Chapter 40
“Enough with the suspense, show me your status, Wesley.”
Wes took his time sharing his status with Nia, but eventually did so.
Name: Wesley of 29744C
Race: Human
Age: 27
Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day
Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,
Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,
Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription
Skills: N/A
Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,
Pacifists Envy
Trait(s): 3
Current Status: Healthy
Level 144
Savings: 8,787,128
Next Level: 4,299,816.96
Level 10 Exp Per Sec: .3456
Current Exp: 497,737
wager(+5)
Nia whistled in surprise. “That's a big improvement since the last time I saw you. After reading the report on what happened, I can assume which ability you used, but I want to be sure. It was Eternal Spark that killed all those clan members?”
Nodding yes, Wes added, “It used a ton of experience as well. More experience than all my other Abilities I’ve tried.”
“Are you implying that you haven’t used all your abilities yet?” Nia asked.
Wes explained, “Nope, the last two haven’t been touched yet, really. Vigilant is another one that is quite perplexing. Doesn’t really seem like a keen ability, considering all it does is raise my awareness slightly.”
“Have you tried dumping in a load of experience when activating it?”
Wes answered, “As I said, it was quite hard before when I was producing nothing. And now that I’m producing a healthy amount a day, I haven’t wanted to either since whatever I use will only set me back for my next level.”
Disappointment played across Nia’s face, “Knowing your abilities is more important than your next level. If you don’t know how to use them, how are they supposed to help you when you find yourself in a precarious position?”
Wes raised his hand and pushed back, “I get all that, but at my current rate, it will take me another hundred twenty-something True days to hit my next level. That’s not even including my Party Chat usage or anything else.”
Nia nodded along to Wes’s words, but sighed, “Explain to me what you know about your abilities, and I will see if I can help you prioritize.”
Over the next couple of hours, the two sat together in serious conversation about Wes’s abilities. Nia tried to convince him of the idea that no ability should be wasted. Knowing that he didn’t want to waste valuable experience on abilities he saw no use for, Wes would push back and explain his reasoning.
After a rather drawn-out back-and-forth, Nia had convinced Wes to prioritize Vigilant. Her reasoning was that if he were able to learn to use the ability efficiently, he could notice assassination attempts earlier.
Nia had acquiesced to Wes when it came to Stopwatch. Although she wanted him to tinker with it more, she agreed that he could put that one on hold. Surprisingly, Nia also argued that Deviant could be a powerful ability if he could somehow get it to stop alerting people. She, of course, warned him that if she caught him using it on her, he would cease to exist. The only other point of contention was that Wes wanted to be more frugal with his experimenting since he had no way of knowing how much experience he was using. He couldn’t feel his experience going down in the same way that most people could feel their mana going down.
Eventually, Wes agreed with Nia’s reasoning that if he didn’t practice using them, he would always use the maximum amount of experience possible. After Wes’s time on the training planet, he had gotten his H20 ability around forty percent more efficient from the first time he activated it.
Having a hunch, Wes explained that he believed his abilities' usage depended on how closely he understood them. He hoped that, as with H20, he would be able to augment their usage so long as he stayed within the natural guard rails of the ability.
Mostly agreeing with him, Nia instead chose to point out that they would find those guardrails without experimentation.
With that in mind, Nia was excited to be present for the activation of Wes’s only ability he hadn’t used up to that point. Superscription was an ability that, according to Nia, promised to be quite valuable if it was what she thought it was.
Without any buildup, Wes activated the ability for the first time and was subsequently bombarded with information. Gasping, Wes tried to form the words to explain what he was seeing for Nia, but every millisecond, he would dart his eyes over to another object.
“What is happening, Wesley?” Nia asked.
“It’s. . . It’s hard to explain. I. . . I uh. . . I can see what everything is.” Wes answered.
“Details, little one. Details!” Nia demanded.
Looking at Nia again, he was quite peeved that his new ability couldn’t discern everything he was seeing. Bringing up his status, Wes saw that it drew 1 experience per second it was active, which was a tremendous score for him. After taking in his status and seeing that its expenditure didn’t increase, he tried explaining what he was seeing. “I’m seeing all these little words over the things I’m focusing on. They tell me what it is, and sometimes what it's made out of, too. It’s also telling me your name, as well as. . .” Wes hesitated, “It’s also letting me know that your level is at least in the thousands.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Nia commanded, “Be specific.”
“Sorry, when I look at you or other things, it just naturally tells me what they are. Looking at you, it tells me your name as well as your level. But your level has four question marks. I’m just guessing that it means your level is in the thousands, each question mark being a placeholder.” Wes explained.
Nia’s smile was gone. “Is that all you can see about me?”
“Well, let me try and see if I can see more by dumping more experience into it.”
Focusing on Nia, Wes tried thinking about what he wanted to happen. Just as he had with his other abilities. For a moment, nothing happened, but eventually the number furthest to the right was revealed. Wes called out while trying to maintain focus. “Your last number is 6.”
A few seconds later, Wes said, “The next is a 3.”
Ten more seconds passed by, “Followed by a 7.”
“The last number is a. . . is a, ugh. . . 4!” Wes yelled.
Excitement overtaking Wes, he shouted, “Your level is 4736!”
Nia sat back, stunned at Wes revealing her exact level. At the same time, Wes pulled up his status.
Name: Wesley of 29744C
Race: Human
Age: 27
Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day
Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,
Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,
Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription
Skills: N/A
Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,
Pacifists Envy
Trait(s): 3
Current Status: Healthy
Level 144
Savings: 4,183,153
Next Level: 4,299,816.96
Level 10 Exp Per Sec: .3456
Current Exp: 2.7648
wager(+5)
Wes groaned, “No, no, no. That’s just not fair.”
Nia snapped out of her malaise after hearing Wes’s complaints. “Not fair, you just revealed my complete level! Do you not understand what you’ve just done?”
Burying his face in his hands, Wes complained. “But I lost like five million experience.”
Nia stood up and walked over to Wes. She grabbed his wrist and brought him to his feet. Looking deep into his eyes, she said, “You have just done something that I never knew was possible. Don’t ever tell anyone about this ability. Even though I could feel something happening, I doubt I would have been able to stop it.”
Dejected, Wes replied, “Just another secret I have to keep.”
“No, Wesley. You do not understand, as amazing as your traits may be, if the other gods found out about this one ability, they would still kill you. They would not try to capture you. No, they would just want you dead. My first reaction was to end you.”
Finally meeting Nia’s eyes, Wes asked, “Why?”
“Information is power. Knowing an enemy's exact strength is a luxury no one else in the universe has.” Nia let go of Wes’s wrist and took a step back while leaning against her desk.
“Probably shouldn’t say this then, but I felt like I could keep going.”
“What do you mean?” Nia asked.
“I felt like I could dump more experience into it; it's hard to explain. I couldn’t feel my experience, of course, but just something in the back of my mind told me I could keep going. I would have too, if not for the excitement.” Wes explained.
Leaning back further onto her desk, Nia was at a forty-five-degree angle, looking up at her ceiling. “Okay, new plan, if you ever come across a powerful seer, they will be able to tell you have a seer ability as well. If it ever comes up, just say it's useless. All it does is tell you the names of things you already know.”
Nodding in agreement, Wes fell back into his seat. The two sat together in silence, Nia on her desk and Wes in his chair.
__________
Half a True day had passed since Nia had brought Wes back. After they sat in silence, Wes asked if he should spin for his new abilities. Nia told him to hold off until he had more experience saved, since he didn’t know all the numbers on the wheel.
That, in conjunction with not wanting to use the lesser game, made Wes agree with Nia’s thinking. That’s how Wes found himself sitting alone out by the pool off the main atrium. As soon as he left his personal quarters, the families seemed to sense that he needed space. When in reality, all he wanted was something, anything to take his mind off things.
Wes had not been a big secret guy before awakening. He, of course, kept things from Marny, but nothing life-altering. To Wes, it was starting to feel like he could never be himself around anyone ever again. He wanted nothing more than to share with the girls the words of his traits, but with Nia’s warnings, he knew that that would not be such a good idea.
Needless to say, it all made Wes feel muted about his future. He did hold some excitement for his future still, but couldn’t help but wonder if it was going to be a future he could enjoy. Not being able to be open with anyone would always mean he was, in a sense, lying to them. Or he would have to lie to them.
Thankfully, someone came and distracted him from his thoughts.
“Hello, Master Wesley. I’m sorry if I am bothering you, but I wanted to formally introduce myself. My name is Raegar from 23407A.”
Wes looked up at Orthol’s young son; he resembled Orthol a little. Not to the same degree as all the men in Argyros' family. It was more natural, but he could see Orthol’s brown hair and bushy eyebrows.
“It’s nice to meet you, Raegar. Why don’t you join me and sit down?” Wesley pointed to the seat beside him.
“I wouldn’t want to bother you, Master Wesley,” Raegar replied.
Sighing, Wes asked, “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to stop with that Master Wesley stuff?”
“Forgive me, but that is not something that would be wise for me. My training with Teacher Rocen was quite in-depth. And although I do not know how you will be using me, I have been told that I will be taking my father's side as your servant, along with Mr. Mordune.” Raegar explained.
Wes took a moment to look over Raegar. He found him stiff and dry. His clothes were not like Orthol’s. Where Orthol wore a lesser suit, Raegar’s outfit was more relaxed. Standard training pants with leather at the knee. His shirt was a simple tunic with no overcoat. Considering that Raegar went with more comfortable attire, Wes couldn’t help but wonder why he insisted on keeping up the appearance of a servant.
Deciding to tease him, Wes said, “You forgot about my other servant.”
Confused, Raegar tilted his head slightly.
“I mean, Dozel, of course.”
Raegar fumbled, “Oh, forgive me, Master Wesley. I was under the assumption that she was going to be a lady of the house.”
Standing up, Wes saw that he only came up to Raegar’s shoulder. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. Truth be told, she will be my first wife. And no, she is not a servant, so don’t treat her as such.” Stepping past Raegar, he patted his shoulder one last time and said, “Sorry if I put you on the spot. Used you to let off a little steam.”
Raegar turned and bowed, “That is quite all right, Master Wesley. I am here in your service.”
Wes stopped and said without turning around, “Seriously, you don’t have to do all that. We will be spending a lot of time together, going forward, I mean. And I prefer to keep my conversations casual. Probably hard for you to consider doing now, but I hope that you can keep it in mind.”
As Wes departed, Raegar righted himself, “I will try and keep that in mind, Master Wesley.”
Waving his hand, Wes added, “Find me or the girls if you need anything.”
