Chapter 93: Limitations

Chapter 93: Limitations

“Everyone has limits. You just have to learn what your own limits are and deal with them accordingly.”

Nolan Ryan

“Take everything in moderation.” Lady Acacia stepped forward stopping the cousins from pledging. “Let Aleera have some time to adjust to her new stats before adding any more.”

Aleera seemed a little unsteady on her feet. I wondered which stats she had lost through the process. Losing 17 stats wasn’t a huge deal for me when I had over 140 it was just a little over 10 per cent of my total vitality. If Aleera only had 50 or 60 it would be closer to 30 or 40 per cent of hers. Yes, we regained a lot of the vitality but losing nearly half of a stat and then regaining it had to feel uncomfortable. If she was balanced beforehand, she might not be now.

Still, she shouldn’t be too far from getting a perk of her own at this rate. I supposed this meant that most nobles would have perks for the more common attributes, from servants, peasants or slaves pledging allegiance. However, at least they would not have the extra attributes I had gained from achieving 100 before age 5 when everybody’s system became viewable. They also wouldn’t have access to the racial traits you could achieve by having over 100 in them before age 1. Unless you could receive stats even before your system was visible. Was that possible?

“So, what now?” Uncle Aaron asked.

“Well, if the children would like to follow me, there is no time like the present to get started. I’m sure you would like to see a return on your investment as soon as possible.” Lady Acacia sidestepped the larger question by focusing on the immediate actions.

“A level’s worth of stats is worth it if it helps my child’s progress. I will soon get it back, all it will take is a little time.” Brielle added.

A level's worth? I only got 5 attributes, half a level's worth. Perhaps it had been divided between the two of us. Would that mean that the cost also got divided between the two of us? Or that the attributes received by the noble family were divided among all family members. The larger the noble family, the fewer stats they would get after sharing it between them. In fact with a noble family of five receiving an oath would only work out even. I wondered how many Adals the system would allow you to create. If I raised the entirety of the island, I could soon get my stats up into the hundreds maybe even the thousands! My line of thinking was mirrored among the adults as they verbalised my question for me.

“How strong can Aleera get? Is there a limit to the number of oaths she can receive?” Cephas asked before Lady Acacia was able to lead all the children out. I say children but the ages ranged from my own, seeing as I was being carried by Aleera, to Aaron’s sons and daughters, Farhoni, Fabrianna and Fabrienne who looked like they were already over twenty.

She paused before leading us out.“Like all things there are limits. A Royal family member can receive up to 100 oaths. This was the main reason I might add that up till this year the number of Lords in Ponente was limited to 100. There was simply no perceived benefit to allowing extra lords to arise by the Royal family. A Duke or Duchess can receive 90, a Marquee or Marchioness 80, an Earl or countess 70, a viscount or viscountess 60, a baron or baroness 50, a lord and lady up to 40 oaths.”

“First impressions are important.” Lady Acacia said taking her position at the top of the table. “You can never make the first impression twice. It might seem obvious but a surprising number of people forget this fact. We might modulate our opinions of others up and down from what they first are but they will always be based on our first impressions. Rarely will someone be given the opportunity to shatter the first impression they made. For the most part, all they can do is slowly improve or quickly lower someone’s opinion of yourself. That is why it is imperative that the first one you make is the best it can be. I can tell from your facial expressions that a fair few of you seem less than impressed at the idea. Consider this my first impression of you. Could it be better? Aleera, my dear would you care to demonstrate the benefits of working with me over the last month.”

“Certainly, Lady Acacia,” Aleera answered before she began to set the table and pour the tea.

Having watched her improvements over the last month it did not seem too miraculous to me as she glided around the room to set things up. Especially as we had verbal explanations of all the skills she was using up till now and exclamations each time she had received a new one or managed to level it up.

She was using Glide, Ambidextrous, Poise, Grace, Charm, and Composure, as well as her more recently learned skills Silent step, Deft touch, Posture and Dance to make setting the table and laying out tea an almost magical moment. It just needed some music to become part of a choreographed musical or Disney film. That or we needed some dwarfs and some plates to make it seem more miraculous that no plates were smashed.

The cousins lost a little of their scepticism as they watched my sister achieve everything flawlessly. It was hard to argue with skills and the last time they had seen Aleera she had none of the above. Neither had I for that matter but I wasn’t giving the demonstration here she was. Whatever weakness she had had from the transferral of stats seemed to have left her by now and she was making extra use of the dexterity to go that little bit faster than usual. We had been given a preview of the skills on display here most mealtimes perhaps in practice for today’s events. It was hard to judge how far ahead Lady Acacia was planning or what she viewed as the next steps in Aleera’s journey to become a suitable noble Lady.

I enjoyed watching the performance. She had learned silent step by the expedience of wrapping cloth around her shoes initially before practising without. Deft touch had been achieved using an enchanted toy that zapped you with every misplaced movement much like the fairground challenge where you had to move a hoop along a copper wire. Posture was just another version of poise but had been achieved similarly. Dance was learned through movement to music and was my favourite skill finally helping me overcome my two left feet. In the privacy of my hidden tunnels, I danced to music only I could hear.

I settled down to watch while Lady Acacia started to teach our cousins. She seemed to be determined that each child would have gained a skill by the time they left the island this afternoon. While the younger of us were able to watch without too much being demanded of us. She was still under the allusion that I had yet to be able to view my status. While I watched the fumbling attempts of my cousins to reach the level of perfection required by the strict tutor I wondered what the adults were discussing back in the hall.

. . .

The Silversea clan stood in a smaller circle now that their children had left. "Well, father are you happy now?" Aaron asked Grandpa Smit. "Your descendants are finally ennobled. But will it be worth the cost and can we weather the storm it will bring?"

"It will be worth it." Grandpa Smit replied.

. . .