I've made my choice

'Codex, show me my status.'

[Status:

Name: Ryan Willson

Race: Half-Spirit (-)

Strength: 5

Speed: 9

Endurance: 6

Mana: 10

Skills: None

Circle: Zeroth Circle, First Rune (90% Completion)

End]

"That half-spirit thingy again..." I muttered to myself as my brows knit in a frown.

"Anyway, so... the strength remained the same, speed increased by 1, and endurance by 2... Codex, did all of the physical stats increase because of Dia or was there mana involved in that?" 

I asked with my chin propped upon the back of my palm as my eyes skimmed through the translucent screen in front of my face.

It wasn't some magical system often used in novels, it was quite simple, only I could see that screen because it wasn't even there in the first place.

They were the contact lenses made of Nano-Chips, forming a transparent layer over my iris.

They were zoomed in a way that the screen appeared at a distance to me, but if someone or something came between the screen and my eyes, the screen would automatically be displayed from over them, just like if a person stood between the projector and display board.

[Yes, all of the stat increases are because of Dia, except mana stat that is.] Codex broke me out of my thoughts with his answer.

That was also when Dia butted in.

[Master, that was tasty! But it wasn't that tasty as compared to the food I ate in the forest, especially that black snake, the one that looked like me, that was the tastiest!]

"That wasn't tasty?"

"Oh... might be since the bodies of those beasts were infused with mana, and obsidian one was the tastiest since it had the highest mana." I nodded in acknowledgement, although reluctantly.

At first, I was going to reprimand her for calling mom's hand cooked food, not tasty, but then I remembered that beasts function on mana, and only like food that has mana in it.

But the food mom cooked was normal animal meat.

Cooking beast meat is a must for any Eatery, so we also cooked beast meat, but usually, raw beast meat costs a lot. Of course the price of the dish would be higher too.

"Also, Dia, come back inside, mom might be coming home any time now."

[Yes, Master!]

'Alright, back to the main topic. So… What's magic again?' I asked as I shifted back to mind talk.

[Magic is being able to wield mana, to make it do your bidding.

For that, you need to know what mana is. Mana is the energy that is the base of everything in universe. You have studied about Theory of Conservation of Energy, right? That energy is mana. Mana can neither be destroyed nor be created. But it is indeed interconvertible, for it can be converted between elements.

For some reason, Beasts are capable of freely wielding mana.

The main thing is that one needs a catalyst to channel one's mana from their body into the way they want it to act. Most of the time, it is the Soul Beasts they have.]

'So what can I do with the mana I have? I don't think it's much since it didn't take much effort to get those pearls.'

[You can't do anything with that meager amount.]

'Thought so.' compared to bonafide magicians out there, it didn't take rocket science to know how much mana I had.

[Actually, you can do one thing. You can circulate the mana you currently have and that will make your body accustomed to it, which will make it easier for you to use it in the future when you have enough of it.]

'Makes sense.' It really did.

'Also 90% completion for Zeroth circle? Isn't that too fast for someone who just stepped into it?'

[It isn't that you are some prodigy, that scale represents how close you are to casting your first spell. Keep in mind that each circle has a quantitative as well as qualitative difference, 100 times the difficulty from the previous circle could be a rough estimate. It could be more on the higher stages as well. Also, you can't cast your first spell till you completely soul-bind Dia. That remaining 10% requires you to have a soul beast, and Dia is half-bound to you.]

—Click

'Oh, mom is probably home.' As soon as I heard the subtle sound of the door opening, I ran straight to the stairs to open the door for mom.

"Welcome back, mom!" I voiced out as I opened the door for her.

All my worries went up in the air. For now, at least, I should enjoy my time with mom instead of worrying about useless things.

"Oh, you were waiting for me?" Mom asked from the stairs as soon as she saw me opening the door.

"Hehe..."

"So how was it, mom? What did you buy?" I asked, eyeing the cloth bag in mom's left hand.

"Nothing much, some vegetables, meat and spices." She replied with a gentle smile.

"Hey mom, how about we request for renovators to renovate the Eatery?" I asked as I moved back to allow mom to enter.

"Absolutely, in fact I was about to do just that, but the shop was closed today." She said, placing the bag on the table.

"Here mom, water." I said, extending a glass of water to mom. 

"Thanks." She said, accepting the glass of water.

"Shouldn't we shift the furniture somewhere, mom?" I asked, taking the empty glass back.

"Hm, we can do that, it wouldn't be much of difference, but it will cut down their time." She answered after a moment of contemplating.

"Alright! Let's clear up the space for them so that they can work unhindered." I said in a hyped-up voice to cheer her up.

"Okay, sounds like a plan." She said, nodding with a smile.

For the next four or five hours, we stayed downstairs and moved all the chairs and tables to the backyard on the ground floor.

Did I forget to mention that we have a backyard too? As a matter of fact, we do have one, although it only has grass in it and no plants or flowers of any kind. The backyard is just behind the eatery and below the balcony on the first floor.

***

""Fuu..."" I and mom both sighed in tiredness after putting down the last table on the ground.

"This is after a long time I did so much weight lifting." Mom commented in melancholy.

"Yea, me too, mom." On earth, there wasn't actually any need for weight lifting unless you were doing it for fitness or as a hobby, almost everything was automated.

Looking back at the eatery, all that was left there was just the main reception counter.

Other than that, there was nothing, except, of course, the spider-san, its family-san, and dust. We even took off the portraits and billboards that were usually there.

"Go take a bath while I prepare dinner." Mom said casually, There was something different about her today… I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but it was something good, that was one thing I was sure of.

"Yes, mom." Like an obedient child I am, I ran to the stairs, followed by mom.

There were two bathrooms and two restrooms, one pair on each floor.

The sun had already started to set and it was getting dark, so we put off the plan to contact the renovators for tomorrow.

***

—Drip Drip

Just after getting out of the bath with a towel covering the lower half of my body, the aroma of rice and soup greeted me, which I savoured for a full couple of minutes and asked in my mind.

'Dia, if I were to ask for help with a ridiculous thing, would you help me? You can refuse if you want.' If I said I wasn't nervous for tonight's meeting with Ryan1, I would be lying, but still, I was a lot calmer now compared to when I was talking to him.

[Of course, I would help, Master!]

To be honest, I was hoping that Dia would agree to help me.

After that, I wore comfortable clothes and ate dinner with mom, in peace.

'I've made my choice.'