When Lieve brought Andric home, she took a slate tablet and a stick of chalk and copied the contents of the sheet of paper onto the slate. Though 100 coins wasn’t a huge sum of money - and nobody cares how much Japanese yen it equals - paper wasn’t something Lieve or Wolter could easily obtain. In the hands of Andric, who could do any number of things to a fragile sheet of paper, a solid slate tablet was much safer.
The slate was entirely black, and the chalk was pure white. Though Wolter and Lieve could use magic to reuse paper and ink, reusing slate and chalk was much easier. With two thoughts, either of them could clear the slate and reform the stick of chalk. Even if Andric dropped the slate and it broke, they could easily fix it.
Wolter and Lieve could fix the sheet of paper just as easily as fixing the slate, but they wouldn’t be able to do anything if Andric ate the sheet of paper. Andric was pretty responsible and had a good sense about it, and neither of his parents worried about him purposefully eating the paper or chalk, but better safe than sorry. If he ate the chalk, they could use magic on him and heal any discomfort he felt.
Lieve had begun teaching Andric how to read several months ago and only because he showed an unnatural interest in it. Nobody, not even Lieve or Wolter’s friends, understood how or why Andric had such a fascination with written and spoken words. Andric, of course, wouldn’t be telling them, since he didn’t want his status as a reincarnated person to be known. Perhaps in the future, he thought.
In the present, however, Andric’s biggest concern was learning how to use magic. It obviously had something to do with reading the mantra that was given to Lieve by the man at the stall, but Andric couldn’t comprehend how many of those chants Wolter or Lieve would need to have memorized if they mentally spoke it every time they used a spell.
Andric needed to start by speaking the words written on the slate, but such a challenge would be more difficult than anything he had yet to face in his new life. Though he knew how to read the alphabet and several words in his new language, the slate had more than a dozen unknown words on it. Thanks to Lieve’s clear handwriting, Andric could read it all, but sounding out a hundred characters would take some time.
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‘G r o w t h f r o m l o n g e v i t y. E t e r n a l l y c a s t u p o n t h e v e i l o f a d v a n c e m e n t. W i t h b o u n d n a i l t o p r o d u c e i n f i n i t y.’
When going from simple, three-letter words to a three-sentence paragraph, Andric had his work cut out for him. He wanted to laugh at himself, being intimidated by a few sentences, but it was no time to jokes. He stood on the cusp of unimaginable power, and he only needed to read the words written in front of him.
Naturally, completing his reading of the chant came above everything else in order of importance to Andric. Even if he didn’t understand what it meant, he only needed to read it out. Whether or not he needed to say it fluently or really know what the words mean, that could only be learned at a later time.
Andric started by sounding out the individual letters. Unfortunately, the letters in his new language were entirely different from the letters in his old language. In his past life, Andric learned a second language easily because the second language’s letters sounded like his first language’s letters. In his current life, Andric couldn’t find any similarities between the new language and any of his previous languages.
If Andric had to be thankful for anything, it was that the human mouth could only make a limited number of sounds. Even better, Lieve was there to help him with anything he didn’t understand. When given enough time, he would surely be able to sound out any combination of letters.
However, Andric’s ability to read the words became inconsequential when Lieve simply read them to him. All he would need to do was repeat after her.
“Growth from longevity. Eternally cast upon the veil of advancement. With bound nail to produce infinity,” she spoke once and showed Andric her hands, and her fingernails on all of her fingers grew by almost an inch.
Andric’s first thought: could he obtain that same power simply by reciting the words on the slate?
He desperately tried repeating the words exactly as Lieve had said them, but he eventually cursed his own body and lips. Though he tried, he just couldn’t get the sounds to come out right. His fluency of the new language was too small; even though he knew what sound he should have made, what he actually produced was slightly different.
In the end, Andric could only steel himself to keep trying.