"I'm finally ready!"
"And I am too!"
"We'll need another day, but we're nearly there."
Sam, Mimi, and William approached TJ at the end of the day. It'd been a bit over a week since the conversation he'd had with his two pretegees, as he now thought of them, and he'd pushed that same urgency into the other four Dirt tiers. The main difficulty that remained for him was what he was going to do about Luz. He wasn't going to abandon the child, but he couldn't provide for her the way she needed and deserved outside of the bounds of the New Republic. So… what could he do?
As a relief, Brad offered his help with the infant. His explanation was surprising, though.
"I don't think I have the same kind of future Tessie and you have in this world." His voice wasn't bitter or angry, just a tired man stating what he considered to be an unalienable truth. When TJ'd paused, wondering what he was trying to say, Brad continued, "I'm not a violent man. Frankly, I'm happy to stay away from injuries and healing and everything else this world demands of me. My mind isn't as damaged as it once was, but I know that I'm not the strong leader that my family needs. I'm happy to relinquish that to you, my daughter, and my wife."
"Well, if that's what you want, I'm happy to have you here to protect and guide any small ones that end up in our merry band."
Though TJ'd responded like that, he found himself with two warring opinions. The first was, succinctly, disgust. Brad was giving up on being able to protect himself. He was willing to be a follower in this world that would punish weakness. The second was, actually, inspiration. This was someone who'd seen his path for what it was. He saw his weakness and embraced it. Instead of wallowing in self-recrimination or hatred, he embraced his strengths without twisting who "Brad" was. Perhaps there was a longer future ahead of him than he'd seemed to have accepted.
For his part, TJ had gained three more levels over the past week. Shaman hadn't leveled, but the addition to his Attributes from two Neophyte levels and the Human level gave him more and more confidence as well as a healthy fear for other Copper tiers.
A small, prideful part of him, gloried in the idea of taking on every Copper tier he came across. After all, he was just getting stronger and better, wasn't he? With Wind Manipulation and Divine Transformation, he could easily dispatch any of the monsters that attempted to threaten him and his people. Even if they survived that, he could survive and escape, so what was there to fear, since so many of his Skills would work together to ensure he was stronger than whatever challenged him? That confidence was swept away as he realized just how much he'd changed in less than 10 Racial levels as a Copper.
Monster Slayer wouldn't do anything for him against Copper tiers that were level 50. He'd just get squashed like a bug. As the days passed and more and more people joined under the New Republic's flag, more and more Copper tiers could be seen walking around. The way they carried themselves, the way they looked down on the Dirt tiers, became more and more obvious. The weak were second-class citizens, and they were slowly coming to accept that. They either slowly succumbed to the small ways that others took advantage of them, of their gradual loss of independence, or they took those discouragements and used them as a fire to drive them ever higher.
TJ didn't interpose himself in there. There were so many hurt feelings, so many difficulties that he simply couldn't bring himself to worry about, that he turned a blind eye to it all. A small part of him embraced it, though. Everyone was in a shitty situation. It wasn't just the weakest. What set them apart from the rest was that they'd just… decided not to try to fix it. With a sigh, he turned his attention to his Status for a moment.
Class: Storm-Calling Neophyte (Copper (I)) has advanced to level 29.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +7, Agility +6, Endurance +13, Vitality +13, Toughness +11, Wisdom +7, Intelligence +11, Perception +7, Willpower +11, Fixation +13, Free Points +10. Additional Free Points currently available.
Race: Semi-Divine Human (Copper (I)) has advanced to level 28.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +8, Agility +8, Endurance +8, Vitality +13, Toughness +8, Wisdom +8, Intelligence +13, Perception +8, Willpower +8, Fixation +13. Additional Free Points currently available.
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Semi-Divine Human – lvl 28
Class: Storm-Calling Neophyte lvl 29
Occupation: Savage Shaman lvl 27
Level of Divinity: Copper (I)
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Storm Coatl – lvl 28
Class: Storm-Calling Neophyte lvl 29
Occupation: Savage Shaman lvl 27
Level of Divinity: Copper (I)
He'd continued to grow. Nearly at his last "five level increment Skill" for his Class. Then, it'd be level 40 that he got the next one. Would this offer Father's Sacrifice or another Skill to help him be sure he could actually protect Junior? Or would it be something almost worthless?
Well, TJ knew he wasn't going to be stuck with a worthless Skill. Frankly, he deserved better. His concern wasn't the quality of whatever Skill he was given, but it was about if he could find something that'd take care of his growing worries about keeping his child safe in this world. The ring was far from enough to ensure Junior's continued survival. Instead of mere levels, TJ wished he'd seen more opportunities to create his own Skill.
With days of practice, TJ finally could make the lightning obey him… about half the time. If he commanded the Storm as a whole, the lighting would follow suit, but it wasn't the control over the element itself. Near as he could figure, it was like he could move a cup around with his Authority, but the water inside didn't listen to his commands. That difference, frankly, drove him up the wall. The damned lightning just ignored his threats, because what could he do to it? It spurned his requests, because what did he have to offer? It cackled at his commands, because what authority did he have to command the heavens?
His own frustrations aside, TJ smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. I'll keep watch for you two tonight. William, you and yours just let me know if you wanna have me keep an eye out. I'm sure your daughters will make sure you've got a permanent watch while you're otherwise occupied. The selection process… takes time. I bet we'll be glad to have the extra time to rest, given that there will be so much for you to get accustomed to."
Sam couldn't help himself, and he walked into the room, sat cross-legged in the corner, and immediately TJ could feel the System descend on the young man. His face had changed in the past week. He'd lost some of the baby fat in his cheeks, and now his jaw was a long, strong thing where sparse stubble grew. A small scar, already mostly faded, decorated his eyebrow, but that was far from what most had changed in Sam. Instead, it was his eyes. They'd changed, from unsure, afraid of the parents that'd neglected and abused him, to positive, looking onward, and confident.
While he made his decisions, his face twitched a little this way and that, and TJ couldn't help but smile. This protogee of his was growing quickly and powerfully. Mimi, for her part, had gained a Spearmanship Skill that made her significantly more dangerous, so far as he'd been told. With a Copper tier weapon Skill, she was sure that her Occupation would be changed enough to suit her needs. TJ was inclined to agree, and that she hadn't hit level 18 even as a Crafter before now was going to be interesting to see how many levels she ended up gaining in this new path she'd selected.
"He's always been this way." Mimi sighed, more as a performance than anything else. After all, she was still 15. "Too impatient to wait for the candles to be blown out on his birthday cake and looking for any surprises that people brought."
The juxtaposition with those words with what TJ knew about their upbringing left no small amount of questions, but TJ decided against asking what'd happened there. Instead, he shrugged.
"I did basically the same thing, if I'm honest. Ran straight out to get to evolving. It was really cool."
Mimi seemed to want to retort, but had no idea what she would even say. Instead, she huffed. "Well, Luz needs to be fed and taken care of—"
"And I can take care of the baby I volunteered to take care of." TJ chuckled. He gently bumped the girl away from the table and shooed her away with a joking wave. "I'll be fine. I'm a big boy."
Mimi shrugged, then without thinking any longer about it, turned to take a comfortable position to begin the process of having her body changed to become partially divine. Like Sam, her face and demeanor had changed in the past week, but hers had softened. The angry eyes were no longer constantly pressed together, and she no longer constantly kept her shoulders hunched against the world that she imagined would throw stones at her.
TJ continued feeding the slightly fussy Luz as he thought about it. The changes that these two were experiencing were far beyond anything he could have expected in so short a time. A decade and a half of abuse didn't fade in a couple weeks. It just didn't. People went to therapy for years to begin to be able to confront things and move past them, but these two… didn't seem to have any difficulties at all? It just didn't make sense. But what could the reason for it all be?
The System. It had to be something there, but the specifics just continued to escape him. For a short time, TJ considered pressing it, but he decided against it. He enjoyed the dynamic they had here, and pushing at old wounds could make the pain flare up. The more he thought about how strange it was that everyone had recovered or grown so quickly, the more he realized that he too was under this effect. Instead of that, he just rolled his shoulders and took care of the baby. Once she was fed and he'd played with her enough that her head was drooping and her mouth was drooling, he set her gently in her bed and chuckled to himself as he walked away.
As his eyes closed, TJ pushed his awareness out into the world. The air whispered about all the things it could feel outside, but as the storm he'd reinforced with another brief use of Stormcaller grew in strength, the wind grew less concerned with informing him of whatever might be around, but instead on rushing through the trees and pushing down anything that it could.
Nothing was stirring around the building, but TJ knew he couldn't fully trust the Skill. If someone had a Stealth Skill, for example, they could probably convince the wind to think that they weren't worth reporting about. TJ couldn't say that he really understood how his mind and Skill worked, but he would help these two children as best as he could manage. At midnight, Sam exited his evolutionary selections, and TJ moved him to sleep in the bed. Evaluating the teen let TJ see that he was still a Zealot, now level 23. Nearly a full hour later, Mimi sagged from her position, and TJ pushed Sam into the corner to give his sister enough room to sleep. She was still a Disciple, too, level 21.
Then, with a stroke of inspiration from he didn't know where, TJ thought he knew how to command the lightning more reliably. That would be something he could explore in the morning, when he didn't need to actively monitor these two's states.
He couldn't wait for sunrise.