Taygak huffed at Adam. She was a Devilkin, one of the three races of the Iyr, and also the eldest of the children. She marched up to Adam and pointed at the picture. “It Taygak,” she said, pointing to herself in the picture, revealing one of three Devilkin Iyrmen in the picture.

She pointed to each child, stating who they were, from Adam’s Cousin, Turot, a Human Iyrman, to her own brother and cousin, Saygak and Raygak. There was also Katool, who had slightly longer hair in the painting, and then there were the twins, Damokan and Kalokan. “It Lanarot, and Princess Mina,” she said, pointing to the babies on either end, one of them being the only Merman in the Iyr.

“Oh silly me,” Adam said, brushing her hair gently. “So it is.”

Turot shook his head, huffing. “You joke too much, Cousin Adam.”

“Was it a joke?” Adam replied, only to smile at the confusion on the boy’s face. “Thank you, Vonda. It is such a great gift. If I don’t enchant your mace now, how can I have any self respect?”

Vonda smiled. She knew Adam was as queer as he was powerful. After seeing him floor Turot’s parents and Taygak’s mother, three Iyrmen in two days, she stopped applying any common sense to the Half Elf.

Adam continued to stare at the painting for a long while, noting how the children were all sitting down. “How did you manage to keep the babies still for a painting?”

“I didn’t,” she replied. “Sonarot and Lady Elowen kept the babies still long enough for me to sketch them, and I painted them whilst they were playing by themselves.”

Adam laughed, before placing the cover against it. “I’ll be sure to keep it safe. One day they’ll all be grown up and I’ll cry since they’re not my adorable little Cousins any longer.”

“Taygak grow big and strong,” the Devilkin girl said, nodding her head at Adam.

“Me too,” Turot said. “I will be like cousin Jurot!”

“I become big like sister,” Katool said, holding up both of her hands as though she were holding a staff.

“I will be strong like Jaygak, but I will be smarter,” Raygak said, glancing around for a moment to see whether his sister had returned, before snickering.

Damokan caught Adam’s eyes, and the young boy slowly nodded, holding his twin sister’s hand, who was sitting taller and straighter.

Adam smiled, returning the nod back to the boy. ‘Don’t worry, I remember our promise.’

Saygak chose to remain silent, but smiled as the others stated their own preferences for what they wished to become.

“Mama! I give gift?” Taygak asked, looking to her mother, who Adam had beaten but weeks ago.

Kaygak nodded her head, allowing her daughter to rush off, all the while the other children looked towards their parents, before bolting off, all but Turot.

“Gifts?” Adam said, watching them as they all quickly returned with items in hand.

“Big boy Adam,” Taygak said, reaching up with a small clay cup. It was crudely made, quite thick and short, no doubt something the girl had made.

“This is for me?” Adam asked, picking up the clay pot from the girl, feeling the roughness of the pot within his soft hands.

“Birthday,” Taygak confirmed, nodding her head.

“Oh my,” Adam said, brushing her hair. “Thank you so much Taygak.”

“My turn,” Raygak said, holding up a scale in hand, on its side within his palm. It was the colour of sand, though felt solid in Adam’s hand. “It is a Wild King Cobra scale.” Raygak smiled. “Grandmother slew it when she went to avenge aunt Chayrot.”

“Wow, your grandmother is so strong, isn’t she?” Adam said, smiling at the boy.

“She was very strong,” Raygak agreed with a nod of his head.

“I have something too,” Saygak, Raygak’s cousin, said. He held up a scale too, though it was made of a familiar wood.

“Is that a stormwood scale?” Adam asked, accepting the scale, feeling the light tingle of the stormwood against his finger tips. It was a dark colour, not quite black or brown, but between the colours. Within the wood were small flecks of blue, which crackled.

“Yes,” Saygak said.

“Are you sure you want to give this to me?” Adam asked. He recalled how difficult it was to chop down a stormwood tree, and how it had hurt so bad.

“Yes,” the young boy said.

Adam hadn’t known Saygak long. He had gone Ranging, whatever that was, with Turot for a few months. When he returned, they played Warriors and Wanderers together, the game he had created for the children. “What a lovely young man you are.” Adam pat his head too, something which all Iyrmen, regardless of age, seemed to enjoy.

Saygak smiled nervously, before allowing Katool to go next, as she was far too excited.

“What’s this?” Adam asked, taking the drawing from her.

“It is you, Cousin Adam,” Katool said, as though it were obvious.

There was a purple stick in the middle, which Adam assumed was his puthral plate mail, and a dark stick that looked almost like a sickle. “Is that Phantom?”

“Yes,” the girl said. “It is you in your armour and it is Phantom. Here is Lanarot,” the girl said, pointing to the other blob which was blue.

‘Oh,’ Adam thought. ‘So that’s what that was. I thought it was a shield.’ “Of course it is,” Adam said. “Wow. You’ve certainly captured how cute she is. Thank you so much.” Adam ruffled her hair, causing her to smile up at him, before she retreated to her mother shyly.

Damokan and Kalokan both came together, holding up a metal scale for him. One was dark, the colour of pooled blood, and the other was the colour of a dark night, a small streak which looked like lightning across it.

“Whoa,” Adam said, accepting the scales. “These look cool.”

“Bloodsteel,” Damokan said, who had passed over the dark red scale.

“Stormsteel,” Kalokan said, who had passed over the dark blue scale.

“Thank you so much.” He smiled, petting their heads, before they too retreated, as quiet as ever. He hadn’t expected any gifts from the children. ‘To think my little Cousins are so cute.’

Turot was staring at Adam, with a coy smile on his face. The boy remained silent, and Adam threw him a quick look, waiting for a moment. ‘There’s no way he didn’t get me something, right?’

“Well, I didn’t expect to have so many gifts from all the children,” Adam said, smiling down at them. “I believe it’s Katool’s birthday soon too, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Katool replied, staring up at Adam. “Soon.”

“Then I’ll need to figure out what to give you,” Adam said.

Turot cleared his throat. “I have a gift for you too, Cousin Adam.”

“You do?”

Turot smiled. “It will be given later.”

“Later, you say?” Adam asked. “Is it because you forgot so now you need to go find me something?”

“I did not forget!” Turot declared. “It is the same birthday as cousin Jurot.”

“Right,” Adam replied. “Speaking of which, I should probably send him a message telling him happy birthday.”

“How will you do that?” Sonarot asked.

“I’ll use Sending,” Adam replied, before checking his spells.

1st Gate: Comprehend Languages, Healing Word, Hex, Identify, Shield, Summon Familiar, Cure Wounds, Sleep, Thunderwave, Bless, Chaos Bolt, Thunderous Smite, Wrathful Smite, Heroism, Alarm, Create or Destroy Water, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Goodberry, Hunter's Mark, Inflict Wounds

2nd Gate: Mirror Image, Suggestion, Blur, Spiritual Weapon, Find Steed

3rd Gate: Adam’s Tower, Revivify, Counterspell, Fireball

‘I don’t have Sending?’ Adam thought.

“Ah,” Sonarot replied. “You had mentioned you would send messages back to me when you were out adventuring.”

“Yeah, but apparently I don’t know it,” Adam said. ‘Hey, how much is Sending?’

[3000XP]

Adam raised his brows in surprise at the amount. ‘What the hell, Bell? How is it so expensive?’

[You possess a large number of spells so the price of spells has increased.]

Adam still wasn’t sure how the system he possessed worked. Bell seemed to be a living entity within him, or around him, he wasn’t quite sure. He could pick and choose abilities within any of the many classes within the system, including the archetypes within each class too, each costing him a certain amount of XP.

He recalled times when he received a large number of XP from something, and then later on something similar gave him much less. Now that he was an Expert, which seemed to be someone who was Level 5, the XP he received changed, and he was under heavy penalties from picking abilities.

‘Hold on, does that-‘

“Adam?” Sonarot called, noting how he had spaced out during his conversation with Bell, and then his thoughts about the system.

Adam blinked. “Oh,” Adam said. “I forgot that there were other people around.”

The others stared at him with a curious look, but they had long become used to Adam’s antics.

“Adam,” Vonda said. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Adam replied. “I just found out that things have become more difficult for me.”

“In what sense?”

“In the sense that I can’t gain so much power so quickly any more,” Adam said, sighing.

Though his statement was ridiculous, as even the most talented of people in the world were unable to achieve the status of an Expert within a single year, they understood that Adam was just like that.

They ate the porridge which the Ool family had made, along with the various fruits which had been cut up. There was also a some boiled eggs which Adam dipped into some salt, preferring to eat the protein rather than the porridge.

“Are you still dieting?” Sonarot asked, staring at the young Half Elf with a blank gaze.

“I’m eating a light meal here so I can eat more dessert later today,” Adam replied. “I might make some pizza too since it’s my birthday.”

Sonarot smiled. “Since it is Jurot’s birthday and yours, we shall go to the family estate.”

“Alright,” Adam replied, biting into a boiled egg. “If that old man hasn’t brought me a good gift, I’m going to bully him.”