Chapter 4

  Full Bloom

  “Now that this is all settled, we can begin,” Madame Bloom began, but suddenly paused as she seemed to stare at me for a moment. “Is everything alright dear?”

  “Yes,” I answered as quickly as possible, though there was still the faintest trace of hesitation to my words.

  Hearing my words, Madame Bloom cocked her head to the side for a moment and then spoke, “don’t worry. I know it might be a bit of a shock, but this is truly for the best. Besides you know why we exchanged children in such a way, right?”

  “Because John is a prat and that no one would want to be associated with a knob like him?” I responded honestly.

  Silence. You could hear a pin drop as only the sound of rolling wheels against smooth roads could be heard filling the cabin. Then finally the shroud of silence broke.

  Chuckle.

  Madame Bloom’s face turned bright red for a moment, before she began laughing hysterically.

  Snort.

  Only after Madame Bloom snorted did she manage to stop herself, and even then it was just barely constrained mirth. Turning to her right, Madame Bloom looked, only to see Ms. Bloom, Johny’s mother, well former mother, looking slightly conflicted for a moment. The weight of everything was clearly wearing on her, as she still seemed in despair at what had happened.

  “Oh, come on Maddie, it was funny,” Madame Bloom stated as she patted the mother, Maddie’s leg. I guess now I would have to think of Maddie as my mother, well new mother for some time. Maddie for her part tried to levy a smile, but it was mostly in vain. The attempt was there, but it was clear her heart was not in the action.

  By comparison, my mother couldn’t wait to be rid of me. Perhaps she knew I wasn’t her real daughter, I mean I might still possess her daughter’s body, but I am a soul from a different world, and that surely has altered my indoctrination process to her little morbid cult of spirit abusers.

  “Don’t worry about her, Maddie is more than happy to have you as her fostering, especially as it means she will not be a grandmother here shortly,” Madame Bloom replied, clearly trying to place peacekeeper of the family. I just stare at her for a moment, before I twitch my eyebrows for a moment trying to guess what she is referring to.

  "Oh come on, I am sure you have heard the scandalous rumors of Johny and Ithica being attracted to each other, while they were not biologically related in any way shape or form, their passions were forbidden while under the Bloom household. Last thing we need is a scandal implying impropriety. With them now separated in different houses, they are free to partake in any actions they see fit. And I am fairly certain that now that their love will not be forbidden, it will die out quickly," Madame Bloom noted. At that comment I suddenly recall many such incidents happening at school between the two. At first I just took it as their being overly close, but apparently it was a lot worse behind closed doors than I imagined.

  I nod, not really wanting to state anything that could be misconstrued, particularly this early on in our arrangement. An arrangement that at most had to last two years, or two seconds, as I intended to run if things got bad. Especially, now that I no longer needed to wait until I graduated school, thanks to my one request that was provided by the Arbiter.

  Turns out their wanting me made sense for multiple reasons. First it separate the potential scandal, for while the two individuals might not be blood related as Madame Bloom implied, the optics are not that good. Second, I have a feeling of why I was forced to demonstrate my Trash skill’s ability to remove genetic traces of myself was in fact an audition of some kind, one I seemed to have passed.

  While they might have had their reasons for wanting me, I felt relieved that I had my own request fulfilled. See my one condition for even agreeing to my part as a foster exchange child with the Bloom household was on the condition that someone with a Master Educator Skill perform the rite necessary for me to close out my MAXED out skills so that at the very least, I could focus on improving myself in other ways before I had to leave school.

  Speaking of which, I look and see what I have accomplished.

  Yes, it seems the system has somehow already seen my family status and marked the necessary change automatically. Changing my last name from DiVoratore to Bloom. Along with indicating that I now have four free Skill slots that I can use to learn any Skill.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  In a way the noted change of familial status is somewhat unnerving, as it seemed to have happened automatically. However, despite the change, I still see that my bloodline has not changed. Which makes me wonder how such a practice is seen as acceptable in the future, particularly as any children of mine would no doubt inherit the DiVoratore bloodline Skills.

  Madame Bloom is kind enough to allow me the moment to see the changes that have recently happened to me, and only begin speaking once more after I drop my Status screen. The way you can tell if someone is looking at their Status screen is if they have a blank look on their face.

  “Now that you have four free Skill slots, let me guess you wish to fill them up immediately with Skills, is that correct?” Madame Bloom asks.

  I nod, I want to say no duh, but I feel that would be rather rude. As such I bite back my normal reply and proceed to let her go. She seems to be ready to pose some words of wisdom, words that I likely have already heard multiple times thus far. But I give her the benefit of the doubt and let her speak, trying to see if I can gleam some new nugget of insight from her words.

  “I would recommend you hold off on that for now. Particularly, if you are interested in getting any magic related Skills,” Madame Bloom begins, I open my mouth but wisely hold back my retort. “Again, I am just recommending, not ordering. Lord knows I could not force you to focus on learning key Skills that you truly had your heart set on. As such, you could easily fill in your four empty slots with four Common variants of skills. Skills that would level, grant you amazing temporary boosts and no doubt open up greater class choices for you in the future, but I am going to ask that you hold off on that for the moment.”

  “Just for the moment?” I ask.

  “Yes, first let’s put all our cards on the table here. I know you have quite the high level for your Attributes. But what if I told you that at most right now, your exceptionally high Attributes could only get you an Epic Skill?”

  Hearing that, I pause.

  “How do you know that?” I ask, my mind suddenly racing at the idea of having an Epic skill, one that would be above even the Rare Bloodline Skill offered by my awakened bloodline.

  “Simple, as the Madame of the Bloom household, it falls upon me to know this, and to know what is possible. I take it from the level of disdain your mother and grandfather showed to you, that they never took a moment to explain proper growth to you?”

  I shake my head.

  “Okay, so do you at least know how I got to the highest Skill rating you could earn for one of your free Skill slots?”

  Again, I shake my head.

  “Okay, so it goes like this, the first tier category Common is free, and everyone can earn and learn them even from birth. In fact, we are expected to start with these, so that we can work our way up. That is why I am glad that you managed to take an uncommon Skill for your fifth slot. Not only that, but you have managed to progress it quite far. Now did you know for uncommon Skills, there is a cost threshold of needing an average of ten Attribute points for all Attributes listed, in order to be able to unlock the Skill?”

  “What?” I ask, confused by the seemingly abrupt change.

  “Yep, it’s true. Common skills can be learned by infants, while uncommon Skills require an average of ten points in all Attributes listed for that skill. From there, the average point total doubles to 20 for Rare Skills, then 40 for Epic, 80 for Legendary, and of course 160 for Relic level Skills.”

  I blink at that, trying to figure out how I could get any of my skills to level 80, let alone all of them. Though I guess with time I could manage to do so, but it would take a lot more grinding.

  “Now what if I told you that there were cheats,” Madame asked.

  “Cheats?” I couldn’t help but parrot back.

  “Yes, cheats, where you could in theory gain a Legendary Skill for the same average cost of an Epic Skill?”

  “You can?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s quite easy in fact,” Madame Bloom boasted.

  “Simple, work for the family, no wait. Work for me, and I will gift you this information. Meanwhile I will grant you a few Epic level Skills that will help improve your mana efficiency and recovery speeds as a down payment.”

  Hearing her speak, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being bamboozled. That said, I was being offered two Epic level Skills for seemingly nothing. Well, nothing other than probably putting my Unique Trash Skill to work.

  “I assume you will want me to use my Unique Trash Skill?” I press.

  “Along with your bloodline Skill, at times,” Madame Bloom answered honestly.

  I nodded, mulling over the idea for a moment before trying to see exactly how this could go sideways. At the very least I could just leave after the two-year time frame, even after receiving the Epic Skills as a down payment. As I was only collateral for the noted two-year period. By comparison I could expect to spend a decade with a master caster to try to earn Skills that were remotely similar in scale.

  “So, you plan is for me to stay in school as the new Bloom heir for this area. Doing work for you on the side while I level up my personal and bloodline Skills. And you will provide me with two Epic level skills related to Mana for free to start with?” I ask.

  Madame Bloom listens along, and then nods in agreement before stating, “yes, that about sums it up, is that not enough for you?”

  As she speaks, I can almost feel her eyes gauging me. I don’t care about seeming greedy, but this deal almost seems to be too good to be true. I pause and stare at her, trying to see if I am missing something.

  “What is your goal?”

  “My goal?”

  “Yes, what is your goal for all of this?” I ask.

  “My dear, you have a very skeptical attitude in life. I don’t think Johny was nearly this questioning about the exchange that was made for him.” Madame Bloom noted.

  “Yeah, and Johny is a moron, which again is why I ask, what is your goal.”

  Chuckle.

  Again, Madame Bloom laughs at the comment, only after she laughs do I realize I spoke my true thoughts without using a filter. Though this time, even the mother, Maddie Bloom, is also laughing.

  “Oh, I do so love an honest voice. That is why I am going to again, continue to tell you the truth. My goal is that by the end of this, not only are you happy with your arrangement at the Bloom estate, but you will continue to stay on as true family.” Madame Bloom notes.

  Hearing her, I pause, as I can only imagine the problems that would come from a mutt like me being adopted into a Royal Bloodline like the Blooms, and being recognized as true family. I had mostly managed to ignore this aspect, thanks to my clear disapproval of all things Necromancy, but it almost seems like I am placing a huge target on my back by taking such a position. Still I know that I need to answer as diplomatically as possible. This is why, rather than outright refusing as I should, as I would if I was still a DiVoratore, I answer truthfully.

  “I will make the deal here and now that if you offer the two Epic grade Skills related to Mana, then I will perform any task within my powers, that are not unconscionable.” I make sure to add the amendment at the end.

  At that, Madame Bloom nods her head excitedly and gracefully extends her hand. Seeing it, I realize this is a permanent fixture of the system. We have bartered our terms back and forth, and have agreed multiple times. Seeing that outstretched hand I pause, but then realize this is only two years, basically one year per Epic Mana related Skill, a bargain.

  I hesitate for only a moment, wondering if I am missing something, but I gave myself the escape clause of not having to do anything unconscionable. Then without waiting for her to rethink this, I reach out my hand and swear away the next two years of my life to the Bloom family.

  Chime.

  Inside my head, I feel an update happening to my status screen. I am about to check out the update, but before we do, I feel the cart that we are riding in suddenly slow down.

  Shifting.

  Before anyone can say anything, a divider separating the coach driver from the cabin opens up, allowing one of the coachmen ahead to put his head in and speak clearly.

  “Madame, we are here.”

  With that there is a bit of movement that I hear, as people tend to put the coach in park. There are cars, but apparently the Blooms are really focused on being ecofriendly by sporting an old-fashioned cart and buggy system. Not that I mind, it was rather nice, all things considered.

  Only once the door was opened did I realize that we might have gone a lot farther than I expected, as we were clearly in the far reaches of town, near the former dumping grounds. A complete biohazard of a space, and one that I often would abscond to practice my magic while no one was looking.

  Seeing the place, I turned from the outside to look at Madame Bloom, who just smiled knowingly.

  “Welcome to our newest land acquisition, and your personal playground.” Madame Bloom commented, with that she deftly strode out of the buggy, her elegant green dress still in stark contrast to the disastrous spot of the city we are in. Once out, she beckons for me to follow her, one elegant hand reaching out to grab me.

  Only getting out do I realize that not only is this the area where I have been practicing the perfecting of my Trash skill, but this is the exact area that I started. I can tell, as the dirt here is cleaner. Not only that, but plants are finally taking root in the place and giving this place a slightly more solid appearance.

  “Welcome to the new Bloom Park, our future gift to the city.” Madame Bloom commented, opening her arms wide. A theatrical gesture that seemed to require imagination to see what the future gift would look like.

  Only now seeing the place, and realizing that these plants were clearly being fueled by some form of Nature related magic did I realize something sinister was afoot.

  “You followed me?” I asked, a question that was mostly rhetorical, but apparently Madame Bloom was still in her, honesty is the best policy state of mind.

  “But of course, as I would for any future investment for the Bloom family…”