What am I?

Hitching a ride back to Kial was quite easy. It cost 1 Copper thaler to ride with an ordinary carriage that was carried by two tamed monsters.

The monsters looked like a lizard with the proportions of a horse and they were F-rank monsters that were raised from their days as cubs. They were endurable, had great stamina and their speed was also quite fast.

In less than 20 minutes, they reached Kial and the first thing Taylor did was to get his hands on a savory lunch.

It cost him a whole Copper thaler but it was extremely tasty and filling. Taylor found this one great food stall, where he received various dishes made out of fresh ingredients that invigorated his entire body and filled his stomach to the brim.

For most civilians, one Copper thaler was a lot. They would be able to feed their entire family for a whole day, but Taylor felt generous and he rewarded himself for the hard work he did.

This was necessary, especially since he didn't eat anything the whole day, even if it was only noon now. He had worked tirelessly and didn't even think about eating breakfast. His mind had been occupied with the thought of earning a small fortune, after all!

It was only noon, yet Taylor had earned more than the average breadwinner could earn in a month.

However, Taylor's expenses were bound to increase as well, especially when he would start searching for training scrolls to improve his Ancient Power.

He would take a while to find a proper training scroll because his Ancient Power was a bit different than others.

At first, he didn't sense anything special when he summoned flames with his will. This changed slowly after the repetitive use of his Ancient Power.

Taylor learned that his mind grew weaker when he used his flames too much. Inside the spiritual space where the first page of his mother's book was located, he felt similar.

His mind seemed to be deprived of its energy the longer he stayed in the spiritual space. The name spiritual space and the fact that his mind was deprived of its energy were the biggest reasons for him to label his energy 'spiritual power'.

Training it would be difficult but Taylor looked forward to it.

"What are you going now? Do you want to return to the Artisan house immediately, or do you have something else in mind…such as buying new clothes?" Eris asked, smiling lightly at Taylor as she stared straight through his burn marks.

Taylor's muscle-packed body could be seen through the burn marks, which was why Eris didn't feel like complaining. Unfortunately, she was not the only one who noticed the burn marks and what they revealed.

Eris was annoyed that Taylor attracted so much attention from other women. It should be forbidden for the dirty women to look at him!

"Clothes would be great, and a stronger backpack. This one will tear if I repeatedly use it to carry around heavy things," Taylor mumbled, not noticing the underlying tone Eris used when speaking to him.

When he finished eating, he walked through the streets of Kial, wearing the linen backpack that showed signs of having been worn out. Taylor used it only for a single day but it was already on the verge of tearing.

It could barely contain the 70 kilograms of Ufnir Iron ore and the mining pickaxe, which was why Taylor chose to buy a large backpack made out of monster hide.

Taylor knew that he couldn't be stingy with the backpack, which was why he ended up paying 36 Copper thaler. As for the new set of clothes, it cost him one Copper thaler.

These expenses were enough to decrease his small fortune to 100 Copper thaler, but Taylor was not dissatisfied with that.

Rather, it was the complete opposite, which was why he took a look inside one of the many merchant shops in Kial.

"Should I buy a dagger made of Ufnir Iron?" Taylor mumbled for a moment as he looked at the shabbily forged knives in front of him. An expression of utmost disgust formed on his face, which Eris noticed.

She began to smile at his reaction and had to control herself not to burst out laughing.

While looking at Taylor's expression, she noticed something that attracted her interest.

'His eyes are glowing?' She wondered slowly coming closer with her head to see if she was mistaken or not.

If the guards wouldn't be everywhere in Kial due to the incident that happened the day before, Eris would release her demonic aura to figure out why Taylor's eyes were glowing.

Taylor frowned deeply when he analyzed the Ufnir Iron daggers in front of him. He sighed deeply and felt sorry for the Ufnir Iron.

"Forget it… I won't waste my money on this shit," Taylor sneered before he turned around to take a look at something else, just to notice that Eris looked at him from up close.

Her face was right in front of him, startling the young man, who had been focused on something entirely different before.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked with a smug expression, forgetting about the disgust he had just felt toward the weapons.

"Do you feel tired after looking at the flaws of forged weapons, or rather equipment? If you do, is it similar when you use your flames too much?" Eris suddenly asked, ignoring Taylor's expression.

Taylor just grinned and he thought of an answer before he revealed his opinion with a slightly astonished expression.

"It's basically the same! I also felt the same when I was searching for the closest ore deposit inside the public mine…"

He realized that the spiritual power could also be applied to his eyes, which felt extremely weird.

"Just…what exactly is this spiritual power, and what else does it affect?" He mumbled in confusion.

Eris didn't say anything but she just smiled knowingly.

'It happens faster than I expected. Looks like the next days will be quite interesting,' Eris thought as she continued to observe Taylor.

He was trying to make sense of the situation but that was certainly not easy.

His awakening not only created the spiritual space with his mother's book sealed inside and the Fire he could manifest at will but looked like his awakening caused more changes.

It influenced his body drastically, allowing his physical strength to increase, his sense to be drawn in the direction of ore deposits, while his eyes were able to see the flaws in all the weapons he looked at.

"Just what am I?"

[Author Note: Please comment how you like/dislike the novel! I accept every type of criticism]