I woke up drooling all over myself. I panicked, knowing I didn't have the time to clean the bed and just decided to dab up the wetness with the towel. I put the sheet over it and attempted to whistle, but I couldn't whistle, I never have been able to.
The Innkeeper walked into the room to make sure it wasn't trashed and I was able to get away without trouble. Once I walked out into the streets, the day continued just like it did previously. Then continued with their days, with their conversations, and with the construction of various buildings around towns. I was lost for a second, but quickly found the eccentric tent Henry lived in and decided to walk into it, looking for him.
"Oh, the Magic Hero is back!" Henry said. He jumped down the wooden scaffolding just as he did yesterday. Jerry was standing nearby, along with Claire and Albert. I was a little uncomfortable, trying to keep my identity a secret the entire time.
"Oh, I told them, by the way. They won't say anything, don't worry about it." Henry clarified to me.
"I had no idea you were a Hero, Anima. That's so exciting! To think, one of the Heroes is still on our side!" Albert said to me.
"Ah, make that two. My partner is on your side as well, I just didn't want to reveal my identity if it wasn't necessary." I told everybody. They seemed very understanding. Time after time, they proved to be better than the people in my previous world. These guys were my true friends.
"I want to start to learn how to increase the quality of my skills. Henry, how do we start my training?" I asked. I was serious, but Henry was pretty nonchalant about it, eating an apple and scratching his forehead.
"Skills usually come from Magic Books, Grimoires. I lost all of mine, but you seemed to have one. Oh, but before we continue, I need to restore your interface. Tell me, do you see your health, mana, stamina, and other stats in your vision when you think about them?" Henry asked me.
"No," I responded.
He asked me if I could see the time or my skills. I responded no to each, and Henry rose his hands in response. Blue smoke shot out of the palm of his hands. Once it surrounded me, I had more things to look at in my field of vision when I thought about it. I could see the time now, and see three skills I had. [Bullet], [Raise], [Heal].
I still had room for three more skills in my interface, so I knew there had to be other skills I could get... but what could they be? Would Henry be able to teach me? He said he could improve my skills, but could he add to them?
"Now that your interface is updated to look like mine, we need to get you those skill upgrades. So, we need to get you those books. They cost a lot of money... but if you're a Hero, things might be different now. Using you to represent Gaia could increase the trade sales and opportunities, giving us access to those Grimoires. But, I know you don't want to be used in that regard. If I were you, Anima, I would say your goodbyes to this town and head to New Olympia. That is the highest chance we have of getting you those skills. If you're not allowed in Sieve anymore, your chances are cut in half." Henry explained.
"That's fine. Those Grimoires... they're in New Olympia? Do they have a good economy, or a good library, or something?" I asked Henry. He nodded. It seemed like that was the capital of this country we lived in.
"I learned all my stuff from New Olympia and Hecate," Henry told me.
"Can you... make the Grimoires?" I asked again.
"I guess you technically could, but you would have to know what you're talking about and have certain proficiencies. Why?" Henry asked me again. I walked over to a desk nearby to see several pieces of paper sitting on it, next to a stack of colorful books. "The skill I was bestowed with was maximum crafting efficiency. Anything I make will be of the strongest efficiency and potency. So, if I can make Grimoire, I can do it with the highest qualities." I told Henry. Everybody in the room was amazed.
"So... that was the skill you chose... huh? It may turn out to be a curse, you know." Henry told me. I ignored him and wrote [Bullet 2] at the top of the page.
"What do I need to write for the stats on this skill?" I asked Henry.
"Typically, all skills have damage, defense, mana usage, and stamina usage. But, things like [Raise] and [Heal] only attribute mana usage and stamina usage for you." Henry explained.
"Oh, yeah. Why did you say this would take three days for me to learn these new skills if I couldn't learn them without the Grimoires anyways?" I asked Henry. He clarified that the trip to New Olympia was three days long. That made a lot more sense. In retaliation to his suggestion, however, I started writing out all of the usages on the page for [Bullet 2]. I didn't want to put the mana cost too low, so I kept it the same as [Bullet] used. I kept all of the stats the same, except I lowered the stamina usage. Once I started to write a lower number, I felt my arms freeze up.
"Ah, you can't write out skills with insane scaling or usages, otherwise you'll freeze. If there were custom skills you could make, this world would already be over, so you can only improve upon certain things from skills you already have. Skills can be improved upon up to eight times, but no more." Henry explained.
I nodded, putting the stamina usage to an amount lower than the normal by one. It wasn't much, but I was able to increase the damage by almost double. [Bullet 2] now did 19 damage, along with 19 stamina usage. An eye for an eye, I guess.
The mana usage was the best thing, however. The same amount of mana for even more damage was a great tradeoff.
"Woah! Those are great skills for a tier two skill... I could never get something like that. That's the farthest you can go with your skill... amazing! You could sell these for a fortune, rich mages around the world would kill for these." Henry stated.
"Kill for these... do you want to learn it as well?" I asked Henry.
He gladly took a copy and looked it over, adding the skills onto whatever tier of [Bullet] he knew. It apparently enhanced his stats, but as soon as he was finished with it, I burned it on the nearby candle.
"You don't want to sell it?" Jerry asked me.
"You heard Henry, people would kill for it. I don't want it in circulation." I explained.
We talked a little more and I raised both my [Raise] and [Heal] skills to their second tier as well, meaning that I was now as high as I could go. Henry told me it would take a while and better parchment paper to increase the skills further, so I was stuck with this quality for a good while now.
"So, what will you do now, Anima?" Albert asked me. The young man seemed to hold me in high regard. He was often silent and praised everything I did... what should I tell him?
"Not sure. Henry, can you teach me how to craft potions or materials, maybe even enchantment?" I turned to the youngest boy in the room, and he shook his head.
"That's all past me. The town closest to us, due south, is Zyphilia. They harbor a ton of people who are in the labor section of work, so they would know how to craft materials. Dorrendale, due East, used to be the capital for enchantment, so that's your only hope there. As for alchemy... I don't know any town known for that, maybe along the way, Dorrendale or Zyphilia would have somebody who knows. Then, you plan to leave?" Henry wanted to clarify with me.
"Not before I finish here, no. I'll heal all of your sick if you gather them here for me. I want to learn alchemy and give back to Gaia for being so accepting. Henry, if I give you the potions I plan to make for free, would that be better, or should I sell them to whoever runs Gaia?" I asked again.
"You can sell them to me. I'll put them into circulation. You have interesting ideas for being a Hero." Henry commented.
"I'll try my hardest wherever I go, that's my rule. How long would it take to get to Zyphilia?" I asked Henry, and he told me if I left within the next hour, I could make it by the night. Henry even gave me some of their currency to buy a room in an Inn, for around seven days. Even on my second day here, so much was happening to my future and the way I had to travel around.