Chapter 255 - Engaging Conversation (Patreon)

A/N The added Stats from Reivyn's Bloodline have been properly added (also, since it Leveled up, it now provides +5 to Physical and Mental Stats instead of +3. It is NOT retroactive).

[                                   Status                                      ]
[Name: Reivyn   Class:  Hero  Lvl 17      Age:    16 (21)]
[                                 Grand Arcanist                          ]
[                                 Fighter                                       ]
[Health:  14,530/14,530 (+310)  Stamina:  28,670/28,670 (+410)  Mana:  15,985/15,985 (+50)]
[Qi: 1,000 (T4/Li)]
[Physical Stats   Mental Stats]
[STR:  1,514 (+10)     INT:     1,549 (+4)]
[VIT:   1,453 (+31)     MAG:   1,848 (+6)]
[DEX:  1,513 (+10)     CLA:    1,386 (+1)]
[CHA:  414 (+1)        PER:     1,300 (+1)]
[LUK:  342 (+1)]
[Bloodline: Lvl 1 Unknown 236,443/10,000,000,000]
[Experience: 4,486/20,100]

[Skills:]

[Tier 1:]
[Aim (49), Athleticism (75), Balance (61), Dancing (35), Drawing (23), Drill (24), Drive (7), Haman (20 MAX), Hiding (35), Horsemanship (24), Map Making (30), Map Reading (26), Mathematics (18), Marching (41), Memorization {Social} (22), Mining (22), Observation (64), Penmanship (37), Piano (16), Ride (25), Running (62), Rhythm (32), Shading (7), Swimming (30), Tracing (7), Tutor (27), Woodworking (17)]

[Tier 2:]
[Acrobatics (33), Alcohol Tolerance (11), Ambidexterity (27), Color Correction (1), Forced March (25), Gab (24), Linguistics (11), Meditation (53), Numbers Concepts (10), Pain Resistance (67), Strategy (40), Tactics (49), Teach (26)]

[Tier 3:]
[Battlefield Awareness (52), Blind Fighting (40), Breath Control (25), Command (58), Commanding Shout (43), Decipher (1), Eagle Eye (14), Identify {All} (25), Inspire (65), Mental Fortitude (59), Night Vision (50), Sense Threat (24), Silver Tongue (16)]

[Tier 4:]
[Charm (4), Dreams of the Past (24), Iron Will (34), Psionic (16) Runes (1), Spatial Awareness (73)]

[Tier 5:]
[Aura {Bloodlust, Heroism} (21), Clandestine Prodigy (38), Heroic Bearing (40), Magic Prodigy (88), Protection Prodigy (68)]

[Tier 6:]
[Akashic Record (1), Weapons Master (103), Regeneration (20)]

[Tier 6.5]
[Divine Sense (19), Perfect Domain (14)]

[Transcendent Ability]
[True Strike: Weapons Master]
[Cannot be Blocked, Dodged, or Parried]

Reivyn perused his Status after successfully merging his Mana Skills.

There are still a lot of Skills cluttering up my Status, Reivyn noted. Most of these aren’t something I can easily merge into another one, though. It would probably take years to gain enough additional Skills and Levels in those Skills, much less the effort to combine them, with something like painting and other arts. It’s just not my wheelhouse.

There are also some other Skills here that the System mentioned had synergy with the merged Skills, but it also mentioned I lacked Skill and/or Enlightenment for further merging. This leads me to believe a couple of things:

One, multiple individual Skills can be used to merge multiple different combined Skills. The System pretty heavily implied this was the case, and it makes a lot of sense.

Two, there’s a threshold above Tier 6, the Master Tier. Tier 7 is Divine, and Tier 6.5 Skills are Divine Skills not fueled by Divine Mana. I can completely agree that I lack the necessary enlightenment to create a combination Skill of the Divine Tier. It took an extraordinary set of circumstances, including almost dying, to unlock my Divine Sense and Perfect Domain Skills, and those are individual Skills, not merged Skills.

It looks like this is as much as I can clean up my Skills page for the moment.

But speaking of Divine, what’s going on with this Divine Spark?

Reivyn hadn’t seen the Divine Spark since it had been created and submerged into his being. He didn’t know what it did, though he did notice he gained an additional free Stat point per Level up after acquiring it.

He had delved his consciousness into his body multiple times since gaining it, but he had never seen it. He didn’t know where it was, and he didn’t find it when he delved as deep as he could into his Mana Core, either.

Seeing his sisters’ Soul apparition, though, had given him an idea. He had concentrated his focus the same way upon his own being with his Divine Sense until he could slowly make out his own Soul apparition. He couldn’t see the strength of his Soul, but, like with his sisters, he felt he could if he explored deeper. He could sense a tiny orb centered within the Soul apparition in the exact same manner that the Soul apparition was centered within his own being.

He would definitely dedicate some time to exploring the situation, soon, but finally finding the Divine Spark halted any thoughts of exploring any further.

On the forehead of his Soul apparition, a little golden gem glowed with Divine light. It pulsed occasionally, and a faint illumination of Divine energy would suffuse the Soul apparition from head to toe and back again before settling within the Divine Spark gem once more.

The pulse happened at regular intervals at once per minute. There was no obvious change or benefit to his Soul apparition, but after watching it happen a couple dozen times, Reivyn spotted an infinitesimally small increase in the luster of the Divine Spark’s brilliance.

It reminds me of Mana Circulation, though it doesn’t follow any meridian channels. It just passes through the whole body and back.

If it continues at a steady rate on its own, I imagine it would take about a year and a half to increase the brightness of the Divine Spark by a single lumen.

I wonder if there is such a thing as a Soul-Meridian Channel? Can this Divine Spark be manually cultivated in a manner tailor-made for my soul?

Reivyn had no idea the functions or properties of the Divine Spark outside of the obvious additional Stat point, and he didn’t know how the brightness would affect it. He had already had the Divine Spark for close to half a year, so he would just have to wait for another one to pass to see if there was any noticeable change.

Reivyn briefly attempted to interact with the Divine Spark as gently as he could, but he had no idea how to interact with his own soul, much less the Divine Spark. His Divine Sense let him observe his Soul apparition after entering the right state of focus, but his Divine Sense had no interactive capabilities.

Maybe my Perfect Domain Skill will help in the future. Right now, I don’t have an actual Domain for the Skill to power. It just takes subconscious control of my body in certain circumstances.

Despite not figuring out anything concrete about his Divine Spark other than its location and the pulse, Reivyn was quite pleased with his progress. He had set the goal to merge several of his Skill Sets into more powerful, individual Skills, and he had accomplished it with three different types.

The fact that his new Skills were the same Prodigy designation as his father’s Weapons Prodigy and the hint from the System that his “Path had already been set” pretty much confirmed their speculation that unlocking the Master-Tier of the Skills had to be done prior to attaining a Tier 1 Class. His sisters having Magic Master also reinforced the idea.

At first, Reivyn was a bit jealous of his sisters. He wasn’t jealous that they had unlocked Magic Master while he had to settle for Magic Prodigy. He was confounded that they seemed to have done so with little or no effort.

He brought up his confusion on the topic to Kefira after the twins had left, but she had pointed out something he hadn’t considered.

“How do you know they’re not putting in any effort?” Kefira asked, quirking an eyebrow. “They have their entire lives they live outside of your supervision. What is it they do all day?”

“Well, I know that they have their training sessions with various Crafter Classes that both our mothers have set up for them, but when they were younger, they just fooled around with their arts and crafts all day,” Reivyn replied.

“The same arts and crafts that they manipulate and infuse with their Mana?” Kefira asked. “The same arts and crafts that have unusual, random magical properties? The ones they’ve been making before they had even fully unlocked the relevant Mana Skills for? Those arts and crafts?”

“Ye~ah,” Reivyn dragged the word out.

“And they did so all day, every day?”

“Yes.”

“And they merged their Mana Skills after you had disappeared in the Dungeon?”

“I think I see where you’re going with this.”

“Mhm. It’s not that it actually came naturally to them,” Kefira declared. “They had just been using their Skills in unique ways for hours a day, everyday, for years. It makes sense that all that effort you so casually dismiss as ‘fooling around’ would eventually cascade into a merging of their Skills.”

“You’re right,” Reivyn nodded his head. “I’ve been so focused on my own training that I dismissed what they were doing as simply playing around. It’s completely different from what I do, but then again, so are their Skills. They’re not combat Skills at all. It would be strange if they had to swing a sword around to advance their Painting Skills.

“Though, now that I think about it, all it would need is some Paint for it to work… Hmm, this deserves further consideration.”

“I recognize that gleam in your eyes,” Kefira said, sitting back and grinning at Reivyn. “What sort of scheme are you cooking up?”

“I was just thinking, my sisters have zero combat Skills that I’m aware of - or at least, none that are high enough Skill Levels to actually count for anything. I know my dad has trained them with daggers and knives, at least.

“Anyway, I was thinking I could introduce them to working on their arts and crafts with weapons. Like carving a statue using sword or axe swings instead of carving tools. They could paint with a whip or a fan instead of a brush.

“There might be some synergy with their Painting and Carving Skills that it could actually translate to better control of said weapons if the System recognized their actions as actually Painting and Carving.

“Think of the possibilities! I doubt either one of them would ever be interested enough to indulge in a wide array of weapons or focus on gaining the Weapons Prodigy Skill, but not only could they potentially increase a Skill for self-defense purposes, but it might also help them improve their Crafting Skills at an accelerated rate with the unusual nature of practicing them.”

“It’s good to see you so focused on thinking of ways to help your sisters, but you could do the same thing, no?” Kefira pointed out. “You could participate in your sisters’ painting and other crafting sessions with weapons as your implements. I think the results would be interesting.

“I know you’re not necessarily interested in furthering your artistic Skills, but it would be a way to bond with your sisters. It could be fun.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I hadn’t even thought to include myself in it. We could make it a family bonding time. If we can figure out a way to work up a sweat, I’m sure my dad would be enthusiastic about it, too.”

“Family bonding time, huh?” Kefira teased, playfully shoving Reivyn in the shoulder. “Speaking of, my mother told me she’s prepared to hold an engagement party for us soon.”

“Finally,” Reivyn sighed. “How long do engagements usually last in Wispan?”

“It depends,” Kefira shrugged. “My oldest brother, Garet, has been engaged to his fiancee for a decade.”

“A decade?!”

Kefira giggled at Reivyn’s outburst.

“It’s a special circumstance, though,” she quickly clarified. “She’s a princess of another allied empire. She’s focusing on building a proper foundation for her future role as empress. That means a lot of political training and scheming specifically set up to further her Skills. Garet meets with her in her empire for a few days a year, and she visits us for a few days a year.”

“Just a few days a year? I’m not sure I could handle such an arrangement.”

“Yeah, well, they’re training to be the rulers of an empire, not just part of the Imperial Family. Plus they write letters to each other, so it’s not like there’s no communication outside of their brief visits.”

“Why is your brother marrying someone from a distant empire? Isn’t your mother from a local noble family?”

“That’s the exception, not the rule,” Kefira explained. “For the most part, the heir to the throne will marry someone of equal status from a different empire. We have four other empires we’re on friendly terms with in the Tier 5 Region we’re adjacent to. We use our relationship forged in the upper Regions to determine our alliances.

“There are also another three empires we’re in competition with and a few that are neutral.

“Anyway, to keep from stagnating the Bloodlines of the Imperial families, there are stipulations set in place to rotate marriage connections between empires, local nobles, and talented individuals from lower Tier Regions. The latter being the rarest for direct heirs, though it does happen.”

Preventing the Bloodline from stagnating was just the politically correct way of saying preventing inbreeding. Both Reivyn and Kefira understood the truth, but neither felt the need to bring it up.

“That’s all well and good, but what does it mean for us?” Reivyn asked.

“Well, you’re quite the unique case,” Kefira tapped her chin in thought. “You’re technically a new Imperial ally and a talent from a lower Region rolled together. I’m very far removed from the succession, and my responsibilities will be the least of my siblings, so it’s perfectly reasonable for me to marry purely for love.” Kefira shrugged. “So basically, the engagement can last however long or short we want it to.”

“So what you’re saying is, we should just go ahead and elope after the engagement party?” Reivyn waggled his eyebrows at Kefira.

Kefira laughed and swatted Reivyn on the shoulder again.

“While I’m not opposed to it, our parents would kill us if we did that.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure that would go over too well with our mothers in particular,” Reivyn shivered at the thought of Ameliyn’s reaction. “I propose we meet with our mothers, plan the wedding, and simply decide on the date based on how long it will take to get everything set up.”

“That sounds like as good a plan as any,” Kefira replied.

“So, a week?” Reivyn asked.

Kefira snorted.

“You’re out of your mind if you think it’s only going to take a week. The planning is going to be dynamic. We can set a timeframe and date for the wedding, but we’ll be making and adjusting plans throughout the whole process.

“On top of that, the biggest time sink is going to be sending out the invitations, waiting for the RSVPs, and then waiting for the guests themselves to arrive.

“We won’t get away with only hosting the nobles in the capital. I’m an Imperial Princess, and you’re technically an Imperial Prince. We’re going to have to invite all of those other allies I mentioned earlier, prominent nobles from their nations, as well as many of the important nobles and prominent figures within our empire and the subordinate Regions below us. Then they all have to get ready and prepare wedding gifts, and on and on…

“We’re looking at another year or so, twelve months if we’re lucky.”

“That’s not so bad,” Reivyn replied. “You’re worth the wait.”

Kefira smiled at the cheesy comment. It might have been cheesy, but it still made her happy.

“So when’s the engagement party?” Reivyn asked.

“In three days,” Kefira answered.

Reivyn had only spent a few more minutes with Kefira before Serilla cleared her throat, indicating it was time for them to part ways for the day. It had been getting a bit late at that point.

Reivyn came back from his musings and closed his Status Page as he approached the house his family occupied in the Imperial Palace grounds. He could see and hear his family once again happily chatting in the living room with his Divine Sense.

He opened the door and entered with a smile for his family.

“Ahh, there he is!” Ameliyn immediately spotted her son. “Your sisters already told us you finally merged your Skills. Congratulations!”

“Yup, it was interesting to say the least,” Reivyn said, idly glancing at his Affinity-infused Mana Core with his consciousness. He sat down in his preferred seat. “How come you and the girls never told me they had already merged their Mana Skills?” Reivyn inquired.

Ameliyn shared a look with Refix and the girls in question before once more facing Reivyn.

“The main reason is that we didn’t have a comprehensive plan devised from their experience,” Ameliyn answered. “We didn’t know how to translate their accomplishment to any kind of practice that would help you.

“The other reason is we didn’t want to distract you. If you knew that your sisters had already accomplished it but didn’t know how to help you, you would have wasted a lot of time trying to figure out how they did it without much success.

“Believe me, I already grilled them enough to try and figure it out for myself,” Ameliyn sighed.

“Instead, we let you just jump into it in your own way,” Ameliyn shrugged. “It seems like you managed to figure it out with their help anyway, but that was borne out of your and Kefira’s own inquiries. You might have been too hung up on a particular thing to figure it out if you knew ahead of time.”

“That makes sense,” Reivyn replied. “I’m still annoyed, but I understand.”

“Well, get used to it. That’s life,” Ameliyn chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to remind me. So have either Kefira or Silva informed you of the engagement party in three days?”

“I’ve known for a week,” Ameliyn replied. She giggled as Reivyn rolled his eyes at his mother. “I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. It was Kefira’s news to tell you.” Ameliyn clapped her hands together excitedly. “I have just the cutest outfits for Kailey and Riley.”

The two girls looked up from their own private conversation at the mention of their names.

“Wait, what?” Kailey asked.

“We have to go?” Riley pouted.

“Girls! How could you say something like that?” Ameliyn frowned. “It’s your brother’s engagement party. Of course you have to go. Besides, don’t you want to dress up all cute?”

“It’s not that we don’t want to go,” Kailey quickly explained.

“And we definitely like dressing up,” Riley added.

Ameliyn folded her arms and tapped one of her fingers on her forearm as she waited for the girls to explain their reason for their trepidation.

“Well?” She finally asked when they dragged on too long.

Kailey and Riley shared a look before facing their mother again.

“We’re going to have to…” Kailey began.

Riley took a deep breath and sighed.

“Act our age,” she finished.

The other three members of the family stared at the two youngest for several seconds. They finally broke into laughter as the two girls pouted.