THE TIME SKIP CHAPTER!
“Teehehe, guess we need to add more weights. You get used to them way too fast.”
Serena’s giggles were the kind of giggles that made boys have uncomfortable dreams and men shiver in anticipation for more. Matching that the low seductive voice with her belle of a face and males would probably crawl towards her, since they wouldn’t have the strength to walk or run.
Michael though started to have nightmares. Everytime he heard that low playful giggling his face turned pale and his body started to quiver, even when he used the maximum of his concentration. Michael’s father also seemed to remember it. One time when his father was about to enter the room and he heard Serena’s giggle, he turned pale and swayed on the spot for a bit before he nearly ran out of the room. Michael feared for his children and hoped he had to gall to deny Serena from training them…
His training progressed rather smoothly besides that though. Serena had acquired several wrist and ankle bands to hold the weights in and Michael had a tough time doing his daily work for a time. After a few days of getting used to them he started sparring with them on to increase the speed of his training. First it was 10 kilograms total. Then 12. Then 15. For the first year Michael went through his daily work with an extra 20 kilograms attached to his body. His physical stats rose by a lot.
Michael also used the weights for his Concentration stat training since he had no teacher for that. Michael, with his extra 20 weights, went to the closest dance instructor in town. He didn’t exactly find a pure dancing master but a general performer with Expert in the performance arts. Since dancing was a precise task that required finesse, Michael had to strain his concentration in order to make his limbs move properly. He kept to this task so much that he soon learned a skill.
Michael nearly jumped in joy when he reviewed the skill before sleeping. Another legitimate combat skill that didn’t use Mana. It did consume a lot of stamina but at least it didn’t take any of his precious mana.
Michael trained the skill during his dancing classes and sparring sessions with Serena and his father. His movements became more smooth and his strikes stronger as he formed various different combinations with the curved blade and dagger. He didn’t acquire actual attack skills since he didn’t trust in pre-arranged movements. Michael instead liked the irregular movements he had, even if they were generally weaker than skills.
Harold continued to teach Michael about magic and its history. The history lessons gave insight on the problems and difficulties that Mages of the previous eras faced. They were a help when Michael was trying to make his own spells. He had no aptitude for long range magic though since he never really trusted the effects. Even his weapon throwing skill required use of small daggers - he was used to the effects of daggers and knew the damage he could cause with it. Although it was only a problem mentally it still cause a stagnation of his actual magical use. He could use magic to empower objects temporarily and magic to So Harold changed tactics.
When Michael went to Harold’s room for his next class he walked in to find an empty room. When he reached the center the room shook around him and he had to crouch low to keep his balance. Michael looked towards the door but rejected the option that would place him in deeper in the collapsable house. So Michael eyed the window and got ready to rush through it. Luckily the shaking stopped before he could move and Harold appeared right beside Michael.
“Well boy, that was a type of magic called ‘Quake’. Since you saw the effect and the felt the actual movements you should be able to learn it. Well? Try it out. Enter the Mana realm and focus on the mana in the ground then give it a shake. Go on, go on.”
“Err why couldn’t you have just fired a fireball instead? If all it took was for me to see the effect and…”
Michael cut off once he figured it out but Harold decided to continue.
“Yes, I would have had to throw the fireball at you and you needed to feel the effects of it. Would you like to try? Just stand there and let me make a big enough fireball…”
Michael got nervous when he actually saw Harold position himself for the spell. Before he could run away, the door to the room burst open.
“HAROLD! WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO TO MY HOUSE? WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO USE SUCH A LARGE SCALE SPELL WITHOUT ANY WARNING OR WARDS? DO YOU WANT TO FEEL MY CLUB AGAIN? DO YOU!?!?!? YOUR HEAD MUST HAVE MISSED THE FEELING OF IT! LET ME-”
Michael’s mother continued that for a few more hours and Harold was a sorry, red lump at the end. The good news though was that Michael became good at using large scale magic that affected the area and not the actual target.
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Michael’s first year went smoothly after that and he acquired a few more large scale magic. Michael also went through a ‘cursed’ phase in order to learn specific cursed-type magic since he needed something to weaken his enemies as well. To be more specific Michael had to drink some specific poisonous substances - this time under the watchful eye of his mother - in order to create the necessary organ in his body to house poison for his magic. You couldn’t just create poison out of nothing in the Mana realm. Needless to say he was more happy trying to make beneficial magic.
Constant training was Michael’s everyday life. He didn’t have any other hobbies to speak of and when he was giving time off he usually just took a walk around town - while avoiding the watchful eyes of the Series membership - and found places to read books he got from Harold and Serena’s personal collection. Histories of wars with notes of alternate strategies and tactics devised by both Serena and her brother. Histories of magic arts and magic battles with some doodles from Harold. He was basically a teacher’s pet...with the alternative being a teacher’s punching bag.
It was during one of his times out that he first met Damien.
Michael was at the North-Eastern area of the city, the area with the gate entrance and road that one could use to travel to the ‘Forest of Dread’. He felt nostalgia every time he looked at the forest that gave him his connection with the ‘Silven Plant’ and introduction to Liera. Liera’s training was done under the watchful eye of his mother and Serena. His mother had taken over her education of Gaia and she taught history, geography, cooking, and even a little of alchemy just in case Michael ever got too sick to heal himself. Serena took over Liera’s training and taught her moves she had learned from the Fey she knew.
Liera’s combat training never interfered or connected with his since she was being taught how to fight by shifting forms. The aim was for her to be able to tap into her wolf form while staying human. A high level technique but she had 10 years to practice. The next level after that would be to tap into other forms…but all that for later.
Michael was reading more on about one of the battles during the Mad King’s War. Luanden and Kilren’s army was trapped in a gorge in order to drawn out Jilr’s ambush and Luanden had the soldiers form a steal dome to weather the enemy volleys. Their tactic was to wait out the attack until the main army could surround and take down the enemy. What they hadn’t anticipated was the arrival of Jilr’s high Magus and group of Magus’. Trying to block balls of fire or torrents of lightning was way different from just arrows and Luanden’s men were being slaughtered. Here, Serena told Michael to study various ways to counter the Magus’ while not allowing the enemy to retreat before the main army got there. Michael thought of one or two plans that included created gaps in the shield to allow the archers to fire back and -
Michael’s book and concentration went flying when a boot interrupted his day. Specifically a Knight’s Sabaton had replaced the book as the center of attention for Michael. Michael looked up to see a large boy with a Knight’s Helmet looking down on him, That was all. Only the Knight’s Sabaton and Helmet was being equipped on the boy which created a rather comical effect. It took quite a bit of Michael’s concentration just to keep himself from laughing. Guess the other boy was very good at reading expressions.
“What!?! You laughing at me? Little bookworm. I’m a Knight’s apprentice and you should be on your knees grovelling for mercy because your book dirtied my Sabaton. Well? Are you just gonna sit there?”
The boy wasn’t the only one there and 4 other boys, all as big as the first, surrounded Michael. They all made an even more comical group since one had an Iron Cuirass over a leather vest, another also had an Iron Helmet on, and another had large shoulder Pauldrons only. The final one nearly killed Michael using laughter since he only had a Culet attached to his backside and completely took all the attention from his glare. Michael had to delve more deeply for his Concentration.
“A Knight’s apprentice huh? Impres-No. No it really isn’t impressive. And am I just gonna sit here? Well I was hoping to sit here and read a book but that’s out of the question so yes. I am just gonna sit here. You can shine my boots if you want though. I give good tips. Maybe you can save enough to buy the rest of your armour…”
Michael had started off his spiel with a touch of awe but he decided halfway that his acting skills were not good. So he told the truth since he had noticed that seem to be a good way to finish problems. It may have worked too if he didn’t add some of his newfound humour at the end.
The boy’s unequipped hands started to quiver and turn red with rage. The other boys were the same and any skin not covered by metal - so a lot of their skin - was turning red. Then one of them took out a sword that looked very shiny and clean. ‘Expensive...did they buy that first, then the armour with whatever they had left?’ Michael wasn’t trying to calm the situation at all as he bent to examine and approve of the naked blade. He even tapped it with a finger to get some information on it with ‘Instant Analyzing’ passive mode.
Michael actually laughed at this. He collapsed on the ground and had tears rolling down his face as he thought of the stupidity of these children. These kids probably didn’t have the common ‘Identification’ skill so they relied on the good word of the merchant that sold the product, not knowing of abilities like ‘Item Description Change’ and got promptly ripped off. If all of their equipment were like that…
The surrounding boys resembled walking humanoid tomatoes in clothes and mismatching armor at this time. When they saw Michael collapse they had thought he turned pale after examining the sword but the boy actually laughed. He LAUGHED.
All 5 of the boys were well over 6 feet tall and some even hit 2 meters. They had bulging muscles from a childhood of food and steroids and muscle training but their stats did not reflect the same. Their strength barely hit 50 and that was the highest while the next highest was half that.
Michael instead looked rather slight. His height was average at just 1.7 meters and his build was hidden underneath a lot of clothes. He had on a leather jerkin and wool pants, both made by him and had pretty awful stats although they were very comfortable. Over all that he wore a long sleeved brown robe and a matching pointed hat to block the sun. The robe was actually to cover the heavy weights he had over his wrists and ankles. Michael had a few dozen throwing daggers under his robes and his combat dagger hidden in his left sleeve. His sword was too big to carry around so he left it at home, confident enough to take care of himself with just his daggers. His stats had steadily increased over the last 2 years and his strength had just broken 125. Stats weren’t a reflection of looks though, unless it was Charm, and Michael looked just like an apprenticed mage who didn’t even have a magic Staff to protect himself with.
So the large boys did what every group of bullies did. They each took out their ‘Expensive’ steel swords and proceeded to hack at the little boy in front of them. They wouldn’t kill him but they would reduce him to a begging sobbing mess.
The largest boy, the one wearing the Sabatons and Helmet, swung his sword down on Michael’s leg. He missed when Michael twisted on the ground and sprung up to his feet, still laughing at the misfortune of the fools. None of the boys took notice of the incredible speed Michael showed as each was in a mini bloodlust.
Stab to the right, chop from the left, sweep from the top. Michael dodged and weaved through the attacks with a grace that would have made his dancing teacher proud. He also took the time to tap their weapons with his concealed dagger’s hilt. In a matter of moments…
Michael knew it was time when he saw a crack in one of the blades and he lifted his wrist to block that sword. The wielder was ecstatic to finally draw blood and threw all of his weight into the blow. With a Clunk the blade hit Michael’s wrist weight and promptly broke in half while the unfortunate person fell over in shock. Michael brought his fist down on the boy’s head and knocked him out.
Michael then thought about his wrist weights.
“Listen boy. These weights were in my family for the last 4000 years. You will not use these to block blows. GOT IT?”
Michael paled at the memory before glaring at the boys. He Concentrated on his presence and burst the feeling out. The entire city all of a sudden felt the tension in the air and the higher ranked combat professions and few mages gasped at what they felt. Any dungeon diver or hunter felt the power of a Boss-class monster and their senses told them it was in the city. Everyone rushed to the scene.
Michael didn’t notice or care about what he had done. These boys may have earned him a sadistic night with his teacher and he wanted some tension release before that happened. The boys in front of him were quivering in fear since Presence had an effect of instilling terror into weaker beings. The boys saw a monster in front of him. A being with horns and a forked tail, claws and hooves while the mouth was split in a sharp toothed grin.
When Michael finally advanced the boys broke out of their reverie and used their trained moves to fight him. Michael just took out his combat dagger and blocked every single one of their blows then grabbed the swords with his right hand and crushed the brittle steel. Once he did that with every sword, he charged them and proceeded to attack their armoured sections. He broke every single piece they had on and then went on to delicately shred their clothing.
When Michael finally calmed and cut down on his presence, he looked down at the boys that were in bloody heaps on the ground. They barely had a strip of clothing left on and Michael had cut thin lines across their bare bodies. They were all incoherent due to the pain and one of them had fainted during the assault. The blood cooled his frenzy in the end and Michael was rather happy at the scene. So he walked to the side, picked up his book, lay down, then went to sleep with the book covering his head. Michael also noted that he had accidentally used ‘Rage Release’ and that the skill leveled a few times. He also lost quite a bit of his ‘Stored Rage’ which almost made him attack those stupid kids again.
When the high ranking or experienced people in or out of the town finally came to the scene they were shocked. 5 large boys were either sobbing or knocked out. 4 of them were bloody with cuts on them while the other had a bleeding head wound. Another boy was laying asleep a few paces away from them. When the 3 sobbing boys saw the crowd they started to point and shout that the boy had assaulted them. That the boy was a demon spawn and had sprouted horns and claws and some other supernatural body part before trying to tear them to shreds.
One of the adventurers that came was an expert ranked Swordsmen and a representative of the Combat Series. He recognized that the boy was Michael and decided to just watch and record the scene for his Series. Other representatives also decided the same.
A Knight stepped out of crowd and towards the boy. He was Sir Cliff and he was the master of the largest boy there, the one in the comical Sabatons and Helmet. Sir Cliff didn’t like the situation since he only saw a sleeping weak kid but he couldn’t deny that the other boys had quite heavy injuries. Based on their screams and wails it wasn’t anything terribly serious. What spurred on Sir Cliff was that he had noticed the terrible presence in this direction and the only thing that could be a cause for it was the sleeping kid.
Sir Cliff walked up to the kid and examined him. Skinny, average height, book, pointed hat, robes. Everything about the kid screamed ‘Mage Apprentice’ so Sir Cliff raised a boot to kick the boy awake. He missed however when the boy shifted his position slightly. Sir Cliff wondered if it was a coincidence and raised his boot again. 5 times more he missed and Sir Cliff decided the boy was awake.
“Boy...Did you cause all of this damage to the others? Are you a…Demon Spawn like they say?”
Sir Cliff wasn’t a horrible person. His apprentice, Damien, was chosen because he thought the boy had some talent with the sword but it seemed his judgement was terribly off. The large boy was a slacker and weak willed. Flashing a few coins in his face was enough to catch his attention and the boy couldn’t even last 2 seconds while sparring against him. Even after 4 years the boy hadn’t grown in any way. Sir Cliff wondered if the bandits he killed in the past all had beginnings as horrible apprentices... But the boy was his apprentice. He couldn’t just turn away from the boy during a time of need. His honor as a knight didn’t allow it. And now this other boy…
When Sir Cliff didn’t get a response he asked a different question.
“Then did you start this fight boy? Even if you say ‘no’ we only have your word against it while these 5 have injuries and will probably all say you started it. Do you have any proof?”
The last was said with some reluctance. There were no other eyewitnesses here since it was a secluded spot. They had to take the word of these 6 kids and 5 of them would surely gang up on the last. In the end the boy would probably be punished but Sir Cliff knew the personality of his own apprentice and has already formed an idea of what happened. He also noticed that some of the people in the crowd, those were the masters of the other apprentices, also had darkened faces as they could also imagine the real thing that happened. Then Sir Cliff heard a long sigh from the sleeping boy.
Sir Cliff saw the boy raise a hand. Then he made some sweeping motions in the air and cut down several times. Sir Cliff was confused at what was happening and looked into the crowd. He saw confusion there too but when he looked at the few mages in the crowd he saw something else. All of the mages were staring at the boy with pale faces and wide eyes. Was the boy using magic? The mages didn’t back up so it probably wasn’t dangerous. Sir Cliff turned his eyes back to the boy when he caught a different motion. The boy’s hand went to his head and started to give off a white light.
When the boy had finished whatever he was doing he thrust the hand upwards. Inside his hand was a translucent ball the width of a thumb. Sir Cliff took it in confusion and then noticed the boy pointing towards the crowd. Actually the boy was pointing to one of the mages in the crowd. Sir Cliff looked as the mage started to walk forward.
“That, Sir Knight is a memory ball. The boy was going through his own memories and copying then cutting out specific parts. The last motion was when he gathered the memories into a ball to give to us. I can access the memories and broadcast it for us to see…”
The mage was very skinny. And old. Sir Cliff had never seen such an old person before and judged that the man knew his craft well enough if he could survive to this age. He also saw the slight nod from the book covered head of the boy.
Sir Cliff gave the ball to the old mage and walked backwards a bit. The mage took out his staff from under his robe - the staff was a good 2.5 meters tall and couldn’t possibly have fit under that robe - and then threw the ball up. Closing his eyes the old man swung the staff at the airborne ball and a flash accompanied the loud crack that was heard. Then the scene changed.
Everyone in the crowd and the town saw the book in front of their eyes. It seemed to be a history on battles and some knowledgable folk saw that it was about a battle during the Mad King War. They also noted and approved of several of the notes. Everyone jumped when a Sabaton replaced the book. The view changed to show the boys surrounding them and the comical effect of misplaced armour made some of them laugh. They also laughed at the exchange of words between the two sides. Some of them gasped when a sword appeared in one of the boys’ hands. A larger gasp when the view went closer to the blade and a finger touched it. Then they all laughed when they read the actual description of the sword. When all 5 of the boys took out their blades the crowd was already on the Apprentice Mage’s side. They all were shocked at the movements of the boy and the very experienced warriors saw and approved of all the strikes the boy was returning. When a sword broke after hitting a wrist, the scenery turned red. To the shock of the people they saw the offensive attack of the boy as a dagger destroyed weapons, armour, clothes and then skin. When the scene turned calm once more the bloody heaps of the boys were seen. Then everyone came back to their original senses.
The crowd of onlookers looked unfavorably towards the gang of 5. They had seen everything that happened and did not approve of that behaviour. The 3 conscious boys started to shiver as they saw punishment await them in the near future and they envied their unconscious companions.
The Series representatives were even more worked up after the scene they saw. The boy was a beast and having him would win such renown from the other towns. When they cast their eyes on the boy however they only saw a pile of rocks on the spot. The boy seemed to have run away during their reverie.
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Michael didn’t tell his teachers or his parents about the event. The house was warded quite well so the people inside did not see his memories that were projected. They all knew what happened though since each of them had a way to keep their eyes on him. Serena approved of his dodging and weaving in the first bit but turned furious when she saw her family heirlooms used as a shield. She calmed down when she saw that Michael was giving back 10 fold.
For the next 3 years Michael went through his training. Nothing much changed except that Liera had finally got the hang of her transformations and had started sparring with Michael. Her quick attacks and pseudo transformations of her limbs kept him on his toes during the bouts and he got experience facing a new foe that didn’t match the characteristic of a monster or a person. Liera herself was glad to finally be of use since her transformation practice was time consuming and seemed useless. Liera had started to undergo a slightly weaker version of Michael’s beginning training. She also had weights and the like on her wrists and ankles.
A month before Michael’s 15 naming day there was a statement from the Church of Information. In one month there will be an announcement by the church to everyone that came directly from the Goddess Janira herself. The Church advised everyone to stay in the town during that time in order to not miss the world changing information. Rumours immediately started. Some thought that a demon army was about to charge, but they were refuted with questions of why the Church would delay that kind of news. Some thought that the goddess would destroy all the towns on that day and that she needed more people in the towns in order to get a high kill streak, but this was even more unbelievable than the last. Janira was a true-neutral goddess and even the other gods avoided direct confrontations with her. There was literally no reason to suspect her of mass murder.
All of the speculations and rumours became more crazy and imaginative by the day. Most of the higher ranking people feared that the town would riot during this time so they imposed a strict curfew a few weeks before the Church’s announcement.
Michael really didn’t care about the announcement or the curfew. The announcement was from a goddess that really only gave information so it was obvious that the announcement would just be news. And the curfew was also not a hindrance since it just allowed Michael to train his ‘Stealth’ more easily.
A week after the statement Michael was told to take off his top by Serena. He was quite wary but since his mother was also in the room he decided that it wouldn’t anything too inappropriate. Michael removed his top to reveal a slight but chiseled body. Muscles were not very large but they were obviously well used and several scars just served to accentuate his body. Overall Michael was incredibly fit since he trained literally every day. When he reached Expert ranking he would get a simplified training regiment that would only take up 30 minutes of his day but right now he had to give several hours to training.
Serena measured Michael’s body and fingers and then proceeded to the door to give the measurements to Harold and Cider. Michael waited a few minutes while sitting on a bench to the side of the training room, still shirtless before they came back. Cider entered first carrying a leather vest with thick springs coiled in various areas on it while Harold entered with a small pouch.
“This, boy, is a restrainer. Since I can’t add any more weights to the wrist or ankle without fear of breaking it I decided to have this made. The springs are incredibly strong and any movement with your body will cause a strain from them. You will need to push incredibly hard to do anything and then slowly go back to your original placement if you don’t want the spring to snap back and damage you. The rings in that pouch were made by Harold and each is enchanted with a different level of gravity magic. One increases your gravity by 10%, the next 25%, the third 50%, and the last are 100% and 200% respectively. You will also be wearing those for training. Only one at a time first then more as you get used to them. In the end I expect you to wear them all.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Michael was incredibly pale as he was told his new training regimen. His wrist weights each had 20 kilograms on them so they nearly doubled his weight. The new restraining jacket though looked rather fine to wear but those rings sounded like they would kill him! The first would increase his weight and the wrist and ankle weights by an incredible amount. Still, Michael never backed down from training so he accepted the lowest level ring and was helped into the jacket.
Michael immediately felt the effects of the jacket. Any movement of his arms away from his body caused him to strain in effort. When he let go of his strength his arm snapped back to the body and nearly knocked him to the ground. Michael lost about 200 health just from that. Twisting his body and bending over had the same effect and when Michael let go after bending over he snapped backwards and made a flip on the spot. ‘Great. Hell training level 2…’
Michael took the next few weeks to get used to it.
When month was over the Church of Information had created a podium in the center of the town. With the help of some mages they had also created several sound enhancement devices so that the speech could be delivered to various areas of the city. 100, 000+ people was a difficult number to accomodate.
“The Pope Moust de Tael and the high council of the Church of Information has received a vision from the Goddess Janira. In 5 years time the world will change as the ‘Abnormal Pieces of the Continent’ will appear. They are beings from another world and will affect every single aspect of Gaia. They will either become Heroes to praise or Demons to haunt. Each will appear as weak as a newborn but can become as strong as a God. Janira has warned us of this event and has tasked us to prepare for their coming. The 4 Series will be guided by the Church to devise a training for the newcomers. Mages will have to cooperate in making a new type of magic for the beings and we will need to acquire a great number of items for their coming.
The Goddess Janira has also created a new system for them. Quests can be given to these beings and the way it will be done will also be taught by our Church. Fear not, this event will be weathered by all the races and we must unite in order to survive.”
The Church finished their speeches by answering some questions but most of the people had already left to prepare. They needed to go to the Church to learn this new ‘Quest’ system since it seemed to be some help against the incoming beings. The Series needed to choose instructors and teachers without apprentices so that the series can be able to acquire good members. They all remembered the failure of getting Michael so each created contingencies just in case of failure.
Michael? Michael was excited at the announcement. These people were even stranger than him! Michael hoped they caused enough excitement and problems so that he could live in relative peace in the town. Michael also decided to learn about ‘Quests’ since he didn’t think it was only a one-sided offer. Quests could probably give good rewards and Michael could even have the newcomers do Quests for him. Michael envisioned a new life as he closed his eyes stretched out his hand to the sky. The hand snapped back and drove him out of his reverie.
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4 years and 11 months and 29 days passed in an eyeblink. Michael had succeeded in controlling his body to such a degree that the restraining vest no longer hampered him at all. He had also upgraded from his 10% gravity ring to 385% total from 5 rings. He walked normally with the rings on and could even fight with the rings on. He decided that after his training he would keep the vest and rings on since it would be abnormal to walk a few kilometers in minutes without them.
Michael had finally hit Expert ranking in nearly all of his skills. His stats had also almost all hit over 200 in each and he had decided on a class before his ‘Choosing Day’. He noticed that he wasn’t incredibly handsome but he had already known this would happen since the day he was born. His body though would attract looks if he ever went shirtless. Too bad he didn’t have such exhibitionist tendencies.
Michael was stuck on which guild he should choose until he heard a passing group talking about their work. Michael’s eyes shone when he heard about the guild and he decided that they would satisfy most of his desires. Not telling anything right now.
As Michael stood before the doors of the Church of Information, he opened up all of his skills and stats.
“Show Status. Show skills and descriptions. Show all titles.”
Michael smiled at his progress and got himself ready for his 'Choosing Day' ceremony.
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Finished this a few minutes before class. I should pay attention but...I'll be on to read comments.
If you see problems or such and such, just comment and I'll either fix it or explain.
Its a Tuesday...today, tomorrow and the day after I have classes so I may or may not have a chapter ready. Probably not until Friday. Oh well.
