Chapter 17
The girls to Wes’s left and right looked back and forth from Nia and Wes. Dozel wanted to understand what it was that he had just realized. Phony wanted to understand what it was that she was left out of. When the girls happened to cross eyes, Dozel retreated again to looking at her lap, and Phony returned to staring through Dozel's head.
Nia, on the other hand, sloshed the glowing pink liquid around her glass. Her eyebrows shot up from her eyes, waiting for Wes to continue.
“Are you saying that my abilities revolve around true days?” Wes asked.
“I am not saying anything, Wesley. But you should investigate your line of thinking to see if it bears any fruit.” Nia flashed her eyebrows up and down a couple of times to punctuate her words.
Wes sat back in his seat. He leaned all the way back and looked up at the ceiling of the large room. If my abilities revolved around a true day, then I can calculate how long it will take me to reach levels. Damn, I need to be good with my numbers. If I figure it out exactly now, then I will be able to chart out how long it will take me to reach levels. But if I know exactly when I will reach a level, won’t that be boring?
Wes leaned forward again to ask Nia another question, but she interrupted him. “No, you have to decide for yourself. There are disadvantages to knowing and not knowing.”
Sitting back in a huff, Wes leaned back into his ruminating.
“Mother, what is going on?”
“Your future is deciding what type of man he wants to be.” Nia answered.
“Thanks, that helps a lot. But do you care to expand?” Phony asked as she broke her gaze from Dozel.
“No.”
___
Phony took in Wes after her mother rejected her questioning. She wanted to take in the man her mother had told her about. She was not stupid; she knew tying herself to him would be the smartest thing for her future. But she had always hoped for a marriage based on love rather than convenience. Most of the people in the Realms married for convenience; most of her sisters had. She did not see herself as some baby factory like her mother envisioned. But with her trait being so weak compared to most of her siblings, it would be smart. She would be more likely to pass on Wes’s trait.
She scanned her eyes over Wes and found him just okay-looking. A Strong jaw being his best trait. His build left a lot to be desired, and his measly attempt at growing a beard did him no favors. He looked more like a man in a boys body to her.
Being blessed enough to be born as her mother's daughter allowed her to see the Apex creatures that humans had to offer could be truly terrifying to be in the presence of, but they were also the most visually pleasing. Gods would be refined as they grew in strength until they looked the best they ever could. This man in front of her did nothing to make her loins stir. He just sat there with a stupid face on. She wanted to punch it and be done with this farce. Fuck this fool and his Trait.
___
Wes made up his mind and decided to look at his status.
Name: Wesley of 29744C
Race: Human
Age: 27
Unique abilities: Imperial over Metric, Back in My Day
Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse
Skills: N/A
Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant
Trait(s): 3
Current Status: Blessed
Level 2
Savings: 2,508,088
Next Level: 414.72
Level 2 Exp Per Sec: .0048
Current Exp: 9.89
It's nice to know the amount of Experience per second. If my levels are based on the True days, then I can tell how much I will need for each level.
Wes had a hunch that he wanted to work out. He asked Nia for one of her papers and a writing utensil to work out the math. He suspected he knew what his first-level requirements were. Knowing that Nia probably had his Level 1 numbers committed to memory with her ungodly Levels. He wanted to do the math first and see if his hunch was right.
The girls sat patiently and waited for Wes to do his math. When he was finished, he slid the paper over to the middle of the table. Nia reached over and took it. She made a show of looking it over and leaning to the side of the paper to take in Wes. “I think your numbers are right. She turned the paper over and said aloud, “I am just compiling your work.”
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Wes tilted his head in confusion, “Of course you are.”
Wes picked up on Phony rolling her eyes in the corner of his vision while Dozel smiled. When Nia finished with the paper, she slid it back over to Wes.
“I think that ‘your’ numbers are correct.”
Wes took the paper and read what she had written.
Level 1 Experience Per Sec: .0024
Level 1 Experience Per Min: 1.44
Level 1 Experience Per Hour: 8.64
Level 1 Experience Per Day: 207.36
Wes looked from the paper to his status and saw that his per-second Experience gain was double what it was at level 1, just as he suspected. He couldn’t help but ask. “Do you think it will double each time or will it scale with levels?”
Nia shrugged, “We will find out in two days.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Phony ripped the paper from Wes’s hands. She scanned the paper over quickly, as well as turning it over to look at Wes’s previous scribbling. When she turned the paper back again, a little numb from their findings. Shaking her head, she laid the paper on the table and sat back.
Nia was enjoying seeing her daughter in disbelief. She got Wes’s attention and nodded over toward Dozel. Wes, in turn, grabbed the paper and placed it in front of Dozel.
While Dozel scanned the paper for herself, Nia asked Wes, “So will you have her or not?”
“You mean Phony?” Wes asked
“Obviously.”
“What if I say no?” Wes probed.
“She will have to be dealt with.”
“You would kill your daughter?” Wes asked in disbelief.
Nia showed sadness in her eyes for the first time since they first met. “I had explained to her already that this was a possibility. She accepted my offer of finding her a good husband. Believe me, I’d rather you accept her into your stable of wives. But it is ultimately up to you and her.” Nia raised both of her hands. Dozel and Phony’s chins lifted to meet Nia’s eyes. “Dozel, I think you know why I offered you this opportunity. Now that you know this, I can not allow you to leave until Wes can defend himself. Even if you grow apart and decide to go your separate ways. I will immediately have you returned to me and watch over you. You will live a good life of course but you will never be allowed to release his information.” As Dozel sat shocked in silence Nia turned to her daughter. “What happens between you and Wes next is up to you both.”
Nia stood up, and Wes shot to his feet as well. “If you were going to do this, then why didn’t you make sure we were alone while we had this conversation.”
Nia placed both hands on the table. “We do not have time to mess around Wesley. You will be level 10 before we know it. We still don’t even know if you can attain Experience the traditional way. I need you to understand that every decision you make, and even those that are made for you, are magnified. You knew the math you were doing and you knew that people knowing anything about your traits could and would bring trouble. Wake up, it is not just your life anymore. My family is now tied to you. If you are taken, we go to war. Trillions of people can die just based on that. If you do not understand that, then I may as well kill you now and incur the penalty of my pledge. My life being forfeit for trillions is well worth it if it will save us from your stupidity. I have lived a long long life, and I offer my daughter this chance to tie herself to you both so that she can grow into what I know she can be, but also because out of all my children that I still trust. She compliments you the most.” Nia straightened out and sighed. “I really will leave you alone now. Use this time wisely. After this, your education begins.”
Wes felt naked from the verbal lashing that Nia had just given him. He felt more ashamed than embarrassed. It was true that if he wanted to keep them from knowing more, all he had to do was decline to show them. Instead, he sat there and allowed it to happen. He even allowed himself to be influenced by Nia to show Dozel. Wes was finally beginning to comprehend that he was really dealing with someone who had lived for billions of years. He had allowed himself to relax with how normal she seemed. She was nothing like the stories they told in his old village.
Still, even though she seemed normal, he now understood that she saw him just like she had cautioned him that all those in the universe would. Wes did not hold that against her. He knew that she had at least a loose relationship with Marny, and he suspected Argyros had a decent relationship with her.
Phony broke him from his thoughts when she asked Dozel. “You going to go along with this?”
“I have already offered my services over to Wesely.” Dozel replied.
Phoney clicked her tongue as she looked toward Wes. “I will sign my life over to you. I am willing to pledge a hundred levels to gain your confidence. This is not how I envisioned my life going but I would have to be an idiot to pass up this opportunity.”
Wes slammed down into his chair again. “I don’t want a slave for a wife, or a mistress. It's embarrassing, but seriously, I have never kissed anyone. I lived where arranged marriages were the only way of having a wife. A lesser version of what we have going on here. But those were more about tying two good families together. Don’t get me wrong, you are both stunners, and even little Wesley is telling me to shut my mouth to not ruin this for him but I didn’t think I would be tied down so young.” hahaa “ Man I am just droning on.” Wes sat up while he gathered himself. Taking a deep breath he asked, “Phony, are you okay with marrying someone you never knew. Who you won’t really know even after a True year?”
“Absolutely.”
Wes looked over to the opposite side of the table. “And you Dozel. Are you Okay with marrying a man you have known for a day?”
Dozel finally looked up. “Marry?”
“Yeah, if we are going to do this. Then we are going to do this right. But before you speak, if you don’t want to then I will only say that we will never have that type of relationship. Other than in the name, of course. Every kid I bring into this world will be a hundred percent mine.”
Phony jumped in, “the kid would still be a hundred percent yours.”
“Yeah, but not in the eyes of your kids.” Wes shot back.
Dozel sat in contemplation before speaking. “You sure you want to Marry a non-human? That is completely different than having me as a mistress. I fear the pool of people who would be willing to work with you would shrink even smaller.”
Wes laughed “Hey not to long ago I was working in sparse fields and studying third-rate books by a fourth-rate tutor. I don’t know any better. But yes, I don’t want you that way unless you are all the way mine.”
Sitting back he added, “One other thing, I don’t want this first-second wife bullshit. So we will get married at the same time. I don’t know how it works here, but if there is a ceremony, it will be done at the same time. So you guys work that out now or don’t consider moving forward with me. I need people I can count on going forward, and I don’t want to be mediating fights all damn day.”
Phony sat back in disgust but nodded acceptance. Dozel nodded okay as well.
“Perfect!” Wes asked Phony. “How do we call your mom back.”
Phony sighed, “Mom, we are ready. You can come out now.”
Nia appeared next Wes, sitting in her pool chair again. “That was fast.”
“Holy hell, I thought you said you would leave us alone.”
Nia laughed, “I did” She pointed to her chair. “But only for the a sec to get my comfy chair.
