Chapter 28 – Speed Reading
The following day, our group decided to head back to the palace. Since we had access to use the palace library as well as observe the blacksmith work, we decided to split up our days. We would spend a day adventuring followed by a day of reading and learning. This seemed to be a balanced approach that would give us adequate rest in between our days at adventure. And so, the following weeks proceeded in a similar pattern. On adventuring days, we took on more aggressive jobs at times but never really struggled with rank F and rank E jobs. We didn't worry too much about what kind of jobs we accepted, even if the pay was a bit low. That was fine since we did not have any financial issues. After two and half weeks, the guild receptionist happily informed our group that we had all progressed to rank E. The group drank happily that night, sharing in our recent achievement. Being rank E would mean we could now take on rank D jobs. There were an absolute ton of rank D jobs and they paid a whole lot more so our group was very pleased with the upgrade.
On the days at the palace, I started off reading book after book. I thought I would take my time learning about this world. As I settled into my second book on world history of Vando, I suddenly had a notification.
Skill Acquired: Speed Reading Lv. 1
That should come in handy. I realized that I could both read and comprehend the words of the book a lot faster. As I spent another hour reading over 7 heavy books in the library, another message appeared.
Skill Level increase: Speed Reading Lv. 2
Skill Acquired: Fast Mental Processing Lv. 1
Fast mental processing? What was…eh? I could suddenly calculate and process information dramatically faster than usual. It felt like I could slow down time while I thought about all my options. This was amazing! I continued to read for the rest of the day and late into the evening. Thankfully, there were literally tens of thousands of books in the library. It would still take me many months to cover everything there. However, I did learn from all the history books and books on heroes. Near the end of the day, I learned about the main elements of this world. The book did not call it magic but referred to them as mana casting of different elements. While some writers tried to narrow down categories, it was explained that there were a large assortment of different elements that were still quite unknown. Barrier skills were still unexplained by most mages. Storage skills used another element that had not been discovered but it was suspected to be a Space-type skill similar to teleportation. However, some forms of teleportation used light or shadow to transport a person. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Shadow elements were all identified with their skills. I learned that Lightning was viewed as part of Air element by most experts. Since lightning was the result of negative and positive charges in clouds, I suppose that Air would be the best fit for such a skill.
From my skills, I already had a fire-based skill. My Flame Vision was still a skill I rarely used other than for lighting a fire in the woods or disposing of garbage. Mana casting of the fire element could be released in multiple manners. Fire stream, fire ball, fire blast, fire tornado, flame barrier, and explosion. Based on the books I read, any fire user could eventually use each of those forms of fire. It apparently depended on proficiency of the skill and the amount of mana. Most fire mages would reach a point of have their fire skill at level 4 in their prime. This seemed quite low to me, since I had many skills past level 4, but I guess that was thanks to my Fast Learning skill. There was record of a hero in the past getting his fire skill to level 10, but the highest a regular person had ever reached was level 6. Explosion was unlocked at level 5, according to one book. It did not explain the level of control or manipulation that fire mages would have over fire.
I continued to read about all the different elements. Based on my progress, it would not surprise me to get more skills that delved into the different elements. I realized that anything I read was sticking in my head. The faster processing seemed to be helping with my memory as well. I memorized everything there was to know about mana casting. Before the first day was through, I made sure to read everything I could find on mana manipulation. Most experts claimed that mana manipulation was not possible, otherwise the user would have too much power over the world and its elements. However, there were some theories that the hidden art of mana manipulation would give any kingdom or nation an edge over the rest of the world. I decided not to put too much belief in the writers' words since they were mostly theories.
Over the following weeks, I read through nearly 50% of the books in the palace library. The amount of information I learned would help me immensely in the future. After a long day of reading, I would often be visited by some in the royal family. The crown princess visited several times, as did Princess Danika, Prince Cedric and Queen Volobelle. They would ask us questions or share a cup of tea with us. Midnight was especially interested in blacksmithing and therefore had been observing the queen and apprentices on most of the time we spent to the palace. The locals had became accustomed to our visits every other day. On our days of adventuring, I tried using my Flame Vision with each enemy, eventually getting the skill leveled up. Now it could cast a fire ball and I could control the shape of the fire a bit better. I tried using different skills in turn to see if I could make better use of the tools I was given.
Level Up! You are now Level 8!
Vision Master Perk – Constitution and Wisdom permanently boosted by 10%
Strength increased by 2!
Constitution increased by 2!
Mental increased by 2!
Dexterity increased by 2!
Intelligence increased by 2!
Wisdom increased by 2!
Updated Stats:
Strength: 55
Constitution: 67
Mental: 112
Dexterity: 109
Intelligence: 95
Wisdom: 103
Charisma: 66
Total Mana: 515/515