Chapter 22: Loneliness

I did it! I capped my Sense Mana! Now Just need to level up my bond!

But the next thing that happened shocked me. Mana began condensing into my eyes wraps! The mana began changing, transforming into a unique form of mana. So much mana poured into my eyes wraps that it looked like a shining light to me. Then the unique mana of the eye wraps seeped into me as my Kyhosa did. It's how the magic item empowers its wearer.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't get a notification of a new breakthrough, I am not ready for it just yet, but I know I am very close now. If I do what I did to learn a person's mana but for magic items instead then I should achieve it. I also would require knowing or figuring out what my eye wraps do now.

Although I was now in the mood to celebrate I wonder what my parents are talking about. I crept closer and pressed my ear to the wall. Although the voices were muffled, the Runalymo's hearing is good enough.

"We should at least wait until Aly has a chance to teach what she knows." Mom said.

"Tusile is just using her! She doesn't care about her well-being!" Dad grumbled.

"Tusile is just trying to care for the village. She knows that sometimes sacrifices must be made" Aunty said

"Aly is my child, not a sacrifice!"

"Tusile has made good decisions after good, If she had let you forbid Aly's usage of her cursed skill none of us would be here" Aunty rebutted. "Now she wants to make it so Aly doesn't have to make the same sacrifice! Can't you see that?!"

"Chozu is right, Kanato. Ever since Tusile became an elder this village has grown more than ever, becoming one of the largest."

Dad sighed and sat down. "I know, it's just... Why Aly? Why our little Aly?"

"Because she's special, a genius. You know how fast she learned the flute, you know how fast she leveled her bond, her Sense Mana, It takes years to do what she has done."

I was starting to feel a little sick. If home isn't a place to get away from all those misconceptions then where can I go?

I start to wander, not paying too much attention to where I am going. My feet found sand and soil. I am on the island, endless rows of fruit-bearing trees stood over me. I walked along the beach, feeling the sand between my toes until I came upon a boulder.

The boulder had lines of icy blue on its surface. Paths of ice mana coursed through the stone like lightning bolts frozen in time.

I sat on the cold stone and played the flute I still had with me. I didn't feel like playing what I was working on so I just played whatever notes I felt like playing at the time. It was a slow lonely melody. A lone tune with none else to accompany it.

Ting! Musician has obtained level 17!

I stayed there until the after-work bathing time. I would worry my parents if I don't show up so I walk back to the village. I don't know why I feel this way, most people would be delighted to be thought of as special, as someone in some ways better than everyone else. For me, however, I felt left out, Like I was by myself on a tiny island that everyone avoided

"What's wrong?" Mom asked as we removed our clothes.

"Nothing. I managed to max my Sense Mana." Although I shared the good news my tone didn't speak about my enthusiasm.

"Normally you'd be jumping up and down about it. Why not?" Mom Interrogated.

"Just don't feel like it" I gave a vague reply and dipped in the waters.

Mom gave me a hug. "Aly, what's wrong?" Mom asked again.

"I... don't know. Everyone says that I’m a genius but I'm not. The system gives me an advantage but that's not me, not my efforts. My race evolution gave me a bonus to learning arts, that's how I am so fast at learning the flute, but that's just an artificial boost."

Mom was silent for a moment before speaking.

"What about your bond? You learned it at such a young age."

"Just tried it one day. I already knew about mana and knew my bond was about beauty essence so I just pushed that mana out. That's all it was, I just tried something."

Mom sighed. "That's what one would call a genius, Aly. Most people can't just 'push out' their bond, it takes weeks of practice and failure" Mom pet my head and ears, trying to comfort me.

"How can it take weeks of practice? I taught the other kids in one day. Sounds like bad teaching to me" I criticized. Mom cringed at that.

"Well, what about your Sense Mana skill? You have it at such a high level already, it takes decades to reach one hundred in a skill."

"I... Had an advantage" I said, not ready to open pandora's box yet, whatever that was. "But it's not because I am talented. I also have to use it every waking second so of course I'd get good at it. Besides, I only started leaving it fast once I realized how skills gained levels"

"Oh? And that is?" Mom asked. I am glad she didn't pursue my "advantage" so I answer her.

"Skill levels are a measurement of knowledge and proven ability. Five levels are gained for each. The action levels can be further broken down, you get one level from normal usage, from repeated usage, from extended use, from an extraordinary usage or situation, and from a lot at once" I said.

"Then why does the maximum skill level increase with each breakthrough?" It was a fair question.

"Because each breakthrough levels independently from each other. They all come with their own one through ten; five action levels, and five knowledge. By keeping track of these I can know what I have yet to do which makes achieving the levels a lot easier."

Mom facepalmed. "Aly, You are a genius, no one's figured that out! But you did, how old were you when you figured that out?"

"Three, four? It took me a long time."

"Aly, the fact you can even remember when you were one year old is impressive in itself, but to figure this stuff out at the age of three?! Not to mention you've been memorizing your skills levels. Is it just for one skill or all of them?"

"Most of the ones that I've bothered to sort out anyway. But memorizing things isn't the same!" I stubbornly argued.

Mom sighed again with another facepalm. "Aly, what's your base intelligence and wisdom stat at?"

"Thirty-two intelligence and twenty-eight wisdom, what does that have to do with anything? I am sure your stats are a lot higher."

"Aly, the average is sixteen intelligence and fourteen wisdom, you literally have twice the base intelligence and wisdom as an average person! It doesn't matter if mine is higher, my class has boosted them but that's not the base. When you level up in your class you get fifteen points, for each point you spend you increase your chosen stat by a tenth of its base. Also, your class increase doesn't make you smarter!"

Mom just doesn't get it does she?

"That's my point! Intelligence only increases learning ability and wisdom increases memorization! You can't just put a number on smartness. Everything I've accomplished is because of the system augmenting me, none of it is through my own talent yet everybody keeps praising me for it!"

We remained silent for several minutes.

"Aly, The system is part of us. Just as much as our own body is. We direct our bodies just as we direct the system. Our actions and accomplishments factor into the evolution of our system and our system empowers us just as our bodies do. Without a mind we cannot think, without a body we cannot move, and without the system, we cannot use magic. It is only the thing that allows us to do what we do but it is the user behind the system that really matters."

I didn't say anything in return, she's half right. Dad showed up late to the baths just as we were getting out. Back at home I put on my Kyhosa and frustratedly practiced with my fairies and tried doing new things with my skills.

Danger seemed to have an effect at the rate I gained levels. I gained a lot of levels during the super storm. Could sparing really help me level faster?

The days flew by, I spent most of my time working on my bond. Every time I go out people would idolize me and praise me. It felt suffocating. I spent the days at home or sitting on the ice boulder.

"Why don't you play with the other kids anymore?" Dad asked. We are currently on a boat to Temple Island. Dad, as usual, is rowing.

"Why does everyone have to keep praising me, calling me their savior? I'm called a genius at everything I do but no one sees the effort I put into what I do." I complained

We spent several minutes in silence before Dad spoke. "People don't want to see the effort and pain it takes to get good at something" It was such a simple yet very humanizing thing. "If people acknowledge the pain and effort then they'd have to acknowledge that they can achieve similar results if only they walk down the same path of dedication and pain. But it's simpler and easier to say others can do more simply because they are better" Mom looked a little hurt but then she had thoughtful look.

We arrived to see a several dozen people, young and old, waiting for me. To my surprise, a good quarter of them is wearing eye wraps. Even the last surviving priestess of the temple is among them. There must be around sixty people, it's honestly a little frightening.

Are we supposed to start training here? Right now? They seem to be waiting for something.

"U-um-umm, T-th-thank y-you for c-coming." I weakly stutter, completely lost as to what to say.

"We want to be able to protect others so more villages aren't lost," one of the people said, walking forward. She is a middle-aged woman who had a hollow look in her eyes. "I am the only survivor of my village. I lost my husband, my children, everything and everyone. This is all I have left, So please, if you can teach us how to save other villages as you have yours then please teach us!" She said with a bow. She earned a few nods of approval from the other trainees.

I buried my nerves and stood up straight.

"F-first you must empty your mind. Empty it of all thoughts and emotion. Then you must expand your mind to reach out for the mana that surrounds you, feel for the mana but don't try to manipulate it. Just observe it"

As so everyone closed their eyes and did what I told them. I waited. And waited. And waited. It was a few hours in that the first person cheered for getting the skill. I saw how her unique mana shifted as she gained a new skill, one that looked very similar to mine. I also noticed that Mom is now lacking something in her mana signature. I look at Dad's and she's missing one too, although that's to be expected she had two essence sights and this skill is a direct upgrade and will incorporate both.

"I got it!" A girl giggled. She looks to be about sixteen and was one of the ones wearing the eye wraps. "And I got a Breakthrough too!"

Slowly, one by one more announced their success, the first breakthrough everyone got, sensing mana in a mana-rich place. About twenty percent got it on the first day and as we ended the workday I explained how skills work for them.

"Keep track of what levels you got. Most likely you got the normal usage of action. Once all of you get the skill I'll start explaining the knowledge and you should start getting more levels. I'll also explain the breakthroughs once you get more levels. The first five are easy to get and are likely beginner tier, the next is harder. Intermediate tier should only be possible to get after level fifty under normal circumstances.”

The next day, I came to see about half had gotten the skill. Seems like they continued training even after we left. After the end of the second day, only seven people needed the skill. I noticed how mom now has a very similar new skill in her mana signature. She really is trying to understand me more, even giving up one of her general skills slots. Dad unsurprisingly had gotten her's on the first day, probably prior experience with her previous skills.

I decided not to say anything. They probably want to surprise me.

Everyone got the skill by the end of the third day and I started explaining the very basics of mana. The average level gained was two for base skill knowledge. I said that once everyone has their knowledge at four and has normal, repeated, and extended use action levels that I'd teach them the next breakthrough.

This has been a very surreal experience. I am only five yet everyone seems to acknowledge that they aren't dealing with a five-year-old. I am being treated as an adult in the body of a five-year-old, which I probably am, but my lack of personal memories is letting me grow into a different person. A new person for a new life.