Loud knocks echoed throughout the room but to no effect. The trio was dead asleep being both exhausted due to last day's training as well as from staying up late.

The knocks continued for a dozen more seconds before suddenly stopping. Next came the sounds of footsteps stomping away from the door. The room returned to its previous silence.

Not for long though as the footsteps returned back after a few minutes.

With the clicking of the lock, the door swung open screeching harshly.

The irritating noise only managed to bring a slight reaction out of them. They were still only half-awake.

Nephra was completely enraged at the moment. Noah wasn't ready and she had to get him ready quickly and be there on time. Her mom will not take kindly to being late for class.

She rushed inside and gave a solid kick at Noah who fell straight out of bed. The sudden pain roused him up as he swiveled his head around looking for the perpetrator.

"Ow, what happened? Neph-"

"Get ready." Nephra cut in with a stoic voice. Noah was still groggy as he tried to understand what brought such a hurry in her.

"Just wait a few minutes, I am gettin- wait. why are you getting closer?" Noah was becoming uneasy as she started treading towards him.

"No, get going now. We don't have time." She dragged him by his collar and subsequently carried him to the main room.

Reaching the place, Nephra took a glance at Noah for a moment and nodded to herself.

"Your clothes will do fine. Get in your sandals fast."

Noah wasn't listening to her. Instead, he was more surprised by how effortlessly she manhandled him.

"Hey, can you calm down for a moment. Seriously, how freaking strong are you?"

Nephra looked at him like he was an idiot. Then, she wagged her fingers in front of his face while admonishing him.

"I'm much higher LVL than you. Of course, I would have more strength. I remember telling you about it yesterday. In fact, you should be able to realize that on your own."

Noah had an embarrassed look on his face. He was still in a drowsy state and it was muddling his consciousness. That was the excuse he gave himself for forgetting about such basic knowledge.

Putting on his sandals, he looked at himself and felt satisfied by his attire. He turned to face Nephra and said.

"I'm ready."

"Then what are you waiting for? We are going to be late and it will be your fault." Nephra was just hoping that was still time.

The two headed out only to be stopped by another groggy voice.

"Are you two going out for the language class?" Ava peeked out of the partition with Shaun standing by her side. They both had quite a bad case of bed hair. Ava, in particular, looked like she had a bird's nest in place of her hair.

"Yeah, we are in a hurry right now. We can talk later." Noah said hurriedly as he was finally a bit clear-headed and could realize the precariousness of the situation he was in right now.

"Wait, take us with you." Ava exclaimed while they were turning around making them halt.

Before he could try to say anything, Shaun intervened with his voice trembling slightly.

"No no no, I am not going to have another personal tutoring session with her. I am already suffering enough. No need to add to that." It seems someone had got a minor PTSD.

"What are you saying now? If you don't want to go, I will." Ava was annoyed by Shaun's actions. She was about to convince them to bring her along. Here he was putting a wrench in her attempt.

Though it wasn't any help as Nephra doused any hope Ava had with her next words.

"Sorry to say it can't happen. Your classes are already scheduled. If you want to shift it in the morning, you have to ask mom about it."

Ava gave a vexed look and said resignedly.

"Okay, I will see to it that she accepts my request. But you need to have dinner with me tonight."

"Sure, Best luck to you. Let's move." She replied and tugged at Noah's sleeve.

The duo moved out and downstairs to arrive at the reception. From there, they took an obscure side hallway moving at a fast pace. Coming out of the hallway, they came to a double door with vine patterns jutting out of the frame. Opening it swiftly, a breeze of chilly morning wind caressed their bodies bringing a wave of floral fragrance with it.

Past the doors brought them to the backyard of the Inn. There was a beautiful garden there with mesmerizing flora. A small stream wandered throughout the entire garden filled with colorful aquatic life.

Noah gawked at the scenery to the point that Nephra had to drag him to keep pace.

Treading past a wooden bridge, they soon reached the middle of the garden where a large tree resided. The tree was truly mystical with its crown sprawling over the center and its vibrant azure leaves.

Under the tree stood Miss Florelle in white training garbs. She was swinging a sword in rhythm with the wind. The leaves danced around her as she performed her sets. The whole scene looked like an art piece. He couldn't help but whisper to Nephra.

"Is Miss Florelle a Knight of some sort?"

She smiled noticing his amazement. She sometimes forgets how great her mom was seeing the same spectacle every day.

"No, she was an adventurer in her early days. Not sure what her Class is but she is retired currently. When I asked her about it, she answered that she couldn't take care of me whilst fighting monsters."

Noah was a bit curious about the adventurer but one thing stood out as strange to him.

"What about your father?" He hadn't yet heard a single thing about her father.

She went silent abruptly and Noah realized he had touched upon a sour topic.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I'm sorry I didn't know your father was- "

"No, you are misunderstanding. Actually, I have never met my father. You know, she did tell me he had died at first when I asked her. I would have believed in her lies had she not slipped up once." Nephra realized he had misunderstood her silence and explained.

"I had to pester her daily about it before she confessed to me that she had separated from him when I was very young. Eventually, she promised to let me meet him if I Pass the Rite which I likely would in the coming month. I am very excited about it. Now, don't you be a snitch and tell that to Mom." She said as they stepped under the Legua Tree. This tree had quite a history. She remembered her mom planting the sapling here after they had finished settling in Erangel almost a decade ago.

"What were you two chatting about?" Miss Florelle stopped swinging her wooden sword and asked them with a bright smile.

Before Noah could respond, Nephra chimed in hurriedly.

"Noah was just dazzled by your beauty and skill."

"Huh!" He was perplexed regarding her statement but a painful pinch to his waist compelled him to follow suit.

"Yes, I would love to hear about your adventurer days."

Miss Florelle ignored their play which was blatant in her eyes. She was thinking it was just some harmless secret they shared. She used to do the same when she was young.

"Oh, she told you about it. I generally don't divulge about my past to others but since Neph already informed you, it would look impolite of me to keep shut."

"Let's see, the Adventuring days. I was young and ambitious at that time. Wanting to explore the world and the wonders it contained. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. I came close to serious danger many times. Yet despite the hardships, I still love those times. It made me who I am today. That's why I keep myself in shape. Besides commemorating, it wouldn't do good for my skills to go rusting now." She recounted some tales of her fighting monsters and traveling the world.

"I should stop here. We should start the lesson now." Miss Florelle said looking towards the distant horizon. They could see the sun slowly rising, bathing them in its warm sunlight.

Following her instruction, they sat on nearby tree stumps turned stools. Miss Florelle then moved towards the tree trunk and came back with a satchel similar to the one he had seen on Knight Rylee.

She then reached inside the satchel and rummaged around looking for something. Noah's eyes widened as her hand disappeared more than it should be physically possible.

"First time seeing this?" Miss Florelle asked.

Noah nodded repeatedly eager to know more about the magical item. She smiled and answered.

"Basic Expansion Runes. These magic bags can be quite handy. The inside is more than three times it looks on the outside." She took out a thin book and tossed it to him. He caught it clumsily and heaved a relief at succeeding. She took out another book, this one was fairly thick and she tossed it to Nephra. She caught it easily and shot him a grin. He gave her an annoyed look.

Miss Florelle started her lesson.

"We will start with basic characters. This language is known as Unified Eqin. It is spoken widely among many Planes with most human kingdoms using this language as their official one. It has 31 characters. Make sure to memorize them."

She pointed at each letter while pronouncing them. He listened attentively to her lesson. Noah knew he had to learn this Eqin language manually as the Blessing was just temporary. Though he wasn't sweating over it. He was fairly confident in his language skills.

He believed he would be able to hold a basic conversation with someone in Eqin within a month. With how proficient in languages he was, he was surprised by how he still hadn't gotten a skill related to linguistics.

The moment he had that thought, a pop-up came up in his vision.

'It seems Akasha is listening on thoughts. Expected nothing less from an omniscient entity.'

Noah wasn't surprised at this revelation. He already had this suspicion with Vanadis being able to read his thoughts. Moreover, he was controlling his Status using his mind. It was fairly obvious when one thought over it carefully. Though, he could do nothing but ignore it for now. He wasn't able to do something about the surveillance Earth Federation puts on its citizens, much less this multiversal system.

Checking over the notifications, he smiled. At least the user service was good.

[Synchronizing Records...

Skill Acquired]

[Language: Ability to grasp languages and converse in them. Increases capacity as well as ease of learning new languages. Does not include Rune script and other magical languages.]

List of Languages with Basic Proficiency:

[English] [Japanese] [Filipino] [Korean] [Mandarin] [Hindi]

His eyebrows quirked up at the description. He could mostly understand it but the last part in the text was what made him excited. Magical languages and Runes. His inner nerd was cackling like a madman. He decided it was of utmost importance to go visit the library once he learns enough to be able to read.

Looking over the list of languages, he was not that surprised. Now, some might be thinking that was a lot of languages but it wasn't even half of what he knew. He also knew parts of other languages like Spanish, Arabic and Russian. In fact, he was quite famous over the internet as a polygot. His videos gave him a substantial side earning.

'The list displayed by the skill seemed to consist of those languages in which he seemed to have a basic mastery.'

By mastery, he meant he was able to read, write and converse in them.

As for what reason had he learned so many languages, well partly because they interested him. Most of the content he followed generally came from few specific zones. This way, he could forgo the hassle of waiting and enjoy it in its native language. He also had a pretty good memory. His stats and Talent probably made it easier for him to absorb knowledge.

Learning the archaic characters wasn't too difficult. Studying the runic shapes, he asked Miss Florelle to repeatedly enunciate the letters he was keeping his fingers on. She caught on to his thinking and was delighted to see him being active in his learning.

What she didn't expect was for Noah to shut the book after ten minutes and close his eyes becoming utterly silent. She thought he was consolidating his learnings.

She didn't wish to disturb his concentration and thus chose to leave him be and check over Nephra. She remembered the lesson Neph was assigned to revise for their next class. She was keen to know about her progress.

On the other hand, Noah was committing the letters to his memory. Rote memorization may not be suited for nurturing creative thinking but one cannot deny its usefulness for grasping a new concept. This method can be followed by others to imprint a concept in mind.

Therefore, it took him no more than ten minutes to have a basic understanding of the characters. He then called upon Miss Florelle.

"What made you stuck, Is it this character?" She said pointing to one of the more complex-looking ones.

Noah shook his head and clarified.

"No, I have memorized them. I want you to test me so I can reinforce my understanding."

She gave him a disbelieving look and said.

"You already did it. That's fast. You aren't pulling a prank, are you?" She picked up the book and turned the pages.

She started asking to pronounce the characters pointing at them one by one. Her eyebrows kept raising as he was answering them one by one. Despite his horrible accent, he managed to remember almost all with only a few minor mistakes.

"Do you have some Talent related to learning?"

Noah was stumped. He was a bit hesitant about coming out with his secrets.

Miss Florelle noticed his concern and reassured him.

"Don't worry. Thought Talents are rare, you can find people with them everywhere. You won't be in any problem. In fact, both me and Nephra have inherent talents."

"What do you mean Inherent? Are some not?" Noah asked curiously.

Miss Florelle chuckled slightly and explained.

"You think Talents are just inborn. No, my dear. New Talents are acquired and old ones improved upon with every Evolution. Having a Talent may provide an advantage at the start but the more you evolve, the less having a Talent is surprising."

"I guess that would make having Talents not that useful." He remarked. It was only logical to think that Evolution would make Talents look like cool gimmicks.

Therefore, he was surprised when she spoke the opposite.

"On the contrary, it makes them more valuable. Do you know how hard it is to evolve. It isn't just training your body and skills but the accumulation of Records. One cannot undergo Evolution without having a certain threshold of Records. That is why the Rite is so important. It signifies that the individual possesses extraordinary potential. That potential is mostly gained through the Records one acquires when leveling up anything from Race to Skills."

Noah pondered over the implications while grading up the importance of the Rite. It didn't seem to just be important but life-changing for people.

He was about to continue his questions except Nephra had to just barge in their conversation.

"What Talent you got? I got one called Dexterous Hands. It makes writing records much faster and easier for me because of the added stat growth." She asked sporting a curious look on her face.

After thinking it over carefully, Noah eventually decided to reveal his Talent. Hiding it now would only do harm to their budding relationship. It shouldn't become a big deal in his opinion. It will mostly be fine as long it wasn't something rare like Ava's Talent.

"Well, I got one called Intelligent. That must be the reason I can learn things fast. Haha" He laughed it off trying to downplay his Talent but it didn't quite bring out the expected result. One can even say it backfired.

The mother and daughter duo had their firm gazes locked onto him.