“The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects the wind to change, the realist adjusts the sails.”

William Arthur Ward

There is very little choice that I have in regards to where and how I live. I do not have any control over the matter. I can either rail and rage at where I am, hope that it will somehow get better or simply make the best of it.

Father had been visiting us on our very own Alcatraz every now and then but he had not rescued us from our somewhat arduous training, at least not yet.

“Mother said you might be hungry.” He said with a wan smile as he took in our somewhat hardened appearances handing us a loaf of bread, a chunk of cheese along with some stew. Our time on the island so far may have been good for gaining the skills Grandfather felt we needed and practicing them. But it had not aided my growth, particularly when compared to my own nightly ninja training regime. Sometimes we learn best at our own pace and what was the rush as long as I managed to maintain control of my magic.

Sure, now I could Lie and had basic Knife skills but we had yet to unlock any other significant developments other than skills levels here. Grandfather’s school of hard knocks seemed based primarily on running away, evading trouble, and then knifing it if it got too close. Maybe this was only the basic level of training for beginners but there was so much more I could do with my mind in the comfort of my own box at home.

I missed my mother and food had never tasted so great as we wolfed down the breakfast. Nothing ever tasted as good as home cooking and the small amount of stew we had to share between the two of us tasted of our mother's love for us.

We had got a lot better at foraging for shellfish, food along the shoreline even going as far as drying out what looked like seaweed to eat. But the best days were always days when he visited. Father had arrived just after we had awoken. Arriving so early we had yet to leave the house. He poked his head in but other than trying his hand at the locked doors and watching us eat. He soon took us back to his boat. My swimming had improved enough that he deemed it now acceptable to take me and Aleera out on the boat and I was his good luck charm.

“Where should I cast then Kai?”

Father’s boat skipped along the water, Aleera’s magic filling the sails when the wind lagged. It was a great family time together. She seemed happy to finally tell her father about everything she could do and proud to show off as well.

“Watch this.” She said pushing a burst of Mana into her spell. Giving the boat a burst of speed to push us over the top of a swell. Keen to demonstrate her own importance now that Father was in the circle of trust.

“Easy there Aleera. Try not to capsize us.” Father smiled to remove the sting of the restriction. Truly happy it seemed to have us all out on the lake as a family.

I hadn’t told them how I could tell where the fish were with a combination of Echolocation, Mana Sense, and my Super Senses. But father was happy to trust in my uncanny ability to pick out the best places to stop and cast the nets which when he listened to me often came up full and heavy.

“Cast here,” I said pointing to the port side of the boat. We were coming up on a shoal of decent-sized fish father would be keen to catch.

“Net overboard.” He shouted as he cast the net. Any cloud of concern over our incarceration on the island disappeared with the pleasure of sailing and the joy of not struggling to find the fish or catch them with my father’s help.

Apparently in order to support the story that mother was working hard on a complicated piece of tapestry she had actually started one. Father had been banished for the daytime at least from the house as well as us in order for her to finish it.

Father looked a little unsure when talking about mother. He still loved her and us but clearly had complicated feelings about the secret we had all been keeping in one way or another. But he was always happy to put aside his worries and enjoy the moment with us. He truly enjoyed sailing and his enjoyment was infectious. Flying over the waves was fantastic.

The best bit about sailing though was the experience gain. Fish have lives. Fish gained experience and when I was able to point out where they were for Father to catch. I seemed to gain part of that experience when he ended their lives. Far more even than the shellfish, we gathered along the shoreline.

1 ant = 1 experience

1 shellfish = 10 experience

1 fish = 100 experience

Perhaps it was due to how far up the food chain they were. Each haul of fish I was finding for him would pull in between 10 and 100 fish gaining me 1000 to 10,000 experience. I wasn’t sure if father knew that my contribution was being counted somehow by the system or not but it was quickly adding up.

While training might be leveling up my skills.

Sailing was going to be the thing that gave me enough experience to level up quickest so far.

This world truly did reward the death of others with more personal power.

It made me wonder how strong was my father.

What had he invested his stats in? And how had Grandfather gained his strength? If he wasn’t a fisherman?

If that was the approximate gain for ants, shellfish, and fish.

Would the experience gain continue to grow with the size of the sea animal? Or their place in the food chain?

1 dolphin = 1000 experience?

1 shark = 10,000 experience?

1 Orca = 100,000 experience?

Were there larger sea monsters hidden in the lake? A Loch Ness so to speak?

I continued to scan using Mana sense and echolocation for anything larger cruising the waters below us but fortunately or unfortunately was unable to see too far below us or anything much bigger than what we had already caught.

Pulling in the net father insisted that we all have a go at pulling it in even if my efforts were more to take part in the activity than to actively help them. We soon had a catch filling the bottom of the boat. Sped by the wind my sister called, powered by the mana I provided we sped back to our island prison.

“Can’t we come home with you?” Aleera questioned as we clambered ashore once more.

“Best let your mother and grandfather sort that out.” He cautioned. “But I will see what I can do.” He added. “I’m happy to see you are learning well out here. Your magical skills are truly amazing. Think I have caught a day’s worth of fish in just the morning.”

“Yes, but we could be doing all this at home. Kai isn’t burning, boiling, or freezing anything.” Aleera argued.

“I’m glad Kai seems to have everything under control,” Father responded. “But then he seemed to be perfectly fine before if a little quicker than most.”

Aleera, did not seem particularly pleased with the announcement.

“Now don’t take it out on Kai. You are both special and family is the most important thing in the world to me. So, if it is safer for you to be here for a while. Then that really is the best thing for you both. I will visit more often and bring a little more food. Hey up maybe once mother has finished her tapestry we could all look to moving out here for a bit. Certainly, seems to be more fish on this side of the lake!” He smiled as he tried to convince Aleera.

I wanted to go home too. But I could see the benefits of staying here as well. Harsh as it was my stats had continued to level here as well as my skill levels. We just need mother here too to take the edges off of Grandfather soften him a little bit but mainly we needed her cooking and food.

It would be wonderful if we could all be here in our own little magical kingdom of mages. Imagine what we could accomplish without the world watching. Free to use our gifts to their full potential.

“Can we go fishing tomorrow?” I asked father.

It was not just for the joy of speeding along the top of the waves or the break from our morning routine of scavaging food although that was a large part of it.

The amount of experience I had gained in helping father catch fish outweighed all the experience I had managed to gain from leveling my skills while we had been on the island. If grandfather truly wanted to make us stronger surely we should spend the day fishing every day. We would soon have enough to level up. Why wasn’t everyone fishing? It seemed so simple other than the fact that we might run out of fish if the whole town was doing so every day.

“We’ll see. But I don’t see why not.” Father replied, happy that one of his family was keen to go sailing with him rather than unhappy that he was leaving so soon. He jumped back into his boat before heading off to the town.

We waved until he was out of sight before turning back to eat as quickly as possible all the food he had brought us. With the amount of food, we were eating I doubted we would be able to out waddle grandfather let alone outrun but at least we wouldn’t be hungry today.

Level: 10 Name: Kai

Experience: 119,550/ 204,800

Age: 13 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 9 hours

Health: 1120/1120 Stamina: 533/533 Mana: 1120/1120 Psi: 1140/1140

Trait: Long Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana,

Vitality: 112

Endurance: 24

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 26

Senses: 115

Mind: 114

Clarity: 45

Magic: 112

Free Points: 20

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 26) Listening (LV 26) Meditation (LV 34) Swimming (LV 26)

Humming (Lv 22) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 22) Singing (Lv 22) and Drumming (Lv 22)

Running (Lv 15), Acting (18), English (Lv 15), Spanish (Lv 15), Japanese (Lv 15),

German (Lv 10), French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 10) Breath Control (Lv 7) Sight (Lv 15)

Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bulosa (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4) Climb (Lv 5) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 5) Decoding (Lv 5) Lie (Lv 3) Knife Skills (Lv 3

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 34) Eavesdrop (LV 25) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22)

Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 12) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20), Trombone (Lv 20),

Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 11) Quick reflexes (Lv 10)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 25) Expel Mana (Lv 31) Absorb Mana (Lv 31)

Mana Manipulation (Lv 15) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 6) Boil (Lv 10)

Tier 4: Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

Skill experience: 21,100

Origin experience: 10,000

Combat experience: 25,100

Crafting experience: 0