“When you said you had an idea, I was not expecting this. Though I really should have.” I stared up at the disco-ball, hanging by a small silver chain from the center rafter of the wagon. Abernathy had affixed a small clockwork disc that set the ball to spin in lethargic circles.

  “I’m not finished!” He pulled a fist-length cylindrical rod from his inventory, clipping it to the side of the cart. It had a half-circle of crystal or glass at one end.

  “Is that a—” My question was interrupted when he flicked a switch and a narrow beam of yellow light shone from the cylinder. “Holy crap did you make a flashlight?”

  “Basically, yeah, but it's weak. It’s a challenge to find the proper balance that doesn’t consume the mana crystal too quickly or cause the part to overheat and melt. I haven’t been able to think of a functional application for this… until you threw glitter at that moth and I remembered the party chests we received.”

  “You threw glitter at the moth?” Katarina choked from the bench, peeking through the frontal flaps of the wagon. “Holy shit, it’s a party in here!”

  The light was hitting the revolving discoball, sending beams of yellow light cascading across half of the wagon’s interior.

  “Yeah, I tried jumping with Kinetic Overload and didn’t think about landing. It was the only thing I could think to do while falling.”

  She barked out a series of deep, guttural laughs, turning back to the road as the donkeys veered to the side.

  “I can’t believe you weaponized glitter. That has got to be a first, well-done lute boy.”

  “Speaking of, do you have any more?” Abernathy clipped a second light to the opposite wall, filling the entire wagon with the spinning lights.

  “Glitter?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I have an idea for that too. But I want to make some changes to Katarina’s leg first.”

  “Wind’s Edge,” Katarina chimed in from the bench up front. “I have named her Wind’s Edge. People name their swords. She’s more badass than any sword, and deserves a name.”

  She said the last part in a rush, sounding uncharacteristically shy.

  “It’s a beautiful name!” I chimed in.

  “And fitting.” Abernathy looked around the inside of the wagon. “Mind moving closer to the front? I want to set up my metallurgic workbench in the middle area, it helps with weight distribution in the cart.”

  “Sure, sure,” I stood, crouch-walking over to the front. “Actually I am going to sit outside while I practice. Want some sunlight, Encore?”

  He leapt to my shoulder, gently headbutting the side of my neck.

  I pushed the cart flap aside and Katarina shifted over as Abernathy grumbled about me not ‘appreciating the discoball’. Encore slipped out and sat on the bench between Katarina and me.

  The sun was already starting to sink behind the mountains to the west. Light was rapidly fading, but my wood elven eyes picked up nuances in the encroaching shadows.

  “Want me to take over the reins? I can see a lot better in this form.” I offered.

  “It’s not that dark out, I can drive awhile yet. Just practice your lute and keep us hidden. We will probably stop in an hour or so to set camp and train. Unless we come across a rest area before that.”

  “It is unlikely, I saw no rest areas when scouting this morning. None within a day’s travel, at least.” Encore shook, shrinking and shifting all of his tails down into one. It was as bulky as three or four of his normal tails. He wrapped it around his legs as he sat. I looked at him and thought that if blindness could be caused by outright cuteness, I would be blind right now. There was nothing of the fierce claws and fangs he had shown in the face of the giant moth.

  “Sounds like we will be sleeping on the road then.” Katarina laughed.

  “Twenty feet from a horrible drop of death, wonderful,” Abernathy chimed in from the back of the cart.

  “Oh there is plenty of room!” She replied. “Room to rest, and to train. Speaking of training, what did you put your stat points in?”

  “Stat points? Oh, that’s right! We levelled up. Let me see. Oh, I have six stat points built up. I forgot to distribute them from my last level.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Forgot?” She asked, looking over at me in disbelief. “How can you forget to distribute your stat points? It takes seconds.”

  “It’s a bad habit of mine I guess. I went… well I went days without allocating my stats the first time.”

  “Chanter!” Katarina and Abernathy said as one. Encore snorted with amusement.

  “I know, I know. I am trying to do better.”

  “Jeez man. Well maybe it's for the best. You can put them wherever you want, its your character, but for fighting I recommend Dexterity, Endurance, and Strength. In that order of importance. Especially for you. Kinetic Whatever makes your punches pack a special strength of their own.”

  “Kinetic Whatever?” I asked. She continued looking forward, but her eyes slid sideways towards me and she smiled.

  “Yup.”

  “I’ve been putting most of my points in Dexterity, it also helps with my song performances.”

  “That’s good. What are your stats like?”

  “Isn’t that a bit of a personal question?”

  “Not if I am going to be your sensei.”

  “You’re going to be my… sensei?”

  “Well yeah, I’m going to teach you martial arts, right?”

  I pulled up my stat menu and looked it over. Katarina saw my eyes flickering through the menu and chimed in. “Don’t distribute those stat points yet!”

  I nodded, reviewing my stats and relaying them.

  Level 12 Bombastic Busker

  Available Stat Points: 6

  Health Points: 120

  Magic Points: 23

  Charisma: 19 (15 + 5 Equipment Bonus)

  Constitution: 14 (14 - 1 from Elf (Wood) Form + 1 Equipment Bonus)

  Dexterity: 38 (32 + 2 from Elf (Wood) Form + 6 Equipment Bonus)

  Endurance: 10 (8 + 1 from Human (Basic) Form + 1 Equipment Bonus)

  Intelligence: 7 (5 + 2 Equipment Bonus)

  Strength: 6 (6 - 1 from Elf (Wood) Form + 1 Equipment Bonus)

  "Wow, Chanter. No wonder you get tired so fast. That Endurance is abysmal.” Abernathy coughed from within the wagon. “It’s not as important for you, Abe. You though it would help anyone, I would argue. But Chanter. Come on, lute boy. Put all six points in your Endurance, that is my recommendation.”

  “As my sensei?”

  “As your sensei,” she nodded. I chuckled.

  “Yes, sensei.”

  “It should be hai, sensei,” Katarina corrected me.

  “Hai, sensei,” I repeated. She nodded, a small satisfied smile on her lips, as I allocated the stat points, bringing my Endurance up to 16.

  We rode for two more hours as the mountain pass rose higher and light steadily faded. It was only 4:30 pm, but the mountains cast us in a deep gloom. I performed Cahl’s Tatsu, leveling up my Stringed Instrument Mastery to 10/100. I also levelled up Harmonic Concordance twice, bringing it to 27/50. I increased my bond with my Lute of Azure Skies, bringing it to 98%. It was so close that I wanted to keep practicing, but Katarina was adamant that we stop and train, so I reluctantly returned the lute to my inventory and climbed down from the cart.

  The next hour was spent going through a variety of forms and techniques while Abernathy crafted by disco-light within the wagon. The donkeys happily munched away at sacks of grain affixed to their heads and Encore lay on the ground, head resting on his forepaws, watching us.

  Katarina put me through a series of punches. She was critical, pulling a willowy branch out of her inventory and thwacking when I lapsed in my posture and stance. She guided me through three exercises, simple punches, then had me perform them again and again, watching me like a hawk and thwacking me when I made a mistake.

  She got a lot of hits in that hour, but they weren’t very painful. She wasn’t swinging the sprig with any real intent of harm.

  The motions were awkward at first. I remembered punching the moth and could see what I had done wrong, in hindsight. My fist had been angled upward too far. When I detonated Kinetic Overload, the force of the explosion had spread unevenly, breaking my wrist due to poor positioning. The blast had blown it back up and over my forearm. I was lucky to even still have a wrist.

  It would have been a life-altering wound, if not for healing potions, which had completely restored the limb in moments. I was thankful for our supply. We had accumulated several hundred from the city before leaving, most from the Adventurer’s Guild storehouse. I had several different kinds, ranging from Minor to Grand, as well as a variety of potions for curing ailments that we had either found or Abernathy had crafted.

  I still preferred using Radiant Winds whenever possible for healing and restoration. No sense in needlessly burning through our supply, plentiful as it was, it was still finite.

  I threw a punch for perhaps the thousandth time, but it felt different. Something in my mind clicked, similar to when I had obtained the Bombastic Busker class and unlocked the ability to use stringed instruments. The punch felt better. I blinked down at a notification.

  Unarmed Combat skill unlocked! 1/50

  this be headed? Why not find out? 20 advance chapters are available on my !!