Chapter 10 - Fun, A.K.A Exploring Skills In A Dark Place

There were a lot more people gathered in the town square than I thought would be. I counted over a hundred heads, from children to seniors. The only thing in common all of them had were they looked bedraggled. Oh, yeah, and the fact that they were all humans. Beast people and other humanoid races did exist in Erobeus, but in a place like Terralica, they were closer to myths.

The town square was in an appalling state. With broken furniture and equipment littered on the streets and a cracked fountain that dried up long ago, the place could hardly be called a town square. From yesterday’s talk, I understood that this was the state in which most towns near the border lay. At least, in Agridia.

Currently, Kearan was using that fountain as a platform. “The reason I’ve called you all here today is because I’ve got something important to announce.” He began calmly.

I couldn’t understand why the huddled figures looked up at him like he was their lord and saviour. Kearan was still a teenager, and although he was an L’Der, didn’t seem to flex his powers at all. What had he done to earn their respect?

I wanted to know. Because my skill ‘Divine Being’ needed this so-called faith. I expected if it was Kearan who had the skill, he’d already have a lot of it. How was I supposed to earn respect in the form of a potato? Who in their right mind would worship a potato of all things?

Argh. This skill system was doing my head in. ‘Just four more days until you get answers.’ I told myself. Four more days and I’d be able to call G again. I’d make sure not to screw up in front of him like last time.

“Edith, Jay, Raul, Verity, Mox, Winter, and myself will be leaving Omani for an indefinite period of time.” He paused as a soft murmur passed through the crowd. “In the meantime, I have left May and Riyan in charge of the guild. Please treat them how you would treat me.”

There it was again, that childish ideology. But he wasn’t done yet.

“For those of you in the guild, follow Riyan’s instructions. For the rest of you, stay safe. Don’t fight. And if the baron or anyone from the official unit comes around, hide.”

I scoffed. Who was he educating? A bunch of children?

As Kearan stepped down from the podium, an old man rushed to him and grabbed his hand. “Be careful.” He said, slipping a small object into his palm.

I glimpsed the sparkle of something golden before Kearan slid it into his pocket.

“I will.”

Satisfied, the old man backed off with the rest of the people, and allowed Kearan to pass through to where I lay.

‘Nice speech.’ I said.

“Thank you.” He replied without emotion, snatching me up and slipping me into a small sack.

Trying to strike up some sort of conversation, I asked casually. ‘So everyone here is a Gifted? Wouldn’t you already have an army then?’

“Not everyone here is a Gifted. Only the party that’s going on the rescue mission, plus Riyan, Edith and a few others.”

‘Only?’ But… how could he even think of trying to go up against my uncle with such little forces? ‘So the attack on my- the baron. I’m assuming you intend to gather more people before then?’

He nodded. “Yes, of course. That is why I sent Rarq, Lena and Fern out to the Nuintus Empire. However, it appears we won’t be able to reach them now. It’s also why I’m trying to form an alliance with the Helix guild- if they are Gifted.”

I guess that made sense.

‘So we’re off now, is that it?’ To be honest, I was a little excited. I’d never been on a dangerous adventure before- and I probably wouldn’t have if he hadn’t forced me to come along. But this was new, exciting territory and a place where I could shed the burdens of being a baron and just have fun. Or so I thought.

“Yep. The horses are over there.” He pointed to a shoddy-looking stable at the end of the street, just before the gateway out of town.

“We only have four horses, so it’ll be two per horse. Lucky you get to ride with me.”

I groaned. Where were the carriages? If this really was an expedition, there should at least be a nice horse-drawn carriage with six servants by my side. I made sure to bring this up with Kearan.

‘Aren’t we taking at least one carriage?’ I protested.

“The more we stand out, the more likely we are to get eaten.” Kearan said nonchalantly, tossing me into one of the horse’s saddle bags. “Now be a good boy and start producing potatoes, please. I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

I pushed myself out of the sack and lifted up the flap of the bag to see. I recognized the other six people there as the ones at the meeting yesterday, minus Riyan and May. They didn’t look much like warriors at all.

Except Edith, of course. Edith could almost pass for a bear.

Kearan slid on a pair of leather gloves that looked a size too large for him and a wide-brimmed hat.

“Alright guys.” He addressed the group. “Let’s try to get as far as possible before dark.”

A chorus of approval followed and they all saddled their horses. To pass the time, I observed the space around me, where I would most likely be spending the majority of my time on this adventure. I hoped.

It was cramped with a store of hard metal objects, most likely accessories or elixirs of some kind. Kearan had been kind enough to provide me with a leather pouch with the word ‘seeds’ crudely stitched into the side.

I sighed.

He really expected me to produce seeds for him twenty-four seven? I guess I was a little glad to be helpful, but at such a price? Thankfully, the potatoes grew on their own. The only hard part was producing it.

With nothing to do, I called out my status window once more and mentally prepared myself for the pain ahead.

‘Germinate.’ I commanded.

Within moments, I felt the little seed burst into existence from inside me and slowly force its way out of my body. Don’t get me wrong, it still hurt, but the pain was slightly more bearable than last time. Maybe it would get easier as I produced more and more?

I breathed a sigh of relief as the potato seed finally dropped out and my body closed back together. Being a potato must have granted me some self-healing ability, because my body automatically pieced itself back together after any penetration. I hadn’t noticed it last time when Jay stabbed me, but the hole closed itself perfectly, leaving not even a scar.

Now that the potato seed was out, I concentrated on it- yes, somehow I could see in the dark. Area of awareness was really handy. I imagined a hand reaching out of my body to lift the seed and, surprise surprise, it actually floated upwards. I couldn’t help it. I scoffed. It was just so easy.

Either the increase in level for telekinesis had made it overpowered, or the seed was special. I believed the latter, since I still couldn’t hold anything else up for more than a few seconds without feeling heavy mental strain.

With my other imaginary hand, I pictured spreading about the top of the pouch. Slowly and with great effort, it opened and I dropped the seed into it.

[Super Duper Weak Telekinesis has leveled up! 3/5]

[Super Duper Weak Telekinesis has leveled up! 4/5]

[Super Duper Weak Telekinesis has leveled up! 5/5]

[Super Duper Weak Telekinesis has evolved into Super Weak Telekinesis.]

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Super Weak Telekinesis

Lvl: 1/5

Category: Miscellaneous

Type: Active

Xera Consumption: None

Buffs: Automatic Usage

Enables the user to perform limited telekinesis. Telekinesis strength is partly based on the amount of intention. As skill level rises, the strength of telekinesis rises. Upon reaching the required level, the skill will evolve.

Automatic usage enables the user to instinctively move their body with {Super Weak Telekinesis}.

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‘Huh… huh?!’ My jaw dropped- well, it would have if I had one, at least.

My skill had leveled up three times just from one usage? Not to mention that it had even evolved!

I skimmed the new skill window and was surprised to see that almost nothing had changed, except a new buff. ‘Automatic Usage.’ I read out loud.

After reading the skill description, I was intrigued. This new form of telekinesis was similar to how one would move their body if they were a human. So this new telekinetic skill acted like my muscles and nerves now?

I had to try it out.

To start off with something simple, I decided to try to move slightly forward in the pouch. It was difficult due to the limited space, but the telekinesis responded instantly. No longer did I have to mentally imagine a force pushing me forwards. All I had to do was think of moving forward, and my body would follow the command.

Sick.

What about flying?

Yes, I said flying.

I glanced upwards at the slightly closed flap, and pictured myself floating upwards to peek out.

And boom, I did just that.

I could already hear the angelic choir behind me, raising their arms to welcome this potato god.

Step one of becoming a god, be able to fly, tick.

Whoomp.

Without warning, my body gave way and a sudden dizziness overwhelmed me, causing me to break concentration. I flopped back into the pouch and smiled through the sickness. This automatic usage thing was really cool, but the skill was still only ‘Super Weak Telekinesis’. A part of me wondered what ‘Strong Telekinesis’ or ‘Super Strong Telekinesis’ would do.

Would I be able to topple buildings? Lift hundreds of items at once? Who knew.

But I’d find out all of that eventually.

Now what was I doing again?

Ah, yes! Germination.

I pulled up my status window to see how fast my xera regenerated. With the ‘Potato Body’ passive skill, I expected it’d be pretty fast. I’d produced the potato seed just a few minutes ago and it took ten xera, so-

I froze.

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Winston June

Title: Not So Lil’ Spud

Race: Potato

Path: Path to Potato Godhood

Faith: 0

Xera: 100/100

Path Skills:

[Divine Being] (Passive) {Maxed}

Race Skills:

[Germinate] (Active) {1/30} [Potato Battery] (Passive) {1/40}

Misc. Skills:

[Mind Speech] (Active) {2/20} [Super Weak Telekinesis] (Active) {1/5} [Area Of Awareness] (Passive) {3/25}

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It was full.

Full.

Already!

I groaned and cursed God.

Why? If Kearan ever found out about this, he’d really make me spew out potatoes twenty-four seven. Literally.

The one thing I had actually wished to be bad, or slow.

Well, there was really nothing I could do about it. Actually, I was quite curious. How long exactly did it take for my xera to regenerate?

‘Germinate.’

[Error: {Germinate} is on cooldown. You may next use this skill in 1:51.]

Cooldown. I couldn’t use it. I could only use it every… five minutes? I was guessing because it’d been approximately three minutes already.

This was great. Well, not exactly great, but still a start. Since I could only use it every five minutes, it meant Kearan couldn’t make me spam reproduce! Hooray!

Meanwhile, in the back of my mind…

‘What has the world come to? I’m celebrating even though I have to produce a child every five minutes…’