Chapter 40: No time to die

Chapter 40: No time to die

“First you jump off the cliff and you build your wings on the way down.”

Ray Bradbury

I had not jumped.

I had been thrown.

I had not seen that coming.

Des and Sinis in their horror certainly hadn’t.

Grandpa in his shock seemed unable to comprehend.

I don’t think that even Grandfather judging by his fury had seen it coming either.

Despite the argument about whether becoming a noble was a wise or foolish idea. None of us had seen the threat coming, no fear of the future had prepared me to suddenly face the fact that I was now falling. Falling to my death as I had little doubt that I would not survive the impact with the ocean after a fall at terminal velocity. Something the staggeringly high cliffs would probably allow me to reach. I had barely begun to live again, there was so much I wanted to do. Seemed silly to complain when I had already been given a second shot at life, but sometimes silly thoughts are all that flash through your mind when in shock.

I had around 10 to 12 seconds to come up with a solution, before splat. Who knows how far down the water was I had not been counting the steps on the way back up.

I was not even facing the right way still looking back up at the top of the cliff, helpless I watched my purple robe stream behind me, whipped back in the wind.

The cliff was not too far away if I could somehow, grab on, I might break an arm or two in the process and that is even if my grip would somehow be strong enough to arrest my fall.

When suddenly . . . with a tearing noise my beautiful new absolutely essential purple robe caught on the cliff face and stopped my fall hard with a jerk. I was now dangling headfirst over the void of space but stationary for a second and in a moment of madness I looked at my notification.

Ding! Due to avoiding certain death by a one in a million moment of serendipity before the age of 1, you have been awarded the hidden stat Luck.

Too flabbergasted to do more, my body still frozen in shock from the fall and brush with death, I looked deeper into my stats.

Level: 11 Name: Kai

Experience: 217,250/ 409,600

Age: 14 months, 0 weeks, 2 days, 18 hours

Health: 1100/1140 Stamina: 546/546 Mana: 1140/1140 Psi: 1160/1160

Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana,

Vitality: 114

Endurance: 25

Strength: 25

Dexterity: 29

Senses: 117

Mind: 116

Clarity: 49

Magic: 116

Charisma: 7

Luck: 1

Slamming into the cliff wall at speed seemed to have taken 40 off my health, the majority of the deacceleration which had been taken up by the robe catching, tearing, and swinging me around into the cliff face.

In my current position as dangled above an over 400-meter drop that did not seem like enough luck to get me out of what still looked to me very much like a life-threatening situation.

Hesitatingly, I gently turned to look up the cliff to see where my robe had caught on the cliffside. If I could pull myself up and get a grip on the cliff perhaps I could hold on long enough for them to throw down a rope? Where they would get a rope from I had no idea but it was the best idea I had at the moment as I did not wish to try free climbing back to the top of the cliff. I might be able to do it in my mind fortress but in the real world no matter my skill level I was still limited by the strength of my baby muscles despite what my stats may have said.

Carefully I pulled myself up on the beautiful new absolutely essential purple robe I had been gifted managing to make myself horizontal. Reaching up once more make the last foot to . . .

The categorically useless, poorly made, and ill-dyed piece of fabric they called a robe ripped through sending me falling once more.

I had maybe 11 seconds left to build those wings and learn to fly. The slight improvement in my situation was that I was now falling face forwards towards the rapidly approaching water than staring up uselessly at the sky. But if I was being honest with myself that was not much of an improvement and I would have far rather have been still stuck to the cliff face.

I could see the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, the stretches of open water along the shore, and I could watch my death approach at an increasing pace.

10 seconds left, maybe.

Ignoring my looming death I scrolled through my skills to see if just in case I had forgotten any of them gave me the power of flight.

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 26) Listening (LV 26) Meditation (LV 35) Swimming (LV 27)

Humming (Lv 22) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 22) Singing (Lv 22) and Drumming (Lv 22)

Running (Lv 17) Acting (19) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15),

German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11) Breath Control (Lv 7) Sight (Lv 15)

Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4) Climb (Lv 7) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 5) Knife Skills (Lv 5) Trading (Lv 10)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 35) Eavesdrop (LV 25) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22)

Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20), Trombone (Lv 20),

Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 11) Quick reflexes (Lv 12) Haggling (Lv 5)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 25) Expel Mana (Lv 31) Absorb Mana (Lv 31)

Mana Manipulation (Lv 15) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10)

Tier 4: Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

No, I had not forgotten anything the system had given me. My mind and senses allowed me to see with frightening clarity the full situation I was in. Quick Reflexes gave me the time to think it through. As I fell to my death.

Sensing skills were useless, Musical skills were useless, Language skills were useless, Trading skills were useless and all my physical skills required land or water to work, in the sky I was helpless.

All I had left to consider was my magical skills but again boiling or freezing water and setting fire to my clothing would do little to affect my outcome only make it more spectacular. A baby blazing through the air like a little meteor was not how I wished to end my second life.

Was it safe to go back? Would I find another assassin on the docks? I honestly did not have much choice in the matter but I could try to be a little more cautious about my return. We had watched Mercurio’s ship sail out of sight. So I was not surprised to see a small 1 man dinghy with sail tied up to the dock left behind when the larger ship set sail.

I was glad to see that it was empty and that looking up the stairs no one seemed to be running down them fleeing towards their escape from the island.

Hopefully, everyone at the top of the cliff was well but I had little doubt that Grandfather would hesitate in ending the assassin's life. I was a little surprised his dead body had not been sent flying off the cliff with me.

But if he had survived or worse killed my Grandfathers, Des and Sinis then he would be coming down the stairs any minute now. I pulled myself up onto the dock and rather than toddle up the looming stairs to either my rescue or my doom. I added a little ice to my berg to float me higher and make the climb a little more possible. Then I boarded the dinghy and pushed it out to float gently in the middle of the cavern away from the dock. Luckily the rope had been hastily tied and was neither too tight or too heavy for me to pull apart to do so.

If the assassin had survived and was on his way then I still had an escape route and wouldn’t be sitting on the dock or standing on the stairs for him to kick out of the way as he left the island. Hopefully, he would not be able to swim too quickly but I was wary of taking the boat any closer to the exit of the cavern. I knew what to do but as with most things, it is easier to say than to do. Especially when you are the size I am.

So I sat there in the boat in the middle of the cavern, then I waited.

Digging into my pockets I found the slightly sodden remains of food from our feast. It felt like a lifetime ago that I had been cheekily stuffing my cheeks and pockets with the food. Tucking into it, the taste of the dried fruit was spoiled by the salt. However, with the jerky and nuts, it was hardly noticeable, that they had had a dip in the sea, as they were already salted for preservation. Either way, it filled my stomach and gave me something to do while I waited.

And I waited some more.

I hadn’t timed us on our descent but my recollection on our descent, ascent and based on Naismith’s rule they could not take longer than 2 hours to get down here. My brain was too tired to try and work out Tobler’s hiking function even though I had the time to try. I was still concentrating on the stairs hoping that if I did see someone coming I would have the time to sail in to meet them if they were friends or the time to sail away if it was the enemy.

Waiting for so long was boring after having completed my preparations, but I dared not enter my mind in case friend or foe arrived.

Sitting still, rocking to and fro on the boat I had finished eating the rest of the food I had squirreled away by the time it started to get dark, and still no one had come down either to flee the island or to find me. I was both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

The dark did not scare me. With my skills echolocation and mana sense, I had not been blind in the dark for a long time. In fact, since I had gained super senses as a trait night time had become the best time of day to have a reprieve from some of them. The quiet and dark were calming and welcoming.

What was not welcoming was the thought that I had to make a move. It had been several hours now. Plenty of time for the fight to be over one way or another. Plenty of time for either my assassin or rescuer to make their way down either to escape or to attempt to find me.

But no one had appeared. I would have to make a decision.

I now had the means to make it to Little Wester or Wester Levante but I would be sailing after Mercurio possibly sailing after my assassins and who knew if from my glance at the map if I could actually navigate either south to Little Wester or North-East to Wester Levante even if it was not now fully dark.

Surely, I was safer here with my family as long as I could make it to them again.

Tying up my new little boat to the dock my health, stamina, and mana had mostly recovered while I had been waiting so I set forth to face . . .

The stairs.

It was going to be a long, long way up to the top with these little legs of mine.

Level: 11 Name: Kai

Experience: 226,450/ 409,600

Age: 14 months, 0 weeks, 2 days, 20 hours

Health: 900/1140 Stamina: 500/546 Mana: 900/1160 Psi: 1160/1160

Trait: Long Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana,

Vitality: 114

Endurance: 25

Strength: 25

Dexterity: 29

Senses: 117

Mind: 116

Clarity: 59

Magic: 116

Charisma: 7

Luck: 1

Free Points: 30

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 26) Listening (LV 26) Meditation (LV 35) Swimming (LV 27)

Humming (Lv 22) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 22) Singing (Lv 22) and Drumming (Lv 22)

Running (Lv 17) Acting (19) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15),

German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11) Breath Control (Lv 7) Sight (Lv 15)

Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4) Climb (Lv 7) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 5) Knife Skills (Lv 5) Trading (Lv 10)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 35) Eavesdrop (LV 25) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22)

Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20), Trombone (Lv 20),

Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 11) Quick reflexes (Lv 12)

Haggling (Lv 5)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 25) Expel Mana (Lv 31) Absorb Mana (Lv 31)

Mana Manipulation (Lv 15) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10) Gale (Lv 5)

Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv 4) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

Skill experience: 5200

Origin experience: 0

Combat experience: 0

Crafting experience: 0

Trading experience: 0