Tercius pushed his left arm forward, his fingers tightly gripping the leather strap that was firmly attached to the shield. A sound of wood hitting on wood echoed and taking a step forward he lunged, his right arm aiming for the opening he created with the previous move. Only for it to fail. In that moment he had to opt for a quick retreat with a low crouch all the while returning his wooden shield closer to cover his neck and head while at the same time planing to take a step back to avoid the incoming attack from the side.

BOOM!

Even though he managed to avoid the sword hitting him and use the shield for its intended purpose, he still had to pay a price. His arm went numb as strong vibrations sent waves of pain all the way to his shoulder. His breathing was laboured, back drenched as he contemplated what to do next. He and his opponent started circling each other, content to seek an opening in the other's mistake.

If you won't, I will. Tercius thought. He took a step forward, while keeping careful watch of the movement of his opponent. After all, he did not come this far to be defeated so easily. Making a feint got a reaction, but not a one he could use in his favour. So he tried a few more.

There. his brain saw it before he did and his arms reacted with great precision, using the shield in his left hand to create a wider opening by occupying his opponents shield for a brief moment, while his leaf shaped short sword made a dart to gut the torso of his opponent.

Yet his opponent once again proved tricky, and once he saw that Tercius had a chance with the attack he made, the opponent abandoned all pretences of holding back, using superior strength to overpower carefully executed strategy. The worst part is that it worked. But Tercius adapted and used that exertion of strength of his opponent and took a step to the side, allowing the moving body that came his way to pass with no obstruction.

Then while he used the shield to cover his side in the case his opponent realised his ploy too early, his sword came from the side like a viper striking from the grass, unseen. His opponent found no resistance on his path forward, his shield passing through empty air, and he quickly adjusted, just continuing on the path he was on, making some distance between them.

While his opponent turned to find Tercius, he didn't wait for him, he used the time his opponents back was turned for the next step. Using his speed to his advantage, once his eyes observed which way his opponent went to turn, he ran the other way, at all times keeping out of his opponents line of vision, while coming in close. Yet as much as his shorter height proved an advantage, so did it prove a flaw that others could use.

His sword was still over an arm length away from any potential open target that he spotted, when his opponents sword, using his superior reach, made its way to his throat, over his shield. They both stood still, each coming to terms with the role they played in the spar. Damn, so close! he complained internally.

"You did good, especially there at the end." his opponent removed the offensive tool from his throat, as they disengaged from close contact.

"I would have done better if someone didn't rush at me like a bitten buffalo. I would have-" Tercius complained.

"Yes, well the loser has no right to complain." his father interrupted his self defence. "And don't be a sore loser. Just admit defeat with grace."

Tercius had to snort. "Maybe if you tried using a graceful strategy to win, then maybe I would admit defeat that way." Tercius said, his face contorted with frustration, a reaction to the increasingly popular method his father used lately.

Pure strength.

"Tercius, don't be like that, you know I don't have a skill like yours, so using my greater strength can only be seen as a sort of levelling of the game field. You use your skill all through the fight, don't you?" his father asked and he nodded in response.

"And I use my strength. See? So, no hard feelings?" his father came over and offered his hand, puling him for a hug once he took it. Tercius thought of the competitive spirit that overcame him in these moments, especially when he lost by a split hair. It does feel good to win.

"No hard feelings." he said.

"Any..." But he stopped himself there, because he forgot to check the surroundings before he talked about sensitive subjects. Using Mana Sight he made sure no one was close before he asked. "Any new levels?"

"Both of them went to 31. This truly works. I honestly didn't believe it even when your grandfather confirmed it. But this..." his father answered. He was honestly surprised by his father's skill level of the two skills he supposedly used occasionally over the last 15 years.

When he shared his thoughts with the older man, Septimus explained that he practised with those two tools of war since he was a five year old, entering into the army training with a level of 14 and 13, for sword and shield respectively. When he left the army, with almost two years of hard training it got to level 27.

The army had developed routines and exercises for target skills and used that knowledge to make the most of their recruits. That was, after all, one of their main points of attraction.

"Do you want another go?" his father asked when he had some time to rest. They got up with the first light of the day and were practising near the vegetable garden he and his grandmother maintained.

Recently they had a new student with them that helped as well. When she wakes up in time for it. he thought. Little Aurelia made a tantrum every time they skipped her when they went to work in the garden, because she overslept and by the time she got up, all the work for the day was finished.

"Lets, I don't think anyone else is up yet." Tercius said, tightening the leather strap that attached the round shield to the middle of his forearm.

***

He estimated the time for somewhere just over seven in the morning, the sun just making its presence known in full. His father and he practised for somewhere south of an hour, when his grandmother came out of the house, all cheery and chipper she greeted them and made it known to Septimus that Tercius was coming with her.

He gave his father another transfer of Energy as a parting gift, leaving the man to practice his moves and forms. It was a five meter distance from the edge of the vegetable garden and their duelling ring and he used that distance to wipe of the sweat from his neck, back and chest then left the soaked rag on the small fence that further protected their source of greens.

"Those plants there need weeding. When you finish that come over here, I need to show you something." his grandmother pointed to the ones in question and he promptly took to the task.

It was a five minute affair, making sure that he pulled everything along with the roots and then dumping the weeds in a large barrel shaped stone his grandfather made. It was used for leftovers of meals and generally everything that grew in the garden and was removed. All of that was then mixed with earth and left to stew for days on end. When the mix got to a point where his grandmother said that it was ready, he made sure to put the contents into beds where new growth was scheduled to be planted.

That's done. he checked his internal list. Next.

His grandmother was sitting on the ground near a single plant that was planted in a pot, her eyes carefully observing its white heart shaped leaves and the small flowers with its pink and white petals.

"It flowered?" he asked rhetorically, his voice filled with surprise.

"It seems so." his grandmother seemed mesmerised with the flower. "Recently too, two hours at most. It's beautiful isn't it?"

"It is." he answered. The whole flower was no bigger than than the small stone pot it grew in, its height just over 10cm.

"It's also damn expensive. Do you know for how much I can sell this? A fully flowered Pink Fjaren Flower can go for 100 to 120 tretas if I find a decent buyer. Its main use, you see, is in brews of regeneration. Some of the potent ones can restore damaged limbs to full function, the top tiers even rumoured to regrow them whole. Imagine that." his grandmother explained. "This one can be used for those top tier ones, I think. Now I just need to find someone to buy it, before someone steals it or it withers away. I will need to be discreet..." she mumbled to herself near the end.

"Maybe mother can help you there, after all she knows many more merchants than you do. But why don’t you use its seeds to grow more of those? Why sell it?" he asked.

"Because these plants are notorious for their seeds low chance of germination. It’s one of the reasons for its high price, that and the long time it takes for it to grow. Of the pack of hundred seeds I bought, only seven germinated, and only this one reached maturity and bloomed. And those who buy these plants don’t often like when you tamper with them beforehand, not even to remove a few seeds. Remind me to ask the buyer to sell me back the seeds. Now that I know a bit more about its needs while it grows, maybe next time we have a higher turnover, eh?" his grandmother explained and went back to making observations and writing them down in her small notebook.

"Do you need me for anything else? Grandmother?" he asked.

"What? Oh, no, no. You can go if you finished the weeding. I will water it all in a minute, don't worry." she said her mind clearly focused at the flower before her.

"Then take care grandmother." Tercius said and placed his hand on hers, leaving a strand of Energy behind. The older woman was finally snapped from her pondering and Tercius made his way out, leaving her to play with her skills.

***

After he and Aurelia finished with her lessons in writing, he left her to doodle on her own. He put on a shirt and started with a light jog towards the centre of the town. Their house was near the outer walls of the town, and to get to where he was headed it would take about 25 minutes with a walking speed. But since he came clean about his skills, he could now use the route that he usually walked to train. Now with Running it took him a third of that time, and he wasn’t even going at the top speed, just a bit over what he thought as average.

People were going about their business, most of them were your regular folk, farmers and craftsmen, some were servants, both indentured and paid ones, doing tasks for those who owned their debt or paid for their services. The small passages between houses were often crowded and he had to wait a bit or in some cases find a new path to get to the wide streets that snaked their way over major points of the town.

He had, over the years, made these passages and streets his acquaintances and could find his way just by focusing on a mental map he constructed. Hells, he didn’t even need to use it but liked having it either way.

His mother's store was on the Market Street where, as the unimaginative yet informative name suggested, most of the shops found their place. On it you could find everything from vegetables and fish to swords and potions. All of the production was based in other places, a regulation that was kept from the towns inception, never allowing smiths to make a forge, nor the alchemists to brew in fear of fires or explosions that were known to happen.

The street was one of the longest in the town, starting at the north gate of the town's outer walls and making a pretty straight way to the inner walls, where most of the nobility and the army made their residence.

He came to a stop near the back entrance to the shop, then went inside. And all of that without breaking a sweat. he thought.

Tercius spent the entire morning arranging prices and stocking the shelves, putting fresh vegetables on the top of the pile… and occasionally helping a customer with a few questions they had.

"I think my work here is done." he said to Petra when he didn’t see anything else for him to do.

"You will be going then?" his mother asked as she counted her profits behind the counter.

"Yep, I want to do a few more exercises with father, then maybe go and visit grandfather. See you at home mother." and with a wave he was off on another run.

***

The days went by in that manner, his daily schedule adjusting a bit to account for new additions.

Every third day of the week he went for the whole afternoon to Perdy’s and read books for free. Being surrounded by all those books in a relatively modern environment made him remember his last life, how passive he had been, just allowing stuff to happen to him, yet rarely reacting or acting for that matter. He did not want a repeat of that now, not again. But he was not one of those daredevils that just did things, quite the opposite in fact. He liked routine and stability, and yet didn’t that to be his whole life.

And here amongst the books he could be whomever he wanted, he would just need to open a book and read. A hero, a villain, a king, a pauper.

"Is something bothering you Tercius?" said Perdy. Tercius didn’t even hear when the man came so close to him.

"I asked you so many times not to do that." he said as the momentary tension left his body.

"Do what?" Perdy feigned ignorance with his usual smirk.

"Anyway, what’s the matter? You look so gloomy just staring at that book. Did something happen at home?" Perdy asked as he pulled a chair to sit across from him.

"No, just… I can’t stop thinking about something." he said. In his heart of hearts he was scared of just repeating the previous life. "It’s nothing."

"It’s not nothing, something is clearly bothering you. So, what is it? You know you can tell me, I can keep a secret. A lady love perhaps? Did you meet some girl that stole your heart at a single glance? No? Then what?" Perdy kept pushing.

The man is right about one thing, he can keep a secret. he thought. In the older man Tercius saw a kind of kindred spirit, one who kept to himself and lead a life of solitude, much like he did at near the end of his previous life.

"…Did you always want to be a book collector and shop owner?" he asked after a brief pause.

"Oh White Heavens no. Is that what this is about?" asked Perdy clearly surprised. "About who you want to be?"

"Kinda, yea." he answered weakly.

"Well that is easy." Perdy said exhaling.

"You know Tercius sometimes when I talk to you, I forget that I am talking to a child. Then topics like this one come along, and you remind me of it. Lets see, can you raise that book you are holding?" Perdy said pointing at the book that he gripped in his hand.

"Pyramid of Tergaron, The Foremost Academy of Thaumaturgic Skills. A fine informative book, written by a friend of mine actually. It has the most up to date information on the Academy." Perdy said. "Then let us remember what you usually take home with you. Correct me if I make a mistake along the way. Hmm, All four books that Nicodius del’Ar wrote, a bit dry for my taste, yet also highly informativein its own field of geography. Then I think you took that one about that sailor that went on the furthest voyage east of the Isles and returned to tell the tale. Then…" Perdy went on to describe a dozen more books he took with him home and quite enjoyed to read, all the while ticking off his fingers as he named the books.

The books topics revolved around two subjects.

Exploration and magic or thaumaturgic skills as they were called here.

"So you see my boy, it may be difficult for you to see this, but for me I can read it like an open book." the man said in his usual calm tone. "You are an easy character of sorts for me to read. A passive character that finds courage to do things in life through capability. You thirst for new and unexplored, the mystical, and you sate that hunger here with a bit of help from my books."

"Let me ask you something. If I make a promise to pay your full tuition fees at the Academy, would you go now? Leave everything here and go?" Perdy asked and with a snap of his fingers a small metal box fell on the floor between them, making a noise that made him jump a little, and opened itself revealing a pile of carefully stacked coins.

Over half of the box were stacks of tretas, while the rest were of an unknown design to him, and he knew there were only two he didn’t see in person. The one that his mother mentioned, used exclusively by the wealthy, and one more that was mere rumour amongst the citizens of the Empire. The Coin of the Emperors.

"Yes." he answered with a start, looking at the money and hoping for the sake of his sanity that the unknown coins were kvartas. Because otherwise…

"And would you go to the far north and see the frozen reaches of the Empire?" he asked and snapped his fingers once more, making Tercius close his eyes, expecting the box to fall straight on his head.

Nothing fell. No sound was heard.

"Well would you?" came the repeated question.

"Yes." he answered with a weak voice, yet inside he felt a clarity of sorts overcome him. He did want to do all of these things. To go where others haven’t. To learn new things.

"Good. Now that that is sorted out, I better take this money back to safety. We don't know what unsavoury characters lurk around." Perdy said with a small smile.

Tercius stared dumbly as with another snap of Perdy's finger the box closed and just disappeared. He jumped from his seat and started waving his hands through the space the box occupied just a moment ago.

"You are not just a book shop owner, are you?"

"Remember Tercius, everyone has a more complex personality than what is seen at first glance." Perdy seemed satisfied at that proclamation and released a pleased chuckle.

"Oh and if you haven't figured it out so far, I won't be paying anything for you. I just wanted to see your face when you saw that. After all I can't pay that sum for every child that stumbles into my shop and then spends half a decade reading for free. I would go broke in..." a far away look appeared on his face.

"Oh wait, I wouldn't. Never mind, don't mind my ramblings." Perdy said and stood up, with a snap of his fingers his chair went back to its previous spot.

"And before you ask that question I see on your face, the answer is no." Perdy said.

"What? There was no question there, I was just thinking about how smart and kind and helpful man you are. You would help someone even if it... " Tercius started running after the rapidly retreating man sprouting compliments as soon as they came to mind.

"No, no, get away you little rascal, I helped you enough..." Perdy ran through a doorway, the door flung closed with a loud bang a moment later. Tercius could only impotently try to kick down the solid wooden door when the doorknob wouldn't turn.

"I have solved your dilemma, now you better be out of my shop by the time I come out to lock the front door!" Tercius heard Perdy shout from the other side.

"Please, just show me something, just a bit to start with, Perdy please..."