Chapter 4: New Horizons

Chapter 4: New Horizons

Chapter 4



The walk back home was uncomfortably silent. His parents were convinced he had almost drownedwhich he had, but not for the reasons they thoughtand were beating themselves up for it.

His sisters didnt know how to respond to the weird atmosphere. After a few unintelligible mutters among themselves, they ran ahead.

Im so sorry, I was too impatient for you to get the Swimming skill. I was a fool, why did I leave you alone? What was I thinking? His mother said. She had repeated that same sentence a dozen times while carrying him in her arms despite his protests.

Mat didnt know what to say, the truth carried too many secrets and his castle of lies would come tumbling down. But he couldn't stay silent either. He couldnt let them think they were bad parents.

After they got home, he decided a compromise was the best option.

Mom, I have to tell you something. His voice was little more than a whisper.

His mother's keen ears perfectly heard him, Yes, sweetie?

Now came the part where he asked Alana what the Mana Sense was in vague terms, putting forward his best naive face.

This is surely going to get me more levels in acting. Dammit!

After a lot of back and forth caused by his confused explanation coupled with his mothers disbelief, Mat repeated the whole speech to his father. Alana kept throwing expectant looks at Rellan as if waiting for him to come up with a reasonable explanation for their child's crazy story.

His father remained silent, trying to maintain an impassive expression, but he wasnt too good at it. Judging by how many times his brows moved up and down, he was equally astounded.

Okay, its just a feeling, but this might not have been the wisest idea

Mat tried to dry his sweaty palms against his clothes and squeezed his Acting skill for all it was worth. This was supposed to be the smallest of his secrets, after all, he truly learned Mana Sense by chance. He expected his parents to be a little shocked, but not this much.

To put any doubt aside, Rellan decided to do a simple test. Mat felt offended they thought he might be lying, buton second thoughthe realized he was doing exactly that, but not about having learned Mana Sense.

Pushing the thought aside, he focused on what his father was saying, he couldnt wait to get this over with. Rellan got down on one knee to be at his height and put his empty palms in front of him.

Kai, I need you to focus and use the skill you got, tell me if you see something.

Mat felt a spike of panic, after he got the skill, he had not noticed anything different. He hesitated, unsure of what to do, Meditation and Acting worked passively helping him improve. How did he use a skill actively? What if he wasnt able to?

Calm down, it must not be that hard if theyre asking their two-year-old son to do it. Youre overthinking this.

Taking a deep breath, Mat focused on the air over his fathers palms with a solemn expression on his face. He tried to recall the feeling he had when he learned the skill.

As if pressing a button, something clicked in his brain and the world turned alight.

Countless bright particles were swirling around him, he could even see them outside of his field of view, which was disorienting. The lights moved in his vision, but he wasnt seeing with his eyes. The skill was called Mana Sense, not Mana Sight.

Before he got overwhelmed, he closed his eyes. This was more manageable.

He took a few moments to admire the spectacle. He then turned his attention to the task at hand. In front of him, two shapes of flowing lights overshadowed everything else - they were his parents. Focusing where Rellans hands should be, he almost burst out laughing. A wonky smiling face glowed above his father's right hand.

It was such a weird sight that took him completely off guard. It felt so out of place, reminding him of an emoticon back on Earth.

Well, I suppose that works.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

Name: Matthew James ReeceRace: HumanProfession: NoneStrength: 1>2Dexterity: 2>3Constitution: 3>4Mind: 6>7Spirit: 7Perception: 5Meditation (lv28) Acting (lv7>9)Swimming (lv1)Mana Sense (lv1)Race: HumanGrade: Red Next enhancement 0/20,000 XP

Apart from that the race enhancement was extremely underwhelming. He awaited it for so long and it only gave him 3 extra points, nothing else. He had worked for two years for that! Half of his stats had not even changed.

Kai started brooding when a thought hit him.

Wait a second

Rellan had said the most important factor to unlock Mana Sense was the difference in the mana density from what youre used to. What if he was the one to change? Suddenly improving his perception, even if not by a lot, might make something he ignored become noticeable.

It was a flimsy hypothesis. He wasnt even sure Perception included mana sensing. Maybe he truly got lucky, but it was hard to think it was a coincidence it happened immediately after he enhanced his race.

After exhausting all his brain power with speculation one thing became clear, he was tired of piecing breadcrumbs together. It was time to grill his parents for some answers.

* * *

Despite Mat imagining himself marching to his parents and demanding answers, it didnt exactly go like thatin truth, it didnt go like that at all.

He had to put together bits and pieces from a dozen conversations during the next few weeks to finally get a decent idea of how the Guide worked.

The most important discovery was that to fully unlock the Guide there were two milestones or seals. They were the reason why the Guide ignored him completely for now. The first was at seven years of age when he would be able to change the Guide to his preferences. Basically, he would unlock the customization option. While the second at fourteen would unlock the ability to get a profession.

Until then, the Guide was stuck in child mode and there was no secret password to get access to the complete version.

Its for your own good, you can learn how to best use the Guide without getting overwhelmed and committing mistakes, Alana told him, but Mat wasnt convinced.

Okay, maybe letting a child choose a class whenever they wanted wasnt the best idea, but why block even the customization option?

The idea of having to wait for years was so frustrating.

At least he learned how the color tier system worked. Honestly, he should have guessed it himself when the second color turned out to be orange. It followed the colors of the rainbow or of the visible light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. At least in theory, none of his parents had ever heard of anyone with a skill above Green and even that was only through hearsay.

Races followed the same colors, not only for the sapient races, but also for each bird in the sky and fish in the sea who managed to awaken and unlock their own version of the Guide.

Each tier was additionally subdivided into a three-star system, from Red he would then reach Orange and so on.

However, not all races started at the same level. Even humans could be born higher than Red , but with the low mana of the Baquaire Archipelago, it never happened here.

His parents had tried to spin it in a more positive light.

Dont worry sweetie, the Guide always offers a path for growth, you must work hard to gain Experience Points and you can reach and surpass anyone. Even better, you can improve in the peacefulness of our island.

Mat was skeptical, he was starting from the lowest point possible and no matter how you put that: it was a disadvantage. The question was how big.

As for the benefits of a higher grade, his parents had been evasive. After pestering them for more, Rellan told him the Red tier would give a handful of extra stats.

Those who are born Red will get higher stats as they grow. When you earn it for yourself, youll get the same benefits all at once. It doesnt matter until the Orange tier anyway. And all the best people Ive ever met earned it themselves.

His father was trying to be reassuring, but that was not Mats takeaway. It was nice knowing that getting Red was going to grant him benefits until he reached adulthood. However, if even his parents admitted that Orange was important, it must be a big change. His fathers words also implied some people were born at Orange directly.

Alana truly didnt seem to care about it, but Rellan sometimes let a sliver of bitterness escape. Mat knew he was from the Merian Republic on the mainland, but he rarely talked about his life there.

On the continent of Talthen not everyone started at Red . He had come to the Baquaire Archipelago for research purposes and then decided to stay after he fell in love with his mother.

Mat wondered what it was like to live on the continent. It sounded like an exciting place. He couldnt help but daydream about exotic places and adventures.

He wanted to explore all of it.