Skill Issues

Strolling my way back home, I gave a simple explanation regarding where I went and what I was up to. Albeit everyone held their own doubts aside from Father, I dismissed them. 

I'm going to go through a loop soon, so even if they're suspicious, I don't really need to care.

Days passed with me either hitting the gym or diving into books at the library. It's a bit ambitious, but I've set my sights on devouring all the books in there.

The library is big, really big, but that's all the more reason to keep reading.

Right now, my main focus is survivability.

You might be wondering why I'm not honing in on the books related to the body and the sword.

The thing is, I realized that the library doesn't have the kind of info I need to grasp more about these concepts.

Sure, I could hit up another library, but that's a luxury I don't have. In this Trial, I am more or less forced to stay in Berlint. If I try to recklessly leave, Garden might think this is my attempt to flee and thus sending Yor Forger after me before the supposed 30 days, defeating the point of me fleeing in the first place.

While I could use Mirage Veil to run away and hide my identity, I don't know what will happen at that point with my Trial. 

Understanding is power. If I grasp the consequences of my actions, I can anticipate the outcomes. Stepping into the unknown isn't on my agenda, and frankly, I see no reason for me to go through that level of danger.

So, let's say for example the next Trial throws me into some random forest with zero civilization. What's my plan?

Sure, I can use my skills and talents to get my way around the forest, I can use [Sixth Sense] and [Observe] to understand if anything I pick is edible or not, or if a plant is poisonous or not...

But, do I know how to really survive in a forest on my own?

The answer's a flat no, and that's a serious risk.

My goal is simple—basic survival skills, adaptable to any environment, whether it's teeming with civilization or barren as a desert. I'm not aiming to become the next Senku, just need the essentials.

If I have some additional time, I will focus on martial arts. Although I won't recklessly attempt to learn them on my own, as long as I have the knowledge with Photographic Memory, replicating them in the future will not be an issue.

Same deal goes for wielding any kind of weapon. Sure, I'm pretty sure my trusty sword will always be by my side, but who knows, right? There might be a day when I don't get the luxury of having it around.

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After pondering about how I should resolve the issue of my time lacking to read everything I wanted to, I came to the realization that I was missing something.

Up until now, I had never thought about how Photographic Memory worked.

How does it work? Simplifying it, it's like a perpetual recorder, snagging everything so I can flip through everything whenever I feel like it.

Think of it like an assistant of some sorts. Throw a request out there, and boom, it hands me the information on a silver platter.

There are questions regarding how can my mind be able to store so much without collapsing, but I think the answer is different from what I thought.

Yes, of course, my various talents helped 'expand' my mind greatly, but upon reflection, it's clear that would never be enough for the kind and amount of information I can recall.

Then, where did the space to store everything came from?

The answer must be, from the Skill itself.

Why? If it wasn't the case, there'd be some Limitation throwing it in my face, saying I'm stuck with a finite amount that will depend on my mind capacity or something. But nope, no such thing.

That changed everything.

Skills never played it simple, that's a given, but this? This is just plain overpowered.

If I can dare consider that's how it works, then I can just change my approach.

To save up space in my mind, I tried my best to optimize the way I read books.

But if I could ignore that, then...

Once again, a crooked smile formed on my face.

I can just store everything in this library, and then read what I need from my own memory.

There is just one issue with that.

If I have so much stuff stored, I will probably start needing some time to find what I need...

Hard to put into words, but for now, it's like a cramped shelf. Grabbing what I need from a handful of choices works for now, but it will not cut it for what I want.

At first, when I just got this skill, the 'way' I could store knowledge was really inefficient. Changing this structure was also not possible.

Because many things had taken up my attention, it didn't even cross my mind that there might be room for improvement as the skill leveled up and its pesky limitations started fading away.

...Thus, I started creating a layout much like a real library with several categories inside my mind.

Since I don't have any skill related to memory manipulation, the concept of 'taking a memory and putting it where it needs to be' was hard to grasp, even with my current level of Wisdom.

Lucky for me, the moment I thought about giving the layout a makeover, the [Photographic Memory] skill reacted to my will.

Once that was squared away, the rest was smooth sailing. I finally had a legit and tangible system to dive into info when I wanted, instead of relying on the Skill to do all the heavy lifting.

It seems the skill also understood the assignment as new memories slid right into their designated spots.

Sweet.

Now, I could breeze through a book, store it in my mental library, and when I got time to spare, read it from there.

Sure, if I go pulling this stunt in public, people might peg me as a nutjob, spaced out and reading invisible stuff or whatever.

But hey, not my concern. I mean, who gives a damn about what people think, right?

Thus, another issue was taken care of. 

Tomorrow would be my last day in this loop, better prepare for it.

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Author's Note:

If for some reason you didn't get it, the Title of this chapter is a joke :)

Anyway. I will hold a poll regarding the harem or non harem on my patr eon(link in the synopsis of the novel).

Of course, the result will not be a guarantee this novel will end up as an harem or non harem, but I am just curious to know if the people reading this prefer an harem or not.

For context, even if I choose to do harem, I'll probably be able to fit 3-4 girls at most. I am not willing to catch every single girl in this multiverse.