Syla stares at the dozens of books infront of her, reading the title of each book as she moved onto the next one, then– Something caught her attention.
"Guu! Ga gu!" She tried to tell her mom, swinging her arms up and down to where she wants her mom to look.
"Hm? which one do you want– This one?" Her mom said as she grabbed one of the book with her left hand. The book in her hand was titled 'A Guide to Basic Toxicology' with another small texts just below the main title that reads 'Suitable for beginners'.
"Guu aa! Gaa!" Syla's white tail swung like it never has before, indicating that she is very much interested in the book that her mom is holding, her mom noticed her daughter's strange behavior and decided to put her down on her lap as she sat down in one of the chair in the house.
She then gave the book to Syla, thinking that she probably sees it as a toy or an object of interest, never expecting that Syla would be actually reading it.
'This is a book about poisons! This will be hella useful if i learned it now!' Syla thought as she looked at the poison vial symbol at the front cover, she then waited for her mom to open the pages.
After waiting for a few seconds, the first page of the book was opened, Syla clapped in excitement, but her happiness faded rather quickly, because she soon realized that the letters inside the book are incomprehensible, she hasn't learned how to read yet.
'WHAT!? What is this!? DAMNIT! Why didn't i think of that! Of course the language here would be different! It's not earth anymore! I completely forgot about it, different worlds have different writing system, even if the language spoken were the same.' Syla panicked in her head, she was taken aback by the realization, if she wants to gain knowledge, she would first need to learn the letters and the writing system in this world.
'Urghh.. i give up, i can't decipher it alone..'
"Which part do you like the most?" Syla's mom suddenly asked.
'Hmm, it's only the first page, so.. I doub't i'd get anything informative here using only just the illustration.' She thought, taking a look at every images she could see on the page.
After that, Syla told her mom to keep flipping the pages, she ignored her mother's question and kept looking at the illustrations until the pages reached a hundred.
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A few hours later—
"Syla, let's stop here, the sun is about to go down, it's time for your mom to prepare for dinner, dad is going to come home soon." Her mother said, her hands was about to close the book. "We can continue looking at the images tomorrow, okay?"
Syla's mother then ultimately closed the book, marking the end of Syla's observation session, Syla was left with disappointment, but also satisfaction with how much she gained for the past hours.
'Hey! I was still trying to understand how that plant works!' Syla said in her mind, she knew that whatever she does will not budge her mom anymore, so she temporarily gave up on the book and waited until the next session.
Another day will pass soon, as usual, Syla's dad came home at sunset and they began preparing for a dinner. When the time for dinner strikes, Syla and her family ate together as they discussed a lot of things that happened today and yesterday, her mom told her dad about Syla's interest in books, which in turn made her dad's happy to see his daughter to be such a smart girl at this age.
They discussed about today's hunt, about the neighbors, and even about the situation outside the village. Syla ended up learning new information from this.
'The human village outside the woods were doing a festival? Is there a celebration? or is it a tradition?' Syla thought as she was being fed by her mom.
As a demi-human, her food diet mostly consists of meat, as she was essentially a half human and half wolf, eating meat was mandatory for her growth. Although she can eat other things like vegetables, however from what she heard, it seems like vegetables have lesser nutritional value to demi-humans compared to humans, that's why they mostly eat meat.
'Honestly, this doesn't taste bad, i've been eating nothing but meat ever since i came to this world, but i never get tired of it, is it my natural trait? Though i do still eat a bit of vegetables because mother keeps adding them to my plate—
'It seems like demi-human have some advantages that humans don't have, one of them is enhanced hearing, since my ears is not human, i can hear many things that is far away, That's how i get most of my information from, neighbors gossip sometimes seep through the window and landed into my ears— Not only that, but my eyes is definitely not human too, i haven't looked at myself in the mirror, but looking at how mom and dad got a slit pupils in their eyes, i probably have that too, that explains how i can see things more clearly than i remember when i was human—
'Demi-human overall seems to be a better version of human, but i doubt it only has advantages, there's most likely some disadvantages that i haven't discovered yet, what if they're weak against poison? Seeing as my parents have a literal guidebook for poisons and their cure– What if they're a glass canon that can move in a blink but runs out of stamina instantly? These are something i should take into account. I don't have any innate powers given by that god, that's why i need to be working hard as soon as possible to reach my highest point way ahead of time.'
.
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Tomorrow, 11:00AM—
"Waaa!! Waaa!!" Syla was crying in her crib all alone, her mom was nowhere to be seen, however that's when she suddenly came over, with an apron tucked infront of her, she carried Syla over her arms and tried to calm her down.
"Husshh!.. Hushh! It's okay, mommy's here, let's stop the crying okay? Who's a good girl?" She said while tapping Syla's back gently. "Sshhh, my beautiful Syla, im sorry alright? Mommy needs to do some house chores, so i have to leave you alone– Let's go to the living room okay?"
'Damnit! Why did i have to cry!? My body was moving on its own! Stop it! Mother looks so worried because of me! Is it because i was holding my desire to read that toxicology book again? That my body just instinctively cries because it noticed that my heart is unstable?' Syla thought, she was making her weak body suffer with the thought and desire of an adult, its obviously not something that normal baby would experience, but Syla's case was different.
Her mother carried Syla to the living room, and when they arrived, Syla immediately started to lash her hands out and keeps on pointing at the bookshelf, her crying also stopped momentarily, making her mother thought that she wants the book from yesterday.
"Do you want to take a look at the book from yesterday?" Her mom said, a little bit confused, but was also touched. Her daughter is really interested with knowledge at the age of just a month, and it wasn't just a coincidence. "Oh my..."
She now fully believed that Syla wasn't an ordinary child, she had something different in her.
After giving Syla the toxicology book from last time, her crying completely stopped, and Syla seems to be engrossed with the book, she was calm, and playfully smile at the sight of the illustrations that was contained within the book, she flipped the pages on her own, which surprises her mother, but it's a normal thing for a genius such as herself. Not really.