MAX
I hold the monster's claws in my palms, it's the only thing left undamaged of the richtclaws, apparently the claws were very good conductors of electricity. Unrid says they could make fine lightning blades and I really subscribe to the idea.
It doesn't take too long before we are out of the woods and into the little village at the edge of the sector that Unrid lives in, it's still a little dark out so only a few people are out and about.
I watch the small houses packed together, almost no different from houses back in the villages on earth, but still the presence of talents makes some minor difference.
In the centre of the village is a tree as tall as sky scrapers back on earth, with leaves of silver and a trunk of gold, Unrid calls it the Areli tree, he says the tree was created by a class 5 ascended immortal. I stare at the beauty of the tree and its absolutely awe inspiring.
When we finally reach Unrid's home, its finally bright outside, I follow him inside the house as he calls out to his wife, soon enough, Unrid's wife is gliding down the stairs, looking almost regal in the early morning, she reaches forward to hug her husband who immediately lunches into the story of how I saved his life.
I'm a little embarrassed at how he tells the story, his son comes down soon enough and Unrid's repeating the story, he ends the story with how he promised to let me stay with the family for a month, his wife Nayra hugs me and thanks me for saving the life of her husband. I nod awkwardly at her gratitude.
Unrid's son who I now know is called Hester doesn't reach forward to hug me which I'm incredibly grateful for, instead he says "why don't we get you something more decent to wear"
I follow him up the stairs where he opens the guest room up to me, the room isn't exactly luxurious but it's beautiful, in a small way.
I change into the clothes Hester give me, and although they are a little tight, they fit, I'm almost sure they would have fit a day before, Nayra calls us down for breakfast only a few minutes later and I rush down, I am admittedly very hungry.
The food is delicious, and wolf each portion down, the amount of food I consume surprises me, but Unrid assures me that it's normal after a tier up, Hester is chatty after breakfast, he talks about a million things he thinks I should know if I'm going to properly "integrate" myself into society.
After breakfast, Hester takes me to the smith where I present the claws of the ritchclaw, we talk about the type of blade I want made with the claws, the smith names his price and I leave Hester to do the haggling, after which he pays a couple silvers upfront with an agreement to pay the rest when the blade is finished.
After we leave the smith's shop, Hester takes me to explore the village-port as Hester keeps mentioning- to show me the ropes.
The ropes as Hester promised turned out to not include actual ropes instead, they included girls, parties and a couple hangovers. It's been two weeks since I arrived at the port, and the blades are finally done, and I'm looking forward to them like a child looking forward to Christmas back on earth.
Still, with all my excitement, Hester yells "would you hurry up"
I frown at him, the area is packed full with people and I'm not as used to navigating this chaos, a few seconds later I'm next to Hester, so we hurry through the crowd together.
We reach the smiths shop a little past noon, he grins at the sight of us and points his hammer at me "Ever used a blade before?"
I stammer at the unexpected question, before shaking my head. "All I know is to always direct the pointy end at the enemy" I say.
I mean that's the gist of it, the smith laughs at my answer. "That's all anyone needs to know" he laughs again "you'll do great kid"
He points into his shop and 3 black mid-sized blades; they fall into my waiting palm and they feel as light as feathers
I pass one of the blades to Hester, while the smith drones on about the weight, balance, and all the technicalities involved but I don't hear him, my entire focus remains on the blade as I pass lighting through one of them, the black blade shimmering and crackling with gold lightning.
For the rest of the week, I spend all my time training with the black blades, my lightning manipulation increased steadily.
The days go by, until it's the last week of the month, Hester is so excited to manifest his talents that his excitement becomes infectious, we spend each day training with the daggers, while I spend the rest of my time training my talents.
I hope that when Hester gets his talent, it'll be a high enough class, so he could at least defend himself better than Unrid, even the strongest person in the port, a class 2 telekinetic, and I've seen him fight a couple times, and although he sweeps the floor with any other contestant in the port, it would be simplicity itself for me to end his life.
It's two days before Hester's birthday and I'm listening to the wind, as it swirls around, I'm so close to a tier up but for a reason I can't, so I find myself here on one of the branches of the Areli tree, the movement of the wind causing its silver leaves to flutter.
It's night and the moon is high up in the sky, I remain here until the moon is directly above me, I don't know exactly what I'm waiting for, but the wind urges me to wait so I do.
Seconds after the moonlight directly hits the Areli, I feel a change in the wind as the leaves of the Areli sway, almost seeming to dance to the song of the wind that only I and the tree can hear.
I close my eyes, letting the melody of the wind fill my ears, and the voices of a thousand people flow through me, I feel connected to the wind right now more than ever, yet the tier up remains just out of reach.
Frustrations bubble up inside me I want to scream at the wind, the Areli tree sways faster at my thoughts, like it can feel them, "why won't the wind heed me" I whisper, I receive no answer, but I feel the Areli sag in disappointment.
I remain on the tree long after the moon is gone and the Areli is silent, the wind swirl around me but I pay it no heed, I focus my mind on connecting with wind, joining with it like I did with lightning, and although I connect with it, I don't fully merge with it and I have to hold myself back from screaming in frustration.
I think back to my fight with the ritchclaw, I remember the feeling of pushing myself forward as I pushed the lightning out of me, I remember the feeling of joining with the lightning anytime I call for it and then I realize what I have been missing.
"I'm not the wind, I'm the storm" I sit up immediately, looking up at the sky, I've been trying to connect myself with the wind, but the wind is only a part of the storm, not the full storm, I feel the patter of rain on my face as the wind swirls around me, I hold on to the feeling, until finally I tier up my storm talent, new strength rushes into me and I suddenly feel twice as strong as before, my senses grow sharper, I smile as I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance as rain falls around me.
I jump down from the tree and urge the wind to cushion my fall, I head back to Unrid's home just before the sun comes up, and I finally let myself sleep.