BXBX NOVEL Chapter 12 11: A Day With Jahi
Smiling at her, I nodded. "YOU need to make sure you do your best, Jahi. After all, I might just overtake you~"
Hearing that, she smirked widely before pinching my cheek, making me pout. Turning towards her plate, she started eating. Watching her, I realized that my mother wasn\'t lying; the gusto Jahi showed while devouring the pancakes clearly displayed her love for the food. Smiling, I started to eat my share, offering her some when she finished her plate.
When we both had finished the meal, Jahi dragged me over towards the couch, where the book and diary were waiting. Inwardly groaning, I sat down beside her, diligently listening as she explained the runes. Unlike yesterday, she had me study the runes individually, before having me practice writing them down.
As we went over the runes, eventually the Marquess and Countess walked out, sitting at the table, both smiling widely. They sat down and started devouring the food, before my mother stumbled out of their bedroom, her face looking dead tired. When the Marquess smirked at her, my mother shivered before sitting down, making herself as small as possible. Deciding to ignore her, I went back to learning, giving her a silent prayer.
I had finally gotten the general runes down, and was now starting to try and read out words when the Countess snatched the books from us.
"Take a break, go run around. It\'s been a little over an hour know, your head has to hurt."
Looking up, I saw the Marquess signing papers at her desk, my Mother standing just off to the side, waiting for an order. The Countess was leaning in front of us, smiling even though Jahi was trying to murder her via glare. Turning towards Jahi, I grabbed her hand before she could do anything, and started leading her towards the door. Looking back, I could see the Countess smiling, placing the books on the table, while my mother\'s shoulders slumped. The Marquess was trying, and failing, to hide her smirk. Shaking my head, I left the room. After closing the door, I could hear a low growl and a quiet "No~" before deciding to walk away. Looking back at Jahi, she was staring at my hand, her face passive. Thinking I upset her, I withdrew my hand. Seeing that, she narrowed her eyes at me, before grabbing my hand and dragging me away.
"Let\'s go outside. Mom got a ball when she was in town yesterday."
Nodding, I followed her through the halls. We passed many servants, who all bowed seeing Jahi. Making many turns and walking through various rooms, eventually we made it outside. Looking up, Jahi pointed at the window, saying "That\'s our bedroom, so Mother should be able to see us. If she is even bothering to look, anyways."
Following her gaze, I saw the stained glass windows, remembering that the pattern was present only in the main room and bedroom, at least as far as I could remember. Looking back down, I observed the area we were standing in. A large tree about 20 feet from the door, with a rope swing hanging from one of its lower branches. A hedge closed off this area, going a dozen feet past the tree, creating a large rectangular yard. Against the wall, next to the door, was a shed. Jahi had opened it up, coming back out with a ball. Tossing it up in the air, she caught it again, before squeezing it slightly. Nodding to herself, she turned to me.
[Quest: Play with Jahi Asmodia
Reward - 20xp]
Staring at me, she said "Catch!" before gently tossing the ball towards me. Grabbing it, I felt the ball, noticing it felt like leather, but had air inside it, much like a softer basketball, just half the size. I tossed it back to Jahi, noticing her catch it easily. She tossed it back to me, slightly faster than last time. Repeating this, I noticed she had sped up the toss, finding the amount of force she needed to make me work for the catch while still guaranteeing I caught it. Standing in silence, she kept tossing the ball, making me run around the yard while she would always catch it easily. Eventually, panting, I caught the ball and held onto it, trying to catch my breath. Seeing me rest, Jahi walked over to me, gently taking the ball from me.
"Huh, I though you\'d stop much earlier. Guess that\'s cause you\'re a dogkin, huh?"
Saying so, she started petting my head, glancing back up at the window.
"I think we give them another couple of minutes before making our way back. Should be done by then."
Nodding, I swallowed my saliva, still panting. Looking at me, she smirked. "We gotta get you used to this. Can\'t have you being tired easily, now can we?"
\'Seriously, is she a kid or no? Is this on accident? Is it cause her parents are so open?\'
[...]
\'Thanks, real helpful.\'
"Well, I still want to run. Think I\'ll do two laps of the yard. You rest up, I\'ll be back soon."
Nodding, I sat in the center of the yard, watching as she started jogging around the yard. Rolling the ball back and forth, I decided my next stat increase would be constitution. I\'m going to need durability and stamina if I want to keep up with her.
[Quest Completed
Reward - 20xp]
[Level 4 - (137.5/337.5)]
Watching her jog, I decided to see if I couldn\'t milk the system for some more information.
\'Why was she surprised I kept up with her, and why did it matter that I was Dogkin? Do they have more stamina than humans?\'
[Correct. I\'ll throw you a bone. Humans aren\'t the main species on Gaia. They are the product of too much crossbreeding. Eventually, they lost all the features of other races, leaving a squishy, kinda weak creature that you call human. I don\'t have access to who the original race was, but my money\'s on Demons, Angels, and Dragons. All three are among the strongest bipedal, intelligent, and sentient creatures. Humans are only here due to their higher reproductive ability. They have forgotten that they came from the other races.]
\'Does that mean I have to deal with the stereotypical human supremacy?\'
[Yes.]
Sighing, I shook my head.
\'So where do Dogkin, or Beastkin in general, rank?\'
[In the middle as a collective. Dogkin/Wolfkin are in the middle of this collective due to your higher reflexes and better senses.]
\'Thank you.\'
[Gotta give my dog a bone everyone in a while, no?]
\'Piss off.\'
Sighing again, I stood up as I noticed Jahi about to finish her final lap. This yard is quite big, so I\'m surprised she is barely sweating. Walking towards the door, I held the ball while watching her. Eventually she stopped in front of me, smiling. She grabbed the ball and threw it into the shed. Walking back, she grabbed my hand before leading me back inside, back towards the main room. When we entered, thankfully the adults had finished, but they hadn\'t aired the room out enough, as the fishy smell remained. Shaking our heads, we walked and grabbed the books before sitting back down.
Jahi resumed teaching me, and I slowly started to be able to recognize the runes, being able to piece them together into words. We ignored the Marquess, who was smiling widely and seemed very happy. We also ignored the Countess, who was dozing off in a chair. My mother was sprawled on one of the couches, quivering. Jahi seemed amused by the adults, and would occasionally snicker before mumbling to herself. It sounded like she said "Soon" and "Kat", but I decided to ignore that.
Time passed, and eventually my mother was capable of standing and not stumbling like a drunk, so she decided to flee before the Marquess or Countess could change that. The Marquess continued her paperwork, while the Countess had joined us, much to the annoyance of Jahi. She gave me little tricks to differentiate some runes. Much like how d and b, or i and l could be annoying in English, many runes had that same problem, sometimes making me read or write something wrong. She showed the easiest way to differentiate, while also helping me understand things Jahi couldn\'t explain well.
Mother returned eventually with more food, and we sat down to eat. Remembering the discussion earlier, I decided to ask the adults what decides a persons element.
"Excuse me, Marquess? You said that Jahi would awaken her core soon. What could her element be? Is it something you can predict?"
Chewing, the Marquess smiled at me. "Not exactly, kid. I have only Fire as my element, whereas Ria has Lightning, which is Fire and Wind. You would think that guarantees Jahi Fire at least, but we can trace back multiple elements in both our families. Ria\'s sister doesn\'t have a Core, while both her parents have Water or Wind. My father had Nature, while my mother had Darkness. Magic is random, and it\'s not even guaranteed she will have a core. Hopefully, she gets an advanced element like Light or Darkness, but who know? Not like having an advanced element matters, after all I only have Fire and I am among the strongest people in this Empire."
"What are all the elements?"
"You have the basics, which are Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water. Then you have the Combined elements, Lightning, Metal, Nature, and Ice. Finally, there are the Advanced elements, which is Light or Darkness. Ah, there is also the Primordial elements of Space and Time, but we haven\'t seen one of those in centuries."
Nodding, I went back to eating. Silence descended back into the room, before eventually we all finished. Standing up, the Marquess looked at us. "Go to sleep early, you two. We have a big day tomorrow."
Tilting my head at that, I looked to Jahi, seeing she was as confused as me. Before we could speak, the Marquess grabbed the Countess\' hand and led her out of the room, my mother following behind them.
Jahi just shrugged at me, moving back to the couch. Sitting next to her, she opened up a new book before staring to read to me. Leaning against her, listening to her low, gentle voice, I eventually struggled to keep my eyes open, before eventually falling asleep.