3 Planning and Goal Setting

After thinking through the details of my first Unique Skill, I was excited. With Prodigy, I was being set up for success from the beginning. However, even with the bonuses it gave me, I wasn't sure how long it would take to acquire a few skills. Despite my advantages I am no Rimuru Tempest who got set up with two busted Unique Skills from the start that are practically designed to make him practically passively gain skills and abilities. Gaining skills and magic would still take a lot of hard work on my end.

Even something as simple as Magic Sense would take me at least a few weeks of careful meditation to acquire properly. Even then, without Thought Acceleration my mind will be constantly burdened by the overload of information that the skill brings in. Obtaining Thought Acceleration in and of itself will require dealing with a whole slew of other problems and specialized training. Then, if I go through with gaining those two skills then a fair bit of time will have already passed. My main problem was time, or at least it could be depending on where in the timeline I am.

Fortunately, the more skills I have, the easier it will be to snowball into gaining even more skills and abilities over time. That's why my first priority was figuring out how many years before or after the start of canon I was. Luckily, as an Elf, I had a big event in mind that all elves knew and I could use to pinpoint where I am currently, that being Riveria running away to Orario with the goddess Loki. That had been big news amongst the elven population when that had happened. I knew from the Danmachi wiki I had read in my past life that it happened 28 years before the start of canon events.

Unfortunately, the Thranduil of that time had been too busy chasing cures for his condition to know the exact date it happened. All I knew was that it happened anywhere from one to three decades ago, giving me a 20 year time span that I could be in, 18 being before canon and two being after. I would personally prefer to have some time before canon to get set up, so I was hoping I wasn't currently in the latter two years. To figure this out, I figured that the banquet my father was holding tonight would be the perfect place to find out.

Until I could figure out the timeline I was working on, I decided to hold off on making any concrete plans. Everything would depend on learning how long ago Riveria ran away from her forest. However, in the meantime, there were still some general things I could work on before the dinner, mainly trying to connect with the latent magic power inside of me. It was something that all elves had, especially High Elves like me, who live next to immense wellsprings of magical energy. Those being the spirit trees of our respective forests.

On top of being born as a High Elf, I was also lucky enough to be born into the forest with the strongest spirit tree. That meant it didn't take me too much time to find the magical power within myself, as there was practically already a river of energy running through my veins. I smiled and let out a small laugh as I felt the foreign yet strangely familiar sensation of magic. Thranduil had been well versed in magic but unable to practice anything more than theory due to his condition, which was better than nothing for me to work with.

I took a slow, deep breath and worked on pulling the mana within my body to the surface on command to start. This gathering on mana was the most simple and elementary technique that every elf child was taught early on. I failed the first few times to do it, but quickly found myself improving substantially with every attempt. I laughed and thanked the universe for giving me Prodigy once more as I finally got the technique down, gathering a chunk of raw mana in my outstretched hand.

I the calculated power fade before repeating the process since there was nothing I could currently do with the raw power. So, I practiced the speed and amount of mana that I could draw at once. Then, I tried to cycle the power to each of my limbs as fast as I could in quick succession. Even after a few hours, the results were subpar, in my opinion. Still, I couldn't complain since it usually took more than a week for beginners to learn to gather mana at all and transition from theory to practical when starting out. 

I finally stopped practicing when three attendants walked into my room, bowing. They ushered me toward a door in the side of my room which led into a similarly ostentatious room, except this one was dominated by a large tub at its center. As I watched, one of the attendants began to chant, pointing a long, slender finger toward the tub. At the completion of his incantation, a large glob of water formed in the air before crashing down into the tub.

Then, a woman walked up and placed a hand perpendicular to the water's surface with only about a centimeter between her skin and the water. She, too, began to chant once the water settled, releasing a far shorter one. Upon completion, a ball of flame formed, except due to the position of her hand, it formed in the water. Instantly, the water in that area began to boil, but the third attendant stepped forward with a small paddle and mixed up the water in the tub like they were stirring a soup. 

"Your bath is ready, Prince Thranduil," the man who had conjured the water said, bowing deeply alongside the other attendants.

"Thank you," I said graciously, waiting for them to turn before I disrobed, wrapping a towel around my waist to cover everything before stepping into the water that was a perfect temperature.

Technically, I was meant to bathe naked, and the attendants were supposed not to look, but it had long been Thranduil's habit to bathe with a towel covering his nakedness so that the attendants could finish quickly. As always, they didn't say anything, complying with my unspoken wishes, and got to work. Once in the water I simply laid back in the tub and looked out of a skylight embedded in the domed ceiling above. I couldn't help but let out a relaxed sigh as I was quickly and efficiently washed down.

Once the bath was done, a large, luminous white robe was brought in for me to wear to the banquet. I stepped out of the tub and quickly got dried, then let the attendants turn before finishing up and getting dressed. I moved over to the large mirror in my bedroom once more and couldn't help but admire myself again. I was truly incredible looking, but I spared myself only a few seconds looking before I moved toward the doors out of my room, pausing before opening them.

"Elyun," I called lightly but with unmistakable power, instantly drawing the attention of my sole female attendant, "How long ago was it that Princess Riveria left her forest with the goddess Loki? I find my memory of this event lacking."

Elyun bowed and answered my question without so much as a raised eyebrow at the unexpected inquiry, "That was 18 years ago, Prince." 

"Hmm. Time flies, does it not?" I asked distractedly, mind racing at the new information.

Elyun shrugged noncommittal before responding neutrally, "It is as you say, Prince."

However, I wasn't focused on her reply as I pushed the door open and stepped out into one of the many hallways in the large palace that I called my home. 'I have 10 years before canon starts. Though I should try and get to Orario to get set up four to five years before everything starts.' I thought. That gave me five years to train and prepare myself to leave, which felt like a long time now, but I knew it would turn into a blur. I quickly began to consider goals to achieve within that timeframe, and I walked toward the banquet hall.

Becoming proficient with a weapon, most likely the sword, quickly topped my mental list of things to achieve. This goal aligned with my intention to master a few offensive and defensive arts pertaining to my chosen weapon. Next, I wanted to acquire some essential quality-of-life skills like Thought Acceleration, Magic Sense, and Analytical Appraisal, at the very least. Getting access to some basic elemental magic and quality-of-life spells was a top priority as well. Lastly, fitting in with my goal of getting some skills was the intention I had to get one more Unique Skill within these five years.

I didn't have time to get anything crazy like Great Sage, Predator, or Creator, but I figured a more basic one could be doable. It will just take a lot of effort to achieve. Especially since I have no real ways to fuse component Common and Extra Skills into Unique Skills yet, but that was a problem for the future. For now, I had to get through this banquet.