24 Hearts

Chapter 10

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Serenia: City of Adventurers.

My first goal was the attainment of knowledge.

I had created this world and therefore knew the ins and outs of it better than anyone. However, knowing a computerized universe was not the same as the reality I faced now. The cultural the nature of the people who lived and breathed within them, and a whole slew of other common elements of my world were unknown to me. No computer on Earth would be able to hold that much data. The best way to learn of such things was to experience them first-hand, and it would be wise to travel the realms myself and learn their true nature. Seeing as I was still a child, though, long-distance travel was out of the question. My search for knowledge would have to be confined to reading for the time being.

Serenia had a library which was free and open to any that called the city their home, a situation which I found to be fortuitous. Many of the books had been donated by those who had found them in ruins, and the merchant guild had also donated to the library from the texts that they held in their tower. Lord Peerchen, ever the pragmatist, had bought a great many volumes at bargain prices to further fortify the shelves with reading material.

Reading the languages of my world was quite easy, for most texts were written using Hanguel. The few times that I encountered Latin and Hanzi characters, I could unexpectedly interpret them. I wondered whether this had been one more of Xian’s considerations toward my plight. Either way, I encountered no obstacles in my reading.

I developed a schedule then. Each morning I woke up and jogged along the walls of the inner city. Upon returning home, I washed and prepared a quick breakfast. Then, I headed to the library and conducted my research until it closed for the evening. A week, a month, and then years passed in this fashion. My efforts at maintaining this schedule bore fruit, as the amount my stats had improved was considerable.

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[You have gained 1 Strength; 2 Agility and 4 Stamina due to constant exercise.]

[You have gained 2 Knowledge after reading old books that are difficult for a child to understand.]

[You have gained 2 Magic after reading an ancient arcane book dealing with low-ranking magic.]

[You have gained 3 Knowledge through your voracious reading of 30% of the texts within Serenia Library.]

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It might have been the only thing that I could have done during that year, yet I was very satisfied with the result. To go out on quests and try to level up as a child of eight would have been very unwise. This meant that my level was capped, so I had to focus on gaining bonus stats wherever I could. This forced me to read even the books that were more difficult to understand, such as giant tomes filled with uninspired and very boring poems.

Books that caught my attention, such as novels and treatises on magic, I read avidly and in one sitting. Those that handled more boring fields were a struggle to get through. I persisted in reading them, though, and my efforts paid dividends through my stat increases. After some time, the people of the castle came to regard me as a young scholar and a quasi-librarian.

Reading books all day gifted me with an existence without worry or hardship, especially as Kaseun Sabrak upheld his promise to support me in every way as my guardian. I also did not have to be concerned with thieves breaking into my house, as what thief would think that an orphaned child would hold something of value within his home?

Time passed in a peaceable manner, and soon another year was marked off on the calendar.

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[You have gained 5 Strength; 8 Agility; 6 Stamina and 1 Luck due to constant exercise.]

[You have gained 7 knowledge through your constant absorption of knowledge.]

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So it came to be that two years had passed since I had entered my world, two years spent mainly penned up in a library. The increase in stats had reached a plateau, for I could only raise them that much through reading and running. I was pondering this as I looked at the last page of the last book and then read it.

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[You have read every book to be found in Serenia Library.]

[All your stats have increased by 1.]

[Achievement gained: -Book Worm-]

[-Book Worm-: As a lover of reading, you have read every single text within Serenia Library. Whenever you read a book from now on, you can enable speed reading. There’s still empty space in that noggin of yours!]

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This day marked the end of an era. If I had been this well-read back on Earth, I would have attended the very best university on the planet. I hadn’t only gained knowledge, but also a greater grasp of other languages, for I had grown quite adept at interpreting and even using both Latin and Hanzi scripts.

I considered these things as I sat in one of the libraries’ many opulent armchairs. The only course of action that remained to me was the honing of my Shadow Magic and Swordsmanship. I had not given these facets of my character much thought, always putting them off.

My coming-of-age ceremony was still five years away, so there was enough time to hone these skills.

“Let’s go, then,” I muttered to myself as I stood up and replaced the book. This then was farewell to the musty reek of old books, farewell to all these many shelves.

“It really is goodbye,” I said, with pride creeping into my tone.

As I headed for the exit, the old librarian nodded at me with a smile. I went to his counter, standing on the tip of my toes to regard the man as he looked down at me.

“Oh, you’re going? You seem to be leaving early today.”

“Yes, I don’t think I shall return here for quite some time.”

“Hoh! That means you’ve read all these books, then?”

“It has been a great adventure. I still recall what you said to me when I first came here,” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh, you remember?”

When I had first entered this establishment, the old man had said that there were no books for children to read. I came here day after day, though, and he soon saw that I was sincere. He gave me snacks from time to time after that and helped me whenever I could not understand a word. Some of the more difficult books would have been impossible to read had he not been there to aid me.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll see you again.”

“Of course you will. Visit us any time that you are bored, the library is always open.”

It was a new experience, seeing the midday sun hanging above me as I left the library. I normally came out just before dusk, when the sun lay low over the mountains. As I walked through the streets, I once more noticed a great many adventurers who did so as well. Pernen’s fragment had not yet been found, and nations kept sending knights and mercenaries all the way here to scour the region for it.

Making my way through the hustle and bustle of Serenia, I finally reached my home. As I inserted the key in the lock and made to turn the handle, I noticed that the door was already open. I knew that it had been locked, as it had been my habit to do so these past two years. Someone had clearly breached my home. Slowly, I turned the knob and ghosted inside.

“Ah?” Came a young, startled voice as I made my entrance, coming before four children who stood in my lounge.

“What are you doing in here?” I demanded. Where they to be considered thieves? They stared at me in confusion, clearly having known my schedule and expecting me not to be home at this early hour. “Ju… Judah!”

I was well known within the city, as the news of my orphaning and Kaseun Sabrak’s subsequent adoption had become a common topic of gossip. No one bore any ill will toward me, for I was a polite and self-sufficient boy who never caused trouble, locked in my studies as I had been. The adults treated me well, and often scolded their children to imitate my example. This did little to foster friendship between me and many of the young ones, for the minds of children could be more pernicious and sadistic than many an adult scoundrel.

Few of the children liked me, yet none had before been brazen enough to invade my property.

I closed the door behind me, seeing that these urchins had not even removed their shoes before trespassing, tracking mud all over the floors that I kept clean by myself. I saw the four of them nervously start to shuffle in my direction, toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Uh… Uh… Home!” The bravest of them sputtered.

“You come into my house without permission, dirty my floors, and now you just want to waltz back to your mommies and daddies?” I asked them, chuckling harshly. They exchanged nervous glances at my laughter. It was then that I recognized them, these four: They had mocked me before, calling me a poor little orphan. I had done nothing to them then, for their parents had been nearby.

“He… He doesn’t want to make way for us,” a nervous boy who looked like a weasel sputtered.

“Ha, we’re getting out of here. I’ll go first,” the largest of their number said as he strode up to me and grabbed my shoulder, trying to push me out of the way. I did not budge an inch, for the difference in our stats was considerable, Judah possessing far greater strength than this lout. My hand snapped out, grabbing him by the wrist and twisting it until I heard something snap.

“Oooh, it hurts… It hurts!” He wailed, staggering back from me. I followed with a kick to his midsection, and he crumpled to the ground in submission.

“He’s only one!” My next assailant shouted. I slammed my palm into his face as he charged at me, stepping onto his right foot with my left and slamming him to the ground in one fluid motion as I robbed him of his balance. I drew my arm back, threatening to punch him, and he started to cry at this threat, clearly beaten.

“We were wrong! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me!”

“Sorry!” Another shouted, one of the remaining two had clearly seen the folly of fighting me. I had shown them what I was capable of. The boys I had beaten continued sobbing, staring at me with terrified eyes. I then proceeded to pat them down, wishing to know if they had stolen anything. They had not, so at least they were mere trespassers and not thieves.

Their crying was starting to get on my nerves.

“Hey, you two, if you really want a reason to cry, I’m going to hit you some more.”

This threat worked wonders, and they shut up in quick order, nodding at me as their tears dried upon their cheeks. Satisfied, I locked the door behind me and went to fetch a mop, bucket, and some rags from the bathroom. This I threw down before them.

“Now take of your shoes and clean my floor, every inch where you guys have stepped. You know how to clean a floor, right? I’m sure you help your mothers at home. If you don’t know how, well, figure it out.”

“If we clean it all up, we can go, right?” An older girl asked. I nodded, seeing that she had more wits about her than the other three.

“Of course you can. Two of you take the mop and bucket and move up and down in straight lines. The other two can follow them, drying the floor with the cloth.”

Such was their fright that they obeyed me to the letter. I followed them around, making sure that they didn’t get brave and try to jump out of a window, all the while putting my hand on the floor to ensure it had been wiped dry.

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[You have defeated the little children who had snuck into your house]

[You have gained 1 agility]

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I was not very happy upon reading this message, even if I had gained a stat point.

“You don’t have to reward me for doing something like this,” I muttered angrily.

* * *

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[Hint:]

[Bonus stat points can be randomly earned in the world by doing certain tasks or accomplishing certain deeds]

[Repeating the same action, however, will not continue to grant you the same stat points]

[Stats might also stop increasing once they have reached a cap]