A Happy Day

Under the dim candlelight.

Soren and Vivian sat opposite each other at a small table, with white bread, smoked meat, fish soup, and lettuce laid out before them.

In this era, human provisions were relatively simple and meager. In fact, given the historical background characterized by Western-like demographics, the food itself lacked creativity. True culinary artistry resided in the Elven Kingdom and among the small-statured Halflings; the latter, in particular, almost all possessed master-level cooking skills. However, to Vivian, the food before her seemed a bit too lavish.

"Brother."

The little girl swallowed, blinking her eyes as she asked, "Isn't this too wasteful?"

There was meat, soup, and white bread.

In the past, they could only eat such good things during the New Year.

Soren did not answer. He simply reached out and affectionately patted her little head, then flicked his fingers, causing a shining Gold Thaler to appear on the back of his hand. Under the dim candlelight, the Gold Thaler glinted, causing a look of astonishment to appear on Vivian's pretty little face. She then smiled until her eyes narrowed into crescent moons, whispering, "Brother."

"Are we rich?"

She didn't care how the money came to be!

Since it was in their hands, it was theirs.

The way the little girl spoke in a sneaky, hushed tone amused Soren. He reached out to pinch Vivian's little cheek, then took out an embroidered pouch. He shook it gently, and it emitted a crisp, jingling sound. He smiled and said, "This is for you."

"Vivian's share!"

The little girl didn't understand what Soren meant by "share," but that didn't stop her from knowing it was something for her.

She reached out her small hand to take the pouch. It was sewn from fabric with simple patterns; only noble ladies in the city would use such money bags. It had a drawstring, and as long as you pulled it tight, it could be fastened. Vivian opened the pouch and was immediately dazzled by the light inside. She saw several Gold Thalers and quite a few Silver Dalers.

"We're rich!"

The little girl smiled until her eyes narrowed, happily tucking the pouch away. She gave a sweet smile and said, "Thank you, Brother!"

These were Gold Thalers!

She had never held so much money before. It was enough to buy lots and lots of food, and she could even buy a new dress.

"Eat."

Soren rubbed her little head and placed a slice of meat into her bowl.

At first, he hadn't been used to the lack of chopsticks, but as he stayed in this world longer, he gradually stopped caring.

Adventurers in the wild didn't have so many formalities; most of the time, he just ate with his hands!

The little girl happily took a bite, a look of satisfaction appearing on her face. She then used a spoon to scoop up a bit of fish soup, blew on it near her little mouth, and held it out to Soren, blinking as she said, "Brother."

"Open up!"

Soren smiled helplessly, then opened his mouth.

Vivian chuckled, suddenly drank the fish soup herself, and smacked her lips in a showy manner, saying, "So delicious!"

"You rascal!"

Soren's expression was a mix of laughter and tears, yet he felt an inexplicable joy in his heart.

It had been a long time since he had felt this happy!

It was a quiet day.

The turbulent undercurrents within Amber City did not affect the good mood of the two.

Soren got up early to practice his swordsmanship. Basic Swordsmanship could be perfectly applied to any weapon because its core consisted of three moves: chopping, hacking, and thrusting.

His past combat memories remained, and Soren remembered them very clearly!

He practiced according to the routines in his memory, familiarizing himself with the weapon in his hand and his own body as well.

--Sword Stance-Heavy Chop!

This was a very practical combat skill. Its key was to concentrate the strength of the entire body into a single chopping attack and unleash it.

For example, when you throw a punch.

If you only use the strength of your arm, then it is clearly not up to par.

The power unleashed is less than one-third of your total strength, and it wouldn't be fatal if it hit someone!

But if you can utilize the strength of your waist, then congratulations, you have acquired the most basic combat technique, and the power of that punch is enough to severely injure an enemy. However, if you can unleash the strength of your entire body along with that punch, only then have you truly entered the hall and mastered a combat technique capable of being fatal.

Sword Stance-Heavy Chop was exactly this kind of combat skill.

You must be able to concentrate your entire body's strength into a single line during a chopping attack, striving for the maximum speed and maximum lethality you can exert!

Only then can it be considered truly mastering the ability.

Sword Stance-Heavy Chop is a combat skill that can be applied to all weapons. When used, it allows one to exert their strength to the maximum. Even an ordinary person with 10 points of strength can split a twenty-centimeter-thick piece of wood with a single chop after mastering the skill. Because the entire body's strength is concentrated into a single line, the combat power unleashed is several times greater than usual!

If put in data terms:

It means that when using this combat skill, your lethality can erupt to its maximum value!

It is somewhat similar to the Qi Slash skill mastered by warriors after advancing, except that Sword Stance-Heavy Chop is a one-time attack, while Qi Slash can maintain itself for about thirty seconds by stimulating the body's blood and energy in a special way. If one can advance to a Sword Saint, they can even unleash double their usual lethality at the cost of their body operating under overload and sustaining injury!

This was what used to make many people wary—the "fatal attack that doesn't need to hit a vital point."

However, the advancement of a Sword Saint has special requirements. Their method of unleashing power dictates that they cannot wear any armor or protective gear; otherwise, the physical burden would cause a significant drop in both their speed and lethality. It is just like how Soren never wears anything heavier than leather armor, as doing so would decrease his agility and drastically lower his ability to dodge. One could say that a Rogue relies on agility and evasion to make a living.

To wear armor, it must be heavy armor, sacrificing agility in exchange for powerful defensive capabilities.

Time passed bit by bit.

Soren spent half the day training, then began to read.

That's right.

He was reading the books he had found in the treasure cave. Although he recognized all the characters on the pages, he still needed to memorize them all over again.

Perhaps because he possessed the Eidetic Memory feat, Soren's speed of memorization was very fast.

When he finished memorizing the text from one of the books regarding basic spell knowledge and information on various Wizard territories, a row of data appeared:

"Reading complete."

"You have successfully read and memorized a book!..."

"Lore +1, Spellcraft +1."

Without the base class of Scholar, Soren could only improve his Lore through the clumsy method of reading books. Since these books recorded the spell knowledge of Wizards, Soren also increased his Spellcraft skill. Simply put, this is one's familiarity with various spells. For example, if an enemy uses a spell, you can determine what it is based on their incantations and gestures, allowing you to prepare to dodge in advance. Or, in the case of special magical devices and various enchanted extraordinary items, you can identify them through your knowledge of Spellcraft.

In battle, no one is going to shout out what move they are about to use.

Whether or not you can predict an enemy's spell attack depends entirely on your own skill points in Spellcraft.

This skill is useless against warriors.

But if you are dealing with Mages, it is a life-saving skill that must be mastered.

Soren had relied on this several times to identify the spells a Wizard was casting in advance, allowing him to dodge out of the area of effect.

For instance, if you know the opponent is using Fireball and you predict it early to roll and dodge, you will take at most half the damage.

But if you don't know?

If you are caught directly in the blast radius of a Fireball, you are instantly finished.

If your Spellcraft skill points are high enough, you can even judge an enemy's silent-cast or quick-cast spells by the fluctuations of arcane energy in the surroundings.

If you want to dodge quick-cast spells, Spellcraft is a skill that must be mastered!

At noon.

Soren brought Vivian into Amber City. He needed to head to the commercial district to purchase some daily necessities, including camping gear and other small items they might find useful.

Of course!

The cute little girl also needed a new set of clothes.

Since they were going on a long journey into the wild, those pretty but impractical dresses would definitely have to be abandoned. Soren's primary criteria for the purchase were durability, practicality, and convenience. Ideally, they would provide some level of protection. At the very least, they had to be sturdy enough not to be snagged or easily torn by the thorns and branches found in the wilderness.

Therefore, dresses were out of the question; he could only prepare some sturdy trousers and shirts.

Next were the shoes, which were one of the most important items for wilderness adventuring. First and foremost, they had to be durable; secondly, they had to be thick; and most importantly, they had to provide warmth.

Soren did not skimp on this at all, spending three Gold Thalers directly on a pair of high-quality deerskin boots.

This even led to a bit of complaining from Vivian.

After the little girl received the new boots, although she kept saying it was too wasteful and expensive, and that a pair of ordinary thick cloth shoes would have sufficed, her eyes had already crinkled into slits, and she wore a beaming smile for the entire day.

They really were exquisite and beautiful boots!

She figured only the noble ladies in the city could afford to wear them. They were just a little bit big, even though they were the smallest size available.

But that doesn't matter.

I will grow a bit bigger soon, and then they will fit just right.

For now, I can just stuff something inside.

The little girl thought about these trivial matters, and a smile appeared on her lips again unconsciously, her large, beautiful eyes crinkling with joy.

I have new clothes and new boots!

Hmm.

And a new hair ribbon, pink and very pretty.

Today is truly a happy day!

And so.

Vivian's happy day passed just like that.

As for leaving Amber City to travel far away, she didn't really care at all, because the little girl had a very vague concept of "hometown."

Besides.

In her heart, wherever her brother was, that was her home.

So her home was very simple.

Wherever home went, she went too.