lot more subtle than a torch or casting spell. It was off for now but Lindle could take Nothing with him and turn it on to have a conversation away from where everyone could see.

Thanking her Lindle did just that, excusing himself to go to the restroom and switching on the lantern once he was in the side hall out of sight. Nothing woke up swiftly.

Lindle! I take it you’ve completed your ceremony? Congratulations.

“Thank you. I’m sorry you couldn’t see it.”

It’s alright, I don’t need to, I can feel how you feel about it. That’s more than anyone else gets to commemorate the occasion with you. It’s wonderful that I can join you even now as I am.

“Well don’t worry, soon enough you’ll be finished and we won’t need to carry a fire around whenever we want to talk.” He said.

I’m looking forward to it. But for now, this is your night, go, have fun, maybe take a nap, you feel very tired. Actually, really tired, and sore too. What did she do to you?

Lindle laughed and shared the story again with his friend until Mr. Dalton announced that the zmey steaks were ready. Bidding Nothing bye he turned off the lantern and joined everyone to eat.

It was very delicious.