The last two weeks I was put through my paces by my brother and Kate, both seeming to have made it their mission to ensure that I was ready to become a guard should that be something I wanted. Between the two of them I was always doing something whether it be training with a weapon or being healed up from all the bruises I get getting on top of my blacksmithing and gardening every day was filled to the brim.

Having the luxury of an off duty healer nearby also meant that my brother felt a little more free in roughing me up, this ended with me needing a healing session after every spar, though it all did wonders for my skill, as did haggling with my entire net worth on the line it seems.

Name : Ajax

Level :10

Experience : 9950/10000

Traits: Child, Divine Witness

Health: 80/80

Mana: 230/230

Stamina :200/200

Vitality : 8.86

Strength :17.03

Endurance : 20.11

Dexterity :18.77

Intellect : 34.49

Wisdom :25.97

Mind : 23.06

Perception : 16.33

Stat Points : 198

Skills :

Common :[Mathematics Lvl 20] [Stealth Lvl 16][Drawing Lvl 30][Athleticism Lvl 14] [Running Lvl 20][Reading Lvl 20][Writing Lvl 20][Cooking Lvl 14][Sewing Lvl 10] [Cleaning Lvl 10][Haggling Lvl 9][Gardening Lvl 20][Axes Lvl 23][Hammers Lvl 17] [Deception Lvl 5][Sword Lvl 7][Shield Lvl 6][Bow Lvl 7][Spear Lvl 9][Throwing Lvl 8] [Persuasion Lvl 4] Uncommon :[Meditation Lvl 32][Sense Mana Lvl 31][Expel Mana Lvl 31][Sprinting Lvl 11][Mining Lvl 9][Lumberjack Lvl 9][Smelting Lvl 8][Blacksmithing Lvl 8] [Mana Farming Lvl 4][Increase Price Lvl 4][Lower Price Lvl 6][Chanting Lvl 4] Rare : [Manipulate Mana Lvl 8][Water Aspect Mana Lvl 7][Fire Aspect Mana Lvl 5][Air Aspect Mana Lvl 6][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 6][Inject Mana Lvl 5]

I was one skill away from hitting level 11 and my stats looked monstrous, normally kids have maybe 1 stat in the 20’s before adding points 2 if they worked hard, I was barely age 7 so all my stats were still due another 3 points from natural increase, being on track to have all my stats except vitality exceed the 20 mark.

“Do you think this will be enough?” Tom asks me as I lay there getting patched up by Kate.

“What do you mean?” Actually confused by his question

“We both know you most likely won’t go into a crafting profession, no matter how much mom and dad push for it, they’ll likely have you try apprentice at every one in the village before you turn 10 just on the off chance that it you may follow it, so you won’t have time to train like this much after I leave. So do you think that we managed to cram enough into these last 6 weeks for it to be enough to give you a head start?” He benevolently smiled down on me.

His answer surprised me, how long had he known that I was planning to be a fighter. I still hadn’t decided what kind or what I would be fighting but I knew I wanted to be able to grab my own fate which couldn’t happen if I wasn’t strong enough to be able to choose what I wanted.

That night when I asked him to train me I made the plan to grab as many skills as I can before I turned 10 and take the next 3 years to decide if I was to be a guard or a soldier, maybe an enforcer. Turns out mom and dad would help me with getting me every small apprenticeship to get the basics on all of them.

I then got the sudden urge to duck so I did, Kate palm whooshing right where my head had been. She has been doing that for the last 4 weeks claiming it could help me get the prized skill danger sense, but two weeks in I convinced myself she just likes giving me a swipe to the head any time I pissed her off, usually by going off into my own world thinking about different things.

“Hey! What was that for?” I ask the surprised beastkin.

“Did you get it?” She gets all excited like a kid on Christmas morning knowing he spotted the game console hidden in the car after the last shopping trip.

To which I just give her a smile and say nothing, something we had long agreed upon being the routine whenever she asked me about my skills, and she accepted that I was playing everything close to the vest.

A familiar blinking light in the corner of my vision drew my attention. That was something I hadn’t seen in 7 years so I pulled up my status to see what was up.

Name : Ajax

Level :11

Experience : 0/11000

Traits: Child, Divine Witness

Health: 80/80

Mana: 230/230

Stamina :200/200

Vitality : 8.86

Strength :17.03

Endurance : 20.11

Dexterity :18.77

Intellect : 34.49

Wisdom :25.97

Mind : 23.06

Perception : 16.33

Stat Points : 220

Skills :

Common :[Mathematics Lvl 20] [Stealth Lvl 16][Drawing Lvl 30][Athleticism Lvl 14] [Running Lvl 20][Reading Lvl 20][Writing Lvl 20][Cooking Lvl 14][Sewing Lvl 10] [Cleaning Lvl 10][Haggling Lvl 9][Gardening Lvl 20][Axes Lvl 23][Hammers Lvl 17] [Deception Lvl 5][Sword Lvl 7][Shield Lvl 6][Bow Lvl 7][Spear Lvl 9][Throwing Lvl 8] [Persuasion Lvl 4] Uncommon :[Meditation Lvl 32][Sense Mana Lvl 31][Expel Mana Lvl 31][Sprinting Lvl 11][Mining Lvl 9][Lumberjack Lvl 9][Smelting Lvl 8][Blacksmithing Lvl 8] [Mana Farming Lvl 4][Increase Price Lvl 4][Lower Price Lvl 6][Chanting Lvl 4][Danger Sense Lvl 1] Rare : [Manipulate Mana Lvl 8][Water Aspect Mana Lvl 7][Fire Aspect Mana Lvl 5][Air Aspect Mana Lvl 6][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 6][Inject Mana Lvl 5]

After opening my stat the blinking stopped and a message appeared in front of me.

“Child trait has been upgraded by levelling past level 10 despite its restrictions, trait Child Prodigy gained”

Well that was unexpected, so there was a bonus for doing something like this? I quickly focused on the Child Prodigy trait to see what had changed :

“Child Prodigy- Temporary trait

Status points cannot be allocated.

Incremental increase of all stat points by 10 throughout the duration.

Stat points do not affect ageing.

Gaining skills grants Experience.

Levelling skills grants Experience.

Crafting Experience gain stopped.

Killing Experience gain stopped.

Upon expiration all stats increased by 2.

Upon expiration or removal Trait Apprentice Prodigy is gained for half the duration of any trait with Child in the name persistent.

Time remaining : 45 cycles. “

So two extra stat points in each section as well as what I think an improved version of Apprentice is, this means I’ll have to ask what the usual apprentice description is and compare them when the time comes.

“Hey don’t blank out on me to marvel at your status!” Kate exclaims with mock outrage as this time she does late the light smack on my head before we head towards the house, to have one last dinner together before they leave for the city in the morning, their suspension ending around the time the caravan that arrived yesterday is set to return.

“I’m going to miss you 2” I mention as we all head in the house.

“Well don’t say it like we won’t see each other again” Kate cheerily jumps into her chair at the table” I’m sure we’ll see each other again before too long.” her mannerisms sometimes really do remind me of a cat, it becomes especially pronounced when she is showing affection, as I discovered while practicing my stealth skill following them around.

“I’ll see you both in a few cycles, it’ll be your turn to show me around then” Judy says, doing her best to keep a cheery mood despite how much we all know she got attached to Kate in the time she spent here. And she wasn’t the only one Alana was about to burst into tears yesterday when she was saying her goodbye, only her fathers proposition for her and Judy to join a caravan in a few cycles for a trip to the city and back to gain experience as merchants put a stop to it.

“You’re welcome back here anytime Kate” mom said as she was bringing the food “Just you kids try to be make sure you don’t give me any grandchildren before your duty to the guard is done”

Her loaded statement caused both Tom and Kate to go red in the face. “Come on mom how could you say that in front of Ajax”

“Just remember that you are 14 now and I am 28, your mother 27 and while I don’t and would never regret having you, both of us might have had a much more stable and secure life had we waited until out initial apprenticeships had finished before starting our own family” father sagely nodded.

“We don’t want to control your life but we do want you to learn from our experiences in hopes your own life could be better” mom said as she took a seat and we all started eating.

The next morning, after my brother's departure I was introduced to the village leatherworker who agreed to try and teach me for a few weeks to see if I had any talent for the craft. Much to the dismay of the headman who was dead set on me becoming the village's new messenger.

My excuse of not wanting to become a messenger combined with my denial of getting any skills for any crating job I apprenticed would be my life for the foreseeable future.