You gained the title Voiceless Tier 2 Adventurer

  Voiceless Tier 2 Adventurer - Gives off an aura of worthlessness. You are part of an international organization, and can read contracts. Complete requests and hunts to grow in fame and glory. Two additional presence and three additional soul when leveling up.

  It was the only option I had. I can't learn new skills without my title attached after all.

  “I'm ready, Uncle Francis.”

  He gives a small smile to that. “Of the options we have I think welding it is possible for you. You will need to learn how to convert arcane into fire mana as your first step. Do you remember how you learned mental.”

  I remember, poor Marie exhausted herself trying to make me a blob of it for me to study. I nod and move next to him. He places a hand on my shoulder.

  “Please clear the area of arcane, I can see a mental blob in your chest so your shoulder will have to do.”

  I do as instructed and he pushes fire mana into my shoulder. There is heat and it's awkward but I study it all the same. When it becomes my mana I try to prod it at first. It's much more resistant to manipulation than either arcane or mental. I go to ask Francis about it, only noticing now that he looks winded.

  “Are you alright uncle?”

  “Sorry, I'm not the mage the rest of the family is. Fire is one of my weaker converts and making that size to push into you was a good deal of my reserves.”

  “I appreciate the help, I was curious as to why it had more resistance than mental or arcane.”

  “Well it could be an affinity difference or simply that you have both arcane and mental cores.”

  “Affinity?”

  He smiles, explaining comes naturally to him, “Mages like to talk about how souls have affinities. I went to a merchant apprenticeship instead of mage college, so my knowledge is laymen at best. People strong in mental magics tend to be weak in dirt and fire. Dirt users weak to lightning and mental. Fire users weak to water and mental, lightning weak to water and dirt, and water weak to fire and lightning. Personally I think it's all just mental blocks they put up for themselves, Barbain wields mental, lightning and dirt magic just fine.”

  “Where does life stand?”

  He shrugs, “Save that question for Cecelia, they say a mother always comes should their child need to ask them something inane.”

  Rude but I smile at that. I pour myself over the blob of fire mana he made. When I poked it as much as I could, I decided to try to make my arcane like it and then add it. It bounces off the blob of fire, malformed. I keep at it as Velner pulls the carriage towards Yetna.

  -----

  When night comes Velner pulls the carriage to the side of the road. He starts a fire, but I insisted on making the soup. It comes out decent enough. After the fire is out Velner sets up a steel umbrella next to the carriage. I say umbrella but there is no fabric between its metal structure above us.

  “It's ready for powering, sir.”

  Francis is about to touch the mana interface, before I stop him. “Please uncle, allow me. You both have spent much today and need to conserve.”

  He is about to protest, but I am already engaging the mana interface and fill the apparatus. I pull back and he notices that I seem no worse for wear.

  “Barbain was calling you a prodigy.”

  I give him the same response I would her, I stick my tongue out at him.

  “So what does this do?” I can see the arcane mana moving in it but my magic sights are set to dim to avoid anyone noticing me.

  “Do you know the cover spell?”

  I have bad memories of it but I nod.

  “That's what it's casting right now. Come, sleeping in the carriage will be better than the ground.”

  Or a tree. I sleep nestled against uncle, while Velner is on the opposite bench.

  -----

  This is a daily reminder: You have 16 unallocated stat points

  That number is getting scary. Leveling is swift and my core skill ups are fueling it. I hope I can wait till mental fortitude breaks a hundred. Velner pulls our carriage again. I have to set my own strength weights. Uncle shows me how. He asks if I need more fire mana but I shake my head. I focus on trying to make more.

  You have gained the skill [Convert Arcane Mana to Fire Mana] Basic 1

  Convert Arcane Mana to Fire Mana - the ability to create Fire mana from unaspected mana

  Basic - the ratio is still terrible

  Mental Fortitude raised to 70

  “I did it uncle.” I begin to focus the fire mana I have in my eye.

  “O good, next we should teach you how to cast—”

  The red dot bursts from my right eye.

  You have gained the skill [Fire Mana Sight] Basic 1

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  Fire Mana Sight - the ability to see Fire mana

  Basic - a pinprick hole is open in your eye to the metaphysical, can only see fire magic at a slight distance

  Perception raised to 62

  Francis is holding the bridge of his nose. Its familiarity hurts my heart a little. I'm holding my right eye breathing a bit.

  “Sara, would you please not rip metaphysical holes in your eyes? They say the more sights you gain the blinder your mundane sight becomes.”

  “Wait, really that's a thing? How many is too many.” My right eye feels blurry even after I cut all the mana to it.

  He flicks me in the forehead, “They say you should add a sight every fifty perception. I'm assuming by your distress that you're one over. Lucky you, that getting past a hundred perception is just a matter of skill levels. I suggest keeping fire sight below competent till then”

  Ah jeez my sight is all lopsided now. I'm tempted to forge ahead just to bring back balance.

  “Let this be a lesson to not rush forward without asking questions.”

  Ya, I don't want to tell him he is, like, the fourth person to say that to me. He is squinting at me now, is he reading my mind? He sighs and continues.

  “Might as well engage your foolishness for now and watch as I form a basic fire on my finger. If you can do this it will level your external and give you the base fire magic skill. Observe."

  I turn my fire dot back on and watch the fire magic coalesce into his pointer finger then it appears as a small flame. I see his mana continue to fuel the magic.

  “It's not very hot is it?” I had to be fairly close to the flame to properly see the working.

  He chuckles at that, “We are inside a carriage and I would like to conserve my mana, Sara. There are two ways to manipulate this flame, you can add mana while maintaining its size which will increase its heat or you can let the additional mana expand its size, the heat will stay the same but it will be bigger. You are to do neither of those things indoors and especially not in this carriage. In fact considering its you I would suggest having a sizable amount of water nearby.”

  Rude, but exciting. I move the fire mana from my shoulder to my hand, then I funnel some to my finger tip. I move the mana the way I saw Francis do it. Before I need to start to generate more fire mana a small glow forms on my finger.

  You have gained the skill [Fire Magic] Basic 1

  Fire Magic - the manipulation of fire mana

  Basic - now you can start forest fires

  Intelligence raised to 108

  It goes out as I smile. I supply more fire mana and hold it steady. I show Francis and he smiles and nods. The carriage stops and Velner knocks on the door.

  “Time for our midday meal.”

  We eat and I look at my flame. My external skill leveled, bringing my intelligence to one hundred-ten, which means basic tier one skills are back to experience again. I suspect my unallocated points are going to be climbing.

  “Ow.”

  You have gained the skill [Resist Fire] Basic 1

  Resist Fire - the ability to resist magical fire attacks

  Basic - feel the magical burn Sara

  Mental Fortitude raised to 71

  I release the mana and see a small patch of red skin where it used to be. It's like I gave myself a sunburn. I look at Francis, he has a crooked smile as he eats his lunch.

  “Sorry, it's kind of an initiation for fire magic to allow the student to burn themselves. No better way to teach someone to be more careful.”

  I pout, but not for long, it's still my first bit of magic. I remember both Frank and Sancea casting but their engagement with the system always felt foreign to me. This is real, this is magic from Sara Maxwell. I smile at that.

  When we break camp Velner joins me in the carriage while Francis pulls the carriage for a bit.

  “Is it always people pulling the carriages?”

  “Who else would it be, miss.”

  Right, I'm no longer a colleague. More bitterness but I do my best to not show it.

  “Are there no animals or perhaps golems?”

  “I have heard of domestication of monsters but such would require their tamer. Using a golem is just mana spent fueling the golem instead of stamina pulling the carriage, miss.”

  Ah, and since everyone eventually becomes more fit than an olympic athlete, I guess they prefer to level their skills. I wonder how hard it is to fuel a golem axel.

  “Will I be taking a turn pulling the carriage?”

  He looks at my chest and how only the area above the corset expands. Right, my lung capacity is shit.

  “Pardon me miss, but do you have the [Pull] skill and [Strong Grip]?”

  “I only have [Strong Grip].” I must be looking kinda sad, as he consoled me with gentle words.

  “It is alright, miss, that you have been fueling the cover artifact yourself, allows both me and my master quicker recovery time.” While his beak can not smile, the feathers around his eyes bunch up, I can only hope that is his way of smiling. I smile back.

  -----

  I start the evening fire with my magic. I gained another resist doing it. Uncle laughs at me as I rub the tip of my finger. While the soup cooks, I ask my uncle a question.

  “How much fire magic will I need to weld Ratagin?”

  “Ratagin?”

  “The golem.”

  “Ah well, it's more a question of your tolerance for pain really, you're more than capable of heating both ends and pushing them together.”

  “Ah, I got eight finger tips left.”

  I was down to four, but Ratagin was whole again.

  Francis inspects my work, “I don't suggest trying the back flip command but forward and backward should be fine.”

  “Would you please show me those if you can?” My mental cat eyes flash on.

  “Sure Sara, this is forward.” The magic goes through his finger into Ratagin, I see the various runes engage and Ratagin moves forward. I smile. Francis picks it up and places him in front of me. He encourages me to try. I do and Ratagin moves forward again. I smile.

  You have gained the skill [Mental Magic] Basic 1

  Mental Magic - the manipulation of mental mana

  Basic - you may hate it, but grandma would be proud

  Gain 1 exp

  Low blow system. I learn the backwards command after and Francis and I have Ratagin coming back and forth between us. We skip the turn command, we worry his spine just can't take it.

  -----

  We passed the Yetna barrier without issue, my adventurer card firmly in my hand. Marie had stopped at the guild before we went to Belna on our last day together. Passing the walls was a sight. Pretty sure they were thirty kings feet tall. We finally arrived where I first met Francis. He takes me into the front door where I meet a rather squat woman who was heavily pregnant. She has red straight hair, tan skin and a firm voice. She was busy talking to a customer. She saw Francis but maintained her professionalism and finished the transaction. When done she practically flew into Francis arms.

  “Love you returned, it is a week early. Did your mothers promiscuity drive you away before you could inform them of their impending grandmotherhood.”

  Francis chuckles at that, “I'm afraid Cecelia has beaten us to the punch my dear Genop. Meet our niece Sara.”

  She spies me behind Francis and beams a wonderful smile at me. Then she promptly smacks her husband in the back of his head.

  “Thats the same name as the girl who showed up five months ago. I told you to send a missive to your mother about it.”

  I beam a smile, my best smile at Genop, “Greetings aunt Genop.”

  “Ah, she is so precious, how old is she, her ankles are showing, are you having a growth spurt, why does it look like you have been in a rush to get here, why did you come without Cecelia? She is wearing a lot of enchanted jewelry."

  That is way too much, it's like Barbain if she never waited for an answer. Which pieces of jewelry did she notice? Francis answers his wife.

  “She is ten dear, and seems to have decided to try looking it, with her recent growth spurts and all. As for why we are here, I bring grim news. Come let us go into the living quarters. Sara come along, you're my niece not my attendant.”

  Aw he noticed I was heading to the carriage. I pout and follow after them.

  “Why would she be your attendant?”

  My uncle just chuckles at that.