The cart returned to our village without any issue, which was a little disappointing; I'd hoped the slime would still be there. Perhaps another cart had passed this way, or maybe it had just bounced off on its own. Either way, I didn't get to see anyone slaying a monster.

  The Brown Wolf party dropped Simon, John, and me off without fanfare, then continued on their way to return the other children.

  "Well, we should probably get to the fields," I said to Simon. "There's still half the day left."

  "Like hell we should," disagreed Simon. "We aren't required to start work until tomorrow, so I am going to do nothing whatsoever today, even if it results in me dying of boredom."

  John just sniggered and left without a word.

  "Stuck up little prick, isn't he," sighed Simon, which made me snigger in turn.

  "He wasn't quite so arrogant in the temple," I said. "Looked every bit as nervous as the rest of us."

  "And every bit as high and giggly afterwards, too."

  While I could never be a perfect judge of my own mind, I was fairly sure I'd got over my unlock euphoria, even if it had taken me a little longer than the other kids in my cart. Obviously, being the well-behaved child that I was, I had no intentions of making vulgar comparisons to sex or drugs, whether or not I had the experience to make such comparisons, but I'd heard of people saving up their free stat points for multiple levels and then blowing them all at once in the hopes of chasing the initial unlock feeling, and now I understood why. In a way, it was fortunate that levels were so few and far between, lest people get addicted to raising them.

  Few and far between for other people, anyway. I'd need to be careful... With such an insane boost to experience, and the way I would effectively operate at double my actual level, there was a real possibility that I'd end up jumping multiple levels at once. Doing so while my levels were still in the single digits would not be advisable if I wanted to maintain my mental health—I'd heard that sudden massive increases to mental Stats could do worse damage to someone than a bit of simple unlock euphoria. A few weeks of quiet farming were just what I needed to build up my initial Stats at a sane rate, so unlike Simon, I was going to get stuck in immediately.

  I found both my parents out weeding, and joined in, my first Skill letting me know exactly what was supposed to be growing in the fields and what was not.

  Not that I needed the help. E-rank Skills were, alas, nothing special, merely acting as a substitute for knowledge and training. Having lived in a farming village all my life, the difference between 'corn' and 'not-corn' was bloody obvious without the aid of Skills, especially since we were only a few weeks from harvest. If it didn't look almost ready to eat, it shouldn't be there.

  ... And harvest was something I was greatly looking forward to. We'd finally have something better to eat than bricks of bread for a while.

  Despite my initial scepticism, the Skill proved its use when it offered aid in pulling the interlopers up, trickling advice into my mind about how best to grab and twist to pull them out with as much of the root as possible while avoiding unnecessary disturbance to the soil.

  The sensation of knowing things I hadn't been taught was weird, and reinforced everyone's advice that I shouldn't be spending stat and skill points until I'd grown used to what I already had. Besides, the extra skill point was my own, and I was under no obligation to spend it on [Farming]. Maybe I could ask Auntie Jean where she found her [Cooking] skill crystal, and if I could get one of my own.

  ... Maybe I should follow Grant's advice, find myself a combat Skill, and raid a dungeon. I wasn't sure how feasible that was; as serfs, we didn't have freedom of movement, so the dungeon would need to be in this canton, and close enough that I could get there and back without impinging on mandatory work hours, as well as low-level enough for me to survive it. What a real adventurer considered a 'beginner dungeon around here' might still be both unreachable and deadly to me.

  "Oh! You're back!" called Dad, catching sight of me through the tall stalks. "How'd it go?"

  "Surprisingly well, but I'll tell you about it when we get home."

  After all, there would be a lot to talk about.

  The afternoon passed surprisingly quickly. There was something relaxing about weeding. Perhaps the hero depicted in the temple window could have removed every weed in the field with a wave of a hand, and then grown the corn to full maturity with a second wave, but he wasn't here. Our kingdom wasn't fed by heroes or arch-mages. It was fed by people like my parents, working hard every day.

  That was the reason attitudes like John's irked me so badly. Take away the serfs, and his fat arse would probably starve before he lowered himself to foraging his own food. It wasn't even as if he ranked highly; even if his dad was the village headman, both father and son were nothing but peasants. As John's mother had alluded to this morning, while their family might be big fishes in our little slice of farmland, they were still minnows in the overall canton, let alone the kingdom.

  Everyone needed to feel superior to someone, I guess. Even I could say, 'I may have been born a serf, but at least I'm not a slave'.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Presumably, slaves got into mudslinging matches about who had the best master, or least awful work.

  The social structure of society aside, the afternoon passed peacefully and quickly, and the four hours of work felt more like one or two.

  Well, that confirmed it. If a full day was supposed to grant a hundred experience, and I'd worked half a day, I should have gained only fifty. Instead, I'd gained ten times that. For a single afternoon's work, I'd made it halfway to level two.

  If only I'd killed that slime on the way home, I'd bet I'd have levelled already. Killing monsters had to be worth more experience than weeding, right, even if the monsters were slimes?

  "What are you grinning about?" asked Dad as the three of us walked home.

  "I'll tell you when we get home."

  "Now you're just making me curious," laughed Mum.

  I said nothing. Whatever she was thinking, I was certain what I was about to say was worse.

  Probably.

  Now that the unlock euphoria had faded, I couldn't help wondering just how common Marks like mine were. I was no-one. A serf from a village in the middle of nowhere. If our entire village was wiped out, it was unlikely anyone outside of our canton would even notice. Why would I, of all people, have a ridiculously powerful Mark? I certainly hadn't done anything to earn it. It talked about my soul being ancient and alien, but I had no idea what that even meant. What if Marks like mine were common? I could be fairly sure such things weren't common in our village, or someone would have mentioned it, but for all I knew, every single citizen of Greenhold had something similar.

  Which still raised the possibility of me getting citizenship, but one step at a time.

  Our family entered our hut, and Mum pulled the door closed behind us.

  "Okay..." I said.

  Dad frowned, his expression turning grave. He'd obviously twigged that I was about to break some serious news.

  "When my System unlocked, I had a Mark," I admitted.

  "That's unusual, but not unheard of. I know a few people who had Marks already on their unlock day," said Dad.

  "Mine gives me double skill points per level."

  "That's... powerful," said Mum carefully. "You won't be expected to spend the extras on [Farming] or other related skills. I'll need to see if I can get hold of a skill crystal for you."

  "Please make it [Cooking]," begged Dad.

  "And doubled Stats," I continued.

  Dad's eyebrows raised and his head snapped back to me. "What?" he asked.

  "Doubled Stats. All of them, including Stamina and Mana, and it affects both free stat points and base Stats."

  "That's... wow..." he said.

  "Are you joking?" asked Mum. "That sounds like something that would be awarded for a massive feat, like clearing a high rank dungeon, not something you should have at System unlock."

  "No, I'm not joking, and I haven't even got to the best bit yet," I said.

  "There's more?" asked Dad.

  "Ten times experience gain."

  The jaws of both parents dropped open.

  "I've confirmed the effect, too. I earned five hundred experience for weeding the field this afternoon."

  "Who else knows about this?" demanded Dad, staring so intently that I was worried he'd bore a hole through my skull.

  "No-one. It was obvious to the adventurers driving our cart that something was up, so I told them I had a Mark that granted one extra point of each Stat per level."

  "Even that would be pretty powerful," said Mum. "Not as utterly unbelievable as what you're claiming, though. What does the description say?"

  "That my soul is ancient and alien, and contains the remnants of memories of other lives, and that as I gather experience in this life, those remnants will reinforce my growth."

  My parents stared at each other.

  "Please don't be offended at me asking this, but... there's nothing about his conception or birth you haven't told me about, is there?" asked Dad.

  Mum slapped him hard enough for the crack to echo off the hut walls.

  "... I'll take that as my answer, then. Sorry," said Dad, rubbing his cheek, on which a perfect impression of Mum's hand was glowing.

  "From your reactions, can I assume this isn't normal?" I asked.

  "No. This is very abnormal," answered Mum. "If you'd really had a Mark that gave you an extra point in each Stat per level, the village would probably have held a little celebration for you, and you'd have people congratulating you in the street, but it's unlikely to be enough to attract the attention of anyone from outside the village. One that outright doubles your Stat gains, or that doubles your skill points, though... That's not just the sort of thing that gives you a boost to your early levels. That's a substantial power boost that will remain with you for life. I can't imagine the baron would be content leaving such a person as a farmer, should he find out about it."

  Dad nodded, still rubbing his cheek. "Both of them together, plus your experience multiplier... No way in heck does the baron leave you here if he finds out about it. I suggest you think very carefully about what you want for the future. If you want to remain in this village, together as a family, we'll need to conceal the effects as best as we're able. If you would rather serve the baron in other ways, I'll take you back to town tomorrow."

  "What about a third option?" I asked. "I conceal it for now, build up my extra Stats, run a local dungeon, sell the loot and buy citizenship for our entire family."

  "I don't know much about dungeons..." said Dad. "Are there even any around here?"

  "I know that they're dangerous," said Mum. "You have no combat Skills, nor can you obtain any in our village. However high your Stats, you aren't going to farm a monster to death."

  "Why a dungeon, anyway?" asked Dad. "How do you even expect to raise enough money to buy citizenship in the first place?"

  "One of the adventurers driving our cart recommended it, and said there was one around here. I'd like to think he wouldn't have suggested it if it was a stupid idea."

  "I've heard rumours about great rewards for clearing dungeons," said Mum, which made sense given that she'd already suggested they would grant Marks with effects similar to my own. "I can see how clearing one might sound attractive to a serf looking for freedom."

  So they rewarded money as well as Marks? Not that a Mark like mine granted from a dungeon would be anywhere near as good, unless it acted retroactively. By the time someone was capable of clearing a high-ranked dungeon, they probably didn't have much levelling left to do. Doubling gains at that point would be too late to make a huge impact.

  I knew next to nothing about dungeons, beyond the fact that they existed and produced endless amounts of monsters and treasure. They simply weren't relevant to my life. Until now.

  "We'll conceal it for now, then," said Dad. "Work like normal. Don't ask around for skill crystals. Don't spend your stat or skill points. And... when I head into town in a few weeks to deliver our harvest, I'll ask around about that local dungeon."