After making our way home, we had a nice dinner of dense, crusty bread, and some fantastic roasted vegetables that were nothing like I had seen before.

Lena and Arterian helped get all the stuff into the room and let me set it up how I wanted. On her way out, Lena grabbed the box of vials from the writing desk and said, "I'm going over to the workshop to see about making potions using the charcoal dust." She had a childlike grin on her face. "I'm excited to see how this affects other potions or even antivenoms!"

"The charcoal dust was called Activated Charcoal back on Earth," I told her. She grinned, turned, and walked out of the room, almost skipping.

"She is quite excited to put your knowledge to use, Jak," Arterian said with a chuckle as he walked out of the room.

"I can see that."

A while later, and well past evening bell, I had the clothes put away, I stocked the desk with paper and ink, and my bed had new linens. It felt good to do some of the chores I hated back in the children's homes for once. I changed into some lighter clothes for sleeping and crawled into bed. Before closing my eyes, I pictured myself again to look at the information Arterian told me about.

Name: Jak Rollins

Level: 1

Race: Human

Class: None

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 18

Intellect: 17

Wisdom: 14

Skills:

Alchemy - level 8

--

I woke up the next morning, refreshed. It felt odd to try slipping into something like a routine. I got dressed in the gray button-up shirt, it had short sleeves and fell down to sit on my hips. The pants were a thicker material I couldn't place. They were dark gray, on the verge of being black, and they bunched up past my knees, fitting right into the top of my new boots.

I stepped out of my room to find Arterian cleaning up after breakfast and Lena sitting at the table. "Good morning," I said, causing Lena to look up at me.

"Good morning, the alarm worked well, I see. I was about to head over to the workshop in a little bit. Would you like to come with me?" She asked with a smile.

"I'd love that," I grinned. "So I was looking at my... information?"

"We call it the Stratum; it's the foundation and the built-up layers of who you are," Arterian said.

"Cool. I was looking at my Stratum, and I was wondering how do I level up. And what does the level of my Alchemy skill mean?"

"Grab a piece of toast, and we'll explain it to you," Arterian said as he sat down.

"First of all, there are two ways to level up," Lena began. "First, you can kill monsters. This is how most adventurers level up. Second, you can complete jobs. The World Tree governs agreements of all kinds. This includes requests for item creation, monster extermination, item deliveries, or many other things. I have gotten to level 22 as an Alchemist just from Jobs."

I nodded along. "That makes sense, I guess. What about you, Arterian?"

He chuckled. "It's actually rude to ask about someone else's Stratum, though within a family it is more common. Also, if you have a mentor, they have a right to that information. Now, I'm level 28, but that was from my time as a physician in an adventuring team and then working at the apothecary making medicines."

Lena jumped in, "I'm going to have you take over making Healing, Stamina, and Mana potions for Adventure's End. You'll take that Job as it doesn't let me level up my Alchemy skill anymore. We will work on more recipes as the skill grows."

"That sounds great!" I said as I finished off some toast with sweet butter on it. "So how does the Age of Skill tie into this? Why did the King kick me out?"

She continued, "Well when children are born, they do not have access to skills. Instead, all they can do is look at their Stratum. When they turn the age of 10, they can start learning and leveling their skills. The child then will apprentice themselves to someone to define their path in life.

"We call the time between 10 and 15 the Age of Skill, during this time children get a large increase to skill level gain. And by leveling up skills, they can increase their stats past 10."

“Why 10?” I asked.

“10 is the starting stat for a human.” Arterian answered.

“I have a head start then. Okay.”

“A head start?” Arterian asked slowly. “What are your stats, Jak?”

I told them my stats and both of their eyebrows shot up their faces.

“You have the equivalent of ten and a half breakthroughs of extra stats! And that’s where you are starting from Jak.” Lena’s voice was tinged with awe. “You are only a couple of breakthroughs behind me.”

No one spoke for a while. I may have broken them a bit...

"So, I can increase my stats then as I level up alchemy?" I asked to get us talking again.

"Kind of," Arterian said, shaking his head as if to clear it. "There are breakthrough levels that give you a perk related to the skill, and then a permanent increase to relevant stats. The breakthrough levels are 21, 41, 61, 81, and 101. However, no one has broken past level 100 before that I know of."

"What do the perks do?" I asked.

"The one I got from Alchemy hitting level 21 was [Poison Resistance]. It gives me a 50% base chance to resist any poison. It makes handling reagents much easier."

"That's so awesome," I exclaimed. "When I made the potions the other day, you said it was odd that I gained so many levels. Why was it unusual?"

Arterian and Lena looked at each other until Lena spoke up. "8 levels is 8 times the number of levels I would expect for someone to earn on their first potion made when they just began the Age of Skill."

"And neither of you know why I gained 8 levels?"

"We don't. But we could go do some more alchemy and see if we can come up with a reason. And we still have more we can talk about regarding the Stratum later, like your class and other skills to learn."

--

A little while later and we were walking into the workshop. It looked totally different. The space was well lit with new magical lamps, the work surfaces were clean, and the other workbench was clear.

"I was able to replicate the Peak Grade Healing Potions last night. I also managed to incorporate the idea into the stamina and mana potions. Your activated charcoal is a fantastic purifier."

I blushed at the compliment. "It's just something I learned in school."

Lena smiled at me. "Well, making stamina and mana potions both follow the same procedures." She grabbed a recipe card from her desk and brought it over to my station. "You'll need to use a leaf from the Messenger Tree." She held up a leaf that she grabbed from a nearby bowl. "These can be brewed as a tea that gives a small amount of stamina, but by crushing them correctly and using the proper concentration, we can cause the reaction to make a stamina potion. You won't use glass this time for boiling." She handed me a rounded bottomed beaker. "This is what you'll make it in before purifying the mixture."

I nodded and took the beaker and recipe card then turned to my station. I grabbed the mortar and pestle on the shelf to the side of my station. I filled the mortar with the leaves and started grinding them down. The paste it was making wasn't fine enough for me, so I ground it up, moving both clockwise and counterclockwise, turning it into a sticky sap.

I moved it into the beaker, added enough water to fill it to the top line, and started to heat it using the new heating ring Lena had bought yesterday. After the mixture started boiling, I reduced the temperature and gave it a swirl to mix it up. The smell was earthy and had a minty hint to it. I let it simmer until it became the described syrupy texture on Lena's recipe card.

While I was working, I wasn't paying enough attention to notice when Lena had brought over a tray of 20 vials for the liquid. I used my work gloves to remove the beaker from the heat and filled the vials. I had a little left over, so I grabbed another tray of vials and filled 3 more.

Once I set down the tools and took off my gloves, I felt a change. It felt strange. Like I was filled up with air until it all abated. I turned to ask Lena and found her smirking at me. "I'm guessing you just felt yourself level up?"

I blinked and quickly pulled up my Stratum.

Name: Jak Rollins

Level: 2

Race: Human

Class: None

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 18

Intellect: 17

Wisdom: 14

Skills:

Alchemy - level 11

"You're right. I'm level two." I grinned, and so did Lena. "I also hit level 11 in Alchemy." Lena froze with the grin on her mouth as her eyes went wide.

"That is absolutely insane. I'm not sure if this is to get you caught up to everyone else, or if this is permanent. But you should take advantage of this any chance you can." Lena brought her hand up to her chin. "Is there something you would like to learn? You've got magic and weapons training coming up. Most anything can become a skill as long as you put effort into it. Running, Climbing, Cooking, or even Animal Taming."

"I'll think about it," I said. "I really want to work on hitting level 21 in Alchemy. But first, why did the recipe make 23 vials when it said it made 20?"

“That would be the efficiency of the skill. A higher level skill in Alchemy doesn’t give you more knowledge or teach you to make it better, instead it will increase the efficiency. Either in time to make the potion or in the outcome. In this case, your skill made more of the potion.”

My eyes were wide. “That is basically magic.”

Lena laughed, “Maybe for you. It’s normal for someone like me.”

“I guess I’ll work on the Mana Potion now then.”

As I spoke, Lena turned around and grabbed a small cluster of small pink berries. "Well then, these are called Mana Berries. They have trace amounts of mana that can be amplified when their juice is mixed with alcohol, and then the alcohol is burned away." She handed me the recipe card and told me to use one specific alcohol that was clear.

I cleaned up my previous work, washing all my tools in a sink tucked in a corner and then set out the mortar and pestle, I grabbed a larger beaker this time, still with a rounded bottom. And then, finally, I grabbed a filter and a flat bottom beaker.

I started by plucking the berries and putting them into the mortar until it was full. I crushed them until they turned to liquid then strained the liquid in the filter. I repeated this process two more times to fill the beaker a quarter of the way. I ran the liquid through the filter once more after cleaning it then mixed in two parts of the alcohol.

Lena must have been watching because she brought over a portable heat ring. "This wand is what you'll want to stir with to burn away the alcohol. Go ahead and use the bottom ring too.

Following her instructions, I used both the ring and the wand. Shortly after, I had a thick sweet-smelling mana potion ready to go. Once I was done, I checked my Stratum to see that I was level 14 in Alchemy. I relayed the information to Lena.

"I really shouldn't be surprised. It is utterly astounding to see you gaining so many skill levels. I have more Jobs that need completing, but these are smaller scale but for better quality potions. Oh, but first, I need you to make a bigger batch of healing potions for the full completion of this Job. I've not had you try to make peak versions because the orders don't request them. So we need at least 20 healing potions."

I started right after cleaning my equipment again. I followed the recipe from before, but using the filter like Lena's instructions said to separate the root. This landed me at Alchemy level 16.

Lena moved on to instruct me on how to adjust the recipes to make mid and high-grade potions. Making five of each high-grade potion was enough to get me to level 20, but since it was well after midday bell, we took a break to go get some food after stopping next door to tell Arterian.

--

All three of us were sitting around the table, talking about how our time brewing had gone. Arterian was at a loss for words.

"I know! It's hard to believe that he has accomplished 3 months of work in a single day. But now we need to decide what to work on to get him to 21."

"Why don't I make some peak potions for my training later. I'm sure they will be handy." I offered.

"That's actually a great idea," Lena said. "You already know how to make them with healing potions, and it's basically the same for the others, except you filter them with activated charcoal before you thicken them up. This removes the impurities that build in them."

"If we don't hear from Martin about training, we can see him tomorrow," Arterian suggested. "That way, you have an easy way to move into training for another skill."

Arterian wanted to see the end result, and Lena couldn't concentrate, so they both just watched me as I made the peak-grade healing potions. I was as exact as I could to make sure I made only what I needed. As soon as I filled 3 vials and put the equipment down, I felt the change. I quickly pulled up my Stratum and only saw the skills window. Before I looked at my skill, I quickly realized I didn't picture my whole self. Just excited about the skills and pulling at the same feeling allowed me to limit the information.

Skills:

Alchemy - level 21

[Perfect Measurement] - When making any measurement for size, weight, distance, angle, volume, or something else, you can find exact measurements with ease. Limited to items within 100 feet and in line of sight.

I sat there for a moment before Lena prodded me for the skill information. She was clearly excited for me. I told them what it was, and she and Arterian were stunned.

"I've never heard of that skill before. But we do know that skills are related to what you were trying to accomplish leading up to the breakthrough."

"Well, I'm always trying to make sure I'm using the correct amount of everything. Science is about using accurate measurements and logging that information down so that it could be repeated. This includes chemistry, so I try to be as exact as I can."

I could sense something in my head. I couldn't tell what it was exactly.

"I'm guessing you can feel the skill in your mind. Try to look at something and measure it."

I looked at the workbench and measured the height. I instinctively knew that it was 29.3 inches tall. I thought about it but thought about measuring it in metric, and I could tell it was 744mm.

"Woah," I said out loud. "That's crazy."

Lena and Arterian looked at me questioningly.

"Ha. Um. I can tell the height in whatever unit of measurement I want just by thinking about it." I looked over at a beaker I was using and thought about measuring the volume. "That beaker's volume is 100.5 inches cubed." I pointed at the glass beaker on my workbench.

I stepped away from Lena and Arterian and jumped in the air. "I just jumped 14.4 inches into the air." I jumped again, putting more effort into it. "That one was 16.1 inches." I sensed a change and pulled up my full Stratum.

Name: Jak Rollins

Level: 2

Race: Human

Class: None

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 18

Intellect: 18

Wisdom: 15

Skills:

Alchemy - Level 21 - [Perfect Measurement]

Jumping - Level 1

"Woah, I just gained the jumping skill at level 1."

Lena shook her head. "I told you that you just have to put effort into it. Work on that one a bit when you can and let us know how fast you level up."

"Will do! I'm kind of exhausted mentally right now. Do you mind if I put off making the stamina and mana potions until later and go relax and practice jumping?"

"Go for it, I spent all that time watching you, but now I've got my own jobs."

--

I walked out to the garden between the shops and the house. It was beautiful and relaxing. I walked around the plot they lived on while testing [Perfect Measurement]. Because they had their shop right on the corner, they had a decently large area behind the shop. My perk told me it was 76 by 81 feet. This is too cool. What other perks can you get from skills? This left me lots of space to walk around. The shop was at the far edge and took up less than a quarter of the lot, and the house took up even less.

Lena and Arterian let the hedges grow tall around the property. It gave the feeling of a maze and was a lot of fun to walk around. I found lots of little benches tucked around the garden, my favorite one was in the very back corner, sitting next to a small pond that had shimmering green fish. I sat there for a while, trying to come up with a plan.

I love this world. I can finally have my own power. Though I wish Arterian, Cassie, and Athena didn't have to be slaves. Athena didn't look happy, even though she has a caring master. I wouldn’t be happy either though if I was a slave. I looked up at the branches of the trees hanging over my head and sighed. Those Ogres and Fauns that I saw getting whipped and beaten. They all deserve freedom. I HATE bullies.

It isn't right.