Matt was overjoyed with this result. He had finally been able to perform some magic, even if it wasn't anything complicated. Just the fact that he who had been born without magic, and had long passed the age where one would start learning, had actually performed magic was beyond extraordinary. He had been training for a while and had gone up to level 2, but now it was around midnight and he would most likely have to work hard helping his parents fix as much of the damage as possible tomorrow morning. With this in mind, Matt headed back down into the shelter and went to sleep.
The next morning came and Matt awoke to realize that he was alone. His parents and little sister had already left the shelter and let him sleep in. As he stepped out of the shelter he saw his parents moving around whatever rubble they could lift, with little Micchie trailing behind them, dragging a much smaller piece of wood. Matt ran up to them, ready to help lighten their load. "Mom, Dad, why didn't you wake me up? This work will get done much faster if we all do it together." Matt exclaimed, worried that his parents were overworking themselves.
"We just thought you might have needed some extra sleep. You looked so distracted yesterday, just sitting there, staring at a wall for hours. We just thought the extra sleep would do you some good, and I reckon we were right, you're back to your usual self already. Don't worry, we only started moving things about an hour ago, there's still plenty of work for you." His father said, a smile on his face, he was just happy that Matt was back to his old self. "Go and take the other side of this log, your mother shouldn't be lifting too many heavy things." Matt's father said ready to get back to work.
"I don't think either of you should be doing any heavy lifting Dad, but I know you wouldn't stop even if I begged you," Matt said as he started to lift his side of the log.
He and his dad continued to work through most of the day. Eventually, most of the rubble had been moved into a pile where it wouldn't get in the way. Their house was still in pieces, the stable was gone, and the barn still had a giant hole on one of its sides, but fixing that would be a job for the professionals, they had done everything they could.
"Looks like that's about all we can do for now. I'll go into town and find someone who can rebuild the house at least. Matt, stay here and look after your mother and sister." His father said before getting on a horse and heading out to town.
Matt helped his mother cook some breakfast, and after they ate, he went on to do the same thing he would always do after a lot of hard work, relax beneath an apple tree. His favorite tree had fallen on top of the barn, but there were still a few trees left standing. The only difference now was that he was practicing magic instead of taking a nap. He wasn't doing anything complicated, just moving three small rocks around, trying to get better at making small, precise movements. 'Looks like you've got the hang of that, soon enough you'll be sling boulders like that.' Emma said impressed at Matt's learning speed, sure it was only basic stuff, but he'd only started learning last night. The kid had more potential than she initially thought.
At that moment Matt had a new screen appear before him.
| Basic Earth Control now at level 2 |
| New Quest: Increase Basic Earth Control to level 5 |
| Rewards: 1 free stat point |
Matt was taken by surprise, he didn't think the system would also give him quests, he thought it was just some fancy way for him to measure his progress. Emma could tell he was confused so she started to explain. 'I guess I forgot to mention, the system will also give you quests along the way, think of it as a form of motivation to keep you working hard towards becoming stronger. All quests will have a reward, but some will also have consequences if you fail to complete them.' Emma then went over all the basic information about how the quests work and what the possible rewards could be, such as stat points, titles, and even physical rewards, but Emma herself didn't know what these rewards would be.
'I can give you some tips as to how to improve your earth control and increase your level faster. As I'm sure you can guess, the more complicated the things you do the faster you'll improve. You won't master earth control by just spinning some stones in the air. Now that you're comfortable with lifting rocks from the ground and moving them around, you should try to move chunks of the ground itself, it will be more difficult but you should be able to do it.' Emma went on to explain how to do this, it was mostly the same as with the stones, only that this time Matt would have to concentrate on separating a small amount of the soil and lifting it into the air, rather than having to move a stone which was already its own separate entity.
After struggling for a while, Matt was starting to get the hang of it. It wasn't quite as simple as Emma had made it out to be, Matt had to make sure the soil kept its form while he was moving it, if not it would just crumble and fall out of the air. It certainly added a brand new challenge to the mix, but now Matt could confidently move the soil without having to worry about it crumbling as he tried to move it. As time went on he was able to do more complicated things, such as combining all the lumps of earth into one big ball and splitting them again. And once again Matt not only leveled up himself but so did his earth control skill. He decided to put the extra stat point into intelligence again, bringing it up to 10 points.
That's as far as Matt had gotten before the day had ended and his father had returned from the town. "I was able to get someone to fix the house, but it's not cheap, we can barely afford it. We won't be able to get the barn or the stable fixed anytime soon." Matt's father exclaimed, obviously disheartened by their current situation. "Don't worry dad, we'll make it through this. I can go into town and get a job to earn some extra coppers." Matt said, hoping to cheer up his family. 'How long do you think until I'm able to complete quests out in town to earn some money?' Matt asked Emma, hoping to get some money as an adventurer, it was the only thing he could think of to get the money his family needed. 'Well, I'm not too sure, I've been inside that magic stone for over 300 years, but if we go by what I know, you're not gonna like the answer. You probably won't be strong enough anytime soon. So far the only element you can use is earth, which is mostly defensive at its most basic, lightning will only help you during a storm since you're not able to create your own lightning yet. Your only real hope of being able to complete decent-paying quests is learning another element, one which has good offensive capabilities, like fire or air.' Emma responded, crushing Matt's hopes of really helping his parents.