The story that Lady Emlyn told him amazed Zarin. Her father was actually an Otherworlder like him, a person who had died and was given a second chance in this world. However, he didn't say any details about the previous world that he was part of, only that it was called Arenian.
Zarin had never heard of any place with that name back on Earth, which made him think if that was another planet or a different dimension of short.
Her father was a human like him, but his power was nothing like his. He could change his strength to fit different creatures he had encountered and gain access to their abilities.
To do so, he had to eat part of those creatures after being the one who killed them. The more of a creature he ate, the more abilities he could get from it.
For example, if he ate one spider, he could get the ability to stick on simple surfaces. Still, if he ate a hundred, he could climb any surface and even produce a web of his own.
He could have active only one set of abilities of a creature initially. Still, at some point, he could combine a different one.
So, in theory, he could have the strength of an Elephant, the speed of a cheetah, as well the climbing abilities of a monkey, etc. The power, in the beginning, was relatively weak, but with hard work, it had led him to be a single-person powerhouse.
Unfortunately, he had died almost a decade ago, on a big mission. Even after making a family, he continued adventuring and getting Quests now and then. Still, he was trying to be with his family as much as possible.
Lady Emlyn always listened to the stories of her father. When she heard about his true origin, she wondered if she would ever meet any Otherworlder other than her father.
"You are the first one that fitted the description of one. But I suspect some heroes that appeared in the past years may also be one."
Her last sentence piqued Zarin's curiosity.
'If the are others like me, maybe they can help me develop my class. Even if they have different classes, there may be some common routes.'
He tried to ask Ais for any help to develop his abilities, but she couldn't give him any answer. So he needed a tutor, and what better than a person with a similar origin like him?
Still, that was something that he couldn't do soon, as he would have to find where those heroes were or at least one that was suitable to teach him. Also, he had no way to leave town or to protect himself.
He had two uses for summoning Kester and didn't plan to use them unless necessary.
"Did your father have any special training that he followed to develop his abilities? I mean, other than eating," Zarin asked as he thought it didn't hurt to do so.
"Hmm… I need to check his journal. There may be something there, actually."
Zarin's eyes got wide from excitement. He expected nothing out of his request, but hope showed its bright light to him. Maybe his high luck was actually helping him more than he thought.
"If you can check, I would be most thankful."
As he said that, he started washing the dishes quickly to make himself useful.
Lady Emlyn chuckled a bit and let him continue the work, as he was doing a decent job at it. Of course, it helped that she had an enchanted item to help with the cleaning. They were like wands that they had to point and click on a surface, and a stream of water, or bubbled one, would get released to help clean.
Unfortunately, they could use it on the fields, as they couldn't produce that much water in a day.
Zarin had tried to understand its carvings or even created dice with those runes on them instead of a number. But he had no progress understanding them, and even if he could easily create dice with those carvings instead of numbers, they did nothing.
It looked like the carvings weren't the only thing needed to make an enchanted item.
Still, he tried to better understand the carvings, as this should be the first step if he wanted to create any himself.
After he finished helping to clean the dishes, Lady Emlyn excused him from doing what he wanted, as there was no task for him to currently help with. He normally was pointed to do much more things in a day, but he understood that Lady Emlyn wanted him to have a day off as a thank you gift for helping her.
He headed outside to join the boys. He wanted to learn how to protect himself, so he had tried those past weeks to learn some swordsmanship with them.
Alth and Alos were glad to teach him a few things, since Heymon and Aldis were too busy. It also made them feel like they were the master, which was weird considering that Zarin was older than them.
This was the second day of training with them, as he couldn't ask to join them from day one. He had gone through a basic stance to use and some very basic attacks. He needed to master the basics, after all first.
____________________
SKILL LEARNED
You have learned [Sword Mastery] (D-Rank)
Description: Your proficiency with the blade has increased. You can use its potential at a better rate than a commoner.
____________________
After the notification panel appeared, Zarin's moves became much smoother than before. The difference was noticeable and very sudden. Before, it was like a weight on him restricting his moments, but now those weights had become less heavy.
He hadn't actually become lighter or faster. Still, it was like something was restricting him, but with having the Skill, those restrictions lost power.
Since it was a D-Rank skill, it could level up to level 100, which meant he had a lot of ways to go. But what surprised him was that the description of the Skill didn't give him any specifications on the benefits of the Skill.
He opened his status window and saw that it was Lvl 1/100, meaning it could level up, but no mention of what it affected or how much.
He didn't mind it, though, as he could feel the benefits of having the Skill, so he had to just keep working on it. Even if the benefits weren't mentioned in detail, he was okay with it as far as he could feel the difference.
With his spirit raised by getting this new Skill, he started his training and worked even harder than before.
His sudden progress surprised the boys.
They looked at each other, and both said at the same time.
"We are outstanding teachers."
Zarin heard them but said nothing. He didn't mind as it didn't harm anyone of them, considering being the reason his progress was so fast. However, he needed to hide that he was an Otherworlder, even if the stories for them weren't that common to know.
By the end of the day, he had raised his [Sword Mastery] to level 4, and each level took more time than the one before. Still, he was happy with his progress, as he was in no hurry.
Still, since he now knew that he could learn Skills by himself, he wanted to try to learn some more, but he was unaware of what Skills were available.
After they had dinner, in which Heymon had joined them before leaving for the night shift, Lady Emlyn brought Zarin a thick notebook. Heymon noticed that and just smiled at Zarin before leaving the place.
"Does he also know?" Zarin asked Lady Emlyn.
"Of course he does. I don't keep secrets from my husband, and he is a smart man. Most times, at least for both," she responded with a chuckle in the end.
She gave Zarin her father's journal, and he opened it up to read it full of excitement.
But the excitement vanished in seconds as he checked the first page.
He turned to the second and the third and kept going, but all had the same problem. They were written in a language he didn't recognize.
"What's wrong?" Lady Emlyn asked as she noticed his reaction.
"I…I can't read it."
His last sentence clearly embarrassed him. But then he had a thought.
'This is probably the writing of this world. She should know how to read it.'
But before he could ask her, he noticed she was in deep thought.
"Everything okay," he asked instead.
"Hmm? Oh… I just thought about what you could do. Since you are an Otherworlder too, I thought you would know this strange language. My father used the writing from where he was in his previous life, and he never taught me how to read it."
Zarin, at that point, had lost any hope. What was the reason for having a journal like that if he couldn't read it?
'Is my luck not that good in the end?' he thought.