Chapter 7 – Abilities
2 years passed.
...
Adam had spent the last two years absorbing knowledge like a sponge.
His mother Yuki had showered him with unconditional love in these years. She was obviously some sort of adventurer but she had given that up to buy a plot in the city of Two Fang. Settling down, she converted her land into a medium-sized lodge.
She opened a house of literature and arts. A place where travelling bard's, artists and writers could come share knowledge as well as rest.
Two Fang city was a developing city. With the discovery of a new dungeon emerging 2 kilometres east of the village of Two Fang 2 years ago, large scale investments were made into the city from nearby merchants and migrants were bustling into the city on a daily basis, in the hopes of finding new prospects.
From what he had heard from the conversation's of the patrons to his mother's lodge, Dungeons were a double-edged sword. Dungeons would spawn monsters on a regular basis and if the population exceeded the accommodating capabilities of the dungeon, a monster horde would be expelled and would attack the nearby towns and villages.
Thus, the investments by nearby merchants were not done purely for the opportunity itself but also as a precautionary measure.
Coming back to Adam, he was sitting upright in the dining hall of his house. In front of him was a small low lying table with various opened books. Yuki sat next to him with one of her arms atop his head gently caressing it. Occasionally he would ask her a question or two when he couldn't understand something in the books and she would diligently answer. This was their daily routine before breakfast.
Adam would spend an hour reading and learning from Yuki every day in the morning. Yuki would usually be busy for the rest of the day. Taking this chance he would go sit in on the lessons of the girls who worked at the lodge.
Every girl who worked for the lodge was a slave that Yuki had saved from the slave market. Slave trading was a legal practice. As long as the dependent was sold by their guardian, they would lose all their rights. Though it was more often than not people falling into irreversible debt, there were always different cases.
It was a very shady grey area for merchants. Yuki most definitely wouldn't tell him too much about it.
The girls were all between the ages of 12-15. They were given lessons daily in shifts. they were taught basics on all the arts and literature through books and Yuki herself. Very few of them knew how to read or write so it was an arduous task that took over a year. Now Yuki would invite the staying over artists, bards and writers to give lectures on a daily basis to the girls. She would either waylay their costs or provide discounts to the lecturers.
This was one of the reasons for the growth in popularity of the lodge. Not only were the girls working there growing increasingly knowledgeable but the place itself was accumulating more and more information and knowledge from all the guests. The lodge had turned into a hub of knowledge transfer.
The one benefitting the most from this? It was Adam of course. He would sit in on all the lectures and wouldn't miss a single one.
It wasn't always this nice for him though.
His first year was truly quite an awkward and frustrating one for him. He was incapable of walking and had no control over his own bowel movements. On top of that, he would get tired easily and spend most of the day sleeping. Truly a hell of frustration.
This led to an unexpected gain though. All that time immobile he had no choice but to experiment and think within his mind. He learned very quickly that he could immerse himself within his soul. His soul world was vast beyond compare and he could take any form within it. While immersing himself in his soul, his body would enter a state of meditation and whenever he exited he would wake up refreshed.
This unexpected discovery led to him sleeping much longer than he usually did. Staying awake for barely 3-4 hours in a day. This scared Yuki out of her mind.
Seeing that Adam was fine and would actually wake up energetic every day. She got used to it.
Exploring his soul he very quickly found it contained 4 different abilities which he named himself.
Ability 1 – Sentient mind: This was very similar to a second conscience that was linked to Adam's soul. Adam recognized it as what he had tried to invent in his previous life. It was, however, a hundred times more efficient than what he had imagined.
Imagine your brain as one set of hardware and software. The sentient mind was like the cloud that could be linked to function alongside the brain. This sentient mind, however, was capable of processing at the speed of a supercomputer at the least. It was a second brain in its truest sense.
The energy it consumed was something that came from the environment and Adam was not able to figure out what it was yet.
His experiments proved that keeping it working continuously had no side effects. The energy around him seemed inexhaustible. Plus it seemed his sentient mind ability did not take a lot of it, to begin with. It mostly operated using his soul as its base.
Ability 2 – Matchless Comprehension – This was a passive ability. His comprehension when learning something was heightened to a very high level. He had still not come across something he could not understand after one read. So the extents of this ability were yet to be determined.
One thing that could be said is, this ability had a side effect of giving the user unmatched confidence. This was something that came from the depths of the soul. A boldness that didn't allow anyone to demean.
Ability 3 – Enhanced Charisma – This was the most pointless ability according to Adam. This was also a passive ability. He held a certain charisma towards the opposite sex. He didn't know the extent of this ability nor was he interested in finding out. He was too young to do so anyway. It was best to stay low profile till he grew up.
Ability 4 – Enhanced sensory (temporary) – This was a battle ability. He could tell it increased his sensory capabilities but it always felt as though something was missing. This ability would not activate fully without the prerequisites being met. He always had an urge to hunt when he activated it, so he knew it was meant for brawls.
He had to fight no one in his current situation. As such, this ability was kept at the side for now.
These four soul abilities were unique, to say the least. He realized how powerful sentient mind was and the possibilities for its usage were only limited to his imagination. Currently, he had been using it to help him study the various different books that were collected by the lodge and bought by Yuki for him and the girls. He was a machine that devoured knowledge with the combination of sentient mind and matchless comprehension.
He had awed Yuki and the other girls with how quick he learned. In these 2 years not only had he started walking at the age of 1, but he had also learnt to read and write 5 of the major languages of the different races of this world.
Adam hadn't realized this at first but this world spoke a completely different language from his. He has not figured out yet which ability of his gives him the capability to understand and speak different languages but he guessed it should either be sentient mind or matchless comprehension. Most likely being the latter.
Aside from all of this he also realized that he was growing to look nothing like what he used to look like. His skin tone was pale, to begin with, but as he grew and he started losing his baby fat, his bone structure was absolutely different. Just his face alone looked like a finely crafted piece of art already. His green eyes that looked like gemstones were the thing that set him most apart.
The first time he got a glimpse of his own eyes and face. He honestly thought the mirror that was being shown to him was a television display for this world.
He looked like a picture of a baby model in his previous world. Such a stark contrast to how ordinary he used to look.
.......
"Young Master!" Fen one of the younger girls working at the lodge called out. This was how all the servants called him. It was a direct order from Yuki who they referred to as 'Mistress'.
Fen was a really obedient and diligent girl. She was placed in charge of the young master throughout the day. This was a very heavy responsibility. Considering how it was common knowledge that the mistress doted on her son more than anything in the world. The Mistress was strick and stern to the world but in front of the young master, she was the gentlest of mothers.
The young master was cute and treated all the girls like big sisters and would call them 'big sis' every time. For these girls, such a cute child was a joy to be around. there was actually a really big struggle that occurred when they were choosing who would be the one to serve the young master.
Fen though the youngest, was also the smartest and as such was appointed to be the caretaker of the young master. She had fought tooth and nail for this position.
All the girls who worked in the lodge were dressed in Cheongsams. It was their uniform. Each cheongsam was finely embroidered with different patterns and designs. The girls were given a choice as to the colour of their clothing. Fen had obviously chosen an emerald green one with patterns of vines and leaves on it.
This was the colour of her beloved young master's eyes after all. She found it fitting to wear this as his caretaker.
Today she had bought a gift for the young master with her salary. Though it was not much because they already had food, shelter and clothing. These salaries were actually quite exorbitant for slaves who would usually not receive anything.
Walking up to Adam she placed two books in front of him.
Adam looked at her surprised. "Big Sis Fen, please sit," he said in his cute voice. Though it took him a really long time to get used to his situation. He realized that it was, the way it was.
It was pointless to not accept that he had become a child again and continue acting like an adult.
His life had started over. He had his memories of his previous life that aided him and shaped his personality but he also was now Adam Blackwing. Son of Yuki Blackwing and the little young master of his mother's establishment - the Four ways melody Lodge. He would live this new life to the fullest!
Fen was used to the young master not minding them giving up formalities and sitting down with him. Rather he encouraged it because he would ask questions when he came across something unfamiliar and it was easier to ask someone right next to you than someone standing behind you.
She got right next to him and sat to his left. On the round low lying table, they were at, there were no corners. It became a habit for her to sit as close as possible. Sometimes she would take him in her lap.
As he was a 2-year-old toddler Adam himself didn't find it too odd and just let the girl do as she pleased. He was already imposing on her and would usually make her sit with him for hours on end. It became easier for her to read what he was reading if he were in her lap. It was just as simple as that.
Seeing her take her seat Adam pulled the books closer to himself. "thank you so much big sis!"
"please don't mention it, young master. I heard you ask for books on the general knowledge of the continent. So I thought I would get some for you. I'm sure the books that mistress will get, will be a lot better than these!" Fen was prone to getting embarrassed. Her face turned red as soon as she heard the sincere words of thanks from the little boy.
Adam couldn't accept how the girl had probably spent her whole salary on just two books that he might barely read once. Above that, she wouldn't even accept his thanks because she felt like she hadn't done enough.
He spoke up "This is something big sis worked hard for. Big sis is too kind to me. I will cherish these books! You should not look down on yourself." He felt that if he didn't say as much, the self-deprecating girl in front of him would not realize that he truly felt grateful and realized the effort that she had put in for him.
"Young master! I understand. Fen will not look down on herself." She looked at the cute 2-year-old who was so understanding towards her. She picked him up and placed him in her lap. " Let us start reading young master." She put her arms around him before picking the books up and bringing it to his eye level.
'A simple guide to the world' 'Monsters of the wild and dungeons- plains edition'– The Goodison brothers
Be warned! – Though in these books the brothers are a little…condescending, to say the least. They are the leading voice in the geography and political distribution of the Gordian Continent as well as the various monsters that inhabit its lands. Many authors in dispute with the brothers have tried and failed to prove anything within these books to be false.
"hehe, what an 'interesting' book."Adam's eyes twitched. The front page of the book itself had a warning bigger than the title. how did the authors create these two books that could infuriate so many and still remain a book of facts?