The girl awoke to a captivating aroma of a concoction of foods. She couldn't help but jump out of bed. She groggily entered the kitchen with messy hair.
"What are you making?" She peered over her father's arm. He had a least a dozen trays of food ready, and more cooking. The girl rubbed her eyes roughly in disbelief.
"Why are we having a feast?" She curiously questioned her father. The duo were not in the best financial situation to afford to eat lavishly.
"I got a promotion!" He turned around and smiled broadly. "Go fix yourself and help me set up," he gestured toward the girl.
She didn't even question him further once she smelt the food again.
***
The two cleanly finished all the food on the table.
"What are you going to do now you have no job?" The father asked as he wiped his mouth.
"What do you think I should do?" The girl scratched her head annoyed.
She was truly stumped. No one would hire her considering her notorious family name. Also, she didn't want a repeat with another manager's daughter.
SLAM
The girl jumped up in surprise. Her father slammed his bowl onto the table. Somehow his eyes shined even brighter.
"Do you want to learn magic?" His voice was hurried and full of excitement.
Silence prevailed. The girl didn't reveal her powers to her father yet.
"Oh come on, of course I knew," the father rolled his eyes. The girl hid her face in embarrassment.
***
The father dragged the girl outdoors. They had plenty of space since they lived completely isolated in a forest.
"How much do you know?" He began seriously.
"Not that much I guess. I can apply it to my body and it gives me a physical boost," the girl shrugged her shoulders.
"I see. At your age, I took down monsters 3 times my size," he shook his head dramatically.
He gestured for the girl to come closer to him. He placed his hand on her back.
"I'm going to inject some Est into your body. It will feel a little funny, but it shouldn't hurt. Focus on it and try to disperse it through your body. I'll also be checking your condition."
Est? She knew her father wasn't good at explaining, so she followed his words patiently.
A yellow mist covered his hand. He closed his eyes and signaled to the girl he was about to begin. Just like he said, she felt a weird sensation spreading from her chest outward. She focused and visualized small motes of pure energy floating around. The hairs all over her skin began to stick up. After she finished dispersing the energy, she opened her eyes.
Her father stood behind her with a puzzled expression.
She stared at him before asking "What's wrong?"
"I know you are our child, but how-," he started to murmur to himself.
"Hey, what's wrong," the girl shook her father seriously.
He stared at her absentmindedly.
"... you're a genius"
***
"I thought you were going to say I'm terminally ill or something." The girl pushed her father in annoyance.
"Wait. I'm not joking, your entire body is like a vessel for Est. I've never seen a body with such a good constitution either."
"Wait here." He ran into the house, and within a minute he came back out with a dozen different wooden weapons in his hands.
"I promised myself to teach you, but I didn't want to force you to learn one weapon, so I made a bunch of different ones for you to try."
"It's fine. I'll learn the sword," she rolled her eyes.
She remembered even as a young child, her father would flex his swordplay. He practically worshiped the sword.
Her father's eyes lit in excitement. It was hard to tell he was a middle-aged man the way he acted childishly.
***
Without warning, he handed the girl a wooden sword and told her to swing. The father already pictured her tripping over her feet and swinging wildly.
WHOOSH
…
WHOOSH
Only the sound of a sword slicing through the air could be heard. With each swing, the girl became more precise and calculated.
The father almost fainted in surprise. She was not at the beginner level.
"My daughter is a prodigy," he wiped fake tears of joy. The girl couldn't understand her father.
'I'm just following a random rhythm that feels right.'
Suddenly her arms froze and a wide smile formed on her face.
"Father. Can't I make a bunch of money as an adventurer?"
For a second, the father saw the girl's eyes light up green