Adam spent that day relaxing, assisting Sonarot with what she needed, as well as keeping an eye on the children.

“It’s rare to find someone who spends time looking after the younger lot proactively,” Citool said to Sonarot over a light lunch.

“Aren’t I lucky to have claimed him?” Sonarot said, smiling at the envious adults, each of whom wanted Adam to be their nephew.

“Why did you accept him so easily?” Citool asked, daring to ask the question the other adults wanted to.

Sonarot smiled. “I can’t say,” she replied. “Perhaps one day he will explain it to you.”

Meanwhile, Adam was drawing on the floor with some chalk, along with the other children, each of whom were drawing either weapons or creatures which had been told to them in stories.

“What’s that?” Adam asked Raygak, staring down at the long sausage.

“It’s a dragon,” the boy said.

Adam stared at it. He squinted his eyes and tilted his head. “Oh, yes, I see.” He nodded his head slowly.

“I’m going to ride one when I grow up,” he said.

“You don’t want to slay it?”

“If it doesn’t listen.”

Adam coughed, trying to hold in his laughter. “I’m sure it will listen to the great Raygak. You know, I’ve actually ridden a dragon before.”

The children all stopped and turned to stare at him, before throwing looks to Turot. After all, Adam was his cousin, so they couldn’t say certain things, otherwise they’d get into trouble.

Turot crumbled under the pressure. “You have?” he asked, trying his best not to sound doubtful, but Adam did say something ridiculous.

“Yeah. I rode…” Adam wondered if he should mention Entalia’s name, since she was alive and well in this name, but in a very different way. “I rode a dragon. She was a good friend of mine.”

“She was?” Turot asked. “You have a dragon friend?”

“He had a dragon friend,” Katool said. “Not any more.”

“That’s right,” Adam said, nodding his head to the girl. “I had a dragon friend, but that was in another time.”

Spell: Guidance

1D3 = 2 (2)

Dexterity Check

D20 + 1 + 2 = 12 (9)

Adam quickly sketched out what Entalia had looked like, which the children thought looked brilliant and so life like, though it wasn’t a great sketch.

Citool threw a glance to Sonarot. “He shouldn’t lie to the children.”

Sonarot smiled. “If he does lie to the children, I will speak with him.”

Citool and the other Iyrmen stared at her, noting what she had said. Their eyes fell back to Adam, a curious figure.

“Hey!” Jaygak barged in during the late afternoon. “What are you guys doing?”

“We’re listening to Adam,” Raygak replied.

“I can see that,” Jaygak said, grabbing her brother, who had tried to flee the moment she stepped towards him, but suffered under another noogie.

“I’m just telling them about my favourite fiction from my home,” Adam said.

“Isn’t it boring to be with the children?”

Adam shook his head and sighed. “It’s not a matter of whether it’s boring or not, which it isn’t, but a matter of enjoying my time before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“Children grow up so fast. If you don’t cherish this time, when they’re always so eager to speak and play with you, then you’ll regret it forever.”

Jaygak wasn’t sure what to say, as it was something her parents often said to her too. “We play with them sometimes.”

“When was the last time you played with them?”

“The other day when we trained together.”

Adam shook his head, sighing with disappointment. “That’s what you call playing?”

“What else am I meant to do? Play sockball?”

“Yes,” Adam replied, blinking at her.

“That’s for children.”

“Is it?” Adam raised his brow. “Do you guys not have adults who play in sports?”

“We wrestle and fight,” Jaygak said. “Sockball is for children.”

Adam blinked. “Where I’m from, children who grow up playing football usually become professionals when they’re older. They become world famous.”

“World famous?” Jaygak asked, and the other Iyrmen each paid greater attention to his words.

“Yeah. There are some football stars who were known in pretty much every country in the world.”

Citool looked to Sonarot, expecting her to keep to her word. Sonarot sighed, making her way over to Adam. “They believe you are lying because they have not heard of your story.”

Adam rubbed his chin. “What I mean to say is that they were known all across the known lands, pretty much in every single one of them. Not everyone from each land knew of them, but if you spoke about a name of one of the best footballers, even the average person would know who you were talking about.”

The Iyrmen’s ears twitched, after all, that’s what their culture was all about. They wanted to be well known with their stories, so that they may never die, and Adam’s words were devilishly seductive to them.

“Anyway, that was back at home. I assume you guys don’t have things like international sports you play against one another.”

“What is that?” Jaygak asked.

Adam spent the next while explaining the concept of sports and the ancient Olympic Games, before explaining his understanding of the modern concept of the Olympic Games.

‘If I don’t end up as a chef, maybe I could introduce the Olympic Games into the world? Or at least, I can introduce them into the Iyr.’

“Oh,” Lucy said, nodding her head. “We did something like that too. We ended up dominating most things, though, and it led to another war.”

An awkwardness hung in the air.

Omen: 17, 19

Adam awoke the next morning and punched the air. “I feel so lucky today!” Adam grinned wide, filled with excitement.

“Will you be coming home late tonight?” Sonarot asked.

Adam nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

“Okay. Make sure you eat well before you go, and I will keep some food for you in a basket on the window.”

“Thank you.”

Mana: 8 -> 5

Adam first fed Lucy some Mana, who had engorged herself yesterday on a feast. She was still the same Lucy, though, and Adam wondered how much Mana she required.

Mana: 5 -> 4

Enchanting

D20 + 6 = 12 (6)

Omen: 17, 19 -> 17

19 + 6 = 25

Mana: 4 -> 3

Enchanting

D20 + 6 = 13 (7)

Omen: 17 -> 0

17 + 6 = 23

He continued to tug on the Thread of Fate, working it into the light dagger, which was going to be filled with necrotic energy.

As Harold swung his sword down onto the Iyrman, a beautiful devilkin woman, he was caught by one of her axes. The other axe managed to land a glancing blow against him. He swung his blade down again, bringing down his full might, but the Iyrman, caught his blade again, and slammed across his side with her axe. Even with the assistance of Fate, Harold battered Wujyn unconscious, much to the applause of the Iyrmen around, who were excited to watch the fight.

After a rest, Harold fought with another Iyrman, and felt something tug at him again, catching the shield of the older Iyrman. The older Iyrman slashed with his axe at the warrior in front of him, but soon found himself on the floor, under the hell of the warrior. The first time could easily be chalked up to coincidence, but the second time, Harold could definitely feel something. The old Iyrman, with the blue circle and blue diamonds tattooed on his forehead, surrendered. Once more, the Iyrmen watching the fight cheered.

Adam panted, feeling completely drained after the enchanting, and dragged himself back. There was a small basket waiting for him, with some cheese, bread, and even some cold soup.

Spell: Tricks

Once it was warm, he finished it off, before finding the small toothbrush.

“Hey,” Lucy said from the cot the Iyrmen had left out for her so she could see the stars before she slept.

“Yeah?”

“Are you the one who keeps bending Fate?” Lucy asked. She had finally put two and two together.

“Yeah.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes, slowly nodding her head. “Okay.”

“Is that bad?”

Lucy stared back at the sky. “It’s neutral.”

“Okay?” Adam brushed his teeth, feeling the way his teeth and gums tingled, before spitting out the foaming liquid. “How did you know?”

“Some of us are sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“Oh.” Adam wasn’t sure what else to say, so he retreated to sleep.

Omen: 1, 5

“Are you feeling unlucky today?” Sonarot asked, watching him swing his sword a hundred times.

“Very,” he admitted.

“Which suits me just fine,” Lucy said, rubbing her stomach as she watched them train. She had yet to properly explore the Iyr, instead getting the nearby Iyrmen acclimated to her appearance. ‘Stupid politics,’ she said, though it was more because she was still partly afraid of the other Iyrmen, not that she would admit it.

Omen: 11, 15

“Finally!” Adam threw up his arms. “I’ll be back later!”

“Wait, hold on, don’t forget my breakfast!” Lucy shouted.

Mana: 8 -> 5

Adam fed her his Mana before rushing off to enchant.

Mana: 5 -> 4

Enchanting

D20 + 6 = 13 (7)

Omen: 11, 15 -> 11

15 + 6 = 21

Adam wasn’t sure if he should have used his Omen after Lucy’s cryptic chat with him a few days ago, but Saerat was forging a great sword for him, so he didn’t want to betray her expectations.

‘Again?’ Harold wondered, his blade missing the Iyrman ahead of him. The Iyrman, who would have been a beautiful woman if it wasn’t for the huge scar across her left eye and down the side of her neck, swung her greatsword wildly, almost threatening to tear the man in half. Harold barely managed to deflect the blow with his blade, and brought the old Iyrman low.

Once Adam was done with the weapon, he wiped his brow, which was full of sweat.

[Would you like to spend XP to empower the weapon?]

‘Yeah, let’s use 100 again.’

XP: 1450 -> 1350

Dagger

You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon.

You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls made with this weapon.

Deals 1D3 piercing + 1D3 necrotic damage.

[Would you like to name the weapon?]

“No.”

XP: 1350 -> 1700

Adam finally returned back to the estate where he saw the tiny orc girl staring up at him with her dead eyes.

“Good afternoon,” Adam said, staring down at her.

Saerat held up the sword, which was completely white, with a wavy pattern along the blade. “Your sword.”

“What fortunate timing! I was done with the last dagger today too.” Adam went to grab her daggers, revealing them to her.

He grabbed the sword, the handle of which was made of white wood, wrapped around with white leather. He wavy pattern on the blade glimmered under the later afternoon sun. At the bottom of the pommel, there was the same symbol of the Rat family, silver, with the smallest hint of red. Along the hilt was the familiar pattern of the Rot family, silver, with the smallest hint of blue.

The children all gathered around to stare at it.

“It’s whitesteel!” Kalokan gasped, staring at the beautiful blade. She was Amokan’s younger cousin, the twin of Damokan, who was also admiring the blade.

Jurot waited, smiling at the children, keeping his arms crossed.

The children continued to admire the weapon.

Jurot waited, his smile fading slightly.

The children stared at the glimmering metal of the blade.

“There’s Iyr ivory too,” he eventually said, frowning.

“Oooh!” the children replied, having not noticed the wood, though they heard that Iyr ivory was extremely rare.

Jurot sighed. ‘Laygak would have noticed…’

“What a beautiful sword,” Sonarot said, admiring the blade. She was glad that Saerat had listened to her suggestion about picking the best materials to work on the sword. She ruffled her son’s hair gently, glad that he had taken his time on the tiny amount of Iyr ivory.

“So cool!” Adam grinned wide, slashing the air around to test its balance. It was slightly heavier than the average sword, but since he held such beastly strength, it didn’t matter. “How rare are these materials?”

“Iyr ivory is the most rare wood, alongside Iyr ebony,” Jurot admitted, tilting his head towards his mother. This entire time he had to keep it a secret that he was working on the wood from everyone.

“How wonderful,” Sonarot said. She knew that Iyr ivory was one of the woods Jurot had wanted to work with, and she hadn’t expected he’d be able to so soon.

“Whitesteel very rare,” Raygak said. “Mithril Rank rare.”

Adam coughed. “Are you Mithril Rank?” Adam stared at Saerat, who was in her…

Well, he wasn’t sure.

She definitely wasn’t old, since she had no wrinkles, but she was either fourteen or forty, and he wasn’t sure which.

“No,” Saerat replied, staring at the daggers. She could feel the energy coursing through them, especially the light dagger, which held a slightly more powerful enchantment. She hadn’t expected him to enchant them with so much extra strength. She was going to wow him with the materials, but she ended up being overshadowed. She was now glad she had managed to push back against the protests from her family.

“How did you get these materials?” Adam asked, wondering if he’d get into trouble.

“I will return,” Saerat said, refusing to answer before walking off.

Adam blinked, watching her walk away. “Did I anger her?”

“No,” Sonarot said. “She was going to bring the gems once she had received her daggers.”

“Oh.”

“Whitesteel and Iyr ivory are extremely rare,” Jurot said. “If you ever get into trouble with Iyrmen, reveal the weapon and they will pause for a moment for you to explain how it came into your possession. Remember that the symbols are from our families, it could save your life if I am not with you.”

Adam took his words to heart.