I spent the next few days recovering from my injuries. My mother was very upset when she saw me that evening. I lied and told her I had fallen from a tree while playing in the village.

She looked at me suspiciously but didn't say anything else. Even if I told her the truth—that I fought a huge, bloodthirsty monster deep in the Forest—she wouldn't believe me.

After that, I accepted the fact that I wouldn't be gathering any more herbs and would stick close to home.

I managed to gather and dry 72 umbrifila in total, and I hope to make a lot of money from it.

I didn't know what to do with the strange gem right now, so I hid it under my bed for the time being.

Then I spent the rest of the spring training my magic, the echoes of my battle still lingering in my mind.

Firstly, I will need a new "gun." So I made my way to the stream, where I picked the thickest stem of the bamboo-looking plant that grew there. I then cut it so it was around a meter long.

I then smoothed the edges with my knife and went right to testing it. It was a little bit harder to manipulate than my former one since it is as long as I am, but the longer, the better, right?

The pebble fired out of the muzzle with a satisfying bang and proceeded to make a big hole in the tree I was aiming at.

Great! If I increased the spell's power, as I did back in the Forest, I'm confident I could blow a hole through the thickest of armors.

'So, my only limitation is the amount of power I have inside me. I wonder if there is some way to increase it even more.'

As I was pondering this, my mind went back to when I was drying the herbs. When I compressed the air to make something like a funnel, I wondered, "What if I could do something similar with my magic?" to compress it inside my body to make room for more.

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but it's worth a try. I then went straight to test it out. I sat on the ground and started meditating, imagining the flow of mana inside of me. Then I grabbed it as I would if I wanted to cast a spell, but instead of pushing it out, I pushed it in.

I immediately encountered strong resistance, and my ears began to hum. This didn't discourage me, so I kept at it. Slowly, I could feel my cloud of mana getting smaller and more compact.

I shouted in joy internally and kept pushing, but it was very tiring. Soon enough, I couldn't withstand it and had to let go. It quickly expanded and returned to its previous state.

Hmm, so it is possible, but how am I supposed to make it so it stays compressed?

I continued to practice in the following days, and after a while, I noticed a slight difference, though it always returned to how it was, each time being a little bit more compressed.

With renewed confidence, I continued to train all the way until the summer.

***

It was a beautiful summer day, and I decided to go to the village to see if the hunter was there. After my last encounter, I was eager to learn more about the local monsters so that I could avoid them.

But alas, he wasn't. While I was wondering what I was going to do, I saw a girl around my age sitting in a corner of the square.

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She looked very pretty, with long flowing hair as red as flames that tumbled down her back in loose waves, bright eyes as green as the fields that surrounded our village, and a simple yet elegant gown.

But what was most interesting about her was what she was doing. She was leaning over a wooden tablet and reading something.

"She's reading!" I exclaimed internally as I was observing her.

She's the first person in this village that I saw who knows how to read. If I could befriend her, she might teach me. If I want to study magic, I must know how to read, and the sooner I learn it, the better. But how am I to befriend her?

As I observed her more, I saw that she was furrowing her brows while staring intently at the tablet. Hmm, it looks like she is struggling with something; maybe if I offered to help her, she would be grateful to me.

I mustered my courage and slowly approached her. She didn't seem to notice me, as she was engrossed in her tablet.

"Hi, who are you? I've never seen you around here before," I asked her.

She jumped a little; I guess I must have startled her. She gave me a shy look.

"H... Hi! I'm Myra. I live here; what do you want?"

"Nice to meet you, Myra. I'm Darian. Wanna go play with me and the other kids?"

"I can't; I have to learn this; my father is very strict about it."

"Hmm, who is your father?"

"My father is the Vogt, and he wants me to work in the family business when I grow up, so I have to learn."

"Oh, it's just that you didn't seem to be having much fun with it."

"Well, it's hard! And I hate it!"

"Well, how about I help you with it, and then you can come with us to play?"

"What would a peasant boy like you know about counting?"

"So you are learning how to count numbers? Well, my father is the blacksmith, and he took me to the market in the city last year when we were buying things for the winter, so I know something about counting."

"Really? You were in the city! How is it!?"

"It's very big and full of people. In the market, the stalls are filled with delicious-looking food, and there is so much noise and music everywhere."

"Ahh, I wish I could go too, but my mother says that the journey is very dangerous."

"Well, the main thing is that I know how to count a little, so what is your problem?"

"Oh, that. Well, you can look at it yourself!" She pushed the tablet at me, dejected.

As I looked at it, I realized there was a problem. While this looks like some math, I can't read anything at all!

These characters look similar to those written at the stalls in the city, so they must be numbers, but I have no idea what value they represent.

I should have asked my father when we were at the market, but back then, I was overwhelmed by everything, and all I wanted was to explore, so it never even crossed my mind. Well, I will just have to wing it somehow.

"Myra, can you explain to me these numbers?" "My father always counts in his head, and I never saw them written."

"Oh, I suppose you wouldn't recognize them; alright, come here, and I'll tell you!" She beckoned for me to sit next to her, and she then explained to me the different numbers and the values they represent.

She knows quite a lot despite saying she hates it. When I knew their value, I quickly figured out the rest. It was just simple adding and subtracting, as you would learn in elementary school.

"Myra, look! You just take the value of this number here and add it here, and you have a result, see? It isn't that hard!”

"How did you figure this out so fast?!" She looked at me, completely perplexed.

"I told you I knew how to count," I replied while smiling smugly.

"Fine, so help me with the rest, and then we can go play!"

I then helped Myra finish her tablet. She ran to her house to return it and asked if she could go out to play. She returned with a big smile on her face. "I can go out, but we must return before dinner!"

And thus began my summer adventures with Myra.