The next several months were peaceful. The herd of migratory towns continued to wander through the frozen jungle, one day at a time. Felix started to practice his wood carving techniques. The town mostly relied on iron weapons and magic, but there were still a good number of warriors who relied on bows. Thus, the four of us had assumed that Felix would start by creating some bows as practice, once we figured out how craftsmen got access to 'practice materials.'

That turned out to be incorrect. Unlike the combat-related sparks of the town, crafting sparks relied upon a mixture of things to grow. They needed time, patience, and practice, just like a combat spark - but unlike a combat spark, they also needed external materials to use as practice. Thus, while Sallia, Anise and I were basically told to go practice on our own, with occasional tips and tricks from the more experienced warriors of the town, Felix actually got a full-on teacher to walk him through every step of the process. Felix's teacher didn't let him start on bow production - after all, bows were delicate, and could get someone killed if they broke at the wrong time or weren't made properly. Instead, Felix started out by carving a few wooden tools such as spoons and mugs - after all, those weren't vital resources. If a spoon broke at the wrong time, the worst that would typically happen would be that someone would lose a spoon of hot soup and get mildly annoyed. Felix's teacher expressed great admiration for how quickly Felix picked up wood carving, and quickly started moving Felix to more complicated tasks - such as carving furniture, repairing broken training weapons, and a whole host of other things.

Felix sounded more than slightly frustrated by the restrictions on his growth speed - but his teacher seemed impressed with his growth rate. Based on a few conversations Felix had overheard, he might be able to get into bow production and weapon handle production within a few months if his teacher continued to be impressed with him.

Anise and I also found some time to 'befriend' each other after meeting for the first time, and soon the two of us were as inseparable as glue. I was glad that I could at least meet one of my friends on a regular basis again, but I wished Sallia and Felix also lived on the same wandering town as Anise and I. The fact that they were part of the same herd of beasts, but I could almost never see them in person, was deeply frustrating.

Anise and I also used our real-life meetings to spar, which proved rather helpful for comparing the intricacies of fire and ice magic in this world. Neither of us had advanced very far into this world's System or magic yet, but it was still interesting to see how even at very low levels, there were subtle differences in each spark. Ice magic was incredibly mana-efficient, since I typically manipulated ice instead of creating it from scratch. After all, we were wandering through a frozen jungle, and snow storms were frequent - there wasn't exactly a shortage of frozen water in my surroundings. By contrast, Anise had to spend more mana doing most things, but unlike me, she could also drive away some of the cold in our surroundings - while her fire magic couldn't drive away the conceptual side of the cold in this world, it could still weaken it, and it could perfectly handle the physical side of the cold.

Another five months passed by, before something new happened. I gained two more levels, and got my first Feat. That was when I finally saw the last component of this world's local System with my own eyes.

Level 10 Feat Choice (Pick 1)

Above your Weight Class:

You have Slain a creature with at least two more sparks than you.

When you successfully kill a monster that is more powerful than you, enhance your Skill(s) and level by a much, much higher amount, based on the difference in spark quantity.

You may steal small amounts of 'insight' into your skills whenever you kill any monster, with the amount of insight stolen increasing based on how similar the monster's skills are to your own skills and the higher the monster's mastery level.

Relentless Training:

You have trained near relentlessly since the day you acquired your spark.

The level growth from training your Skill(s) and adhering to the core of your spark are enhanced by a moderate amount.

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Strange Magic:

You have killed a creature with a magic system not native to this world.

Enhance the energy storage capacity of the strange magic in your body by a significant amount.

(Market System Translation: expected to increase alteration and absorption essence by the equivalent of half a grade each.)

Hidden:

You have struck from the shadows, without another soul save your victim ever being aware of your presence.

When you use any magic attack upon a creature unaware of your presence, your damage is amplified by a massive amount.

The Fastest Path:

While only possessing one spark, you have slain a creature in order to enhance your own growth speed and empower yourself.

The spark growth and skill growth from enacting violence upon another living creature is significantly enhanced.

Every single 'feat' wasn't just an enhancement to my abilities or growth potential - it was also a reflection of the actions I had taken to get to this point. Clearly, 'feats' weren't just a localized version of the 'abilities' from the Market. Instead, it seemed that feats in this world were a bit more unique. They were reflections of the actions I had taken to get to this point - and decisions about how I would grow in the future.

<Guys, I got my first feat!> I said, a few moments later.

<Oh? What do Feats look like? What did you get?> asked Anise.

I shared the five options I had gotten, and my friends fell silent.

<So this is how feats work,> said Felix. <I wonder if the feats are tied to your level as well. The feats you have are mostly used to boost growth speed, which fits the needs of a typical level 10 pretty well, but would be far less useful at, say, level 70 or 80, where your growth speed has already plummeted off a cliff. There are also several feats that specifically mention how many sparks you have and how many sparks the monster you killed had.>

<So the exact same actions might be worth less or give different rewards as we get a higher and higher spark count,> said Sallia. <That's a bit annoying, because it makes things a lot less predictable. It also makes me a bit hesitant to level up. I kind of want to see what benefits I can squeeze out of the local System if I do something awesome before reaching level 10, if it has a chance of getting me a better feat. I guess I shouldn't stall too long, though - I need to boost myself to a point where I can start earning more Achievement, and that requires being a higher level.>

<The real question is which one to take,> said Felix. <Based on how many levels you got from killing a monster, monster-slaying is FAR more reliable as a long-term source of levels. Training and gradual improvement don't seem to be favored in this world. We're also going to be fighting a lot of monsters once we leave this town, even if that day is still a decade or so away. So I think that {Relentless Training} isn't a good choice.>

<I think {Hidden} has potential,> said Sallia. <It pairs really well with extinguish to deliver one powerful, devastating extinguish. But I don't actually favor picking it. On the off-hand chance that we get the option to keep feats or parts of feats after this life, this one doesn't synergize very well with your role in the group. It enhances the raw power of extinguish, but… to put it bluntly, the strongest aspect of extinguish is its ability to weaken and diminish life force. You usually use this as a sort of curse type ability that drastically weakens enemies while we're fighting them. Its actual damage is secondary, because you can struggle to kill monsters of comparable strength anyway. I suspect {Hidden} might not enhance the weakening ability that Extinguish has attached to it, though I could be misunderstanding how Feats and our abilities from the Market interact with each other.>

<Strange Magic doesn't synergize well with this world's levelling system, either,> said Anise. <Since all skills and stat points you get will never be able to boost your alteration and absorption essence related abilities, being able to invest ONLY your alteration and absorption essence quantity seems unlikely to pay off, long-term. You'll just end up with a half-baked build.>

<So the choice is between {The Fastest Path} and {Above your Weight Class}?> I said. I nodded. <I think I like {Above your weight Class} more. It helps me boost skills, and we already know that skills are very likely to come back with us to the Market, if we pay enough Achievement. They're basically the same thing as the Skills we've encountered in other worlds. While {Ice Magic} is a bit of an odd addition to my tool kit, it might be worth keeping - and I might get something better next time I acquire a Spark. Having an easy way to enhance my Skills seems like a great idea, both for my potential within this world, and what I can take back to the Market with me.>

<Your reasoning seems sound to me,> said Felix.

With the assent of my friends, I made my choice, and picked {Above your Weight Class}. One of us had finally seen how Feats worked in this world. Now it was just a matter of relentless growth and training.

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