“There’s always another level up. There’s always another ascension. More grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion more to shed, more to grow.”

Elizabeth Gilbert

I was not singing in the Compass Edge Tavern for the sheer pleasure of it. The bar, my stage, gave me a platform to perform. A place to follow my Metier of being a singer. My skill already at LV 48 had only gained 2 more levels before getting stuck at the boundary of LV 50 but that alone had given me my first level in my Metier.

Ding! Metier: Singer Level 1

Level 13!

This took my overall level up to Level 13. The ease of my levelling up took me back to when I had first gained the system. Simple pleasures in simply watching the numbers go up. There was more to it now. Especially now that I could see what those numbers could represent.

Free Points: 181

It was almost enough to assuage the pain of losing all that experience in my recalibration. It also helped with the added ache that any further experience gained through other skills such as my language skills or weapons skills was not going into supporting my Metier at all. I wondered if Lady Acacia was trying to teach me a lesson. Would I have been better off with Scholar as a metier with all the learning I was doing?

Stuck at level 50 with my Singing skill I was going to need a bigger audience or a better performance to push through with that skill. However, that skill was not the only skill that helped to power the metier. Raising my Humming, Drumming and Whistling skills by an extra 5, 4 and 5 levels respectively while performing were enough to gain me another 1400 experience. But they too were going to be capped at 50 sooner or later.

Still the experience flowed in and the levels increased.

Ding! Metier: Singer Level 2

Level 14!

. . .

Free Points: 191

. . .

Ding! Metier: Singer Level 3

Level 15!

. . .

Free Points: 201

. . .

Ding! Metier: Singer Level 4

Level 16!

. . .

Free Points: 211

On the one hand, I had levelled up more over the last week or so than I had in the last year. On the other hand, my metier was too restrictive. I had so many other skills that while I still continued to level them up they no longer counted towards my overall levelling. Had choosing Singer as my Metier been a mistake? It was hard to think so with the system rewarding me with so many free points that I would one day be able to spend.

I was tempted to ask for another one but knew that we would not be allowed back into the Lodestar Church unaccompanied anytime soon.

Still, I had a few more tricks up my sleeve to be played yet. Lady Acacia might be trying to teach me a lesson over my choice in Metier, my mother being the only one truly happy with my choice. Father had been disappointed I had not chosen Sailor. Aleera viewed this as her chance to accelerate her progress above mine with her Merchant Metier. Grandfather had called me a fool but shrugged and also said your only a child once his whispered words ‘or twice’ only heard by me.

However, none have them had seen a true music festival.

If we could have bread and circuses during our Silversea games. Why couldn’t we have a Silversea music festival too?

My plan was to convince them over breakfast tomorrow.

I doubted that I would be able to get just over the 200,000 experience required to get to level 10 in my Singer Metier but I was going to see how much of a dent I could put into it with a music festival before I gave up on the idea.

Singer Level 1 = 200

Singer Level 2 = 400

Singer Level 3 = 800

Singer Level 4 = 1,600

Singer Level 5 = 3,200

Singer Level 6 = 6,400

Singer Level 7 = 12,800

Singer Level 8 = 25,600

Singer Level 9 = 51,200

Singer Level 10 = 102,400