Chương 6

I woke up with the memories of a dead man still in my head. Sunlight pierced the curtains, lighting a room that was intuitively familiar, yet utterly foreign at the same time. Vora had spent a whole childhood here, studying on that table, reading countless novels on this bed as his escape from reality. Yet, I was not Vora. This was not my bed, and waking up in it with all these memories of familiarity felt—in the best way I could put it—fucking weird. I sighed as I rose to sit.

My consciousness was still clearly mine. Vora was just there in the background, along with some emotions of shame. They weren't oppressive. If anything, it was extremely useful. I was just weirded out by the fact that I also knew Vora's personality. This would take some time getting used to. At least, I was glad that Vora wasn't actually alive as a conscious being. My head was fully mine; I just had his memories. The small clock on his nightstand pointed at nine thirty a. m.

Under the nightstand, having been slid under the doorframe, was an envelope. On it read, " To Vora, From Dad." Unsure what to expect, I opened it and began reading." Vora. If you're going to hunt for jobs, you have to dress professionally. Buy some nice clothes with this. If you're unsure about what to decide, you can't go wrong with Renala's trousers and a nice black coat." And if I see you've wasted everything on snacks, I'm banning you from reading novels until you move out."

Behind the letter was a stack of cash. I blinked in surprise. Wow. Thanks, dad. That thought came with honest appreciation. Trina and I hardly ever received anything like this at the orphanage.

The love of one's real dad was truly a special thing to experience. I counted the bills. The amount was five hundred Asterran crowns. Vora's thoughts glimmered with greed, but after comparing the prices of common items that Vora remembered, I deduced that I had around two hundred American dollars in buying power. Enough to buy something nice, but ultimately an insignificant amount compared to Dad's monthly wage. After getting dressed, I found that Mom and Dad had already left for work.

That meant I could cancel Core Concealment. Having it active was a constant, slow drain on mana. I hadn't recovered nearly as much mana as I'd wanted to overnight by having it active, just in case. The bathroom light was on, though.

"Vora!" Gina called from inside.

"Bring me my kohl pen!" That was makeup, I knew.

"Is it in your room?" I asked.

"Yes, hurry up!" A painting of a bunny on the door welcomed me to Gina's room, which was noticeably larger than Vora's. She had a tidy shelf, a nice fluffy carpet, and a made bed. Everything from the smell to the decorations were much nicer here. I found the kohl pen from a full bag of makeup on her desk.

"This one?" I said, bringing it to her. She took it with the frown of a person who hadn't expected that her request get completed. She kept applying makeup in a hurry.

"And close the door!" Alrighty, I thought, wondering if this was how Vora was always treated. The answer seemed to be yes. I was checking out which breakfast options were available in this world, when Gina burst out. She frowned at me and said, "Enjoy your life of unemployment." Then she left for school. Interesting, I thought. So Vora is treated as a complete loser. I couldn't say that was a surprise.

He got expelled due to his own inability to study, he only dressed in sweatpants, he walked with his head low, and he spoke with absolutely no volume in his voice. I could improve on all of those fast. As long as I didn't get caught for the crimes Vora had somehow found time for. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I prepared honey bread with greenberry jam, and upon the first bite, I immediately realized why Vora loved food so much.

Not only was the taste amazing, but his body also flooded me with much more dopamine than my old body. I'll need to avoid sweet foods, I decided. Focus on proteins. I cleaned my dishes, washed my face, and with that, I took my five hundred crowns to the outside world.

I had a lot I wanted to achieve today. The first goal actually matched with my dad's suggestion on what to use the money on. I needed better clothes. Vora's fashion sense was a self-inflicted dripping wound on his social life. The tight grey stringless sweatpants made his legs look like sticks. Combine that with a shirt that was also too tight, his worst features were highlighted with no benefits in return. I didn't need the trendiest expensive clothes to show off, but his clothes absolutely had to be improved.

Naturally, the budget restraint led me to a basement store called, " Tacy's Second-hand." An old lady greeted me in with a happy smile. The store was so cramped I couldn't even see if there were other customers through the rows of clothes of all colors packed tightly together in seemingly no order—as was the beauty of thrift stores. Most of everything on sale was old junk dumped from two trend switches ago. As always, by searching for long enough, every thrift store had their fair share of gold.

Today that came in the form of black off-brand pants, nice and loose, and a long, woolen coat. Both clothes were in awesome condition with hardly even minor scratches, sold for the astounding price of thirty crowns each. I added a belt for ten crowns and checked myself in the mirror. To say it was a massive improvement was an understatement. For seventy crowns, essentially twenty-five dollars, I'd turned Vora from a slouching, unconfident bullying target into a person I enjoyed looking at in the mirror.

By standing straight, Vora was conventionally tall, and well into the realm of attractive. The only thing left to do was gain some muscle before I'd be happy to present myself with full confidence. The quick shopping trip led nicely to my next destination. The library. Vora had access to the undisputed best library in Asterra—possibly the whole world—Saint Aster's Library.

It stood in the very heart of the city in a plaza surrounded by imposing government buildings, including the parliament's palace, a long stretched out palace of marble with plenty of sub-sections that included a tax house, a constable office, and many more things that Vora couldn't identify. Saint Aster's statue was proudly displayed in the middle, the founder of Asterra some five hundred years ago, before internal conflict broke it apart three years later, and New Asterra was formed.

As far as Vora knew, Aster was just a politic and ordinary dude, not a god. Interestingly, the Asterran government was unanimously supported. Citizens gladly paid taxes for the beautiful city they received in return. Asterra had been on the rise as a global city of innovators for ages now. They were the inventors of the mana pipe system, building them all over the world. The business still provided the largest chunk of their absolutely booming economy.

That income was what allowed Saint Aster's Library to be expanded into the largest library in the world. The size of it rivaled the palace itself, formed of two parts—the old stone building that had existed for centuries now, and the new expansion built of something called crystal limestone. A marble-like reflective texture that was almost bright to look at in the sun. I showed Vora's library card and headed inside. My god, was all I could think at the grand sight of its entrance hall.

The chandelier was larger than some apartments. A hardwood shelf full of books extended to the ceiling as decoration. The indoor balcony of the second floor looked absolutely royal, and I saw stairs to the third floor from here. And this is a public space? I thought. Any old joe could walk here as long as they had a library card, which could be obtained essentially by asking. Students in uniforms wrote papers on the public tables. Some folks just hung out and read books.

I also spotted plenty of tourists and people of different skin colors visiting the library. How lucky am I to transmigrate here and not some dark fantasy slum? Probably astronomically lucky. Even in this world, Vora knew he was privileged. Asterra was far from the most influential city of his world, nor the most militaristically powerful, but the living conditions here were insane in the best way possible. Now, where are the books I'm looking for, I thought, searching through Vora's memories.

He hadn't spent a lot of time there, but he had spotted the section in passing. I moved to the second floor, through what felt like an endless row of history books, biology books and mana books, weaving past some thriller books before making it to a section at the end, named Magic. My heart pulsed in anticipation. Finally, after ten years of trial and error, I wasn't alone anymore.

The shelves were brimming with hundreds of books with titles such as, " The Eons Of Magic – Theorybook by Richan Wiford", " Road To Mastery: From Apprentice to Archmage", " Guidebook of Magic for Beginners"," The Genius of Wizard Andromelas", " The Six Colors Of Casting", " List of Publicly Known Spell Patterns". Holy shit. It was all here. More books than I could dream of. Finally, I could learn how my ten years of inventions corresponded with real magic.