"... That's… wow. I see you still like to cause trouble," Ode said to Alister after having the situation explained to her by Blas, “Level 10? I’m honestly impressed. I unlocked my class around your age, but I was in an extremely difficult program to make me a battlemage. Same with Jacob. But even then I think I was closer to ten years old, not eight.”

Jacob nodded in agreement, arms folded, “You could’ve waited for us to be able to join you… that was dangerous.”

Alister shrugged, “I’m fine. I’m just sore. It was just a bunch of crabs. They weren’t a big deal. It took an absolute eternity though. I spent most of the day fighting them over and over again. Completely mind-numbing.”

“It’s when things are mind-numbing that it is the most dangerous,” Jacob warned, frowning. Ode tapped his arm.

“It’s fine, Jacob. He’s gotten harped on enough, I’m sure,” she said, “I’m more interested in their skills! Both of you, out with it. Regale me.”

Alister seemed to light up at that, happy to go on about his skills. "So, I chose Arcane Rogue," he said, which Jacob sighed at and Ode gave a snerk of amusement. "Yeah yeah, I know it looks bad… but it has lots of stealth, charisma, and magic skills, so it's perfect for my position. Speaking of…"

Clearing his throat, he continued. "I have the skills Reduce Requirements, Empathic Speaker, Cognitive Filter, Sensory Perception, Magician's Scorpion Strike, Improved Proprioception, and Prestidigitation.”

“Prestidigitation, an active magic skill. This skill allows for the user to clean or dirty a small cube of material, make a small phantasmic illusion - visual or auditory, chill, heat, or flavor something, and it can allow you to mark something. The fact that this is considered beginner nowadays boggles my mind. This is a skill! I can do this more or less at will. Without preparation! Sure, I can do so myself easily enough, but… whatever created this system is surely no god or goddess of this world.”

“Moving on, Reduced Requirements, an active dexterity skill. This skill allows the user to temporarily remove the verbal or somatic requirements of a spell or skill by raising the cost of it. How it achieves such a thing, I don’t know. Does the system alter the world itself? The very mechanisms that make it function??”

“Empathic Speaker, an active charisma skill. When the user activates it, the skill gives them a passive sense of how words will be taken. How does the system come up with this?? Emotions are so vague! How does this make sense?”

“Cognitive Filter, an active stealth skill, which makes your actions or presence seem less significant when used. At least this one makes more sense with reality. Illusions can do something like this with relative ease. Still to have this as a beginner skill…”

“Well, that’s all the actives. The three passives I have are Sensory Perception, which gives me a sense for how many people can see me or would see an action I’ll take, Improved Proprioception, which gives me a better sense of where I am in space, and Subtle Casting, which reduces how visible my spells or skills are. Especially their energy signature. These passive things feel so strange. It’s as though my senses themselves have been altered. I have so many ideas on how this could be researched! If this could be applied to other-”

Ode cut him off, “Yes yes you’re shocked and stunned. Wisteria! I wanna hear yours!! Powder Mage is such a new class!”

Wisteria beamed with the attention, “I kinda explained it before but I don’t mind doing so again. Let me read them.”

“I’ll start with my passives. Smoke vision: The user can see through 10 feet of an obscuring substance, and double that range for powder-based substances. Mana reticle: The user can see where projectiles will go out to 30 feet. Ends on the first impact, increasing by one per level. Powder Sense: The user gains an innate understanding of gunpowder and how it will act, including a sense of blast radius, an innate understanding of how much you'll need for an application, and an awareness of moisture in your gunpowder.”

“Those are all really cool. And I think it’s interesting that the passives change how you feel almost immediately. For actives, my five are neat. Create Gunpowder: The user can create high-quality gunpowder, made of elemental energy of your choice. This material is easily enchanted and augmented, but only lasts 2 hours before decomposing into mana of the chosen type. That length of time will increase as I level up the skill. Summon Gun: After placing a firearm within a class-specific sub-space in a short ceremony, the user can summon that gun to themselves. Their number of marked firearms can increase by one per level. So I’ll need to buy a gun… Um. Let’s see. Blast Protection: The user can redirect 5% of blunt force and heat damage around them for 5 seconds upon activation. That’ll also grow a lot with level. Condense Mana: The user can turn mana into a solid form, allowing the creation of basic shapes and constructs. Mana leaks from the constructs unless amplified with other skills. These mana forms can contain spells and are easily altered by different types of mana placed within. And lastly, Evaporate: The user can remove water from an object and renders touched objects hydrophobic for 3 hours.”

“That’s bullshit!” Alister snapped, “Condensing mana?! Reduced to a skill you can just DO? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to do something like that regularly? Think of what that must mean… That’s insanity.”

Ode rolled her eyes, “Alister hush. It’s just how things are. You two got lucky with your options. Since you two chose somewhat niche classes, they’re going to be a bit stronger with what they’re good at. You can get all philosophic and scientific about it later, Alister. You’ll be a great researcher one day… or whatever. I don’t know how the system works. No one does.”

“That’s concerning…,” Alister grumbled, folding his arms in annoyance but all the same he went quiet.

“Anyway,” Wisteria interjected, “We leave for Ekrin soon. Don’t we?”

“Yes,” Jacob said, giving Ode a light shove for how she was acting, “We leave in the morning. This stop was only as long as it was so that the Lord and Lady could pick us and Lady Morgan up along the way.”

“Getting to Ekrin should take maybe a couple of days if we don’t have any delays since we need to let the horses rest, but it’ll go faster once we get to the train in Fornafoss,” Ode said, shrugging Jacob off, “Was there anything you wanted to do on the way?”

Alister and Wisteria both shook their heads, and Ode shrugged, “Then we can just enjoy the scenery. Perhaps while the horses rest along the way we can sneak in some hunting time. Not including any dragon territories, of course. I don’t think I’ll ever hear the end of that mess.”

“For good reason,” Jacob said, “But yes. We can probably find time to hunt. Fresh meat you caught yourself, cooked by a campfire, is a pleasure.”

“It would give you two time to familiarize yourselves with your skills, too,” Ode added, “Combat skills level up best with combat - to the surprise of no one. Though it may be a bit hard for you to hunt without a gun, Wisteria…”

“I’ll figure it out,” Wisteria said in response, smiling and waving it off, “I can probably help the servants with some work for a few gold, and I’ll buy something on the way.”

“I’m sure my mother and father would buy one for you if you asked,” Alister said, but Wisteria shook her head.

“I couldn’t ask something like that of them. They’re already doing so much, just taking me along on this trip. I’ll manage. Even without a gun, it’s not like I can’t make use of the skills! I can make small explosives!”

Jacob grimaced slightly, “Mmm… yep. A thirteen-year-old and an eight-year-old with the power to make explosives… or worse… and you wondered why people don’t unlock sooner, Alister. That horrifying thought is why. Normal kids need training and discipline to not destroy their homes. Thankfully you two are relatively mature…”

Ode chuckled, “See, they’re mature, sure, but they’re mischievous. There’s a difference.”

Jacob patted her shoulder, “Believe me. I know."