Just-another day-hunt tummy-full. There was a smugness to the uekiesheile’s qi.

Well, we were both pleased with ourselves. The raid went much better than expected, and I felt giddy all the way back to the cave. All the hard work, the training, and the adapting to this world had paid off. Almost too well. A part of me wondered if there was another shoe waiting to drop.

No, I worked hard for this victory, and I was going to dang well enjoy it. I was careful, sure. There were chishiaxpe, chliapp lions, and kahlichi bears still out there. But my mood was bright, and I intended for it to stay that way.

And so nothing happened on the way back to the cave. The trip was blessedly peaceful. I arrived just as the sky was starting to brighten.

Billisha stood guard at the entrance, while Aluali tended to the fire. The ingredients for the day’s porridge lay next to him. Neither looked like they’d gotten much sleep. We went through the whole, “Hey, I’m human, not a horrible plant creature pretending to be one,” routine.

Once that was done, though, Billisha spun me around to check for injuries. “No hurt? No friend? No fight?”

Aluali found a streak of dried blood on my face. “Here hurt.”

“I run tree,” I said.

“You run tree?” Billisha sounded incredulous.

“Yes. Night dark. I run tree.”

She patted me on the arm. “You safe. Big important. Hunt bishkawi later.”

Ah, she was under the impression that I’d run away from the bishkawi. “No, no. I hunt. I--” I didn’t know the word for win, so I raised my arms in triumph.

“You win?” The incredulity was plain in Billisha’s voice.

So I opened the pouch with the bishkawi cores, and both their jaws dropped. Alauli’s eyes grew as big as quarters, while Billisha was so shocked, she fell back on her butt. Their reactions were priceless, and I felt as smug as the uekisheile hiding inside my dantian.

“Come see,” I said, squatting down to open the pouch for them.

Seven of the cores were the size and shape of wasabi-covered peas. The eighth core--the alpha’s--was the size and shape of a kumquat. If anything, the kids were even more amazed. They whispered to each other in awe.

Billisha asked, “You hunt? You poison?”

I nodded and showed her the bottle. There were only a few drops left.

She shook her head, like she couldn’t believe it. “Where friend? Friend hurt?”

“Friend safe,” I said. “Friend stay there. We go tomorrow.”

Aluali asked Billisha a question, and they conferred for a time. I heard the words for silverlight, level, and some of the numbers, but the rest was beyond my limited vocabulary.

I let them talk. It’d been a long night, and I was happy to sit back and rest for a time. I also had some decisions to make. I had a total of 476 silverlight gathered after hunting the chiashiaxpe and the bishkawi, and there was a chance I’d reach Level 3 at 500. That’d only be true if levels came at increments of 250, which I didn’t expect, but it was a possibility I had to plan for. I needed to decide on where to put my free attribute.

In the end, I decided to apply the point to Constitution. The choice was in keeping with my foundation-building approach. And while I wasn’t injured last night, there’d been enough other times for it to be a concern. Building my Constitution naturally over time would be too slow given how often I found myself in danger.

The children’s conversation stopped when I picked up the smallest of the cores.

“I have question,” Billisha said. She grabbed a handful of rocks and stacked them on top of each other. As the tower grew, she pretended to get stronger and stronger. “Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level--”

I interrupted. “Yes, I understand.”

“Oh, you understand Level. Good. You Level?”

Now, wasn’t that an interesting question. It’d been ages since I last looked at my Status (Visible). What did it say?

Eight (Visible Status) Path of the Young Forester 2 Age 8 Silverlight 476 Attributes Strength 8 Constitution 9 (10) Agility 9 Intelligence 9 Wisdom 9 Spirit 8 Charm 8 Luck 9 Hit Points 8 Mana 9 Qi 18 Talents Qi Sensitive Uncanny Tracker Multilingual Blessings Ikfael Glen (Spirit, Temporary) Curses Conditions Skills Magical Aeromancy 2 Hydromancy 2 Nature Magic 2 Qi Body 5 Spirit Magic 0 Martial Archery 5 Spear Arts 2 Scholarship Communication, Nonverbal 4 Communication, Trade Sign 2 Literacy, Diaksh 2 Survival Forest 5 Stealth 3

The Status (Visible) had changed and now seemed to reflect the gains I’d made after arriving in this world. It also showed my Skills capping at 5. Maybe because it was more realistic? Still, it looked pretty impressive for an eight-year old, especially those Talents. Both Billisha and Aluali were older than me, and they only had one Talent apiece.

“I Level 2,” I said.

Both kids gasped. A number of emotions passed across their faces: surprise, respect, and at the end relief. They looked at each, and an understanding passed between them.

Billisha sat up, a certain fragile determination in the set of her shoulders. “You waiise” she said. “You axxil tuaa.”

“Not understand waiise,” I said. “Not understand axxil tuaa.”

“I understand you.” Billisha left to retrieve water from the next room and used a stick to draw on the stone floor. She drew two people, one large and one small. The big one was waiise. The small one was daake. In other words, they were adult and child.

For axxil tuaa, she drew a mass of people, and then one person separated from them. They held a staff and wore a headdress or crown, I couldn’t tell which. The others did what this person told them to do. They were the leader.

“I question--I Level 2, I adult?”

Both kids nodded their heads. Billisha was especially serious about it. She was technically the oldest among us and seemed relieved to not have to be responsible for our little group.

“We Level 0,” Billisha said. “We child.”

“Good, good,” Aluali said, pointing to the cores. “You eat silverlight. You good strong.”

“Yes, yes,” Billisha said. “Eat, eat.”

They looked at me so expectantly, I couldn’t disappoint them. I started crushing cores.

11 silverlight gathered. 10 absorbed. 13 silverlight gathered. 12 absorbed. 9 silverlight gathered. 8 absorbed.

After three cores, I’d gathered 506 silverlight, but there were no notifications.

12 silverlight gathered. 11 absorbed. 15 silverlight gathered. 13 absorbed. 10 silverlight gathered. 9 absorbed. 17 silverlight gathered. 15 absorbed.

I had a total of 554 silverlight after crushing the small cores. All that was left was the big one.

232 silverlight gathered. 209 absorbed.

A feeling rushed through me: of authority, of a relentless determination to dominate all creatures great and small, of seeking those that were powerful in order to tear their power from their bodies. The intensity surprised me, and I took a few slow breaths to bring my blood pressure down.

Congratulations. You have collected enough silverlight to grow in power. Congratulations. You have reached a Constitution milestone. You know the drill. Read me first.

Whew, okay, that was better. I used the notifications as a way to distance myself from the bishkawi alpha’s emotions.

The magic number for Level 3 was 750; 500 additional silverlight on top of the 250 required for Level 2. If I were to imagine the level chart so far:

Level 1 50 Level 2 250 Level 3 750

Hmm… the rationale for the amounts wasn’t immediately obvious, especially the difference in jumps from Levels 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. If I had to make an educated guess though, I’d expect to reach Level 4 at 1,750 total silverlight. That was the amount required for Level 3 multiplied by two and added back to the total.

Or if it was the total silverlight for the previous level multiplied by the new level, then it’d be 3,000 to reach Level 4. Ugh… that was a lot of bishkawi. Three hundred to be exact. Somebody go get Zack Snyder. I have a movie idea for him.

My grin spread, then wavered. That jump from 1 to 2 worried me. It didn’t fit either pattern, which meant I’d have to wait for the next data point. Shazbot, it’d really help with planning if I knew when I’d level up next.

“What? What?” Billisha asked, concerned.

I cleared my throat. “Level 3.”

The kids screamed, and all the numbers flew out of my head. Billisha and Aluali jumped up to dance. They began to sing, the words a celebration. I even recognized the ones having to do with paths and levels. They clapped in rhythm to the words.

Then Billisha pulled me to standing, and the two of them did a kind of skipping step around me in a circle. The song changed and became more of a story. The tones alternated between highs and lows--the children’s voices didn’t seem to do the lower ones justice--but their enthusiasm made up for the lack of range. This lasted a good ten minutes before the dance ended with a tired laugh from both children.

“We must ikhamtocahe,” Aluali said, breathing hard. He went to the fire to gather all our food and prepare a feast.

“I help,” Billisha said.

Oh gods, it was good to sit again. I was glad the kids were excited for me, but the night had been long. I made a note to ask about the song later, though. The story behind it was sure to be interesting.

For now, I was anxious to look at my notifications. “I think,” I said, pointing to my head.

“You think,” Billisha said. “We prepare feast.”

Without further ado, I clicked on the notification from System-Eight first, and a series of celebratory tones rang in my ear. Di-ring! Di-ring! Di-ring!

Woot! Level 3, and it’s barely been a month. We are on FIRE!

The bishkawi never knew what hit them.

Hi, S-Eight. It’s good to see you again.

It’s good to be seen.

Like before, we don’t have a lot of time, so I’m just going to dump answers to your questions. I still don’t know, but it looks like Level 5 is special. There’s a good chance Paths can change or evolve then. That’s probably true at all the multiples of 5: 10, 15, 20, etc. I don’t know. Yet. We’ve been through this before. Yes, I’m certain you’re not eating people’s souls. It’s just strong memories and emotions carrying over into the silverlight. Like the smell of pee after asparagus. I agree that it was a toss up between Constitution and Spirit. Either would’ve been fine. You got lucky, though, and have a nice Talent waiting for you in the other notification. You’re welcome. :-) The uekisheile is weird. On the other hand, the way you seem to be turning into a symbiote is awesome. I don’t understand what’s happening at the body, qi, mana, and silverlight levels, so I don’t have any advice other than to keep things friendly. Besides, they’re so dang cute. You’re right. The Status (Visible) is adapting to you, just like the Status (Hidden). My guess is that Billisha and Aluali (nice kids, BTW) sense their Status, as opposed to reading it on a screen. Like how you know your arms are attached to your body. The word you’re looking for is proprioception. It’s too early to tell, but if I had to guess… I’d split the difference and say 2,375 silverlight for Level 4. What? You’re upset that I’m picking an arbitrary number? Suck it. Ooh, I got away with that one. Sick it, sack it, souk it! Dim it! Let me have a curse word. Just one. It’s not even that bad. Ding it. And now we’re out of time.

Stay safe and say hi to Ikfael for me.

Thanks for looking out for me, S-Eight. I appreciate it.

Of course! Without you, there’s no me.

Later gator.

I sighed, happy for the chance to visit, even if it was fleeting. What next?

You have reached a Constitution milestone. Checking for new Talents. *Ding.* This is your first Attribute to reach Rank 10, and you have automatically triggered a Nascent Talent. The base benefits of Constitution 10 are also now active: increased stamina, a more robust physique, and resistance to negative physical Conditions.

Wait, what? I had several Attributes well above 10. Ah, but Constitution was the first to grow into ten. In other words, this was a freebie Talent for children when they reached this stage of their development.

Their first Attribute to hit 10 was likely their strongest, so they were almost guaranteed a Talent that matched them. This is a nice quality of life feature, System. Thank you!

I took a quick look at the new Talent.

Enduring Your will is strong and drives you to work and train harder than you otherwise might. Push past your limits and walk the path to perfection. Provides bonuses to stamina and mental focus, as well as a small bonus to resisting fatal injuries.

Yowza! This is really good, right? Well, all my Talents came in handy, but the “resisting fatal injuries” really caught my eye. It was exactly what I was looking for in Constitution 10.

The part about the “path to perfection” was weird though and didn’t sound like me or S-Eight. The System was supposed to be integrating with me, so it was probably natural for the text to read differently sometimes.

One more notification to go.

Congratulations. You’re now Level 3. You receive a free Attribute point. Checking for new Talents. Sorry, no new Talents were triggered. Attribute and Skill gains have been finalized. Thank you for your hard work. Constitution 9 -> 10 Nature Magic 2 -> 3 Archery 7 -> 8 Knife Arts -> 0 -> 2 Spear Arts 2 -> 3 Strategy 4 -> 5 Stealth 3 -> 4 Survival, Forest 6 -> 7 Survival, Caves -> 0 -> 3 The base benefits for Level 3 Young Forester are now active: Attribute foci: Agility, primary Wisdom, secondary Spirit, tertiary Skill foci: Archery Spear Arts Survival, all Nature Magic Stealth Your capacity for silverlight has grown. Secondary attributes increase by 20%.

Oh, that’s a nice haul. I saw increases in several key skills and picked up two new ones: Survival Caves and Knife Arts. Both started at zero and then immediately ranked up to three and two respectively.

For Survival Caves, the extra ranks were the result of complementary skills in Survival Forest. No surprise there. The unusual one was Knife Arts. When I checked, the memories under the Skill were of me in the kitchen and in the backyard. There I was butterflying chickens, quartering deer, butchering pigs, and any and everything else that involved carving into an animal. Those were some good times.

All right, Ollie. That’s enough nostalgia. The kids are almost done cooking. Let’s take a quick look at the full Status and then eat.

Eight (Hidden Status, Oliver Michael Sandoval) Path of the Young Forester 3 Age 8 Silverlight 763 Soul Marks God Touched, Spontaneous Formation, Memories of Another World Attributes 1 Strength 8 Constitution 10 Agility 9 Intelligence 15 Wisdom 15 Spirit 14 Charm 11 Luck 13 Hit Points 12/12 Mana 8/20 Qi 4/34 Talents Jack of All Trades Talent Scout Qi Sensitive Uncanny Tracker Multilingual Enduring Blessings Diriktot (Fallen Clockwork God) Helen Miriam Sandoval (Spirit) Ikfael Glen (Spirit, Temporary) Curses Conditions Occupied (Truce) Skills Artisan Appraisal 5 Construction 8 Pottery 4 Woodworking 8 Domestic Cooking 6 Repairs 6 Magical Aeromancy 2 Hydromancy 2 Nature Magic 3 Qi Body 8 Spirit Magic 0 Martial Archery 8 Knife Arts 2 Logistics 11 Marksmanship 6 Spear Arts 3 Strategy 5 Mercantile Accounting 12 Administration 12 Barter 4 Scholarship Biology 5 Chemistry 4 Communication, Nonverbal 4 Communication, Trade Sign 2 Literacy, Diaksh 2 Literacy English 13 Literacy, Spanish 8 Numeracy 8 Physics 4 Social Gaming 12 Relationships 8 Storytelling 10 Spiritualism Meditation 8 Taoism 8 Survival Caves 3 Forest 7 Ocean 3 Stealth 4

Woohoo! That was a healthy amount of Qi flowing through my meridians, and there was potentially a lot more I could access through the uekisheile. A couple of times now, they’ve shared their qi with me when I really needed it. It’s not something I wanted to do often--taking food from other people’s plates was a big no-no in my house--but the option was there for emergencies.

With twenty points of Mana, I could cast five consecutive spells. That wasn’t enough, not by a long shot. It’d taken three casts of Healing Water after Kaad stabbed me. No, it was just too easy to burn through my mana during or after a fight.

I needed to cultivate my mana similarly to how I cultivated my qi. The problem was that I wasn’t as sensitive to it, which made it challenging to manipulate and experiment with the energy. No solutions immediately came to mind, so I threw the problem to the back of my head for my unconscious to work on it.

In the meantime, Aluali had finished making a stack of corn cakes, upon which he poured stewed blueberries. Billisha finished grilling some lion skewers and added the crispy meat to a mash of corn, roasted onions, and salt. The smell was amazing.

“Let’s eat!”