104 Chapter 104 Happy Birthday (2/2)
”What is that?” His father perked up at that.
”It allows me to make portals from one place to another, but the system says I can't jump in time. That isn't allowed anymore.”
”How quickly can you learn that?”
”You mean if I devote directly to learning that?”
”Yes.”
”I need to learn TELEPORT, CONTROL GATE, and CREATE GATE. But to learn TELEPORT I either need to learn a spell from 10 other runes, or HAWK FLIGHT, but that is controlled by a rune I haven't learned.”
”How many runes can you cast spells from so far?”
”FOOD, AIR, FIRE, EARTH, WATER, PLANT, ENCHANTMENT… so seven, and to learn one from WEATHER, I need twenty more hours to finish a second WATER spell, and 100 hours to finish a second AIR spell. I was working on learning up to CREATE PLANT. I have to finish PLANT GROWTH which I'm currently on and then I can start it. It's an area spell that literally creates whatever plant I want dad. I can solve our food problem with it, I think.”
”I think learning teleport will be more beneficial. I have compounds set up in the eastern and central kingdoms, almost at the boundary of the wasteland. I know where the boundary is very well because I used criminal slaves to find it when I first started. Rapists and murderers mostly. The System allowed me to know if they were guilty of the crimes they were accused of or not. If you can get us to either of them, we won't have to worry about food. And I need to get to them, to ensure the kings haven't found them.”
”So, you want me to work on TELEPORT as soon as possible?”
”Yes, most definitely.”
”Let me finish these 2 spells I'm in the middle of and I'll devote to that.”
”That is fine, but the sooner, the better.”
”Alright, dad.”
His dad seemed to be somewhat more relieved after their discussion, than he had been before it. If teleporting was so important to him, Joseph didn't have a problem working on that instead. It wasn't like he hadn't planned to learn it anyway.
Joseph rushed through his current spells, spending almost 19 hours a day studying on top of the 21 hours his AMCC gave. In 12 days, he had finished LEND ENERGY from HEALING, which he could already do through mana control, DETECT MAGIC from KNOWLEDGE, which again he could already do, and SIMPLE ILLUSION and FIND WEAKNESS. He only took a little time to relax, with Stella and the other kids, playing and teaching.
Joseph had encouraged the mages to talk amongst themselves so much, that they were constantly deep in discussions which had been forbidden for them to talk of before. The rune mages and shamans had grown closer, thanks to his lessons, and often discussed differences without him needing to be involved.
His mother had been busy, helping with random jobs, and finding that she actually had a lot that she could contribute. It also gave Stella a reprieve from her constant attention.
With nineteen hours of study on his own, and twenty-one hours from the AMCC, he was getting an even forty hours, per day, of study, but he was becoming exhausted. Working like a machine through the rest of December, the days of ending and beginning, and even his birthday, he told Stella he was going to sleep, and slept for a full fourteen hours straight.
When he woke up, Stella greeted him with a cake.
”Where did that come from?” he asked.
”It's your birthday cake. Your mother insisted you get one as soon as you woke up. She couldn't believe you worked so hard, that you forgot your birthday!”
”I didn't forget my birthday; I was trying to finish stuff up for dad.”
”Well, she has a present for you, as soon as you finish your cake.”
Sitting at the desk, he watched as she carefully laid it before him. The frosting glistened and the smell was heavenly. How had they managed to get the eggs for it? They didn't have any chickens!
Happy to not have to work hard any more, he bit into the cake and paused. It was so moist and delicious, it seemed to melt in his mouth.
Once he had finished every last crumb, Stella led him to his mother's tent, where she presented him with a brand-new outfit. He didn't ask how she knew the sizes, because she had always managed to know before. Putting it on, he stood before her, with his arms raised, so she could see how well it fit him. He honestly loved it, as it was soft and s.p.a.cious. This pleased her so much, she let him go without much more fuss.
Stella then proceeded to lead him to the barbarians, who had joined together to make him a set of leather armor. It had ornate decorations hand st.i.tched over every length, so that it could come from many different people. Even Stella seemed impressed after he put it on.
From there, they went to see his dad, who had the slaves put together a musical performance that had obviously been practiced for a long time. Joseph was delighted and cried in delight at the jokes and stunts they performed for him.
Tekaun showed up, shortly after the last act, and presented him with a necklace from the barbarian shamans. They knew that he had killed lots of monsters, but without a proper necklace, he had no way to show off his trophies. She explained that she knew he did not necessarily follow in their traditions, but they felt it important that he at least have one.
Joseph was delighted that he wouldn't have to wear it, since he was still so small, and everyone laughed.
Shortly after she left, the mages began to show up, giving him small token presents for both his birthday and the days of ending and beginning. Stella stepped back and his father watched on in pride as Joseph excitedly started telling them about the new spells he had learned over the past month. The rest of the day was spent in him showing them off in grand excessive ways, and answering questions the mages threw at him. It wasn't long before he was showing off new runes, mathematical formulas, circle diagrams, and glyphs. Spending all that time learning to speak the runes in their primal form gave him insights into most every method, that any realm has devised, in order to invoke them.
All things considered, it was the best birthday he could ever remember having, and that said a lot.
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