Lila recomposed himself from the shock of seeing a perfect tetracast and started to treat things more seriously.
"Sorry, Riwall, please, go on about what you were going to say."
"After thinking a lot about it, I think I know what the System is."
"Which is?"
"Rationality. The System is a manifestation of rationality. It can both react to an action or provoke one. Nothing is out of the scope of rationality, so it adapts its behavior to accommodate new circumstances."
Lila heard many people try defining something as abstract with so few words. Riwall's was among the best she ever heard.
"And where does enchanting fit in your theory?"
"You called it cheating, but I think its an oversimplification. Enchanting is the art of turning the System's rationality to your own benefit. Rationality relies on patterns, predictability. An enchantment makes use of the language of rationality to make the System react in the way you programmed it to do."
Lila smiled at his brief yet precise explanation. She would use a few different words here and there, but the core of his understanding was more than enough to proceed in their teachings.
"I gotta say, since I met you, there has been no shortage of excitement. You certainly lived up to the fanfare Eleanor made about you back at the manor ha ha ha!"
He felt delighted whenever his masters praised him. None of them had a personality that would give praises without merits.
"Follow me. I have some books that I want you to study before our next class."
Riwall had to run back to his room while balancing over 30 books. If he opted for more than one trip, he would be late for Edward's training. Since his hellish first training under Eleanor, he really missed living in a society with a Child Protective Service.
-------------------------
His day progressed without incidents worthy of note. He even managed to get his first crafting skills on smithing and then woodworking, albeit only on the first level as both Theodas and Hobb did not let him craft anything on his own yet, only take part in a few steps while working as an assistant for them.
As soon as he had some time alone with Lila's books, he and Friday began their usual process of reading all of them and compiling a new one.
Friday's assumption that she would be able to start a compendium about enchanting was right. The books had a lot of incorrect and imprecise information about many things, but there was enough for her to start understanding the mysterious language that could manipulate the System to do their bidding.
Its complexity was off the charts, even for Friday's mighty processing power. For now, all she could do was come up with designs that could only provoke simple, yet powerful, effects. Most of them consisted of flat % increases in a chosen thing, like armor resistance, body reaction speed, mana efficiency, and a few others. They had already come up with some combinations to complement their fighting style but opted to do it only after checking things with Lila.
The next day was the same thing, Eleanor training was as hard as ever, and the crafting classes were still theoretical. The only thing he was looking for was Lila's class.
"Hello, Master! You look stunning today!"
That elicited only a light chuckle from Lila.
"So young and already trying to charm his teachers? Hmm, I wonder what Eleanor would think of this behavior." She said while pensively rubbing her chin.
The mere prospect of having to talk to Eleanor about something like that sent shivers down his spine.
"No need for that Master, it was just an innocent compliment, no ulterior motives."
"Ha ha, I'm just kidding. Now, time is of essence, did you read the books I told you to?"
"Yes, and I also started a compendium on the subject."
The compendium picked her interest. Hector seemed to love the books he came up with and even had some of them published under his name with Riwall's authorization.
Master and student sat beside each other, and he began showing her what he learned.
"... and this intersection here sets off a reaction that results in the rounding of a number to always be up, regardless if the fraction should be rounded down under normal circumstances." He concluded.
She already knew about this phenomenon and its causes, but to see a 10-year-old learn about it alone was too shocking.
Lila was no beginner on the subject. Although Riwall's compendium was a great work, it was very far from perfect. At first glance, she saw dozens of mistakes that had already been noticed and rectified by enchanters of the past. He had no practical experience, so everything he wrote came from books meant for beginners.
Riwall took no offense when she started to pinpoint every incorrect assumption or effect he wrote. Her remarks were followed by lengthy explanations that Friday would include in her next revisions of the compendium. It was a truly enlightening experience for Riwall and Friday.
With all he was learning, he knew that few would be able to stop him if he played his cards right in the future.
-------------------------
Things were progressing well on the kids' life. Although they lived and trained together, they still kept hidden their own stats and skill levels. Not that they distrusted each other, but because there were only downsides in doing so. If one of them was captured or for some reason spilled the beans, their potential enemies could be better prepared to fight them. But as they lived and trained together, knowing each other stats and skills would add absolutely nothing to their synergy and strategies.
As taught by their masters, the numbers were not an accurate representation of someone's prowess. For example, Riwall had a capped
Although they settled on the interpretation that the System was the epitome of rationality, it surely did not look like it in some aspects. Take the numbers representing attributes and skill levels, what good were they if someone with a lower skill level could still demonstrate higher prowess than someone with a much higher level?
None of their masters answered this question, not even a random soldier that he approached and asked about it. But this experience was enlightening in its own way, for this seemingly innocent question led to several others that changed his perception of his surroundings.
As they were kids, Riwall attributed others' unwillingness in teaching them or giving a few tips as simply not caring for these children or being afraid of repercussions from their masters. What he found out instead, was that they were under strict orders or oaths to not interact with them above a certain level of friendliness.
The soldier he randomly questioned was a new face around the barracks and happened to be on his way to his first briefing meeting. He was a kind and well-mannered fellow that told Riwall that it would be unwise for him to answer any question related to his skills, for this was the role of his masters. The follow up to this question is what shocked Riwall the most.
"But why would it influence my training? I mean, are there any consequences if one learns something before a certain age?" Riwall asked after the man refused to tell him more about skill levels.
"The consequences are not directly related to the System or anything of the sort. The problem is that knowing about it will change the student's mentality and severely cripple his development speed. Nobles usually don't care much about it and teach their kids everything as soon as they learn how to read and write, but they have the best resources, equipment, and teachers to make up for the loss."
"So a noble will never realize its own potential?"
"Oh, I said the exact opposite of that. A noble's job is different from a commoner's. They are meant to rule since their birth, their sole responsibility is to know more than the others and be able to guide them in the right direction. Their skills will be on the lower spectrum, true, but with the best teachers, equipment, and elixirs, they can push their attributes higher and compensate for the low skills by combining the former with high levels. Nobles are always organizing levelling caravans during summer and fall seasons."
"I see..." Riwall had a thoughtful expression and was stroking his chin. "You told me a lot of things no one ever said before, not even our masters. Why would they hide it from us?"
The soldier scratched his head with a regretful expression.
"I think I was supposed to learn about the reasons in the briefing that I was just going right now, I vaguely remember someone recommending me to not talking to any of the kids before being briefed by the commander." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I think I may have disobeyed an order that I was just about to receive. Well, as my papa used to say, 'what is a fart for someone who already shat their pants?'. Bring your next question, kid!" The soldier suddenly had a determined expression and seemed to be enjoying his little rebellious act.
Riwall was not one to miss an opportunity like this.
"I know you will not answer questions about things that could impact my training, but can you tell me if you have ever heard about three kids being trained here?"
"Can't say I have. These barracks were not meant to be active anymore. A few years ago, they built new ones and moved most of the personnel to it. From what I heard, the Lord himself assigned this build to the Farsteels and gave them free rein. There were rumors at the time about a secret project going on, but no one could get in here and everyone working and training here were oath-bound to not share any information."
Friday quickly prevented Riwall's face from showing his surprise.
"And no other noble made any attempt to investigate it?"
"Kid, I'm just a common soldier, all I know about here came from gossip I heard on taverns and brothels. There were some whispers about a few failed attempts to infiltrate here, but this place has as many enchantments as a fortress. I'm sorry, if I don't leave now, I will not hear the end of it. See ya, kid!" He noticed how much time he was wasting and rushed to the Commander's Office.
{The more I learn about this world's magic or my situation, the more confused I get.}
[You seem to always forget that you, Anna and Gregory are only 10-year-old! Why bother any of you with problems too complicated even for adults. Yes, there is a hidden agenda around here, and yes, they are hiding some things related to the System from you. But is it any different from what they did to kids back on Earth? In my opinion, even the whole life oath stuff and the fourth wave were disclosed much too soon.]
{Here I am worrying about things outside of my control again, you are right Friday, I'm still just 10-year-old. I will just go play with Anna and Greg and enjoy what's left of my childhood.} There was no arguing around this fact, he just had to suck it up and let things happen on the due time.
And so he went to his friends to pass the time before their next training session. Greg was lying on his bed reading one of the books Riwall had compiled while Anna was snoring on the top bunk.
{Tsk. She is still as lazy as ever. All she did all day was training, eating, sleeping, and reading fairy tails. I still can't understand her decision to not take any crafting classes.} He thought while shaking his head.
"Who's up for a tag game?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
As kids, both Anna and Greg jumped to their feet immediately.
[Enjoy it Riwall, you have the privilege of enjoying a childhood for the second time. Many live their entire life wishing for this.]
Friday did not give voice to these thoughts of her. The truth was that she managed to save all of Riwall's memories from Temelth by compressing them and hiding in her database. She knew that John, Riwall's previous life, loved his family above all else, remembering about them would only bring him pain and keep him from enjoying what he wished the most as John. To be a child again.