“Ten hours!? That’s impossible! It only felt like a few minutes!”

Tairy shrugged.

“That means you did it correctly. Good work. You got a notification saying you made progress, right?”

Michael blinked a few times. He couldn’t wrap his head around that. Saying it felt like minutes was already stretching it. But ten hours? He would have sincerely believed that Tairy was lying to him if he could find any reason for it. At that moment, a rumbling echoed from his stomach. He put his hand over his belly. Maybe it had been ten hours indeed. Tairy chuckled lightly.

“Go grab something to eat. The dining hall is to the right of the town hall, opposite of here. Return after eating. We’ll call it a day. As I said before, you can sleep in my house.”

Michael nodded but also voiced his thoughts.

“Wait. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Tairy gestured for him to keep going, “How or when can I learn dual casting and casting without chanting?”

Tairy stared at him for almost two seconds before laughing out loud. The boisterous laughter nearly made Michael feel ashamed. Nearly. The dark elf spoke.

“I wish it were that simple, kid. Both dual casting and silent casting are Skills that are extremely sought after even by spellcasters far above your Level. Learning them on one’s own is considered extremely difficult and time-consuming, while very few have the opportunity to learn them through Skill Points. I’m incapable of either of them, so I won’t be able to help you there.”

Michael felt his mood deflate. Those were essential Skills for him, who hunted alone, but even Bluestone Village’s wizard and guide couldn’t help him. He sighed.

“…But there’s a chance I’ll be able to learn them with Skill Points, right?”

Tairy nodded, still smiling.

“Yes, kind of. As you might have already figured out, the Skills offered change over time, being different from person to person. There are various theories about how and why this happens, but the generally agreed-upon notion is that it’s influenced by pretty much everything one does as one levels up.”

“So I might still receive the opportunity to learn them.”

“If you do, spend your Skill Point without looking back.”

Michael stopped, then spoke with a pensive look.

“At my Level 15 Skill choosing I’ll try to see if there’s anything related to them.”

Tairy shook his head.

“Your next Skill choosing isn’t at Level 15. It’s at Level 20.”

“…The interval gets larger as one levels up? I should have expected it.”

“Indeed. After Level 10, the window to choose a Skill appears every ten Levels. At a much higher Level, this interval also increases. It’s why Skill Points and Skill themselves are so precious. The ability to learn Skills without spending Skill Points becomes invaluable later on.”

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“In the end, talent still matters a lot.”

“Naturally. Especially in a field like magic.”

Michael nodded. He couldn’t change his talent, but he sincerely believed that even if it wasn’t enough, his Dragon blood would support him. Part of the bonuses he had been given was, “increases spellcasting abilities.” At least when it came to magic, he felt like he could go further than most. It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t have to try and work hard, but it regarded his potential. He would keep trying to achieve dual and chantless casting. His continuous attempts might result in him being offered one of them in a Skill choosing or, at the very least, in solid improvement regarding his casting time.

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.”

With those words, Michael left for the dining hall, thinking to himself. Over the next few days, Tairy would probably try to impart knowledge about real spells to him. He didn’t know what to expect or even for how long he would have to train in order to achieve some results, but he was willing to do it. To become more powerful, he would train as much as needed. It was the only way to become able to carve a new place for his loved ones.

On another note, he was thankful that Tairy had become interested in his development. The old wizard seemed to be rather unhelpful to the others, given their expressions when leaving the courtyard. His decision to house Michael had also been a pleasant surprise. Michael could tell that it was a decision made purely because of the dark elf’s emotional investment in his development, though he wasn’t yet sure if his uniqueness was all there was to it.

As he walked, he kept trying to get his mana to form two different patterns within him, one for Mana Sphere and the other for casting Mana Shield. The burden on him had been eased significantly after the creation of his first Circle. While Tairy had said that trying to acquire dual casting on his own was extremely difficult, he was sure that it was achievable. He seemed to have hit a kind of plateau, being unable to improve as much as in the beginning, but he could tell that acquiring the Skill was possible. That realization alone fueled his determination.

Lost in his thoughts, Michael barely paid attention to the path to the dining hall. He could feel a few gazes on himself, but they never stayed for long. The sound of talking and boisterous laughter escaped from the windows. The dining hall was, expectedly, the largest building within Bluestone Village. It seemed to be filled with over one hundred humans, all wearing armor, robes, cloaks, and other similar starting gear. There was a notable absence of dark elves, a fact that didn’t escape Michael’s perception.

Do the dark elves eat in their own places?

There were far too few of them inside the hall, and those who were inside seemed to be only surveying the crowd. Perhaps he was mistaken and dark elves as a whole needed less sustenance. Either way, the hall was almost entirely filled with humans alone. There was a line outside the entrance, but it wasn’t too large. The remaining people had already eaten, or there simply weren’t enough humans in the village yet. It didn’t matter. Michael got in line. He heard a few whispers and noticed a few looks. Nobody reached out to him, but he could tell that he was slowly becoming more well-known within the village, even if only because of what Sullivan had done.

Rather quickly, he arrived before the dining hall’s door. The moment when a Warrior approached him from behind and was about to put his hand on Michael’s shoulder, the young man hurriedly entered the hall.

He had escaped, for now. Michael could easily imagine what kind of things others desired to talk about with him. Best-case scenario, they would ask him what locations Sullivan had told him, for which he would have no answer. More realistically, they would attempt to manipulate him after concluding that he was different from the others. The best option was to avoid those questions altogether, and the second best was to refuse to answer anything. Michael thought of the only other person he had actually talked to or been friendly with.

I wonder how Rose is doing.

The last time they talked, she said she was going to hunt. He wondered if she was safe and sound. He dismissed such thoughts after finding a seat. Shortly after he sat down, a dark elf brought some bread, a small piece of meat, and a mug filled with water. It was a rather barebones meal, but it was what he sorely needed. He bit into the food with gusto.

Soon afterward, the plate and mug were empty. While wondering to himself if this was the fastest he had ever eaten, Michael stood up and left the hall. Coming to the conclusion that it was one and a half hours too soon to receive another quest from Sullivan, he made his way back to Tairy’s home.

He needed to hone his abilities while he still could.