9 The Gift of Glib

Mark knew it wouldn't be as easy as Silver seemed to think it would be. Sure, Eisen was with out a doubt more important to the universe if not humans themselves. Killing the Gins wouldn't even be a side note in the foot note of history if it meant Eisen could grow up healthy both physically and mentally. However, as much as it pissed him off, the Gins were his roots, were Eisen's roots.

He thought about it long and hard. And thought about it some more. Eventually he decided to give his father Andrew a call. Even if Andrew didn't have the final say in the matter, he would be able to give Mark a better idea about how to proceed. With or without the Gins.

*ring, ring, ring*… click

The video call went through, his father's face appeared on hologram sitting behind the desk that seemed to stretch to the heavens. Family stories had the desk existing since the first Gin, passed down patriarch to patriarch, until present day. Mark had less than a handful of memories of his father not sitting behind the desk. Even when Mark spent his formative years with his father learning everything he needed to know to be a prestigious prince from the Gins; his father taught him from behind the desk. It didn't bother Mark as much as a normal person might believe. He understood from a young age that his life and his father's life was more about the Gins than themselves. There was no room for selfishness when it came to this. In fact the only time Mark had abandoned his family was when it came to his wife and love Lydia.

"What do you want, finally come to your good senses and decided to get rid of that wretch and her bastard child? It's too late, the elders have already decided. My hands are tied in the matter, it would take entirely too much effort to get you reinstated, especially when you chose to be bull headed about the Cliftons and Lydia. Your actions almost destroyed all our efforts in the past decade. I hope she was worth it." Andrew Gin was unquestionably angry, and from his and the Gins perspectives he had every right. To a certain extent Mark too agreed, but he would never change his mind.

"Hello, Father, we need to meet. In private and soon. It is the Gins best interests and that is all I can say on the matter over the phone. If you want the Gins to excel in a way they have never managed in the past few centuries you will stop by for lunch around 2."

*his, his, click*

Mark ended the call, he was still a member of the Gins however, that didn't mean he wasn't angry as well. And, at this point he could honestly do with or without them. He was simply extending an olive branch to clear his guilty conscious. He too thought he had wronged the Gins with his choice; but it would never change. 'Might as well move on with our lives if he is so stubborn after this' Mark thought to himself. This olive branch was the last thing he owed the Gins.

'Good God what a great sleep!' Eisen stretched in a way only babies could, while looking both amusing and adorable at his complete lack of ability to do so in a meaningful way.

*Ding: Mission Accomplished, Grade B, High Award .04 Str, .04 Spd*

[Str .06]

[Spd .052]

[Int 3.15]

*Mos congratulates, Eisen. Hopes Eisen will continue to work hard.*

'Why is the reward so high? It seems a bit much, not that I'm complaining.'

*Drinking Mother's milk, then resting immediately resulted in a multiplicitive affect. Mos warns, in the future it will not be as easy. Currently it is only this easy because you already have such low stats. To put it in stupid speak, 1+1 is a 100% increase, however 5+1 is only a 20% increase. The rewards are not the same. Eisen should work to become better faster, to unlock better functions of system.*

'Fuck you too Mos, just because you sound stupid doesn't mean you have to act stupid too. You're basically a parasite, you need me to survive. You should treat me with some respect or I'll never upgrade you, EVER!'

*Eisen is just proving how stupid he is, if Eisen wishes to throw away a system that aims to make you a God because Eisen is too lazy to upgrade the communication function of the system. Well, Mos guesses you'd be too stupid for Mos to bother explaining why and how that is stupid.*

'... … screw you!'

*Forced Mission Established: Gain 5% efficiency in utilizing vocal cords in the next 4hrs. Rewards Upgrade 2.5% Communication Skill buff to 5% Language Skills Buff, 3 Int, Failure, Removal of Communication Buff, - 3 Int. Good Luck.*

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry, shit, this is not fair. Take it back!'

*Mission starting …3, 2, 1, BEGIN*

'How's it feel knowing your mom screwed a brick and you're the unwanted outcome Mos!?'

*Time Remaining: 3hr 55min*

'God damnit, I'm sorry ok. Just take it back.'

*Mos suggests Eisen quit wasting time.*

'Alright, well guess I'll suck it up for now. To be honest I guess I was a bit of a prick, but who the hell wants to go from grown ass adult, to baby with incontinence?'

*Nobody asked Mos if Mos wanted to be in a whiny bitch either*

'Fair enough, truce? I'll try to stop being ungrateful'

*Mos will consider it, if Eisen fails the mission Eisen will become a true idiot. Mos suggests starting soon.*

'Alright, alright… sigh… well let's see the language is basically the same. So I already know how to read, and all the sounds, I just have to figure out how to move this mouth right. It honestly isn't that difficult, I probably could've figured it out in a few days without even trying. Let's start with what I know, guttural sounds. *Wahhh* Good, that's W, a, and h. *Wa, Wa, Wa, a, a, a, h, h, h* This isn't too hard, next. Rawr, R, R, R, aw, aw, r, r, r.' b, b, b, t, t, t,'

Eisen realized he knew a lot more about how to talk and how to connect sounds than he had thought. He knew he couldn't teach anyone else with this screwed up out of sync method that was in a completely different hemisphere, but it worked to get him used to his mouth and vocal cords. He was constantly getting updates from Mos while utilizing everything he knew about speech to get his enunciation correct. *She sells, sea shells, down by the sea shore. Surely, she get's sea shells from the sea shore, so the sea shells she sells are surely sea shells from the sea shore.*

For the first time in this life he was actually having fun learning and bettering himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had appreciated this feeling of effort and gain.

*Mission time remaining: 0 seconds,*

"Whew, I wonder how I did, the last reminder I heard was at 86%. I most definitely got some good rewards this time. Maybe I should try to be nicer to Mos. We're both in this together after all.'

*Ding: Mission Accomplished 99% efficiency in utilizing vocal cords, Grade S, Rebirthed Award, 20 ascension points, 9 Int, +50% Increase in future language skill speed.*

*Congratulations, Skill Gained: Language Savant*

[Language Savant: Learn all languages at 50% faster rate than Int stat allows. Able to extrapolate many words from 1 known word. With only a handful of original words and a modicum of effort user is able to learn entire languages.]

[Str .06]

[Spd .052]

[Int 12.15]

'Hey Mos, I know your goal is to make me a God or something, but don't you think this is a little to ridiculous?'

*It is not up to Mos, if you think back to earlier. I told you that you that you'd get different amounts of rewards based on how much effort you put in. Previously you could had tripled the requirements, this time you almost multiplied it by 20. The system has it's rules. Just remember that it will not always be this easy. At least until you have unlocked Ascension, and Rebirth functions. If you can learn to speak in 4hrs with the knowledge you posses now, could you learn 2 languages in 4 hours? After ascension your body would basically reset while your knowledge would remain. Reteaching yourself at that point would result in more gains for the same effort. But, this is the limit you are allowed to access at the moment. Until you unlock functions related to the core system, I suggest learning as much as you can, and accomplishing missions as often as possible to accrue points for upgrades.*

'Mos, when did you become less stupid and long winded? I'm not sure it's a good thing.'

*I told you A.I. you get smarter I get smarter. It doesn't take a genius to figure out. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Do you believe I'll activate another mission if you whine again?*

'Shit, I'm sorry. I just wanted to know. It's been Mos this Mos that the past three days. It's an improvement, but it'll take a minute to get used to. Now that I'm thinking… I'm kind of hungry.'

'...'

"Mother!"

Mark, Lydia, and Silver all snapped their heads in the same direction from different locations in the house at the same time. Unsurprisingly, they all had the same knee jerk reaction. "What the hell!" They each raced towards Eisen at their fastest individual speeds, with Lydia reaching Eisen first even though she was the slowest. "Who's in here! It's not funny, show yourselves."

"Mother, there is no one here. Except us." As Eisen finished his first full sentence in this world his father and Silver burst into the room at the same time, nearly tearing the door frame out while they were at it.

Mark looked at Silver in stupefaction! "What have you done!" If Mark wasn't 100% sure that he couldn't even hit Silver let alone kill him, he would have tried at that moment.

"I did nothing to Eis…"

"Enough! I'm hungry, feed me please."

Lydia just acted on instinct, picking Eisen up and sitting down in a rocker to feed Eisen. Silver and Mark both were at a loss for words. Silver had warned that Eisen could probably understand them, but even he didn't really believe it. He was sure it would take at least a week to talk and month to walk. Even though he had told Mark one week, he hadn't believed it.

Mark looked at Silver "You truly weren't lying? He's reincarnated or something?"

Silver wasn't sure how to answer that question, he didn't believe it himself after all. He was simply hedging his bets. He knew those people existed. But, they always knew when they were going to be reincarnating, and were usually there to welcome their brothers and sisters into the world. But, no one had been there, or even known about Eisen. And, no one had told the Private Government about Eisen either. It was simply a random occurrence that Silver had truly found Eisen. It was a contingency plan that had never born fruit until now.

"This is fantastic, with this even if we can't tell my father about Eisen being reincarnated he'll have to take a step back and put full effort into suppressing the elders to stop all attempts at assassination! Eisen can live a fairly normal life!"

Lydia wasn't positive her father in law would see it that way, but she knew what Mark had given up to be with her. If she could give him something back and help mend the bridge with her husband's family she would do whatever it took. Even if Eisen had to take Mark's place. "Are you almost full, we need to get you ready to meet your grandfather. He's a complicated man from a complicated family. But, if you can earn his love your life will be a lot smoother." Lydia felt silly explaining to a 3 day old infant about things that most adults would have trouble coming to accept. But, she truly wanted the best for Eisen and knew if they could mend bridges it could only help Eisen in the long run.

"Yes, mother. I'm almost full and will try my best to make a good impression on grandfather." Eisen had a general idea of the situation, however he also knew he didn't have the specifics, but if he played his cards right… he would know everything before the old man even knew what hit him. "Father, don't tell grandfather I can speak just yet. It will be a good leveraging tool in the negotiations. Mother let's get changed please, I hate red, and stripes. Maybe dark blue? And absolutely no onesies! I refuse to wear them." Lydia laughed out loud at that statement, and statement it was. A 3 day old baby with a fashion sense, how amusing. 'Apparently a mother's love covers a lot' she thought to herself as she felt her world sliding out of control. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. No terrible two's and sleepless nights from a distressed infant didn't sound too bad. It seemed it was all the positives and few negatives from her perspective.

She knew that it would be a different story if he had raised Eisen for a few years and then he just exploded with growth, but the truth was he was still new to her and adjusting to his intelligence wasn't as hard as it might have been otherwise.

While she was busy trying to find something Eisen didn't object to Mark wondered in, she knew what he was there for. "We have to give them something to work with." He lamented, he wasn't sure if it was a betrayal to Eisen, or an opportunity; only time would tell.

"I know, just do what you think is best. There's only so many ways to resolve our differences if we want to continue forward." She was very opaque with her answer, it gave an entirely new meaning to subverting a child's intelligence, when the child was almost as intelligent as the average adult. Useless in the long run it may be, she still wanted to hide it from Eisen as long as possible in order to give Mark the final say. She believed Eisen would cooperate in his own way. If he was a literal 'old soul' in a infant, he had already shown his allegiance by acknowledging Mark and her as Mother and Father. He may have conditions, but he believed they had his best interests at heart; otherwise he would've told Silver to take him away.

*knock, knock*

"Shit, he's early. Are we all ready?" Mark was freaking out, ignoring his one act of disobedience he had always acted with the Gin family at heart. He still loved his parents, and couldn't bare to see them disappointed. He had and would continue to bare the weight of his actions for Eisen and Lydia, but he couldn't lie and say he didn't wish to set things right.

Lydia calmed her husband down while guiding Mark to the door, "We are ready, deep breaths. Everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Just relax and be as honest as you can. Opinionated he may be, your father is a rational man. He will see what is best and meet us half way."

"Hello Father, please come in."

"This had better not be a waste of my time. My patience for your disobedience has drawn near it's end. If you can't behave appropriately my hands will be tied, and the elders will continue with their purge mentality. As the ex-heir apparent you should understand the balancing of Patriarch and Elders. Even I can't unanimously veto their actions without appropriate cause. Even my own son and wife are subject to their decisions." Andrew has a hard man, but he tried his best to be fair. Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered showing up to give his son a chance at turning the situation around. Seeing Eisen in Lydia's arms his pupils constricted to pin points. "I see your obstinacy has continued, I hope for your sake that this information is worth it."

Mark explained as much as he could about Eisen without expounding upon his reincarnation, and ability to speak while Silver kept an eye on them from a dark corner. Andrew had noticed him when entering the study, but he assumed he was just a hired hand, or gun more like it.

"What kind of hogwash is this? You expect me to believe this child has unlimited potential and other skills that even you can't explain for fear of death, and what? I should just believe that?" Silver interrupted, "You should believe that, and if you're smart you'll get rid of the self righteous attitude. Ultimately it'll be up to Eisen if he agrees or not. He may not be able to participate in this negotiation currently but he will soon. And a week or two isn't long enough for him to forget your attitude. It will be a major loss for your family if he chooses to refuse participation." Mixing lie with honesty he pointed as close to the truth as he could, Silver absolutely did not want to infuriate Eisen, and he knew about his plan to derail his grandfather while going along with his parents will. He may not have explicitly spoken of it, but it didn't take Silver much to put two and two together, considering his age and what he knew of old sly bastards.

"And who the hell are you, a body guard or even less a hired hand to speak to me, let alone condemn my behavior!" "You have misunderstood an important part here. I am not just a body guard, I am a body guard under the employ of the Private Government, so when I say you should shut up and take it, that is exactly what a smart man would do!" Even the rather disassociated Silver had gotten a little impatient with Andrew's high handedness in the situation.

'Private Government?!' Andrew's thoughts were whirling miles a minute. He really didn't want to come down hard on his son, but he knew the elders wouldn't let things lie as they were. And right now he didn't have enough information or incentive to interfere. "Let's pretend for a moment that all this is true. You know your biggest crime Mark, even if Eisen is everything you claim what do I have to go back and negotiate with the elders with? Hopes! Dreams! You know the Clifton girl has already dead, it is too late! There is nothing you can offer!" This was Andrew's biggest shame. Amongst the biggest families in control a united front was necessary or they would behave like sharks in bloody waters. They were all friends right up until they weren't. The Gins and Cliftons were two of the top families. However Mark had abandoned the arranged marriage between the two families and ran off with Lydia. A smooth and amicable relationship between the two families had almost been destroyed in an instant. If it were not for the head elder's daughter stepping up and marrying into the Clifton family it would have been war between the two. Even still the Gins had to pay quite a bit to soothe the pride of the Cliftons.