With our Adventurers card, we were able to get into the capital without paying any fees. However, inside the capital as the sun began to set, a dark atmosphere seemed to loom about. I calmly thought to myself, that maybe it was just my imagination.

We quickly found an inn nearby, and paid for separate rooms with the approaching night. The Inn seemed to be lively. Inside was a wide dining area with multiple tables. At first glance the Inn looked extremely lavish, but after examining the kind of people coming in and out, I noticed it was an inn for adventurers.

Everyone that was dining, or walking around was armed. There was a large diversity of weapons being carried by Adventurers. Compared to the merchant city Canute, more people walked around with their weapons out. Considering that Canute was a smaller town, and this was the city, it was expected to some degree. Adventurers dressed in a variety of different armors. Some were black, some white, and some blue. Of course the diversity of experienced and novice adventurers was also present.

After dining alone with Misha, tucked away in a corner away from the rest of the people dining, we retired for the night.

Well, at least Misha had. I’ve been curious about my outrageous skill proficiency growth, so I headed outside into the wide spacious area next to the Inn. When we first walked here, I noticed there were a few training logs specifically for target practice in the empty lot.

I made my way to the row of training logs outside. Under the starlit sky, there was an archer outside practice her bow skills. After firing a few arrows, she would pull out her arrows from the log. Afterwards, the log itself would automatically repair the holes that were created. It was a fascinating site to see. Self-repairing logs!

Inspecting the training logs closely, it was actually imbedded into the ground. On the ground itself under the log, was a complicated magic circle. It’s probably what gives the log an auto repair function. On the front of the log was a target carved into it. The target was marked with red coloring, while the circles making up the outside of the target were alternating colors of white and blue.

I pulled out 5 throwing daggers. After taking them out and confirming the sharpness, I began to practice throws.

After about an hour of practicing, I took a break. Needless to say, my throwing technique was really bad. I would either miss the log completely, or hit the edges outside of the target.

STATUSTetsu TagamiLv 6Race : HumanHP : 150/150MP : 175/175STR : 16AGI : 12MA : 15LUK : ???Available Skill Points : 4

PASSIVE SKILLSSword Mastery : 3/10Dagger Mastery 5/10Muscle Mastery 8/10Dual Wielding 1/10(NEW!) Weapon Throwing Mastery 1/10Light Magic Mastery 1/10

ACTIVE SKILLSHeavy Slash : 1/10Magic Edge 2/10Analyze : 1/10

TITLESLiving ZombieOtherworldly TravellerSlime Slayer???

I confirmed that the skill was there on my status screen, but why it didn’t level once after all this time had completely eluded me.

“Hello. Sorry for the intrusion, but I noticed you were having some difficulty”

Approaching me from the other side of the empty lot was the archer who had been practicing her bow skills. She was wearing tight leather clothing, and headgear that covered everything on her head but her face. Besides a gentle looking face, her pupils were a fierce deep red color. Her voice was soft, yet powerful. Although she had a slender body, the atmosphere around her was like someone who had experienced countless amounts of battles.

“Ah, yes…”

I gave a short dejected reply back. After hundreds of practice throws, nothing had changed. I didn’t gain any new insight on why my other skills were developing so fast.

“Would you like some pointers?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind”

At a complete loss, I was open to her suggestion.

“Then if you don’t mind”

Casually picking up one of my daggers that were next to me, she began to explain in detail on how she normally threw daggers.

“Having a stance is not important for throwing. However, it is good to at least have the technique down.”

Holding the end of the dagger’s handle within her fingertips, she readied her arm in a throwing motion.

“This is normally how I do it”

She showed me the movements of her arm, as she slowly traced a path in the air a few times.

“And don’t forget, you’ll still need to properly aim in order to hit your targets”

Looking straight at the target, she pointed the tip of the dagger directly at the center.

“All that’s left is to just throw your dagger”

With a clean arm motion, she launched the dagger that hit the target dead in the center.

“Now you try it”

Getting up on my feet, I briskly walked to where she stood. Copying her arm motion a few times, I concentrated on the target.

In one fluid motion, I threw the dagger. There was a huge difference this time. I had hit inside the first innermost ring near the center.

“Not so bad, keep up the practice and you’ll hit the center in no time”

“Ah! Thank you!”

I expressed my gratitude and slightly bowed.

“See you around”

Almost immediately after I thanked her, she walked towards the Inn. I hadn’t noticed it before, but maybe it was hidden from plain view? Or maybe she had just now taken it out. There was an extravagant sword hanging on her waist. The sword gave off a warm pale blue aura. So was she an archer or a swordsman? Or maybe she was both?

I decided to continue practicing her knife throwing technique for a while longer to see if hitting the target was attributed to luck.

STATUSTetsu TagamiLv 6Race : HumanHP : 150/150MP : 175/175STR : 16AGI : 12MA : 15LUK : ???Available Skill Points : 4

PASSIVE SKILLSSword Mastery : 3/10Dagger Mastery 5/10Muscle Mastery 9/10(+1)Dual Wielding 1/10(NEW!) Aiming 4/10(+3)Weapon Throwing Mastery 6/10(+5)Light Magic Mastery 1/10

ACTIVE SKILLSHeavy Slash : 1/10Magic Edge 2/10Analyze : 1/10

TITLESLiving ZombieOtherworldly TravellerSlime Slayer???

These were the results.

Although I said a while longer, I actually ended up engrossed with my rapidly growing skill levels and stayed up late into the night.

I’ve come to a slight realization after tonight’s testing. Diligently practicing something over and over is useless if you don’t know the technique. The reason why my throwing skill didn’t level up the first time around was because I was unfamiliar with the throwing method, and the reason for me not being able to hit anything, was because I hadn’t yet acquired the [Aiming] skill.

After organizing all of the events that had happened over the course of the day, I went to sleep. That night, I dreamt a giant snake coiled around me, and began to slowly constrict me to death.

“Good morning, Tetsu”

“Oh, good morning”

Misha greeted me in the hallway outside of the room. I wonder if she was waiting for me to wake up. In any case, after a quick greeting we were on our way. Although, the only problem was that I wasn’t exactly sure where to find the Spirit Seer.

“Misha, do you happen to know where the Spirit Seer is in this city?”

“Umm… I don’t remember”

I sort of knew she wouldn’t know, but I had to ask anyways. I wasn’t particularly troubled though, I could probably ask around for the location.

After asking around a few shops, someone was able to point me in the right direction, so the only thing left to do was tour around the capital. With sightseeing in mind, we explored the city until noon. Although, Misha was opposed to the idea, she reluctantly agreed when I told her we would be leaving the next day.

Inside the Spirit Seer’s shop

Ring!

A bell on top of the door signaled the opening and closing of the front door.

“Welcome, are you perhaps a customer?”

A man with long brown hair greeted me. He wore some kind of silky gown that was reminiscent of what the pope in my former world wore. It was a completely white gown, embroidered with gold colored patterns. He was sitting down at a small table in the center of the room.

Currently, I was inside the Spirit Seers shop. But isn’t this somehow similar to what a fortune teller’s shop is? Isn’t this guy overly dressed for doing such a simple task?! The man in front of me is looked likely older than me, by also slightly younger? I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.

The room wasn’t exactly like what I’ve seen back in my world, rooms with all kinds of crazy decorations, but it was instead much larger with only a few potted plants spread around. And rather than a shop, it looked more like the living room of a house!

“I’d like to know what kind of magic I can learn”

I answered his question with what had been on my mind for a while now.

“The fee will be 5 silver. Will that be fine with you?”

The man replied to me with an expressionless face.

Expensive! I could live for at least 2 weeks inside a relatively decent Inn that provides 3 meals a day with 5 silver!

Taking out the payment, I sat down in a chair opposite of him while Misha stood behind me. As soon as he received the money, the colors of his eyes changed into a countless amount of colors as he intensely stared at me.

“You… what are you?”

“Hmm?”

After a long moment of silence, he blurted out a question.

“Are you human?”

“Yes?”

His eyes changed back to its normal blue color.

I guess my appearance is still quite lacking. Speaking of which, I haven’t had a chance to properly look at myself in a mirror since coming here. I should find a place with a mirror.

“Intriguing, I’ve never seen an absurd existence such as you before”

His expressionless face finally broke into a smile.

“Is there something wrong with me?”

“You are someone who can excel at everything. But there’s also something much more than just elemental magic. How should I say it…? It’s a type of magic that suits you even more than any of the 7 elements.”

“WAIT! I can use all types of magic?”

“Yes, bu-…“

“This is great!”

I didn’t mess up after all! Eh, but now that I think about it, what are the 7 elements? Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Dark? Hmm, Judging from my skill list, Lightning Magic wasn’t available. So it’s something that I can learn but requires hard work and dedication? Eh, I suppose I can ask this guy about that as well.

“As I was saying, there is a mag-…“

“Hey! Is it possible that my weakest magic type is the lightning attribute?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But the one that best suits yo-…“

“That’s a relief! Thanks a lot! By the way, what’s the best element I can lear-…“

“SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME YOU DAMN IMBACELLE”

Geh?!! I didn’t expect this guy to get so upset all of sudden! That was really surprising.

“…… sorry… please go on…”

I immediately apologized for continually interrupting him with my head down.

“Ahem! Then if I may, the highest elemental compatibility you have is with fire. However outside of the 7 elements, your greatest potential lies in non-elemental magic. There are many people who are able to utilize that kind of magic, however, your potential with it is something that even someone such as myself is unable to analyze”

“Ah, thank you.”

After he finally finished talking, I thanked him and walked out of the shop. After that outburst from him, I was slightly embarrassed at myself, so I didn’t want to stay much longer than I needed to. But, now that he confirmed that I can learn light type magic, how do I use it?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the shop sat the man watching the door to the shop close as the pair quickly left. He had been lost in his own thoughts.

(I’ve never seen such a thing before. All elemental magic is rare, however to have such limitless potential with kind of magic. Perhaps, was this meeting fate?)

Never before had he seen something so abnormal within the soul of a human being.

Ring!

The door to the shop opened once again.

“Ah! Sorry for leaving you here! And thank you for looking after my shop while I was gone”

“It’s no problem at all”

The man smiled at the young looking shop owner who had burst through the door.

“Is that a smile from the one known as the Emotionless Sage?!!”

“Yes, it’s been many years since I’ve last seen something that has piqued my interest”

While speaking, the shop keeper had flipped the sign on her shop window from open to closed.

“So, what has your interest this time old timer?”

“Old timer? Perhaps that name does suits me, much more than the title of being a Sage. For now, I’ll be taking a leave of absence”

The Sage with long brown hair stood up from his chair and walked towards the exit.

“Ah! You still haven’t answered my question!”

The Sage stopped and slightly turned his head with a large grin on his face.

“To bear witness to the birth of a new hero”