“Recorded moments in the past are actually a list of surprises. They are there to constantly remind us in order to prepare us to be surprised yet again.”

Qai did not know why he reached Iron rank all of a sudden without mastering his spearmanship. He was certain that while he is at the point of breaking through, he still needed to remaster the fundamentals of a weapon skill.

At any rate, it was a very much welcomed development. By becoming an Iron rank Knight, his strength, agility and stamina—even pysical regeneration—doubled.

Qai can feel that his overall power is equivalent to that of a full grown man.

He wracked up his brain and thought hard at what could be the possible cause. He was in state of euphoria in his attainment that he forgot about his goal of learning how to read.

‘It could be that this boy’s body has some lantent talent for knighthood.’

Qai, however, is not fully convinced with this conjecture. Then he thought that it’s possible that the worldly energy of this unknown land help one’s physique get easily stronger.

'That must be it. This place must be tailor made for knights!'

He came to that notion understanding that even children as young as 3 are already capable of a bit of heavy work.

‘No maybe that’s not it,’ he thought. ‘It must be because of the meat here in this world.’

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted. It was at that moment that Master Han arrived carrying leather parchments. Apparently, the books referred to in this world were collection of parchments made of beast leather.

“Alright boy, its time for you to study this writings. Most of these books are of course about precious herbs you can actually find in the vicinity of the forest. This one however is about historical records which I personally wrote.”

Then he slammed them on a table in the garden and looked at Qai meaningfully.

“Which one would you like to read first!?”

Qai could not follow the herbalist’s line of thought.

From the way the Master Han spoke, it was as if a 4-old boy would immediately learn to read in few hours. But of course, Qai would, without a doubt, be able to do it once he learns of the form of letters and words of this new world.

Qai simply nodded and pointed at the historical records personally written by the master.

But before Master Han began, he called his niece and asked her to join in. Apparently, Nabi haven’t learned reading and writing before. She was just taught verbally how to extract herb essences and never showed any interest in reading.

Were it not for Qai asking him to be taught, Master Han would not get the inspiration to teach his own neice-apprentice.

Master Han then took out a blank leather parchment and started writing with a brush.

When a half a day was over, Qai was sent home and instructed to come back the following day.

Master Han smiled when Qai left. He was satisfied with the outcome.

'The blacksmith's son is indeed a fast learner. He is even a step ahead with Nabi who was way older than him,' he thought.

In fact, after an hour of teaching the letters, he was stunned to see Qai started browsing the books he brought out.

And while Qai was doing such, the herbalist took the chance to focus on teaching Nabi.

Although Nabi was embarrassed with it, her uncle simply explained that the boy has a knack for education and that was why he learned it fast.

For the following days, Qai went everyday early in the morning running around the village on his way to Master Han’s residence. But instead of simply carrying the wooden blade on his back, he started spinning it around with a series of hacks and slashes in the air.

The villagers began to notice Qai who eventually became quite famous among the adults especially with the hunters and soldiers. For some reason, they saw potential in him.

It was at this point that Qai realized that the nameless village was quite peaceful; there was not much infighting among the villagers. No one bothered him. Apparently in the village, any misunderstanding can be brought to the council of elders—the authority to resolve grievances.

It was very much different from the aristocratic lifestyle in his previous life; one filled with deception and schemes as everyone tried to struggle for power.

“Little Qai,” Nabi called one day.

“Yes big sister Nabi.”

“Would you like to learn how to extract herb essences?”

Qai was surprised. He never thought of learning a thing or two about what healers do.

He paused for a moment before he replied.

“It’s not that I don’t want it,” he said. “It’s just that I may not have the time for it.”

“Oh, you mean that sort of sword training your doing?”

“It’s a blade, not sword.”

“Whatever. They are all the same," she replied. "Alright, how about this. When the 3-month period is over, I’ll ask uncle to allow you to come back here so you can help with with herb extraction.”

“I think that will do.”

Days and weeks, then months, passed.

The arrangement between Qai and Master Han will be over soon. And so far, almost all of the books belonging to the herbalist have been lent to Qai for study, including the books about collection of herbs and their primary uses.

It was actually that fact that made Master Han ask his niece to convince Qai to learn herb extraction. With the knowledge about herbs, it would be easy for Qai to become a herbalist himself.

Of course, Qai was not much interested in becoming Master Han’s second apprentice.

In fact he was quite happy with the things he learned from the books he read even if they were not a lot. The historical accounts were substantially helpful in his goal.

“Beast horde, Spirit Beasts, immortals, cultivation techniques,” Qai muttered as he looked into the horizon.

Qai learned that in this world there are two types of beasts.

The first are the mortal beasts which are either the wild beasts which the hunters usually brought from the forests or the the domesticated ones found in most livestock.

The second type are the so-called Spirit Beasts which have some kind of magical abilities. They can wield elemental energies and ordinary people cannot hope to fight them. Only immortals is said to have the capacity to kill them.

Then there are the immortal beings which every people in the nameless village are somewhat aware. The dangerous mountain range is believed to be the home of an immortal.

Accordingly, a mortal can possibly become one through a method they call cultivation. As for any other qualification, the books did not reveal anything.

Unfortunately, all the records are just general information.

But what Qai found truly bewildering in the books is the occasional beast horde that attacks the nameless village.

‘So that’s why the village is walled and why there are soldiers. I always thought the soldiers were unnecessary for such a peaceful place.’

The last recorded beast horde occurred fifty some years ago. While the beasts that attack were mostly wild beasts, they were almost always led by a Spirit Beast.

‘Maybe I should join the hunters and see for myself how strong are the beasts in this lands..,' Qai told himself. 'But before I do that, I should rather start relearning my spear skills.’

Although he knew that the village has the means to survive, the records also showed that a lot of people died the last time the beasts attacked.

'No wonder the village population never grew large.'

And he didn't want him or any member of his family of Master Han's family to become part of the next death toll.

'I need to become stronger as soon as possible.'

Qai eventually accepted the new arrangement Nabi offered.

He thought that herb extraction may come in handy one day and felt that acquiring a little knowledge of many things will be beneficial to his survival in this world.

Apparently, he learned his lesson of being played by schemes and plot. So he saw to it to equip himself some cards for self-preservation.