Chapter 6: Adventure!

Chapter 6: Adventure!

Reivyn looked over the open fan at his father. His father stood across from him, wielding the rod he used for correction, as if it were a sword. His father moved slowly, but deliberately in a thrust towards his midsection. Reivyn snapped the fan closed, and used it to guide the trajectory of the the rod off mark while moving to the side to avoid the blow. He also moved slowly but deliberately.

They continued to exchange moves, one with the rod and one with the fan, until Reivyn noticed his father overextend in a thrust. It was obviously done intentionally. His father would make mistakes on purpose to simulate someone with a lower Skill level, and to create opportunities for Reivyn to properly practice. It had taken a bit of time before Reivyn had trained enough to notice these mistakes, and it had taken even longer before he was confident enough to use them to his advantage. At this time, he seized the opportunity, and instead of simply dodging and disengaging, he slid his fan along the rod and rapped it against his father's knuckles. In an exaggerated manner, Refix dropped the rod and shook his hand in faux pain.

Skill Levelled Up! Fans (10)

Reivyn threw his hands up in triumph and loudly exclaimed, "Finally! That took forever."

His father gave him an amused smile before replying, "Of course it took a long time. What you're holding there isn't a weapon. It's just a traditional fan. A real war fan is reinforced and might even have blades in it."

Reivyn looked down at the fan in his hand, and then he looked back up and gave his father a blank stare.

"What's that look for?" Refix asked. "In your hands, it still works, doesn't it? Here," he bent over and picked up a stick. It was neither too thin nor too thick, and it was about three feet in length. It was flexible and wobbled slightly as it was moved around. He handed the stick to his son. "This is a sword. Defend yourself."

Reivyn had doubt written all over his face, but he got into a stance anyway. They resumed their earlier slow but deliberate movements, and Reivyn struggled to use the stick efficiently, but as he was sure there was a lesson in this exercise somewhere, he didn't just scoff and slack off. Eventually he got the knack for using it to parry the thrusts and slashes directed at him from his father.

"It's now a spear."

Reivyn adjusted his grip and held it in both of his hands, taking up the appropriate stance for spear wielding. It came much quicker to him, now that he had already gotten some practice with it, to effectively use the stick as a spear.

"It's a javelin," Refix took several steps back to create room between them.

Reivyn did a mental flip as he physically flipped the stick into a javelin throw pose, and without hesitation threw it with precision at his father. The flexible nature of the stick caused it to wobble in the air, but it still flew true. His dad casually snatched it out of the air. He snapped it in half, and then he threw one half to Reivyn.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

"Dagger."

They re-engaged their spar, and the stick was instantly a dagger in his hands.

"Throwing knife."

Reivyn leapt back and instantly launched the stick in his hands at his father once again. The weight and balance was all wrong to accurately use the stick in any way, shape, or form of a throwing knife, but his mentality and the System automatically adjusted his grip, stance, and throwing form. The stick travelled through the air, tossing end over end, until it smacked right against Refix's forehead. He could have dodged easily, but he allowed the blow to land.

GONG!

Achievement! You have learned a wide array of weapon Skills, and you have learned that many things can be used as a variety of said weapons. You have learned that it is not the weapon itself that is important, but instead it is you yourself that is the weapon. New Skill Unlocked! Skills Axes, Bows, Cestus, Daggers, Fans, Glaives, Great Swords, Hatchets, Katars, Pugilist, Slings, Spears, Staves, Swords, Throwing, and Whips have combined into the Tier 6 Skill: Weapons Master (11)

Reivyn was momentarily stunned by the loud gong sound that reverberated in his head. He read the new notification message and then looked up at his dad with wide eyes.

"Quickly, what happened?" His father said with excitement.

"It says I got an Achievement. All of my weapons Skills combined into one," Reivyn read off the notification for his father.

Refix pumped his fist and shouted, "Yes! It was true."

Reivyn frowned as he remarked, "You mean you didn't know?"

Refix glanced at his son out of the corner of his eye. "Of course I didn't know. I told you at the beginning that I had an idea, and that we would work on it for a time, but only to a point. There are myths and legends about extremely powerful Skills being born from combining Skills, and from ancient texts that I've inadvertently been able to glance through in the past, Weapons Master was one of the ones listed. It said it was possible to combine ten weapons Skills of level ten or higher into the Skill, but more weapons Skills and higher levels increased the likelihood. So I only had you work many Skills to level ten while you kept working at the ones you had previously unlocked. It is much faster to get several more Skills to ten than it is to get only ten Skills to, say, level twenty. And it worked!"

Reivyn pointed at the text on his notification. "It says it's already level 11."

"Hmm, let me think for a second," Refix tapped his chin in thought. "If my guess is correct, you technically had a skill level of ten before you unlocked it because of all of the weapons Skills you had at level ten, but it was inactive and still locked. Then when you had your epiphany, it simultaneously unlocked and gained a level. So level 11 for this Skill is the same as level one for regular skills. This is a Tier 6 Skill, after all. Tier 6 is Mythic."

Reivyn raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So does this mean I only have to train one or two weapons Skills to increase the level of all of the ones that were combined?"

"It's more than that," Refix smirked. "According to the texts, it applies to all weapons. Even ones you haven't seen before. This is the System we're talking about. And notice the language of the Achievement: The weapon doesn't matter, it is you that is the weapon. You have gained full control over your body, so you'll instinctively know how to act with any sort of weapon, or no weapons at all, in your hands. Even mundane items that aren't weapons can be utilized as such, but probably at a discounted Skill level. I don't know. I don't have the Skill."

"Well, now that I have the Skill, what do I do now?" Reivyn questioned. He had been working so hard for so long on so many different things, the happiness of success made him lost on what to do.

"I guess... go play!"

"Reivyn! Let's go on an adventure!"

Reivyn heard the shout of one of his friends from outside. He looked up at his breakfast at his mom, his eyebrows raised in question.

"Go ahead," Ameliyn said with a smile. "I'll tidy up your plate for you." His mom was very accommodating when it came to playing with his friends. Probably because he had spent so much time focused on Skills and only marginally interacting with his peers until recently.

"One for you," the older boy handed a quarter piece to Will. "One for you," one went to Simmon. "One for you," Reivyn got his cut. "And one for me!" He happily squeeled. Reivyn glanced at the four pieces. There was a noticeable deviation in the cuts, and Teilon had obviously given himself a bit more than the other three. Reivyn didn't say anything. Other things were on his mind.

"Pleasure doing business with you, boys," Teilon exclaimed. "But that's all on the agenda for now, and it might be best if we're not seen together for a short while. We'll catch up some other time," he gave them all a little two-finger salute and headed off towards his house. The other three boys looked at each other and shrugged in unison.

"Alright, see you, I guess," Will said, before he too turned and walked off.

"Later," Simmon called out.

Reivyn just nodded his head in acknowledgement. Despite his silence, he wasn't upset with his friends or anything. They probably didn't even contemplate that what they had done was stealing, and from their reactions, it didn't appear that any of them had gotten the Skill like he had.

Reivyn made his way home in silent contemplation. As he approached his house, he looked at the slice of pie in his hands. He still didn't know what to think about it, and he wasn't sure if he was going to eat it or not. It didn't quite sit right with him.

He walked into his house. His mother was working on the loom, and his twin sisters were playing a game of cat's cradle, probably put to it by their mother in a surreptitious way of getting them the Weaving Skill. It was probably going to work. He turned away from them and set the pie down on the counter. Next to the pie was a smattering of copper coins.

He looked at the coins for a moment before coming to a decision. He swiped a small handful, and seeing that nothing was amiss, he walked right back outside.

Skill Levelled Up! Stealing (1 ->2)

Reivyn rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. Two wrongs don't make a right. I'll have to tell my parents about this. He really wasn't looking forward to that conversation, but he wasn't in the habit of keeping secrets from them. And he felt he had a duty to do the right thing.

He quickly found himself standing outside the door to the baker's house, palms sweaty from nervousness. He clutched the copper coins in his hands and lifted the other to knock on the door. Before he could put flesh to wood, it swung open with Mrs Baker's Wife standing there looking at him.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Reivyn bowed down 90 degrees and held the coins out in his hands. "I'm very sorry. I took your pie. I don't know how much it costs, but here."

He stood there like that for several seconds, but there was no sound or movement in front of him. He lifted his head as he slowly straightened up, and the woman was looking at him with a stunned expression on her face.

After a couple of moments of uncomfortable silence between them, a sly smile appeared on her face. "Come in, come in," she stood aside and waved him in.

With trepidation he walked into her house, looking all around for the sudden attack he knew was coming. She chuckled at his antics and waved him to the kitchen where she motioned for him to sit down.

Reivyn took a seat, his face a mask of confusion. He put the coins down on the table and said, "Here."

The woman motioned dismissively at the coins as she replied, "No, you keep that. I'm guessing from your behavior that nobody ever told you." It was more of a question than a statement as she looked at him expectantly. With a shake of his head she continued, "Those pies are for you."

Reivyn frowned at her answer. For me? Why would they be for me. More importantly, how would she know to put it there for me?

She chuckled again at the look on his face. "It's not for you, for you. It's for any child to take. Nobody remembers why, exactly, but it's been tradition forever for a baker family to place freshly baked pies on the window sill and then leave them unattended for youngsters like you to take. Those pies are specifically there to be pilfered. So you see, you don't have to pay for it. I already knew you took it. Think about it."

She gave him a moment to scrutinize the situation. His thoughts turned to the Skill unlock notification, and he guessed he understood the overall purpose of it, but there was still something that was nagging at his mind that he couldn't quite grasp.

"I opened the door before you knocked," She prompted. His eyes opened wide in realization. "I knew you kids were there long before you walked up to the window. You weren't being nearly as sneaky as you thought you were. I mean, the pie was set in a window on the other side of the house, as far away from the kitchen as it could get," she chuckled. That finally lifted the wool completely from his eyes and he understood what had initially bothered him.

"Oh, well, thank you for the pie, I guess?" He stood up and bowed to her again, this time a short bend forward in thanks instead of the 90 degrees of apology.

"Any time, dear," she easily replied. "Just make sure it's not always you and your friends taking it. Gotta give the others their chance, you know." He nodded his head in agreement.

Reivyn walked into his house to witness his mother standing over the counter looking at the coins in confusion. He sheepishly walked up and placed the rest of the coins back where he had gotten them from. Ameliyn cocked her at her son.

"Want to tell me what you were doing with those coins?" She asked. She wasn't asking in a confrontational manner, she didn't care if her son wanted to take some coins to spend on something. She was just curious.

"I went to pay for some pie," Reivyn looked away as he answered. Ameliyn looked at the slice of pie on the counter.

"You already have the pie..." she trailed off.

Reivyn remained with his head down for a moment before speaking up. "I got a new skill today," He said. He looked up at his mother when he didn't hear a response. She gestured for him to continue. "Stealing."

"STEALING!" She yelled. Refix chose that exact moment to walk through the door, because of course he did.

"Stealing? Who's stealing?" His eyes landed on his son standing with his head bowed. "Alright, alright. Out with it.

Reivyn sighed and then explained the entire situation, start to finish. When he was done, his parents were again silent. He looked up at them, and got the last reaction he had ever expected.

Refix threw his head back and roared with laughter.