"You are confined only by the walls you build yourself."

Unknown

A lot can happen in a year. Then again, not a lot can happen in a year too! The question was, 'Which areas in your life have seen changes and which areas have not?' If I was on earth, my former world, I would have reached my 2nd birthday today seeing as it had been 24 months since my Delivery Day. Here though, in this world of the Compass Kingdoms, I am only 1 and a half. My dexterity stat had increased significantly but not enough to remove my crippled nature. Although I had shown some progress in using my mind to get better at compensating for it. I am still unable to move around without using a drop of dexterity elixir. Life continued on. We still made salt. The pearls were coming along nicely. Des and Sinis were my hands and feet. Grandfather has taken to training Mother, Father and Sister. They had decided that if we were going to be a noble house we might as well all develop the skills for it. In the words of my Grandfather "We all needed to learn how to lie, cheat, steal and stab one another in the back." I thought he was possibly being a little bit pessimistic probably heavily influenced by the demise of our former house but I was not going to argue with him. Any skill was a good skill and would help us to continue to level up in my mind. Aleera was taking to it the quickest along with Des and Sinis. Mother came next in the speed at which she picked up new skills before finally father who both had a wide range of their own skills they had developed themselves. I sat or rather was carried around and listened to it all. I couldn't act on most of it in the real world but I had memorised the skills, their requirements, and methods of practice internally and played it out in my mind fortress. I thought back on how the last 5 months had been since the departure of Mercurio and Cadmus.

Month 1

They had set sail unaware that I had never died. The merchant was happy to maintain his nigh tax-free status although somewhat less happy at the quantity of salt he had agreed to sell. The alderman impressed with our burgeoning resources was content to recommend raising our family to the prince after he had seen our holdings, our growing estate, fine clothing, and expensive jewellery. The benefit to deep-sea pearl jewellery was that it was simple enough to make but still incredibly expensive simply due to the quantity and quality of pearls used. There was one additional request per family member before they departed. Father requested that they purchase dexterity elixirs ‘ere they left. While clearly, they wondered at the reasoning behind the request they were happy to oblige. Mother requested a selection of dyes and if possible to obtain a set of seeds and or seedlings of the plants they were derived from. This they needed no explanation for having already been familiar with the expertise of my mother's sewing. Aleera requested that the profits from the salt sold be used to purchase any remaining parts of the Wester Isles we had failed to acquire keen to establish our growing barony and free it from any others who might think to purchase part of it. Grandfather though had a slightly different and more specific set of requests which he discussed with them privately before they left. I could have ordered him to tell me but I was endeavouring to be a kind and benevolent tyrant to the man whose leash I technically held. I hoped that my final order to him, 'Don't make me regret it.' would ensure that any surprises we recieved from him would be pleasant or necessary from then on.

Month 2

Dodgeball was an awesome game to play with Des, Sinis and Aleera. Training had been a lot more fun with Grandfather since his compulsion has been removed. That or the fact that it was completed under the watchful eye of either my mother or father who also joined in from time to time. We still had no chance of hitting Grandfather though when he joined in. He was always an inch or two out of the way of any throw we might have made. I wondered how high his dexterity actually was. Still, the game got us all a new skill Throw which we were rapidly levelling up. Des and Sinis were levelling up alongside Aleera and I. Not necessarily part of the family yet but certainly not slaves we nevertheless treated them as trusted employees. We had asked them if they wanted to go back home one day but it sounded like they didn’t have a home to go back to. They were gradually getting better at speaking Bussola. Turned out that what they were speaking was not actually a different language just a dialect so weird it sounded like a different language.

Throw was also useful skill in developing my second tier skill for the knife, Knife Arts. I had to confess that I had never thrown a knife in my past life. But here it appeared that attempting and finally succeeding at accurately throwing it was enough to gain the new skill. Grandfather seemed the most pleased by its development and promised to show me more that could be done with a blade once I regained more control of my body much to the disapproval of my mother. Although Des and Sinis listened in to the possibility with much eagerness.

Month 3

It would appear that they were rationing the elixir out even further and there cannot be much of it left. I was now no longer allowed more than a drop a day. The lack of elixir had always infringed on any possible training regime I could complete for my body but now it was stifling it even further. I had always refrained from working on my mental skills but it was impossible not to use them at all. So the stats continued to grow even without hardly any effort towards them. This maintained the imbalance although I hoped it was beginning to diminish as my dexterity stat grew closer to gaining a trait, quirk or whatever it would gain when it passed 100.

Month 4

One drop a week now. My physical growth has slowed and it is a challenge to restrain myself from continuing to grow mentally. There was only so much to think about. I did not achieve so much, restricted as I was, but I tried to make the most of each drop with every activity laid out in front of me. I even felt that perhaps the time restriction to my physical ability maybe helped me to level them faster as it was a greater challenge to complete them at speed.

There was one thing to celebrate this month though and that was finally gaining Level 12 and another 10 free stat points to distribute one day when the system finally unlocked itself for me. The salt and trading seemed to be decreasing in value as time went on but perhaps that was because we had flooded the local area and it too was literally less valuable now. Still we continued to stockpile it and hopefully Mercurio would get a good price for it further afield.

Month 5

We finally ran out of elixir. This was a long month. It was just as well Mercurio and Cadmus were expected this month. I needed the elixir if I was going to ever end this imbalance. At the rate I was improving it was going to take another 29 weeks. Just under 8 months before I was mobile again. Which would make me mobile just in time for my 2nd birthday on this world. (32 months old = 2 years and 8 months on my old world)

My family was really supportive in helping me through the last month. Unable to move they have tried to entertain me to the best of their abilities. I was always strapped to one of them carried wherever they are going or working. It has been amazing to see the salterns spread around the island creating a magnificent reflective pool from the base of the mountain to the edge of the lagoon. I was a little concerned that there might not be any salt left in the lagoon to take at this rate. However, it seemed to remain unchanged and simply the fact that it was salty in the first place implied that it was connected to the sea somehow anyway.

Mother continued to amaze us with her power and artistry carving deeper into the mountain to make our façade of a palace a reality. Father, Des and Sinis had all been conscripted into the effort helping to shift stone out of the rooms or halls once it had been cut away and I am sure the effort and practice must be doing wonders for their growth of the strength stat.

That being said this month had also been incredibly boring. Too boring. Yes, they had tried their best but I was still trapped in my mind for hours at a time before oblivion arrived as my stamina ran out. In fact, that length of time had increased further as my stamina had risen from my efforts at developing my physical stats. So I had spent a significant amount of time searching my mind fortress for something I had never been able to find. Something that had sat on my status for a while yet I have never managed to trigger.

Health had always made sense, when I was hurt or injured it dipped in response.

Stamina likewise gradually worked it’s way down during the day or if I exerted myself.

Mana equally dropped as I expend it using the skills that I had developed.

But I had never managed to find or use my Psi no matter how hard I looked for it.

Until today.

I had left my Fibonacci spiral rooms, which were my mind fortress, to look at my False Status. Feeling that it probably needed a little bit of an update, after all the improvements I had made to my actual status. I felt that if my sister had stats around 50 or 60 then it should be fine for my fake status to be around half that. So I set all my false stats to 24 across the board. This would be 1 stat for each month that I had been out in the world. With the exception of luck seeing as I had never added luck to my status in the first place so left it at that.

It was as I was considering whether it was even worth maintaining the false status that I looked up at the void that surrounded my fortress or rather the void my fortress floated in and noticed the stars.

They were not immediately obvious and you had to focus to truly see them. But once you did I noticed that there were six larger ones clearly closer by and then obviously in the distance there was cluster of a few hundred smaller stars that shone . . .

I looked below me through to the room that held my id. The room I viewed as my core self. The room, held a compass floor.

I looked up at the void and the stars shining in it.

The cluster was to the east.

The town was to the east.

I quickly focused on the larger stars that seemed somehow closer.

As I focussed on the six larger stars I realised that they themselves were also of different sizes. There were two smaller stars almost twins that stood alone. A larger star that shone bright beneath two even larger stars. Finally the largest star of those 6 pulsed strongly yet seemed to emanate danger.

How had I never noticed them before? I supposed I had not come up to change the false status much over the last year wondering if there was even a point to maintaining it. Then when I had I focussed solely on changing the slate that held my stats rather than staring into the void.

However, now that I looked up at the 6 stars nearest it was clear that they represented, Des, Sinis, Aleera, Mother, Father, and Grandfather.

I focussed upon the star that I intrinsically recognised as Aleera. I was unable to pull it closer to me but by focussing on it I was able to throw my thoughts, myself, out towards it. The star gradually resolved itself into a mental image of my sister sitting somewhere possible reading the Silverwood tome. I could not hear or technically see this it was more of an impression but she was happy, she was reading.

Ding! Insight (Lv 1)

This was new, had the walls I had built for my mental fortress hidden it from me all this time. I felt like kicking myself. But I knew this was one area I would have to take slowly. Psi and my new skill Insight were clearly mental skills. Skills I had to avoid levelling up until I have managed to rebalance my body with my mind.

But surely there was no harm in looking.

What were Des and Sinis up to?

I threw my mind out into the void towards them.

Level: 12

Name: Lord Kai

Experience: 24,350/ 819,200

Age: 1 year 8 months, 1 weeks, 1 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes

Health: 1350/1350 Stamina: 770/770 Mana: 1270/1270 Psi: 1270/1270

Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted

Vitality: 135 (+5)

Endurance: 55 (+15)

Strength: 41 (+13)

Dexterity: 71 (+20)

Senses: 127 (+5)

Mind: 127 (+5)

Clarity: 107 (+5)

Magic: 127 (+5)

Charisma: 30 (+5)

Luck: 4 (+1)

Free Points: 40

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (Lv 35 < Lv 40) Listening (Lv 30) Meditation (Lv 45 < 50) Swimming (Lv 40 < 45) Humming (Lv 27) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 27) Singing (Lv 27) Drumming (Lv 25) Running (Lv27 < 37) Acting (20) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15) German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11 < 21) Breath Control (Lv 20 < Lv 30) Sight (Lv 15) Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 10 < 20) Climb (Lv 17 < Lv 27) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 12) Knife Skills (Lv 10 < 20) Trading (Lv 20 < 25) Sailing (Lv 6) Appeal (Lv 6)Knots (Lv 10 < Lv 20) Stitching (Lv 10 < 20) Diving (Lv 5 < Lv 15) Throw (Lv 0 < Lv 10) Insight (Lv 1)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 38) Eavesdrop (LV 28) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22) Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20) Trombone (Lv 20) Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 12) Quick reflexes (Lv 27) Haggling (Lv 5) Misdirection (Lv 8) Order (Lv3) Knife Arts (Lv 1)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 26) Expel Mana (Lv 37) Absorb Mana (Lv 31) Mana Manipulation (Lv 29) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10) Gale (Lv 17) Deception (Lv 3) Melt (Lv 10) Command (Lv 1)

Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv 15) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

Skill experience: 10,500

Origin experience: 0

Combat experience: 0

Crafting experience: 20,000

Trading experience: 15,000

Popular experience: 0