Chapter 14: Makings of a Scholar

In the bedroom, Mirage was sitting on a chair with his back turned to Achlys. He could see some light coming from his behind, but couldn't see anything else. Even so, he could feel himself getting stronger as the process continued.

"Is it done, Ms. Achlys?"

"Yes. Let me just grab a paper to transcript your status on. There we go."

Achlys grabbed a piece of paper on a desk next to the chair, and pasted it onto Mirage's back. Not too long after, words and letters appeared on the paper.

"Here is your status. Normally people would start from very low status values, but you already have one in F. That must be thanks to those trainings that you do."

"Ah, yes."

The paper was then given to Mirage for him to read.

Mirage

Strength: H-126

Endurance: G-205

Dexterity:F-322

Agility: G-247

Magic: I-0

Skill:

Caesicius Anima

'I see, looks like those flexibility exercises were indeed not useless. My dexterity and agility aside, even my endurance value broke through two hundred as I received falna. There is even a skill, but with no descriptions. Thinking of it, the name of that skill seems like a language from my old world, but i just cant remember it.'

"Ms. Achlys, there is something under my skills but it doesn't have an explanation. Do you know what that skill is?"

"Hmm... I have never seen that skill before, so it should be a unique one. Seems like only its name was transcripted to the paper. As for what that skill does, let me see."

Achlsys took another look at Mirage' back once again, and read outloud.

"Drastically increased learning speed and memory strength. Greatly increase user's maximum spirit and spirit healing speed. How odd... Then again, it makes sense..."

"Ms. Achlys?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just taken aback a little. It is a passive skill that greatly increases your learning abilities. There is also a boost to your total spirit."

"Spirit? Hmm..."

'Is this because I am a reborn person? Or perhaps because my soul is not from this world... Either way, this skill could be of great use to me if I can learn magic in the future. Perhaps I can even save some money to purchase a grimoire.'

"Are you okay Mira? Don't be disappointed, your skill is actually a great one."

"Oh, don't worry Ms. Achlys. I was just thinking about something else."

"That's good. You can rest now too Mira, I will watch over in case any of the children wake up."

"Thank you Ms. Achlys."

Accepting Achlys's offer, Mirage lay down on the bed near the window. Zena and the Little baby were resting on the one awayfrom the window, whereas Betty was also resting on the same bed as Mirage. Since they were all children, and thus pretty small, all of them could easily fit into these beds even while sharing.

'Hmm... While I do want to try out my falna and new skill, I am pretty exhausted. It wasn't that I could sleep during our journey, but I always had to stay alert in case an emergency occurred.'

'Ms. Achlys should be more tired than me, since she hasn't slept at all. Could she be not tired at all due to being a god? I always thought gods also had the same needs as mortals after descending to the mortal realm, seeing as how they were portrayed in Danmachi.'

'Looks like there is more too see than what was in that story. Rakia's invasion of the elven lands was also mentioned within those books, but never shown directly. To think that my village would be one of those lands to be attacked...'

'Ignoring that for now, my new skill seems to be one that boosts my learning capabilities. It probably enhances my comprehension and memory. As for the part that boosts my max spirit... It's a shame I don't have any magic to check its extent out.'

'But the part about enhanced memory and comprehension... That is no doubt thanks to my past life. I had to learn many, many languages, be it ancient or secret code. I always had to remember them too, or at least recognize some key words. I wonder to what extent will my capabilities be enhanced.'

'It shouldn't be about boosting my reading speed or anything, but it must be enhancing my innate ability to understand. Perhaps what people ponder for weeks, I will be able to figure out in a day. It would be even better if it's also related to my hand-eye coordination and motor skills. After all, learning doesn't just end in one's mind.'

'Speaking of my physical abilites, my dexterity and agility seemed to be the highest out of all of my status values. That should be thanks to me training my flexibility and making those wooden carvings. Though, I don't know how effective the latter was.'

'That reminds me... Ms. Peony said that there was a blacksmith in this town? Never expected that I would be able to see one in the elven lands. Perhaps I can go check it out and see if blacksmithing can improve my dexterity. I remember that dexterity was Welf Crozzo's, the blacksmith of the Hestia Familia, highest status value. So working in a blacksmith might be a good way to improve my dexterity.'

'Ah, I remember that the reason we got to this town was to deliver an item for a magic item craftsman in this town as well. Maybe I can become an apprentice there instead? Well, I don't even know if they will accept a child like me...'

'Finally, what Achlys said... the fates of children are effected by the divinity of their patron god... I have never heard of it in the original story. Though that might not be wrong either. The nicknames adventurers recieve, and even skills or magic they develop do seem related to their god.'

'But... isn't that not any different from children looking like their parents? Achlys has been there since my birth, and treated me like her child, something that never happened to me in my last life. If having her falna means that my fate will be affected by her divinity... that makes it no different.'

As his thoughts kept going and going, Mirage finally couldn't fight his physical exhaustion and went to sleep under the watchful eyes of Achlys.