Touch of Fate

Chapter 174: Notable Foresight

Sera woke groggily, stretched, and lethargically rolled out of bed to get dressed. Unlike their previous accommodations, she and Tal were relegated to the small servant quarters inside the cramp residence they shared with the other displaced members of the Lighthouse Dorm. While not exactly uncomfortable, she did miss the feeling of opulence she'd gotten from their spacious room.

While in the process of throwing on a modest dress, just enough for her to get by until she'd fully woken up, she managed to stub her toe against the corner post of her bed. This left her blinking back tears at the sharp, stabbing pain she was completely unprepared for. After a few moments of writhing in mild agony, she mustered the energy to stand and make her way out.

Tal had apparently already gotten up, which was not too unusual for the elf, so Sera walked over to the dining room to scare up some breakfast. As she was shuffling through the door with a sleepy yawn, she was ambushed by an energetic party member with far too much enthusiasm for the early morning.

"Good Morning, Sera! I hope you're ready for a busy day! I have a lot planned." Her party 'leader' exclaimed in a voice that grated at her tired and fragile psyche.

Summoning the best glare she could manage in the circumstances, she directed every ounce of dissatisfaction she could muster at Mike, before shuffling over to breakfast table to revive herself with her favorite morning beverage.

"Okaynot really the response I was hoping for. Tal didn't seem particularly enthused either, perhaps I need to alter my sales pitch." Mike muttered to himself as he followed her.

"Mike, whatever you want can wait until after I'm properly awake." Sera grumbled. The aroma of freshly made coffee was calling to her like a siren song, and she naturally gravitated in that direction.

"Fair enough, but time is getting away from us. Any day now, things are going to change with the war. We need to work quickly to get ahead of the issue."

Sera rounded on him, "Will we be attacked in the next five minutes while I drink my coffee?"

He took a slight step back, a wary grin on his face. "Well noprobably not."

"Then. It. Can. Wait." She hissed before resuming her march.

A few moments of savory goodness later, Sera felt prepared to deal with whatever harebrained scheme Mike had come up with now. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"

He had sat down across from her and was working his way through a small pile of food in a ravenous manner. Taking a moment to wash his latest forkful down with a glass of water that promptly refilled itself, Mike spoke up, "So, I've been thinking. Ever since we arrived here, I have been neglecting the party and my responsibilities as a party leader. While I cannot change the past, at the very least I can start taking the appropriate steps now, and resolve this problem for the future."

Sera gave him a long steady look, trying to read his features.

[He's gotten a little better about hiding his true intentions, but there is still an awkwardness about his approach to certain topics that betrays his uncertainties. Clearly, this sudden shift has been brought on by some factor, and I have a good idea of what.]

"Did you get into a fight with Brenden?" She asked while taking a sip of her coffee.

"I..may have gotten in a little bit of a disagreement with him, yes." He replied shamefacedly.

[Figures.]

"I take it he finally aired his grievances. Took him long enough. Alright, so what was your solution?"

"Simple. I'm going to make sure that none of you are left behind." He replied with a grin.

[Whatever Brenden said must have gotten to him. That's more ridiculous than usual.....Although, he's good at doing the ridiculous.]

"And how are you planning on accomplishing that? Brenden and Tal might be talented at fighting, but, even with all of my training, I can barely function at the level of a Rank 2 adventurer. How do you propose to solve that?"

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Mike used a quick Appraise, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

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Seraphina Aquinas

Age: 15

Race: Human (Oracle)

Class: Practitioner of the Third Realm

Title: Companion of the Hero

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[Definitely going to need to figure out how that underworld salesman hides from Appraise. As it stands now, everything could be easily revealed.]

After taking a moment to ensure that no one was within earshot, he whispered encouragingly. "Have you checked your status lately? I think you'll be surprised by what you see."

She blinked at him, then a slightly glazed expression came over her face as she did what he recommended. "What.....when... How did this happen?"

"My guess is that you acquired the title awhile ago and managed to change your class as a result. Do you know anything about the class? It sounds pretty impressive, at the very least."

She squinted for a few moments before shaking her head. "I'm not sure, the description is garbled for some reason, but it looks like its related to my..." looking around suspiciously for eavesdroppers, "seeing abilities. Maybe I can finally find a practical application for them."

[Premonitions are a pretty common ability in literature. Maybe she can unlock something along those lines now. It could make her a pretty powerful fighter if used correctly.]

"I hope so. As painful as they are for you, it would be great if they could help you out more. By the way, would you mind changing your title? If it is anything like mine, then the effects should still work, even if it's unequipped. The last thing we need is another hint about my identity getting out."

Sera looked even more confused. "What are you talking about? You can't change your title. The System assigns the one that is most prevalent to your current situation and only changes it once you've taken a serious enough action to literally alter the course of your life."

Just to confirm her statement, Mike cycled through a few of his titles before returning it to None. "Are you sure? I can change mine pretty easily. Even set it to be blank when I want to."

Sera stared at him open mouthed for a few seconds, then just sighed and slammed her head on the table. Her voice was slightly muffled by the tablecloth. "I shouldn't be surprised. Nothing you do is normal, but sometimes, when you break a fundamental law of reality on a whim, I just don't see it coming."

[So it seems like I'm special in another way. Is it because I'm reincarnated?]

Mike coughed a couple of times, feeling slightly embarrassed for some reason. "Anyway, since it doesn't seem like we can do much about that at the moment, would you mind telling me a bit about what your current title does? I never got around to asking Tal and Brenden about theirs."

She was silent for a second, then shot up, looking at him in an excited manner. "This is incredible! Is this what all of you have? No wonder you're all so ridiculous."

"Sera...."

"Ah, right. Well, besides a minor enhancement to the primary attributes, it improves skill acquisition and improvement speed, and increases the likelihood of acquiring a rare or unique class!" She answered with an ecstatic smile.

[Sounds a lot like a lesser version of the Hero's title. Anyway, this will make improving easier.]

"Great. That sounds like just what we need. Now, I've got a few ideas for how to train today..." He started before Sera held up one hand.

"I'm supposed to meet Master Liam today, and I will be out most of the day. If you want to wait until later tonight, I should have some time then."

"Ah.....is that so....." Mike replied. Tal had said something similar, intimating that she was on the verge of a breakthrough in her own magic, and that he shouldn't worry about her.

It seemed that his friends were working on improving themselves, even without his involvement. Maybe he did something unnecessary?

Perhaps sensing his discouragement, Sera chimed in. "Even if you don't know much about archery, you have an unusual way of looking at things, and a lot of times you can find solutions to problems others can't even recognize. Maybe you can use that insight to help point me in the right direction. Would around eight bells work?"

"Well, if you have the time....Oh! I almost forgot. These are for you." Mike placed three scrolls and a rune painted crystal on the table. "I'm working on my crafting skills at the moment, and I ended up making a few useful items."

After taking a few moments to explain the lot of them, he realized that Sera was staring at him again. This time in a strangely excited manner.

"Did you say that you made these last night? Out of low quality materials."

"Well, that's correct." He wasn't sure if he like the strange flashing of her eyes when he acknowledged that.

"Do you think you could make more of the same quality, given a similar amount of time and materials?"

He shrugged. "I could probably do better, now that my skills have improved..."

"That's great! With that kind of crafting ability, we could be making a fortune by the end of the month! You've got to make more of these. I think there was a merchant..." She trailed off into muttering, evidently planning how to best put this new discovery to use.

[Its been a while since I've seen this side of her. I'd almost forgotten she was this greedy.]

"I understand what you are saying, but its not like we're hurting on money. I'm more concerned about properly preparing for the war. So, I want to make sure that each of you is as well equipped as possible." Mike replied seriously while gesturing at the items. "This is just the first installment."

Sera quieted down at the admonishment, before finally sighing. "Ugh, yeah, I suppose you are right. Sorry, my mercantile instincts got the better of me."

She paused for a second, putting the words of what she wanted to say together. "I'm not so arrogant as to refuse your help. I know I need every advantage I can get, but I want you to know that shouldn't feel obligated to help us improve. I can't speak for the other two, but I at least chose to follow you, knowing full well how ridiculous you and your life are. If anything, you should be mad at us for not trying to keep up."

He chuckled a bit at that.

"I'm quite serious. I've seen things, and I heard things from my mother. Specifically about you. Your path will be difficult," Her gaze became vacant and unfocused as her voice took on deep, resonant tone. The air itself seemed to vibrate with the power of her words.

"It will be lined in thorns, and bathed in the blood of the innocent and guilty alike. You will stand upon a throne of corpses and weep for what might have been, for what was lost. When Oblivion comes, you will welcome it with open arms, and with it shall come the End of all."

After a few seconds Sera shook her head, and yawned again. "Sorry, what were we talking about? I think I might have drifted off there for a second. Probably need more coffee."

Mike didn't know how to answer.