School Break

Jerod immersed himself into the new specializations. When he wasn't in class he was in the library and if he wasn't in the library he was experimenting in his room. The anomaly in his daily life was the occasional discussion with the department heads about any new magical discoveries he had made like the ice and lightning magicles.

The professors and headmaster did their best to be subtle about inquiring about the lightning magicles after the examination. They only mentioned it in passing here and there commenting how it was amazing and powerful. Jerod finally mentioned he would be willing to share how to create them and after some negotiation with the headmaster the information was finally traded.

Jerod received five dimensional rings filled with resources for the knowledge. Counting the ring he received after the exam that held all of the resources his team collected plus the bonus materials for the compensation of the ambush he now had six dimensional rings full of materials. These rings were of better quality than the ring Rich had as a family heirloom, they held a storage area of 15 cubic meters.

Jerod had promptly moved all of the materials into his inventory to safeguard them and wore two of the rings as decoration and cover for his ability. The remaining four he also stored into his inventory with plans of selling one or two of them when he returned home to secure some money for his family. He also wanted to give one to Baron Yama for the support he had been provided with.

With so much study in the library Jerod and Lindsay discovered a new function in the system that made things many times easier for them. One day Jerod had been especially focused on reading a particular book on experiences with dimensional magic and lost track of time. He was interrupted by a steward of the library and informed that the library would be closing soon. Not wanting to lose the enlightenment he was gaining he decided to bring the book with him. Unfortunately the library was strict about books leaving the library. They allowed Jerod with his special permissions to leave books in his private room however he was still required to follow the rules of not taking books out of the library.

Jerod decided he had to break either the rule of staying after closing or the rule of taking the book away so that he could gain the understanding he was so close to. Of course it wasn't possible to just stay passed the closing time so he placed the book into his inventory. When he did that and returned to his room he noticed when he opened his inventory to take out the book that there was a new tab labeled "Books".

In this tab he found the book that he had placed in his inventory. Upon accessing the book in his inventory he found that he could read the book without taking it out. He could also search for specific things he wanted to find. After finishing reading the book he continued to do more experiments with the system and found he could also copy books into the system.

And so, Jerod quietly started to copy every book he had already read into his system library so he could reference it in the future. To not be suspicious he took four or five books into his private reading room each day when he entered and then returned them when he left at night repeating the processes until he had completely covered all of the Enchanting, Magical Spell Alteration, Dimensional Magic, and Magic Item Creation books on the first floor.

To not get too far ahead of himself he restrained himself from going onto the second floor until he returned after the upcoming school break. After adding so many books into his library he learned that he could also correlate the books based on the topics and then search for specific terms bringing up entries from all of the books at once to help further the insights he could gain.

As Jerod had started his dimensional magic specialization this semester he had been diligently working towards being able to master the skills taught in the class. Since this type of magic utilized four different types of magicles the classes were quite small. Due to the inherent danger of dimensional magic it also progressed very slowly. After a very menacing and threatening conversation / verbal assault from Lindsay, Jerod decided to not work ahead of the class. Picturing his body being sliced into two or more pieces due to incorrect spell models was not a pretty sight.

After three months of classes it was finally time for the students to have a two week break to return home and see their loved ones. Jerod was quite excited to be able to return home for a brief time. While he had the mentality of someone nearing the age of 40, the last 6 years had allowed him to build familial bonds that didn't really exist in his life before he was sent here.

Jerod queued up in the line of students entering the teleportation hall and after what felt like hours he was finally teleported to the Starsan Forest County. Waiting for him outside the teleportation hall was a chatter box that he hadn't seen in nine months.

"Jerod! Look at you! You have gained some weight haven't you? No longer that scrawny boy taking etiquette classes he he."

Ana circled Jerod and commented on all his changes starting with his increased muscle mass followed with his increase in height and ending with comments on his quiet nature. Of course how was he supposed to get in any words between her constant comments?

Finally he managed to get in a "Hello, it's been quite a while." and "I am happy to see you too!" before he was dragged away to a carriage to take them to the baron's mansion.

He shared some polite conversation with Baron Yama after arriving and proceeded to present his gift. At first the baron declined knowing the financial status of Jerod's family but after hearing that he had planed to sell one more of equal size he accepted. He even offered to buy the ring that Jerod was planning to sell to which Jerod immediately accepted. This saved him time and allowed him to get home faster to share the money with his family.

After some more polite conversation Jerod bade farewell and made his way to Madam Zell's to see if she was in. Unfortunately, it appeared she was out doing her rounds around the kingdom so Jerod returned home. After he left town and had walked for a while on the familiar road he looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. Lindsay also made sure there weren't any people around and with that Jerod let lose his strength and agility and sprinted home. The journey that would normally take around 2 hours of walking was quickly reduced to only around 10 minutes.

Jerod made it home with 6 stamina to spare and found the familiar sight of the family farm with his siblings and parents doing their daily chores. He took in this sight for a moment before entering the house to surprise his mother first and give her a hug.

"Mother!" Jerod quickly embraced her from behind after seeing her sweeping the kitchen with her back turned to him.

With a cry of surprise Martha turned around and picked up her youngest son. She wept for a time while holding him tightly not wanting to let him go. After, settling her heart and wiping her tears she called out the window for the rest of the family to come inside. One by one Jerod's siblings entered followed by his father. Each of them came up to give Jerod a hug and welcome him home. The house was quite noisy with the jubilation of Jerod's return. Jerod noticed of course Jacob quietly slinking into the house minutes after everyone else and standing to the side.

All he could do was sigh in his mind about the poor relationship and continue to talk about his experiences so far at school. After some time his father mentioned that there was still work to be done for the day and his mother shooed everyone out to go finish their work with the promise of a good meal to welcome Jerod home.

Jerod decided to help make sure the chores were completed swiftly and used his magic to help everyone. Even with the break to welcome Jerod home everyone finished their chores well before dinner was ready with his help.

Seeing his ability everyone had a sense of pride and developed a great deal of respect for this youngest member of their family. They continued to talk merrily and had a large meal for dinner, much larger than Jerod had ever had before leaving for school. He knew this would set his family back and before going to bed he had brought this up with his parents.

"Jerod, don't you worry about us putting food on the table now. With you being at that academy we don't use as much food so of course we can splurge from time to time."

Jerod knew this was a lie to put him at ease as there wasn't much of a difference between feeding a family of 7 versus a family of 6 especially since he was still so young.

"Okay father, but even still I have some good news." Jerod brought out the small sack of coins he had obtained from the baron in exchange for the dimensional ring.

"This here is for you guys. I know Jessie is getting old enough to be courted and some of this should be used for a dowry if her future husband doesn't come to the farm. The rest of it should be used however you see fit."

Jerod's father lifted the small sack of coins to find 25 pieces of gold inside. He dropped the bag incredulously and stared at Jerod.

"Where did you get this?!? Tell me the truth now! You didn't steal this did you?"

Jerod smiled and explained to his father about the events and reward he had received from the school during his examination. He didn't want to disclose how he also received five more of these rings for providing insight to the magical community since he would then have to explain how he was able to do something like that. After his explanation his father was less suspicious of the money but still hesitant about accepting it.

"Even still, this money is something you earned. Shouldn't you keep it for yourself? Magical studies is something that is expensive. Resources, equipment, any number of things are extremely costly."

"I will be in school still for the next 5 over years, also I am learning how to make the dimensional rings myself, see?"

Jerod pointed at the ring on his finger pretending that it was one of his own crafts and brought out some rabbit skins from his inventory. Seeing this his father started to smile widely and finally relented to Jerod's insistence.

Jerod used the two weeks of vacation to spend time with his family and make their life more comfortable. He used some of the resources he had earned to provide them with a hot water shower, air conditioned rooms, and many other luxuries that were normally only found in the houses of the wealthy.