Chapter 228: Hunter, Healer, Psion, Sage

Chapter 228: Hunter, Healer, Psion, Sage

Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.

Democritus

Namir POV

Watching over the little lord as he fiddled with his ear was momentarily confusing till he revealed the earring. Some elvish sorcery had kept it concealed or, if not hidden, unnoticed even by me. I did not know why I was surprised to see a sliver of the lodestar nestled within the hollow earing now that the enchanted elvish cover had been removed.

Some of us took decades to grow in levels to develop our metier fully. Others would flit between them, picking the easy, low-hanging fruit to grow in strength. There were benefits to both methods. It was challenging to level your skills when flitting between metiers like a butterfly.

Kai worked at a different speed, his progress starting five years ahead of schedule. His progress scaled by a factor of four with his multiple metiers. It had been perversely pleasant to assume that his absence from a Lodestar would have slowed his progress for a month or two. He had assumed it would only be a short while before he asked the Vievisier for access to the Thorpes Lodestar. But no, he had bought his own. Why not? Had that drawn the attacks? His mana was not supposed to be leaking any longer, but would the sliver have had a similar effect despite the elvish enchantment?

He was resigned to some form of insane new revelation. He settled in for the wait. At least you knew that more curve balls would be coming now. Listening to Arawns complaints about the boy made much more sense now that he got to experience them in person.

Kai lay down.

Namir could imagine the process of choosing a new metier was being offered up now. Yet that is not what he witnessed.

Suddenly, the boys body seized.

Rigid as a rod, it relaxed for a second before it began to . . . grow. The trousers were the first to start riding up now elongating legs. Next, the tunic started to slide up the torso. Worried, Namir undid it before it could cut into his own ribs as the boys chest began to swell. He placed a hand on the boy's swelling head. Watching in amazement, a young man appeared from the boy in mere moments.

That had to have put a huge strain on his body. His training skill, Remaining resourcesshowed Kais health, stamina, mana and psi rapidly depleted. He rushed to dig out a health elixir. Who died on touching a Lodestar? But in the end, it wasnt needed. Although he did note that the physical cores that represented and stored the boy . . . the young mans metaphysical mana had shrunk in the process or perhaps stayed the same size but now looked smaller in comparison against the larger palms, wrists and arms of Lord Kai.

What had Bjorn and Varvara been feeding us?

Even still, the boy did not wake up.

So he continued to wait.

. . . and wait . . .

and wait . . .

. . .

Finally, the boy stirred.

In your case? both eyebrows raised at that. Certainly should be with me, though. Did you forget something if you are being fully transparent? He quizzed, used to the fact that I would require further prompting to reveal all. Anything else you changed?

Ah, yes, I answered, looking to the ceiling. Ive also moved on from my child metiers. I am no longer a singer, a sailor, a merchant or a mage. I continued to draw it out.

Your mother, father, sister and tutor might be slightly displeased. But they are not here, and I am not offended. What did you choose to replace them? He drilled down.

Based on the requests our hosts had of us. I chose Hunter as my first choice. I started with the simplest one.

Good, good, I can work with that. He nodded in approval. Patrolling with the Giants will give you many opportunities and some new skills to learn as well as level up your appropriate ones to help level the metier.

If that is all we are being asked to do. Then I should be able to pick up the first levels fairly quickly. I agreed. Maybe Ivar can lend me a bow.

Youll be lucky to find one in your size, although I suppose your size is a little larger now, and with the stats behind you, it might not be an impossibility. He mused. Your second choice?

Healer.

Bishop Bailie will be happy to hear that his teachings are finally penetrating your skull. He is still daydreaming of you entering the church at some point. If not as a career, then at least as an acolyte on your circumnavigation. His positivity toward my choices was refreshing. How about your third choice?

Psion.

Psion? He asked, sounding less confident about this choice. Im assuming that has to do with your mana less methods of magic.

Yes, these are the skills that use Psi. I havent pushed as hard as I could have with those skills. The permanent reminder might prod me to try a little harder.

Very well. He raised his hands as if stating it was up to me, which it ultimately was. And your fourth and final choice?

Sage.

A scholar?

Of sorts. I hope to be a little wiser, but it lends itself to learning and teaching. I aim to pick a fair amount of knowledge about glyphs and runes before we leave, and if the system is all-encompassing, it might just catch that the knowledge Aleera is currently stealing and handing out freely to my cousins also represents my hard work and worth some experience. I complained, knowing that there was little I could do about it.

All in all, a very well-rounded individual. Im surprised you did not choose Smith for all your tinkering.

There are only so many hours in the day, and four directions seemed more than enough to pull me apart. I demurred. Maybe next time.

Next time. He snorted.