A Month later

Inside a manor at the center of a big and somewhat crowded town

A handsome young man could be seen standing there looking at his own reflection in front of the mirror with a lazy look on his face as he nodded from time to time

"Yup! As handsome as ever!"

A lot happened in this past month, first of all after another week of living there he finally mastered speaking Japanese, so there are no more communication barriers between him and the world

Following that, he decided to move from that somewhat remote town to the one he is living in right now

The town he's currently living in is very different from the one he just moved from

The first time he came here he thought he had traveled through time, as there are a few familiar things he didn't even know existed in the 90s, It's not as 'modern' as the cities from what he heard but at least it's not as desolate as the last town

After he moved here the first thing he did is get money, mostly by selling gold, jewelry, and other means, it was quite easy as apparently, his ability was quite useful in such regards

Following that he bought the Manor he's currently in and moved in with Saigai, this Manor is very big and luxurious as it has a back garden, a private dojo, and all the other necessary living spaces

The reason he moved here is pretty obvious, First of all, it's a place he can finally settle in for a while

Secondly, this town has a huge population so he can absorb as much as he wants

Speaking of absorbing Dreams, his current 'perception' range increased to 60m, this is thanks to his new strategy

He calls it a 'strategy' but it's just him simply going for a walk in town at night and Absorbing Dreams as he passes by every house

Shouldn't the perception range be much higher than it currently if he does this?

Lorien thought the same thing at the time but apparently the higher it gets the harder the energy required to advance is

For example, to advance from 50 to 50.5 meters may require the dreams of 100 people for a night, but if he wanted to advance from, let's say 60m to 60.5m the energy required may be as high as 100 000 people or more

The same principle applies for his Body, Energy, and Soul strengthening the higher it gets the more energy is needed

But even with this limitation, his physical strength increased a lot, nearly doubling, the same can be said for his energy reserves

As for the last reason...

A voice suddenly came from behind the sliding door

"Lorien! Can I enter?"

"Yeah!"

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Hearing this the door slid open as a slender beauty walked in, her hair tied in a ponytail and blood-red eyes shining brightly, it's obviously Saigai, the only other resident living here apart from Lorien

Looking at her Lorien's eyes shone as he again confirmed how correct he was by taking her with him

"The swordsmanship instructor you asked for has come, he's inside the Dojo waiting for you"

Hearing what Saigai just said Lorien laughed happily as he can finally start getting stronger

"I'll be right there! thanks for informing me"

"No problem!"

With her job done, Saigai happily walked away humming a little song as she headed towards the kitchen, apparently getting ready to prepare dinner

Most of the house tasks were actually taken by her after they moved in, in her own words

'I Can't live here for free, I need work at least!'

Speaking of Saigai, she had a huge transformation in mood and personality this past month

It appears that after staying with Lorien for so long and them not facing any other 'mishaps' or becoming 'unlucky' out of nowhere she finally put her guard down and started enjoying life

And because of this, her relationship with Lorien advanced by leaps and bounds, not a romantic one as of yet but very close nonetheless, different from the awkward one they had before

But further interactions became a bit difficult because of Saigai's self-esteem problem

Shaking his head lightly he soon gave up thinking about it as he walked out of the room and towards the Dojo, As stated before the house wasn't huge so it didn't take long for him to reach it

Even before opening the sliding door, he could clearly see a shadow standing in the middle of the dojo as the doors themselves were translucent

This is the swordsmanship instructor Lorien found for himself after some deliberation

Why even bother looking for a swordsmanship instructor when you can simply wish said knowledge and skills into existence?

First of all the energy Lorien has is still not much even if it had doubled this past month, moreover, swordsmanship isn't some normal knowledge as it holds 'Mystery' if trained deep enough

So, the reason he found an instructor is that when using his ability to 'Learn' if there is some prior knowledge of the subject the energy required decreases depending on how deep said prior knowledge is

For example, If he has already mastered 80% of the subject then his ability will fill the remaining 20% and correct any mistakes he may have had when learning himself, This is much easier than filling the totally of the '100%' on its own

This becomes more noticeable the higher the 'mystery' the knowledge holds

Opening the door slowly, a somewhat old man could be seen standing there straight with his katana on the left side of the waist, he had a strong build despite his age, his temple full of white hair, giving off a gentle aura

After observing him for a moment gave a little bow in his direction and said with a friendly look on his face

"Hello, you are Sodo torena, I suppose, it's nice to meet you, please take care of me for this period of time"

Even though Lorien didn't like the bowing gesture/culture he still did it anyway, After all, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'

You can't expect the world to revolve around yourself and people to change their preconceived behaviors because of you, Respect goes a long way in making things go smoother no matter where you are

Moreover, Lorien is about to learn from the man, so a bit of respect is to be expected, of course, mutual respect is expected

This is Lorien's code of conduct, if you respect me I'll respect you, If you don't...hehe

Hearing the door slide and seeing Lorien greet him, Sodo whose mind was wandering god knows where quickly 'woke up'

Reacting fast, he quickly greeted back with a small bow and replied with a happy smile on his wrinkled face seeing that his employer probably wasn't a pain in the ass

"Hello, Mr. Lo..r..ien, I'll be your swordsmanship instructor for this period of time, also please take care of me"

Hearing Sodo Torena, trying to call his name but miserably failing to, Lorien almost laughed out loud but he still barely held himself back

Sodo Torena is actually the Master of a nearby Dojo and has great skills, he wouldn't usually train students himself, especially beginners like Lorien

But because of the current state of the country, Martial arts and swordsmanships are becoming less and less popular, and with Lorien paying a hefty amount of money and agreement was quickly reached

Even though Lorien's mind was wandering a bit he still continued to communicate with the instructor in front of him who just passed him a Bokken Sword (Training sword)

"Okay then let's start!"