When Leahna decided it was time to head home, Rylan came along to witness her reunion with their father, and he was not disappointed.

The man was an emotional wreck, and could do little but blubber about how proud he was of his two 'babies' and how his 'little girl' was growing up. Rylan could tell Leahna was experiencing an internal struggle between her embarrassment and affection, and had to fight not to laugh as he hung the woven bamboo target with the double bulls-eye from the wall in the kitchen.

Apparently, keeping a memento from the day you became a Quinthar was tradition. He couldn't help but wonder if that sign with the fly he'd pinned on it was still being kept somewhere by the Thistlethorns...

They celebrated with takeout from The Knackered Hag and a bottle of cider that Rylan had purchased for the occasion. Well, it had been meant either to celebrate or to drown their sorrows should Leahna have failed, but he wisely didn't mention that.

Over the days that followed, Leahna and Rylan started training together.

After lengthy deliberations and discussions with Artoran—who had memorised the Attribute Requirements of a lot of Skills—Leahna decided to put a point each into Strength, Dexterity, and Mind. This made her eligible for a number of Skills, among which two that she'd set her sights on: Fencing and Calligraphy.

Artoran whined a little about how both of his children had low Presence, as it excluded them from gaining most of the Skills he had gathered, but there was nothing for it.

Frankly, Rylan didn't see the big deal about the Attribute. He could see the use of being better at commanding the attention of a crowd, but it also didn't seem very relevant to anything he wanted to accomplish. He figured he'd probably put a single point in it when he gained a Sapphire-Grade Skill—to get rid of the negative value and make him eligible for Juggling, which required a minimum Presence of 0—and then leave it at that.

Funnily enough, Leahna's raised Attributes also made her eligible for Jumping, but she'd turned her nose up at Rylan's suggestion of trying to gain it.

'I'm a lady, Ryles, not a creepy little hopper bug or a gross, slimy frog,' she'd said, shooting him a pointed look and a smirk.

He would have his revenge at some point. A bucket of frogs in her bed ought to do it.

But for now, he had his hands full with their new training routine.

Leahna showed up with her bow every morning after breakfast. First they did target practice together, then they sparred. Leahna with her bamboo fencing blade against Rylan with Arphin, who was wrapped in a thick layer of cloth.

Rylan had originally considered using a dulled training blade for safety, but Artoran had advised against it. He'd said what Rylan needed to work on most was to combine his various Skills and Arphin's abilities into a coherent fighting style.

There were all kinds of interesting combinations he could perform. Like throwing Arphin at Leahna, then Jumping towards her and Recalling him right before the blade reached its mark, and going in for an unexpected stab instead.

Or charging up Knife-Throwing while in close combat, feigning a swing, and then jumping over his target to throw a knife at their back; he didn't even need Arphin for that one.

One of the things he struggled with most at the beginning, was rapidly switching from one Skill to the other. Doing so in an efficient manner was a two-step process. Step one was to drop the first Skill yet maintain control of the released mana—something he was quite used to, as he'd learned to do so to reclaim the mana of an aborted Skill.

Step two was trickier, however, as it required him to direct the new Skill to accept the mana that was already in the blade, rather than pulling new mana from his pool like normal.

In order to get better at this—and to improve his flexibility in general—Rylan was therefore learning to manually charge his blade with mana any time he was going to use either of his knife Skills.

Arphin actually proved an additional complication for this, as the blade had a tendency to unconsciously absorb the mana Rylan sent towards him, so they often ended up in a minor struggle over who controlled it.

But that was fine, as Leahna didn't have the Fencing Skill yet, and was similarly struggling with charging her blade manually.

After a lengthy sparring session where they exhausted most of their mana, they generally went to the Hawktalon home together to make lunch.

In the afternoon, Leahna still went to work at the stationer's shop. Upon learning of her new status and her wish to gain the Calligraphy Skill, her boss, Thakir, had happily given her a raise on her hourly wage that basically allowed her to work only the afternoons for a salary that was actually even slightly higher than what she made before.

Apparently, he was quite willing to invest in her, under the understanding that she would continue to work for him after gaining the Skill, and he'd even hinted that he might be willing to leave the shop in her hands entirely some day when he retired.

While she worked on her calligraphy, Rylan practised his waveform, trying to tease out the right rhythm of excitations to sharpen its corners. Every new addition seemed to have less effect, but under his father's expert guidance, he was still slowly getting closer and closer.

In the evening, he still had his shift, of course. While the original hype of the new chef in town had mostly worn off, The Knackered Hag was still very busy, and there were more Quinthar coming to visit as well. They all tried to come see him either after or before their meal, but the ever-stoic Sloan never budged an inch. Burtrand had even given the tall man a new, pitch-black uniform, which made him look even more official and intimidating.

He was still sweeping the floor though, for some reason. It looked almost meditative, in a way.

Tempis, the storm season, soon made way for Tenebris, the dark season. And as the days grew shorter and the weather colder, their training together naturally bore fruit.

Rylan gained the Overcharge Augmentation for Knife-Fighting, though Leahna wasn't far behind with Archery, as she had more mana to spend on the single Skill.

Of course, they weren't about to stop there with their Skills.

Thinking back to how he'd seen Helen... his mother, train with her spear, Rylan realised she'd added an Augmentation that allowed her to gather all the mana stored in her weapon and push it to the tip for a single devastating strike.

He wanted something similar, though less focused on piercing someone's armour, and more on deflecting a weapon with unexpected force.

Knives were great if you could get into someone's guard, but they were at a disadvantage when clashing against other weapons. Rylan preferred to keep his foes at arm's length and dispatch them with accurate throws, but he wanted to be ready for anything, and an Augmentation like that felt like the perfect way to catch an opponent off-guard and potentially break open their defences for a quick throw.

He also felt it would pair especially well with the Sapphire-Grade Redirect Skill, once he had it...

Leahna's next goal was a little more complicated. She wanted to try her hand at curving her shots by using her mana to bend the flights at the rear of her arrows.

Rylan felt the idea had definite potential, but the back patio was only so wide.

After some deliberation, they decided to pool some funds and rent the use of a long warehouse from one of Artoran's friends—or 'drinking buddies,' as Leahna called them—for a very reasonable amount. They couldn't afford the exclusive use of it, of course, but as long as they were careful to avoid hitting any of the cheeses ageing on rows and rows of wicker shelves that stood on the sides, it should be fine.

The smell was pretty bad, but it was a great place for Leahna to work on her next Archery Augmentation, and for Rylan to work on his long jumps.

With the extra space, he could finally build up some real speed, adding a little mana to every step, before spending the bulk of it on his very last step, where he pushed off as hard as he could with a single foot. Preferably his right, as that was his dominant leg.

He'd tried two-footed jumps, but that just carried him higher, not farther.

Finally, when he felt he really had the technique under control, he threw caution to the haze and, in the middle of the night, jumped from the roof of the rented warehouse to one that stood adjacent, only a small forty-foot jump away.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He knew his Mana Shell could absorb the blow if he fell, so he was mostly worried about damaging the buildings.

Thankfully, the sturdy limestone rooftiles all remained in place as he performed his ill-advised stunt, and Ethereon rewarded his illegal trespassing on the boatwright's roof with the third Augmentation for his Jumping Skill.

Finally, as Rylan and Leahna were making a traditional tenebris solstice pilav with roasted turnips and grilled cirrus eel, on a whim, he tried something new with his Cooking Skill. Rather than trying to pull and stretch his little mana nuggets in all directions like before, he instead tried to fill them with mana and blow them up like gasbladders.

His eyes widened as an unexpected yet very welcome voice interrupted his experimentation.

《Manipulation threshold has been achieved, Rank-Up conditions met. Applying Augmentation: Boost Primary Effect, to Skill: Cooking. Do you accept?》

"I think we should let it simmer a bit—"

"I accept!" Rylan exclaimed happily, interrupting Leahna mid-sentence.

She looked at him oddly. "Well, I'm glad you agree, but..." Her eyes widened as the warm breeze of Ethereon's power came rolling in from the distance. "Wait, you did it? You got the increased healing effect?!"

"I did!" Rylan replied, grinning widely as motes of blue light passed through the shuttered windows of the Hawktalon home and into his chest.

《Augmentation successful. Cooking has reached Rank 3. 100 Quintessence Credits have been added to your balance.》

"Blessed Ethereon, may I see my Status Window, please?"

Status

Mana Pool: 4.3/14

Mana Shell: 6/6

Attributes

Strength 3

Dexterity 4

Endurance 2

Mind 4

Perception 3

Presence -1

Skills

Knife-Throwing, Rank 4

Jumping, Rank 4

Cooking, Rank 3

Knife-Fighting, Rank 2

Quint Structures

Mana Core, Tier I

Mana Pool, Tier I

Mana Shell, Tier VI

Quintessence Credits: 748

Another step closer to his Mana Core upgrade. Just three more new Skills or Augmentations and he'd have enough!

If he managed to get Redirect, the 200 Credits he would receive for a Sapphire-Grade Skill would almost get him there immediately. That possibility was starting to come into view even, as he was getting better and better with the waveform. Slowly but surely, it was starting to look the way it should. It already had the right overall shape and size, but just wasn't quite as angular as it should be yet.

Artoran had even started him on the next step: using his textured mana on small objects. In Rylan's case, that object was a marble, which he would charge, then roll across the table and try to change its direction halfway. It was hard to keep control over the mana as it rolled away from him over the smooth limestone, but he succeeded in changing its direction sometimes, if only by a few degrees.

But that was for later concern. Far more importantly than credits right now, was that this Augmentation should be a big improvement to his healing capabilities.

Ethereon, may I see my Cooking Skill Window as well, please?"

Cooking

Rank 3

Effects

Stamina buff

Improved shelf life

Minor recovery buff

Augmentations

Delivery Acceleration

Increased Primary Effect

It was interesting that Ethereon seemed to view the 'minor recovery buff' as the Skill's primary effect. But at this point, that made sense to Rylan, as he'd long realised the increased stamina was just the result of the outer shell of the mana nuggets breaking down into pure energy, while the healing effect was carried inside.

For his next Augmentation, he considered he might like to try getting a different primary effect. But that, too, could wait.

All the meals Rylan had been making for Artoran had slowly been having effect, and the man's hands were much steadier now, the tremors pretty much a thing of the past. However, there had so far been little to no change to his legs.

Frustrated with the lack of progress in his father's recovery, Rylan had put his hopes on this Augmentation a while ago, and his effort was about to pay off. He hoped.

[Woah, great job, Boss!] Arphin praised him. The spiritblade had made great strides with his insecurity, and just seemed happier overall since he'd found a playmate in Izzy. The twosome was inseparable as always, with Izzy gently guiding Arphin around the room on her breeze.

Though recently, Arphin had managed to produce some minor gusts to push himself through the air as well, lending additional credence to the idea that he and Izzy were spirits of a similar nature. His ability to do so wasn't at a level that was useful in combat yet, but it was still a very welcome development.

The spiritgear's mana pool and regeneration had slowly been improving as well, Rylan had realised a while back, as Arphin could now Recall up to four times in a row without even falling asleep, and woke up faster again when he did run out of mana.

"That's amazing!" Leahna agreed, her eyes gleaming as she did a little hop in place, clapping her hands together. It was the kind of genuine display Rylan would never have witnessed from her even a season ago. "What are you waiting for? Go use it on Dad's portion!"

Laughing, Rylan shook his head. "I thought you said it needed to simmer for a bit?"

Leahna groaned. "But now I can't wait!"

"Don't worry; I'll use my Delivery Acceleration Augmentation with it," Rylan promised. "I also want to see how effective it is."

The meal was absolutely lovely, the home Rylan had never really had filled with laughter and warmth in a way that made him oddly nostalgic for his younger years, when he used to partake in the tenebris solstice celebrations of the Thistlethorns.

He could even recall sitting on Helen's lap as she fed him morsels off her plate when he was really little... Had it been solstice when she'd let him sip her cider and almost died laughing at his reaction?

He was back to the present when Leahna asked, "Do you feel any different yet, daddy?"

Artoran pursed his lips, glancing down at his legs. Finally, he sighed and smiled. "I'm afraid not, darling. But don't worry too much about me; the dark solstice is a time to reflect on what we're happy and thankful about, and I have much, much to thank the spirits for this year."

Despite his father's words, Rylan felt his brows draw together. Most of the accelerated effect of his newly Augmented Skill should have occurred by now. He'd felt like it should have made a significant difference...

Stirring his dessert, he started to channel his Cooking Skill once more, spending some of his remaining mana on his own meal before eating it. Then he sneakily took his dinner knife and, beneath the table, slowly pressed it through his mana shell to cut his thumb.

A drop of red welled up from the cut, and he stared at the wound, trying to feel his Skill work. He could tell something was happening, but it was definitely not visibly closing up or anything.

Dejected, he put the knife down again. "Fog me... Is this all it does? I worked on this Augmentation for, like, a season, but my Skill is still nowhere near Ethereon's healing!"

Artoran and Leahna both looked over at him, startled by his outburst.

"Don't take it to heart, son," Artoran said soothingly. "Matching Ethereon is a really high bar! You're doing the best you can, and your efforts have really helped me."

"He really is much better," Leahna agreed. "He used to have these terrible coughing fits, and sometimes I even worried he would stay in them... but that hasn't happened in over a season, despite the cold weather!"

"No, I know; I just... I want to undo the fogging damage those clodmongers wrought on him!" Rylan exclaimed, gesticulating his arms. "It's not fair that he has to sit in that chair all day, for... for protecting me."

A silence fell over the table. Artoran sighed. "I understand you feel that way, son, but that's life; we have to make do with the hand we're dealt."

"Do we?" Rylan asked after a moment. "I have a friend who would say there are lots of ways to get a better hand. Like hiding cards up his sleeves, or sleeping with the dealer..."

Artoran blinked. "Well, I don't see us getting any faster results with healing me... unless we can get rid of my Contract somehow and get me access to Ethereon's healing, I suppose."

Rylan cocked his head to the side. "Can we get rid of it? Is there like a time limit or an exit clause?"

Leahna glanced back and forth between them, wide-eyed.

Artoran chuckled mirthlessly. "There is not. The Talons aren't idiots, you know? I won't get my access to Ethereon back unless the Talons grant it to me. And good luck persuading them to do that."

"Oh, there are other ways to get people to do things than persuasion," Rylan replied darkly, anger fuelling him. "Who administered your Contract?"

"Duke Talon himself, so I wouldn't get any ideas," Artoran replied sternly. Then he hesitated. "Though to be honest, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have to be him who releases me. When it comes to renewing Contracts and whatnot, the Talons often send representatives seemingly at random, based on who's available. I suppose we could try to convince another Talon to take pity on me; as long as they have the Contract Skill they should have the authority to release me."

Hold on a minute... Authority? When the thought brewing in the back of his mind fully formed, Rylan straightened up as if shocked.

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