A Happy Day

Under the dim candlelight, Soren and Vivian sat across from each other at a small table. Before them were White Bread, Smoked Meat, fish soup, and lettuce.

Human life in this era was still relatively simple and impoverished. In fact, given the historical backdrop of Western peoples, food itself lacked much creativity. True culinary arts could be found in the Elven Realm and among the small Halflings, especially the latter, who were almost all masters of the kitchen. But to Vivian, the food before her already seemed far too lavish.

"Brother."

The little girl swallowed and blinked. "Isn't this too wasteful?"

There was meat, soup, and White Bread.

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

Soren did not answer. He merely reached out and affectionately stroked her little head. Then, with a flick of his fingers, a gleaming Gold Daler appeared on the back of his hand. Under the dim candlelight, the Gold Daler shimmered. A trace of astonishment appeared on Vivian's lovely little face, then she smiled so hard her eyes narrowed into crescents as she whispered, "Brother."

"Did we get rich?"

She did not care where the money had come from! Since it had fallen into their hands, it belonged to them.

Soren could not help but laugh at the little girl's sneaky, hushed manner. He pinched Vivian's little cheek, then took out an embroidered purse and gave it a gentle shake. It made a crisp clinking sound as he smiled. "This is for you."

"Vivian's share of the profits!"

The little girl did not understand what Soren meant, but that did not stop her from knowing it was something for her.

She reached out to accept the purse. It had been sewn from cloth with simple patterns, the kind of money pouch only noble young ladies in the city used. There was a thin drawstring around the top that could be pulled tight to close it. Vivian opened the purse and was immediately dazzled by the gleam inside. She saw several Gold Dalers, along with quite a few Silver Dalers.

"We're rich!"

The little girl smiled until her eyes became slits, happily putting away the purse as she gave him a sweet smile. "Thank you, Brother!"

These were Gold Dalers!

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

"Eat."

Soren rubbed her little head and placed a slice of meat in her bowl. At first, he had found it difficult to get used to not having chopsticks, but after staying in this world for so long, he gradually stopped caring.

Adventurers in the wilderness were not so particular. Most of the time, he simply ate with his hands!

The little girl happily took a bite, a satisfied expression appearing on her face. Then she scooped up some fish soup with a spoon, blew on it by her little mouth, and held it out before Soren as she blinked. "Brother."

"Open your mouth!"

Soren smiled helplessly and opened his mouth.

Vivian giggled, then suddenly drank the fish soup herself. She smacked her lips theatrically and said, "It's so good!"

"You rascal!"

Soren looked both amused and exasperated, but an inexplicable joy filled his heart.

He had not been this happy in a long time!

It was a quiet day.

The undercurrents surging through Amber City did not affect the pair's good mood!

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

His memories of past battles remained, and Soren remembered them clearly!

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

--!

This was a highly practical Combat Skill. Its key was to gather all the strength of the body into a single slashing attack and unleash it at once.

For example, when throwing a punch.

If you used only the strength of your arm, then you were clearly unqualified.

The force you exerted would not even reach one-third of your full strength, and it would not be fatal when it struck someone!

But if you could use the strength of your waist, congratulations—you had mastered the most basic combat technique, and the force of a single punch would be enough to seriously injure an enemy. But if you could unleash the strength of your entire body along with that punch, then you had truly entered the hall and mastered a combat technique capable of killing.

It was this kind of combat technique.

You had to gather all the strength of your body into one line during a slashing attack, pursuing the greatest speed and greatest destructive power you could achieve!

Only then could you be said to have truly mastered the ability.

It was a Combat Skill applicable to all weapons. When used, it could maximize one's strength. Even an ordinary person with 10 Strength, after mastering the skill, could split through twenty centimeters of wood with a single slash. By concentrating all the body's strength into one line, the explosive combat power was several times greater than normal!

If explained in terms of stats.

It meant that when using this Combat Skill, your damage could erupt at its maximum value!

It was somewhat similar to the Qi Slash skill mastered after a Warrior advanced, except it was a one-time attack, while Qi Slash could stimulate the body's vital energy through a special method and last for around thirty seconds. If one could advance into a Swordmaster, one could even overload the body and accept injury as the price to unleash twice one's usual destructive power!

This was what had once made many people wary of—'fatal attacks that did not require hitting vital points.'

But advancing into a Swordmaster had special requirements. Their explosive method determined that they could not wear any armor or protective gear, otherwise the burden on their bodies would greatly reduce both their speed and destructive power. Just as Soren never wore protective gear heavier than Leather Armor, because it would reduce his agility and greatly weaken his Dodge ability. Rogues made their living through nimble evasion, after all.

If one wanted to wear armor, it had to be heavy armor, sacrificing agility in pursuit of powerful protection.

Time passed bit by bit.

Soren trained for half the day, then began reading.

That was right.

They were the books he had found in the treasure cave. Although he recognized every word in them, he still needed to memorize them again.

Perhaps because he had the Eidetic Memory Feat, Soren memorized them very quickly.

When he committed the words in one book concerning basic spell knowledge and information related to Wizard regions to memory.

A row of information appeared before him:

"Reading complete."

"Successfully read and memorized a book!..."

"Knowledge +1, Spellcraft +1."

...

Without the basic class of Scholar.

Soren could only use the clumsy method of reading books to improve his knowledge. Since these books recorded Wizard spell knowledge, Soren also improved his Spellcraft skill by one point. Put simply, it was familiarity with all kinds of spells. For example, when an enemy used a spell, you could determine what it was based on their pronunciation and gestures, then prepare to Dodge in advance. Or when dealing with certain special magical devices and all kinds of enchanted Supernatural Items, you could identify them through your knowledge of Spellcraft.

No one in battle would shout out what move they were about to use.

Whether you could predict the spell attack an enemy would use depended entirely on your Skill Points in Spellcraft.

This skill was not much use against Warriors.

But when facing spellcasters, it was a life-saving skill that had to be mastered.

Several times, Soren had relied on it to determine the spell a Wizard was casting in advance, then avoid the area covered by the spell.

For example, if you knew the other side was casting Fireball and rolled to Dodge beforehand, you would at most take half the damage.

But if you did not know.

If you stood right in the blast radius of Fireball, you would instantly be wrecked.

If your Spellcraft Skill Points were high enough, you could even judge an enemy's silent spells and Quicken Spells from the fluctuations of Arcane Magic energy around you.

To evade Quicken Spells, Spellcraft was a skill that had to be mastered!

At noon.

Soren took Vivian into Amber City. He needed to buy some daily necessities in the commercial district, including camping tools and little items they might need.

Of course!

The adorable little girl needed a new outfit too.

Since they would be traveling through the wilderness, those pretty but impractical dresses had to be abandoned. Soren's first standard when buying clothes was sturdiness, durability, and convenience. Ideally, they should provide some degree of protection. At the very least, they should not be easily caught and torn by the thorns among wild grass and trees.

So dresses had to be abandoned, and they could only prepare some sturdy shirts and trousers.

Then there were shoes, one of the most important things for wilderness adventures. First, they had to be durable. Second, they had to be thick. More importantly, they had to keep one warm.

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

It even made Vivian complain a little.

After the little girl received the new boots, she said they were too wasteful and too expensive, that ordinary thick cloth shoes would have been enough. Yet her eyes had already curved into two slits, and a broad smile hung on her face for the entire day.

They truly were very delicate and beautiful boots!

Only noble young ladies in the city could probably afford to wear them, though they were a little big, even in the smallest size.

"But it's fine."

"I'll grow a little bigger soon, and then they'll fit perfectly."

"For now, I can stuff something inside them."

The little girl thought about such trivial matters, and a smile unconsciously appeared at the corners of her lips. Her beautiful big eyes narrowed happily as well.

"I have new clothes and new boots!"

"Mm."

"And a new hair ribbon, pink and very pretty."

"Today was so fun!"

And so.

Vivian's happy day passed just like that.

She did not care much at all about leaving Amber City for a long journey, because the little girl's concept of a hometown was very vague.

Besides.

In her heart, only wherever her brother was could be considered home.

So her home was very simple.

Wherever home went, she went.