by J. J. Thorn
"Ugh, none mom..."
Mom decided to back off. Mom guilt was one powerful skill.
"Congrats again honey, I'm proud of you for having been chosen. You get to be more like your father every single day." Mom began to shake her head. I believe she meant for it to be a nice statement, but the implications of the statement only hit her after it left her mouth.
"Speaking of your Father, he'll be home in a bit. I have to finish grabbing some vegetables for tonight's celebration dinner. Let's discuss your future more when he gets here."
"Ok, I have a lot to ask him."
Mom then walked back over to her garden and started cutting away some of the tomatoes.
I walked over to my dad-made weights. I didn't want to get too sweaty before dinner, but I wanted to test out my skill again on objects.
I started to concentrate on the wei...
"What are you doing now?" Elise interrupted.
Damnit, Elise. I really need to find a way to not let outside distractions interrupt me. I could still feel the pressure mounting slightly in my head. What a waste.
"I was going to use my Skill to figure out how much my weights weighed, but you interrupted me and broke my concentration."
If I'm being honest, this was barely Elise's fault, but she didn't need to know that.
"Ok, sorry T. I'll just watch and see what happens"
"Ok, be completely quiet until I say something please."
"Ok, super quiet mode starting now."
I chuckled as she made a funny face and pursed her lips. She did make me laugh sometimes.
I started staring at the first of my two small weights. When I tried with the pen, I was paying too much attention to Melony in the background. With the weights, they were isolated on the ground with nothing behind them.
It felt like my mind was being pulled towards the weights as all of my concentration was directly on them. After what must have been 30 seconds, I finally got something:
5!
"YES, it works!"
"What, I didn't see anything?"
"Ya, only I can see it, but it worked. I can see the weight of objects now. This weight is 5 pounds!" I probably looked like a mad person as I picked up the small weight and started showing it off to Elise like a trophy.
"Ok, I'm going back to my stick" As she started walking back towards the bush. I guess my Skill was pretty boring for people on the outside, but I was ecstatic!
One thing did seem really weird though. I can understand how a person might be exactly 140, but my dad-made weight was ugly and I highly doubt it was exactly 5 pounds. And I hadn't realized it before, but 5 what? Do I just assume these are pounds because we use pounds in Huag?
More questions.
Well, the best way to learn is to keep trying. The headache hadn't come back as yet, but I could feel a slight pressure coming on.
I started concentrating on the second small weight. As I was about to give up because the headache was becoming unbearable, I finally received the notification.
5 pounds!
Wait, what? Did I do that?
I spent the next hour checking out the rest of my weights. I wasn't able to change the result after 'pounds' had started to appear, but that was ok. I now knew I had two 5 pound weights, one 25 pound weight, and one 40 pound iron bar.
With this, I could keep better track of my exercises moving forward. For some reason, I knew my strength was going to be really important in the future.
Throughout my tests, my skill would always take at least 30 seconds when I was looking at a new weight, but I found that when I tried to double-check the iron bar's weight, it took slightly less time.
What that means, who knows.
Current Progress.
Affinity : Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 12%
Holy Cow! Another 5%. I am speeding through this. I guess I just need to keep finding different types of things to use this on. I'll be at rank 2 in no time!
Now, what to try next. I can't imagine any of the stuff around me is that different from the weights I've already tried. I want to do something big!
My dad will be extra impressed if I've reached 20% by the time he gets home!
Looking around, the largest object in my vision was the house itself.
I waited for my head to be as clear as possible, probably another 20 minutes or so of waiting. At this point, mom was inside cooking dinner and Elise was spending half her time inside and half of it outside. Her stick had broken about 30 minutes ago.
I started to stare at the house. From my angle, I was looking at the side of the house where there were no windows. I wanted to get a good look at the house before initiating my skill. In my tests, it always helped to have a good idea of what I was trying to measure before I started.
With my preparations ready, I initiated the skill.
Thinking back on this moment, I don't remember if I blacked out before I started bleeding or if it was the other way around.
I asked Elise a few days later and she said one moment I was staring at the big white wall with a look of concentration and the next I was falling directly on my face...and in its path was my medium-sized weight.
I had probably blacked out because I definitely didn't brace my fall.
25,000 pounds!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Shiela, calm down. He over-extended himself after getting his affinity. He isn't the first and he won't be the last. There's a reason everyone in town is told when the ceremony is held - everyone can keep an eye on all the idi... children getting their first skill."
"Tom is right my love, you bandaged his head, and he'll be up again soon."
"Ya, if I know Terrence, based on how you described his rank 1 skill he probably tried to measure the weight of something that was beyond his capabilities. Let's just hope he didn't try to measure the weight of Terna or of 'Air' itself. If he did he won't be waking up for a week," Tom laughed at the idea.
Tom Stine, Wally Stine, and Shiela Stine were situated around a bed where Terrence was laying still. Elise had been sent out of the room some time ago.
Tom has just finished telling another one of his signature jokes.
Something Shiela wasn't appreciating right now.
"Do you think this is funny Tom? Not only is my only son lying injured in bed because of some Goddess-given Skill that no one knows anything about, but in under a month, he'll be sent off to some god-forsaken Prep School where they'll teach him how to kill monsters and Dungeon dive. A life I never wanted for my son. And here you are laughing like it's some joke."
Wally interjected in the conversation before it got out of hand.
"Shiela, the boy has been given a gift. All we can do is hope we have guided him well in the last 16 years to use that gift wisely. We've discussed this before."
"Yes, we've discussed it, but I continuously prayed that he wouldn't get an affinity."
"And if he hadn't, I bet he would have spent every moment of his life trying to conquer a Dungeon by himself to get an affinity the other way. And as you know, the amount of dead young men and women who've tried that is much longer. Our boy has wanted this ever since he was a little boy, who are we to take this away from him, and to rebuke the Goddess' gift."
"I'm not rebuking any gift Wally. I just want my son to be safe."
"We all do Shiela. We all do."
Wally held Shiela in his arms. Years ago when they first met, his arms had been the thing that drew him to her the most. It wasn't his strength, or how they looked, it was the way his arms made her feel as he hugged her tightly.
"I leave for my expedition in 2 days. If Terrence wakes up tomorrow, I will take him to hunt his first Monster tomorrow."
"Tom, we appreciate the offer, but we want to keep him safe and..."
"And that is exactly what I intend to do. You know better than most what it takes to be a Dungeoneer, Wally. The best we can do now is prepare
him for that life, and that means real-life experience. Will you take him?"
Wally remained quiet.
"As such, before I leave, I will take him to hunt something small. Get him acquainted with the process before he goes to Prep School in a month. I will not let any harm come over your son."
Shiela wanted to protest, but she understood and held her tongue. She gave a slight nod to Wally.
"Ok Tom. Thank you"
"No problem. He is still my nephew and I love you all. If there is any consolation, it is usually the idiots who cause themselves harm early on that tend to do well in the future." He remarked with a chuckle.
"Why do you say that" Shiela questioned, not having heard that statement before.
"Because that means he was an idiot who tried something new or unique. And I believe the Goddess loves those kinds of idiots more than any other."
Terrence did not hear any of this conversation. He would not wake up until the next morning.
Chapter 5
Milk and Cereal
Well, that sucked.
Waking up in my bed, I noticed there were some bandages on the back of my head. I guess I hit it after passing out?
Current Progress.
Affinity : Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 16%
Ha.
Although I almost crippled myself, I guess my test did add to my current rank's progress.
If improving my progress means passing out every time, I'll probably be dead before I even get to Prep School.
For now, let's hold off on using 'View Weight' on very large things... Is that even why it broke my brain?
Could it be because a house is made of many parts? Maybe I should have focused on finding the weight of just the wall in front of me, instead of trying to figure out the weight of the entire house. But, 25,000 pounds. I do remember seeing that number appear right before I was out.
I'll make a plan to increase my affinity using smaller means first. When I get my percentage much higher, I'll try again. OK self, deal!
Great Terrence, now you're making deals with yourself.
I decided that I should get started on the day. Looking outside, it was fairly early in the morning, but I had definitely been sleeping for over half a day at this point.
Most importantly, my stomach was telling me that I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
Getting up and sneaking over to the kitchen, I poured some milk and began eating some cereal.
I guess I made some noise because my parents came running out to the kitchen after a few minutes.
Dad looked like he was ready to fight someone. By the looks of it, they didn't expect me to wake up for quite a bit.
"Wally is everything ok, who is it?"
"Just Terrence, dear." He replied with a sigh.
"Terrence!" My mom rushed over and started to check my bandages and head.
"I'm ok Mom, I'm ok, that's fine haha"
"You're fine my butt, young man. I'll tell you when you're fine. You had us terrified! You're lucky we had some bandages on hand and Tom was coming to eat dinner with us for your celebration." Mom then smacked me across the head lightly. Ow, headaches still there, I guess.
"You did worry us Son, that iron weight I made for you really did a number on your head. Maybe I should have made them a bit rounder! haha"
"Hahaha, ya, probably should have Dad! Is that why I'm bandaged?!"
"Why is everyone yelling, it is so early!" Elise walked in, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry Sweetie, your brother woke up and we were just checking on him." Ignoring that she had just hit me in the place that was injured.
Mom started making bowls of cereal for everyone as Dad and Elise sat down at the table with me. Dad resumed our conversation.
"Yes, you passed out and hit your head on the iron on your way down. What were you trying to do before you... fell? Do you remember Terrence?"
"Ya, I was using my newest Skill. Mom probably told you about it, but it's called 'View Weight'. I wanted to raise my rank 1 progress, so I tried to do it on the house."
"And did it work?"
"Ya, actually it did! Right before I passed out, I found out that the house weighs 25,000 pounds. It is the heaviest thing I've weighed so far, and right now I'm at 16%. So, I guess, it did work."
Dad looked at me seriously. As though he was trying to discover something he hadn't seen before.
"Ok, well that settles it then Shiela, I guess we have no choice."
"Mhm," Mom nodded along as she now began making some eggs for the family.
"Agreed to what Dad? What's happening?"
"Your Uncle Tom will be coming in a few hours, right before mid-day, to get you. You both will be going on your first monster hunt today."
What?!
"What!"
"What?" Elise was just as startled. I believe I saw some milk come out of her nose.
"Don't look at us, it was actually his idea. He said that you need to get some real-life experience because you proved that you're still a bit of an idiot or something like that." Dad responded.
I chose to ignore the jab, that does sound like Uncle Tom.
This was huge, they had never let me do anything so dangerous. We lived in a medium-sized town in a relatively safe part of the world. I had never had the chance to fight anything, let alone a monster.
"BUT, there are a few conditions from your mother and me." Dad took me out of my thoughts.
"First, you are to listen to everything your Uncle says. He is in charge completely. If you return and I find you've caused any issues, I'll have your hide." Oh, I guess they were serious about this. Dad was at Rank 4, and extraordinarily strong. I had no plan to get on his bad side.
"Second, you will be taking some of my old equipment for your protection. Anything you can carry comfortably will be coming with you. We may not be there with you, but we will try to protect you as best as we can." This was amazing, Dad's equipment was old but good quality.
"Last, and most important." Mom decided to list off the last rule.
"If, at any point, you find yourself in a situation that you or your Uncle can't handle. Run."
Run. Running I can do. I was still fairly slow, but I had been training for this for the last 2 years. I can't become the best Dungeoneer in Terna if I'm dead.
"Ok Mom, Ok Dad. I agree to your terms."
"I also agree to your terms. I will bring my sword."
Both my parents laughed.
"Hahaha not this time Elise, give it a couple of years."
I really was lucky to have these three. Oh, before I forget!
"Dad, are you leaving soon, I wanted to ask you a few questions!"
"I have to leave for the Smithy soon, but I can answer a couple."
"Ok, so I got my affinity yesterday, it's WEIGHT, by the way, it lets me see the weight of things at rank 1. Have you ever heard of it? When I try to see the weight of things, it takes seconds to appear and for things like the house, it took at least a minute... Is this normal? Also, I keep getting these headaches after using my Skill too many times, do you know why?! Also, I was only seeing a number at first, but then I questioned my skill, and the notification I received started changing. Also..."
"Wow. Stop. Shiela, are you sure that bandage isn't on a bit too tight?" He chuckled and inquired to his wife.
"Haha, well he is your son"
Did I say something weird? He said to ask my questions...
"Ok, so no, I've never heard of your WEIGHT affinity. I have to assume it's related to weighing things or affecting the weight of things. Because of how it started, you could go in any direction. You could get a Skill that causes the monster's leg to weigh 5 times the rest of their body or you could get a Skill that helps to build houses more quickly. I know the builders in town would love to make those large stone bricks they bring in to weigh less. The important part is that I don't know, and neither do you. Spend time thinking about what you want out of your life, try to do actio
ns that work towards that goal, and the Goddess will not lead you astray."
"Let's hope... hope you go d...down the builder path. Ok, Elise, you've got the big bad monster. Let Mom go now and get back to eating your cereal haha" Mom took the chance to say while Elise had grabbed onto her leg. Mom was the monster, Elise was weighing it down.
"While it doesn't happen too often, new affinities are being discovered all the time and we just don't really hear about it."
I had a lot more to think about, but that all made sense.
"Thanks, Dad, and the headaches?"
"Ya, those are pretty common. As you keep using your Skills and ranking up, it should get better. That is your body getting used to using something brand new – internal energy. In the Kingdom, they sometimes call your internal energy ‘Mana’, but I was never important enough for someone to show me something proving the point. Either way, as you use up all of your internal energy, you'll start to get a headache. Think of it like when you work out your body. After doing so for too long, you start to feel exhausted. This is that, but for your internal energy. We used to call it Burnout, I don’t know if they started calling it something different. You’ll find out at Prep."
Mana, internal energy, why hadn't they taught this stuff before?
"But why isn't this common knowledge? Shouldn't everyone know about these internal energies?"
"It is very common knowledge, but for children in school under the age of 16, it isn't heavily discussed. Only people with affinities can use this internal energy, and so few people get this chance, so why make it a part of your teaching? What value does that give the students?"
"That's a good point, but what about those of us who do get an affinity?"
"That's what Prep School is for. You will be learning all about internal energy, monsters, Dungeons, Skills, History, and much more. The school is a way to prepare the Kingdom's future Dungeoneers for the future."
Prep School. Of course, it's the Prep School.
"But you don't need to worry about that for another month. What was your other question?"
