Chapter 108 - Out of the Box
By the time The Flowers came around, Malwine couldn’t even justify having her mandatory regrets about having gotten something done—evolving [Meditation] made that much of a difference.
“What I don’t understand is why it felt lighter,” Malwine admitted. “You said my <Soul> was heavier than the rest.”
Veit only shrugged. “Without having witnessed the change in person, I can only guess the rest of your Skills there were being forced to overcompensate for it. Your Class was presumably already used to a level of power it could not maintain with one Skill faltering, and in its attempts to stay afloat, it overshot.”
Malwine nodded. She had to admit the difference had been immediate. A single trip to Beuzaheim—as her double—had granted [Earthless Glory] two levels, with [Stylus in Style] and [Write Anything] reaching 11 and 13, respectively. And [Write Anywhere] had budged, after what felt like an eternity. It was at 31 now. The lack of an Aspect there still stung, but her newfound joy was overshadowing any and all complaints.
Her <Body> and <Word> Skills could once again grow.
“The next gaps in power you should keep an eye on are both relative to your <Body> Class still,” Veit noted. Malwine still had no idea how this bookmark that detected category balancing issues worked, but it was a creation of Veit’s father—after that Forgery book, that man could have made tissue paper and claimed it let people fly, and Malwine would have still given him the benefit of doubt. “Your <Mind> category is now the heaviest—no doubt the work of your new Legendary Skill. Both it and <Soul> remain far beyond <Body>, but it appears to still be within a healthy margin. Perhaps—”
“Veit, Veit,” Malwine narrowed her eyes, thinking of how this conversation had gone the last time. “How many lemons are we talking?”
The forester matched her expression, and she could have sworn she could see the gears turning in his head as he recalled the analogy he’d made when first explaining this to her. “…Oh. If we reuse that comparison, <Body> would have four; <Word>, five; and <Mind> and <Soul> would tie at seven, with the former bordering on eight.”
Something told her Veit very much regretted having explained imbalance to her like this, as she would absolutely take the opportunity to force him to translate whatever he was getting off the object into something at least vaguely numerical. Even if it was this.
“So <Mind> is nearly doubling up on what <Body> has, got it,” Malwine nodded. “Would it be reasonable then, for me to get another <Body> Skill?”
She’d thought of it before, though her future Skill acquisition plans now included holding off on adding anything to those other two categories for now—not that she was going to mention that, since Veit still thought she’d run out of slots there.
“Perhaps—but you could just as easily focus on improving the ones you already have,” Veit seemed to consider this for a second. “How far are you from Level 80?”
“Uh,” Malwine frowned. Given the nature of levels, there wasn’t any strict path she had to take just to get one more. “Eight more levels on <Mind> Skills would take me there, or nine on either <Body> or <Word>. Why?”
Instead of answering, Veit tapped at the table, having long since dismissed the object he’d used to sense her categories’ balance. With how he’d redone his manicure and gotten right back to overdressing, it was easy to forget the scare he gave her when he’d gone and slept for months on end.
“What do you want to do?” Veit asked, his tone bordering on hesitant. After all the time he’d clearly just spent thinking about what to say, he still managed to sound unsure about it.
“What do you mean?”
“I am not talking about which Skills you want to train, to be clear. I mean, what do you want to do with your life?” Veit pressed on. “What do you want to be?”
Malwine found she genuinely didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know. An Immortal, probably.”
“But beyond that,” Veit shook his head. “What do you want to do in the meantime? Devils, how do you want to get to that point? You still need more Skills, and the amount you can take on will only grow if you manage to make it past the Mortal Esse. Do you wish to spend your years Forging, investigating… censuses, or something else?”
“I don’t know,” Malwine repeated, scowling. “Though I don’t think I’d go as far as to actually spend my days Forging—I don’t even know what that’d entail. I’m learning this… for me. And for those close to me, I suppose. But when you put it like that—no, being a Forger isn’t a life goal for me.”
It’s just a step along the way.
“Then what?” Veit gave her an odd look. “Do you have any plans at all? For what you want to be when you grown? Nothing concrete at all?”
I do have long-term plans! Malwine had to keep herself from shouting. Most of her goals might have been hard to explain. Or to justify. She gave her panel on the topic a glance.
| MAIN THINGS TO FIGURE OUT: — Why was Beryl cursed? — How can I make Elflorescence regret Existing and/or possibly handle the aforementioned Existing? — How did I become me if Beryl’s kid was supposed to be dead? — When was I born and how did stasis affect the timeline for me? — I should get everyone’s birthdates while I’m at it, it’s essential information. — Who does {Ore} come from? Elves?! — What’s up with Katrina’s parentage? — Was OBeryl in a cult? — What the hell do you mean, ‘history of fellpresence’? — Seriously, what is this area called? — What's up with the supposedly inanimate Devils being credited for actions in the past? — What happened with the Tacit Saint and should I be looking into what the Saint equivalent of deicide is? — Where’s Widuzhain and what’s the fastest way to raid their archives? Orphanage and local. — What the hell is going on with Anselm and ominous golden text?
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