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The following day started, as usual, with a run with Freya, just before dawn, then I instructed her on the training exercises until around midmorning, when I left her in the inn to rest and went to work out a sweat at the training area of the explorer guild.
Like the day before, the place didn't have many people other than the slaves keeping the place clean.
The daily fee included all the equipment, fortunately, which was why it cost so much, otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered. I found out that I could lift almost 1100 kg, which was nearly on par with a Level 41 Warrior who had less than a fourth of his Stats in Strength.
I had no idea how I'd fare in speed and reflexes, since I never looked at numbers too much in the past. My method was to observe and judge, since body type and technique could change things drastically even within the same Class.
The only reason I even knew how to compare Strength was because of the challenges of the gladiators in the training ground.
I could guess, though, that I was either on par or better in other areas.
I had noticed an all around improvement after my evolution and judging by how my reflexes and control were keeping up with my strength and speed I suspected I wasn't too far behind in those too. There was a high probability, in fact, that aside from the areas where they focused in, I was better than most people in the 41 to 50 range, since Classes, and people, tend to favor certain Stats — they have a limited amount of points after all.
Still, despite that, I'd only have a fair chance against a Level 40 opponent.
If it was a purely physical fight, where the opponent didn't use Skills, I could probably match up against a Level 44, considering my experience and abilities, and maybe a few levels more using mana, but, otherwise, I would be crushed by a Level 41.
Against an air blast spanning tens of meters that could blow me off my feet, or a heat wave boiling me alive, there was nothing much I could do. It was either ambush or escape.
After my workout, I stopped to talk with John.
I already left my payment in the reception to find me an opponent and reserve a cage. I didn't have any requirement other than the Level, at least for now, but I had to give my specifics.
John didn't believe I was an Unblessed, since he saw me train, but he noted down the characteristics I gave him, just saying that I would be banned from the service if I lied, about what I was capable of.
He probably thought I had some strange variant Class of Warrior. I was starting to consider using that as an excuse. After all, only Priests and the Church contraptions could access people's Status, so until I met one I could fool everyone. I heard that high level Scouts had Skills that could guess the Level and Classes of people, but I doubted it worked on the Status, since it apparently returned a Level and Class for children too.
Class Child was a thing, it seems — for the Skill at least.
I stopped by the bar going out to greet the old man and ask him where I could find a bookstore, then I headed back to the inn to have lunch with Freya. I had no idea how she could wait inside the room without doing anything.
I think I'll teach her meditation later, I thought as we went down to eat.
She was still struggling with the training, but she had enough grit, so I thought it was doable.
Given her willpower and diligence, I'll eventually leave her to do the basic exercises alone while I train alongside her, but I could last for a lot longer than her, and since I couldn't imagine her going around chatting with people it would be better if she did some meditation in the meantime while she waited me to finish.
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She also needs to find something to do while I'm not around. It's not like we can always be together every day, after all. I also need my alone time.
We then ordered our food and took a table for ourselves.
"So," I said, after we sat down, "Is there anything you want to do to keep yourself busy? 'Cause just looking out the windows will get boring after a while."
She looked at me with a troubled expression. "I don't know. I never thought about it."
Now I was troubled too.
"Come on, don't you have anything you dreamed of doing? Nothing you would have liked to do instead of doing slave work?" I asked her, hoping she'd come up with something.
"I wanted to be strong," she said, right away.
Then she thought for a moment and added. "And I hoped to get a good Class, so I could live better."
She then stopped with a thoughtful look.
Ok, she's already doing the first thing. The second is out, I thought, wringing my brain for solutions, while I waited for her to come up with something.
"I also wanted to eat tasty food," she said after our lunch arrived. "This is good."
"Mm, okay, anything else?" I asked, while cutting the meat they brought me. It wasn't as good as what we ate in the other inn, but still better than what I ate in the past.
"Uhm... I thought I'd like friends," she said, glancing at me.
"Well, you got me for now. I'm more of a big bro, though. You can call me that, by the way," I said to her with a grin.
She looked down at her food with a barely audible, "Okay."
"You'll get some in time," I said, thinking she was feeling down, "After meeting people you'll naturally get some. It would be better if you were more talkative, though, so just practice speaking in front of a mirror or something in the meantime."
It would be amusing to catch her doing that. Of course, that wasn't why I proposed it. It was a fine way to pass the time, after all.
"Anything else? Like, why did you want to get a Class? Was it just to get strong?" I asked.
She thought about it a bit more before answering, "I thought I could be stronger and make fewer mistakes when I had one... and maybe be a bit smarter."
I stopped moving my hands after I heard what she said, as a memory came to me.
"That!" I said, pointing the fork at her. It had a piece of meat on it, which I promptly ate.
"That — munh — could be the thing," I said as I chewed on the meat, pointing back the fork at her.
She looked at me quizzically.
"Studying! You be smart!" I said incoherently after I swallowed.
She didn't understand. I had to elaborate more.
"They say you get smarter if you study. Not sure about that, but we can try! We may have to do some studying with the guys who'll train us, but we can start now with easy stuff. I have to go to the bookstore later anyway, to buy pen and paper, so we can find something then," I told her.
This, at least, would keep her busy until she found what she wanted to do. Maybe she'll come to like studying, too, with time.
"Okay," she said with a relieved look.
After we ate lunch, we headed out right away to go to the bookstore Markus recommended me to. It was a fairly big place near the market, and I remembered it from my tours of the city, so we found it right away.
I thought it was better to have some knowledge of the world, so I asked for a recommendation from the owner, and we bought: History of the Senez Kingdom, Countries and Cultures of Esky, and Ademil: The Land of Wonders.
"This book on Ademil is an interesting read, but I advise you not to take everything it says for granted. I have confirmed some information with a few people, but most of what's written down is too farfetched to be believed as truth. The countries and religions seem to reflect the truth, excluding some ridiculously exaggerated numbers, so it's still informative, but the rest feel like tales or legends. It's enjoyable to read, though, so I recommend it," said the owner when he passed me the book.
It was a book on another continent; I couldn't not buy it. Maybe one day I would travel there.
He also convinced me to take a blank notebook instead of a few sheets of parchment.
Almost seventy silvers for everything. I felt slightly uneasy when it was time to pay but went through with it anyway. Aside from the notebook and ink, the others weren't consumables, so I could eventually sell them back if I needed money.
"I already feel smart just holding a book! Can't you feel it too, Freya?!" I exclaimed after we came out of the bookstore.
She shook her head.
"Wonderful! It means you'll have to study harder than me. No more free time for you!" I laughed.
That made her smile a little — a rare occurrence.
"Nice smile there! You should do it more," I said, making her blush.
Shy girl, I thought as we walked back to the inn.
We left our purchases in our room and I proceeded to teach her a few techniques for hand-to-hand combat.
In the evening, I taught her meditation for a while, and then we put our heads in the books. Almost literally, for Freya, before I told her to go to sleep.
Despite my interest, I had a hard time, too. It was my first time reading more than a few words stringed together, so I didn't expect to have such a hard time concentrating, but it was fine.
It was just another challenge.
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