What is a Game?

Chapter 12 - End of Summer and Getting Back

In the end, the rest of my summer was fast, new experiences in this life was more like re-learning what I knew in a new body.

Basically, I was right about Gymnastics. I now had classes every Summer, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They were teaching me things I'd not known about movement. Beginning classes were all about stretching and basic movement. Still, I got two skills -

Acrobatics - Level 6

Your ability to move, dodge and act with grace and fluidity quickly. This is the basis for many skills, from Ice-Skating to some Martial Arts. +0.6% effectiveness to Acrobatic based skills.

Gymnastics. - Level 9

The ability to perform complex aerial and ground-based maneuvers with anything from a string to a steel beam. +.9% movespeed over obstacles.

My mom also insisted I start taking a dance class every Tuesday/Thursday, which would be after Violin practice. Each class was 2 hours long, so I still had tons of free time, but I found something I enjoyed in the mindless slog of classes and reading / working around the house.

The girls in the Dance schools - some of them - were witches. Younger Witches, mostly, (9, 10 and 11 years old, since that's when this studio started accepting pupils) but a few were older than me (there's a trio of 15 year old witches in an advanced class.)

I was mostly with nine year-olds, a class of 12, of which there was one other Witch, 10 years old, named Cassandra. Me and the girl were fast friends, and worked together after class a number of days, at either my house or her Papa's house. Her papa was a muggle, and her Mum had died shortly after she was born. (Likely a residual curse from Voldemort's war.) but we had fun together, and quickly learned the beginner dances. I hoped to be in the intermediate dance-class next summer, and the advanced one the year after.

Dancing was fun!

Dance - Level 11

Your ability to dance any kind of dance. Higher levels affect even walking. +1.1% grace when walking and 11% when dancing.

The point of these was NOT the skill bonuses. It was very very much the friends, and to take my mind off of big serious stuff, like furthering my magic too rapidly and getting more attention from my father or mother than was due.

The bonuses are a decent side-benefit, I guess. After the month of classes, I'd seen some serious improvement on just my ability to jump, for example. Not so much as I did at the start of the classes, was I gaining anymore though. The foundation of the skill - that's what gave the best bonus.

The Stat-Gain, though, was intense, at first, as should be expected from new, exciting ways of breaking your body down. In the end though, all homework was done, new friends to fill the summertime made, and in my final classes for the summer, I aimed to impress.

I'll elaborate, I guess. From the top - my Violin final.

"Begin." My violin teacher began the piece we were working on, and I went with him. In perfect sync. This was a pretty complicated piece even for someone like me or his other students.

We were on Concerto Op.21 Hungarian - which is pretty complex. Higher intermediate, according to my teacher. One of the five he required before he would kick you up to advanced violin tutoring sessions.

We nailed it. My teacher was suitably impressed, and then asked me to play it again - without him playing with me.

So I nailed it again.