Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 56: Alternative streams

"Never depend on a single income. Make investments to create a second source."

Warren Buffett

Rome was not built in a day but every day they laid bricks or something like that, I couldn't remember but the point was our salt flats are coming along nicely. They are gradually working their way along the western side of the island. We did a little bit more every night. Then during the day Des and Sinis would fill them up with seawater from the lagoon, then wait for it to evaporate before raking it up.

It didn’t produce nearly as much as I did within the mountain but it would be a reasonable explanation as to where all the salt was coming from. They were gradually forming a white path around the coast of the island. It wasn’t anywhere near a circle yet but we were gradually getting there and because it had been carved into or rather below the average surface of the island it wasn’t immediately visible from the waterline and the coastline still looked as if it remained untouched.

However, from the top of the mountain, there was a clear white line gradually working its way around the island, carving a white circle within which we lived. For the moment the family had decided to keep it to the outer area of the island so the water from the lagoon didn’t need to be carried too far. But who knew what would be next. I had a lot of plans.

The weather had finally cleared up this week after a month of colder stronger winds battering the Wester Isles. So I had been able to make another two jumps. They had afforded me even less clarity but I was so close I was sure I would make it in time. I believed it would only be another two jumps. I was still limited to two jumps a day due to the mana expenditure of simply falling with style.

Level: 11 Name: Kai

Experience: 293,550/ 409,600

Age: 15 months, 1 weeks, 2 days, 13 hours

Health: 1170/1170 Stamina: 570/570 Mana: 1200/1200 Psi: 1200/1200

Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana,

Vitality: 117

Endurance: 27

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 33

Senses: 120

Mind: 120

Clarity: 95

Magic: 120

Charisma: 20

Luck: 2

Free Points: 30

Skills:

Tier 1: Time sense (LV 28)Listening (LV 30)Meditation (LV 37)Swimming (LV 30) Humming (Lv 25) Sneak (Lv 22) Whistling (Lv 25) Singing (Lv 25) Drumming (Lv 25) Running (Lv 17) Acting (20) English (Lv 15) Spanish (Lv 15) Japanese (Lv 15) German (Lv 10) French (Lv 7) Dodge (Lv 11) Breath Control (Lv 10) Sight (Lv 15) Scent (Lv 15) Detect (Lv 15) Taste (Lv 15) Bussola (Lv 7) Draw (Lv 4) Climb (Lv 7) Calligraphy (Lv 5) Mathematics (Lv 10) Decoding (Lv 6) Lie (Lv 10) Knife Skills (Lv 5) Trading (Lv 12) Sailing (Lv 4)

Tier 2: Sense Mana (LV 37)Eavesdrop (LV 28) Memorisation (LV 22) Composition (Lv 22) Recall (Lv22) Pain tolerance (Lv 13) Piano (Lv 20) Violin (Lv 20) Trombone (Lv 20) Saxophone (Lv 20) Linguistics (Lv 16) Translation (Lv 16) Stealth (Lv 12) Quick reflexes (Lv 25) Haggling (Lv 5) Misdirection (Lv 5)

Tier 3: Echolocation (LV 26) Expel Mana (Lv 37)Absorb Mana (Lv 31) Mana Manipulation (Lv 27) Ignite (Lv 15) Freeze (Lv 10) Boil (Lv 11) Bargain (Lv 10) Gale (Lv 15) Deception (Lv 1) Melt (Lv 6)

Tier 4: Material Manipulation (Lv 11) Mana Drain (Lv 20) Parallel Processing (Lv 15)

Tier 5: Mind fortress (Lv 17)

Skill experience: 8400

Origin experience: 0

Combat experience: 0

Crafting experience: 1000

Trading experience: 1000

Popular experience: 1000

I only had 3 weeks 3 days left till I turned one, in this world at least. In my old one, I would have been 1 year and 3 months but that was then and this was now. I was well aware of the ridiculousness of my situation, stats and abilities. My family seemed to be so too by now. Hardly impressed at all according to the system regarding my base jumping.

The time indoors had allowed my father to start up his swimming lessons again. Now that I could float and paddle around I had fewer worries about drowning and was actually beginning to enjoy them. My skill level still was higher than my bodies facility to facilitate but I was looking forward to when I was finally big enough and able enough to make full use of my skill levels. I would be speeding through the water like a dolphin.

The blue cave was one of my favourite places to spend time when swimming and with Des and Sinis pumping water out of it for our ongoing salt production, it was also our source of wealth and in hopefully more than one way now.

The deepwater sea pearls that had been so highly prized and valued by the merchant were one of the products I hoped to cultivate.

Eating oysters was just one of the foods we ate and I had never really thought about them. It had never been my favourite dish but when I realised how valuable the pearls were it made me realise how valuable the oysters could be too.

It all began with a little game, one I knew I would win because I was cheating after all.

“That one,” I said pointing to 1 of the 100 odd oysters that father and I had pulled up out of the lagoon during an early morning diving trip. The lagoon was littered with oysters why there were so many I had no idea but seeing as generally there was only 1 pearl in 10,000 it was no wonder the pearls were worth so much and lucky the lagoon had so many of them.

My family had gathered around to watch my magic trick and I had just asked my mother to open up a specific oyster from the selection of oysters that father had caught and brought back. I had to go with him to make sure that this magic trick was going to work. With only 1 in 10,000 chance that there would be a pearl. I had gone with him and ensured that at least one of the oysters would have a pearl in it for the magic trick.

The key to the trick being, mana sense.

It turns out that Pearls are biological gemstones and prized for their ability to hold mana. Hence why even when underwater I am able to use sense mana to see which oysters are collecting and storing mana in a little gem within them. Ergo I made sure that one with a pearl in it was one of the ones father brought back.

“Kai you only have a one in a hundred chance of getting it right.” Aleera raised an eyebrow. You would have thought that she would have given up betting against me by now. But if there is one superpower older sisters all appear to have it is their ability to be completely unimpressed by whatever their younger siblings are capable of. Especially if it is being done in front of their parents.

“Yes, I’m sure.” I smiled.

Finally, mother prized open the oyster and hesitated a moment before pulling out a pearl.

“Yes!” I thought I knew I would be right but it is always better to actually see it with your own eyes to know that it is true. I had just discovered a new source of revenue to support our noble house. Hopefully, if a few of my other ideas panned out we would have enough wealth to buy the rest of the island when or if the merchant returned.

“I can’t believe you guessed correctly. Are you sure there are no more pearls in the other ones? He could just be being lucky.” Aleera was not quite ready to give up yet.

“He’s just sensing the mana within the oyster.” Grandfather popped my oversized head like a balloon full of pride bringing me back down to earth all within a minute of entering the house. “You would be able to do it too if you two practised a little more.” You could always rely on grandfather to keep you grounded or at least cut down to size.

“Is that why you never wanted for money when we needed some?” asked mother rather pointedly to grandfather. "And if you were able to do this so easily why wasn't my dowry larger?"

“Well . . .” Grandfather hesitated to answer perhaps realising he had let out one of his own secrets in the process of revealing the trick to my magic. Served him right in my not so humble opinion. “I just remembered I still have something to do before retiring,” he stated turning on his heel and leaving the room before he could become embroiled once more with my mother.

She may have been supportive of me jumping off the cliff but it seemed she would continue to be short with him for the foreseeable future and knowing my mother she would be holding it over his head till he or she died.

However, while sensing the pearls was important and necessary if we wanted to sweep up all the pearls available in the lagoon before the merchant arrived it was not what I was hoping to convince them of tonight. If I remembered correctly then you could cut off a piece of the pearl-producing oyster then by adding a piece of the shell along with the tissue into the 99 other oysters we had retrieved we would hopefully be able to start cultivating our own pearls. We would literally be able to grow our own money.

I just had to convince my mother to make some netting to hold any oysters my father dived for. Well, that and convince my family not to eat the oysters we had been catching at first sight. Still, that should not be a problem if we were going to rob all the pearls from the lagoon before the merchant returned as they would be able to eat the oyster meat from those oysters at least.

I was not completely sure of the process but I knew that by inserting a nucleus made of shell into the empty oyster then replacing them into the water it would grow a new pearl around the irritation.

My family were somewhat sceptical that this was going to work. But they couldn’t see what I could see and every day when we had our swimming lessons I would swim down to the nets stored at the bottom of the cave to sense what I could and I believe that with my Mana Sense I could see the nuclei within each oyster gradually getting larger and larger. Initially, I thought it was my imagination but after a month of growing, I am now sure. The first oyster we open won’t be huge but I just need one that has the layer of nacre forming correctly to convince my parents that it is worth putting the oysters back in the water at least once before eating them.

This was only one of the ideas that I was able to come up with while not going out due to the weather. The other idea I had and one that mother has quickly jumped on is buttons. Now I haven’t reinvented the wheel by any stretch of the imagination. People already had buttons here for however long that they have had clothes. What I did do though was remember that oyster shells can be used to create the mother of pearl buttons and jewellery.

I had already seen mother use the odd shiny shell in her work. However, having watched her create what appeared to be polished blue stone from the basalt when we were creating the salt flats with only her voice and mana. I had been correct in believing that she could achieve something similar with shells even ones that we would have previously thrown out. It had taken her a while to reduce her powerful whistles and hums that were capable of shaving stone to something that was able to polish shells but once I suggested the idea she had capitalised on it. Even going as far as getting Aleera, Des and Sinis to bring back the town’s waste shells when they sold our salt.

I on the other hand still had a control issue with my mana and was far more like to ignite, freeze or melt any shells I got my hands on. I wasn’t giving up yet. But it was intensely frustrating to watch from a distance as another shell exploded from my lack of control or overuse of mana when humming at them. While my mother on the other hand had turned it into a fine art where she could be working on dinner with hands while gently polishing the shells to a fine sheen with her voice once she had deshelled the food from within.

It was irritating to watch someone achieve so effortlessly what I was attempting to do. Although I was aware of the hypocrisy when so much else had come so easy to me. It was clear that Aleera found it fairly enjoyable watching my attempts at copying my mother. Particularly as she seemed to be able to achieve similar results albeit a lot slower. Still, her shells didn’t explode on her so I was still a little put out by the rewards of another idea of mine being hoarded by her.

Either way, it was all positive. Our family while never being rich had never wanted for anything in particular. However now we would be beginning to catch up to our wealthier cousins and uncles and if we could continue to come up with alternative streams of income we should hopefully start to have an impact on our local economy and put a bit of money in the bank so to speak, not that there appears to be a bank on the island.