A black horizontal lightning bolt symbol stretched across my hand, and before I could reach into the sack to grab the skill book, I heard a blood-curdling scream come down from the hall.
It was high-pitched and sounded as if it came from a little girl… but it wasn't my problem, so I just continued on with the next step of my power-up: reading the skill book.
To be honest, reading these books kind of numbs your mind, and I believe it's to make sure you can't relay the information to somebody as that would be essentially duplicating a sacred item.
[You have successfully learned: Murky Poison Water]
[Would you like a tutorial?]
"No… I already know how to use this," I muttered, and as I swiped away the panels, the leather book in my hand completely disappeared into thin air.
Then, my curiosity got the best of me, and I took a peek around the corner of the doorway to try and see if the commotion from before was still there… and of course, it wasn't.
But, all of a sudden, a brown-haired woman came out of a room right beside mine and picked me up by my armpits before dragging me over to the same room from before.
"I think slowly adjusting in this room would be good. I'll let you stay here for the next few nights until you make some friends… so don't worry and just get some good rest," The woman said as she tucked me under the covers.
What the fuck… These covers are too tight… I'm gonna suffocate…
"Save me," I called out to the woman, and she just chuckled as if I was trying to joke around… but I was actually about to die.
After she left, I felt all hope was lost and admitted my defeat against these covers… until I had a surge of motivation and kicked them off myself before tumbling out of bed.
It was a steep drop, but at least I was able to land relatively easily.
"Now… Let's take a look around," I muttered to myself while stretching a bit as I pulled down the door handle and slowly opened the wooden door.
The floor was creaky, so I thought I had awoken somebody in a room across the daycare each time I stepped.
As I scanned the rooms, I just found various supplies meant for teaching and taking care of the rooms, but that isn't what I wanted.
I wanted a library to gain more knowledge about this world, and my wish soon came true as the next door I opened was a room filled to the brim with books.
And they weren't kids' books but an actual collection of text… so now I just had to hope I could read the contents.
Yes, I might be able to speak the same language, but reading can be changed up sometimes as new words are removed and added from time to time.
As I opened the door further, filled to the brim with excitement, I suddenly encountered two kids who I was familiar with.
"Oh, what's up. What are you doing here?" I asked them, but I got no response as they slowly backed into the wall behind them.
The books that were tightly held in their grasp seem to creak from them, squeezing the covers so hard.
"*sigh*... I only came here to read, not start any trouble so-"
All of a sudden, the white-haired girl dropped to her knees and began to pant as a blue mist painted the air of this current room.
Oh… I see.
I finally connected the dots, and before I could even try and help the girl out, a woman's hand suddenly touched the top of my head, and it sent shivers down my spine.
A glare dug into my back, and the two girls in front of me were shivering in fear.
"Mari… Petra… What did I tell you about sneaking around at night? Get back to your- oh, wait. Is it acting up again?" The woman with brown hair asked as her tone suddenly shifted to a more sincere one.
"[Small Heal],"
She kneeled down next to the white-haired girl, and a green glow began to emit from her hand as she placed it on the little girl's chest.
Her sporadic breathing began to calm down, and it seemed the pain was eased… but this wasn't doing anything to help her.
It was a temporary solution, and I doubt the woman even realized what her powers were doing.
She was using a healing skill, but it wasn't healing her as it was her mana core, something that is semi-physical, meaning it is only slightly affected by physical healing magic.
So, all she was doing was circling foreign magic into her mana core which I guess made the body think she was fine, but in fact, that magic was just going to leak out again.
I don't think circulating foreign magic into your mana core isn't that bad for a kid… but that's going off of what I did in my past life.
I only started doing that when I was in my late teens, so the body could be affected differently.
For a while, after I was brought back to my room, I began to ponder whether I should extract her mana core for my own benefit, killing her in the process, or just heal it.
Only at three in the morning did I come to this grueling conclusion.
"Ugh, why am I even thinking over what is better. Killing an innocent child who's already suffered so much is going too far," I muttered before pulling the blanket over my head and taking a nice rest.
Call me a hypocrite, but I couldn't give a shit… I still have some human morals inside of me.
…
The next morning, I woke up at around nine and walked into a communal bedroom where all the kids slept.
Most of them had already woken up and had breakfast, but just like I had expected, the white-haired girl was sleeping peacefully.
"Okay, just don't toss and turn; otherwise, the process will shake your mana core," I muttered.