Chapter 108: New beginnings

"The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all."

Josiyah Martin

Sailing was going swimmingly I stayed in the boat and no more monsters had appeared. I did not go daily anymore but Father continued to go out on his own every day even if I did not. Although without his sensory son he sometimes failed to bring as much as we had together. He did not seem to mind too much still enjoying the sailing as much as anything else. When I went with him it was nice to kick back and relax away from the stresses of daily lessons with the Lady. As father said, “This is the life, Kai.” And I had to agree it was pretty sweet. I even cracked the meridian on my meditation skill level cap on a sailing trip. I managed to do so in the boat while skimming the waves. It seemed that being able to maintain the skill while moving was all that was needed.

The magic lessons were going magnificently with new spells being learned each week. We continued to practice the ones we had learned for light, water and growth. But we had added to our repertoire adding both spellcraft and spellsong, for fire, heat, ice and a basic shield spell. They were not overly combative yet in use more utility and basic defensive spells. But as we had been learning in Weapons training any tool can be a weapon if held right and there were obviously combat applications to the spells we had learned. My core had yet to form completely but was getting closer to completion with me gaining greater control of the skills. We had practised the fire spellcraft in the water just in case there were any accidents and I had been told very firmly that I was not to practice that particular spellcraft without adult supervision. “Magic is not a toy to be trifled with. It takes dedication to practice it to perfection and caution when learning any new spell. Don’t be afraid to take your time to learn it properly, Kai. You have plenty of time.” Lady Acacia cautioned and advised.

Musically I was loving life. The Virtuoso skill was like cheating. It allowed me to concentrate on the aspects that Lady Acacia wanted me to focus on, mainly how my music affected others. We played together and were developing a routine that we would be performing for our cousins then if that went well the town later. I was learning the pieces that she was teaching us while continuing to work on my ‘own’. Mostly that meant trying to recall pieces from my own world and then rebuild them to the point that I could memorise them again. Lady Acacia was suitably impressed by the musical prodigy I presented myself as. Mother found our performances particularly delightful, “That was beautiful Aleera and Kai.” So much so that we now had a daily performance after every evening meal for our family.

The garden was growing rapidly with the Elendil tree developing into a full-size tree at speed. Aleera with Lady Acacia’s blessing had introduced the idea of the school to our cousins and anyone between the ages of 5 and 10 were now crossing to our island early in the morning to help out with the various tasks we required under the supervision of Des, Sinis and Wanda. They would then get a lesson from Aleera in arithmetic, reading and writing. I had not yet begun to teach them myself but Lady Acacia was approving of the program, in her words. “Teaching is a wonderful way to learn. It will strengthen her current skills to teach them to others as well as help her soul to grow.” The lessons were popular but mainly because of the exotic fruit and vegetables they were able to have for their free lunch. They might have let slip to some of the other children in Wester about the mysterious hidden fruits on the island because a few people had been asking if their children could attend too. Whether this was for the lessons or the free food was anyone’s guess. Mercurio was due a visit and we would have a surplus of unusual products for him to sell to the nearby islands for a profit. We were quite looking forward to his next visit.

Weapons training was tough but oddly fulfilling and we were gradually growing used to the idea of hunting with our spears. Grandfather continued to take us to the eastern forest to hunt. While we continued to practice with our spears if the game was driven towards us. He had also introduced us to the bow and arrow a far more efficient tool for hunting if you were doing it without having the game funnelled towards you. We were getting used to the active part in acquiring our meat and the practice of hunting, killing, dressing and finally skinning our catches was doing wonders for our skill levels. I was also getting better at having my HUD up and running at all times. I took care to remain aware of where Grandfather was at all times but although I could see him moving quickly I never managed to catch him moving as impossibly fast as he must have that first time we went hunting. Unfortunately, with Lady Acacia’s permission, he had taken some of the training beanball bags and enjoyed lobbing them at us without warning on our hunting trips. “No pain no gain,” he commentated every time he managed to hit us with one often thrown from out of sight. It was infuriating to be concentrating on one thing and then have to dodge another. But at least it was not knives he was throwing.

. . .

I looked at my status, it was my birthday once more. By age 3 I thought I was doing pretty darn well. It had been an extremely busy end of the year with all the different irons in the fire we had going on. While my stat growth had slowed a little, my physical growth and growth in skill levels had continued unabated.

Level: 12

Title: Lord Name:

Callen Kai Silversea

Experience: 738,200/ 819,200

Age: 3 years 0 months, 0 weeks, 0 days, 12 hours, 30 minutes

Health: 1440/1440 Stamina: 1243/1243 Mana: 1450/1450 Psi: 1450/1450

Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted

Attribute: Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength

Vitality: 147 +3

Endurance: 127 +3

Strength: 104 +3

Dexterity: 133 +3

Senses: 146 +3

Mind: 147 +4

Clarity: 122 +1

Magic: 149 +6

Charisma: 65 +4

Luck: 7

Free Points: 40

Tier 1: Swimming (LV51 -> 52) Running (LV51 ->52) Meditation (LV50 ->51) Time Sense (LV50) Breath Control (LV44 ->46) Singing (LV43 ->48) Listening (LV40 ->44) Knots (LV40 ->43) Stitching (LV40 ->43) Climb (LV35 ->40) Draw (LV35 ->39) Diving (LV35 ->40) Sailing (LV35 ->40) Humming (LV34) Whistling (LV33) Trading (LV33) Dodge (LV33 ->40) Knife (LV33 ->40) Drumming (LV31 -> 35) Sneak (LV31) Acting (LV25) Balance (LV20 ->25) Calligraphy (LV20 ->Lv25) Farming (LV20 ->25) Sight (LV15) Scent (LV15) Detect (LV15) Taste (LV15) Throw (LV15 ->20) Lie (LV12) Bussola (LV15 ->20) Mathematics (LV15 ->20) Appeal (LV7) Insight (LV6 ->10) Ambidextrous (LV 5 ->10) Glide (Lv5 ->10) Poise (Lv5 ->10) Grace (LV5 ->10) Charm (Lv5 ->10) Composure (Lv5 ->10) Cook (LV3) Silent Step (Lv3 ->5) Deft touch (Lv 3->5) Posture (Lv 3->5) Dance (Lv 3->5) Sprint (Lv 1->5) Painting (Lv1) Elvish (Lv 1->5) Giant (Lv 1->5) Dwarf (Lv 1->5) Pixish (Lv 1 ->5) Gnomish (Lv 1->5) Koboldogo (Lv1 -> Lv5) Beastkin (Lv1 -> Lv5) Halfling (Lv1 -> Lv5) Axe (Lv1 ->4), Baton (Lv1), Club (Lv1), Dagger (Lv1->3), Estoc (Lv1), Flail (Lv1), Glaive (Lv1), Halberd (Lv1), Pike(Lv1), Mace (Lv1), Morning star(Lv1), Quarterstaff(Lv1), Rapier(Lv1->5), Sword(Lv1), Spear(Lv1->5) War Hammer (Lv1) Archery (Lv1 ->2)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV41 ->48) Quick reflexes (LV41 ->48) Eavesdrop (LV33 ->39) Memorisation (LV23 ->30) Composition (LV23) Recall (LV23 ->30) Rebec (LV17 -> 20) Aulos (LV17 ->20) Linguistics (LV16 ->20) Pain Tolerance (LV20) Stealth (LV20) Cornu (LV15 ->20) Harp (LV14 ->20) Transplant (LV12) Cartography (LV15 ->20) Misdirection (LV9) Haggling (LV6) Order (LV6) Knife Arts (LV7 ->10) Poison Tolerance (LV1) Mind Sense (LV1 ->5) Spellcraft (Lv3 ->10) Spellsong (Lv3 ->10) Martial Arts (LV4)

Tier 3: Expel Mana (LV44 ->45) Mana Manipulation (LV38 ->40)Echolocation (LV35) Absorb Mana (LV30) Boil (LV21) Gale (LV29) Ignite (LV16) Freeze (LV11) Bargain (LV11) Melt (LV11) Deception (LV4) Command (LV4)

Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv21) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 20) Virtuoso (Lv20 ->25) Polyglot (Lv 12 ->20) Stone shaping (Lv5)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv19)

Before I got too distracted poking at my progress I looked out at the family spread out in front of us. The Adals and their children had gathered once more. In the end, it had been decided to extend the circle of trust a little bit further. The family had not been informed of the extent of my stats but they had been informed that I was more than I seemed and that my highest stat was Magic.

Either way, we were here to experiment.

Now that everyone was on board I had also been continuing to imbibe the elixir of growth drop by drop and I was shooting up. Something was obviously off with my sudden growth which was too great to be concealed. It had been suggested that I have a fake chair built with a smaller dummy that would sit on top while my significantly longer legs hid underneath it but it had not been built yet and everyone here was family.

After Luck and Charisma, Strength was still my lowest stat but none of our cousins had either of the first two so we were going to focus on receiving Strength while attempting our little experiment, unlocking Magic for the rest of the extended family.

We pledged our oaths to one another.

Arise Fabrianna Silverkin, Adal of House Silversea. + 5 strength to me and . . .

“I got it! Magic unlocked for me!” Fabrianna shouted excited. The first of the Adal’s to gain Magic as a skill.

“That’s wonderful Fabrianna.” Her father turned to face us, “Thank you.” He bowed his head to us. A large powerful man it seemed strange to see him genuinely genuflect. The system may allow an individual to be many times stronger than they appeared and what I was once used to. However, for the most part, men were still stronger than women. He had been training up his whole family to join him in the smithery but with magic, Fabrianna could now do more than just that. Or if she stayed in the family business she could do more than forge metal with her muscles. If outsiders got wind of our newly unlocked magicians they would find them already bound to a noble house, our house. How much protection that would provide them was yet to be seen but the groundwork at least was in place.

“Tesi should be next.” Uncle Karl insisted. Pushing her forward before Lady Acacia or my family could intervene.

I looked to my mother for her opinion but she only nodded. We exchanged oaths.

Arise, Tessi, Silverwood, Adal of House Silversea. +5 strength and . . .

“I have magic too!” Tessi squealed in delight.

Her proud father rushed forward to sweep her up into a big hug of congratulations as she was carried back to her family.

“That will be all for today. The Young Master Silversea will have to work hard to raise his magic stat before he can do so again. Elsewise it won’t be Magic that you are unlocking merely regaining a different stat, possibly already unlocked.”

The extended family all turned to look at me. “Better get cracking then. We won’t hold you back.” Before they gathered to eat from the feast that had been prepared. A celebration of the two new mages joining our clan even if they had yet to learn any magic.

Now that they knew it was possible every branch of the family were very excited for their children to pledge to us. It may cost them a levels worth of points but if it unlocked magic for them it was more than worth it.

In retrospect would it have been worth waiting on the oaths from our older adults, maybe? But what happened had happened. There was no point pining over what ifs. Life moved on.

Simply magic in the Silversea family.

. . .

“You know you're not the only one who could accept Adal’s oaths of allegiance to unlock their magic stats,” Aleera whispered to me after everyone had left the feast to head home. As we had become aware of just how high Grandfather and Lady Acacia’s perception stats were whispering had become our new normal in terms of talking and even then they still probably heard far more than we were comfortable with.

“But you’re only around 60 points of magic at the moment aren’t you?” I whispered back. “It’s not your highest stat.” I pointed out the problem.

“Yes but . . . I can unlock or rather spend my free points. If I added all my free points to magic. That would take me up to 138 points. Plenty of points to unlock the rest of our cousin's magical abilities.” She argued back.

“Are you sure you want to make that decision? You might be sacrificing your cascade and associated perks for them.” What she was suggesting was probably worth it for the family but it came at a personal cost for her.

“Would it not be worth it? To have another 20 magician’s on the island. Also, it would help balance the genders.” She pointed out the benefits for the family.

“What?” I asked a little confused by her point.

“You haven’t noticed it being hidden away here half the time and with our particular family dynamic where the mother is stronger than the father but in most normal families the men are stronger than the women.” She paused, “Significantly so.”

“And?” Was there a problem? That just seemed the way of the compass kingdoms.

“And it puts us at a disadvantage. This would help balance that.” She contended.

“I’m confused do you want to do this for the clan or the women,” I asked, I could see her point after all.

“Either, both. Does it matter?” she asked a little defensively.

“No. Just wait for a little while I can continue to focus on my magic to level it up.” I cautioned.

“I know and thank you for unlocking the magic for the two girls but you won’t be able to consistently keep it your highest stat if you are learning other things, Kai. Your other stats are growing too.” She said.

“Maybe yes, maybe no. But wait a while to see how high I can keep my magic before you sacrifice your cascade for what I might be able to achieve given a little time.” I hedged.

“Girls first.” She reiterated.

“Fine ladies first,” I replied wise enough to know not to get in the way of something Aleera had fixed her mind upon. But wondering how the rest of the family would feel about her cause and my decision.