Chapter 549 - Tests, Training & Ice Cream!

“Eric? Is it true?”

Eric smiled at Louise’s question, though most of his focus was on punching out the right holes on his multiple choice examination, surprised both by how fascinating he found even the hints as to this world’s origins to be, though he was confident he had failed that portion utterly, refusing to fake it, since he actually wanted to learn what he needed to know… and surprised by how comfortable he was with the math and grammar portion.

Clearly, his elevated Scholarship along with Battletime and a much-needed nap was giving him a double expresso-shot’s worth of focus… and all the time he needed between slowly spilling hourglass sands to visualize writing out and correcting all the problems before him. Even though Hanna had made it clear she’d keep her promise and let him just relax for the rest of the day… he knew it was in his own best interest to complete the placement tests as soon as possible.

The local dialect was weird because he understood it so well, sensed the right conjugations and forms… while feeling a strange valley discordance because he sure as fuck wasn’t speaking or thinking in English, even if he mentally felt like he was.

No doubt it was all thanks to the help of his squiggly wormies, helpfully boosting all his neurons, even if social cues were things he could once more fumble with surprising ease… and again, why should he be feeling horrified and want to scream and claw his own eyes out? They would just boil back into existence in less than a minute. It would hurt like a bitch, and it would gross out and alienate everyone in the house. Besides, when he thought about it, each and every last one of his cells was filled with alien mitochondria that technically weren’t him, anyway. Not entirely. And they were the only reason why he and every other multicellular creature could metabolize oxygen. So why not let a few silvery friends help with linguistic comprehension? He’d just think of them as mitochondria 2.0.

“If it works, it works. So less stress, more awesomeness,” he muttered to himself.

“What did you say, Eric?” Louise impatiently asked.

Eric cleared his throat. “I’m telling myself to stop stressing the stupid test. To just take it and be awesome.”

“Awesome enough to clear multiple peripheral meridians in a single training session, like some light novel mystical sage?”

“Let Eric take his exam in peace, dear,” Hanna said reprovingly. “You could have joined us for morning meditation too, but you wanted to spend the day with Lacey. And that’s fine, but you can ask Eric whatever questions you have, once he’s finished.”

Louise huffed. “Lacey’s my class partner, mom. You know we have three assignments to turn in this semester, and she always finds a reason to dodge things and I had to twist her arm and bribe her with your ice cream, just to get her to come over and work with me! And she spent half the time ogling my brother.” She gave Eric a mock glare. “It’s not my fault if I fail this semester because of her.”

“It most certainly would be your fault, young woman.” her father declared, looking up from his novel as he took his ease on his leather recliner beside the transparent glass-like alloy that were effectively bullet-proof windows that Eric highly approved of. Windows he would occasionally steal glances out of to glimpse the garden below and the rustling trees just beyond.

“You’re responsible for your own grades,” John pointedly said. “And if that means you’re carrying most of the weight because you want to get ahead and your partners and associates don’t? Well then, welcome to the real world. I had to deal with that more times than I care to bore you with, both here and when I was living in the underrealm. But I didn’t let that stop me from putting in the effort, and the payoff is the wonderful home you live in now, and the wonderful family I get to enjoy my weekends with.”

Louise rolled her eyes. “Sure, dad. All the same, Lacey’s coasting on me doing most of the work.”

“And if she thinks that will get her entirely through life, she’s doomed for disappointment,” her mother said rather pointedly. “And that’s not the only class you’ve been struggling with, is it, dear?”

Louise’s cheeks flushed. “No, Mom,” she admitted.

“Indeed. So how about you do some more studying of your own, and tomorrow morning you can wake up bright and early for morning meditation with Eric and I? You’ll feel refreshed and invigorated for your entire day!”

“And I still won’t be able to cleanse any of my peripherals,” Louise grumbled. “No matter how hard I try.”

Her mother shrugged. “But you do feel them, yes? You do sense them?”

“Of course, Mother.”

“Good. Then it’s only a matter of time, and you’re better off than most.”

“Except for those who actually get to cycle their—” Her words died in her throat. She lowered her gaze, cheeks flushing. “I guess I should go review my math notes.”

“Best you do so, darling.”

Eric suppressed a grimace, sensing all too well the sudden tension in the room… and the pain in Hanna’s gaze. And it was none of his business. He wouldn’t stick his nose where it wasn’t wanted and make things that much worse. Even with a zero in Social Perception at the moment, he knew enough to shut up and mind his own business. At least until Hanna brought it up. And why would she consult with a clueless noob like him?

“How are you feeling, Eric? Are the tests a bit overwhelming?”

Eric gave Hanna a bright, totally innocent smile. “I’m great! All the logic puzzles make sense, though I get the feeling that I’m going to be taking a lot of history and social studies courses.”

Hanna frowned down at his work, before her lips curved in an approving smile. “I think we have a future scholar on our hands, dear,” she said, giving a strangely embarrassed Eric’s shoulder a congratulatory squeeze.

If anything, it was even worse when John’s System-enhanced gaze blazed through Eric’s work, granite features easing into a genuinely pleased smile. “Well done, Eric.”

Eric winced at the murderous glare Louise was giving him from the other side of the living room table where she had, for whatever reason, chosen to do her own assignments. “It’s not like I can really take credit. Right, John? It’s hardly me at all.”

John gave him a curious look. “What do you mean, Eric? You didn’t cheat, and why would you? What would be the point?”

Eric sighed and tapped his head. “It’s the System wormies, John. You know, the glial-cell enhancements I’m betting we both got with a level-up or two, back when we were fighting for our lives in the Netherrealms, as our family likes to put it.”

John’s expression warred between discomfort and genuine fondness.

“I’m glad to hear you refer to us as family, Eric… but what’s this about System worms?”

Eric gave him a hard look. “Seriously? You didn’t feel like Conceptio was squiggling his loving and super helpful AI tentacles inside your noggin whenever you boosted up Arcane Potential or you might just call it your Mana Pool… or boosted your Soul Reserves, or Scholarship?”

The room went dead silent. Hanna was giving John a concerned look. “Husband?”

Louise was staring at Eric with the horrified fascination of an oncoming train wreck.

And John? A single glare as he rubbed his face with his hands and sighed. “Why doesn’t anyone ever teach Contenders to keep their mouths shut?”

Eric blinked. “I didn’t actually say I was a—”

“Please.”

“Husband!”

John winced at her tone. “Some things shouldn’t be spoken of aloud… and most who are wise enough to sense certain truths are savvy enough to say absolutely nothing to anyone not as… invested as they.”

Hanna crossed her arms. “Husband, who is this—”

John’s eyes flashed. He raised a clenched fist.

Hanna paled.

John winced, shaking his head. “It’s the name of the god that effectively runs what you call the Netherrealm. For the most part, it’s impartial and utterly uninvolved in most mortals’ lives and most classers as well. Those who actually see it as a divine force, as anything other than an impartial System, are just grateful that it gives all those with significant potential the ability to ‘level up’ and enhance their physical bodies and potential far beyond the ken of mortal men. It rarely takes a personal interest in anyone, save for the Deepest Silvers approaching the cusp of Gold… and Contenders upon newly risen worlds with the power to shape reality in completely unexpected ways.”

He gazed pointedly at a blushing Eric as he spoke on. “Those young adventurers are the farthest thing from experts… but there are reasons why newly ascended worlds are all but forbidden to outside invaders beyond the 30th level, which is long before they ever reach the cusp of bronze.”

John flashed a bleak smile. “This serves as a way to all but compel natives to rise up and blossom to their full potential, to prove themselves against Mana-enhanced beasts and low-powered invaders alike. And as eager as most clans are for access to all the power and promise of freshly ascended worlds, no one breaks that iron clad covenant. The goblin factions were the last ones to do so, and that resulted in the annihilation of their entire race, nearly two thousand years ago.”

“How?”

“That was the last time a Silver ascended to Gold, with over a dozen worlds destroyed in a single night. Scholars still aren’t sure of the catalyst, but only a fool would doubt that our System had a role in the obliteration of an entire race that broke covenant.”

Eric flinched at that calm pronouncement, squeezing tight his own trembling hands.

Louise gasped, looking at Eric so oddly. Hanna’s eyes widened, her features paling as her husband spoke on.

“Again, there’s no need to worry. Few of those unorthodox classers amount to anything truly fearsome, though they’re far more likely to reach Bronze than most adventurers and count that a blessing all in and of itself. Yet their insights and revelations, no matter how unorthodox, unexpected, or seemingly impossible…” He sighed and shrugged. “They all become the System’s own. The options it can offer future classers expand, the influence of cultivation continues to shrink, and it’s power continues to grow. And that’s just conjecture, Golds ascending so incredibly rarely in the reality Eric and I both grew up in.” He forced a chuckle. “And this is mostly rumor and happenstance that I only know of, thanks to my duties as a bodyguard for an exceedingly gregarious scholar, nearly a century ago.”

Hanna shook his head. “I don’t know whether to feel awed… or horrified.”

John shrugged. “To the best of my knowledge, it’s only ever been a boon. The System’s primary directive seems to be enhancing itself and immersing itself as completely as it can into the very fundaments of reality. Or at least… the Netherrealms’s reality. Certainly, its responsible for my own strength, my own personal evolution… and its gifts remain fully intact even now. As you well know, my love,” he said with a grin. “Even if I haven’t heard it’s echo in my skull since you first claimed my heart, over twenty years ago. Of course I know I’ve grown in skill and wisdom since then. Just as I know that my head won’t ding with interface messages until I choose to return.”

“Which you never will,” Hanna said fiercely.

“I have no plans to,” John promised with a kiss, earning a relieved smile from his wife.

Hanna furrowed her brow. “Alright,” she said. “I can accept that. And I have no desire to bring my poor household to the attention of any nether god, no matter how ‘benevolent’ they might be to classers, granting you all access to a quantized System.” She gave Louise a pointed look. “And this is most definitely not something we bring up at school under any circumstances.”

Louise crossed her arms. “Fine. But if that’s the case, then why is Eric acting like he’s on a first name basis with his god?”

Eric winced. “I wouldn’t exactly put it that way.”

She gave him a pointed look. “Have you actually spoken to him directly?”

Eric blinked. Carefully not saying a word.

Even John was gazing at Eric with surprising intensity. “Have you, Eric?”

Eric winced. “Um… maybe?”

John shook his head and groaned. “Shit. This complicates things.”

Louise nervously bit her lip. “Daddy? What does it mean?”

“Nothing bad, I promise!” Eric hastily said. “Conceptio… I mean, my friendly AI System friend likes me! He himself assured me that the worms are my friends and that he’s expecting great things from me!”

“It means that your new brother wasn’t just a classer,” John explained with a pointed look Eric’s way.

“No? But I can tell his strong. And um… handsome. Like a holovid star… only there’s no makeup artist, no camera putting him under a glow. He always looks like he just stepped off a holovid set. Like we’re all extras in his story! He’s not exactly like everyone else, is he?”

Hanna gave Eric a sympathetic smile. “I think your father’s saying that our Eric is… was… a Contender. Isn’t that right, Eric?”

Eric felt his cheeks flush under his foster mother’s gentle, coaxing smile.

“Isn’t that right, Eric?”

Eric groaned, rubbing his face. “Shit. I thought I could hold it together for longer than three days!”

“Language!” John snapped.

“Sorry, sir.”

John snorted. Taking the chair across from Eric, giving him the friendly sergeant look that always proceeded the gentler interrogations.

“You know this doesn’t have to change anything, right, Eric? We already know you’re strong and damn skilled with a sling. What matters to us is that you’re a well-behaved and kind-hearted young man who’s not afraid to help our youngest pair, Ella and Maja, settle in and learn to communicate with us. You already know if you ever feel the walls closing in, you’re free to step out your bedroom balcony and take a walk for as many hours or days as you need. Come back to us when you’re ready. When you care to. All that we ask in turn is that you behave with decorum and respect in our community. Equally important, when the gauntlet is thrown down from up high… you leave our family completely out of it.”

Eric gave a quick nod. “Considering that I don’t even know what half of that even means, no problem there, sir.”

John gave him an unreadable look. “Really? You know nothing about the gauntlet?”

Eric slowly shook his head. “Nope. When I first arrived here on New Titan, it was exactly as I appeared. An immigrant desperate for a fresh start after being exiled from my home in return for a guarantee of my twin sister’s safety. I’m basically someone who was in a lot of trouble, after being forced to walk a crooked path that nearly killed me.”

He then bowed his head at Hanna, without shame or reservation. “And I already owe my foster mother a debt of gratitude that’s far more than simple words can hope to repay. Not when she didn’t even hesitate to show an outsider like me, someone she just met a few days ago, a path forward that eases the awful pain in my muscles and bones, that allows my body to at least enjoy a trickle of Spiritual Energy. A path that shows me that there is hope, even for someone as broken as I am.”

Eric’s cheeks flushed. He was surprised to feel a sting in his eyes with his resistances. Sure as heck he didn’t expect his voice to crack, rocking 3700+ Vitality, but there it was.

And there Hanna was, wrapping his carefully relaxed frame that wasn’t sobbing even a tiny bit, because he could BLAST THROUGH FUCKING DREADNOUGHTS! But was very relaxed now, with odd muscle trembles in a warm, motherly embrace. And why was he stressing it so much? His mom was rocking Gold-tier phoenix-hood! And somehow simultaneously some part, the bigger 4-D part, was rocking interdimensonal seraphim slice-of-life fresh starts with her real first gen children in whatever passed for heaven, maybe. And perhaps she was dreaming of a golden phoenix intimidating pretty much anyone it came across in the flatland 3-D universe she left behind whenever she fell asleep. Because both reborn angel and fearsome fiery phoenix were his mom. Maybe.

So there was no reason at all for Eric to ache so stupidly, so sharply, for a soft, fuzzy slice-of-life love that had never been part of his character arc. So what? Lots of people got the loving family background, a background absolutely everyone deserved… but only he and Elonia got the awesome fiery phoenix / cold-as-ice Winter Queen version. And that was fine too!

All he knew for sure was that letting Hanna wrap her arms around him and comfort him with a mother’s reassurance was just staying in character. And he couldn’t push her away. He was far too strong for that. What if he accidentally bruised her, or something? Far better that he let himself be totally unnecessarily comforted by someone who was most definitely not his mom but was very, very sweet and kind and that was fine.

And yes he would like an ice cream sundae, thank you very much. How did she know?

He took a shuddering breath… of relief! She was too fragile to be so close… giving his super soft and not at all unusually monstrously strong shoulder a final pat. “

It’s alright, Eric. Of course we’re going to teach you whatever we can to help assure you a pain-free life, full of joy and opportunity. And of course that includes lessons on how to saturate your very much intact and quite savable peripheral meridians that might not have any direct links to your Dantians but most definitely can help experts cleanse and revitalize their physical bodies, if you have the knack for sensing them. Which, my fine young disciple, you most definitely do.”

“Wait, he’s already your disciple?” Louise pined.

“Yes dear. Just like you. And I think you’re far closer to sensing your own peripherals than you give yourself credit for. And won’t you feel such a burst of energy and empowerment that will make all your overly caffeinated friends jealous, when you finally saturate your first channel with dawn’s blessing? So how about you join us for morning practice, tomorrow?”

Louise blinked at this, gazing so solemnly at Eric’s totally not tearing-up eyes before looking up at her mother and slowly nodding. “Okay mom. I guess… well, I guess it would be stupid to quit when I’m so close?”

Hanna’s motherly smile lit up the room. Or at least a tiny sad corner of Eric’s totally invulnerable heart.

“I think you’re right, Louise. And I think just enjoying morning stretches and the dawn’s gift will leave you feeling like the winner you are, even if it takes you a bit longer than the heroes of your light novels.” For some reason this had her husband smile self consciously before putting down the book he was reading. “What matters isn’t a single brief flash of insight…”

“But daily diligence. I know, Mom.”

“You do indeed. Would you like some ice cream with your brother… and sisters?” She asked when Eric’s totally normal sounding whistle earned happy nods from both Ella and Maja, both enjoying their basic readers and, Eric was pleased to see, already rocking a vocabulary of over 30 written words… even if audible comprehension and communication was taking a bit longer.

Louise nodded her agreement and between the six of them, they managed to polish an entire gallon of ice cream, and Eric couldn’t help but smile with happiness to find out it was all homemade, and there was plenty more where that came from.

“So… you finish all the placement tests?” Louise asked a short time later, finger twirling a curl of dirty blond hair as she peered down at the last of his packets which Eric had plugged away at when the table was clear and his thoughts were serene and fueled on the contended happiness that was custard ice cream.

The best kind.

Eric nodded. “Yup! Just finished.”

This earned a smirk. “It took me over a week to complete all my placement exams when I first attended Westwind.”

Eric blinked. “Westwind?”

Louise nodded. “Westwind Academy of Professional and Scholarly Excellence.” She smirked. “Pretentious, right? A century ago, it included supreme Cultivation techniques. But since public teaching of cultivation techniques was phased out, they shortened the name. Now everyone who attends just calls it Westwind.”

Eric blinked at this. “Wait, they used to teach Cultivation techniques?”

“Yup, but not any more. The elites want to make sure their mortal lackeys know their place, with no chance of bettering themselves, so they pressured all the academies to drop those courses.” She flashed a bitter smile. “For the good of the masses.”

“And there’s no use complaining, child,” Hanna said with a hard smile. “By ancient treaty and right, none may stifle family techniques, so we still have that. Institutions are always susceptible to the ebb and flow of politics and public opinion, but the truths of our clan remain inviolate.”

Louise quickly nodded. “As far as I’m concerned, the less people checking us for things that are none of their business, the better. But Lacey feels like they’re deliberately stifling any opportunity for those born in the lowlands to ever ascend.”

Her mother’s gentle smile didn’t shift an iota, but somehow had gone from a mother’s indulgence to hard and bitter as granite.

“Of course they are, dear. In their minds, it is best that all know their place, which is under the heels of clans that have already claimed their success. But even they need infusions of fresh blood and talent, from time to time. Hence why all academies of Westwind’s calibre or better must open themselves up to public testing at the start of every semester, so that all those worthy applicants may be selected and given the opportunity to ascend.”

Louise smirked. “Yup. As fresh tools for whatever clan snatches them up, without any grounding at any academy down here, so they’re never more than pawns of their sponsors at best, or quickly broken and cast off without any trouble at worst, because they know nothing of intrigue, treachery, or how to avoid imprinting bad techniques that will destroy their foundation.”

John snorted. “Good. You remembered your mother’s lessons. I’m glad my wife raised no fools.”

“All that is true,” Hanna concurred, before looking Eric’s way. “Yet at the same time, those academies can open up an entire world of possibilities… so long as one knows to avoid getting involved in clan squabbles or intrigue of any sort. So long as one is a threat to no one, and eager to complete any and all reasonable requests without complaint. A complete unknown with no prior clan conflicts to imperil them who knows a few basic lessons can ascend quite far indeed.”

Louise furrowed her brow, pretty jeweled horns glimmering through her locks. Then her eyes widened in sudden understanding. “That’s why you’re pushing Eric to get almost two weeks of placement tests done in a single afternoon! Never mind the fact that he can actually do it… you’re trying to make sure he’s in class as soon as possible… so there’s no chance of him missing the testing!”

Hanna chuckled with odd approval. “Well done, child. And since Eric is both talented and charming and has shown himself to be a diligent student who takes pains to give his teacher face… and since his Sylvan heritage means there’s no chance of clan feuds or bad blood dooming him if he dares to ascend, I think he could profit mightily from daring the climb.”

Eric blinked at this, his mind racing with possibilities… and peril. It was exactly what he had hoped for. Hanna was, of her own volition, arranging for the very opportunity he was gambling everything on! So how strange it was to hear his own words part his lips.

“If it’s all the same… I’d much rather learn from you.”

Louise gasped. John gave Eric a surprised glance that became an approving nod.

Hanna blinked, tears coming to her eyes as she gathered Eric up in a wordless hug.

“Thank you, Eric. To hear you say that, to think you’d give up at a shot at glory you can’t even properly imagine just to stay by our side…” She choked back a sob, and now Eric was getting another pained lump in his throat!

Where were his resistances when he needed them the most?

“But no, Eric. You’d be a fool not to embrace the chance to learn at the foot of a master. Not when your only other alternative is trying to learn from someone as damaged as I.”

“What are you talking about?” Eric scoffed. “You’re damaged just like I am! Both of us have major meridian blockages… and mine’s so thick and tarry and icky that I can’t even bear to look at them in that odd 4-D spirit realm that overlaps our own here.” He pressed a gentle finger on her chin when she tried to shake her head. “Don’t you see, aunty? We’re both damaged in the same way. And you’ve found a path forward in the very way that I need to! Learning how to cleanse… how to even find my peripherals with someone as patient and sweet as you, with a mystical garden using morning sunlight and mystical plants like Maidensong and Copperwort to direct the flow of Wood Qi especially. Which means that this garden is allowing one of my Qi affinities to wash against all my peripherals directly! Don’t you see? You’re exactly the mentor I need to press forward in the only way I can!”

Hanna’s eyes filled with thoughtful surprise.

“You’re a perfect fit for me! I mean, I know your husband, a smart, daring, centuries-experienced veteran of who knows how many campaigns clearly knows a lot about Contenders…” Eric conceded with a nod for the bemused-looking man of the house. “But to me, being a Contender was as much about serendipity as anything else! Even if I’m not some absurdly high level Bronze or whatever, after only surviving that madness for a little over a year… and maybe not even that. But one thing I definitely felt was that sometimes things just clicked. And maybe our meeting, maybe you choosing to befriend this particular aspirant with a knack for languages and a not completely terrible heart… maybe this is the best of all possible places for me. And the least I can do is pay you back by being a good foster son, and looking out for my foster siblings.”

Maybe it was something in his voice, but Ella was smiling so happily at him, Maja trilling with joy, and Eric swore he saw a tear in Hanna’s eye, even as she spoke words that changed everything, and knotted his stomach with guilt.

“Eric…”

“Yes, aunty?”

“If anyone knows techniques to break through seemingly insurmountable blockages in otherwise extremely promising candidates… it is the ascended cultivators that call the grand plateau their home. Not a broken former cultivator living as best she can in the lowlands.”

Eric crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. “Sorry, I’m not seeing any broken cultivators. Just an awesome foster mom who’s far cooler and sweeter than I have any right to hope or expect.”

And the look of surprised warmth and gratitude on Hanna’s face would have been a priceless memory… if the chair he had been sitting on hadn’t collapsed under his weight.

“Shit.”

Louise snorted with laughter. “Looking super cool there, bro!”

Eric glared at the wood. “We’re not doing that again, are we?”

You have successfully claimed: Broken wooden chair!

Wood affinity detected.

Repair skill check: Critical success!

Repair is now Rank 2 – No matter how uncomfortable that makes you!

Chair has been inscribed with runes of resilience, impermeability, and strength.

Potency Binding skill check: Critical Success!

You have successfully forged: Unbreakable Chair!

Eric gave a smile of satisfaction, ignoring the stares as he sat back down. “There. That’s better. Anyway, sure, if we can find any way to break down the icky plaque in my meridians, count me in. But honestly I’d far rather learn with a mentor who actually gives a flying fig about me than cold-eyed strangers who see me as nothing more than a tool to exploit, show off, or if he’s inconvenient… destroy.”

Eric frowned at the dead silence now filling the room.

“What?”

“Eric?”

“Yes, Aunty?”

“Why is my perfectly nice white-oak chair now tinged red and covered in crimson sigils?”

“Because I wanted an unbreakable chair?”

“A chair you made disappear and fixed… transformed, I should say, in the blink of an eye?”

“Um… yes?”

Hanna gave a helpless little laugh, shaking her head. “Contender indeed. That chair is most definitely going in your room.”

Eric winced. “Sorry.”

“And no more tipping back the chairs!”

“Yes, Aunty.”

Hanna sighed, before tousling his hair. “You’re a treasure, Eric. You know that? Still, I’d recommend keeping a much lower profile when you’re eventually snatched up by the true powers. They are almost self-righteously orthodox, and only a few wujen sects are as comfortable with the crimson arts as you clearly are.”

Eric blinked. “It’s not entirely…” he stopped himself, smiling sheepishly. “But I guess it is. A lot of it.” He dipped his head. “Point taken, Aunty. No tipping back chairs if I ever find myself at some ascetic monastery up in the highlands which I’m not really planning on attending anyway.”

This earned a sad smile. “We’ll see, Eric, though I’d morn you missing out on an opportunity to savor what it truly means to feel your body tingle with pristine Spiritual Energy, free of blockage or taint, feeling so full of vitality that you can scarce put it into words. But never mind all that. What’s say we have our newest members join us for word-grams and card games before dinner?”

Maja and Ella both nodded happily at that, Louise giving Eric a pointed look. “Cute trick with the chair. You’re going to teach me. But first, I’m going to crush you at Maja-Rong.”

Eric winked. “Game on.”

“No teaching my daughter any blood magic!” Hanna reproved. “Not before unlocking at least a few of your peripheral meridians. Then, we’ll see,” she said with a teasing smile for her less-than-pleased looking husband who before that moment had been gazing at Eric with the warm pride of an actual father.

Yet the man’s exasperation with Eric turned into team spirit soon enough when the game somehow became a combination spelling be and grand miniature war game that Eric and John did surprisingly well on, their increasingly terse communication becoming a hyper-speak dialogue as a pouting Louise worked with her mom and the foster girls to defend their final location before John and Eric seized the board entirely.

“Victory!” Eric happily crowed, before seeing the crestfallen looks on Ella and Maja’s faces. So he promptly picked up his squealing little sisters and danced around. “So who’s up for ice cream? I am! I am!”

Louise pouted, crossing her arms. “You totally cheated! I couldn’t understand a word you two were saying!”

“That’s because they were speaking in hyperspeak, dear,” Hanna said with a pointed smile.

John had the grace to look abashed, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry, dear. Maybe that was a bit of an unfair advantage.”

“But wait, isn’t that something Bronze-Tier mercenaries do?”

John gave Eric a pointed smile. “They do indeed. The elites do, anyway.”

“Universal Translator…” Eric singed-songed, Ella and Maja mimicking him perfectly. “Now who’s up for ice cream? I am! I am!”