97. A Completed Quest Means Rewards (Patreon)

That evening I was scolded by Billisha, a long teary lecture on the importance of preserving my life, which in turn inspired Aluali to redouble his efforts to secure a promise from me to not take chances when I went hunting. Bihei didn’t add to their pleading, but the haunted look in her eyes spoke volumes.

The thing is: they knew that it was impossible for me not to take risks sometimes. I lived--we all lived--in a dangerous world. There wouldn’t always be time to prepare and minimize the dangers. I’d do my best not to tackle anything more than I could handle, but life made no guarantees. Sometimes danger comes at you like a knife in the dark. There’s only the barest warning--a glimmer of moonlight on the blade--before you’re thrust into a life and death struggle.

The kids knew that too. It’s just that they’d been given a bad scare, and the pleading was their reaction. Underneath was a wellspring of love and care. That touched my heart, and I accepted their feelings without reservation. I told them how much I loved them, and how much I’d do my best to keep coming home to them.

I made no promises though. I knew that it’d be too hard to keep.

What I did do was introduce them to Yuki. Honestly, the decision was probably overdue. The kids were much more responsible than I ever was at their age. Plus, it’d help to reassure them to know that I was never alone when I went hunting.

Ah, the expressions on their faces. It was absolutely criminal that I didn’t have a camera. Gods, it was so satisfying, like there was a little dad engine inside me and it was getting fed the best fuel.

Don’t worry, Yuki said with a snicker. We’ll revisit the moment in our dreams. They sprouted from my hands and waved to the kids and Bihei. May we?

I sent an affirmation through my qi, and Yuki separated a piece of themselves and approached the kids.

It was a measure of the kids' trust in me that they didn’t back away. “Yuki wants to say hello, but they’ll understand if you don’t want to.”

The kids looked at each other, doing that nonverbal communication thing they did with their eyes, when Bihei stepped forward.

Her voice cracked, but she said, “I--I’ll go.”

So I handed Yuki to her, and she made the most surprised face. Then she softened and said, “Oh.” She bit her lower lip, and her eyes teared up.

What are you telling her? I asked.

How much we--Ollie/Yuki/Eight--appreciate everything she’s done for the kids. How we consider to be Family along with them.

Well, that was the truth, wasn’t it? She’d become a surrogate mother to the children, and I felt her care in the clothes she made for me. There was no way I wouldn’t reciprocate.

After that, Billisha and Aluali wanted turns, and damn it: the wonder--the sheer amazement--in their eyes was such that I gnashed my teeth for want of a camera. The dad engine hummed in bliss.

###

The next day, I planned to check in on my teammates. I stopped by Haol’s Family’s longhouse first, but his wife Dena let me know that he and Tegen were out hunting. Now that I was awake, the lodge planned to host a feast celebrating the successful hunt, and needed fresh game for the tables.

There was a ton of lightning bear meat on hand (literally), but it was being salted and set aside, some to sell in Albei and the rest to be stored for the winter. Apparently, the meat of dusk and dawn animals was more nutritious and kept longer.

I chatted with Dena for a while, and was glad to know that Haol was well. He came through the fight relatively unharmed, enough so that he didn’t need magical healing. The same couldn’t be said for Tegen who’d had a collarbone and several ribs broken. He’d recovered well enough, though, thanks to the first aid he’d received on the day of the hunt and his own Nature’s Spring spell.

Next I stopped by Teila’s Family’s longhouse. She helped crew the first aid station during the fight so she was probably unhurt, but I’d feel more comfortable knowing for sure. Especially since when I asked about her, Dena said that I should go and see for myself.

Teila looked fine from the way she ran at me. She wasn’t as strong as me, but still managed to pick me and spin me around. I didn’t notice any trauma or mental distress either--her eyes were clear as she lectured me for twenty minutes straight about the importance of following the plan and sticking with the team and not running off on my own like Aku the Wild Child.

I tried to beg off when her grandmother came out to invite me in for tea and a bite to eat, but Teila wouldn’t let go. I could’ve broken free, of course, but after seeing how worried she was for me, I caved and let myself be dragged inside.

###

After tea and corn cakes with Teila and her grandmother, I went to the Hunter’s Lodge. Villagers greeted me as I walked past. A few stopped to talk, but they were mostly the folks who I hadn’t run into yesterday. They touched my arm (to share in my luck) and wished me well.

At the lodge, Mumu was huddled with Uncle Kila at the Lodge Master’s desk, while Kesa and Inleio supervised the flensing of the lightning bear’s fur out back. A row of hunters carefully scraped bits of flesh and fat from the hide.

Honestly, the bear’s fur was in terrible condition from the fight, but it was valuable enough to be worth the effort. Even if the fur couldn’t be sold, hunters could use pieces to warm their beds or fashion clothing from it. Given that it was already a patchwork, they cut it up into sections to make the tanning process easier.

I watched the work alongside Inleio and Kesa and did my best to contain my anticipation. With a quest complete, there should be rewards, right?

Kesa glanced my way. “Little Eight, if you sigh one more time, I’m going to--well, a hunter must be patient. The more you wiggle, the more I’ll delay handing over your rewards.”

Was I really that transparent?

“Besides,” Kesa said, a corner of her mouth turning up, “we’re waiting on Imsiikila.”

On the other side of her, I heard Inleio chuckle.

I felt restless just standing there, but my offer of help was firmly refused. The hunters told me that recovering after a big hunt was almost as important as the preparations leading up to it.

So the work continued over the rest of the morning until the furs were scraped clean. Then the hunters dumped the sections into a large tub to wash them.

That’s about the time Uncle Kila arrived. I’d been listening for his voice and heard him greeting Mumu inside.

“Imsiikila--”

“--is here. Yes, I hear him too, Little Eight.” Kesa shook her head, but she said, “Let’s go.”

I practically dashed inside to greet Uncle Kila. I wasn’t alone either. There weren’t many hunters at the lodge today--most were out in the forest hunting game for the feast tomorrow--but those that were, gathered around.

Uncle Kila was in a jolly mood. He had a big smile on his face, and his paunch shook when he laughed. His mood was infectious. The hunters smiled with him, and their eyes were eager. It was a good sign when the merchant representing your wares was in a happy mood.

Kila gave me a wink and told the hunters to sit and make themselves comfortable. When he had their undivided attention, he cleared his throat and said, “Now, I know you’re all in a hurry to hear what I have to say, so I won’t make a speech of it.” He pulled out a sheet of paper and read aloud the number and weights of various bear parts, along with their estimated value.

Not many of the hunters could add without using an aid, but they didn’t need to. The list was long, and the size of the numbers big enough that they knew the total would be impressive.

“And,” Uncle Kila said, “because the teams from Albei ran from the hunt, their share is diminished. The same is true for their sponsor, Ghitha. The teams who fought the bear directly will receive a double share.”

Every hunter who participated in the hunt was already guaranteed a small gold coin from Ghitha’s pocket, and now there was this good fortune too? The hunters were all smiles.

I felt a spike of panic come through my connection to Yuki. Ah, it was Ghitha. He’d just received the news from one of Uncle Kila’s assistants that his share was cut.

Ghitha had counted on finding the eilesheile to fund the hunt, but in the unlikely event that he couldn’t find it, his sponsor’s share of the bear’s part would make up the difference. Now that his share was diminished though, his remaining wealth would be wiped out. Banan’s team had sucked him dry.

“That’s amazing, Little Pot!” Mumu jostled my attention and brought it back to the lodge. “Five antaak, you earned five! What are you going to do with the money?”

What? Five?

Yuki filled in the part I missed. Half a gold coin for participating in the hunt. Another half for a successful hunt. Two gold for the sale of parts (a double share), and another two for landing the killing strike. That’s five.

Oh, that was good. Very good. Well, it’s not like I lacked for money these days, but this influx meant I could easily pay off my debts, buy the bear’s core, and still have a solid foundation. The core wasn’t cheap either. During his recitation, Kila told the hunters it was worth two gold coins.

I caught Kila’s eye, and he nodded. He tilted his head and directed my attention to a young man who looked like a smaller thinner version of him holding a strongbox. I gestured to the ritual room, and Kila nodded again.

I went first. It was likely the merchant would be delayed answering the hunters’ questions, but unlike what Kesa thought, I knew how to wait.

###

Uncle Kila brought the strongbox and Mumu along with it. She seemed almost as excited as I was. And for good reason: the lightning bear core inside the strongbox was enormous, the size of an American football.

The core’s surface had a sheen, the mixture of dark and silver gleaming in the fire’s light. It was heavy, but it also had a weight that wasn’t entirely physical. The core drew the eye and made it hard to look away.

The darklight had been treated to preserve it, but I smashed the core open and let the darklight dissipate into the air. I heard a pained gasp from both Kila and Mumu, but I knew myself and knew that I didn’t want to participate in the sale of darklight.

A couple of minutes passed before the last of the darklight fizzled away. The pieces of silverlight left behind were marble-sized, eight of them, including a couple of real thumpers.

“I’ve never seen them so big before,” Mumu said, whispering.

“Nor I,” Uncle Kila said.

You ready? I asked Yuki.

One moment, they said. The silverlight wouldn’t affect my qi directly, but we hoped the bar’s experiences would inform our attempts to master lightning qi. Okay, go ahead.

I picked up the first marble, intending to take them one at a time and draw out the learning opportunity, but all the silverlight melted at the same time. A flash of frigid cold entered my hands and flowed up into my arms and chest. An enormous, overwhelming pressure descended upon my heart, attempting to displace me from the seat of my own self.

The hunter in me rose up to meet it, and I let slip a barking kind of laughter. My foundation was solid, and even if it wasn’t, I had Yuki to remind me of myself. The two of us watched, amused, as the feeling of domination crashed against us and dissipated. In its wake were left images of the forest, of driving its inhabitants out and taking their land to make it our own. We saw the sky on fire, and there was a fire within us to match it, the two in harmony. We were lightning and power, and we trampled everything before us.

The experience lasted a full minute, with alternating waves of cold and fire running through me. My body shook from the intensity, culminating in a memory. One it turned out we shared: the leap from the top of the escarpment.

The two memories ran in parallel. From the bear’s perspective, we exalted as we subsumed ourselves in the lightning storm. From mine, the image of the bear amidst the lightning burned itself into our vision.

The bear made a breakthrough that day, and it spilled over into me and Yuki. Three different notifications popped up:

1575 silverlight gathered. 1418 absorbed.

Congratulations. You have collected enough silverlight to grow in power.

Nicely done. ;-)

My breath steamed as I sighed in relief. I felt stronger, the energy inside me electric.

Yuki?

Instead of answering, they laughed (not quite maniacally, but damn close) and pulled lightning qi into my meridians. I started laughing too, as the energy spun fast--so fast!--through me. Dog’s Agility snapped into place instantly. It dropped just as fast and in its place was suddenly Camouflage and Scentless Hunter. I let them go and cast Dog’s Agility. Dropped it and replaced it with Camouflage. I wasn’t as fast as Yuki, but it was still amazing.

I laughed, pleased. All the hard work had paid off! The two of us had learned how to transform and manipulate lightning qi!

“Eight, is everything all right?” Mumu asked, her expression concerned.

“Never better,” I said. “I reached Level 4.”

“Gods in the earth,” Kila said.

“Oh, that’s incredible,” Mumu said, excited. “Congratulations! I can’t believe it. You must be the youngest Level 4 this village has ever seen. Do you feel any changes?”

“Let me check,” I said.

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Nicely done. ;-)

Well, you did it. That bear bastard won’t be bothering Ikfael anymore. Good job. I don’t have much to say beyond that, which is just as well--the closer you get to Level 5, the less room there is for poor little System-Eight.

Don’t feel bad for me, though. It was a good run. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and that’ll be enough for me. Oh, and remember me every once in a while.

Well, I’m you, so that might be kind of weird, but you know what I mean.

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I knew that System-Eight had less and less room to operate over time, but his departure still caught me by surprise. I felt a sense of loss amidst the elation. Having access to him and his insights helped me stay sane and navigate some critical decisions early on. Yes, he was a weird amalgamation of me, but I’d miss him anyway.

Thank you, I thought.

I took a deep breath, and let myself get excited for what came next. That’d be the best way to honor System-Eight and all he’d done for me.

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Congratulations. You have collected enough silverlight to grow in power.

You’re now Level 4. You receive a free Attribute point. Checking for new Talents. *Ding* Your hard work has successfully triggered a Nascent Talent.

Attribute and Skill gains have been finalized. Thank you for your hard work.

Strength 8 -> 9

Agility 9 -> (10)

Spirit 15 -> (16)

Archery 9 -> 10

Diaksh 7 -> 8

Earth Magic 1 -> 3

Knife Arts 3 -> 4

Marksmanship 6 -> 7

Qi Body 9 -> 10

Qi Body Arts 6 -> 7

Signed Diaksh 6 -> 8

Stealth 7 -> 8

Spear Arts 6 -> 7

Spirit Arts 6 -> 7

Survival, Forest 9 -> 10

The base benefits for Level 3 Young Forester are active:

• Attribute foci:
  • Agility, primary
  • Wisdom, secondary
  • Spirit, tertiary
• Skill foci:
  • Archery
  • Spear Arts
  • Survival, all
  • Nature Magic
  • Stealth

Your capacity for silverlight has grown. Secondary attributes increase by 20%.

Hit Points 12 -> 14

Mana 20 -> 25

Qi 35 -> 50

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I couldn’t help giggling. It was just so satisfying to see all the sweat, the blood, and the sheer effort poured into training pay off like that. The feeling was better than any Vegas jackpot.

Wait, my qi maximum jumping from 35 to 50 was more than a twenty percent increase. I brought up my Status to take a look.

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Eight (Hidden Status, Oliver Michael Sandoval)

Path of the Young Forester 4

Age 8

Silverlight 2934/6750

Soul Marks

• God Touched
• Spontaneous Formation
• Memories of Another World
• The Way of the Hunter

Attributes (1 Free)

• Strength 9
• Constitution 10
• Agility 9 (10)
• Intelligence 15
• Wisdom 15
• Spirit 15 (16)
• Charm 11
• Luck 13

Secondary Attributes

• Hit Points 12/14
• Mana 20/25
• Qi 35/50

Talents

• Jack of All Trades
• Talent Scout
• Qi Sensitive
• Uncanny Tracker
• Multilingual
• Enduring
• Spirit Hunter
• Lightning Affinity

Blessings

• Billisha Eightsward (Human)
• Aluali Eightsward (Human)
• Diriktot (Fallen Clockwork God)
• Helen Miriam Sandoval (Spirit)
• Ikfael Glen (Spirit, Temporary)

Curses

• Ghitha Woldecsbrotter (Human)

Conditions

• Occupied (Evolving)

Skills

Artisan

• Appraisal 5
• Construction 8
• Pottery 5
• Woodworking 8

Domestic

• Cooking 6
• Repairs 6

Magical

• Aeromancy 4
• Geomancy 3
• Hydromancy 4
• Nature Magic 5
• Qi Body 10
• Qi Body Arts 7
• Spirit Arts 7
• Spirit Magic 2

Martial

• Archery 10
• Knife Arts 4
• Logistics 11
• Marksmanship 7
• Poison Arts 3
• Spear Arts 7
• Strategy 5

Mercantile

• Accounting 12
• Administration 12
• Barter 5

Scholarship

• Biology 5
• Chemistry 4
• Diaksh 8
• English 13
• Signed Diaksh 8
• Spanish 8
• Nonverbal Communication 6
• Numeracy 8
• Physics 4

Social

• Gaming 12
• Relationships 9
• Storytelling 10

Spiritualism

• Meditation 9
• Taoism 8

Survival

• Caves 3
• Forest 10
• Ocean 3
• Stealth 8

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The first thing I noticed was that the amount of silverlight nearly doubled, and I was a decent chunk into fourth level now. Level 5 felt very far away though. Very far away. Like almost 400 bishkawi away. Or two more dusk lightning bears. What a terrible thought.

Yes, there it was confirmed: a qi maximum of 50. But first, I had to take a look at the new Talent.

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Lightning Affinity

You were born under stormy skies and have an affinity for all things electric. Significantly increases the effects of beneficial electricity-based spells, while also reducing their negative effects. You receive a small bonus to Aeromancy and Geomany Skills. Opens the path to Lightning-Touched.

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Yes! I pumped my hands in the air, surprising Mumu and Kila, but I couldn’t help myself. Victory! Well, it wasn’t as good as jumping to Lightning-Touched directly, but I was still over-the-moon happy.

“Eight?” Mumu asked carefully. “Good news?”

“You could say that.” I very nearly teeheed, but managed to contain myself. “Here take a look.”

I summoned the rune for Spark and let the electricity buzz and crackle. It felt like I was holding a livewire in my right hand, anxious to jump to its target. Then the air banged and light flashed as I sent the Spark toward my left hand. Goose pimples rose all over my body. I felt my hair lifting up from the excess electricity spilling into the air.

The streamer sucked qi like a pig, but I maintained the flow of electricity between my hands. A quick look showed that it was four points for the original cast and then a point per second. It was worth it though. The streamer wasn’t anemic like my first casts of Spark, but a thick, glowing tube of skyfire. I barely noticed Uncle Kila backing away.

“Is that?” Mumu asked, her eyes wide.

“A new Talent, yes.”

“By the gods, that makes six. Six Talents!” Mumu whooped and jumped up to dance.

I jumped to dance with her. And yes, I stopped the Spark flow first. Mumu was my friend, and I wasn’t willing to accidentally shock her, especially as I didn’t yet know the spell’s potency.

Eventually, we calmed down and settled back into our seats. “Anything else?” Mumu asked with a wide smile.

“A gain in Strength. A good number of Skill increases, as well. And--”

Okay, I’d figured out that the qi maximum was based on an average of Constitution and Spirit. There was a twenty percent increase at Levels 2, 3, and 4, plus a massive one hundred percent increase when Yuki and I refined my qi. That meant my new maximum should be 42. Unless--

The flavor of your qi is changing-condensing-thickening, but not slowing down at all. If anything, it’s getting faster. The meridians are heating up, so we’re draining the excess until they can adapt. Oh my god, it’s so delicious.

Waves of pleasure radiated along with Yuki’s message. They were in heaven.

“And?” Mumu asked after being left hanging.

“The well of my qi deepened. Significantly.”

“Can you sense by how much?” Mumu asked.

It looked like a fifty percent increase on top of the previous bonuses. It would need investigation, though, to determine whether the bonus was entirely due to the new Talent, hitting Qi Body 10, or a mixture of influences.

I nodded. “I should have enough to be able to cast Spiral Pierce twelve times in a row.”

The recovery rate has improved too. We’ll have to test to figure out by how much.

I relayed that, as well, and Mumu shook her head in disbelief. “I’m so envious. Any hunter would be.”

“Your village grows stronger,” Uncle Kila said.

Mumu’s smile faltered. She glanced up, as if she could see through the ceiling to the floor above. To the hunters working hard on the lightning bear’s hide. To Inleio supervising.

“We have to, always and constantly,” Mumu said. She looked back at me. Her smile returned. There was light there, but it was tempered by sadness. “And we will, all of us, grow stronger.”