abcnovels
Chapter 177: Man of Action
Chapter 177: Man of Action
Chapter 177: Man of Action
“Men of action are favoured by the goddess of luck.”
George S Clason
As I placed my hand in hers, we drew the god's attention, but it was too late.
Status Permission granted to Fortuna.
With a flicker, my status sheet was brought up and changed. I watched the flickering numbers revelling in the burst of power that flew through me as my status updated. I was reborn anew. I felt twice as fast and robust and could not wait to witness the effects when I returned to reality.
Level: 33 -> 42
Title: Lord
Métier: Singer Lv 9 -> 11
Metier: Sailor Lv 6 -> 10
Metier: Merchant Lv 2 -> 5
Name: Callen Kai Caelus Silversea
Age: 6 years (Old World 8yrs) 4 months
General Experience: 321,000 /1,638,400
Health: 1560/1560 Stamina: 1560/1560 Mana: 1560/1560 Psi: 1560/1560
Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength, Charming, Lucky
Vitality: 112 -> 156
Endurance: 112 -> 156
Strength: 112 -> 156
Dexterity: 112 -> 156
Senses: 112 -> 156
Mind: 112 -> 156
Clarity: 112 -> 156
Magic: 112 -> 156
Charisma: 112 -> 156
Luck: 112 -> 157
Free Points: 371 -> 441 points reassigned -> 0
“I assigned your locked stats and those received for creating the feeding frenzy.” She whispered inside my head. “We did not have time to delay.” So she spoke in my mind as she turned to face the other eight gods staring at her suddenly revealed presence.
“Fortuna, you favour us with your presence.” Feng Po Po was the quickest to notice the new goddesses' presence and respond the rest joined him in welcoming her. “I assume you are responsible for the mortal’s early arrival.”
She inclined her head as if considering the question leaving the answer up to interpretation.
“What draws you here?” asked Njal, his voice booming from his giant form.
“The prayer drew my attention.” She calmly answered, turning her head to face them all. I could not help but notice that she had no seat in the circle. We were still at the centre of the eight, meaning we always had at least three gods behind us no matter which direction we faced.
“Yes, it drew all of our attention.” Answered Vayu. “That began the problem. The quarrelling of the rest kept it going. The Church’s insistent on balanced attributes causes more problems than it solves.”
“That is not the issue we were discussing.” Feng Po Po. “We were discussing champions.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but have you not already chosen your champions for this cycle.” The goddess asked.
“Yes, but . . .” Feng Po Po started to speak.
But was interrupted, “All but you.” by Zael, who stood behind us.
“Then I would like to claim him as my champion.” She stated.
“We already agreed he would be mine,” interjected Feng Po Po alarmed.
“He is a little larger than your usual champions. Besides, I have precedence. After all, his Zenith is in Luck. Look at his status.” She shrugged once more as if the outcome had never been in question.
The undivided attention of eight gods bore down on my status. My block status did little to halt their inspection. However, I could feel it levelling under pressure as it continued to run. It was rapidly levelling up through the levels as they stared at me and digested the changes in my status.
Had they yet to be aware to start with?
Block Status Lv5
-> Lv13
-> Lv21
-> Lv 29
-> Lv 37
-> Lv 45
-> Lv 53
-> Lv 61
-> Lv 69
-> Lv 77
-> Lv 85
-> Lv 93
-> Lv Max
Tier 4 Block Status Skill evolution -> Tier 5 Enigma Lv1
“What did you do?” Feng Po Po shouted.
“Who is he?” Shango asked.
“That is not a child,” Njal stated.
“He is not even human,” Era added.
“He was.” Objected Fortuna. “Fortune favours the bold.”
“Or saves the idiots from their blunders.” Zael was less impressed.
It appeared that while all-powerful, the gods of this world were not all-knowing. My untimely arrival was all down to Fortuna. They had not even inspected me, so wrapped up were they in their deliberations. Or perhaps they had and were feigning ignorance to critique her further.
“As you can see, I have the prime stat above all eight of yours. And . . .” She stressed halting any Gods interruptions. “I have not chosen a champion for this cycle. It is within my rights. I will be answering his prayer.” She stated unequivocally.
While it looked like some of them would still like to argue her definition of reality, none spoke up. Instead, each nodded in acceptance before disappearing from the hall, some with more reluctance than others, until it was just the two of us standing alone in the Hall of the Gods.
“Time is short, and the amount I can interfere with is limited.” She stated before I could begin asking questions. “Listen to me first; questions can come second.” She forestalled me. “When you return to your body with the increased stats, your cores will be formed in seconds. The mana manacles will not be able to halt their formation; they will bend but not break. However, your current captors will sense the explosion of mana, which will, in all likelihood, put a hole in the side of the boat and instantly be on top of you. You will have seconds to leave before they descend on you without your mana. It would be best if you fled through the side of the boat across the backs of the serpents. Using only your stamina and your Psi.” She stated this as if it was the only option.
I rubbed my head, nodding as I listened. I could do this until she said psi. After that, I couldn’t . . .
“You can.” She stopped my thought before it was completed. “You have already given me the rudder, but remember, luck is blind. You will need to do this blindfolded. You can afford no distractions; let me lead you. After all, this is a blind leap of faith.” She had finally finished.
“How?” I whispered, worried that she was asking the impossible of me.
“Follow my lead.” She held her hand out once more.
Closing my eyes, I placed them in hers. I stepped forward as she led me on, then back, feeling the pressure on her hands to guide me. I had twenty dancing levels, but she soon pressed me to my limit. Led side to side, spun and lifted. I kept my eye closed, following every lead she made as she continued to cycle faster and faster. We were sprinting through steps, twisting side to side while stepping back, then leaping forward, sometimes high, sometimes low. My footing rose and fell as if stepping moving stones, not the cold still stone floor I had stood on previously. I was no longer dancing with a god but a phantom, a golden light that led me ever onward.
Throughout the whole of it. I felt my Dance skill levelling.
Dance (LV20)
-> Lv30
-> Lv40
-> Lv50
-> Lv60
-> Lv70
-> Lv80
-> Lv90
-> Lv100
And as my feet started leaving the uneven floor to step up into the air, I gained a new skill. To keep up with the Goddess as we danced through the sky.
Air Stepping (Lv1)
-> Lv10
Before we abruptly returned to the stone floor of the Hall of the Gods. “That is all that we have time for.” I came to a sudden halt, almost stumbling at the quick dismount from her guidance. Still, her hand in mine again steadied me, no longer a disembodied golden thread in my mind. The skill growth had been insane—the benefit of dancing with a goddess.
“Thank you,” I whispered—genuine gratitude at the guidance and help she had given me. My outcome was no longer so bleak with the skills, stats and circumstances she had set up. I could do this.
“Yes, you can.” She smiled goodbye, and she and the hall of gods disappeared.
Reality reasserted itself. I was curled on my side, facing the hull of the boat. A high-pitched whine was emitting itself from the manacles I was bound with. I wondered what would burst first, my eardrums, the manacles or the hull. The pitch rose higher than even I, with my extended range, could hear, although I winced as much at the pressure in my head as the pain they felt burning into my skin.
There was a second of blessed silence, then an explosion of force. I was unhurt, being at the very epicentre of it with it pushing out in all directions, but it blew my hands and feet apart, breaking the binding cables. It also left a sizeable hole in the floor, ceiling and wall while the door to my holding cell had blown off.
I did not wait for a second more before pulling the blindfold down to hide the feeding frenzy I was about to step out onto. Then, muttering, “Luck is blind,” I took a leap of faith as I attempted to follow the golden thread I could feel leading me out of the side of the galley.
It was as if I was once more dancing with a partner, stepping forward and back on uneven footing, my air step flaring when required, a dart here and there to make leaps into the unknown, always landing securely or if I not and I was sliding down the slippery back of another eel it would be to bounce off in a different direction—always propelled forward always making my way out of the feeding frenzy that still surrounded the galley. I followed the golden thread trusting my fortune to fate and its guidance.
. . .
A minute earlier, on deck
“It had gone so swimmingly,” Cursed the warrior Junaid as he continued to fend off the sea serpents that had not yet given up attempting to get a taste of human flesh rather than their siblings.
“You’ll swim in a minute if you don’t keep cutting.” Cursed the captain. Despite his new prize, Sinbad was distinctly unhappy about the damage to his ship. The rudder and sail could be replaced quickly enough given time, but the runes to his hull work would be a challenge to replace so far from the compass continent and civilisation. He rubbed at his ear in annoyance.
The rogue Farris also looked around, “Do you hear that?” He asked, right eye twitching at a sound quickly disappearing from range.
Ramil was not looking around but somewhat down past his feet through the deck.
“We need to . . .” Unfortunately, he did not get to finish his sentence when with a thump, the galley rolled to the side with an explosion from the port side. They rushed to the side to see the damage only to see the child jump out of it to his death, though the idiot did not know it as he was still blindfolded. The captain had to admire the bravery of the little mage to take to the water with his mana bound, although it appeared he had managed to break the chains that bound his manacles somehow.
“Can you grab him when he hits the water?” He asked Ramil; the boy was still falling. If they could get him back in more or less one piece, Haakim should be able to keep him alive. The child was worth a prince's ransom to the right buyer with his potential. Especially if he was bound to a house at such a young age and his growth was directed to their specifications. He was not even old enough to have unlocked his stats which made his proficiency with magic all that more impressive.
But the boy never hit the water.
As if choreographed, he stepped down onto a serpent's head before leaping off it to the right just before another snake struck the first. Then, sliding sideways in the air, he leapt forward in a tumble that had him rolling down the rising back of another serpent to stand up as its tail flicked him further away from the vessel.
Captain Sinbad blinked, shocked as if to confirm what his eyes were showing him.
The boy waltzed, leapt, pirouetted, even slid backwards down rising serpents as long as it propelled him away, and he did this all blindfolded as if dancing with the serpents. His movements were timed so well. Then he stopped dead, still on nothing but air as one crossed in front of him and another behind.
He turned stunned to Ramil. “His mana is bound, no?”
“The chains are broken, but his mana is still bound. He is positively brimming with it but has not used it.”
“Then how do you explain that!” He shouted, pointing once more as the boy leapt off solid air. Stamina-based skills could do a lot, but they were still bound to physical movements. You needed access to mana to be walking on air.
“I cannot. All I can say is it is not his mana he is using.” Ramil frowned, unafraid of the exasperated captain.
“Farris, go and get him.” He shouted at the rogue, the one person who might be able to keep up with him.
“I’m not fool enough to attempt that. I don’t know what skill he is using to achieve that, but it is one I don’t have. Sure, I could run to him, but I'm not sure I could prevent myself from being ripped in two on the way. Again, I’m not confident enough to attempt that.”
“But the money,” He gestured at his damaged boat.
“Is not worth that.” Farris refused even to attempt.
“Ramil?” he quizzed.
“Too far. And even if he weren’t, the manacles that prevent him from using his own mana would also disrupt any mana I attempted to use on him directly. So any actions I took would more likely end up with him feeding the serpents.”
“We can't just let it end like this.” He shouted, frustrated, returning to wailing on the serpents that had grown bold in the short time they had spent focusing on their escapee.
“I think we will have to,” Bahis interjected. “We are hardly in a fit state to chase after them, and he was never the target in the first place. However, we have passed the island where we believe Captain Kashif docked. That is our target, lest you forget.”
. . .
Eventually, the golden thread led me to step onto a wooden deck. Echolocation, Seismic and Sense and Sonar informing before I found myself wrapped in my father’s crushing hug, just who this boat belonged to. I reached up to remove the blindfold and hugged him back.
“Time to go home?” I asked, relieved to have made it out of the feeding frenzy back onto a boat not being battered by monsters, a boat I felt safe on.
“Time to go home.” He said as he raised the sails. We slowly picked up speed as we finally left our pursuers behind.
. . .
I sat in silence, contemplating the shifts in my understanding of the world and the increases in my status. From a certain angle, it had been a very profitable couple of months despite the disaster that had been today. I could not wait to get the manacles off. Though how we were going to live this down, I did not know. We would end up having Arawn as a babysitter for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, we had pirates to scupper and slaves to free. We were not just going to let them get away with that!
Level: 42
Title: Lord
Métier: Singer Lv 11
Metier: Sailor Lv 10
Metier: Merchant Lv 5
Name: Callen Kai Caelus Silversea
Age: 6 years (Old World 8yrs) 4 months
General Experience: 321,000 /1,638,400
Health: 1560/1560 Stamina: 1560/1560 Mana: 1560/1560 Psi: 1560/1560
Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength, Charming, Lucky
Vitality: 156
Endurance: 156
Strength: 156
Dexterity: 156
Senses: 156
Mind: 156
Clarity: 156
Magic: 156
Charisma: 156
Luck: 157
Free Points: 0
Skills Tier 1:
Singing (LV75 -> 79) Sailing (LV75 -> 79) Trading (LV75) Meditation (LV75) Time Sense (LV75 -> 79) Knots (LV50) Draw (LV50) Listening (LV50) Stitching (LV50) Humming (LV50) Drumming (LV50 -> 55) Whistling (LV50) Sneak (LV50->55) Ambidextrous (LV20)Farming (LV50) Acting (LV50 -> 55) Balance (LV51 -> 54)Insight (LV41-> 45) Glide (LV40 -> 45) Poise (LV41) Grace (LV41) Charm (LV40) Composure (LV40) Lie (LV20 -> 25) Appeal (LV20) Ambidextrous (LV20-> 25) Sight (LV20) Scent (LV20) Detect (LV20) Taste (LV20) Silent Step (LV20 -> 25) Deft touch (LV20) Posture (LV20) Dance (LV20-> Lv100)Inspect (LV21 -> 25)Riding (LV20) Cook (LV20) Sketching (LV20) Drafting (LV20) Blacksmithing (LV10) Carpentry (LV10) Mining (LV10) Teaching (LV10) Measurement (LV 10) Etiquette (LV20)
Tier 2:
Sense Mana (LV60 -> 63)Quick reflexes (LV60 -> 63)Eavesdrop (LV60-> 63) Linguistics (LV40) Memorisation (LV40) Recall (LV40) Composition (LV40) Pain Tolerance (LV30 -> 35) Stealth (LV30 -> 34)Spellcraft (Lv50 -> 54) Spellsong (Lv50) Order (LV40) Transplant (LV20) Misdirection (LV20 -> 22) Knife Arts (LV20 -> 22) Haggling (LV20) Mind Sense (LV21->25) Observe (LV20 ->25)Martial Arts (LV20 -> 22) Cruising (LV10 -> 16) Poison Tolerance (LV10) Treasure Sense (LV5) Intimidation (LV5 -> 6) Dart (Lv 11 -> 18) Heal (Lv10 -> 13)
Tier 3:
Expel Mana (LV60 -> 62) Mana Manipulation (LV60 -> 62)Gale(LV60 -> 63)Echolocation(LV60-> 62) Absorb Mana (LV40) Boil (LV50) Ignite (LV40) Melt (LV40) Command (LV40) Freeze (LV20) Bargain (LV20) Deception (LV21 -> 23)Analyse (LV10 -> 12)Racing (LV10 -> 14) Smuggling (LV5) Seismic Sense (LV11)Flash Step (Lv11 ->13) Danger Sense (Lv2 -> 4) Telepathy (Lv1)
Tier 4:
Parallel Processing (LV36 -> 37) Stone shaping (LV30) Material Manipulation (LV30 -> 31)Mana Drain (LV 30) Seafaring (LV5 -> 6) Block Status(LV5 -> LVMAX) Flight (LV16 -> 17) Iron Man (LV63 -> 64)Sonar (Lv1) Air stepping (Lv1 ->10)
Tier 5:
Mind fortress (LV21)Multiple minds (LV3) Omniglot (LV25) Polymath (Lv10) Weapon Prodigy (Lv20->21) Music Prodigy (Lv30->31) Enigma (Lv1)