My mother cracked the wax seal on the letter and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned back and forth over the contents before a small smile spread across her lips, and she looked over to me. "Jeims, sweetheart, your daddy is coming home for a visit. He's finally coming to meet you."
The flat look on my face must have been telling because she chuckled. "Try not to think too badly of him; he's in an unfortunately important position because of the war and can't come home just yet."
We're at war? I haven't heard anything about that. Then again, most of the gossip I hear from the maids revolves around relationships and rumors about my grandmother. She's something of a folk hero around here. Slaying monsters, rescuing villages from bandits, saving damsels in distress, including my grandfather, it's all in a day's work for grandma Estelle, one of the rare wielders of an A-ranked Sortis.
A Sortis is the equivalent of an RPG character class. It's like a path for a person's power growth. It's less strict, however. Instead of gaining specific things at each level increase and your destination is locked in, you unlock potential. Less of a roadmap and more like a compass; you don't necessarily have a specific destination in mind and more of a general direction.
To highlight that theme, Sortis can evolve to higher tiers and more advanced Sortis. A D-ranked Warrior could evolve their Sortis to a C-ranked Soldier, Ranger, Duelist, or any number of lesser-known Sortis. There are a few known paths of advancement that can be taken. I'm not sure what grandma started as, but I know she is called a Sword Saint now. Which means she is pretty badass.
So, if she's such a badass and there is a war going on, why isn't she out there kicking ass and taking names? I think she told them no. Later that day, grandma Estelle was carrying me while mom took a bath. It really blew my mind that she was a grandmother. I know my mother is between eighteen and twenty years old, but grandma Estelle didn't look much older than that. Right now, though, she obviously had something on her mind and was using bouncing me around as a method to calm herself down.
I smiled, and she looked over at me, her dour expression softened because I'm fucking adorable, ask anyone. "Jeims, my sweet boy, don't grow up to be like these idiots. Fighting amongst themselves for scraps when there are real threats in the world. Wasting lives and resources that are better spent... Never mind that. Just know that this world is dangerous, and while I will always protect you and your mother, there are threats even I can't fight. So," she said, taking a deep breath. "I'll just have to make sure you can."
Ominous in more ways than one. I hope that's not foreshadowing. I'm rather fond of Estelle, and I don't want to see any crazy sacrifice plays being made by her or any of the people I've come to care about. It's not a very long list in this world; then again, I've only been in this world for a short time. The top priorities are the women in my life, Amelia, Estelle, Cindy, and Molly. I know it sounds weird; what's an infant going to do that a sword saintess can't. Well, can the sword saintess crush a piece of coal into a diamond with her mind? I mean, I can't either, but I'm getting closer.
One hundred times analysis and processing plus six months, you'd think I had this shit down, right? Let me tell you, a few things are holding back my progress. First, there are a lot of people around a baby. Sneaking in five minutes of practice without anyone noticing is already an absolute miracle. This is true partially because babies sleep an absolute ton. I can't even begin to express how utterly tired I am all the time. It's like adapting to this new body is taking up ninety-nine percent of my energy, and the other one percent goes to seeking out nutrients to power the whole thing. The other thing is I'm also trying to learn biokinesis as fast as possible.
Biokinesis comes with its own pitfalls in addition to all the ones that telekinesis has. The most significant one is practice. I don't just need time and energy; I also need a subject. I sure as hell am not practicing on myself or any of the other people around me. That's like begging for something to go wrong and start sprouting extra arms or, worse, to kill someone. Instead, I have to wait until I'm within range of a plant or a bug or something I can manipulate without massive consequences.
All in all, the amount of actual practice I've managed to get in six months is only around two hours a month. So, using my Quantum Intellect, it is effectively twelve hundred hours split eighty twenty between telekinesis and biokinesis. More than a month on telekinesis and almost two weeks on biokinesis. It's not enough, but I'm getting there, slowly. It's going to start moving faster as I fully adapt to my body. Speaking of which, other than listening in on the gossip and feeding, most of my remaining awake time is spent getting used to this body and improving my motor control.
I can walk and talk pretty well at this point, though I keep that on the down-low because it would be a bit shocking that a six-month-old has a better vocabulary than the current patriarch of the family. I'll do the 'mama dada' bit soon enough, but the walking in front of people will have to wait a couple of months. I'll help Molly to start walking too. Telekinesis as training wheels equals walking training for Molly and telekinetic training for me. It's a win-win. As far as my personal development of motor skills, I'm probably about a four-year-old, still a little wobbly and thick fingered. Once I can use biokinesis to optimize my own neural pathways and work the kinks out of the system, that should jump up quickly.
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That night, I'm settling down after an evening feeding, and I overhear mom and Cindy talking while Cindy is breastfeeding Molly. Something about their tones caught my attention, and my ears perked up.
"I meant to ask you," Amelia said, with a hint of embarrassment tinging her voice. "The other night, I was feeding Jeims, and I felt something."
Cindy's eyes widen a little, knowing where this is going as Amelia continues. "I wanted to check if it's normal with you. Normally, when I feed Jeims, there is a generally pleasant, relaxing feeling, but this time it was different."
Amelia leans in conspiratorially. "The feeling was so intense, I straight-up had an orgasm, and I don't mean just a small twinge. I mean, a full-body, panty-wetting orgasm. I had to change my clothes. Please, tell me I'm not the only mother ever to have that happen to."
Shit! When the hell did this happen. I always suppress my bloodline and aura when it's Amelia's feeding. I must have fallen asleep and lost control. Fuck!
"Oh, thank goddess, it isn't only me," Cindy sighed in relief. "I was worried I'd developed some sort of... problem."
"So, does this happen with Molly, too?"
"What? No, nothing like that. With Molly, it's just feeding, and while not unpleasant, it feels nothing like what happens with little Jeims."
"Do you think he's cursed?" Amelia asked, concern lacing her voice.
"Cursed? I doubt it. Who's ever heard of a curse that brings pleasure to those around them. That sweet boy, if anything, he's blessed."
I could think of several ways that it could be a curse, but in this case, she was right. I need to be more careful.
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The next day the manor becomes busy. Butlers and maids are bustling around cleaning, straightening, and organizing. Even the grandfather was bustling about shouting orders with bluster and flared nostrils, mustache waving in the hurricane-like bellows. Grandma Estelle rolled her eyes as the noise woke Molly from a nap.
"Come on, ladies, let's take this to practice yard. Amelia, you've slacked on your training for long enough; time to work off that baby weight," Estelle said.
I could feel my mother slump a little. Grandma Estelle does not fuck around when it comes to training. It makes me dread what's to come for me when I reach an age where they could reasonably put a sword in my hand.
An hour later, I was certainly dreading the coming years. Estelle's teaching style was to beat you black and blue by exploiting the holes you left in your defense. Effective but painful.
"Don't drop your guard," Estelle yells out, followed by a dull thwack as the practice sword slams into Amelia's shoulder. Amelia drops to her knees with a groan while clutching her shoulder.
"Have you gotten this soft? It seems we're going to have to resume our morning routine, or else you'll forget all of your training."
Amelia sagged. Resigned to her fate. "Yes, mother."
"Don't 'yes, mother,' me. You know I'm right, and you know why."
Amelia stood up, straightened herself out, nodded, and said, "Again."
I decided I should get a jump on this training as well. I could see that this would one day, sooner than I'd like, be me in the practice yard getting welts and bruises. I focused my mind on their posture, stance, and way they held the swords, everything, how each motion leads into the next, how the muscles bunched and exploded with power.
One thing that I've been able to practice in biokinesis is the bio-scan ability. It allows me to analyze biological systems and how they function. I gained deeper insights into biology, biokinesis, and swordsmanship just by watching this brutal dance and running through it one hundred times per second.
An hour later, I received a notification from Cara that I'd learned rudimentary skills in the Sorenguard Sword Style. I'm guessing that's the style of swordsmanship that they were practicing. It's not like normal Earth swordsmanship; there is more to it than skill. There is a use of energy that is mythical on Earth but very real here. It's that concept of sword intent, where knowledge of how to use a blade transcends the physical and becomes more. The arc of a sword no longer cuts just what's in its path but what it intends to.
After two hours, Amelia seems to have gotten her stride back, and if not for my Quantum Intellect, I wouldn't be able to process just how fast they are moving. It's a blur of motion strike, parry, dodge, lunge, repeat. Sometimes using that sword intent, one of them sends a sword light towards the other. A sword light is a manifestation of sword intent. I wonder if I can apply that principle to my oral technique?
Grandma Estelle is no joke. Occasionally, she yells out encouragement in the form of, "Is that all you've got?" "you've got to move faster than that," and "pathetic." I've seen drill sergeants that would seem cuddly in comparison. It's almost jarring to see the difference in Estelle between her grandma mode and her training mode. One gives a sense of peace and calm, the other war and hell.
A loud voice comes from behind where I'm sitting with Cindy. "Estelle, are you picking on my poor baby sister. The poor girl just had a baby."
The training session came to an abrupt halt, and Grandma Estelle just rolled her eyes. "She had the baby six months ago. I was killing ogres in the Blight four months after giving birth," she said.
"That's because you're insane," a short brunette said as she passed by, followed by a slightly taller blond woman. I didn't get a good look at them because the angle was difficult, and I wasn't about to release the treat that had recently been inserted into my mouth, just to readjust to see them. I'm pretty sure the brunette at least is my aunt, though I'm not entirely sure of that. Maybe she meant sister-in-law. Some people still call them sisters, after all.
"I... thought you were coming... tomorrow?" a very winded Amelia asked between gasps.
"Well, I figured everything is going to get hectic when the boys get here, so I wanted a couple of days to prepare. I figure we girls should have a spa day to freshen up for when they get here. It'll be nice; we haven't all gone to the hot spring since before your wedding."
Ooh, a hot spring. I always wanted to go to one in my previous incarnation.