"What do you mean," I ask Granny. "You made this place for me?"

"I mean just that," she tells me as Drake returns, giving us a strange look. "Help me prepare lunch, will you?"

That's her way of telling me she won't answer immediately, so I help her cut everything to size and put them into the pot, which we place over the fire after spreading it down to reduce it to coals. Once the stew is set to cooking, we sit around the fire, Drake and I beside each other on one side, Granny on the other.

"Thirty-some years ago," Granny says. "When your father was still a boy, I had a vision."

"You have visions all the time," I point out.

"I do," she nods. "But this one was different, Nate. I saw you in the vision, and knew you would be my eldest son's third son. That vision is why I decided to hire Daniel and some others in order to acquire a Crystal of Power."

"You had a vision of me when my dad was still just a boy?" I ask. "And it made you create a sanctuary like this?"

"Yes," she answers. "In that vision of you, I foresaw your powers, and the desire you would one day have to settle down in seclusion."

"My powers?" I ask. "You mean my Skills?"

"No," she answers.

"Inherited magics," Drake says.

"People don't inherit magic," I tell him. "There's not a single known case of it."

"What do you think," Granny says, and I look at her again. "Your ability to sense treasure and the weather are, Nate? You inherited my gift of sight. However, with how weak your magic is at the moment, it only gives you a few senses, the ones you desire to know the most. Treasure, because of your love of finding treasure. The weather, to know what it will be like when you go on a hunt. Danger, to warn you away from threats you cannot handle."

"I suspected this," Drake tells me. "Even though inherited magics don't exist on this world, it's not because it's impossible. It's mostly because of how hard it is to learn spells rather than obtain Skills. Your granny is a powerful mage who focused on developing her abilities with related spells. I'm sure you aren't the only one of her descendants who inherited some of her power."

"Your father," Granny tells me. "Possesses the power of psychometry. He can tell an item's history by touching it. Calvin possesses the power to scry locations, which he uses to pinpoint his teleport spell. Taylor possesses the art of preflex, which allows him to see a moment into the future, allowing him to react quicker, which he uses in battle."

"Taylor?" Drake asks.

"My other older brother," I explain. "He's the second son. So we all inherited some of your power? Dad inherited psychometry, Calvin inherited location scrying, Taylor inherited preflex, and I inherited sensing?"

"All correct," she answers. "However, you all have the ability to develop more. Your brothers and father will not, but you will. Your ability to sense is the barest form of psychic powers. As your magic grows more powerful, so too shall your sensing. You will even be capable of learning many of the spells that I know."

"I don't understand," I say. "Why would I but not dad and my brothers? They all have much stronger magic than me – each of them has at least one Mage Class. Calvin's almost entirely a Mage, his magic's got to be pretty strong."

"It is," she nods. "However, they rarely develop it and possess no interest in learning more of the psychic abilities. They would need to actively develop the magics. You, on the other hand, use your ability all the time, not just when it is convenient. It is always active. In addition to that, you didn't inherit simply a fragment of my power, Nate. You inherited the powers which make me the Oracle."

"All of them?" I ask.

"Most," she answers. "That vision I had of you, thirty-some years ago, showed you settling down to take my place as the next Oracle. As your magic grows stronger, you will develop your gifts of knowledge more. All of what your brothers and father have, along with many of the spells in my possession. Empathy, telepathy, perspicacity, foresight, and more."

That's a lot to take in, but I have no reason to doubt Granny about this. If she says that I will one day decide to take her place as the Oracle, then she means it. Even if right now, I want to be a treasure hunter, that won't be all I wish to be. One day, I'll want to settle down and do something different.

If I inherited her powers, then I could see myself wanting to settle down as the Oracle, decades from now, when I'm older and wiser, when the thrill of the hunt for ancient artifacts has faded. I could also very well see myself wanting to settle down and become a baker.

I don't plan on changing my chosen route for Classes, so it'll probably take me many years to really start to develop more of the powers I inherited from her. Though the way she phrased things, I'm guessing the one I have right now will become better as I become more powerful as well.

Rather than continuing to think about that stuff, I decide to go back to what started this conversation.

"So you made this island for me?" I ask Granny. "To settle down in once I take over as Oracle?"

"Yes," she answers. "What I foresaw was my own death, with you at my side. I wanted to create a place you could call home, and so I looked to see what would suit you best. This is what I came up with, and so, this is what I created."

"Okay," I say. "I do like it, Granny. It's beautiful and feels serene."

"Yes, it does," she smiles.

"I thought you made it because of people coming to you for help?"

"I was already planning on isolating myself," she informs me. "When the vision came to me. The events lined up."

"I see," I say. "It will be awhile before I come to live here, though."

"Perhaps not as long as you think," she smiles. "And you will leave here soon, won't you?"

"Yes," I answer. "I've decided to accompany Drake on his quest, since I'm sure he'll come across many rare treasures during it."

"I'm sure," she smiles. "You remind me of your father, when he was your age. Wanting to go off on adventure, but torn between that and his familial obligations. He did go, for a few years. He still leaves, every now and then, if he's able to find the time."

"I know," I smile. "When I was little, he told me of some of the treasures he'd come across. Though none seem to be as great as this table. I've meant to ask you before about it."

"Ah, yes, this table," Granny smiles as she looks down at it. "The first time your father touched it, he blushed redder and brighter than any tomato. I found it in Ruins of a castle from a long-forgotten kingdom. There's nothing special about it other than the special way it was made."

Why would Dad blush touching the table? Wait, Granny said he can see the history of an item. Was it something he saw while touching it? What did he see?

Actually, now that I think about it, if Dad can see the history of an item, does that include its creation? Does Dad actually know how to create this type of table again? If so, why hasn't he shared that knowledge with others?

"Nate," Granny says. "There are two reason why your father hasn't shared the knowledge of how to create tables like this. The true version, not the glass version which exists now."

Granny mentioned telepathy. I'm guessing she could tell that I was wondering about that.

"There are two reasons," she says. "The first is the cost of the gems in it. Even without being cut, it still amounts to quite the high sum of vanri. Second, one of the components required to create the crystal coating is quite difficult to obtain. He doesn't want people going off in search of it, only to lose their lives."

"That makes sense," I say. "What's the ingredient?"

"The sap of a sacred tree within the enchanted forest," she answers.

"Oh."

"The enchanted forest?" Drake asks.

Even if he could view this world and knows stuff about it, Drake never did learn its more specific locations. He doesn't even know where the Elemental Crystals are and if I weren't going with him, he'd need to ask around.

"It takes up most of our continent," I explain. "The Wind Crystal is actually near it. The kingdom we're in now is the only nation on this continent because of how vast the forest is, combined with the mountains on the northeastern edge. We're at the southereastern corner, and the kingdom goes from here up to the southern edge of the mountains. It's about two hundred miles, and around eighty at its widest. Then we have about one hundred miles of forest from the edge of our kingdom and the mountains, and beyond that is the enchanted forest, which covers all the way to about two hundred miles from the western edge of the continent, as well as from the southern and northern edges."

From what I heard, the enchanted forest begins exactly two hundred miles from the coast all the way around the continent. It's an unnatural place.

"What's so special about it?" Drake asks.

"How unnatural it is," I answer. "It was the heart of the Ancients' empire. The truly great Ruins should be there, but no one's ever returned from exploring one."

"They're that dangerous?" He asks.

"No," Granny says. "The enchanted forest itself is that dangerous. Few who venture too far into it ever return. Of those who do, they speak of dangers they barely escaped, their minds muddled and bodies weakened."

"When Dad used his psychometry," I say. "Could he see the Ancients?"

"No," she shakes her head. "He saw the items used to make the table, but not the actual creation itself. My own powers of sight seem to be unable to view the Ancients. I believe that they, too, once possessed inherited magic."

"But once they died out," I say. "It disappeared with them, gone until now. Are there others who have inherited magics?"

"No," Granny shakes her head. "It seems that after the Ancients, there simply weren't enough people using magic outside of the Skills granted by the System, and of those who do, they rarely become powerful enough and develop those spells well enough to pass them on."

What would it take to cause people to start doing that? Knowing it's possible? Learning magic is difficult enough as it is, that's why those who use it rely on the System granting them Skills. Not just developing it, but growing their magical power? I've a feeling it also requires increasing magical power with more than just Class Levels, sort of like how physical strength can be increased by working out.

My Strength went up last night, actually. The fractions of a point that Levels give don't do anything until the sum up a whole, so they had nothing to do with it. No, that came from my own training and exercise. I guess it makes sense we can do that with Magic, too.

"Part of the reason," Drake says. "That magic is so weak in this world is because there isn't much of it in use. Not natural magics, anyway."

"Natural magics?" I ask. "You mean like in monsters and plants and such?"

"Yes," Granny answers. "However, magics used without being Skills are also considered natural magics. Imagine the feel of magic in the capital, Nate. Most people who live there don't even notice it because they grew up there, yes?"

"Yes," I nod. "They're used to it."

"That feel," she says. "Is because of the Crystal of Power, a source of immense natural magic. The magic doesn't just disappear, though. It lingers. The same happens with our spells. When we use them, that magical energy is consumed, but traces of it remains.

"If enough happens in an area," she says. "It would feel full of magic as well. And in places full of magic, it's much easier for people to learn new spells, especially after generations of living there. That's why the Crystal Guardians are almost always from families who have lived there for generations."

"But they don't have inherited magics?"

"They do the same as most," she shakes her head. "They rely on the Skills from their Classes and trials. However, you'll find that those who live around the Elemental Crystals often have higher starting Magic than others. In fact, your family being in the capital for generations, as well as having me in the lineage, resulted in you having a higher starting Magic."

"I only have 4 Magic, though," I say.

"Most people," she says. "Who live in the capital have 3 Magic, while those in an area like Silent Valley might have only 1 Magic. Those who live near the Elemental Crystals often have around 6 Magic. It was my influence which caused you to have how much you do."

"Oh," I say. "Wait. Granny, if Dad only inherited psychometry, how could I inherit other things? How could Calvin and Taylor?"

"Bloodlines," Drake answers.

"Bloodlines?" I ask.

"Yes," he nods. "Magic can weave itself into a bloodline, which is how inherited magics occur. In this case, your granny's magic wove itself into her bloodline, so when she had a son, he inherited that magical bloodline, and when he had children, they inherited it as well. Unless the magical bloodline fades, any descendants with it can inherit any portion of the power, and others within it are a little easier to learn than they would be for those who didn't have that bloodline."

"They fade over time," Granny says. "If those with them never used them, or if several generations passed without one being born with it. It requires active use to keep the bloodline strong."

"I see," I say. "That was informative."

I've learned a lot today, most of it about myself. And my intention coming here was to let Granny know that I would be going on a quest, and thus unable to visit for awhile. What else will I learn while helping Drake on his quest? How much of my heritage will I unlock, too?

"By the way," Drake looks at Granny. "I was wondering the best order for us to go to the Elemental Crystals and charge my Crystal of Power with."

"Wind, water, earth, and fire," Granny tells him.

"I told you," I tell Drake.

"I know," he says. "But I wished to see if the Oracle knew something you didn't."

"Dragon," Granny says. "Trust Nate on this quest of yours. He might not be the smartest person in the world, but his wisdom stretches beyond his years when it comes to major decisions."

She leans forward, smiling.

"Plus," she says. "You won't find a person who speaks more languages than him! Nate soaks up new languages like a sponge soaking up water! I imagine that will be useful on your quest!"