Fiona turned the page of a very thick book (she was always reading). She looked up and then back to her book. Magic Formula's, symbols and runes covered each page.
"If you get a skill from—you know—above. Do you really need to study?"
Fiona closed her eyes and shut the book. She was only four years old than me and two years younger than Matilda, but she was far more intelligent than us.
"James," she said (was lucky enough to keep my name), "If you believe everything that dull priest tells you. Your mind is going to rot."
I leaned in. "I did some more experiments."
Her eyebrows perked up. "And?"
"I learned everything in seconds. No practice nothing."
"You learned everything they knew you mean?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Interesting."
"Can I try on—"
"No!" She stood up and then nervously looked around and sat back down. "I mean no. I don't have any skills. That's why I'm studying."
She picked up the book and headed off down an aisle. The library in our village wasn't extensive, but it had a sizeable collection. Most of the books were donated by a head librarian (a retired wizard).
I don't know why Fiona was so adamant against me copying her skill. She was okay with me copying from others, but she was off-limits. That didn't stop me, though.
"Status," I whispered, and a blue screen appears before me. I glanced at my level, which was stuck at one. My stats covered six groups (everyone's stats covered these five groups)—Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Growth.
The first five are your usual RPG stats. Strength dictating how much muscle strength you have. Dexterity, how much muscle endurance and agility. Intelligence is a bit tricky, and the same can be said for Wisdom. Intelligence dictates how well you can take in information, understand it, and then put said information into practice. Wisdom deals with experience, how much you can pull from your experience and learn from it.
Growth is the only one that stuck out to me. It determined how fast you levelled and how many stat points you gain from each level. Remember when Genesis said that the god of this world needs to uphold a balance. He couldn't give me anything I wanted even though he said he could. That still applies now. Most people's growth is about one to 1.5 times, but mine is negative four times. A pretty fair balance, compared to what would have happened if I asked for the ability to be talented in everything. I'm pretty sure it would have affected my life expectancy.
I tapped the skill tab. Three folders appeared; Life skills, Battle Skills, and Magic. I needed to organize my skills; they were growing a bit out of control. I pulled up the skill [Ultimate Elemental Magic Control]. It was the only skill Fiona had aside from [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Mediation].
It was an S rank skill that controls all elements down to their basic level. This is a big deal because when one is born, they have a particular affinity with one element; Fire, Water, Wind or Earth. Learning any other elemental spells that weren't your birth element proved to be a difficult task. Fiona's skill allows her to learn all element spells with increased talent without drawbacks. In my hands (with a negative four growth), it was the equivalent of an overweight man trying to lose weight, but he doesn't change his diet.
My dear sister was hiding quite the skill. You probably noticed by now that some skills are earned, and some are blessed. The local priest prefers people to believe the latter. Matilda didn't have any secret skill, just swordsmanship she learned from our father. Fiona was the only one I knew that was blessed.
It was the only skill that I copied that I couldn't use. I tapped the skilled, and another screen appeared. It usually told me what I needed to use the skill, but now only question marks appeared on the screen.
If had known what Fiona was going to do. I wonder if I would've told her anything. Keeping secrets is what destroyed my relationship in my old life. I told myself I wasn't going to do that again.
I told her what I had done, and that sealed my fate. Remember, this is a growing story, and you only grow when you've experienced your first death.
It was never my fault.Even now, as I laid out on my back, unable to move. My arms, legs, and body, tired and beaten. I open my eyes and see the blue sky, unaffected by my situation. Always blue. It was never my fault.I glanced at my armour.It's charred black from lightning and fire. My armbands ripped to shreds.A man stood before me. His hair dark black and pinned up in a ponytail. His armour was much better than mine. Made out of silver with gold ornaments. A red royal cloak hangs from it. His sword is double-edged with an elegant dwarven design."It's over," the man said, sheathing his sword. From behind him, three more people walk up next to him; two women and one man. I didn'
I woke up in a cave hundreds of miles below the planet's surface. My body was crumpled as it sat shoved in between a couple of boulders. It was a nightmare that a claustrophobic would dream about. If a normal human were in my situation, they would've died; their bones and organs crushed (they would've died even before that).Yet I lived. I torqued my arm until I had stretched it a couple of inches upward and grabbed onto one of the boulders. Slowly I felt myself being pulled up. It was rough at first, but my blood soon made me slip out like oil.I don't know if I screamed or not, but I do remember the pain. It was raw, like someone pouring alcohol on an open wound.The cave was dark, and not even the hole I fell in (more like was shot down) was open.
I had never told anyone before that I had reincarnated other than my sisters. Which is what landed me in this cave in the first place.I can still remember each of their response.Fiona was scared, but she had masked it with a nervous smile. One that I hadn't notice then. "Wow, t-that's a lot to take in," she told me and warned me not to tell anyone else. I guess she was saving me for herself. Saying you killed a demon with the eighth prince of the dynasty would elevate your status.When I told Matilda, she wasn't surprised. She just said, "That explains the funny words. Either way, you're my brother, and that's all that matters." That set my heart at ease. So why did she attack me?"Judging from your reaction looks like I was right,"
"It's just a little thing that I've been doing on the side, nothing big," I said, closing my laptop.Lana sat across from me, reading a book on musical theory. She was in her second year of classical music in university. I had decided it would be best for me to work. I didn't get accepted into any of the sports teams in college (not like I was really aiming for it). My side business had boomed since high school, and I made good money from the students at Lana's university. She was my ticket in, and I spread my net like a fisherman and caught a haul."I told you I'm fine. It's just rumours. I know you been writing essays and papers for people since high school," she said, not taking her eyes off her book."You knew about it in high school," I asked, grabbing the tv remote and putting my
My body was in pain. I wheezed as I pulled my face close to the floor; black sweat dripped from my chin. I pushed myself back up."Argggh," I grunted out. Every cell in my body was screaming for me to stop. I was doing a mere push-up.Kali was the woman's name, and when she told me that I was being expelled from the system. She meant everything. That divine attack had reset me back to an infant (even though I look like an adult). I needed to rebuild my body."Is that all you got," Kail said, doing push-ups. She was only using her fingers to hold herself up. "Does your goal only sit so low on your list of things to do? Where is that drive?"I let out another scream and went down for another rep. My goal had changed since coming down he
I was about seventeen, and I had pretty much stolen everyone's skills and blessings in my village. Matilda had left for the capital along with Fiona. That irked me because I didn't want to be left behind. Still, Fiona was very adamant against me going to the capital. She'd used the excuse, "Who's going to take care of mom and dad if we're all gone. Plus, you're too weak. We'd be always protecting you."She was wrong, of course; even though I was level eight (and they were in their twenties) with the skills I had, I could easily match them in strength, but as I grew older, I noticed my growth really hindering me. I had to compensate by getting more skills.My sisters didn't head off to the capital for giggles. They joined the Royal Academy of Chadel and passed the entrance exam with flying colours. Fiona was a 'sure in' because of her br
"What happened to you," Matilda said, approaching me; the wooden sword in her hand was loose."You all forgot about me," I said and lunged towards her. I wasn't fast, but I was stable.Matilda quickly readied herself to block my attack. "I never forgot about you," she roared, but her words fell on deaf ears. I was already attacking her.She blocked my attack and was surprised as my sword slid off of hers like it was doused with oil. Smooth and without any unnecessary movement. My moves were surgical, and the battlefield was my operating room.Matilda had no choice but to focus. My moves were coming out fast. She shoved me back and started her attack.Instead of a standstill, where we
The sound of electrical sparks and booming thunder echoed throughout the forest. We had no choice but to practice in the forest to hide from curious eyes.It had been a couple of months since Jonathan had been living in the cabin. He had started to show growth, and I felt like all my hard work was paying off.I had never been attracted to the Emperor's Swordsmanship, but now, I could feel how amazing it was with the second part. It completed the first part and passively cleaned out the veins of the body for magic. It was turning us into the perfect vessels for the sword style. Lightning flowed through the body to increase speed, and thunder was expelled from the body for damage.It was a better way than what most people used. The first part of the swordsmanship was taught to every sold