Chương 6: No Regression

Joe's fourth birthday approached quietly. Green Hollow did not celebrate ordinary birthdays. Most people knew roughly when a child had been born, usually by season, harvest or some memorable event, but there was little reason to mark the same date every year. Sixteen was different. Sixteen marked adulthood in Green Hollow and the surrounding region. Families might prepare better food, relatives visited when they could, and a young person was expected to begin carrying an adult's share of responsibility afterward.

Four meant nothing to anyone except Joe. At one, he had received Past Life Memory. At two, Perfect Health and Perfect Body. Three had produced nothing. That was not enough information to establish any pattern, but it was enough to make Joe pay attention when his fourth birthday approached. Nobody else noticed anything unusual about the day. Pam remembered that he had been born during Deepwinter and told him so while complaining about how cold that particular year had been.

Lily corrected her twice about exactly how much snow had fallen, which led Pam into a much longer story about a winter twenty years earlier. Joe's birthday disappeared somewhere in the argument. That was fine with him. He went to sleep normally that night, although he remained awake longer than usual. The house gradually became quiet around him. Mary fussed for a while before Lily finally settled her. Simon fell asleep quickly, tired from another day at the Talent Hall.

Mike and Joseph spoke near the hearth until their voices faded, while Pam continued moving around long after everyone else seemed ready for bed. Eventually even she stopped. The fire burned lower. Joe waited. Nothing happened. Minutes passed. He began wondering whether four would be the same as three. Then pale words appeared in the darkness. No Regression. Permanent Certificate. Joe became completely awake. He stared at the words until they faded. No explanation followed. That was becoming familiar.

Joe remained still beneath the blanket and considered the wording. No Regression. The first interpretation was obvious enough. Something he gained might no longer be lost. Knowledge perhaps. Skill. Physical improvement. The second phrase was stranger. Permanent Certificate. Certificate suggested recognition of something already achieved rather than simply remembering information. If that interpretation was correct, the talent might preserve genuine progress once he had properly acquired it. Joe did not know.

There was no point assigning abilities to the talent before he had evidence. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Fortunately, he already possessed something easy to observe. Simon's writing lessons. Over the following weeks, Joe paid closer attention whenever his brother practiced characters from the Talent Hall. Simon brought a small wooden board home most evenings and repeated whatever Mr. Hall had assigned that week. Sometimes he wrote carefully.

Other times he rushed because he wanted to finish before eating or going outside. Joe watched. One character meant mountain. Another meant river. A third was used for man. Joe learned the strokes as Simon practiced them. Nothing dramatic happened. There was no flash of light or floating message confirming that a character had been learned. He simply remembered it the next morning. That proved little. A week later, the characters were still clear.

Two weeks later, Joe could reproduce them without watching Simon first. That was more interesting. He continued. The difference became difficult to ignore over the following months. Simon forgot things. Not everything, and not constantly, but enough for the pattern to become obvious. A character he had practiced repeatedly might become uncertain after several weeks without use. Sometimes he remembered the meaning but misplaced a stroke.

Other times two similar characters blurred together until he checked them again. Joe did not experience the same decline. Once he had genuinely learned a character correctly, it remained as clear as when he first understood it. No Regression was not simply perfect memory. Joe could still misunderstand something. If Simon wrote a character incorrectly and Joe copied it without knowing better, Joe had not somehow acquired the correct version. He had merely copied a mistake.

Once the mistake was identified and Joe properly learned the correct character, however, the correct understanding remained. The talent did not certify errors as progress. It preserved what he had actually achieved. Joe tested the idea in other small ways. He practiced balancing along a fallen log behind the house. At first, he stepped off repeatedly. After enough attempts, he could cross the easier section without losing his footing. Several days passed without practice.

When he returned, the ability had not noticeably deteriorated. He tried simple knots he had watched Mike use around bundles of branches. Once Joe properly understood how a knot was formed and could tie it himself, he did not need to relearn it later. The pattern was held. No Regression did not make acquiring a skill effortless. That became clear quickly. Watching Simon perform one of the restricted Hall stances from a distance did not give Joe the ability to perform it.

He could remember the general shape, but there were details he did not understand: weight distribution, breathing, tension, timing and whatever else Simon had been taught inside the Hall. There was nothing there for No Regression to preserve because Joe had never genuinely learned the method. The same was true of writing. Seeing a complicated character once did not mean he understood it. But once he understood it properly and could reproduce it correctly, the progress remained.

Joe found the distinction increasingly useful. Most learning involves more than acquiring new information. People spent enormous amounts of time maintaining what they had already learned. A person studied, improved, stopped practicing for a while and gradually lost part of that improvement. When they returned, some of the previous effort had to be spent simply reaching the same point again. Joe apparently did not suffer that loss. He still needed practice to improve.

He simply did not need practice merely to avoid becoming worse. The difference looked small from one day to the next. Over years, it could become enormous. Joe understood that kind of accumulation very well. His previous life had involved enough spreadsheets to make compounding effects familiar. The talent also changed how he thought about learning. There was less reason to rush. Anything genuinely acquired would remain available later.

Ten properly learned characters today will still be ten properly learned characters months from now. A useful physical habit developed at four would not disappear simply because something else occupied his attention at five. That allowed Joe to build slowly. Simon became the most convenient source. Every few evenings, he returned from the Hall with new characters, numbers or pieces of information. Joe listened while Simon practiced and absorbed what he could. Simon did not initially notice.

Then one evening he erased a character and rewrote it incorrectly. Joe watched for several seconds.

"The middle stroke goes the other way." Simon stopped. He looked at the board. Then at Joe.

"No, it doesn't."

"You wrote it the other way yesterday."

"I know what I wrote." Joe said nothing. Simon stared at the character again, uncertainty appearing despite himself. Finally, he erased the middle and reversed the stroke. The result matched what Joe remembered. Simon became quiet.

"How do you remember that?"

"You practiced it yesterday."

"I practiced ten characters yesterday."

"So did I." Simon frowned.

"You weren't practicing."

"I was watching."

"That's not the same thing." Joe shrugged. Simon looked at him for another moment before returning to the board. A few minutes later, he quietly moved the board where Joe could see it more clearly. Joe pretended not to notice. From then on, Simon became slightly less annoyed when his younger brother watched him study. Not openly pleased. Simon was still Simon. But he no longer turned the board away. For Joe, that was enough.

No Regression did not give him knowledge he had never earned, and it did not replace instruction, understanding or effort. It did something quieter. Whatever genuine progress he made became permanent. At four years old, Joe had no idea how far that principle might eventually extend. For now, the immediate use was simple. He would keep learning. There was no rush. That was the point. Tomorrow, he could continue exactly where he stopped today.