Chapter 18: Favor

Chapter 18: Favor

Chapter 18

"Ouch!" Kai massaged his arm where a pebble hit him. There was hardly any part of his body that didn't sport a bruise.

Naturally, the best way to train his Awareness skill was Elijah sneakily flinging pebbles at him. They were as small as they could get, but still hurt a lot. The pain was only to motivate him moreobviously. All was done to help him train the skill. As if he would miss the smirk on the butlers thin lips.

From when he woke up till he went to sleep, he had no moment of peace. Always keeping an eye on his surroundings, his heart missed a beat at every rustle of the wind. Even when he noticed, he was often too slow to dodge.

He was becoming more and more paranoid and skittish. He hardly had any rest that night or the following ones. Kai couldnt rest in any position without wincing at the small round bruises that covered his body. Every sound made him jump, even if he knew he was safe.

Sleep wasnt a warm embrace, but the knowledge that another day of torture would soon begin. Eventually, exhaustion always won, usually with a bit of help from Meditation.

Then the next day would come and it would all repeat.

This new form of training didnt mean they would neglect Running and Swimming, quite the opposite. Each time he got good enough to finish in a somewhat decent time, the bar was pushed to a new height. The only difference being he also had to worry about not getting hit by pebbles while he ran on the beach.

Training when you were exhausted was only more beneficial. In the end, it was all for his benefit. Obviously.

He knew there was no point in arguing, words would not save him this time. On Elydes people had a very different view of physical punishment. It was normal if not encouraged for children to get a few good smacks.

His parents had never hit him, but that was more of an exception. Alana had her ways if she wanted to be listened to. While his dad had often told him of all the times he got hit with a stick on the knuckles during his education and at home. He didnt think too fondly of those periods, which was why he never used those teaching methods.

This treatment was perfectly acceptable to society. When you asked for an apprenticeshipeven if this wasnt exactly what happenedyou signed away any right to complain or argue. He could either endure or give up. But if they thought this was enough to make him leave, they were dead wrong.

Each time Kais determination started to waver, he only needed to imagine Elijahs smirk to renew his determination. He would walk through fire, before giving the butler the satisfaction of giving up.

Spite and pride were powerful motivators.

The rapid progress in his skills was the most annoying part. It was nice that all his sweat and tears werent for nothing, but knowing that getting tortured was an effective training method left him with mixed feelings.

If this didnt traumatize any normal child, he would be surprised.

Who knows if there are therapists in this world, I will need one after this.

Not to say his days were all bad, he was learning lots of interesting things with Dora. She had started to teach him how to harvest and process different plants. He only touched basic ingredients, but she promised to show him how to make a simple concoction.

Alchemy here I come.

Not even those moments were safe from his Awareness training, not entirely. While Dora had not stopped Elijah, she had argued that if he had to disturb her time, he had to make it worthwhile. When Kai was in the garden, he would get some kind of mana warning, so he could train Mana Sense together with Awareness.

Kai felt a bit betrayed that Dora had not stopped the sham, but he never asked her to intervene. It would feel like giving Elijah the win.

This ended up being the single most helpful method to improve his mana sensing abilities.

In the beginning, he tried keeping Mana Sense constantly active, but it was too distracting. He still had to listen to Doras lessons, take notes and complete many tasks around the garden.

It felt like a contradiction, but there was only one solution: he had to learn to perceive mana without actively using the skill.

How could he feel mana without Mana Sense? Only after many painful failures, he started to feel something. A slight tingling on his skin, a shift in the air when there was a change in the surrounding mana. Subtle changes, but they were there if you knew what to look for.

He began to understand what Virya meant when she told him that skill level wasnt everything, and learning how to use a skill was almost as important.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

Mana Sense leveled quite a lot considering the short time frame, but his usage and mastery of the skill improved even more.

* * *

Kai enjoyed the dawn of a new day. Living by the shore had always been a dream of his.

Two weeks prior he asked Virya to be exempt from Awareness training while meditating. Unfortunately for the butler, oral sparring was one of his strong points, especially when he was in the right. He had won the argument and few moments of undisturbed peace.

Kai smiled enjoying the breeze on his skin and the familiar smell of the sea, while he mentally prepared for the day.

We are all born with a random value in Favor, but for 95% of people, its zero. Some have it a few points higher, while some unfortunate souls can even have a negative value. It is interesting to note that its the only attribute that can present a value below zero. Virya stopped her speech, as she got straight to the point with no wasted words.

Is everything clear? She asked.

Kai nodded. Knowing her, he repeated back her points one by one to show he remembered everything. She then asked him a few more questions to make sure he had also understood what her words meant. As usual, this part was easy for him. He thought she knew it was unnecessary for such a simple lesson, but he would not say that out loud. Better take a free win and shut up.

Virya seemed satisfied, As Ive said, my explanation was very simplistic. There are exceptions to many of my statements, but they would needlessly complicate things right now. Lets move to the next topic. Why dont you take a look at your status for the next part, it will make things easier.

Kai had hoped he would get the chance to ask about feats and Favor, but it was clear Virya had other intentions. He tried to hide his disappointment and summoned his status with a thought.

Name: Kai TylennRace: HumanProfession: None

Body stats

Strength: 4Dexterity: 6Constitution: 8Mind: 9Spirit: 11Perception: 8 Favor: 2>4

Skills (7/7):

Meditation (lv49>50 Max) Acting (lv26>27)Swimming (lv40>46)Running (lv43>48)Teaching (lv7)Awareness (lv17>29)Mana Sense (lv23>25)

Now try to focus on your Meditation skill and tell me what you see. Virya calmly instructed.

Doing as he was told, a new prompt appeared in his vision.

Meditation (lv50)

As you reach the first milestone, you are presented with three choices to continue your journey:

- Stay the course on your current path. You wont gain significant new benefits, but youll greatly deepen your insight into what you already know.

- Determined to have a serene and calm mind, choose to follow a path to gain better control of your emotions.

- Having touched upon the mysteries of the Essence of the World, choose to devote this skill to delve deeper, attuning yourself to the surrounding mana.

Kai read aloud the three options with rising excitement. He had known there was a way to upgrade skills, but seeing how it worked for the first time was fascinating.

After letting him daydream for a while longer, Virya continued, Every new skill you learn can have a different color grade, but they will all reach a roadblock at level 50, 75 and 100. To increase the level ceiling, you must choose whether to continue on the same path or specialize the skill in a new variant. That is if you have fulfilled the requirements.

Its rare for most people to have even one variant option in their first upgrade. And here the synergy between skills is the most obvious. You would not have been offered a mana variant without possessing Mana Sense. Luckily, you dont have to make a choice immediately and can unlock more variants while the skill is capped. Ive known people who waited years to obtain a particular variant.

Virya stopped to give him time to digest all the new information. Each skill had just become so much more complicated. Not only did he have to worry about pushing them to the limit, but he also had to consider what he wanted in the long run.

Until now, he had mainly considered skills as a way to earn XP. This would make many people curse him, but he only had very basic skills he had mainly used for fun.

Now he had to think about the future. Some of his skills would accompany him for a very long time, maybe his whole life, and there were so many possibilities. Without even talking about how they interacted with each other. His head felt about to explode.

Right then Virya brought him back to the present, Dont worry too much about the choices and take the direct upgrade.

Kai was so overwhelmed by the new information. He had not even gotten to consider what to choose.

Instinctively he couldnt help but argue, But both variants sound better.

Dont get fooled by the descriptions. Even if direct upgrades look simple, they always greatly improve what the skill already does and add new across-the-board benefits. There will be a noticeable improvement next time you meditate.

More importantly, a variant means specializing. It will close many doors you dont even know exist. You can specialize in a skill only so many times before you are left with a single path forward. Unless you have decided what you want to do for the rest of your life, take the first option.

Virya looked down at him as if to remind him he was still a child who didnt know better. He should act like a good boy and do as he was told. Her burning eyes were daring him to contradict her.

Kai gulped down and followed her advice. It did indeed make a lot of sense. How could he have ever thought otherwise?

*Ding*

You chose to stay the course, Meditation (lv50)can now reach lv75.

Kai then got the chance to ask a few questions before he was whisked away to Dora. She would teach him all the new possibilities that came with passing the First Seal and answer his questions.

Kai was happy to get a day off. He knew he would have to rack his brain around tons of new knowledge, but it felt like learning to play with new toys on Christmas day. He couldnt wait to unwrap them all.