It had been a while since Taylor felt that good sleeping.
In the last two years, he had been in the dormitory of the Redwood academy, sharing his room with three other students. One of them was grounding his teeth at night and the other snored loud enough to make it seem like the bunkbed was shaking.
The silence was reassuring and invigorating.
He was full of energy and ready for the next day, his first day after he awoke his Ancient Power!
There weren't many things for him to pack, which was why he left the Inn immediately after he finished washing up.
Eris was by his side but she had no idea where they were going. But that was of no concern for her because she felt obliged to clear up Taylor's ignorance about quite a few pieces of information that were important to know.
"This might be a surprise for you as you defeated the Frozen-talons Hawk rather easily but monsters are usually stronger than Knight or other Awakened at the same rank. Ordinary Awakened requires a group of two or three to defeat a monster under normal circumstances," Eris explained, while Taylor listened intently.
"That means special Awakened such as myself, or let's say…Summoners are able to defeat monsters at the same rank on their own?" Taylor asked to make sure he understood correctly.
"Even as an ordinary Awakened you can defeat monsters at the same rank. However, that requires you to have undergone professional training, and if possible the usage of good equipment. You possess neither, which is why your trip outside Kial would have been suicidal if not for me being by your side!" Eris used every single opportunity to clarify that Taylor was reckless and that he needed her.
In return, Taylor just nodded his head as he kept walking over the long sidewalk of the Mainstreet. He had his next target in mind and smiled at the sight of a specific symbol he sighted after a while.
"Equipment…come to think of it, the One-star Bronze Knight, whom we saw fighting against the Shedim group of Lesser Demons, had a really bad Sword…it was basically the purest form one can waste precious materials…" Taylor recalled the Knight's sword when he looked at the sign of the building he would enter.
The memories of the Demon attack were imprinted in his mind, including the Knight's weapon that had felt more like a metal bat than a weapon with actual edges.
Taylor made a grimace as he recalled the weapon, attracting Eris' interest.
"How can you tell that the weapon was bad?" She thus asked, her eyes gleaming faintly as if she was hoping for a grand answer.
Her expression made it quite obvious that there was a deeper meaning behind her question but Taylor walked in front of her, completely oblivious.
"There were so many flaws in that blade. It was not even perfectly balanced…" Taylor said before he sighed deeply, "But that's not even the worst…the weapon felt dead. I never felt so sad that a Sword, or rather the materials that have been used to forge it, have been mistreated too badly…"
Taylor was sure that he could do better than the blacksmith, who created the sword of the One-star Bronze Knight. He was not sure why he thought that he could do better but he was certain that he could do it!
"And you saw all that with your bare eyes?" Eris asked, trying to act nonchalant and hide her excitement.
"How else should I….wait?! How the hell did I see all of this?" Taylor thought that Eris' question was stupid at first but he quickly realized that he had missed something important.
He could never see the flaws in a weapon, figure that a weapon was off-balanced from the way it was wielded, let alone tell that the metal a weapon had been forged with was dead. This was not supposed to be possible by any means.
Taylor halted in his tracks and he turned his head to Eris to look at her in shock.
However, Eris didn't answer the unspoken question. Instead, she flew past him.
'Is that one of the secrets she cannot tell me more about?' Taylor wondered, feeling excited deep down in his heart.
A childish smile appeared on his face at the thought that his Ancient Power might not be as simple as being able to manifest and control flames.
'There is also mom's book…' Taylor concluded that there were a few points that didn't really make sense, but the vast majority of them were of good nature.
Thus, he chose not to mind them for the time being. It wouldn't do him good if he were to try to comprehend something he was not ready for. Sometimes it was better to be oblivious rather than know too much.
With that thought Taylor merely consoled himself, to prevent getting affected by overthinking, and he entered the building he had been targeting before already.
"Welcome to the Artisan house, can I help you somehow?"
The moment Taylor entered the building, he was greeted by a young woman, wearing a simple leather apron and other garments that protected her from all the work she did on a daily basis.
She had a bright appearance and smiled gently at Taylor, who was looking around to figure out where the reception was.
"I'm just looking for the reception. I'm interested in leasing some tools," Taylor said as he looked at the young woman, who didn't seem to be much older than him.
She seemed to be in her early 20s, had shoulder long brown hair, and a wide smile on her face. Even if Taylor would be hard to approach, he was pretty sure that the woman in front of him could easily break through to him.
"So it's like that. Just follow me!" She declared while motioning her hand to indicate that Taylor should follow her.
He did as ordered and walked behind her.
"We're currently renovating the building, which is why everyone is moving stuff. In fact, we don't have open right now," The young woman giggled lightly as she spoke and as a natural response Taylor began to smile gently.
"If you are not open right now, why are you helping me then?" He asked, curious about her answer.
"I feel like helping you, so I just do it?" the woman answered, which felt more like a question to Taylor than anything else.
'So she is the type, who does whatever she wants?' He thought before nodding his head in approval.
Doing whatever one wanted to do was certainly the best way to stay happy.
"What do you need?" She asked, turning back to Taylor when they reached a huge door that separated the Artisan house's front from the warehouse and all the important places that lay behind.
"A perfectly normal mining pickaxe, please!"
[Author Note: Please comment how you like/dislike the novel! I accept every type of criticism]