Cassian shook his head in confusion as Sumina handed him a book she'd picked from the shelf. "Take this and learn from it. It'll help you when I leave," she said, returning to check around the room. Without clarifying further, she dismissed him. "Now go."
Leaving the room with a puzzled expression, Cassian stared at the book. "What does she mean?" he muttered to himself, his frustration growing. "At least explain how learning body massage is supposed to help me. And help with what?"
His annoyance simmered as he read the book's title. The dark blue cover read, "Feet is Life." Cassian couldn't help but exclaim, "Seriously? It's not even about body massaging! What does she want from me?"
Despite his frustration, Cassian knew Sumina wasn't one to play pranks, and since the book was taken from the lady's bookshelf, there had to be a reason for her giving it to him.
Cassian had little to do until evening. Normally, he'd be swinging his sword around or seeking out Tyron to ask about the First Circle warriors. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to find Tyron lately; the warriors under his command mentioned that Tyron had been assigned to a mission, and they didn't know when he'd return. Cassian was hoping it would be soon, as he was really eager to know about first circle warriors.
He also tried to find Lucy, but he'd only managed to exchange brief greetings with her in the mess hall. Most of the time, she was with the lady, and when she was, Cassian couldn't see her. The lady rarely left her room, and only Sumina and her personal maids were allowed to enter.
Cassian was anxious about soon being one of those allowed in, as he had heard that the lady was quite strict. Nahir wasn't the only one talking about her punishing servants for small mistakes; there were other rumors too.
He was a bit confused because Tyron and Lucy had both said she was a nice person. While he wasn't usually quick to believe such things, their actions had only shown him goodwill so far. He hoped the rumors were false, as his life here depended on it.
With these thoughts in mind, he reached his room, which was a 15-minute walk from the lady's chambers. This distance was both time-consuming and annoying, as he had to wake up extra early to reach her room. Meanwhile, Sumina, Jimmy, Nesha, and Lucy had rooms much closer—Sumina's room was right next to the lady's, and Lucy's was just one door away. Cassian hoped he'd be assigned a room closer to save some time.
"Now let's see what this feet thing is all about…" he muttered as he opened the book lying on the bed.
The first page displayed the book's title, but there was no name—just a diagram of the underside of a foot, with different parts colored in various hues.
As he turned to the next page, his expression shifted from curiosity to surprise when a voice resonated in his mind.
[Chaos mana detected.]
Cassian was taken aback. The system rarely spoke, usually only communicating when assigning tasks or confirming their completion. He had previously tried to get it to talk without success, so this was unexpected. "What's chaos mana?" he wondered aloud.
[The system has detected traces of chaos in that book.]
"Oh, is that so? Where?" Cassian asked in surprise, flipping through the pages and inspecting the book from all angles. All he saw were lots of foot diagrams. "What is chaos mana, and what does it look like?"
[The system cannot tell you that, but if trainee Cassian let the system absorb the chaos, it will grant him a skill that will be useful in the near future.]
"You can see the future too?" he asked, even more surprised. After a few seconds of silence with no response, Cassian looked back down at the book and began reading its contents. It was the same information about feet. "What does the system need from this foot book?" he wondered. Finding nothing worthwhile, he finally said, "You can absorb it, but make sure the skill is great—not something like dusting or cleaning."
He was still puzzled about how such mundane tasks could be considered skills and why the powerful system needed his permission to absorb the chaos.
[Please place your hand on the book, Trainee Cassian, and say 'absorb'.]
Cassian placed his hand on the book and said, "Absorb."
He waited, expecting something dramatic to happen, but nothing seemed to change. After a moment, the system's voice spoke again.
[Absorption complete.]
Cassian looked around in surprise. "That's it? Nothing happened?"
There was no response, but he decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he asked, "What about the skill you promised?"
[The skill has been granted. You now possess 'Foot Massage Mastery'. This skill allows you to see massage points on the feet and grants you comprehensive knowledge about the feet of humans and other beings with similar anatomy. Do trainee Cassian want to learn it?]
Cassian's face twisted with anger. "Foot Massage Mastery? What the hell? How is that supposed to help me? I'm not looking to become a masseur! I want to be a swordsman—a fucking swordsman, not a foot massager!"
He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Alright, system, you better show me how this so-called skill is going to be useful. I want to become a swordsman, not a damn masseur."
[Believe in the system. This technique will provide tremendous help, and you will have already mastered it the moment you learn it. You'll just need to increase your proficiency over time.]
"Well, it's better than nothing, at least," Cassian sighed. "Okay, system, I want to learn the foot massage mastery skill."
As Cassian said this, a flood of information about feet started filling his brain. It included details about the feet of women, men, and children—not just humans, but also elves, goblins, and many other creatures he didn't even know existed in this world.