Chapter 138: Chapter 126: Party

On Cluma's birthday, the weather was poor but not horrific; cold and snowing, without being a complete white-out. It was better than when they'd carried me to Dawnhold. Normally, they wouldn't have tried to travel, leaving me to teleport on my own, but with the experience of having done it once out of necessity, doing it a second time in better conditions wasn't so much of a leap.

Besides, Darren enjoyed playing the role of a flamethrower.

I'd scrubbed up hard enough to leave my skin raw and my family complaining about how long I was taking in the bathroom, so hopefully there'd be no complaints about smells. I packed our gifts into [Item Box], the pair of daggers from me and a few silence enchanted outfits from mum, and we set off on our journey.

The snow grew denser as we travelled, but Darren had no issues keeping up.

"Yay, new level!" he exclaimed when we were halfway there.

Another one? Using magic seemed to cause his class to level despite the lack of any relevant skills. The meaningful skill uses thing seemed to apply too, so it was no surprise he gained a level while travelling like this.

Actually, given how many levels he's gained... You couldn't get much more meaningful than when he helped get me to Dawnhold while I was unconscious, so he must have levelled then too. That means...

Darren, Human, Commoner (10/10)

Yup. I was right. "Mum, dad? Darren capped his level. He's ready for a class change."

"I know you tend to be enthusiastic about these things, but can it please wait until we're not an hour away from any sort of settlement in the middle of winter?"

"...Fine," I pouted. I wanted to know what class options he had! Were there any magic ones? Although even if there were, would there be any point in taking one? They might not give any skills. I snuck in an [Analysis] as we walked.

Name: Darren
Species: Human
Class: Commoner (Level 10/10)
Class History: None
Soul Points: 9
Health: 10/10
Stamina: 8/10
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 7
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 7
Charisma: 6
Rank 1 Skills: [Artistry 8] [Musician 3]
Traits: [Natural Mage] [Creative] [Pyromaniac]
Titles: [Jack of All Trades]

Of course, I'd long since forced him to follow my high-speed child advancement plan, and the System had granted him [Jack of All Trades] despite the lack of any magic skills. He did have one of every skill type that was available to him, or maybe it counted the trait. Either way, I was glad he wasn't going to miss out. With the new skills I'd learnt about since its first iteration, he hadn't even needed to pay the two points for [Inspection]. Since [Musician] grants the [Bard] class, there will probably be an [Artist] class from [Artistry], and I can't imagine him wanting to pick anything other than that, regardless of any other available options. I wonder what skills it will come with?

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and we soon arrived at Clana's house, where events restarted the moment the door was opened. By Camus.

"Your face is funny!" exclaimed Darren, because in a world of healing magic, why would a six-year-old know what a scar was?

Camus laughed and waved us in.

Mum and dad smiled and entered, while I took a moment to recover from the shock. Camus laughed.

Camus, Beastkin, Monk (9/89)

Yup, it really was him, and not any sort of imposter. What the heck? It's not unreasonable for him to be here for his own daughter's coming of age celebration, but had I ever heard him laugh before? Not that I could remember. What sort of new superpower had Darren developed now?

We'd arrived early, having left plenty of time for the winter travel, and were the first guests here. A very excited Cluma bounced down the stairs and distributed her usual hugs. Alas, while I did get one, I once again spotted that she held her breath near me. I suppose I had done quite a long walk after my wash, but so had the rest of my family, and they didn't get the same treatment! In fact, when it was my dad's turn, she took a great big sniff, before looking confused at the result! I was going to have to get Clana to explain what exactly she'd meant the next time I caught her away from Cluma.

More people arrived over the next hour; the neighbours, people Clana knew from the institute, people Cluma knew from... nope, I had no idea where she would have met half of these people. Probably just struck up conversations in the street. In any case, there were far more than would fit in the house, and we spilt out into the freezing snow outside, where an array of tables and fire crystals had been set up in preparation.

How did they get away with blocking the street like that? It wasn't like anyone was trying to drag carts down it, given the weather, but it still seemed the sort of thing you'd need permission for and to organise in advance. Nope, never mind; I spotted Lord Reid over on one side and... yup, there went Cluma, giving him a big hug. When did that happen? Did I even want to know? How the heck hadn't she evolved [Hugger] yet?

Cliff had come with Lord Reid, and was standing behind Darren, who was melting patterns in the snow. Joseph turned up, having moved here, but alas, there was no-one else from our village other than Kari. I was surprised no-one had asked us to take them along in our Darren-powered bubble of temperate weather. Adele turned up, but at least the guild master or Grover or other big-shots didn't. No, wait, I spoke too soon; I spotted Vargalas standing on his own a few paces away from the tables. As with Lord Reid, I had no idea how they knew each other, but by this point, I'd given up caring. Maybe his association was with Clana rather than Cluma?

Given that Clana was preparing the food, it was all divine. Then came presents, and while only the closer friends of the family got involved in that, there was still a big pile. Certainly more than I'd had, and all that had been was new clothes and other necessities. Cluma was one seriously spoilt girl...

Then again, coming of age was the only birthday that was ever properly celebrated. There were a lot of birthdays' worth of presents to catch up on, by Earth standards. There were clothes, musical instruments, toys. Camus presented her with a new bow. Mum presented her with the new clothes, then whispered something into her ears and her eyes instantly went wide and sparkly. I handed over her new daggers, with the disclaimer that I wasn't involved in making them, so I couldn't take too much credit.

Clana presented her with a single earring, and again whispered something in her ear, which once again made her go wide-eyed and smile so widely that she looked in danger of injury. I wasn't actually sure how earrings worked here. I'd seen people wearing them, but were they piercings or clips? No-one in our village wore them. Nor did Clana, which made it a bit odd that she was giving one to Cluma.

Gifting over, she vanished into the house. I didn't need to strain my brain to work out why, so I turned on [Mana Sight] and prepared for invisible, silent, flying hugs. Although, given her recent track record, perhaps I'd be spared. For the sake of her decency, I did at least turn the range down so that I didn't see her changing inside the house.

Clana, in the middle of a hushed discussion with Camus, went flying. I just stared. Neither regular sight nor [Mana Sight] had picked up anything; she seemed to have simply decided that standing upright was overrated, and also that she had a disappointing lack of sideways momentum that was in need of immediate correction. She was wearing a look of complete confusion, obviously having been caught utterly by surprise.

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"Cluma?" she hazarded. I'd spotted the impressions on her dress and come to the same conclusion myself, but how the hell was she hiding from [Mana Sight]?! Should I use [Soul Perception]? But I was supposed to be avoiding everything soul related, and it wasn't as if this qualified as an emergency...

A strange disembodied giggle seemed to come from nowhere in particular, before the signs of pressure vanished from Clana's outfit. I saw Clana's ears twitching, as if she was listening for something, but her signs of confusion remained. Camus was sniffing and looked equally confused. Had she just hidden herself from every sense? How?!

Mum grunted in surprise, taking a few steps back, but managing to remain standing. She burst out laughing, wrapping her arms around thin air. "It seems to be working well," she said, to no-one in particular.

"Yup!" exclaimed the thin air, echoing oddly.

Okay, that's enough. I grasped all the mana in my surroundings and spun it. Maybe she could hide from passive [Mana Sight], but could she hide from an active scan? I saw a shadow in mum's arms, and did my best to track it as mum released it and it started moving around.

"Wait, what's working well?" asked Clana, pulling herself back to her feet.

"The enchanted clothing I helped make for her."

"Clothing? But the enchanted earring I commissioned..."

"You both got her enchanted items to improve her stealth?!" I exclaimed. "What sort of terror have you unleashed upon this poor world?!"

The shadow turned to face me and charged. I sidestepped. The shadow pouted.

"What? How can you still see me?" complained the thin air.

"I'll stop him!" said Darren, holding up a hand.

All mana in the area froze, my mana cyclone coming to a complete and sudden stop, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't get any mana in the vicinity to budge. "What? Oi, you traitor!" I exclaimed at Darren moments before an impact knocked me clean off my feet.

"I have no idea what the game was, but I can't help feeling I just lost," I muttered, eliciting another disembodied giggle. I gave the invisible catgirl a quick hug back, lest she suffocate from trying to hold her breath, but this time she didn't seem in any sort of hurry, and was breathing normally. Great, apparently I'd stopped smelling just as she got some ridiculous upgrades.

"Best. Presents. Ever!" exclaimed the invisible Cluma, before popping back into existence, wearing one of the dresses mum had given her, as well as Clana's earring. Could I use [Analysis] on something while it was being worn by someone else?

Analysis blocked

Apparently not. Although that error message didn't sound quite like what I'd expect... I tried it on Cluma herself.

Analysis blocked

Right, so not only can she hide from sight, sound, smell and [Mana Sight], but also appraisal skills. "What the heck did you give her?" I complained. Come to think of it, mum had never told me exactly what runes she was putting on that dress. The enchanter that did our armour last time might have only done silence, but he was rank three. Mum was relying on the rank four Grover. He may have had more options available.

"Comfort, durability, silence and mana veil," answered mum. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Consider me successfully surprised..."

"Odour suppression, appraisal block, stealth enhancement and mana efficiency," added Clana.

"Oi, don't give it away!" exclaimed Cluma, jumping on Clana and jokingly pummelling her chest.

The surrounding spectators seemed to have no idea what to make of the scene. To be fair, neither did I. Mana veil? That must be what hides her from [Mana Sight]. Mana efficiency would let her keep up [Stealth] for longer, and stealth enhancement would boost it beyond what it could normally do. Odour suppression must have hidden her from Camus' nose, but was it also responsible for the way she gave me a decent hug for the first time in months? Or maybe she was just so excited that she could pay no attention to whatever I smelt of?

Four enchantments on the earring meant that it came from Grover. From the colour of it, I could believe it was orichalcum. They would be some seriously powerful effects. How had Clana got that?

No, no need to ask. I'd seen the state of his workroom. A bit of cooking, and Clana could easily have coaxed that small amount out of him. So, she now had a stealth ability that made goblin assassins look like neon pink elephants with an accompanying orchestra. She'd lose the mana veil swapping from casual clothes to her armour, but I wasn't aware of any monsters that could see through stealth that way anyway, except possibly the goblin sages, and we'd hardly be an effective delving team if I couldn't see her.

Away in the distance, I could see Vargalas grinning. Even Lord Reid was giving a small smirk, though neither of them compared to the riotous laughter coming from Camus. It was very loud and continued for quite some time.

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