by Jay Boyce
Life Magic
Intermediate 6
98%
Light Armor
Intermediate 3
33%
Magic Resistance
Intermediate 6
35%
Mana Sense
Intermediate 8
26%
Mental Fortitude
Advanced 5
8%
Merchant
Advanced 10
34%
Modeling
Intermediate 6
66%
Navigation
Intermediate 8
93%
Pain Tolerance
Advanced 1
95%
Perception
Advanced 4
9%
Perseverance
Advanced 1
71%
Poison Resistance
Beginner 10
2%
Resilient
Intermediate 9
24%
Riding
Intermediate 4
62%
Running
Intermediate 10
5%
Shock Resistance
Beginner 9
89%
Singing
Intermediate 2
20%
Sleight of Hand
Advanced 1
86%
Small Blades
Intermediate 9
13%
Spatial Magic
Intermediate 9
45%
Stealth
Intermediate 7
9%
Stun Resistance
Beginner 9
3%
Summoning Magic
Beginner 4
65%
Swimming
Beginner 7
70%
Swords
Beginner 10
27%
Tailoring
Intermediate 1
8%
Thrown Weapons
Beginner 4
60%
Tracking
Intermediate 4
51%
Unarmed Combat
Intermediate 9
44%
Walking
Advanced 2
9%
It seemed she was hitting something of a skill level cap, which she supposed made sense, given the steep amount of experience she seemed to need for the advanced levels. That was even with her siphoning from other people and having that 25% boost from adaptable!
The amount that her stats changed compared to the past was a little disheartening to her, but that was her being selfish. She’d gotten assassination, cleaning, excavation, and hunting all the way to intermediate by herself, which was kinda fun. Aura manipulation, riding, and tracking all jumped from beginner to intermediate as well. Illusion magic and perseverance even made the jump to advanced!
As for everything else…Eating, elementalist, engineering, firearms, healing, heat resistance, herbology, insight, light armor, magic resistance, mana sense, mental fortitude, modeling, perception, resilient, small blades, swimming, and walking all only rose by a single level. Animal handling, climbing, compulsion magic, contractual magic, hypnotize, navigation, poison resistance, running, spatial magic, and stealth went up two. Life magic went up three, gravity magic by four, and flight by five.
Accessorycraft, acrobatics, archery, athletics, bluff, danger sense, death magic, deception, disguise, dodge, glasscraft, merchant, pain tolerance, singing, sleight of hand, stun resistance, summoning magic, tailoring, and unarmed combat had either not changed at all or gone up by mere percentages. It was most disappointing in the case of merchant, because that was her highest skill, and a combined one at that. A measly twenty four percent didn’t seem like much movement to her.
She went back through it one more time, looking specifically at the skills that were still in the beginner levels. Cold resistance, death magic, firearms, glasscraft, poison resistance, shock resistance, stun resistance, summoning magic, swimming, swords, and thrown weapons. She wanted to get them to intermediate to see if any more of them would combine and maybe make her list a little less overwhelming. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to be a completionist if it meant a huge stat sheet, but at the same time…
Her skills were moving less and less from siphoning other people. It might be smarter to focus on getting stuff she didn’t have from others and try to raise her high skills by herself, given that she had the 25% boost to help her. It was something to think about, in any case.
Having spent a good while poring over her skills, she found that her skin had begun to shrivel up from being in the water so long. Grinning, she stood, unplugging the tub and beginning to use magic to dry herself off.
Heavy pounding at the door caught her by surprise and she almost slipped as she heard a voice whine from the other side of the door, “Can you hurry up? Other people have to pee today too!”
Stifling a giggle, she called back, “Sorry, I’ll be out in just a sec!” Rather than spend the time to dry her hair, she shoved her limbs into her tunic and grabbed the rest of her clothes, bundling them into her arms as she yanked the door open, smiling brightly at the aggrieved Evanna. “Morning, Evanna!” She greeted the normally bubbly girl cheerfully.
“Jade! Morning! Glad you’re back--now get out of the bathroom and I’ll talk to you later, because Ihavetopee!” Evanna half hugged, half dragged her out of the doorway as she slurred her words together, gently shoving her out of the way and closing the door quickly behind her in her mad rush for the toilet. Laughing softly, Jade shook her head and walked down the hallway, making sure she wasn’t dripping too much as she entered her room and locked the door behind her, dropping her dirty clothes unceremoniously to the ground by her bed.
“Mommy, you’re awake!” Lilith’s sleepy voice greeted her as her fellacai stirred from their tree to greet the day. And her. Mostly her. At least, she liked to think that was the case.
Bending over to brush her fingers against their velvet-soft wings, she greeted them lovingly. “Good morning, my darlings. I’m sorry I slept so long.”
“You needed it.” Ramoth’s little voice was firm, even as it carried sleepy undertones. She wasn’t the only one who was tired, it seemed.
Laughing softly, she nodded as she moved away from her babies, shucking the dirty tunic as she dug out new clothes for the day. “I did need it, you’re absolutely right. I’ll try to be more careful in the future.” She reassured them even as she donned fresh clothes, frowning at the angry chirping coming from her desk. The golden birds she’d trapped were glaring at her with their beady little eyes, and she couldn’t totally blame them. She hadn’t exactly given them space to move before she packed them in like sardines.
Walking over, she poked one of the creatures on its soft, feathery belly. It squawked in angry annoyance, obviously not appreciating her interest. Considering them, she sighed. What they had provided her...well, she wasn’t about to say she knew the value of it. It was another special ability, but she had no true idea how it worked. It wasn’t like her plan was to torture the little things either.
With that in mind and now that she didn’t have to attach them to a mount, she pulled out another block of metal, creating a much larger cage that would still prevent them from escaping. Once she was done, she placed the entrances of the two cages together and reformed the entrance in between so that they could move into the new, much roomier prison cell.
Despite it still being a cage, they quickly moved in, a few of them staying in the old cage since it now had sufficient room without the rest. Curious, she plucked a few leaves from her cherry tree to the protest of her babies, sticking them through the mesh to see if the birds would react.
She got more than she expected. Every bird that had a chance dove for the leaves, snapping up what they could and fighting amongst themselves for the morsels. Feeling bad once she realized she’d basically been s
tarving them, she regrew more leaves and put them in the cage, also fixing them up with some juice and water.
“Maybe I can make a greenhouse or something for you…” The zoos of her old world had had those giant hothouses for tropical birds. She’d always wanted to visit one. Perhaps she could create something similar for them. It would be somewhat practical as well, since she could help them harvest feathers. Feathers regrew, right? Didn’t they molt?
Dismissing her musings, she gestured for her babies to join her after she’d tied her hair back into a simple high ponytail, not wanting to mess with it today. They quickly took their places as she left her room and locked it behind her, descending the steps towards the common room as she listened to the burble of voices talking over breakfast.
Glancing at her pocket watch, she realized it was a quarter to eight and it still sounded like almost everyone was there. Strange. That was, until she remembered that classes were cancelled all week. “Jade!” Almost as soon as she stepped into the room, she was noticed by several of her more observant friends. Jackson was waving enthusiastically at her to join the rest of the table, which included Will, Adam, Evan, Steven, Travis, Chloe, and Evanna.
Smiling brightly at them, she made her way over as they quickly cleared a spot for her between Jackson and Adam. Plopping gracelessly into the seat, she ignored the curious looks the rest of the room was giving her as she asked cheerfully, “Morning, everyone! What’re you all up to today, since school is canceled?”
They gave her strange looks, and Evanna replied in confusion, “School? We didn’t have classes today no matter what. Today is Sunday.”
Jade stared at her, trying to mentally calculate the days and how long she’d spent in the forest. The kidnapping happened on Thursday night, and she left Friday morning. They made their first foray into the forest, then she made the outpost and left in the middle of the night. So she came out of the forest with the taken on Saturday morning, spent most of the day getting back and trying to cure Tevon, and then she’d collapsed early on Saturday evening.
“Shiny. I didn’t realize I’d lost track of the days.” She shook her head bemusedly at the realization that she had an extra day to prepare for whatever came next. The funeral, the delegations, just...everything. Several of them were laughing softly at her, but she stuck her tongue out and repeated, “Still doesn’t change the nature of my question. What’re you all up to today?”
She was giving Will a considering glance. After all, she still needed to learn how to dance. He seemed to have caught on to her interest, because he shrugged. “No concrete plans yet. Why, was there something you wanted to do?”
Why, yes; yes there was. She grinned at them as she considered her options. Dancing, books, and she wanted to go back to the church to see if the story had changed at all. Of course, she’d need to go disguised for that. Her anonymity was pretty much gone at this point, after the parade and all. She also needed to visit Damien; it wouldn’t do to forget about him! She also wanted to grill him or...maybe Stephen, Eric, or Camille would be better to get information about the visiting delegations.
Her day of ‘rest’ seemed like it was going to be getting busy.
Chapter Eighteen – Lightbringer
Breakfast was mostly peaceful after that. Jessica pulled her usual magic of putting hot food in front of Jade whenever she appeared. It was something she intended to ask about at some point, because it seemed that no matter what time of day she showed up, Jessica and Kaylee had hot food to give her. The only exception was when they stocked food for her in the middle of the night.
Will made a quick call to Camille on her mirror, which made her rather annoyed that it was him and not Jade calling, but she quickly forgave him when he asked for her help getting the musicians together for dance lessons and she quickly agreed to help arrange things for that afternoon. That gave Jade the morning to get the rest of the things on her list done. Everyone else at the table was relaxed, but most of them promised to come help in the afternoon, since as Jackson so pointedly put it, “We could probably use the practice too.”
She’d managed to deter the rest of them from following her out that morning by telling them she had business to take care of alone. Damian counted as business, to her, so she wasn’t exactly lying. Thankfully for her, no one thought to question it, because even if they weren’t thinking of it, she clearly remembered that Damian closed his shop on Sundays. The day of rest wasn’t observed by everyone, but she did notice that more shops than usual were closed.
Or perhaps they saw right through her and merely chose to acquiesce because they already knew they were going to spend the afternoon with her. Either that or they had their own things to get done that morning. It wasn’t like she was the only one with an agenda. Even if they didn’t have classes the next morning, she overheard Evan and Adam talking about maybe heading up to Dracona for a quick workout. Maintaining that muscle mass couldn’t be easy, after all.
Regardless of the reasons, she walked through the front door alone, her appearance changing as it swung shut behind her. Instead of her own curls adorned by fellacai, Jessica’s darker locks and fuller figure appeared dressed in casual clothing. Instead of altering her own appearance, she’d chosen to take Jessica’s for the sake of simplicity. She knew it was highly unlikely that her friend would be going out today, and she didn’t think she’d mind too much. Hopefully. She probably should have asked first, but she didn’t really want anyone to know who she was going out as.
She glanced around, grateful that seemingly no one noticed the quick change as she exited the building. She stepped to the side, getting her bearings in the bright sunshine and allowing her eyes to adjust. Grinning, she cheerfully began her trek through town, singing under her breath, “I’m strolling through sunshine, wo-oh, and man it feels great!”
Disguise firmly in place, she had no problem going unrecognized as she traveled through the crowd, following the general wave of people towards Priom Square. It felt like there were even more people than usual headed that way today, and she wondered if it was a product of being earlier in the day than she went before. Passing Sew in Style and The Glass Phoenix, she saw that they genuinely were closed. That did make it a little harder for her to get what she wanted done, but she figured at least the trip to the church would be enlightening.
Almost as enlightening as the conversations going on around her in the small clumps of people that she allowed to pass her as she meandered along. “Did you hear? Lady Jade rescued the taken. King Derrick met with all the orators yesterday evening, and I’ve heard they even recovered Duke Tevon’s body.”
“That’s impossible. He was taken nearly six months ago. How would you even know it was him from the next rotting body?” The man with the woman tried to curb her gossipy ways, not knowing that she was totally correct. At least, in the two pieces she could verify. She didn’t know if Derrick actually met with the...orators? She wondered how that worked. Were they dedicated clergymen? The one she’d listened to hadn’t seemed like one. Maybe it was something that they did as a side job? A religious calling of sorts? She didn’t know. Her babies fluttered on her hair, slightly anxious to not be able to move about, and she quickly sent a soothing thought to them.
Another voice caught her attention, the woman responding to her friend’s concern in a tired voice, “My husband kept me up all night worrying over whatever information the king gave them all. He wouldn’t even tell me what it was though, kept saying that I’d find out soon enough and to try and sleep. As if I could sleep with him tossing and turning every few seconds!”
Well, that at least seemed to confirm that Derrick had indeed talked to the religious leaders, as it were. She wondered if that was how he intended to spread the news about the mesmer. It made sense. It wasn’t like there was a loudspeaker system that could send the news out. Plus, if they somehow managed to put a decent spin on it, people were less likely to panic. With several foreign delegations about to arrive, that was the last thi
ng anyone wanted. You never showed your bad side to outsiders.
The crowds grew larger and more congested the closer to the square she got, and she happily wound her way through, collecting precious blue dots. She slowly made her way through the square, angling ever closer to the church. She entered the grand doors amidst the crowd, taking in the huge amounts of people squeezing in. The angelic music overhead welcomed her once more, and she stepped to the side, staring at a large painting.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? The artist calls it The Lightbringer.” A man was standing next to the painting, obviously waiting to explain it to anyone who showed interest. She nodded absently, gazing intently at the scene. It was a bit strange to be looking at what basically looked like a photo of her with the catholic halo...only it wasn’t around her head, but rather the whole background was a glowing golden color. She was standing in the air staring kindly down at the small boy in her arms, her fellacai fluttering with sparkles around them. It was basically an exact replica of the day she’d left for the forest, when she’d been helping little Henry find his mother.
Admiring the beautiful quality of the work, she smiled at the man and said, “Yes, it’s very well done. Who did you say the artist was? They must be very good to get something like this done so quickly.”
“You know about the flight of the child?” He seemed shocked that she wasn’t asking about the meaning of the painting, and even knew a timeline of how fast it was completed. When she nodded, he beamed. “Ah, you were there too?” Another nod, just to get him going. “The artist is the little boy’s godfather. He was helping to search for him when he saw Lady Jade lift him above the crowd.”
“What’s his name?” She glanced deeper into the church, not wanting to miss the sermon by asking about the painting. People were taking their seats and it was making her slightly anxious.
