The evening before going to bed, Deon planned out the next few days.
The plan was simple: every day, he would devote himself to training his muscles and learning weapon handling. Later in the evening, before the library closed, he would go there to borrow and study books.
His plan seemed very primitive, but even so, Déon was convinced that he could stick to it. He had no other choice.
To carry out the plans he had made—and especially before passing the coming-of-age ceremony at sixteen—he had to increase his stats (physical and skills) to at least rank D or C. At the moment, he was twelve years old, so he had at most four years to achieve his goals.
The next day, he woke up very early, even before his parents. After quickly cleaning the house, he went out to run. Without even five minutes of sprinting, Déon was already out of breath. His body had no endurance, but he had no intention of giving up before reaching his one-hour quota.
Before sunrise, he had already accomplished his goal, but that small exercise had put his mage's body through a harsh trial. His lungs were on fire, his heart was pounding furiously, and he could barely stand on his feet.
Once back home, he headed to his favorite spot: the backyard. Déon was exhausted, yet according to his plan, after running in the mornings, he was also supposed to do some physical exercises before dedicating the rest of his time to weapon training.
Taking a shower and resting for a while was tempting, but he had no desire to start breaking his commitments on the very first day, at the first sign of difficulty.
After a few minutes of hesitation in the backyard, Déon got into position and began his physical training. He started with a few sets of push-ups before moving on to squats…
[ Your strength increases by +1 ]
[ Your endurance increases by +1 ]
Noticing that his stats had started to rise, despite the pain, Déon doubled his efforts and focused on his task. He only stopped when his muscles could no longer move.
Gathering the little energy he had left, he stood up. "I still have a lot to do," he thought as he watched the sun appearing on the horizon. "What's next? Hmm… going to the library and weapon training," he said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, before remembering his skill.
It was true that he could improve most of his physical stats through training, but when it came to his skill, he wasn't too sure what to do. He had theories, but nothing concrete. "Not too many things at once. Let's focus on physical training first. I have to take things step by step without rushing," he thought before heading toward the living room entrance.
Once inside, Déon found his mother in the dining room having breakfast. He greeted her before heading for the shower.
Nox and Tilda, who had been worried early in the morning, had followed Déon to see what his training looked like. Tilda had been very concerned at first to see her son suffering, but Nox had reassured her, saying he would stop Déon's training if he saw him pushing his body too far. "It's fine, let's go home. He'll be back before sunrise," Nox told her before they left together.
When Déon finished showering, he began getting ready to go to the library when his mother called him. He left his room to join her.
"Your father left you these two weapon-handling manuals before he left," she said, handing him the books. "You're going to the library, right?" Tilda asked, eating her last piece of bread.
"Yes, Mom," Déon replied, quickly leafing through the two manuals he had just received.
"Then don't forget to eat before you go, and above all, don't come back late. See you this evening," Tilda reminded him before leaving for work.
After his mother left, Déon put the two manuals in his room before coming back to have breakfast. Once ready, he also left the house for the library.
Mrs. Jeanne, the librarian, hadn't expected Déon to return even though he had told her so the day before. As usual, after opening, she settled comfortably at her desk. Glancing at the corner of the desk, she opened a drawer to take out a book and began reading.
On his way to the library, Déon spotted Théo training hard under a tree. Despite his delinquent looks, Théo was a hard worker, nicknamed "the genius." At five years old, after awakening, he had obtained the warrior class. Training diligently, when his stats hit the ceiling for level F, the adults had taken him monster hunting to reach level E and unlock his second skill.
At only twelve, he was already rank E and close to rank D. Just thinking about it, Déon activated his enhanced senses skill. He was curious to see what Théo's training looked like.
The effect of his skill surprised him every time. Once activated, all his senses were boosted. He could see more clearly and even zoom in twice as if his eyes were binoculars.
Sensing someone's gaze on him, Théo turned in his direction. Their eyes met. Not knowing what else to do, Déon raised his hand in greeting before continuing on his way.
"How did he know I was watching him? Was it just luck that he noticed?" Déon wondered as he walked. But earlier, he had also noticed that Théo was practicing swordsmanship. "Strange… weren't weapon-handling books rare nowadays?"
Almost every morning, Théo trained with a sword. Normally, he started his training three hours before sunrise and ended it right at dawn. But today, just before finishing his session, he had an illumination.
Illumination is a state of consciousness entered when one's understanding of a technique or skill increases.
He was just coming out of that state when his senses went on alert. He felt someone watching him. Scanning his surroundings, he spotted Déon observing him. And what's more, Déon had even waved at him. That was too weird—it wasn't like him.
"Déon… looks like he's changed. But who changes so suddenly?" he thought, ending his training.
When Déon arrived at the library, he found the librarian sitting at her desk, in the same posture as the day before, reading her book.
"Oh, Déon! Who would have guessed? I didn't think you'd come today," she said without taking her eyes off the page.
"Good morning, Madam. I think I'll be coming here regularly for a while," he replied politely before starting to select the books that interested him.
The day before, he had been so immersed that he had spent the whole day at the library without noticing the hours passing. This time, Déon had to return home as soon as possible.
"Madam, could you please let me know when I've been here for four hours without leaving?" he asked the librarian politely.
"Understood, my boy," she replied absentmindedly.
Déon didn't want to stay at the library longer than necessary because he had a tight schedule. When you're absorbed in reading, it's easy to lose track of time. That's why he had asked Mrs. Jeanne for help.
Besides, he had promised his mother to come home early and, more importantly, according to his plan, he had to start weapon training.
A few minutes later, Déon was completely absorbed in his reading. He read the books page by page. The more he read, the better he understood how the world worked. He was learning some rather surprising information as well as theories on mana and portals that interested him.
Ding!
[ Your intelligence increases by +0.5 ]
The system's notification caught his attention, but he didn't linger on it for long.