Rayne’s focus meant she reached level two shortly after her fourth birthday – or birth season, as the locals measured it. When she reached her second level, she received the normal three free attribute points, as well as a single skill point.

She had earned a few skill points based on the number of skills learned and their levels, but it was nice to know that advancing her overall level might also provide points to help her gain new skills or evolve the ones she already had.

Because of her advancement, she was allowed to begin attending the kingdom-mandated school a full year early. Every youth was required to attend one of the supported schools beginning at age five and continuing until they were able to test out of the core topics or reached the age of adulthood, which was fifteen in this world.

There was a minimum of one year of attendance, likely to keep the nobility from hiring tutors and allowing the less fortunate to suffer. There were also supposed to be other rules in place that affected only the nobility, but any details about them were scarce.

That was probably because they didn’t really apply where she lived since the only nobility in the remote section of the kingdom was a [Baron]. When she asked about it, the [Librarian] informed her that their town was too far away from any significant resources for other members of the nobility to want to be there.

The [Baron] was only present because he was required to live within the boundaries of his barony.

Even without the need to ensure the occasional noble child did not have to be bothered by substandard educators, the school she found herself in was surprisingly well equipped. At least, it was based on the standards she was using given their surroundings.

The school was located next to the temple, sharing the property and building style, which made Rayne suspect the school was not a distinct entity. That was not all that unusual though. Many education systems began with church influences in Earth’s history as well.

There were four [Teachers], with each specializing in one of the four required topics: literature, history, math, and theology, though additional members of the community often came to teach various professional topics.

The bulk of the early literature classes focused on teaching reading and writing, though later lessons eventually bled over into history and theology. History focused only on the kingdom she lived in, which Rayne thought was a bit odd, but not overly so. Luckily, there were several maps included in the lessons, which gave her a better understanding of the surrounding geography.

The school only touched on the basics of math, not going beyond what an American student might have learned in fourth grade, but it was still significantly better than she expected. Given the medieval feel of the world, Rayne couldn’t help but limit her expectations in a lot of ways.

The only exception was where magic was involved. Even theology tied into the magical system since it seemed the [Priests] and other clergy members gain real power through their deities. The local temple was dedicated to Elimere, the Goddess of Bounty, though the other members of the pantheon were also covered (if only lightly) in their lessons.

The students had easy access to the library since it shared a wall with the schoolhouse, which was great for Rayne once the teachers realized how advanced she was in literature and math. She learned the other topics quickly enough, especially after gaining the [learning] skill, which decreased the amount of time required to learn new knowledge or skills.

After doing a bit of research, Rayne started targeting specific skills to learn to make the best use of her advantages. When she managed to learn the skill [memorization], her ability to absorb information only increased. None of her [Teachers] knew quite what to do with her.

By the time she was seven, she was already well into level four and had exhausted the library’s resources. Because she was too young to test out as a commoner, the [Teachers] had her assist other students, especially those just beginning their education.

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She didn’t mind, especially not once the local [Geomancer] offered to tutor her in magic. She was surprised by the offer until she realized that he was married to one of the [Teachers]. No doubt the woman had mentioned her odd student to the mage and sparked his interest.

She was excited since magic was something she had a hard time finding more information about.

Sure, there were plenty of stories about famous mages in the kingdom, including [King] Ivers, but those didn’t touch on the fundamentals behind magic. Rayne was actually surprised it was not a topic covered in their curriculum.

Then again, magic gave power and those in power probably didn’t want that power diluted too much.

Regardless, she happily agreed to the task and tried to do her best with both tutoring and learning the new information. Rayne was introduced to the youngest kids entering the school as someone who could help if they had questions, and then she simply sat to the side and continued her own studies unless asked for assistance.

[Geomancer] Stonecutter provided her with a few books that surprisingly looked similar in design to those created for their central lessons within the school. They were likely printed by the kingdom for bigger cities, not that it would take much to be bigger than their remote town.

She suspected the basics of magic would be taught in larger cities to fill the demand for various professions that relied on some magical knowledge. From what she’d learned from her research in the library, most of the professions used some mana, so the knowledge of its use had to be embedded in the skills given by the system for classes.

She suspected gaining a mage-type class would require some knowledge in how magic works though, so she wasn’t sure why the basics were not taught. Unless they didn’t want people in her community to become [Mages]. There was only one person that she knew of nearby, after all.

She’d already covered the basics of mana – the energy behind magic – and had moved on to learning how to manipulate said energy to create spell effects when she noticed one of the newest students looking around as if searching for someone.

He met her gaze and smiled with relief, so she put her book away and headed over to the student. He was dressed nicer than most of the others, which meant he was probably the son of someone important. With an added bit of caution based on the conversations she'd overheard from others, she asked if the younger boy needed any assistance.

The boy had already finished most of the work given, showing he was well ahead of his classmates. She smiled at that. It was good to see other talented children.

“What does this mean?” the boy asked quietly as he pointed to one of the symbols. After she explained its meaning, she moved back to her chair and continued her personal studies, glancing up often to see if anyone else had a question.

In the days and weeks that followed, the boy, who she learned was named Donovan, though he asked that she call him ‘Donnie’ instead, began seeking her out for any questions he had. She didn’t mind since his questions were always well thought out and only asked after he made some effort to find the answer himself.

She was surprised at his level of reading fluency, which was much higher than the other five-year-olds, and even exceeded some of the older children. He clearly had a tutor, which only highlighted the difference between him and the other students more.

He would often smile and wave at her from his seat, which she always returned. Donnie was polite and nice to everyone in the class, though there were a couple of boys who seemed to follow him around more than others.

Even some of the older children flocked to the charismatic boy.

With no shortage of friends, she was surprised when he walked up to her during their mid-day break and shyly handed her a beautiful purple flower.

“It’s a Jenabloom. They are my mom’s favorite, even though she sells most of them to the [Alchemist]. I wanted to say thank you for all your help,” he said quietly as he stared at his feet.

It was adorable.

She smiled and thanked him, as she smelled the fragrant flower. The boy flushed slightly and hurried away, rejoining his group of friends.

She’d read a bit about the bloom when she’d studied herbalism, and mentally recalled the information. The [memorization] skill often came in handy, working almost like taking a photograph except that she could process the information within the image. She hoped that the skill eventually evolved into something more like a computer with a search feature. Or maybe a low-level AI within her mind that could just pull information on demand.

That would be amazing.

Since she didn’t want the precious gift to be wasted from lack of proper handling, she gave it another sniff before placing it gently between the pages of her book. She’d moved on from basic mana manipulation – a skill she’d learned as she practiced the concepts within the previous book – and was now reading about the various types of mana and what they could do.

She was still reading the introduction books loaned to her by [Geomancer] Stonecutter, though this was the last one. Rayne was scheduled to begin in-person lessons the following week when she finished the series, and she couldn’t wait.