CHANGES pt 1.

  Michael was 9 years old. He thought he was an average boy, but when one looks at his stats…

  “Show Status.”

  Michael didn’t notice but he had the stats of a person who reached their 20th name day. Every child goes through 2 different changed. The first, at 10 years of age, grants a child a set amount of stat points to distribute, so 50, plus an amount based on their stats and skills. Some rumours have sprung up of a child that gained an extra 20 stat points. An unprecedented amount for someone so young. After the child distributes their stat points they will be able to choose a class path to walk through. The choices are Combat series, Silent series, Crafting series, or Healing series.

  For the second change, at age 20, the child will be able to choose a class. More info on that later.

  Michael’s stats were abnormal to say the least. Even if we do not count most of the stats, the Concentration stat was difficult to acquire and raise. You needed to first focus while under extreme duress in order to just gain the stat. Then to raise it requires constant distractions around while you train yourself to focus.

  Michael was different since he gained the stat before even being born. Then as a baby there are countless distractions and that served as a powerful sort of training for Michael. From then on the stat rose rather smoothly. The ‘Stored Rage’ stat and ‘Rage Release’ skill were usually only available for people that had been training for at least 20 years.

  “Show Skills. Show all skill details.”

  This duo phrase made various boxes appear in front of Michael.

  This skill leveled up mostly without Michael’s active notice. 9 years just get 9 levels…

  Honestly his best skill, the Mana needed to keep it up was incredibly high. Michael hoped it would decrease when it reached Intermediate.

  These 2 skills were drilled rather harshly by his mother. In the end, Michael had a rather large stockpile of health potions stocked up. Mana potions were an Intermediate level creation so they were more expensive. He had a dozen as a gift from his mother.

  Constant training from his father allowed Michael to level his skills rather quickly. Only a few more levels till Intermediate. His father also said fighting monsters to the death increased proficiency by a lot.

  The ‘Quickdraw’ skill was when Michael was experimenting on the uses of the skill. With the range of the sword he had an advantage unless he was facing a spearman. Michael also wanted to end battles quickly so he tried to strike right after he drew the blade. He was quick when he did it but it was still a slow attack. When he just swung the sword right out of its sheath he knew he had it. Constantly practising the skill made the information box come up…anyways…

  His dagger use was relatively small. As a defensive skill it was lacking if the person didn’t come close enough. As an offensive skill it was a little too strong to use in spars. He only managed to level it by constant dummy training.

  Michael didn’t even bother to use this skill. It was a rather hard skill to level and ‘Stored Rage’ was very hard to keep. Michael barely got angry at things so he only had 10 ‘Stored Rage’ to use.

  Along with these skills, Michael was also able to get…

  [/hr]

  “Now Michael come here.”

  Michael was working in the Alchemy lab and was trying to make a stronger health potion. Most of his earlier work made health potions that recovered 50 health but he wanted to make one that at least recovered 75. At his mother’s words though he stopped his work, cleaned up, and went to her.

  When he went to her private room opposite the Alchemy room - Michael had never seen the inside of either of his parent’s private rooms/offices - he was greeted with a different sight.

  His mother was in the middle of a miniature forest, Plants and trees of various sizes covered the walls and ground of the rooms. He recognized a few as the plants he used in his potions but the rest were unknown. Michael saw his mother at the end of a dirt path in the middle of the room.

  “Since you are old enough (7 years old btw) I should teach you my real craft. I tell everyone I’m an alchemist but thats just a side hobby I do with most of my time. Really though I’m a Green-Singer. I use my senses to control the magic of nature in order to grow some plants. My main goal is to keep endangered plants alive and well. Because of this goal, the plants I grow and keep are rather rare and expensive. Thats why this room is warded strongly by a friend of the family in order to keep out scrying magic and the like. Also anyone but family wouldn’t even notice the door to this room. Lots of security right?”

  She had a twinkle in her eye when she looked the gaping Michael. His concentration was totally blown by everything she said. Before he could even do anything however he was given another shock.

  “Since this ability is Hereditary I can finally teach you how to properly use this ability. Ohhh I’m so happy to finally have a student…”

  And she proceeded to crush Michael in a large hug.

  “M-mother...can’t...breathe…”

  “Oh I’m sorry dear. Well I guess we can start. First things first for you to get a grasp of Mana. First, close your eyes and concentrate on your surroundings. You should first notice the physical part. This includes everything your senses can touch like things you can physically touch, smell, hear, taste, and see. You need to look deeper than this. Peel off the cover of the physical and - “

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  Michael delved past the physical realm. He wasn't able to hear his mother anymore but he felt waves flowing to him and past. The plants that were there before instead turned into large pockets of energy and his mother was a glowing ball of power. She was also connected to each plant and he noticed she gave a bit of herself every second. Her glow never faded long however as she immediately recovered and started the process repeatedly. This glowing - fading - glowing process was hypnotic. Then the glow reached towards him and he was shaken.

  “-hael? MICHAEL!?”

  He heard his mother’s voice and opened his eyes to her worried face. When she saw that he was awake she hugged him again.

  “What happened!? You were unresponsive for a while! Are you alright?!?”

  “Yes, yes I’m alright. I just did what you said. I saw all these glowing stuff. The plants became green glows and you were a ball of bright yellow.”

  Michael’s mother was shocked. He was only concentrating for seconds yet he already was able to perceive Mana sources. With training he could become…

  Celia Kane, the Green-Singer and High Priestess of the forgotten Lady of the Land looked her son in the eyes.

  “We shall now seriously start training.”

  [/hr]

  This was a difficult skill to find uses for. Right now, Michael had attached himself to a mint plant. The property he gained from the plant was ‘breath will always smell minty’. He thought it was a good trade. His mana upkeep was .5 every 10 seconds while his recovery was around 14.5 mana per minute. He kept the connection on every day.

  Michael’s change day was in a few months.

  [/hr]

  The town of Bellen was situated inside the borders of the Old Kingdom of Jilr. The kingdom was around until 300 years ago when the mad King Jilr XXI went and attacked three of the great continental superpowers. The result was a 2 year war where one superpower was crushed by the other three. The damages were rather large however and the three leftover superpowers collapsed.

  In more recent times the town of Bellen was in close contact with several other towns across the Human land. A treaty was drawn 100 years back that stated any situation involving the need of all Human towns will task each town to provide 30% of their standing army to quickly finish off the invaders. If each town on average gives 600 troops because of this treaty, the end army would consist of 300, 000 veteran troops. The treaty offered a decisive conclusion to all threats against Human-kind.

  The town of Bellen was a large city that housed around 100, 000 humans. There were some other races that traded with the town but it was mainly a Human settlement. The town does not discriminate based on race and any actions against other races is the same as if the target was Human.

  Most of the land around the town was bare but there was a large stand of trees to the east of the city. Most say that the ‘forest’ was relatively safe but there have been legends and rumours associated with it. In the end, they just decided to name it ‘Forest of Dread’ because of the rumours and because most of the voters were young boys.

  It is this forest that Michael wandered into.

  [/hr]

  *crunch crunch*

  Dried leaves crunched under Michael’s boots as he traveled into the forest. He was looking for a better plant to connect to and he hoped to find one that offers a good property for him. Because he once read of a special plant in the middle of this forest in one of the many books in his house, he decided to do some old fashion searching.

  Several animals crossed his path but Michael ignored them as he continued to walk. He judged he was nearing the middle of the forest when a deep growl interrupted his musings. He looked around to see what crept up at him but found nothing. Then he heard the growl again followed by several more, but to the right of him. Michael used Stealth actively for once and crept up onto the noise.

  Peering through the foliage, Michael saw a standoff. Two large wolves, nearing the size of Dire Wolves he noted, was surrounding a smaller wolf. The larger wolves were incredibly injured but it didn’t seem that the smaller wolf was the cause. The smaller wolf didn’t move from it’s spot and the two wolves continued to creep closer.

  Michael was about to leave them to their business - he really didn’t care about wolf problems - when he saw what was underneath the smaller wolf. A silver plant peeked through and the leaves, shaped oddly square with a spiral in the center, was distinct. Especially against the black of the wolf’s fur. Michael knew that plant. It was the plant he was aiming for after all.

  So Michael took out a few projectiles. Small daggers that were weighted well and made for Michael’s child hands. Michael moved into position then swiftly threw the daggers. He didn’t aim for the head like an idiot but for their larger chests.

  Although the wolves turned towards the soft noise Michael made, they were not able to dodge the throws completely. Both of them took a dagger to the chest and collapsed on the spot. They had suffered a lot of damage earlier and with the daggers…

  Michael walked up to each of the wolves and swiftly pierced their hearts with his normal dagger. He avoided the smaller wolf until he was finished and both of them stared at each other for a while. Then…

  “Grrrr Thank you.”

  Michael was surprised. He didn’t expect it to talk. Yet he was raised to be polite.

  “It was no problem. Can I ask you a question?”

  The wolf only nodded, not taking it’s eyes off Michael.

  “Is that plant a Silven Plant?”

  A loud growl came from the wolf.

  “How do you know of it? Who are you that would enter the forest knowing about this plant?”

  “I am a Green-Singer. Well a son of one at least.”

  When Michael said the title he thought the wolf looked almost surprised. Then the wolf did a total change of his attitude and asked…

  “Please. Please help it.”

  The smaller wolf got out of the way of Michael and allowed him to approach. When Michael was close enough to examine it better but he didn't actually see any problems outright.

  “Instant analyzation.”

  Forcing it to do 4:1 Michael quickly surmised the problem. The plant was dying by the second and would soon wither away. He didn't know what the problem was but Michael turned off ‘Instant Analyzation’ and his connection to the mint plant. Then he quickly made a connection to the Silven Plant. He didn't want to overburden himself with too many plants, even if he could connect to two plants.

  He noticed his mana drop more quickly than before. Waiting a minute though he also saw his mana recover completely so he calmed down.

  “I did it. It should stay alive for as along as I keep this connection. What happened here anyways?”

  Michael directed these words to the wolf and waited.

  “My pack was directed by the Lady of the Land centuries ago. We were tasked to keep this plant alive for as long as possible. We do not know the reason why but we have kept back predators time and time again. Those two wolves you dealt with back there changed things however. They made a pact with each other and the power of two wolf packs under two powerful leaders overwhelmed us. I was the last to live and guard this plant.”

  Michael looked around. He only saw the two large wolf corpses and nothing else.

  “I don’t see any other corpses. And I haven’t heard of any such battle from others in the town.”

  “We fought far away from this area. Those two must have traveled for days just to reach here.”

  Michael nodded.

  “So what now young one?”

  “You must take and keep the plant safe young Green-Singer. It will be your responsibility now. I shall also travel with you if you will have me.”

  The wolf looked expectantly at Michael and when it saw Michael’s nod it looked relieved. Then it went to the plant and dug around it, careful not to damage the roots. It still made mistakes however and Michael saw his mana drop some when that happened.

  Michael collected the plant and covered it with a special cloth he brought just in case he did find the plant. Then he looked at the wolf and wondered what to do with it. The wolf bit its leg and thrust the leg at Michael.

  “Drink and form the contract.”

  Michael knelt and did as he was told. A flash emerged around the wolf and then it was replaced by…

  “You were a SHE!?!?!?”

  A naked girl rose from the place where the wolf was previously. She had waist length hair that covered nothing and Michael was floundering around a bit. Then he focused at just her face and thanked Janira for his Concentration stat.

  “We need to cover you. Here.”

  Michael handed over a cloak from his pack and managed to cover the girl rather well. He noticed she was a little younger than him and decidedly pretty. He tuned that thought right out.

  “I guess we should head back to town. Looking like that would be much better than bringing a wolf into town…”

  The girl just nodded and followed Michael.

  [/hr]

  On the way back to town, Michael noticed he had a lot of information boxes that needed to be read. So he focused on them.

  ‘...’

  “Show Presence.”

  ‘...’

  [/hr]

  Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes.