The next day mom took me to apprentice under a tailor.

"It's one thing to simply have [Tailor] skill, it's another to have that and the [Deft Hands] skill. In order to move or work quickly these two are a must" The tailor, Topobe says, giving a small demonstration.

I can already think of a better skill, [Agile Movements] or something like that. It should in theory cover [Dodging], [Acrobatics], and this [Deft Hands] skill. Meaning, in order to get that I must be able to perform all three. I'll need to ask Chyzu for help on the dodging part.

I nod attentively to the older woman.

"The needle is your weapon of choice and you must know how to use it safely." Topobe's hands blur across her current work, stitching together the skirt in seconds and faster than any machine. It is awe-inducing to see how fast she was.

"Don't mind my speed," Topobe says. "I have high skill levels and agility. You are not yet ten years of age so you can't raise your agility"

I was still impressed. Her work is perfect, pleasing my [Perfectionist's Eye]. I had wondered how Runalymo put designs and decorations on their work in a reasonable time, stats play a big role.

The lessons went on and on. I was impressed by everything she did. Every move is perfect, not just making my [Perfectionist's Eye] content but pleasing it too. That's what sets apart the good from the great.

"Now let's see how you do. This will be a simple stitch" The tailor handed me two pieces of cloth, some thread, and a needle.

I carefully work, trying to get my stitching straight and even. I didn't even need her to inspect my work to tell me it's uneven and has drifted. I droop my ears and tails in disappointment as my [Perfectionists Eye] was doing the tailor's job of lecturing me about how bad I was.

The tailor smiles. "You'll get a hang of it. Trust me, it's far from the worst I've seen."

I spent the rest of the day practicing my basic stitching skills at a glacial pace compared to the master tailor.

Ting! You have gained the Tailoring general skill!

Wow, haven't seen that one in far too long. But this leads to the question, If all I've done was stitching then why didn't I get that lesser skill? Well, the answer is the long lectures and demonstrations I was given beforehand. Learning things about measurements, and everything else was the minimum amount I needed to learn to get tailoring.

Ting! Tailoring has met requirements for a breakthrough. Tailoring will now continue leveling past level 10!

Tailoring:
You've learned and done basic tailoring, This will help you master the craft of making clothes and other cloth things.
Breakthrough: You've done some stitchings at a basic level, this will help steady your hand and make you more accurate.

Tailoring: 1/10(Action: 1/5 Knowledge 0/5)
1st Breakthrough: 1/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 0/5)

Apparently, it's fairly common for crafts to give one or even two breakthroughs really early on.

The day after next was the weekly visit to temple island. I taught the Storm Wardens their next breakthrough and then let them do their thing. It was going to take a few days for everybody to get the breakthrough. It is the one for expanding your sensory sphere which may take even longer.

I send out my spheres of influence in search of the Guardian's dense mana. This island is very large, able to hold tens of thousands, and still has room. Even then there were trace amounts of the dragon's mana here, kilometers away.

I have to go slow in moving my aura to prevent any level gains for manipulation, I may still get one but that's within my level budget. As long as I don't go past ninety-nine I should be relatively safe.

It took hours to move across the kilometers and I soon realized my problem. How will I get hold of the cloth? After an epiphany I decide to make this a game for the storm wardens, I will tell them to look for it.

Finding a suitably dense amount of the Guardian's mana I began to condense it further and with some effort managed to spin a length of silk string.

Ting! Mana Manipulation has met requirements for a breakthrough. Mana Manipulation will now continue leveling past level 140!

14th Breakthrough: You've learned to weave unique mana. This will help you spin personalized mana threads.

Good, I got it.

Suddenly a realization dawned on me as the dragon's mana was transformed within me from cursed effect. If I Manipulate another Runalymo's mana, It'll be created in me. our magic will combine resulting in a curse and it'll be no different from cannibalization! I thought back to the buffer of unique mana back during the super storm. I came very close, luckily I had only pushed out the elemental mana and let the buffer reform on its own.

Stupid! I mentally smacked myself. Why are you messing around with a cursed skill?! This is exactly what Mom and Dad are worried about!

I check my manipulation levels.

Ting! Mana Manipulation has obtained level 91!
…
Ting! Mana Manipulation has obtained level 96!

I've been so blind in trying to help my parents in making my sister's Kyhosa that I'd disregarded my own safety, my own future. There is no way I was going to not get the skill above level one hundred and in my blind stupidity, I almost did. I snap my spheres back to myself. Making a promise to not use [Mana Manipulation] again.

The weeks flew by as I practiced tailoring, music, and my Bond. I set aside two days to practice at the dojo and four days at the tailors and one day off to do whatever. After work, I play with my music. As a pre-ten-year-old child, I am not required to do any of this but this was the path I'd chosen.

Months passed and soon my twin sisters were born.

There was no waiting room, there was no hospital. It happened in the bedroom. My grandparents were there, aunty was there, Nyam was there, and several other members of the extended family.

Spells were cast to make the birthing process easier and faster and painless, I was fairly interested in the painless spell but it turned out to be a non-caster class skill. I made sure to keep my healing aura on but the midwife knew healing spells so it wasn't necessary.

"They look just like you!" Aunty says to Mom. "They have the same hair and eyes! I wonder if they even have the same bond as you."

They do. I couldn't see colors, and while mana is represented to me as colors it's hard to describe. Try explaining what red is to a blind person. Me trying to explain the "color" of water mana is the same thing.

One of the things I miss most is seeing color. I know I have royal blue hair but during my first evolution, the tips of my hair changed to 'Chy' I don't know what color that is. The tips of my tails are also the same chy color so it seems the influence of my first evolution has remained through my second.

Mom has the same color hair as me and I guess my little sisters do too. They should also have Mom's deep blue eyes if what Aunty says is true.

"Alysara, greet your little sisters." Mom says.

"Lahoky" Greeting celebration of life; or less directly translated, congratulations for being born. I said this after moving into their field of vision.

My sisters stare at me with wide eyes. I noticed they share the same long tail I do, glad I'm not the only one with an extra long tail anymore, Mom and Dad must have some recessive genes for it or something.

I smile at my sisters. I have my eye wraps on and they must be staring at me because of that, totally not because of my two tails, nope.

They are cute, I had expected them to look more like potatoes, whatever those were, but I guess the longer time spent in the oven had them develop more?

"Yafel, and Yafe'' Dancing water, and calm water. That's not confusing at all, Mom! Oh, look identical twins let's give them similar sounding names!

Mom spent the next few days taking the babies out to see the village, as she had done for me. Any newborn is the talk of the village for the next week so many people cooed over the newborns much like they did with me. I'm honestly glad I'm not in their position again.

I've been progressing on my craft at what the tailor said was "lightning fast". I got another breakthrough in tailoring. My [Perfectionists Eye] and new evolution boosts are really helping me master the craft.

Tailoring: You've learned and done basic tailoring, This will help you master the craft of making clothes and other cloth things.
1st Breakthrough: You've done some stitchings at a basic level, this will help steady your hand and make you more accurate.
2nd Breakthrough: You've learned to correctly measure what you need, This will help you do the math and never need to measure twice.
3rd Breakthrough: You've done some weaving at a basic level, this will help make your work more even.
4th Breakthrough: You've trained your eye for fashion, this will help you find what best fits your customers.
5th Breakthrough: You've used mana to reinforce your work. This will help you make more durable clothes.

Tailoring: 8/10(Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
1st Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
2nd Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
3rd Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
4th Breakthrough: 3/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 2/5)
5th Breakthrough: 9/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 5/5)

I was taught one breakthrough every month. The only one I am actually struggling on is my eye for fashion, my fourth breakthrough. Trying to match colors to people is not something I can do and I don't think I can actually max this breakthrough. It took a really long time just to get and level this to the point that it is at.

The fifth breakthrough was achieved with the use of an enchanted needle. The needle empowered the threads and you can only imagine how fast I got the knowledge skills on this one.

Graceful Movements: You've learned to move dexterously and with grace.
1st Breakthrough: You've learned to move your hands with great dexterity. This will help you steady your hand and improve hand-eye coordination.
2nd Breakthrough: You've learned to dodge stylishly. This will help you keep your elegance even in the most dire of situations.
3rd Breakthrough: You've learned how to dance gracefully. This will hone your innate graceful and elegant movements.
4th Breakthrough: You've learned to walk with elegance. This will help you keep an air of nobility as you walk.
5th Breakthrough: You've trained your reflexes. This will help you react quickly and gracefully

Graceful Movements: 8/10(Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
1st Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
2nd Breakthrough: 4/10 (Action: 2/5 Knowledge 2/5)
3rd Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)
4th Breakthrough: 6/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 3/5)
5th Breakthrough: 4/10 (Action: 2/5 Knowledge 2/5)

I had tried to get [Agile Movements] but got this instead. When I asked about it I was told that this was a variant of the skill but one that works with my beauty essence. If I wanted to I could use the base skill as this skill actively consumes my beauty essence to work properly. If I desire I can prevent that or if I don't have any beauty essence for it to work with. Good thing that my natural beauty essence generation is more than enough, although the higher level it becomes the more essence it will take.

In short, this helps me look elegant and graceful, purely cosmetics, but it's a pleasant surprise.

My Bond growth has been painfully slow over these last few months, I only got five levels.

I reached another breakthrough in Sense Mana.

12th Breakthrough: You've observed and learned the mana interactions of enchanted items. This will help you better understand the process of enchanted item empowerment.

The mana of enchanted items spread throughout the wearer or affected thing. It envelopes and sometimes empowers, If need be it'll use a user's mana to empower long term or even indefinitely. Although the mana is affected by weathering, only the strength of the enchantment determines how long it lasts. Topobe said that average enchantments last about a year while master level enchantments can last for years. There's also the usage case using it more will cause it to degrade a little faster. The more the enchantment's mana is bombarded by ambient mana the more it'll degrade too. In this mana rich area enchantments don't last very long, I wonder how long normal enchantments will last outside of the nexus.

The enchantment can be reapplied easily in many cases but only if the enchantment is fully worn away. The real downside is the upkeep cost and functionality. Why have a freezer when there are so many people with ice bonds?

Only so many enchantments can be applied to an item too, this depends on the tier or quality and size of the material used to make the item. This needle? Made with water steel. A common ore found and processed It can only hold one enchantment. Mundane materials like common rocks cannot hold enchantments.

After gaining this breakthrough enchantments are filled with color to me now. Not only can I see the grade of the enchantment, how good it is, but I can also identify its magic, well, as long as I have a reference point and something similar to compare it to.

So what are magic items? Well, they work very similar to enchanted items, but they are naturally created and are a lot more powerful, they aren't limited by mundane items. Anything can become a magical item.

Magic items are permanent, they can hold skills, they can empower users to a far greater degree but the conditions to create them are fickle and hard to understand. It's more akin to an item gaining a class than it is magic empowering an item. Requirements are met but that's not the catalyst. And these magic items can be improved just like a class can be evolved.

Having already seen this process and being able to figure out what parts of the unique mana in my Kyhosa do, I gained my thirteenth breakthrough in sense mana.

13th Breakthrough: You've observed and learned the mana of magic items. This will help you better understand the process of magic item empowerment and creation.

11th Breakthrough: 3/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 2/5)
12th Breakthrough: 5/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 4/5)
13th Breakthrough: 5/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 4/5)

Soon enough It was time for the extended family gathering. Meeting at my grandparent's house There is a very noticeable difference in the attendees. Only about a third had shown up. Not because no one wanted to come, but that there wasn't anyone else to come. It became immediately apparent the damage the superstorm had caused last year. All of the center and inner villages had been wiped out and most of the family lived in those villages. Only the members from this village and from the middle and outer islands survived.

Just how many people had died? How many bloodlines had been wiped out? How many children died or orphaned? We can't live forever so our children must be protected, our family needs to continue.

I looked around at the few single parents, those who lost their spouses. I noticed a lonely couple crying, murmuring something about their child, how they wished they could bring them here to celebrate life and family.

It unsettled me to say the least. I thought back to what I had planned for my sisters, how it could protect them. I shook my head. I had promised not to use my mana manipulation anymore.

In addition to my sisters, another child had been born.

"Lahoky" People said one after another, to welcome the newborns into the world. I'd probably have to attend the other baby's Kyholo, which means finding a suitable gift. Actually, I'm too young for that, I get a pass! Only those over the age of ten are obligated.

The babies had been introduced to everyone and then everyone socialized. More than enough tears have been shed today as people reminisce about their lost loved ones. I got asked about my tails and my following familiar by everyone. Explaining it became tedious very quickly.

"Have you got anything in mind for the Kyhosas?" The mother of the other baby askes my parents.

"It's been hard to think of anything." Mom replies.

"I'm already halfway done with mine! I have the most perfect wind gem that matches her sho eyes! The enchanter did such a great job on the gem it doesn't even require her mana for its effect!" The woman brags and mentioned a color I didn't know. To be wasting money on an enchantment shows love if for a Kyhosa and is generally seen in a good light if one has the money, but no one would blame you if you can't afford it, enchantments typically don't last so long that the child would remember it being enchanted in the first place. Honestly, it makes me wonder if parents who do that only do so to make themselves look better in the eyes of everyone else, though I wouldn't blame them for not renewing the enchantment.

"That's very nice." Mom says. Once the other woman left Mom sighs.

"We still have time, Feyan," Dad tells her and rubs her back.

"It'll be hard to find something that is as good as Aly's Kyhosa." Mom sighs again.

"Using the Guardian's own mana, our protector," Dad chuckls. They moved to the corner of the room and spoke quietly. I inch closer to eavesdrop "I pitched it to a mana weaver and they said that it's not only disrespectful but that it's extremely hard to do, if not impossible"

"It's crazy, but I liked the idea, still where are we going to get the required water gem of that purity?" Mom says with a slight smile. "Even though we arent going to use the cloth we can still use that part"

"I have an idea, the village of Ruyato has one, only once a year they let someone break off a piece of their purest water gem," Dad says.

"That village was destroyed though"

"And It's been a year so we might as well claim the piece."

Mom and Dad then returned to the rest of the event and socialized normally.

As the gathering was heading for the baths we got a notification.

Ting! A great being, Ice Elemental, had been slain by Erandur the dragon.
Ting! A great being, Ice Elemental, had been slain by Erandur the dragon.
Ting! A great being, Glacius the Winter Spirit, had been slain by Erandur the dragon.

Wow, That dragon is busy! Had slain a sand elemental a few years ago and now these elementals. Do dragons hate elementals or something?

Anyway, this isn't a great thing for us, The last time we got a message about Erandur there was a bad fire storm. However, With the ice mana from the elementals maybe the storm will be torn apart before it can form? Something to warn the elders about anyway. I really hope it's not a case where a duality core forms to make another superstorm or something, I hope Murphy takes pity on us, whoever that is.