I sat across from Jesvae and listened to her with a confusing mix of growing fascination and receding horror. We were still in the same clearing, but we had moved off to the side of where we first met, putting a few mossy boulders between ourselves and the captives before finding a comfortable slab of stone to sit on.

It was surprisingly intimate and relaxed, considering both the subject matter, and the fact that my conversation partner was a High Noble…

“So… most of them don’t actually believe I am the apprentice of the Merrik?”

Jesvae nodded. “Even the most stubborn of them acknowledge that you are talented, but most think you are either the result of a ploy by one House or another, or simply a talented prodigy who would be best used serving the nobility.”

I pondered this statement for a moment... and had to admit that it made sense. The Merrik was a figure of such importance to our society that he was like a god, and if some young upstart came around claiming to be the apprentice of a god…

Well, that did explain why I had been largely left alone, since those who believed me were respectful, and those who didn’t were keeping a wary distance while they tried to figure out who was pulling the strings.

I shifted around on the mossy slab of stone I had chosen as a seat, idly picking at some of the loose plant growth hanging off its side. I honestly didn’t really know how to proceed here…

“Alright, so there are several divided factions in The City, and almost all of them either refuse to accept that the Merrik is ageing and may die… or are working on plans to close the gates on the rest of our population if he ever does vanish. I understand that part, I think.”

I looked at her for confirmation, and she nodded with a smile. “Yes, cowards and fools all.”

I was surprised that there were so many factions, considering that there were only four Great Houses, but then again… there were families within families, and it was unlikely that a large group of headstrong nobles would all think along the same lines all the time, even if they were supposed to be part of the same lineage.

“And… you want me to come with you?” I asked her, not mentioning that what she was asking seemed… remarkably close to what my supposed kidnappers were planning. Although she seemed disgusted by the very idea that they had planned to threaten my family as a back up plan – and I believed her, although I wasn’t certain why.

I was also dealing with a fair amount of anger that they wanted to use my family against me, but then again that is pretty much exactly what Froggy had done back when I was first discovered. Actually, I would think that it would be a fairly common tactic, and if anything, the more surprising revelation is that Jesvae hadn’t planned to do the same herself.

“Yes. We will leave a force here to guard North Stone Village, and make sure your family is safe.”

Nodding at her words, I though about how to refuse, or what my other options might be. Not only did I not want to leave my family behind, on a more selfish note I didn’t want to leave the forge behind either.

I had some fairly detailed plans for the future, and how to use my magnetism, lighting, and some iron and steel manipulation abilities that I was planning to buy from my system; and while these plans didn’t require the forge, they would be a lot harder to implement without the tools, material, and most importantly the knowledge of Jaws and the other blacksmiths.

Just earlier today I had another example of how difficult my plans could be without outside help, and I was pretty damn excited to get back to the forge and try out the new ideas that I had come up with after speaking with my dad about them. I was also really interested in finding out what he was working on, once he was able to share it with the rest of the forge.

After thinking about it some more, I was even more certain that I didn’t want to leave North Stone Village. Jesvae had told me she had a training facility that would not only keep me safe from subterfuge, but that she had assembled a team that was solely dedicated to getting me – and a few select others – ready for an attempt to cross the mountains.

I liked her goal, I supposed, because – unlike everyone else in our society – both Wolfram and I were quite certain that the world did NOT end at the mountains, and that there must be something beyond them. As to why they had never been crossed before… well, it could be because of powerful beasts, or extreme cold, or maybe it this was some kind of mega-planet and the mountain ranges were just naturally super large.

Either way, both Wolfram and I had already decided that, at some point in the future, we were going to try leaving this land and exploring the wider world. Afterall, we already knew that there were more worlds and realms beyond this one – we ourselves were from a different planet originally, and the Celestial who we had met during our reincarnation had blatantly told us that there was a lot more going on, with Celestial Realms and all that existing somewhere out there.

But no way was I going to leave North Stone Village again, not without a much better reason than vague threats from cowardly nobles and secret training facilities that I wasn’t even sure I needed. The beasts themselves were a greater danger to my family, I figured, and I’d rather be here to keep them safe myself.

“Alright… well, I have good news, and bad news. The bad news is that I won’t be leaving North Stone Village,” I saw Jesvae frown, but I carried on before she could object, “but the good news is that I might be able to come with you anyway, if the conditions are right. But I have to speak with my friends first...”

***

Several days later I stood in the training compound for warriors of House Flameward with Tetra and Wulfric. I had just synched up with my duplicate (or we had synched with each other…) and having regained both sets of memories, my path into the future was pretty clear for number of reasons.

First of all, training here sucked beast balls. The people were nice, and for a normal warrior it would be a great boon to be able to spend half a decade learning how to cultivate with your peers. There were tutors and senior warriors available, and we could sit in on training sessions where we could watch more experienced cultivators go through the forms, mantras and all.

But… I needed none of that. In fact, it was hard for me not to point out how many mistakes they were making. As it turns out, being able to see the movement of Qi was a MASSIVE advantage when it came to learning the cultivation techniques of the Great Houses.

Second, both Wulfric and I had powers we wanted to practice with that we were not really free to use where others might see – especially so for Wulfric. At this point a lot of people expected to see strange things from me, but how the bloody beast where we supposed to explain Wulfric, the son of an honored and well-known guard captain, suddenly being able to turn into metal?!

And it didn’t even end there…

“Heller.” Tetra said, giving me a firm look. “Heller. It has been years. Ask again, or just do it without permission, like you did with Wulfric!”

She stomped her foot, sending a puff of dust as she continued to keep her level gaze trained on me.

I looked at Wulfric for support… and he had the gall to hold his hands up and actually take a step backwards! For the love of…

I closed my eyes and reached up to massage the area of my skill where my horns were (they had been growing quickly recently, and it got kinda sore and itchy at times).

“Ok, I know, but we talked about this before, but I have to come clean with you two.”

I looked around the training field we were in again, knowing that this might be a bad idea, but if I was going to take things to the next level with my friends, I couldn’t risk hiding a secret like this.

“This is going to sound crazy… and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I didn’t really have a choice at the time. I was too weak…”

I took a deep breath, looking at the both of them. They were considered to be adults now, but for me (who grew up back on Earth) they were teenagers who were just barely old enough to drive, but not yet able to vote or drink alcohol legally.

Wulfric was completely massive now, having grown even further beyond the hulking frame he had when we first met, and Tetra was almost exactly the same height as me. Our builds were diverging at the point however, largely due to my years of work at the forge, but in a lot of ways I thought we looked like different colored twins, one being silver, the other dark green.

I loved them like siblings at this point, with Tetra being my feisty older sister (and it did feel like she was older in a lot of ways, but I think that was mostly because she was a little bit like my mom), and Wulfric being my trusty and loyal younger brother (who was sometimes too clever for his own good).

Well, now or never.

“I am not the apprentice of the Merrik. I was born with my powers, and they have nothing to do with him so far as I know.”

A moment of silence passed before they both responded at the same time.

“Heller! What the bloody beast! You LIED to me!”

“Ah ha, I knew it! Finally, I was right all along!”

I blinked at them as they stared at me, then each other.

Wulfric took another step backwards as Tetra narrowed her eyes at him.

“You… knew… all… along.” She hissed, and I found myself taking a step backwards as well.

Oh bloody beast, this was not good…