"Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Abraham Lincoln

Not sure why I was entertaining the idea but . . . “Needs to be higher and closer to the water to be safer.” Wondering whether managing risk meant the fall would be worth less experience in the long run. Still better to be alive than squished flat as a pancake.

“Hmm, okay.” He mused, “Maybe not from this island then but back to the Wester Island’s Outer Cliff again. Wouldn’t want to be too close to the town in case you're spotted so the other side of the island . . . though we would need your father to pick you up on the boat afterwards, a family affair, as there is no way up the cliffs on the western side of the island.” He contemplated before sighing, “No flying today then.”

Relieved that he had listened to reason I doubted that he would convince my mother anytime soon that this was a good idea, so I should be safe from skydiving anytime soon.

Finally allowed back into the new family home Grandfather did not suggest his plans straight away that night opting instead to eat dinner with the family without causing a commotion or rocking the boat. I had been thoroughly inspected when we returned home and the fact that I had returned home happy, healthy and without a hair out of place meant that mother was grudgingly beginning to accept my grandfather’s presence even if I was fairly sure he had not actually apologised for his actions at all.

Around the table, we discussed our day.

“So how was everyone’s day?” Mother asked.

“Karl is happy to make a lagoon boat for Aleera to practice on.” Father started the conversation going. While the boat was for Aleera I would be able to practice on it in the blue cave. It turned out that most of the boats made were either designed for the sea or the lagoon. I wasn’t entirely about what was the difference but boats for the lagoon were apparently significantly cheaper. Maybe they were less seaworthy?

“Sold the salt.” Aleera smiled pausing eating her dinner to divide the money between the four of us Aleera, Des, Sinis and I. An equal division for perhaps an unequal division of labour. I provided the magical might behind this little enterprise, Des and Sinis did the majority of the manual labour scrapping up the salt left behind bagging it and carrying it to our salt storage cave and the boat before they carried it for Aleera to market. Finally, Aleera took the salt to market and attempted to get the best deal from the merchants. They had also taken to selling it door to door and bartering for bits and bobs sort of like a salt milkman. They could do both better and worse this way picking up a collection of odds and ends than they would normally but unfortunately picking up unneeded things as well. At this rate, we would be able to open a general store with the random items they were collecting. Still, the coins or pearls collected were divided equally while the odds and ends if useful went to mother to be used for dinner or to be added to the growing list of items for a store. Besides I was keeping half the salt stored as a stockpile to trade to a proper merchant one day and hopefully by that point the quantity of it would have reached a quality all of its own.

“I’ve completed my commission.” Mother proudly told us. As she too paused her dinner left the table to show us a piece that she had been working on the entire time we had been on and off the island. It was an incredibly detailed and artistic setting of Wester Ponente viewed from out to sea it showed what looked like to be a barren island with towering stone cliffs. It would have taken any normal human years to weave together but skills and a little magic clearly allowed her to work a lot quicker. “Here you go, Father.” She added handing it to grandfather.

Wait! What? Aleera and I looked at grandfather in confusion then back to mother again who smiled at our confusion. Father clearly in on the joke kept eating his dinner.

“Well, she needed an impressive enough commission so that if anyone ever asked why she was working so hard and needed you out from underfoot she would have a decent answer an excuse.” He said as he rolled it up and put it out of the way in a corner of the room.

“Besides if Kai is going to be a noble he will be expected to have at least one tapestry and or carpet and rug in each room of your manor house or castle. If we can’t afford to buy them hopefully we will have enough time to make them. First impressions are very important to the nobility and even though I doubt we will have any noble visitors anytime soon, anyone they send will be equally inquisitive and reporting back on our ‘budding’ house. Looking for strengths and weaknesses to either capitalise on or exploit. Fear of another assassination of a house member will politely let us keep the majority of them off the island until they send someone of higher rank. So we should still have several years till we need to host anyone on the island but eventually, they will arrive and have expectations when they finally set foot here.” He rambled on elucidating his thoughts.

How had medieval lords and barons displayed their wealth? Would I need to create some sort of estate to display wealth I did not yet have? I imagined creating some sort of paved island from which the mountain grew out. Shaping stone in one form or another was going to be important to do that. Although if I could find a way to type out my own stories filling my head I could certainly create an eclectic otherworldly library of my own in the real world and music too from the collections I had been building in my head. I had never been an impressive artist but with a skill system to steady my hand would I not be able to excel in creating artwork eventually. Too bad we were going to have to create the castle or manor house to put them in. Maybe we could create a façade, carve the mountain into the appearance of a castle while only ever going one room deep. That would be suitably impressive, although still incredibly time-consuming. We were going to need some more help building this fictional fantasy of a noble house with a strong foundation.

Des and Sinis sat silently at the table eating until questioned by mother about how their day went.

“So how did your day go?” she asked

“Good,” said Sinis as he nodded. Their language still had a long way to go but they were beginning to be able to respond to questions and commands that they understood. They still seemed a little bemused by their change in circumstances but happy enough. It was difficult to tell without being able to talk to them in greater depth about how they felt than simply good, bad or tired.

“Sold the salt.” Repeated Des remembering and parroting Aleera earlier phrase hefting his cut. Clearly happy with retaining his portion of the profit. Apparently, on the compass continent a slave could buy out his contract but in reality practically impossible to achieve with most owners taking any profit a slave might make as their own and the dangers of trying to hide anything particularly profit from their masters or mistresses an act doomed to disaster.

“Well Kai, how was your day?” mother moved on happy to have had a response from them at all.

“Mountain top good place for plants. Need water and soil. Des and Sinis carry?” I recap my day and request assistance. Mother nodded at my answer as she dished a little more food out on our plates. “Oh and Grandfather wants to throw me off a cliff again.”

“What?!?!” shouted mother and father as they both swivelled to face grandfather.

Another happy day I smiled as I watched the chaos unfold. Loved by my family and I loved them in return. Grandfather was forgiven but his actions were not forgotten.

Level: 11 Name: Kai

Experience: 255,450/ 409,600

Age: 14 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 18 hours

Health: 1160/1160 Stamina: 566/566 Mana: 1180/1180 Psi: 1180/1180

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

Vitality: 116

Endurance: 27

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 30

Senses: 119

Mind: 118

Clarity: 60

Magic: 118

Charisma: 11

Luck: 2

Free Points: 30

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 27) Listening (LV 28) Meditation (LV 36) Swimming (LV 28) Humming (Lv 24) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 24) Singing (Lv 24) Drumming (Lv 22) Running (Lv 17) Acting (20) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15) German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11) Breath Control (Lv 8) Sight (Lv 15) Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4) Climb (Lv 8) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 10) Knife Skills (Lv 5) Trading (Lv 10)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 35) Eavesdrop (LV 27) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 23) Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 21) Violin (Lv 20), Trombone (Lv 20) Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 12) Quick reflexes (Lv 13) Haggling (Lv 5) Misdirection (Lv 5)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 26) Expel Mana (Lv 32) Absorb Mana (Lv 31) Mana Manipulation (Lv 16) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10) Gale (Lv 5) Deception (Lv 1)

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

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

Skill experience: 2200

Origin experience: 1000

Combat experience: 0

Crafting experience: 2000

Trading experience: 500

Popular experience: 0