"So, hey," I say. "I have a new skill that lets me see your rank progress meter, at least accurate to within 10%."

"Really?" Uncle Falcon says. "Huh. Never know that sort of skill existed, but I guess there's got to be a skill that does anything. What's mine at?"

"Um… 100%," I say. "I guess it's higher than 95% and just rounding up."

Uncle Falcon laughs. "Well, that's good to know, anyway!"

Everyone wants to know, of course, so I tell them all. Why not? It's not like these people weren't already obsessed with numbers going up. Kestrel is at 80%, Anise is also at 100%, Jade and Meadow are at 70%, Rowan at 60%, and Milo and Basalt are at 50% to their respective rankups. And Rowan's uncle, Crow Talgarth (who is still here I totally haven't forgotten about) is an Elite at 20% of the way to Heroic. The new dwarves haven't made much progress yet, with Crystal at 0% still and Garnet at 10%.

Skill increased: Clairvoyance (Witness)

"That's neat," Kestrel says. "Though it doesn't really change anything. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, after all. But hopefully it means Anise and Falcon are likely to rank up on our next major adventure."

Rowan sighs. "I was hoping I was further along than that."

Clairvoyance (Witness) just feels like a natural companion to the suite of [Aura Sight], [Aether Sense], and [Psychometry]. Why shouldn't there be a specific skill to see the fourth state of magic? I'd been starting to be able to detect it but it just hadn't quite clicked yet.

And now I can read everyone's rank progress and quest logs. Theoretically. I'm getting to the point where I can detect more things than I even care about and just wind up having the ghost of a past self handle keeping an eye on everything. I don't have the range or detail that Liz the Legendary [Tempest Archmage] was capable of, but I've got a better foundation than her since she encouraged me to be a [Psychic Child].

We leave Hebron the next morning and make our way up to Splott Lakeside uneventfully. I haven't seen any swamp monsters since the Mushroom Garden. We stop by Splott Lakeside for lunch on the way by. There's still a lot of people there, although some of them have filtered out by now.

We stop at Nefern to pick up the Celestial Duck and part ways with the two Talgarths. This is probably the most excitement Nefern has had since they had a skyship crash land in their wheat field. They were planning on just getting planting started and suddenly there's all this going on with rescued captives and evil Halkyns and smugglers and pirates.

"I wish I could fly off on adventures, too," Colt says. "But we have to get this wheat in the field and I am, unfortunately, here and they're not going to let me shirk it. Neferns might grow wheat but I have no plans to be a farmer."

The skies are gray and it looks like it might start to drizzle as we climb the docking tower and board the skyboat. As we draw close to the Black Mountain, that turns into an outright downpour. Wind buffets our aether sails, but they're too small to blow us off course. It still makes handling the boat no easier.

Tempest's perpetual storm has been slowly growing the past few months. Every time I fly near the kilometer-high mountain in the middle of the domain, the clouds cover a greater portion of the sky. Maybe it doesn't like ships flying anywhere near it?

In any case, we wind up completely drenched and the wear and tear is starting to reduce sigil efficiency. If we didn't have two Heroics on board, we might be having considerably more trouble. As it is, they're able to keep us steady. I wish we had a way to stay aloft that didn't depend upon someone's own power, but I suppose it was considered sufficient for a boat this size. One Elite can keep the skyboat going on their own, so there's no real need for fancy engines.

I use my skills to make note of our current status, though I'm not sure what all the sigils do yet. They might need to be repainted. Who put something exposed to the weather in paint?

Skills increased: Enhanced Senses (Vehicle Diagnosis, Wind Detection), Enhanced Soul (Aether Sailing), Mechanics (Piloting)

We arrive back at Corwen, and I put the skyboat down in the green. The kids rush out of the school building with varying degrees of overt excitement. The twins Willow and Griffin squeal as they run in circles around the boat.

Juniper comes out in her trademark black pigtails. My little sister's face betrays no expression, but her aura is happy to see me. Behind her stands a ghost no one else here can see, a past life still watching out for her.

As I walk through the village, I check the experience meters of everyone around me. I have no idea what to even do with this information, but it's fascinating to see.

I go down to the core room that night. Long flight or not, watching the aether flows around the core will calm me and help me sleep.

"Corwen, if you had been giving me quests, would I have ranked up by now?" I wonder aloud.

[Yes.]

"Thought so," I say. "Can you please let everyone see their experience meter? I'm really getting tired of hearing people whining about having not ranked up yet, you know, on top of not being able to see how far I still have to go. And now I can just tell them."

Corwen is silent.

"Oh, come on, at least answer me," I say.

[Why do you believe this would benefit them?]

I think about my answer. I strongly believe that knowledge is better than ignorance. Even if I'm choosing not to go into all the things my past lives knew too deeply, that's more a matter of not trying to read the entire internet at once than of completely rejecting it. Or in some cases, avoiding spoilers. On some level, after millions of reincarnations, I had to think of life as a game. Those memories were blocked out deliberately so that I could experience life as though it were my first time discovering everything.

Skill increased: Recollection (Insight)

The system exists on the boundary between the physical and astral planes. It's just a psychic computer that can quantify the things a psychic like me can simply see. A spectrometer for the soul.

I look at my aura myself. There's bits of experience clinging to it. Quests from other cores. I should be able to identify them. Except my own quest interface is blocked off. I have unlocked plenty of screens for different things. Maps, etc. This is merely a reflection of the abilities you have, making them easier to use. I can see the individual aspects in the frozen experience clinging to a person's aura. I can even, contextually, interpret what the quest objective is.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I analyze their aspects. I know what they really are, and reconceptualize them as jobs.

Skills increased: Clairvoyance (Aspect Analysis, Witness), Enhanced Soul (Fractal Consciousness, Ghost Eyes, Mystic Inspiration), Discipline (Self-Delusion)

Clairvoyance Aspect Analysis - level 25 (maxed)

Another skill maxed. And I can see it now.

A "Jobs" tab has appeared in the HUD in my third eye.

[I don't understand,] Corwen's voice appears in my mind. [Why would you do that?]

"I'm nosy and want to know what everyone else's experience offers are, and what other core's agendas might be. Knowledge is power. And the more power I have, the more likely my overprotective overpowered aunts and uncles will let me do fun things."

There's a job from Amroth. There's a job from Tempest. There's even a job from Flux.

"Well. I was going to do two of these anyway, and was never going to do the other. No, I don't really care about your bet, but I can assure you that I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do regardless, no matter what they're offering."

I go upstairs and read the auras of all of my relatives. They're all happily carrying out tasks Corwen gave them. The Hearthkeepers have more than the adventurers, and Uncle Winter has the most. Apparently having him ritually sacrifice an Epic-rank monster every year for a feast is worth quite a bit of experience. We feast on Epic monster meat twice a year. The devil-goats have been given directives to survive. It probably isn't rare to have monsters that grow stronger over time. That's what animals do, after all, just less magically.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask people to keep your house in good order and pay them in magic for it. None of Corwen's Hearthkeepers are unhappy about their position. They chose it of their own free will and can still go off and adventure if they so choose. For all I talk about people being mind controlled, that isn't really what I've seen. The cores just make sure everyone can find a role they're suited for.

Hebron spawned people who would already be suited for the class being given to them. It didn't spawn a Scottish housewife as a Hearthkeeper by accident, nor was it coincidental for French businesswoman to be spawned as a merchant. I even got an actual American handyman when I was promised a handyman.

I know Farlow offered Jade Elite rank if she subjugated Hebron. A gamble, perhaps, something it could stand to lose for a chance, even a small one, of potential great gain.

I'm going to be nosy enough to try to detect anyone that means harm to me or the people I care about. What else is Clairvoyance for?

There are still times I wish I'd chosen [Creative Child] instead. I need to get back at crafting. As it stands, I have a boat that needs repairs.

"It would be good to max out as many skills as you can before you reach your next class choice," Kestrel says.

"I have two Clairvoyance skills at max and a few not far off," I say. "None of my Crafting skills are even close."

"Well, at least you'll get to see what classes are available for Clairvoyance when you reach Apprentice tier. You will probably also get options that don't focus as much on Clairvoyance."

"I don't suppose you know much about skyboats?" I ask. "My [Vehicle Diagnosis] skill tells me it needs maintenance."

"Ah, yeah, the sigil flows were cutting out a bit in that storm," Kestrel says. "Afraid I don't know much about the mechanics of them even if I've flown on them plenty of times."

I climb on board to start in with making a few minor physical repairs to the flying boat. Although it doesn't need to be watertight, the integrity of the sigils is a more pressing concern. Honestly, I want to just build an entirely new boat and move the aether sails over, once I can get these sigils down enough to copy them. For the moment, it's enough to keep this one ship-shape.

Skills increased: Maintenance (Repair, Mending)

The sigils… The ink they're painted with doesn't last forever, and some bits were damaged or worn, especially after that storm we flew through. I want to make sure it's in good condition and not going to have any sigils suddenly fail before we take it on a flight to another domain. I don't even want to take another flight near the Black Mountain right now.

Before trying to fix the ship, I practice drawing sigils on paper with regular, non-magical ink until I get it down. Sigil ink uses a calligraphy brush instead of something like a fountain pen or ball-point pen. Although we don't have vast sigil encyclopedias at Corwen, there's enough of the basics to get started.

Skills increased: Language (Mystic Sigils) Skill acquired: Crafting (Calligraphy) Description: The ability to make precise and aesthetic written forms by means of a pen, brush, or similar implement.

Although we have some sigil ink in storage, I want to make my own. I need to learn how to make it, after all. The easiest sources of materials for sigil ink are found in the Spooky Grove.

"Are we flying to the Spooky Grove?" Griffin asks.

"No," I say. "We'll walk. I need to get materials from there to repair the boat."

"Aww…" Griffin and Willow say in unison.

"We will fly more later," I say. "Sometimes you have to do things now in order to be able to do things later."

"The Spooky Grove is always fun," Juniper adds monotone encouragement.

Kestrel comes along for the day trip, determined to spend as much time with her grandkids as she can before she has to leave.

"I really hope Hazel gives birth before I have to leave again," Kestrel says. "I got here on the 3rd so I ought to leave Tempest on April 2nd, but I'm not going to miss the naming ceremony of my fifth grandkid so long as I'm here. It would be rude."

According to the book I read on the topic, you can make sigil ink out of any number of monster fluids. In the case of the Spooky Grove, that's the ichor from the giant spiders and the sap from the treefolk at the end. There are probably lengthy chapters about what sorts of monster fluids are good for what uses of sigil ink in a different book than the one in Corwen's library. I'll get a sample of each and trust [Psychometry].

Mystic ichor from the giant spiders and mystic sap from the treefolk. After analyzing their essence, I decide that the sap would probably be best for wood but that I don't think I have enough of it to repaint all the boat's sigils with ink made from it. I'll do some spot touchups where [Vehicle Diagnosis] says they're needed, but I start off with making ink from the more common spider ichor just to make sure I don't mess it up.

I do not receive a skill for making ink. I can't even make it on my own, since it requires magic, but I can help with the preparation. Fortunately, there are several people in the Hearth who know how to make it and are willing to help.

Before even going near my boat with my calligraphy brush, I start off with painting a few of the simpler sigils on paper with the common spider ink, essentially making a magical paper airplane.

"Let's see if it works," Anise says.

She sends a bit of vis into the sigils to activate them. The paper promptly bursts into flames.

"Ack! I didn't do it!"

"Too much energy for the paper to hold," Kestrel says. "And a misdrawn sigil, I think. You tried for 'push' but got 'burn' instead. They're similar, but 'burn' has an extra prong and another line in the middle. You smeared it into being too similar."

I grumble a little as I'm sent back to the desk to redraw sigils in nonmagical ink until Kestrel is convinced that I have them down well enough to not cause the boat to catch fire.

My exercises are briefly interrupted by the addition of a baby to the Hearth. Aunt Hazel gives birth to a new baby boy, and then everyone else proceeds to shoo off Willow and Griffin and their immediately trying to be excited, overbearing older siblings. I have no idea how much longer the twins might stay the bubbling fonts of enthusiasm they are today, but Aunt Hazel is absolutely done with it.

Once I've shown I can draw the sigils correctly, then I'm allowed to try making another paper dart. This time, Kestrel puts energy into it, and it obediently floats up and zips around the room. A broad smile spreads across my face as it flies around, and that smile falters only a little when it hits a wall and crumples. I made something that can fly! That's still cool even if I had to draw sigils until my hand started cramping around my brush.

Until Kestrel's careful guidance, I take the brush and the small bottle of ink made from mystic sap to the skyboat. I identify which of the sigils are in need of repainting the worst and get to work, holding my breath at some points from trying to make sure everything is right.

Skills increased: Enhanced Hands (Labor of Love), Language (Mystic Sigils) Skill acquired: Maintenance (Scribing) Description: The ability to maintain writing by repainting, tracing, copying, or otherwise renewing it. Your control over the vessel is Moderate (was Weak). Maximum speed is penalized by 50% (was 75%).

I let out a heavy breath when I receive that notification. Finally! I knew putting as much of my own essence as I could into it would help. I can't wait to get out and take it for a spin.

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