4 Chapter 4: Weighing Possibilities

The day passed by quickly, so quickly even that Villin totally forgot to grab food. He had been reading book after book, finishing them all relatively quickly and well, he simply didn't forget the things he read. Even though the details weren't clear everything of importance was easily remembered.

It was only when he heard a voice that he looked up from the desk.

"Well Villin, what do you think you're doing exactly."

Villin froze before looking up. Silver had walked through the door and all the way up to the desk he was simply to immersed in his reading to notice her. Just as he was somewhat expecting to get scolded Silver spoke again.

"If you grab a book and don't like it then put it back, don't leave them all on the table!"

Hearing this Villin looked around him in somewhat of a daze and it was only then that he realized what he had been doing. There were at least twenty books laying on and around the desk, some of these had been finished while others had caught his attention and he was planning to read. He then replied with a wry smile.

"Sorry miss Silver, I'll clean up immediately!"

He didn't hesitate to apologize since he was in the wrong in this situation, in fact, he was already quite happy she didn't seem to mind he had been grabbing books to read other then the ones she gave him.

Once he got up he felt a tad of nausea, without realizing he had been sitting down for ten hours straight going through book after book. It was then that his stomach made an extremely loud growling sound.

Silver frowned as she questioned, "Don't tell me you haven't eaten yet Villin, it's already nearing nine!"

After saying this she resolutely walked toward the kitchen, opening the cupboard on the top left. When she did a box of cereal could be seen there together with some milk and a bowl.

"Breakfast? Villin, did you not eat anything the entire day?"

After the initial confusion, she immediately got worried as she told him.

"I know what happened is terrible and you are hurting but you have to eat. I haven't eaten yet myself so let's eat together alright?"

She inquired looking incredibly worried. Seeing her like this Villin didn't quite know what to say, the reason he hadn't eaten was that he was too immersed in the books, not because of his pseudo-parents' death. That being said he could hardly contest her now as that would make him seem rather heartless and so he simply nodded before following her to the table.

The meal was absolutely delicious, they ate a simple bowl of ravioli yet it tasted like heaven. He wasn't quite sure if this was because of how hungry he was or because of some sort of magic.

When they were almost finished eating Villin told Silver that he felt like he feared he would become dependant on the bed and if he could sleep on the couch. Hearing this Silver looked at him in surprise. In fact, she knew that the kid would probably get somewhat addicted to the bed for a while but that didn't have to be such a bad thing. There were magus' who enchant their clothes to have a similar effect even if it wasn't that strong. And even though she didn't wish this for Villin, letting him sleep there for a week wouldn't cause a big problem.

"Let's just switch beds instead, after all that bed you are talking about is normally mine." She said with a smile.

Villin nodded rather relieved he could settle this matter so easily. He wondered for a while if he should ask her questions about the things he read about that he didn't understand due to a lack of information but ended up not doing this. After all, it was extremely probable that he would find the answers tomorrow or the day after that.

"Miss Silver, do you mind if I continue reading the books in your study?" Villin asked hopefully.

"Sure, you can read them as long as you clean up right away once you are done with a certain book. I'd also rather have it if you didn't look at the Spell Blueprints. They are the metal books on the very right side of the study."

Hearing her consent Villin's face instantly brightened up. He nodded happily as he recalled the number of books in the library. If he were to do other things it was unlikely he could finish them all before school started.

His new bed was quite a bit smaller than the previous one. The room was also a bit shabbier but Villin didn't complain, after all, he had been sleeping in Silver's room for the last few nights.

Before sleeping he decided to do a regular workout routine. Right now his body is only nine years old so he didn't overdo it but he also knew it was good to start training young.

The next few days went by in a blur. He woke up, had breakfast, read books, had dinner, read more books, had supper, spent some time talking to Silver, do a workout routine, and go to bed.

That being said the number of things he earned was rather massive. Even though there weren't any books explaining how to cast magic, there were a bunch holding tips on how to increase the size of your 'web', how to keep it active, and how to know when a connection was safe. Even though most of these tips didn't make sense to him now, he still committed them to memory for when he would awaken magic himself.

Silver was shocked to see the speed at which Villin had been reading, when she asked him a question about a book he had read he always knew the answers as well. Every now and then a small mistake would be made where she would correct him. Yet even this was often because the book was very unclear on the matter.

Seeing how some of the info he got was interpreted wrongly, Villin kindly asked Silver if she would like to quiz him more often. She hesitated for a little bit trying to figure out if it would be considered teaching or not before agreeing.

When two weeks had passed Villin had a decision to make. If he went on reading as he had been for the following two weeks he might just be able to finish all the books in time; this was the original plan. The problem was he had just been reading some books on the subjects of enchantments, magic arrays, and pill-making. Just reading these books gave him some info on the subject but without actually practicing, he wouldn't be able to do any of them.

That being said even if he chose the latter he would only be able to try and make some progress with one of the disciplines. All three of the subjects needed magic to work, but there were ways to practice it even before you awakened your 'web'.

Pill making was certainly not an option as practicing this would cost a great amount of money, and even if Silver had been truly kind to him feeding him for the last weeks, asking her to buy him ingredients was most certainly out of the question.

Practicing magic arrays and enchantments didn't cost nearly as much, especially if it wasn't actually for making one. In the end, he decided to finish some of the more important books he still had his eyes on and then move on to practice enchanting!