《Villainess and Grimoire》Chapter 24 – Adventurer Arc
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On the next day, after spending the afternoon and part of the night along with Aurora being interrogated by dad.
I leave the bed, dress, and head towards the bathroom then later I go water the fields with one hand as I eat bread with butter inside with the other that I brought along from the kitchen
As I water my fields I go into deep thinking.
'Yesterday I realized how truly weak we humans are, if I didn't have both of them I would've died even after gathering that many titles.'
'Even after training for a year and learning skills with dad and mother, it was barely enough.'
'If I had for example waited 5 more years to be closer to the age to be able to register at the guild, the only thing I'd get would be an extra 5 stamina from growing older and a few other things from completing a few of the titles I have.'
'Even if my magic control and swordsmanship would've raised a bit more...'
'I'm simply way too weak, be it in my past life or this one, nothing really changed,' my eyes start getting blurry and I let myself fall on my knees crying,' I'm truly, truly weak...'
Behind and above Iris, a cold gaze watched her crying unnoticed from her room.
'This won't do, I'll have to level up and become stronger otherwise the day may come when our kingdom goes to war, after all, the Saintess said we would all die in the future, if I stay weak like this how will I protect my parents and sister?'
'One of the other races might invade us; a monster nest might get a smart enough leader who changes the way it works, even some bad humans could attempt to hurt us.'
'There're too many reasons that I must improve myself to protect my family and friends.'
'My precious mother and father, my mysterious sister who I also took a liking for.'
'Aurora who went as far as to take revenge on my past life family.'
'Status I want you to turn off notifications about skills leveling up.'
Notice: Affirmative.
'Mana and heal deductions are fine, I get to know my health and mana with some math though it would be easier if status calculated it for me.'
'Earning experience will also tell me that my opponent was defeated so it also works in my favor.'
'Last night I discussed with parents about my unique skill appraisal and they said it sounded like a skill that can give information by spending mana.'
'I woke up super early, so I'll try all kinds of things, and then by the time Aurora wakes up I'll have my mana back.'
'I'll save some mana to read from the system library; it's thanks to that skill that I've gotten tips on how to get titles.'
'Also it helped me increase my skill status level, it's currently my highest skill even if it's not a combat skill it is very useful.'
'Last time I used appraisal it consumed up to 500 mana, why did this happen?'
I walk to the river as I'm done watering my field while thinking.
'Was it perhaps related to the skill grade? The higher it is the more mana?'
'Was it the request I made? The information about the grimoire being too difficult to process?'
'If the level of appraisal was higher would the information he gave be different? Maybe in the future, I could try to appraise the grimoire again when both are higher-level.'
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I pick a stone on my way to the river.
'Appraise this stone.'
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
[Green river pebble a little smooth, rank F material.]
"Hum...? This was a lot less mana than last time."
'It seems like there are different mana calculations being made.'
'Appraise skill appraisal.'
Notice: Not enough mana.
'Seems like status won't let me appraise things outside my mana range.'
'Thank you for that as I don't want to lose health for it perhaps even dying depending on the amount.'
'If that's the case then I can only think on possibilities, one of the major differences is that I asked for information from something I was holding.'
'Another important factor is that it was information outside the status.'
'Wait...' I run to the river and sit close to it.
After a while passes, I give order through my mind,' there, appraise that little fish!'
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
[Level 1 river fish 10 health 30 mana, rank F cooking material.]
"50 mana consumed, but isn't that so little!? Why is it that fishes have level and mana? This world sure is something interesting."
'Why do fishes have mana? Appraise me a solution.'
Notice: 200 mana has been deducted.
[When animals reach a certain amount of mana, they can rank up transforming into rank 1 monsters or evolve into rank 1 beasts.]
"What!? Animals can become monsters or beasts if they collect enough mana!? Wouldn't that mean that it's impossible to beat them if they keep producing like this?" I shout surprised.
'I'm assuming the amount necessary will be really high otherwise I would've heard of this before unless people haven't realized it... is there a chance no one has had this appraisal skill before? There's also the chance of someone having and not divulging the information as well...'
'I didn't receive a single experience point from any fish I've killed yet I did from slimes that are monsters.'
'In other words, they must be at least rank 1 for me to get experience.'
'I'll assume that if humans and demons have ranks that we're also rank 1, even though I don't know the differences between rank 0 and rank 1.'
'I feel like beasts and monsters can easily out populate every other race just on animals ranking up alone, and if that did happen over the years then it wouldn't be strange for us humans to be a pretty small population compared to them, we'll have to find a way to make everyone become stronger, even if somehow I and sister get incredibly strong we won't be able to beat hundreds or thousands that are equal or possibly stronger than us.'
'Parents told me that a long time ago an explorer realized that we were around 10% of the world population from what he was able to find out.'
'There's a chance that we are way less maybe 5% or even 1%?' I gulp my saliva down as the thought scares me to some extent.
'Dad told me we're around 10 million humans just in the Lumen kingdom.'
'If every woman would get pregnant in a ratio of 5 million men and of 5 million women, we'd get 15 million humans after 9 months.'
'Since it was estimated that 10 million humans are equal to 10% the world population would be 100 million in total.'
'Then it's no wonder we humans could never destroy a nest of said monsters or beasts.'
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'Just how in the world haven't we been wiped out? Due to all the circumstances, it's amazing we're still here to be part of the world and after talking with parents, they said that the nests are only south beyond the border in the territory of beasts, possibly the reason humans haven't been able to expand further.'
'Dad told me that beasts don't derive towards intelligence and wisdom, they are brutal while aiming for strength and dominance among each other, as well, as backstabbing each other to be the ruler, but father did say that from time to time a strong enough leader emerges, and starts changing the ways everything works, disturbing the territories around it, in which case could reasonably be what the Saintess predicted.'
'Monsters can be either type, but usually inclined to magic since they require mana to transform to the next monster tier.'
'Even then they’re not very bright, they can have lots of mana but a low intelligence and focus mostly on either killing or survival, father said that both can be very hard to deal with especially the ones who survive for a long time as they tend to drag the fights longer exhausting their enemies.'
'Demons are less intelligent than us humans, but live longer and can be stronger in a physical sense or a magical sense, so eventually, they are likely to do a great amount of chaos, I'm surprised that they haven't conquered the world yet, father did mention there's a red dragon and a giant turtle in the middle of us and them which could be the reason why they don't bother us, and they probably have their share of enemies too since there must be monster and beast nests all around the world...'
'If I were to imagine, they also have beasts and monsters to deal with, possibly even demons as humans fight each other, I'm sure demons do too.'
'In the end, the more I think about it, the more I realize that everyone is ultimately against everyone, like a sort of battle royal, races against other races, there's no ending to our confrontation and the violence that is born from this cycle.'
'All this makes me think on the goddess Aria, why would she allow so much disparity between everyone? Why would she allow such bad things to happen? Why can't everyone be allowed to live in peace? I feel like she's a bad goddess... unless there's a very good reason that justifies everything that has been happening for quite some time now... since ancient times recorded in the system library books.'
'Not a world I'd like to spend my life in, but sadly I can't leave it, I'll have to adapt to it and protect my family and friends from all of this, despite being extremely weak.'
'From having spoken with Elise I got to understand that compared to other kids my age my statuses are a bit higher than most.'
'A lot of kids also help their parents with their professions so they also have a few titles.'
'Next time I'm with Elise I'll ask her about what titles she has and how she got them so I can get some more.'
'Every bit of parameters I may receive from that knowledge will surely help no matter how low it is, status.'
Notice: 10 mana has been deducted.
Status:
Level: 1 | Experience 80/100
Fame: 60 | Disgrace: 4270
Class: Witch | Rank 1 | Experience 80/2000
Race: Human | Name: Iris | 8 Years old
Health: 480/480 | Mana: 370/830
Status Points:0
Strength: 133 | Stamina: 48 | Agility: 85 | Dexterity: 107 | Intelligence: 71 | Wisdom: 81(+2)
Attack: 0 | Magic Attack:0 | Defense:0 | Magic Defense: 0
Soul: 1950
Titles: Reincarnated+(S), Mana(S), Mana Exhaust(S), Health(S), Beginner Reader(S), Purchase(E), Wisdom(F), Reader Series(D), Body Training(A), Animal Slayer(S), Intermediate Reader(S), Cooked Fish(S), Preyed Upon(F), Cheater (S), Heritage(S), Amalgam(S), Ice(S), Cooked Bird(F), Cooking Series (E), Slayer Series(F), Sale(E), Advanced Reader(C), Soul-bound(S), Element(F), Contracted(S), Peasant (F), Class(C), Monster Slayer(F), Slime Slayer(F), Skill Mastery(F).
Completed Series: Fishing(S), Farming(S).
Skill Points: 1
Actives: Status level 40(D), System Library level 20(E), Mana Coat level 6(F), Mana Wave level 1(F), Ice Bind level 2(F).
Passives: Bleeding Resistance level 10(F), Swordsmanship level 20(E), Sword Mastery level 10(F), Mana Control level 20(E), Ice Control level 11(F), Slight Wisdom Boost level 2(F), Slight Mana Recovery level 3(F), Acid Resistance level 1(F).
Unique: Appraisal level 5.
Cursed: Unidentified Skill.
Rare Element: Ice.
Cursed Soul-bound(Grimoire Rank F: 7/100)
'My stamina which is the most important status as if it reaches zero, I'll die is the lowest.'
'Mother told me we receive a skill point and 5 status points each time we level up.'
'I think I'll spend all of them in wisdom as I started, after all, as long as I have mana I can find a way to escape from possible dangers while more health depending on the situation will become irrelevant.'
'Speaking of which, I ought to do what lumberjack person wrote.'
I run near home and pick father's ax then head south of home towards some trees.
'Let's see if it works on this small tree, I'll mana coat the Ax.'
Notice: 50 mana has been deducted.
I chop the thin tree and it falls on the ground in one go.
System: The title Tree Chopper has been received.
System: The title Tree Type has been received.
I cut all the branches and the outer layer of the woodturning it into a log.
System: The title Log Maker has been received.
'These were all the titles I learned from reading the lumberjack first volume.'
I look at the seeds on the floor and remember farming.
I start digging on the ground and planting the seeds.
I spend hours cutting small trees, turning them into logs, and planting the seeds that fall from them.
At some point, Aurora joins me and starts helping me digging holes making it faster.
I end up getting two more titles, a tree series after completing the tree types which I specifically aimed for, and a new one called tree planter.
"You're always doing peculiar things, Iris."
"True Aurora, but it's the fastest way I have right now of becoming stronger as a human."
"I honestly don't feel bad not being human realizing how much work you have to get those titles."
I smiled upon hearing those words at her while sweat drips from my forehead.
"We're done, for now, overworking will just make my body ache later."
"I've noticed something after using appraisal Aurora."
"Hum? What did you learn?"
"That fishes have levels and mana, and that they can rank up transforming into monsters or evolve into beasts!" I shouted.
"What the hell? How do they do that?"
"Apparently they need to consume an unknown amount of mana."
"Wait Iris, what if the fish levels up before having gathered enough mana?"
"You mean that depending on the level it somehow could get the results of the transformation or evolution could differ?"
"Yes!"
"If the system works like that then wouldn't you a grimoire be the same?"
"You're saying that because I have that awakening thing?"
"Exactly!"
"The system should be similar so perhaps if I get a lot of levels before getting the awakening then what I receive could differ."
"Even though you're an item and not an animal or a monster or a beast, so it could just be different."
"True, there's also no way we can test it."
"Yeah... let's head home I need to rest my body, it is still a child's one, and even by using mana to make things easier it still takes a toll."
"I'll go back to the farm and do some slime hunt while you recover yourself."
"Wait are you sure? We barely withstood ourselves yesterday!"
"I'll be fine don't worry Iris, it is me you're talking about," she says with a cold tone and an icy smile.
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