A Brave View Swirled (5)

"Good job taking notes Josh. Do you mind if we use yours to study?"

"Okay."

"Ooh." Sakura leans in and looks at the well-organized notes. "How do you do that?"

"I like making lists."

[He clearly leads with introverted sensing, so we can rely on him for the basic information about each creature. I'll have to make sure I encourage this behavior; this will be very useful later on.]

"Perfect. Let's train and then head to the forest. Josh, make sure to hold on to your notes. We can use them to quiz each other later."

"Okay!" the kids light up, and we all head outside.

Introverted sensing is characterized by quickly remembering or reliving previous experiences. For instance, if an introverted sensor sees someone performing an exercise, they will compare that memory to every other time they have seen someone do that same exercise. Another common trait of introverted sensors is that they put things into lists; they tend to have a variety of them in their minds. These may consist of past accomplishments, things they need to do, comments people have made, and a large number of other things which they use to order their daily lives. This ability makes these people excellent students.

On my way out, I see Kyle arguing with Tyrion.

[Has Kyle joined our class?]

"Take better notes next time, idiot." Kyle berates Tyrion for the same problem I had.

"Okay." Tyrion sighs without further complaint. I hurry the kids out the door to avoid getting involved, and we soon arrive at the north gate. We do a warm-up jog, and I check my status while we stretch.

Niccolo Drake lv 0

Sponsor: God of knowledge

Job: Commoner lv 0

Possible jobs:

Skills: Ironflesh lv 1

Titles: Index, Friend of the Fairies

Unassigned points: 5

Health: 48/48

Stamina: 78/79

Vitality: 17 (+2)

Strength: 27 (+7)

Agility: 31 (+6)

Endurance: 34 (+5)

Perception: 21 (+3)

Resilience: 15 (+3)

Mana capacity: 0

Mana Bandwidth: 68

Knowledge: 482 (+2)

The training is paying off with steady results. I think our progress has slowed but hasn't stopped by any means. I've also managed to raise the level of my Ironflesh skill by slamming myself onto the ground a couple of times every night. I plan to continue doing that in the future, as it's virtually painless and guarantees I fall asleep almost instantly when my head hits the pillow. It turns out that gaining a skill level gives me one free point, causing the Index title to award me four additional points. I take my advice and hold off on allocating my points, as it will only hinder my progress in the long run. Considering my strength and agility stats are around thirty, I'm starting to think it may be time for us to start hunting. It will be a good experience, and we can start leveling up our jobs as well. I need to get Sakura and Josh into an archer and sworder's job, respectively, so they can learn the relevant skills. As we finish our stretches, I explain my plan.

"Make sure to bring any money you have saved up tomorrow, and we'll go purchase equipment. I'd prefer not to use the equipment provided by the guild because of its poor quality. If we're taking this seriously, then we need good equipment to start with."

"Do we have to?" Josh asks.

"I mean, it's your money. You can do whatever you want with it. That being said, I don't think it's wise to trust gear that the guild gives you for free. They benefit from us surviving but don't benefit from giving away expensive gear, especially given that it has a high chance of being damaged while being worn by people that don't know what they're doing." I can see Josh thinking it through. I give him one last push. "We will be making more money once we start hunting. Anything that you invest now will come back pretty quick."

"Okay. I understand."

"Sakura?" I glance at her to gauge her reaction. She stands up from where she knelt, playing with a flower.

"Yes?" she asks innocently.

"What do you think?"

"What do I think about what?"

"Did you not hear me talking with Josh?"

"Sorry, I saw a really pretty flower." Sakura squirms back and forth as she apologizes. She has learned how to get away with little mistakes like this by acting cute. I'm sure her father is largely at fault for encouraging this behavior.

"It's fine. Just try to pay attention next time."

"Okay!" Sakura yells happily and puts one hand in the air.

[She's a monster.]

I explain the earlier conversation with Josh, and she agrees with my conditions. Surprisingly, she goes as far as chiding Josh for not being more willing to use his money to protect himself, citing how he can't make more money if he's injured.

After Sakura convinces Josh, we continue our routine. By this point, we can run four laps around the town and still have enough energy to lift in the forest. I was expecting my physique to develop by this point, but my muscles don't seem to be getting any larger. Looking over at the kids, it seems they're not growing much either. Josh is a little taller now, so he might be going through a growth spurt, but his muscles aren't getting any bigger. It could be that our young ages are affecting our physical development. There's nothing we can do about that, so I discard it as a variable going forward.

After our warm-up, we head to the forest. Sakura's eyes light up as she explains the different types of flowers that we'll be able to see in the middle layer. I try to pick out any important nuggets of information from her never-ending explanation, and it seems there are a few types of flowers we'll want to look out for. First of all, she mentions the Chetustrus blossom. It's named after its distinctive large triangular white petals. They overlap each other in rows extending from an orange-red pistil at its center. Another one we should keep a look out for is the Hephaestus flower, known for the bright metallic sheen around the edges of the petals. Supposedly, this silvery color is caused by the Mythril that the flower has gathered. Not much information about these flowers exists due to their rarity, but they have been spotted in this forest before. Lastly, I heard her mention Fairy Tears with blue teardrop-shaped markings falling along with their black petals. Sakura said they are common around places where fairies gather, but I didn't see any while in their village. I stop thinking about the logistics of everything and turn my attention back to the kids. Their wonky, disconnected conversations are very relaxing.

"I can't wait to show you all the flowers." Sakura fawns while dangling from Josh's arm.