Ahh... Day 6 on this brave new world!
I honestly can't believe I managed to survive this long.
When I first came here and when I found out about my condition, I had guessed... 3-4 days? That I will probably die again.
But apparently, thanks to this irregular magic point's growth, plus Jrake's training and Klane's support, I managed to survive everything.
In just six days, I became this strong. What will happen in a year?
No. I can't think like that. I have to find a way to return home, and soon. One year is way too much. Maybe after I finish with the Gray rankup test, I'll go to a big library and try to find some information regarding this world.
This morning, I woke up on the bed normally. Which confuses me, because usually I would wake up in weird conditions and positions.
Maybe the bed in the office is so terrible that I would wake up in abnormal positions all the time? Not sure what the cause truly is, but I'm glad I can still wake up to a brand new day.
The bathroom actually has an option for a hot shower. So I turned it on and--
Too hot.
Just like in my world, there is just no middle point at all between the hot and cold in showers. I'm highly disappointed with this world, because even though it has magic, it still can't do such a simple thing. What a waste!
After prepping up and getting ready (still weird with the whole ladies' clothes), I left my room and headed to the Adventurer's Office. Before going to the Office, I asked the inn's receptionist if I needed to pay rent again for another night.
She said I could pick the option for how long I would stay, so I said... a month? No, a week first. I don't have the money yet.
So I paid the rent for a whole week and paid 150 Jules for seven days (she gave me a discount!). After that, I headed to the Office.
When I arrived at the office, Klane was there. The line seemed to be empty, since it was quite early in the morning. But, there are people at the diner, so I guess the Office isn't that lonely.
I walked to Klane, and I noticed that she was working with a document. I really couldn't guess her work time, because sometimes she works in the morning and night, sometimes during the noon and midnight. It's just so random and confusing.
"Morning, Klane."
I arrived by the desk, and greeted her. She quickly turned to me and smiled.
"Morning, Rize! How is your new inn?"
"Emm... No offense, but it's more comfortable."
"Well, of course! I would be worried if you say the office is more comfortable."
So she knew the whole time the office was a terrible place to stay? And she didn't tell me? Yeesh.
"Anyways, are you here for a mission?"
"Yep. Send it."
She took a piece of paper scroll not far in front of her and gave it to me. I opened the scroll to read the content.
Find and gather a certain flower... Blah, blah, blah...
"Hmm. So what's the threat?"
"There is no threat."
"What?"
She chuckled slightly when I somehow showed my rather surprised expression. That was quite surprising, after all.
Usually I'd be given a mission that has a catch, like fighting demon beasts or something. So having no threats at all does throw me off a little bit.
"I heard you will have a test tomorrow. I don't want you to overdo yourself!"
"But, that's why I came here. People are going to die if I don't do the gathering-"
"All the gathering that has a chance of meeting with a monster was all confiscated by me, so don't worry. Those missions on the wall are either cleared by you or are clear of all threats. At least, that we are aware of."
"Huh... All right then. Thanks, I guess I do need some time off before the test."
"Yes, you do!"
Klane said with a grin, and I was about to turn around when I remembered something.
"Ah... Klane. Do you know anything about the libraries in the kingdom?"
"Hmm? Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe if I had free time I would go there and read. I need to know more, after all."
"Oh! Good decision! There is one on Northern Main Road. I don't know exactly where, but it shouldn't be that far from the northwest junction that leads to the Western Main Road."
"Ok, thanks!"
I turned around, and I remembered something else.
"Oh, one more thing. Can I… check?"
She looked confused at first, but then understood what I meant. She put the magic tool at the desk, and I picked it up. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, and it looked like there wasn't anyone near us.
I activated the crystal as usual, and the numbers came out.
This growth is insane.
I returned the crystal to Klane, and she asked me what the number was. I just gave her two fingers, because I told her that it was 200 just yesterday. If I gave a three, she would definitely think it's beyond irregular.
I turned around and left the office for the mission, with imaginations as to how many magic points I will have after just a month.
.
I did the mission, and surprisingly it was more tiring than expected.
That mission took longer than I thought. I left only 2 hours after sunrise, but I returned at the second bell. It wasn't bad for a morning mission, but for the love of god, please give me ice. The summer heat is just too much.
I went back to the Office to report the mission, and it seems like the Office is now crowded unlike this morning. Groups of adventurers are talking on the diner table, some are looking at the mission board, and some others are lining up to talk business with the receptionist. And so, I joined the line.
It is still too early for me to go back to the inn. There's simply no reason for me to stay in the room for too long.
Maybe… I'll train with Jrake?
The line finally lessened, and now it's my turn. It seems like Klane is on break, so I will be talking to Keila.
"Here is your payment."
Keila gave me the payment after I reported the mission, and I stared at the bag of coins in my hands.
60 Jules. That's quite plenty already.
"You didn't kill any monsters today?"
"Nope. Klane gave me a peaceful mission so that I can rest for tomorrow."
"Oh, the Gray test. If it's you, it should be easy."
"I hope so… you never know what can happen."
Keila ponders over something that she missed from her mind. Then, she immediately remembered it.
"By the way, Jrake left you a message. He said he is gone for the whole day, so you can't train with him."
Bollocks!
"Oh, I see... Though I was very much looking forward to training with him."
"Haha, sorry. You can always do another mission?"
"Hmm, right. But Klane goes so far as to not let me battle anything, so I guess I shouldn't."
"Right... Then? What are you going to do?"
I thought about the question for some time, but then I remembered what I asked Klane this morning.
"Looks like I'm going to read."
Her face looked confused, but then I told her about the library. She nodded in understanding.
"Oh... Library. Have fun~."
"Thanks. See you later."
I left the Office after that, and decided that I should go home first to change clothes.
It's too bad Jrake isn't here, I thought I could train with him one last time before tomorrow. I guess he's busy with the whole test, huh?
Well, he should be. It would be weird if he wasn't.
After changing my clothes (still feels weird for me) to a casual set, I realized how smelly my adventuring clothes have become.
Just one more day… then I'll wash them.
I left the inn once I'm done preparing. It's only a few hours after the second bell, so it's still quite bright out. The sun is shining very brightly, and I really want to know.
Are the summers in this world so god damn hot? Pretty sure it shouldn't reach above 40 degrees or something, because this is just hell.
During the walk, I was looking around a little too much since I haven't been to the northern area of the kingdom. I am quite curious as to what kind of stuff is here.
I arrived at the north-west junction that Klane mentioned after a 15 minutes walk. As the name says, it's a four way junction.
To the north is towards the houses of some elite knights. To the west are towards the market, but through some smaller road that isn't a main road. I came from the south, and the east leads to the Northern Main road.
I don't know exactly where the library is, so I just went to the Northern Main road and started looking from there.
Surprisingly, the search didn't take too long. As Klane said, it was quite close to the junction.
The building itself looks quite old. It has a sign placed on top of the front door. It is quite wide, and it has three floors.
Let's enter.
CREAK!!
The first impression that I found was with the door. It was so old that it let out this squeaky sound when I opened it. Once I'm inside, I began to look around.
The inside is what you expected from a library. Seats, bookshelves, and of course, the grumpy receptionist.
She looks like the old lady that would yell at you as soon as you took a rather loud step, so I literally walked towards her with no sound at all. She was so busy reading her book that she didn't even bother to look at me.
"Excuse me."
"State your business."
Wow... So mean.
"I wish to read."
"Everybody does. But not everyone has an identification card."
A vein popped on my forehead. That damn behavior, it really makes me feel like whacking her with the hilt of my sword.
I took out my adventurer ID card and placed it above the table. She took it without even looking, and she read it very quickly.
"Hmph, Red."
She looked at me while she said my rank, as if it's trash. Which, again, added stacks of points to how pissed I am getting.
She returned the card while holding it disgustingly. I grabbed it from her hands very quickly.
"So... Can I..."
"Yes, yes. Go."
I immediately started walking hurriedly to the bookshelves, far-far away from that old lady. Ugh, what's her problem?
Anyway, now that I'm here...
I have no idea what to read.
The books here are random and unsorted. Like some parts have education, some have history... can someone please sort them by the theme?? How do I find a book specific to what I wanted??
Since there was no theme, I just strolled around, looking for any book that might interest me. I found a book about sword arts on the first floor, and I decided that this book would be my first read.
I haven't checked the second floor yet. More books for another time, since this sword arts book might be quite important for me to learn fully.
I read the book at the desk nearby, and I found that the contents are quite interesting.
It's just sword arts, but it goes deep into the details about the techniques, and even teaches you how to do it. Some of the techniques that Jrake already taught me are in the book too, so it's interesting seeing how much the author knows about sword arts.
The book also tells about the best combinations between techniques, as well as certain tricks that a swordsman can use. It also tells you exactly how to cut things perfectly, in any situation.
Normally I just cut things by enhancing my hand, making it faster and stronger than normal. But doing that can actually damage the sword, and the book tells me how to do it perfectly without enhancing anything.
The book simply taught me how to do a lot of things correctly. Aside from the basics and combinations, it also has techniques about disarming your opponent. Now, that's something Jrake didn't tell me!
Despite all the contents it has, the book was quite thin, so I managed to read it all in an hour. I do hope I memorize them, though, since these knowledge are very important to me as a swordsman.
After finishing that book, I got up and found another book called 'Adventurer's guide on Mazino'.
Now, that seems useful. It teaches me the tips and tricks on being an adventurer. It was very detailed even on the little things, like which armor shop is good for buying adventuring gear at a cheap price, or which herb shop is good for you to sell extra items.
This one… is also very useful. I can grab extra herbs during gathering missions and sell them at a herb shop, though it might be cheaper than giving them to the mission requester.
There are also things that an advanced adventurer should have, like magic energy drinks and pain killing drinks. It also mentions other stuff like needles and throwing knives, but Klane already told me to buy those.
I stood up and picked more books, and found even more interesting ones like about magic and stuff. I kept on reading until the third bell rang, and I didn't even realize it.
After hearing the bell rang loudly outside, I looked around at the library. There's barely anyone here, almost everyone has already left.
I immediately stopped reading and left the library. The old lady at the front door is still there, apparently. Why is she still here!?
My agenda for tonight is to eat, sleep, and repeat. Just kidding, I'm gonna find a diner at the Northern Main Road, since that's the only main spot that I haven't visited in the kingdom.
But after walking around the road for a while, I found that the Northern Main road isn't that lively compared to the other spots. There are some people like groups or families, but there aren't that many. This road felt like a housing complex road at night, barely any people at all.
On the Northern Main road, there are some diners, inns, and other spots. There's barely anything good for coming here. Maybe the huge castle of knights is there, but that's basically it. All I see are a bunch of knights or guards walking around, which made me notice that this particular road is being guarded the most.
After walking around, I got quite hungry so went to the nearest diner near me. It serves specifically seafood, like fish.
For your information, I never really liked eating fish. When I was little, I used to get pricked by the bones. After that, I never accepted eating fish. So I ordered other sea creatures to eat, like a crab menu.
Which… was really great.
The shell was cooked so hot that you could chew it. I have no idea how they did it, but this is definitely a technique of this world. The sauce is also quite tasty, and it reminds me of barbeque sauce, but with a hint of miso soup.
Fuh~, that was good! But it's expensive as hell!
After eating, I walked around the town with a full stomach for at least 15 minutes before going back. There really isn't much on the Northern Main road, so I went to the east.
There is a road that leads to the Southeast Main road, where my inn is at, and that road is located on the east. And along that road, there are big shops that sell various things, like pets, meals on the go, and a convenience store that specifically sells cooking tools.
I kept it in mind that if I want to find ridiculous stuff to buy, I can always come here. It's a good place to burn money, since most of the stuff here is not supposed to be in any convenience store on the other roads.
After reaching the Southeast Main road, I went back to the inn and slept. Tomorrow is a big day after all.
Let's just hope… that no disaster is going to happen.