A Hunt.

The next day.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Lucian's sword rattles with every blow as Harald easily deflects each of his strikes.

'I can't even land a single hit. This is insane.'

"Woosh!"

"Woosh!"

Lucian's blade arcs through the air as his target easily sidesteps his swings.

'Now he's just showing off.'

Harald and Lucian have been sparring for the past hour. Not a single blow has come even close to touching the Marquis.

Lucian is sweating profusely. On the other hand, Harald looks like he's taking a casual stroll. Not a single drop of sweat. His breathing regular and controlled.

"Thud!"

Lucian performs an aggressive overhand to no avail. His rage gets the better of him. His strike is too powerful for him to properly control.

"Alright!"

"That's enough."

"You're letting your emotions control your actions. We will start again tomorrow, same time. Try to think about ways to coordinate your attacks in a strategic pattern. It's all movement with no forethought."

Harald sheathes his sword and begins to walk towards the keep.

"Wait!" Lucian shouts.

"Yes?"

"I've been focusing on honing my swordsmanship. But I'm missing a lot of information about the world. Do you think it would be possible for me to borrow some books to read?"

"Oh, yes. I seem to have neglected to have you train your mind as well." Harald apologizes.

"I'll have Baldwin drop off some books later."

Harald waves and continues to walk off.

...

Lucian continues training himself for the next few hours. Doing various callisthenic exercises and plyometrics by holding his sword out in front of him.

His muscles straining to failure, he stops training and heads in for lunch.

...

Lucian enters his quarters with a plate of hot stew. A stack of a dozen or so books towers high on his desk.

'Nice. This should give me a pretty big boost to my Intelligence. We only had children's books and basic guides back home. Judging by the Marquis wealth, these should be pretty high-level reads.'

"Now, what do we have here?" He whispers to himself.

Separating each book on his desk. In total, there are 13. They are now organized into three categories. Beasts, History, and Legends.

'I wonder what I should start with. Something about beasts catches my eye. I think Demons are a class of beast, so it might pay off learning more about what I may become.'

Lucian picks up a peculiar-looking book. It's made of some kind of black hide, course to the touch.

"The Beast Encyclopedia." He mutters.

'This is perfect. With my "Diligent Learner" title, I should breeze through this and know how every beast functions. I'm guessing that killing beasts will give me some sort of boost to my stats, considering the difficulty.'

Opening the book, Lucian is surprised to see that the encyclopedia includes everything a google search would consist of. Height, weight, location, and rating.

'Rating?'

Lucian flips through the pages, getting a sense of what it means.

'So the more menacing a beast looks, the higher its rating is. So it must be a gauge of how dangerous they are.'

'The lowest class of beasts is F, and that's basically a magical rabbit. While there are some SSS class beasts here that have barely any information. It just says, "Too dangerous to observe. Run, on sight." That sounds pretty ominous.'

'I probably won't be hunting higher-level beasts for a long time. I bet even Harald can't kill one, and I can't even touch him when we spar.'

'Ding!'

'New Quest "First Hunt" has been added.'

Kill E Class Beast: 0/1

Reward: 5 Stat Points

(Difficulty Modifier: Chance of loot drop)

'An answer to my prayers. Ooh, what's this? A loot drop?'

'This sounds like it's gonna be fun.'

The door opens abruptly.

Isla enters the room with a smug look on her face.

"You pick the perfect times to interrupt me, don't you?" Lucian scoffs.

"Only for you, hun!" Isla replies with a wink.

"I love that our lessons are now at night. A girl needs her beauty sleep."

"You definitely need a lot of that."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm one of the most sought-after maidens in Aesludor!"

"Men drop to their knees before me and profess their love in droves every time I go to the capital."

"Why don't you start doing some of that for your lovely teacher. Huh?" Isla says with arrogance.

Lucian chuckles.

"In your dreams. "Hun."

"Hmph!" Isla moans in annoyance.

"You better give me some damn good bowing to make up for that!"

...

Their lesson progresses as Lucian practices proper court etiquette such as Walking, Posture, and Bowing.

...

Lucian strides forward at a brisk and calculated pace. His back, straight as an arrow and chin, held high.

He gives Isla one last bow.

"Wow!"

"That was perfect."

'Ding!'

'Charisma has increased by 2.'

"I guess I'm finally getting the hang of it." Lucian humbly replies.

'Today is a good day for my system. Once I figure out all the nuances. Nothing will stop me.'

...