So… how did I manage to convince my parents of the truth? I’m afraid that’s not such a simple answer overall. For one thing, they needed a lot of convincing that what I said was true, and not one large fabrication. For another, the proof needed to be carefully digested in such a way that they’d believe me regardless. What were you expecting of a mess like what I found myself in? It’s completely ridiculous, and yet I hope that you all understand what I had to go through to get there.

~Gato, talking about proving himself to his family

#

Gato looked at his family with a somewhat measured eye. “Okay, I know that this sounds really crazy,” he said at last. “However, I am willing to prove my claim to you all right this second, if you’ll permit me.”

Gato’s father looked him in the eye for what had to be an eternity, before he sighed. “You may try, Gato,” he finally said. “Be warned, however, that there’s no feasible way for us to believe it without some form of unshakable proof. Do you have such proof?”

Gato opened his mouth to object, but then paused. How am I supposed to find the proof that’s needed at this rate? he thought. It’s like I need to prove that I can read and write at this rate… but is that even able to work right now?

At that point, his mind looped back to what he had thought. Wait… proving I can read and write? Why didn’t I think of that sooner?

“Gato?” Delaz asked. “What’re you thinking?”

Gato looked at Delaz briefly. “I’m gonna need to get a book from the bookshelf,” he said, before heading to do just that.

“Wait, say what?!” Gato’s father exclaimed. “But you can’t even read!”

Gato ignored his father’s comment for the time. “What’s the most difficult to read book in the house?” he asked himself, looking for a good choice of proof.

“Gato, could you please explain why you need to get a book from the bookshelf?” Abby asked, walking up to him. “I mean, we know you’re not able to read and write under any circumstance, so—”

“That problem has been fixed, Abby,” Gato said, not looking at her while he looked for a book to read. “Now, could you please head back to the others, to prevent them from thinking you’re helping me cheat?”

That would be really helpful, her not helping me cheat right now, he thought as he scanned the bookshelf for what he needed to read as his proof.

“Okay, Gato,” Abby said, before she did as he requested of her.

Now, then, Gato thought. Which of these books should I go with for the time being? Eventually, he picked up a book that was thin, but also taller than the rest of the books in the house. The Countess of El Salvador, eh? he mused. This ought to work for today’s purposes.

Walking back to the others, he held the book out for everyone to see. “I’m just going to say this right now,” he said. “Part of my situation is that I gained skills in literacy and numbers because of something that happened to me earlier today. With that said, I’ll have to read and show you the passages that I’m reading, to prove to you that I’m telling you all the truth.”

"Uh, Gato, are you sure that you’ll be able to make it believable for—?” Gato’s mother started to ask, before she saw him open the first page of the story.

“Ah, but where has the time gone, O Countess of El Salvador? The livelihood of your people has gone to the pigs, and the Crown demands the proper tribute that a healthy community has the power to pay. I fear for your people, and for you, dear Countess. As far as the people are hoping for, this is against what they desire, as they live in the ghettos that have become your lands,” Gato read aloud. Showing the excerpt to his family, he said, “Please do the proper fact checking for your own sakes.”

“Gato, what are you trying to pull, exactly?” Andrew asked. “It’s not like the writing will be the way you read it, right?”

Gato sighed. “Why am I surrounded by people unwilling to give me the benefit of the doubt?” he muttered in askance.

“What was that?” Andrew asked sharply.

“Whoa, easy there, Andrew,” Simon said, holding Andrew’s right shoulder with his left hand. “Don’t hurt Gato by yelling at him.”

Where did that come from? Gato thought.

“Oh, fine,” Andrew said, sighing himself. “Now, what are we supposed to do, anyway? I don’t recall that book ever being in the house to begin with.”

Gato gaped when he heard that. “Wait a minute…” he said, holding the open pages of the book away from him, looking at the spine of the book. “Who even wrote this book to begin with, anyway?”

“Is this proof that you can’t read still?” Gato’s father asked him.

“No, it’s not that,” Gato shook his head in denial. “I mean, there’s no author’s name on this book anywhere. Look for yourself if you want, dad.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” the father said, grabbing hold of the book. As he did so, he looked the book’s cover over, before he looked at the first page of the story. “Well, I’ll be,” he said. “There’s no author’s name anywhere on or in the book.”

Count Conrad cleared his throat at that moment. “May I take a look at the book?” he asked.

“Oh, sure, help yourself,” Gato’s father said, handing the Count of Lavendash the book. “I don’t think anyone would be adverse to you looking for the proof about this information.”

Conrad nodded, before he looked at the spine of the book, the front and back covers, and then flipped through the pages of the novel to find out who wrote the story. “Well, it’s simply impossible for this to happen, and yet it happened,” he said. “There’s simply no author attributed to this work of fiction.”

“See what I mean?” Gato asked.

“I see, yes,” Conrad said. “However, unlike your family, Gato, I know that you’re telling the truth about what you just read. I vouch for your sudden reading comprehension in the ancient tongue of the people of Balankia.”

“Wait, the ancient tongue of the Balankians?!” Abby cried out. “Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a book written in that language?!” She rushed over to get the book, before she saw the words written in the pages. “Yes, what Gato had read is legitimately what he said was written down.”

“Uh…” Gato looked at his family. “Help?”

“Good grief,” Cima groaned, facepalming. “Here we go again.”

#

“Okay, Tsu,” Wan said as the two of them safely made their way into Alfheimwood. “What’s going to happen this time around?”

“What are you talking about?” Tsu asked him. “I highly doubt that you mean we’re going to be out of options for what we need to do, but I will admit to being confused, big brother.”

“Well…” Wan trailed off for a small bit.

Well, this is awkward, he thought. How am I supposed to help my brother understand what I’m trying to say if I don’t know what I’m talking about right now?

“Big brother?” Tsu asked.

“Okay, I think we should head over to the nearest place that we can find for the tournament officials,” Wan said at last.

“Is that so?” Tsu asked. “Well, better than nothing, I suppose.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Wan said, before the two of them walked around to find the one place they were looking for. “Now, what’s the overall layout of this town supposed to resemble to you, dear baby brother?”

“Don’t ask me,” Tsu said, shaking his head.

The two of them walked around, looking for what they assumed would be the building that would house this information. In point of fact, however, they soon came across the desks and parchments of the tournament organizers that were outside the temple to the Divine Spirits of Nature.

“Well, this is awkward,” Wan said, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. “Is this the place to look for the information that we need?”

“Let’s hope so, big brother,” Tsu answered. “Let’s split the work between us, going from both ends of the desk row inward.”

“Good idea,” Wan said, before they walked off to do just that. As they did their search, the brothers were silent all the way through, even as the documents were proving to be a pain and a half to read for them.

Ugh… what is it with the people of this land not knowing how to write the proper way? Wan thought. There’s no way these people are so uniform in their illiteracy that they can’t write proper kanji, right?

“Big brother, what’s the matter?” Tsu asked him from two desks over. “Are you having trouble with the local written word?”

Wan looked at his brother, before he looked at the paperwork in his hands again. “Well, this is stupid,” he said. “How come I can’t understand what this chicken scratch says when you can, Tsu?”

“I used a translation spell, brother,” Tsu said, a smirk gracing his features.

“Tsu, you bastard!” Wan growled out at his brother. “You did it again!”

“Ain’t I a stinker?” Tsu asked cruelly, before laughing for a few seconds. “However,” he said after he finished laughing, “I did the homework, so to speak, and the number of men compared to women in this tournament is somewhere around ten or twelve. What’s it say over there?”

Wan huffed, before he said, “You might want to check for yourself, Tsu. I didn’t prepare the translation spell to save my life from this massive headache, for whatever inane reason.”

Tsu nodded, walking over to check the piles that were left, including the one his brother was standing right beside. “Okay, here we are,” he said, skimming through the pile before the one Wan was at. “One man compared to the rest of the stack full of women, it seems.”

“This is going to be a problem,” Wan groused out. “How are we supposed to find our possession target at this rate?”

“I’m sure we’ll get to the target, brother,” Tsu said. “In the meantime, though, we need to do something about the list of participants. It needs to be trimmed down to just the men. We don’t want to have the women out of their kitchens and birthing stations.”

“Sounds like an idea, yeah,” Wan acquiesced with a nod. “How about we get rid of the women’s paperwork and focus on the more important issue of things?”

Tsu opened his mouth to speak, but then he paused as he read the parchment that he was holding from Wan’s table. “Hello, what’s this?” he asked aloud.

“Did you find something?” Wan asked.

“I did, yes,” Tsu said. “I think I found our potential target for control from afar. This is the last man in the list from the pile at your table for now.”

Wan walked around the table to see what his brother was looking at. “What sort of man is this control target supposed to be?” he asked.

“Well, if you must know,” Tsu said, pointing at a random section on the parchment, “this says he’s able to fight without relying on any weapons whatsoever. I think that’s a good sign that he’ll be compatible with our methods.”

Wan nodded, before he looked at the sheet again. “Do they give a name for this man?” he asked Tsu.

“Actually, yes, they do,” the younger brother said. “His name is Raymond, son of Willingham, the local blacksmith.” He then turned to face his older brother. “Odd, right?”

Odd’s really underselling it, baby brother, Wan thought. How are we supposed to get close enough to this son of the blacksmith to do our job and then get out of here? This is going to be a right pain in the arse, baby brother, I can tell.

“Uh, big brother?” Tsu asked. “What’s the matter?”

I just hope we can pull this off, Wan thought, ignoring his baby brother without meaning to. This is where we need to prove our superiority, true, but how do we do that without some way of preparations? I think we need to really prepare for the possibility that we’ll fail at our job somehow… this is going to suck worse than a monkey sucking on—

“Big brother, snap out of it!” Tsu yelled, slapping his older brother upside the head with his right hand.

Wan fell face first into the ground when Tsu slapped him. “What was that for?!” he cried out when he got back to his feet.

“You must’ve been in la-la land for a long time, big brother,” Tsu said. “I couldn’t get you to snap out of it beforehand, so that was my method of getting you to reality.”

“Tsu, while that’s appreciated, I think you’re being an idiot about this,” Wan growled at his baby brother. “For the record, I was trying to figure out how to get Raymond drawn out into the open for us. Is that such a problem, baby brother?”

“When you put it that way, no,” Tsu said, shaking his head in answer. “Well, not like it’ll matter now, because we’ll be ready when it’s time to extract our reward from here and then go back home where we belong.”

Wan nodded.

#

“Okay, let’s see now,” Gato said, before he looked at the rest of his family sitting at the table. “I read a passage of a book written by the ancient Balankians, but none of you know how to read it. How am I supposed to prove I’m not crazy at this rate?”

“Gato, son,” the father of the family said. “It’s less a matter of you being seen as crazy, and more a matter of why you insist you are telling the truth about this. This tomfoolery is going to get you killed, I hope you realize that.”

Gato groaned when he heard that. Nice to know you care, dad, he thought. Now, how am I supposed to prove my point to you guys?

[You can always use the Party Up feature.]

The Party Up feature…? Why didn’t I think of that sooner?

Gato then cleared his throat briefly, before he said, “Okay, proof incoming, guys. Invite my whole family to the Party. Invite Count Conrad to the Party. Invite Abby to the Party.”

“Gato, what par—?” Delaz started to ask, before his eyes widened in shock.

“Now do you see what I’m talking about?” Gato asked his family. “I didn’t lie about that to begin with.”

“Gato, how are we supposed to get rid of these boxes?” the mother of the family asked. “Will they go away on their own?”

“No, you need to interact with the boxes to make them go away,” Gato replied. “However, you’ll want to press the Yes button, the one on the left, to know more about what I’m talking about.”

“Er…” Chuck said, looking between the rest of his family, before he pressed his own Yes button. He then looked at Gato. “Baby bro, what’s that supposed toooooaAAAAAAAAAAHH!” he cried out.

“You saw the text floating above my head, huh?” Gato asked.

Chuck nodded. “I can’t believe it happened…” he said.

“What does it say above my head, Chuck?” Gato asked his brother.

“Er, well, it says in brackets “The Player” above your name and L-V-L 6,” Chuck answered.

Gato looked around to see what the text above his family’s heads said, as well as the text above Abby and Count Conrad’s heads.

Alexander, son of Perseus LVL 15

Diana, daughter of Medea LVL 12

Jeremiah, son of Alexander LVL 11

Cima, daughter of Diana LVL 10

Chuck, son of Alexander LVL 13

Cynthia, daughter of Diana LVL 7

Jack, son of Alexander LVL 3

Simon, son of Alexander LVL 4

Andrew, son of Alexander LVL 4

Delaz, son of Alexander LVL 7

Conrad Engleson LVL 25

Abigail von Sylvania LVL 17

I can’t believe I’m weaker than everyone but Jack, Simon, and Andrew… Gato thought in annoyance. Then again, does level mean everything, or am I just making things up right now?

[No, it doesn’t mean everything, Gato. Just be grateful to that.]

“Gato, question,” Conrad said, breaking the silence. “Is this power responsible for your getting dragon scales in the first place?”

“Maybe,” Gato admitted with a shrug. “I didn’t quite question the logic of that situation.”

“Gato, please tell us,” his mother said. “What is your plan for later on? Do you intend to be a soldier for the crown when that could spell the end of your life?”

“That’s an excellent question, dear,” Gato’s father said before Gato could get a word in edgewise. “What is your ultimate plan for life while you’re alive?”

“Honestly,” Gato said, scratching the back of his neck then. “I just want to do my duty to the crown, like any guy my age would want to, and save the realm from being wiped off of Terra. I figured that the recruitment pitch would mean that I would be serving under an officer, so I figured that would be enough for me, in my opinion.”

“You mean you didn’t know?” Delaz asked him.

“Know what?” Gato asked, confusion scribbled all over his face.

“The combat tournament, which you signed up for, is for seeing who would be officer material,” the father said.

“Wait… really?” Gato gaped when the implications fully hit him. “I didn’t know that.”

“Now you know, Gato,” Count Conrad told him. “How come nobody told you this before you signed up to join the tournament?”

“Maybe they assumed I knew it already?” Gato asked, shrugging when he said that.

“Yeah, that sounds right,” Conrad said with a nod. “I’ll see how I can train you for the sake of the tournament, since it’s clear you’ll need lessons in how to joust and ride on horseback, young man.”

Gato could only nod in agreement.

“On that cheerful note,” Delaz said, clapping his hands once. “We need to figure out how to use the scales to make Count conrad’s armor. Jeremiah, do you have training in how to do that?”

Jeremiah put a chin to his head, as if contemplating what all he was trained in doing. “Well, yeah, but only briefly,” he said finally. “I guess I’d better take out the tools needed to do this.”

“Do we even have a forge to do that with, though?” Gato asked, a large amount of sweat flowing down his body.

Jeremiah simply shook his head. “Nobody thought to build a forge on the property before we got it. I’ll have to take it into town and work with it that way,” he said.

“Okay, son,” the father said, nodding his head. “Now, how about we start calling it a day, shall we?”

Everyone else nodded, before Gato thought of something. “I have to train in the normal ways of combat for our country,” he said, pounding his left fist into his right palm. “I’ll be late calling it a day, I’m afraid.”

Conrad gave Gato a critical look in the eye for a few seconds, before he nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll train you in how to handle that. Be sure to get ready now.”

Gato nodded, before he thought of something. “Oh, mom,” he said, “I have some jerky I need you to prepare as a part of the next meal. Could you please do so?”

“Where did you put the jerky, Gato?” his mother asked.

“Inside my Inventory,” Gato said, before he pulled out the 99 remaining strips of Dire Wolf Jerky and placed them in five piles on the table. “There’s five different levels of quality for the jerky, as I’ve discovered. This pile is D Level, providing a lesser boost than the other levels of jerky. In numerical values, it gives 12 to whatever you want to spread it out to when eaten plain.” He then picked up a strip of the jerky that he pointed out.

“Uh, Gato, why are you taking a strip of jerky from the pile?” Chuck asked.

“Because I’m sure I’ll work up an appetite from working out under Count Conrad, and I need to ingest food before my stomach gives me crazy ideas,” Gato said. “Besides which, I already took a strip of A Level jerky, and I think you’d appreciate a more evened out quantity of food from this trip.”

“What levels of boosts do the other four piles give individually?” the mother asked.

“C Level gives a value of 14, B level gives a value of 16, A Level gives a value of 18, and S Level gives a value of 20,” Gato said, taking one strip from each pile but the A Level one. “Now, to show you what I mean, everyone.” He then walked over to the sink and turned around.

Wait, he thought. How am I supposed to show them my stat boosts?

[Open your Status Menu and tap a side of the menu to turn it around to show them.]

Thanks, he thought.

“Okay, a bit of prep work, everyone,” he said. “I have to open my Status Menu, and then show you what it looks like.” As he said that, his Status Menu popped up, before he showed everyone what it said.

“Whoa! That’s a lot of numbers!” Delaz cried out. “What are they even good for?”

“I’ll explain when this is over,” Gato said. “Now, here’s to the ingestion of this jerky.” With that, he ate the four strips of jerky in one handful.

[You have gained 62 Stat Points!]

“Gato, what are Stat Points?” Cima asked.

“That’s a number dedicated to increasing the numbers above it,” Gato answered. “For instance…”

Gato, son of Alexander Level 6

Current Experience Point Total

55,000

Total Experience Points To Next Level

36,000

Current Hit Points

3,960

Maximum Hit Points

3,960

Current Magic Points

2,400

Maximum Magic Points

2,400

Strength

25

-

0

+

Dexterity

25

-

0

+

Agility

11

-

0

+

Constitution

22

-

0

+

Intelligence

20

-

0

+

Wisdom

16

-

0

+

Power

10

-

0

+

Willpower

10

-

0

+

Perception

10

-

0

+

Spirit

10

-

0

+

Charisma

10

-

0

+

Luck

50

-

0

+

Stat Points

62

Cash Points

300,000

“For instance, what, Gato?” Cynthia asked.

“Oh, right,” Gato said. “If I wanted to be stronger in terms of physical strength, I could do that.”

“Before you put any points into any of the other numbers, Gato,” Count Conrad said, “I have to ask. What numbers are connected to each other?”

“Good question,” Gato said, giving the Count a nod. “Constitution and Intelligence are connected to Hit Points, which is how much damage I can take, and Magic Points—”

“Magic?” Cima cried out. “Gato, why would you delve into the forbidden?”

Before Gato could respond, however, a box appeared in front of everyone’s vision.

[It’s not that Gato has delved into the forbidden, but rather, it’s just an energy source for some of his abilities. It’s just as impossible to get rid of the magical energy in anyone and everyone as it is to hold your breath while standing on the ocean floor for an hour. It just can’t be done.]

“It does that to me, too, Cima,” Gato said a few moments later. “Now, Count Conrad, why did you ask?”

“I was curious to see what all the effects would be like if you increased the ones stuck at ten right now,” Count Conrad said.

“Okay, then,” Gato said. “How much should I raise them by?”

“Try 12, then use the last two points to increase Intelligence,” Count Conrad said.

Gato nodded.

Gato, son of Alexander Level 6

Current Experience Point Total

55,000

Total Experience Points To Next Level

36,000

Current Hit Points

3,960

Maximum Hit Points

3,960

Current Magic Points

2,400

Maximum Magic Points

2,400

Strength

25

-

0

+

Dexterity

25

-

0

+

Agility

11

-

0

+

Constitution

22

-

0

+

Intelligence

20

-

2

+

Wisdom

16

-

0

+

Power

10

-

12

+

Willpower

10

-

12

+

Perception

10

-

12

+

Spirit

10

-

12

+

Charisma

10

-

12

+

Luck

50

-

0

+

Stat Points

0

Cash Points

300,000

[Do you wish to confirm this allocation of stat points?

Y/N]

Gato pressed the Yes button.

Gato, son of Alexander Level 6

Current Experience Point Total

55,000

Total Experience Points To Next Level

36,000

Current Hit Points

3,960

Maximum Hit Points

3,960

Current Magic Points

2,640

Maximum Magic Points

2,640

Strength

25

-

0

+

Dexterity

25

-

0

+

Agility

11

-

0

+

Constitution

22

-

0

+

Intelligence

22

-

0

+

Wisdom

16

-

0

+

Power

22

-

0

+

Willpower

22

-

0

+

Perception

22

-

0

+

Spirit

22

-

0

+

Charisma

22

-

0

+

Luck

50

-

0

+

Stat Points

0

Cash Points

300,000

“Now, what do you want me to do next?” Gato asked.

“How about you and I train together for the rest of the day, first, then we train until the tournament happens?” Count Conrad asked. “I wish to see how well you handle yourself in this case.”

Gato had one thought to that question. Yes!