Chương 8: 1.1.08 - An Unlikely Bookworm

The summer heat pressed down through the canvas roof of the wagon I rode in, the sweat already beading across my back as the wool of my shirt stuck to my shoulder blades. Another thing I missed from my old life was probably air conditioning. This was only my second summer since coming to this world but I still had not gotten used to the heat yet. It was not unbearable but the conveniences of modern life had spoiled me. Maybe air conditioning should be something I had to make before I made my railgun.

The road out of the orphanage was called the Old Mill Road named after a saw mill that used to be here years ago. It would normally take Marta over an hour or more to take the trip down to Hollow's Reach if she went by foot. Old Garrick offered us a ride on his wagon back to town since he stopped by to deliver some supplies and also to pick up the latest batch of boar pelts Marta had prepared.

Even though the wagon ride would take us less time to reach the town, it was a lot more uncomfortable considering the condition of the road. It was uneven and full of potholes, though there were apparent track marks that sort of guided the wagon from the repeated travel of old Garrick's wagon over the years when he made deliveries to the orphanage. Every time the wagon went over a pothole, the bumpiness would knock me up and down, hurting my bottom.

I did see Garrick stop the wagon once to get down and cast a spell to even out one of the bigger potholes. One that large would probably cause the wagon to get stuck. I had nothing to do so I pulled on the Weave and opened up my status screen.

Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Orange Stage Level: 11 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 381/500 Core Mutations: - Lightning Brain Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 6 - Spark (Tier 1) - Level 10 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul - Nature's Constitution Click on spoiler if you can't read the blue window Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Orange Stage Level: 11 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 381/500 Core Mutations: - Lightning Brain Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 6 - Spark (Tier 1) - Level 10 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul - Nature's Constitution I definitely made decent progress but the contribution from hunting Red Cored beasts is negligible now.

Most of my levels came from leveling my spell. I hinted to Marta about my potential progress to test her reaction. I wanted to know if I was making good progress or was I slow relative to other people. Apparently I was considered fast as people took years to level their spells. It required constant practice to develop a deeper understanding of their spells before they could progress it.

I could not be sure whether it was due to my intimate understanding of electricity or my Perfect Lightning Affinity, but apparently I progressed a lot faster compared to the average person in this world. Even with faster progress, my Spark spell had been stuck at Level 10 for quite a while. I managed to hit level 10 half way through my boar hunts and it had not budged since then. I tried to push it harder but it did not work.

It seemed like this was some threshold that needed a qualitative change rather than just hard work. Another thing I did not have much luck with was gaining more Soul Mutations. I had come across two deer like beasts during the 12 weeks hunting period but absorbing their core did not give me anything new. It seemed like I really lucked out with that first boar. I dismissed the window and saw Garrick looking at me.

"First time seeing one of these beasts lad?" I must have looked like I was staring into space or looking at the beast that was pulling the wagon when I was checking out my status screen. Garrick probably would not suspect that a seven year old would have already awakened their core and had access to the Weave. I decided to play along as I could feel Marta giving me the side eye for not being more careful, "Yeah, I have never left the orphanage before this so I haven't really seen one before. What is it?"

I asked in mock wonder.

"It's a Stonehide Plodder, peaceful beasts mostly. We have some farms in the country that raise these beasts for their hides, which is what gives the beast its name" I could see bumps on its back that sort of resemble armour plating. It looked a little bit like a cross between rhinoceros, cow, and a pangolin from Earth.

"They mostly just graze on the grass in the open field so they are easy to raise. The hide makes for good leather as they can be enchanted easily with the standard Harden enchantment by Earth mages".

"They are also sometimes used to pull merchant wagons like old Betty here." Garrick added as he gave the beast a gentle pat on the back.

"She's been with me for more than ten years, I call her old but she's technically got a few more decades left in her. Might even outlive me. Bwahaha!" I could see smoke rising on the horizon as we got closer to Hollow's Reach.

"We should pass by the blacksmith areas south of the town first, that's where most of the smoke is coming from". I saw the black smoke rising from some of the columns, which would have triggered little Greta back in my old world if she saw this. I briefly wondered if climate change was a concern in this world, but guessed that either the abundance of magic made it a non-concern, or the lack of wide scale industrial progress meant that pollution was manageable.

"Where do you want me to drop you both?" old Garrick asked.

"Oh the blacksmith's row will do. We'll go say hi to Branwen before heading to the shops" Marta replied on both our behalf. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Sure thing, that's on the way anyway. You know where to find me" he said, followed by instructions to where he stayed in Hollow's Reach. The wagon pulled up right before a small bridge, beyond which I could see various blacksmithing workshops and hear the clanging sound of hammer hitting metal, mixed with the rhythmic sound of bellows pumping air into forges.

"This is where we part, the blacksmith rows are just beyond this bridge. I need to keep Betty by the wagon yard up ahead" his head tilted north to where I assumed the wagon yard was.

"Thank you, sir" I said as I got off the wagon, imitating how a grateful seven year old would normally speak.

"Hahaha, no trouble at all, I'll be off then""Let's go say hi to Branwen, then we can head into town proper to look for your books" Marta said as she signaled me to follow her. It did not take long to locate the smithy Branwen was working at, as Marta was familiar with the town and had visited her before. I could see her working on hammering a piece of metal on the anvil as sweat beaded down her forehead.

"Branwen! You're looking well." Marta called as we got closer.

"Marta! Ash! What brings the two of you here?" Branwen placed the hammer and metal down on the anvil before rushing up to the two of us. She gave Marta a hug before approaching me and tried to pull me into an embrace like she used to do.

"Urgh, get off me you stink!" I squirmed my way out of her hug.

"Hahaha, I miss you too little runt. Though you don't seem so little anymore" Branwen said as she patted my head. I had grown a lot since she had left the orphanage and she used to be able to lift me up by my armpits. I could see her well defined biceps from all the manual labour she had done since starting the apprenticeship. I used to only come up to her navel but was now just half a head shorter than her.

"Yes, thanks to you we've been able to keep up with feeding the children." Branwen's smile warmed at that remark. I could see that her frame was quite lean even though her muscles were toned. Compared to some of the other apprentices working in this district, she was smaller not just due to her gender, but partly due to her saving what she could for us.

"We came to tell you that you should keep what you earn for yourself, we've had some help from hunters passing by" Marta said while giving me a knowing look.

"Yes look at me, I'm so much taller and stronger now" I flexed my biceps while I beamed at her.

"The hunters might not keep giving you donations, we can't expect the sympathy of strangers to continue..." Marta held Branwen's hands in her own. I could see Marta feeling at Branwen's calluses on her fingers and palms.

"It's ok child, you need to live your own life too. We'll find ways to make it work."

"But..."

"Gal will be leaving too, and we haven't had anyone new join us. And the garden has been doing well as well" I quickly added.

"Don't worry, we'll let you know if we need your help again" I said knowing Branwen wanted to be able to help if needed. What I said still kept things open but at least she would stop sending us every copper she could spare. Marta looked at me and mouthed a thank you, knowing what I just did. Branwen put me in a head lock and started ruffling my hair "Since when did you suddenly talk so well eh? You used to always just say weird things that I didn't understand".

I could have escaped the head lock with my strength if I wanted to but I knew she was just distracting herself to hold back her tears. I could feel a soft sensation at the back of my head but I just kept reciting the Buddhist mantra not to have weird thoughts.

"Alright alright, we need to get going, Ash wanted to buy some books, that's why we're here today" Marta said to rescue me from Branwen's head lock.

"Oh wow, you have money for books, I guess the orphanage really must be doing alright then" Branwen let me go at last, and I could tell she looked more reassured of the situation at the orphanage.

"Not much, but I have no idea how much the books Ash wants will cost so we'll see what we can get" I had a whole twenty five small silvers with me, which was a small fortune considering that was normally the orphanage's entire year's stipend. We had more as we could not eat all the extra meat I had hunted and there was only so much we could smoke and dry into jerky. We had sold the excess to the butcher and some to the merchant.

I had insisted that Marta kept most of the proceeds from selling the meat so she could keep our pantries stocked but she had given me a few small silvers just to round the sum I had up to twenty five silvers. Branwen got back to her work as she said her good bye and reminded me to visit more often. As I left I could see her cast some sort of fire magic and infused it into the piece of metal she was working on.

She was probably using her fire magic to heat the metal instead of using the forge like some of the other blacksmiths. It took another fifteen minutes or so before we reached the only book store in Hollow's Reach. We were lucky a small town like ours even had a book store. Most of the established book stores were in the major cities or in the capital." Kessel's Books", I looked at the sign right before I stepped in. Marta went to greet the store owner, whose name was Hessa Kessel.

Apparently she was from a minor noble family, one of the younger sisters and was given a small sum to start her own business. I was looking through the book shelves to see what they had when Hessa came by to greet me "Ash is it? Marta here tells me you're looking to learn theory on magic before you even awakened your core. You definitely don't look like the reading type" she said as she eyed me up and down. My height and my build definitely did not match how a book worm would normally look.

"Oh hearing all about Gal's dream of being an adventurer got me really excited, I just want to be as prepared as I can be when I do awaken my core" I repeated my rehearsed excuse.

"Well if you're looking to start with the basics, I'll recommend two books. Fundamentals of Spellcraft and A Hunter's Field Guide to Magical Beasts" she said as she reached across to another shelf to pull out two books.

"Do you have anything on making magic items?" I asked innocently "I heard powerful adventurers all have magical items to assist them in their adventure""Hmm making magic items? Oh do you mean enchanting? Not something all adventurers dabble into as most just buy their gear. Enchanting is an entirely different discipline and often done by mages with rare affinities" Hessa said as she went to another shelf to pull out a third book.

"But I have a Principles of Enchanting (Fifth Edition) which talks about the theory. I have to warn you though, some enchantments are generic but most would require the right affinity to inscribe the runes. You might not get the right affinity to even enchant what you want so I wouldn't suggest spending too much time till you awaken your core" Hessa added as she passed the third one to me.

"How much would these cost?"

"Nine large silvers, or ninety small silvers. But since it is Marta I will give you a small discount. Let's say eighty five silvers shall we?" Hessa said. My face dropped when she mentioned the prices. Assuming each book costs the same, I did not even have enough to buy a single book. Apparently I did not have a very good poker face as Hessa could immediately guess the situation from the look I had.

"Hmmm, I do have some used books that some adventurers off loaded some years back." She went behind the counter and moved a few books around and pulled three older looking books. I could see the edges fraying and the pages having that brown stain that you got from old books.

"Here we go. Fundamentals of Spellcraft, Magical Beasts Compendium, and Enchanting Basics" she handed those to me instead.

"The first book is the same one everyone on Aethelgard uses, but the other two books are older versions that are no longer inscribed""If you don't mind older books and just want to get a head start on reading, these should serve your purpose. I can let these go for just two large silvers" I internally thanked whoever had decided to be petty enough to try and get a few silvers from used books as I would have never been able to afford the new books.

"I'll take them!" I quickly sorted out twenty small silvers from the pouch I had as Hessa just laughed.

"I'll pack them up for you" I was humming out loud the tune of Magic by B. o. B. on our walk back to the orphanage. Marta just gave me weird looks as she had probably never heard that tune before but didn't want to dampen my mood. I peeked at the first page of Fundamentals of Spellcraft while we walked, just the opening passage. It said spells were constructed using runes. I thought about Spark, which was more willed into existence than using runes. Was that the reason it was stuck all this while?

Author Note: This is the work of Josh Shoniix. This work of fiction will only be published on Royal Road and Space Battle for free. If you're reading this on another site or paid through Google Books, this work has been stolen.