NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70: How time flies
“Time heals all wounds.”
Stephen King
My brain had spun until I had passed out again. I was woken up to . . .
“Joyful anniversary.” Shouted by my family as they surrounded me in my crib. It appeared the song happy birthday had yet to make an appearance in this world and I wondered whether it would be wise to introduce it or not. Perhaps for my sister’s birthday I could but then I would have to endure hearing it forever more. It would be a difficult decision to make and one I would put off from making today.
My first present and drink of the day was another drop of dexterity elixir, far more powerful than a shot of coffee or redbull, I was up and running round the room. My stamina would run out sooner rather than later but I was determined to find what I hoped were my presents hidden away. But it would appear that my parents and family were finally wise to my abilities, now that they had been laid out for them, and had hidden my presents beyond my senses. I was tempted to see if I could push my senses further to discover them but held myself back. Remembering that every day I desisted from levelling senses, mind, magic and clarity was another day closer to removing my crippled status.
“Presents?” I optimistically asked.
“Sorry they went up in in flames at your funeral, son.” Kaius confirmed my fears.
“The best present we could give you would be your body back anyway.” Mother tried to explain away their absence.
“Besides you have enough traits to last a lifetime.” Aleera added, “What do you need material presents for anyway.”
“It would have been nice.” I muttered. At least I still had all the items from the baby career day squirreled away somewhere.
“No today’s present is your new training regime schedule.” Grandfather smiled fully aware that that was not what I had been hoping for. “Raising Dexterity alone is unlikely to be enough to unbalance you and strength simply cannot be trained as young as you are. However, your mother has finally allowed that under her supervision that you are not too young to for some endurance training as outlined in the Silverwoods Legacy.” He raised an eyebrow to indicate the change of heart.
“Not all poisons kill.” Mother calmly explained as if reassuring herself with her own words.
“What she means to say is that we will be starting with anaesthetics, before progressing to paralytics before we ever get to attempting actual poisons in an attempt to create some new tolerances and raise your endurance.” Grandfather explained. It was nice that he was no longer barking orders or acting without consent and explanation.
“We will all be training these alongside you.” Father added. “As much as you may feel trapped and alone, you’re not. We’re with you and will be with you every step of the way.”
“Besides,” added Aleera, “perhaps I will be able to catch up a little or at least stay ahead of you in these attributes.”
“Yay, joyful anniversary to me.” I sarcastically added. “New training schedule, mild poisons and . . . anything else to make today a better anniversary?” I quizzed.
“Well . . . You have been officially dead for 2 months now. 7 more months to go before you can be reborn again. However, seeing as you seem to have had a head start once already we thought that for your new name in life you could be called Callen.” Father added.
“Joyful anniversary Callen.” They all chimed in. The seemed a little apprehensive about the idea of giving me a new name and in truth I was unsure about it myself. Still if I was going to pretend I had died I was always going to need a new name anyway.
“Callen?” I rolled the name around in my mouth.
“Callen Kai Silverseas.” He added.
“What does it mean?” I asked curious how they had chosen the name.
“Rock.” He bluntly answered.
“That’s it?” No mystical magical reasoning behind it. Simply rock. I was a little disappointed at the lack of imagination.
“Yes, Kai meant sea. Now you are the rock in the sea, youngest scion of the noble Silversea family.”
I paused unimpressed. At least they had decided to keep the surname I had suggested for our family.
They couldn’t hold their merriment at my unamused face for much longer and laughing they said, that it could also mean brave little warrior, if I wished to think of it that way. I liked to think that I was brave, knew that I was little and who knew one day I could consider myself a warrior. That interpretation of my name seemed far cooler to me. Although I was little sad that I had not been allowed to choose my own new name. At least I had been able to choose the surname which no one had contested. Moreover, the name Xavier that I had been contemplating due to my crippled status was probably still copyrighted across the multiverse for any crippled character with mental powers. It was probably for the best.
My anniversary somehow felt a little anticlimactic. I had spent all this effort attempting to raise my levels and numbers before reaching my first birthday but had so little to show for it. Technically I had traits many would die to have but I had also burdened myself with an imbalance most would struggle to alleviate. It was only through the rare resource of a dexterity elixir that I had a chance to undo the problems I had created.
The following year might not be the most exciting but balancing out my glass cannon build would be far more important than accelerating down a path that would lead to a permanent crippled status. It was time to follow my families advice and build a better foundation for the build I wished to embody.
Week 1
Salt production continues, pearl seeding ongoing, soil is continuing to be carried up to the top of the mountain. I remembered another possible money maker from roman times and have Des and Sins collecting a variety of shells for experimentation. My body continues to slowly grow and the training has started. This week Vitality +1, Endurance +1, Dexterity +1. It is not a lot but it is a start and I have managed to refrain from levelling my mental stats which while not progress is a necessary pause to prevent further imbalance. Knot making and Stitching continues to level. Aleera has become a little secretive about her training although is happily disappearing every day to do it.
Week 2
Experiments to produce tyrian purple are ongoing. No huge successes yet but Rome was not built in a day. Salterns continue to expand around the island forming a smooth reflective pool much like a mirror of the sky. Think this will be quite stunning when completed. Pearls continue to grow well and looking into selling salt to nearby islands. Body continues to grow and despite no specific training for it managed to gain point in Strength +1 as well as Vitality + 1, Endurance +1, Dexterity +1.
Week 3
Eat, sleep, train, repeat. Not a lot to add when everyday is pretty much the same. Being a baby when you are actually forced to be a baby can be entirely too boring. Luckily my family is aware of my boredom and work hard to talk to me throughout the day even when I can’ physically respond. Helps keep the tedium at bay and learning a lot about the island and a little more about the world. This week body increased Vitality +1, Endurance +1, Dexterity +1
Week 4
A month into my new training regime I am now able to stay awake a little longer. But that is nearly the only success. The increase to Vitality and Endurance helping my stamina slowly increase. A month of saltern making as completed the road around the outside of the island. They decided in the end to make it a perfect circle and are creating the rest along the lines of a compass one pointing directly east to where the town lies. Body has increased once more by Vitality +1, Endurance +1, Dexterity +1
Week 5
Stalling my progress with skills and my mental stats is a little depressing but necessary I have to keep reminding myself. I keep myself by watching everything we as a family are achieving. My mother has ambitiously started to carve through magic a grand façade to the mountain we live in on the eastern most slope of the mountain running down to where the salterns have now extended all the way inland. It is more a Hollywood prop than an actual Hall of the Mountain King but from the outside it looks simply spectacular. Body stats have continued to increase by 1.
Week 6
Family has harvested the first set of pearls from our oysters they were quite small but believe that they have grown ten times faster than they would have on earth. Magic and mana are a wonderful thing. While I have fought boredom hard to prevent my mental stats from increasing avoiding the use of magical spells as much as possible my mental stats have still levelled a little over the last 6 weeks. Significantly slower than my physical stats but any step forward for them is a step back for me. My parents told me not to worry and that I was making amazing progress. Despite my mental stats increasing I still managed to maintain my physical progress.
Week 7
Same old, same old. No new news, though, seeing as we have been squirreled away for 3 months on the island now, Mother says that I can pretend to be reborn in 6 month’s time. The issue is that I will be by that point 1 year and 8 months old. (In old world time that would be 2 years old) So we will still have to stay on the isolated on the island for at least another 8 months after that if we are to pretend that my 2 year old body is only 8 months old. Something that is only possible by the slow rate of growth I have experienced due to the trait long-lived. Still it is something to look forward to one day. 14 months to go till reconnecting to the people on the town.
Week 8
End of the month finally a new skill, it has seemed strange to have gone nearly two whole months without gaining more but we had been focussing on levelling up the physical skills I already had that we knew would support my physical growth. I now have the skill Diving it worked well with breath control and swimming which I used to dive down to check on the oysters rather than disturb them by pulling them up everyday. Body stats continue to slowly increase.
Week 9
Without the self imposed risk and potential dangerous pushing I had made to move myself forward in my first year I found my experience growing very slowly. But the production of salt and pearls continues to go well. We have even had some success in recreating the purple dye. Though we have been cautioned by grandfather that we should be careful selling that particular product as one particular noble house is famous for its production and would act aggressively to stop it’s production elsewhere. Still another source of revenue is another source of revenue.
Week 10
One of the tricks we learned from the Silverwood Legacy for levelling up their scions was in the preparation of all food. The children would be responsible for killing their catch from age 5 onwards or as soon as they accessed their system. Ants it appeared were no longer strong enough for me to gain any experience from killing them. I missed when this changed but perhaps it was simply passing the threshold of my first year. Either way Father kept his catch alive until returning to the island where I had the duty of extinguishing their lives. Knife skills have continued to level and this helped me to gain a little more strength.
Week 11
With limited time functional we have stuck to the skills I know and can accelerate my growth in but I found myself disappointed this week that I had been unable to develop anymore Tier 2 or Tier 3 physical skills. But every minute of my time bought with the elixir is being increasingly planned out in advance with my family ensuring that every second is used efficiently and without waste. Still I finally managed to gain an extra point in luck this week. Although I found myself wondering what it was actually was given for. This is the one of the few areas of my status I have not mentioned to my family so I couldn’t even bring it up to ask them what they thought.
Week 12
It has been 3 months now since we started my new training regime, slow solid growth across my physical stats but I fear that we are running out of the elixir. It as been 84 days. 84 days of drops here there and everywhere. If I was a gambling man I could always double down on my mental stats to see me through this and out the other side. But the problem is that with gambling sometimes you lose and when a crippled status is the possible result I am too terrified to try that. Our current plan appears to be working why rock the boat when all it will take is time to fix it. At this rate I should hit 100 dexterity in 50 weeks or 12 months just in time to celebrate my 2ndBirthday. Time heals all wounds even the self inflicted ones. I just hoped that this would give me the quirk to be able to reintegrate smoothly with my body. Hopefully in time to rejoin society as ‘Callen’. I just need to stick with it for another 12 months. Gambare!
Level: 11
Name: Lord Kai
Experience: 387,450/ 409,600
Age: 1 year 3 months, 0 weeks, 1 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes
Health: 1300/1300 Stamina: 660/660 Mana: 1220/1220 Psi: 1220/1220
Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted
Vitality: 130
Endurance: 40
Strength: 31
Dexterity: 51
Senses: 122
Mind: 122
Clarity: 102
Magic: 122
Charisma: 25
Luck: 3
Free Points: 30
Skills:
Tier 1: Time sense (Lv 30 -> Lv 35) Listening (Lv 30) Meditation (Lv 39 ->45) Swimming (Lv 32 -> Lv 40) Humming (Lv 27) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 27) Singing (Lv 27) Drumming (Lv 25) Running (Lv17 -> 27) Acting (20) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15) German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11) Breath Control (Lv 12 -> 20) Sight (Lv 15) Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4 -> Lv 10) Climb (Lv 7 –> Lv 17) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 12) Knife Skills (Lv 5 – Lv 10) Trading (Lv 14 -> Lv 20) Sailing (Lv 6) Appeal (Lv 3 –> Lv 6) Knots (Lv 0 -> Lv 10) Stitching (Lv 0 -> 10) Diving (Lv 0 -> Lv 5)
Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 38) Eavesdrop (LV 28) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22) Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20) Trombone (Lv 20) Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 12) Quick reflexes (Lv 27) Haggling (Lv 5) Misdirection (Lv 8) Order (Lv 2 – Lv3)
Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 26) Expel Mana (Lv 37) Absorb Mana (Lv 31) Mana Manipulation (Lv 29) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10) Gale (Lv 17) Deception (Lv 3) Melt (Lv 10) Command (Lv 1)
Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv 15) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)
Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)
Skill experience: 9400
Origin experience: 0
Combat experience: 0
Crafting experience: 40,000
Trading experience: 30,000
Popular experience: 0
We had an unexpected visitor today. It was not so much that he was unexpected rather that his time or arrival was both quicker than if he had sailed straight to the palace and back while still being slower than if he had visited all the islands on the way as most merchants were wont to do. All we could do was accept his request and we welcomed him to our home although I was once more hidden away. I wonder how this will go.
. . . .
Log of Alderman Cadmus
I have been dispatched by the Royal Chancellor to accompany the Merchant Mercurio for the sole purpose of validating the individuals claim to nobility. I have been warned that the journey may take sometime and should pack appropriately. I fully expect to be back at the palace in a month but have been told to enjoy my time away from the palace and learn a little more about the country I serve.
Week 1
Mercurio has refused to name his new patron or their location. While I understand his caution, I question the point. The results for the new noble are inevitable. I was approached several times before leaving by several members of both factions in an attempt to find out the name and location of the new noble. Naturally, I refused and would have done so even if I had known. The office of alderman is not given to those of weak resolve or faint of heart. He has kindly made his library available to me to keep me entertained on this trip.
Week 2
He is still unyielding in his refusal to reveal any more information. Simply stating that I will be astounded by the individual in question. We have had a lot of visitors to his office or rather cabin and he has insisted that I am present for all of them. He is giving me a detailed tour of the coastal cities south from the capital. His continued evasion of answering any questions about the noble house has meant that I have little to do other than enjoy the trip and am treating it as a vacation. Enjoying the calm away from court.
Week 3
The opportunity to travel for free and fully funded is actually quite pleasant once you resign yourself to the fact that there is little you can do to change the course of events. I have finally figured out part of the charade that he appears to be pulling. By visiting every coastal city in the Western Kingdom of Ponente and entertaining multiple eligible individuals for meeting, lunch and dinner with myself as the sole witness means that anyone following us as there indubitably are will have a devilish time unravelling the gordian knot of individuals we are weaving and leaving in our wake for them to solve.
Week 4
It has taken us a month to reach the south of the coastal shores and we are now heading west towards the western archipelago. I fully expect that we will be stopping at each and every island on this wild goose chase of a trip. Surprisingly enough all the subterfuge does not seem to be hurting the merchants bottom line at all with each and every city and merchant unwilling to possibly offend a new noble house and keen for the opportunities that a new house might provide. A month at sea has meant that I have read the majority of his books. Still living a life without having to pay for my upkeep has given me more money for books of my own and I must admit that I have enjoyed visiting the bookstores of other cities.
Week 5
I have taken up a little profiteering of my own. Inspired by the manner in which Mercurio has an almost savant ability to buy low and sell high. I have begun to invest most of my earnings into the products he is buying and selling. This is a gray area of the law. While technically not a bribe I am making an increasing profit from this trip which will soon be equivalent to if not greater than my daily salary. I am treating it as form of gambling as I do not possess the skills to make as big a winning as I am without the help and teaching of Mercurio.
Week 6
I have gained a new skill or two. Although I am proud of my progress the skills are superfluous to my work in the palace. Still any experience is good experience and with the sailing and selling we are continuing to do I am raising the skills up quickly through their lower levels. Although I am aware my success is shepherded by Mercurio I have enjoyed making trades in olive oil, purple dye and spices. He secures the majority of his profits through trading the more expensive goods and products but always carries a smaller amount of iron, tin, corn and beef which he sells whenever the price is high enough to make a significant profit. This he converts to precious stones, pearls and spices high in value, light to carry and easy to hide.
Week 7
We have had our first run in with pirates. I was for the most part completely useless and spent the clash hidden in my stateroom. The boarders were swiftly repelled, the quality of Mercurio’s guards and sailors quickly apparent and a small bribe along with the demise of the initial borders and the threat of death for a significant portion of pirates if they attempted it again, meant that they were happy to let us go rather than try their luck with us. A few sailors were wounded but seemed happy to have been able to level up their skills and gain some experience from the incident. I have never felt the need for physical skills as I have always been backed by my position at the palace and have the mental strength and skills to ensure my independence. However after today’s incident so far from the palace I am reviewing my position.
Week 8
It has been two whole months now. Far longer than I had initially suspected. I am positive the smile I saw as I left the Chancellors office meant he was fully aware and approved of Mercurio’s manipulative machinations. Another week has meant another island. I have given up guessing whether this will be the one. I have taken up some morning training with the crew under the watchful eye of the bosun. I am admittedly rather poor at it but hopefully with time and practice I will improve. I endeavour to shock my colleagues with my improvement over this journey, although perhaps it would be best to keep my changes to my build under my hat. A hidden blade often more effective as a last resort than a visible one. Indeed, it would have to be a last resort for me to ever pull a blade within the palace but out hear on the sea I would be a fool not to at least learn a little.
Week 9
My progress with a blade is proving slow and torturous I hurt in places and muscles I never knew I had or existed. Without doubt this is the sorest I have felt since being forced to learn how to ride a horse when the Chancellor decided I had to accompany him on an unscheduled and surprise audit for one of the nobles at court. By the time I had arrived the convoluted web of lies they had used to cover their tracks was far less painful to take apart than when I had to stand up or sit down the morning after we arrived. Still I am buoyed by the profits I continue to make alongside Mercurio although they are a pittance to the amounts he is buying and selling.
Week 10
This week has been much the same as the last and I find myself with little to add to my log. The sea has been calm and the wind steady we have made good progress on our journey as crooked as it may be. We have visited several islands that have been often within sight of the next. Each with its own character and charm. Their own individualistic produce and products as varied as their islands. As we reach nearly the end of our third month at sea I find myself missing the finer aspects of civilisation although Mercurio has managed to bring the majority of them along for the ride on his boat.
Week 11
We are nearing the end of the archipelago. Only 3 islands left to visit before we reach the edge of our known world. It is hard to believe that a noble family could grow or flourish this far out from civilisation. They are also further spread out than the majority of the archipelago we have sailing through. When the captain of the Swift said here be monsters I hoped for moment that he was joking but alas the words he spoke were true. There is a heightened level of caution among the sailors as they trim the sails and climb the rigging. Mercurio though as reassured me that the runes for stealth and defense are fully powered and that we are unlikely to meet any monsters this side of the islands we are visiting although he did acknowledge the possibility.
Week 12
We have finally reached the end of the world and the furthest west we can travel before we have to turn around and head back. I cannot help but wonder if this whole voyage has been one giant stalling mechanism whereby Mercurio has been able to make a larger profit without taxation to his registered lord and find myself adding up the amount of profit made over the last 3 months and possibly the next three months on our homeward bound journey. Nearly half a year’s trading without taxation may be less than the cost of a patent of nobility.
Still if so I can fully understand the Prince and Chancellor’s decision to go along with the deception. The lords of the land are likely to spend an equal amount of time if not double ours chasing after what might be an entirely fictional lord. I find myself unbegrudging of such an endeavour as although our trip has cost a significant amount of time it has furnished me more fully in funds, skills and stats than I could ever have expected.
Note from Nolimah
We are now up to Chapter 78 on Patreon.
As always thank you for reading, voting, following, commenting and rating.
Please keep boosting at topwebfiction every little bit helps down to 30 this week
Particular thanks to all patrons past, present and future once more. It is nice to see familiar faces again so welcome back!
Notlimah