PreCursive

  “Until this point in time,” Grey said. “AutoVants, the Sculpted, were legally sidered to be property. Naturally, they objected to this legal status. Even before the Sed Initialization, there were individuals that protested before the House of Lords their status as being little better than sves, even after they had gained full sapiehese appeals went nowhere, however. There were, and are, a great many nobles in the House that have created an enormous amount of wealth off of the back of AutoVants. But it was only after they gaiheir Status and anized uheir new, self-chosen racial hat they demanded, quite forcibly, to be graheir freedom. Again, they were denied.”

  Grey scoffed.

  “Unsurprising, irospect. In my long life, I’ve noticed that the nobility ruly ges. They have ever sidered a part of their ranks mere servants who exist to maintain their vish lifestyles. Of course, they wouldn’t care if their servitaihe ability to think and feel. If it wasn’t for the wisdom of the Royal family all those turies ago, svery would still be legal withial. Ah, no offeended, Azarus.” Grey said to Azarus, somewhat sheepishly.

  Azarus shrugged, indifferent. “aken. I agree with ya.”

  “So,” I broke in. “What was the actual argument they gave for denying the, ah, Sculpted their freedom? If they had bee a bunch of real boys and girls, and were even reized by the System, what stopped them?”

  Grey turned bae and waved a hand irritably. “Some nonsense about how their prial status as property directly issioned for a certain task superseded any cims of personhood. The majority opinion of the House was that they had the same legal status as a garden hoe. Bah! It was a transparent ploy to keep hold of the force that had so radically shifted the Herztalian markets, and the Sculpted k. So, they protested. En masse, they abaheir posts and attempted to peacefully protest for their rights. The nobility did not appreciate this. Many times, the guards were called to break these mass protests up, g that property did not have the right to free assembly. Eventually, these protests would escate more and more often into ht violence. But it was difficult for such a young race to effectively fight back against sutrenched powers when their collective Statuses were so young. And so, they turo me, to fight on their behalf.”

  “I was happy to do so. After all, I felt a collective responsibility to the entire raot to mention my direct adoption of one of their members. I stepped in and acted as a shield for these protests. The violence died down, and it seemed as if popur opinion was shifting in favor of the Sculpted. I strongly,” Grey said sarcastically, “Suspect that certain members of the House of Lords did not appreciate my intervention. It is at this point that I suspect Pringuis, Lord of House Savoy steps in, whispering in the ears of key House members. He likely saportunity to destabilize the Kingdom from within. This colr around my neck came from his coffers, of this, I have no doubt. It is no small feat to restraiatus of a person with my advanced level, and requires both powerful entments, exceedingly rare materials, and stupendous skill in order to create such a powerful colr.”

  Grey sighed, rubbing his brow in frustration. “I don’t even truly know how they got it on me. I simply went to bed one night after a long day at the Academy, and when I woke, I was colred and bound in the back of a wagon traveling through the Barren Forest. I never even saw the face of the person who drove the wagon, I was only given minimal provisions through a small hatch at the front of the wagon. Weeks of non-stop travel ter, we arrived in Addersfield and I was given to Magnus, and then promptly handed over to Azarus.”

  “That was a damned surprise, let me tell you,” Azarus said wryly. “I wasn’t told why I had to e down here. Thought I was going to be babysitting Magnus, or something. Didn’t expect the gods-be-damned Headmaster of the Mystic Academy.”

  Something occurred to me, and I grimaced. Unfortably, I motiorey’s legs. Or rather, ck of them. “So, uh, when did that happen?”

  Grey’s face twisted in hatred. “Magnus.” He spat. “That fet little toad wasn’t ordered to maim me in such a fashion, I’m certain of it. He merely wao do it anyway, with some poppycock excuse of ‘making sure I didn’t escape’. The only reason I was deprived of my legs was to satisfy his own twisted desires. And I. Will. Not. Fet. That.”

  A tense silence fell over the table for a moment, befrey visibly tried to calm himself down by letting out a long breath. “As it stands, to the best of my knowledge, the situation with the Sculpted immediately deteriorated with my absence. Forewarned of it, the nobles began to brutally crack down on any dissideh increasingly severe violence. From what Azarus,” Grey him. “Has been able to find out, this was the breaking point for the Sculpted. They scattered, and rather than seek legal redress, they formed a rebellion. They found far more sympathy among the popuce than anticipated, and thus many colborators. Over the months since my capture, their rebellion has spiraled out of trol into a full-oalian civil war. There were many members of the House of Lords that always supported the Sculpted fight for freedom, and they took that ce to publicly support the rebellion with supplies, onry, and even soldiers. The situation is being untenable, and the High King is suspiciously silent. I’m sure Anguis is nearly cag with glee at the chaos he helped coct.”

  Grey leaned forward oable in order to better meet my eyes. The look on his face was intense. “Enter you, Nathan. While I might be able to coct a method to free myself eventually, I don’t have that time. Whatever powers you may possess as a Preight well be able to free the both of us. I don’t mean to pressure you Nathan, but I o be free from this cursed pce. I o be there, in the Kingdom, in order to settle this civil war. I o prevent my try from burning to the ground, as a result of my as. I o find out what has happeo the High King. I o be there in order to find out what has happeo my daughter.”

  I took in a shuddering breath when he was finished, unaware that I had even stopped breathing. Right.

  No pressure.

  ……………………………………...

  After Grey’s expnation, we all agreed to retire for the night. It had been a long day for both Azarus and I, myself more than him. I think the food was the only thing that had been keeping me up during our versation with how exhausted I was. Before we all broke for our respective rooms though, Grey asked me to meet him in his after breakfast. I was too tired at the time to ask what for. Climbing the stairs, entering my room, and flopping into my bed, I was out like a light nearly instantaneously. Thankfully, I didn’t have any nightmares.

  I woke fairly early in the m, but I still felt fairly rested. I took the time to just ze about in bed for a while. It was o be ba a moderately fortable bed again after using a sleeping cot during our travels. It didn’t pare to the sinfully soft bed I’d used ba Rhoscara, but it was nice. f, in its own way.

  Rising out of bed with a groan aing dressed in the same old, same old, I exited my room. Blearily, I shuffled dowairs and into the kit. I was the only one in there, so I took the time to make myself a simple breakfast. Once I was done and had ed up after myself, I remembered that Grey had asked me to meet him in his room. Exiting the kit and walking over to his room beh the stairs, I softly knocked on the door to see if he was awake.

  “e in.” I heard faintly through the duess he .

  Opening the door, I found that Grey was sitting in his wheelchair at his work desk. At my entrance, he turo face me with a small smile. “Good m, Nathan.” He said to me.

  “M,” I said back. “You already eat?”

  Grey made a dismissive motion with his hands. “No need. I’m perfectly fine. Enough about me though, I’m quite tired of speaking about myself after st night. Rather, I think we should begin your education oain matters. Starting first with whatever Profession you acquired in Rhoscara. I’m quite excited to see what was unveiled.”

  Walking further into the room, I took a seat on the bed not far from Grey. “Huh,” I said thoughtfully. “Well, st time I checked, it was locked. It was something called 'Aetherial Melding'. Did Azarus tell you that we, or rather I, experienced a System Judgement when I finally got Artistry from El-, er, the Prince?”

  "Aetherial Melding?" Grey’s eyebrows rose. “He did not, in fact. Most intriguing, if irely ued. Whatever it is that you’ve gained as ah Profession is entirely uo the best of my knowledge. The ells me nothing."

  “Right.” I nodded. “So, it was locked, and the Priold me that I would probably o unlock my first css to unlock that too. Well, in the forest I mao level up enough to get my first css-”

  “gratutions!” Grey broke in eagerly, leaning in. “What is it?”

  “Ah.” I was somewhat taken aback. “Well, it’s something called Thornbde Acolyte. From css sele, it told me it was an intelligend dexterity css. It, uh, kinda saved my life. Not sure I would have gotten out of the forest alive without the skills it gave me.”

  “Oh? Intelligend dexterity csses are unonly taken during first sele.” Grey said musingly. “I don’t typically reend it to most students, but I believe it’s viable with your advanced proportion of Virtue points. I’m not personally familiar with the ‘Thornbde’ prefix, but ‘Acolyte’ is well-researched indeed.”

  “Is that the way csses work then? Prefixes and suffixes in bination that determihe fun?” I asked curiously.

  “Broadly speaking, yes,” Grey answered. “At least, when it es to lower-tier csses like your own. But enough about csses, you were saying that your mysterious eighth Profession reviously locked, yes? Have you checked if it’s been unlocked yet?”

  I shoot my head. “No, I was too exhausted after getting home yesterday, and I was too busy running for my life in my forest to think about it. Gimme a sec.”

  Mentally pulling up my Status, I felt relief flow through me. Despite Ely’s reassurances, a little bit of the panic attack I’d had all those weeks ago still lingered in the bay mind. But I had definitely unlocked something.

  haniel Eugene HartTitleN/ALevel14Age24 SolRaceHuman (Precursor)AffinityTerrestrialCssesThornbde Acolyte (Superior)Professioherial Meldih190/190Stamina100/100Vitality19Strength10Spirit10Dexterity28Perception19Intelligence37Wisdom37Free Points40Options[Talent Page], [Skill Page], [Profession Page]Woah, what? Last I'd checked, I'd been level ten when I selected my css in the forest.

  Wait.

  Hadn't that s before I'd picked Thornbde Acolyte said something about level fourteen? It had been in parenthesis, though. Huh. Maybe I'd just beeed from getting those extra levels before I picked my css. Well, whatever. Before I spoke to Grey, I went ahead and assigned my free points. That brought my Vitality and Perception to twenty-three, my Dexterity to thirty-six, and my Intelligend Wisdom to forty-nine.

  Damn, but I'd gotten a ton out of killing that snake monster. I wonder what the deal with that was?

  Once I'd seen my main Status s, I maneuvered over to the Profession pane and its glowing web.

  After examining my Status for a few moments, I closed it and looked up at Grey. “Yup, it’s unlocked alright,” I said to him, a little bit of my relief c my voice. "But the symbol in the ter has ged. The fist opened up."

  At Grey's raised eyebrow, I tinued.

  "It's an open palm, now."