"Bloody hell, The horrendous weather here..."

Is this England or what?

Continuous showers kept pouring in for the past few days. Maybe it's the season? This could use some digging on his side. Yay, another reason for him to go through the mountain of literature in the library.

Squeezing out as much water as he could out of his shirt in an attempt to lessen the wet feeling a bit, He ran back into the Inn. There was Angie there, handling the reception. She looked to have a few words with him. Specifically, regarding his state at the moment.

"Head straight to the Bath, if you will. I shall prepare some robes for you to change into."

"Thanks, Angie. You're the best." Saying in a rush, he waved at her and made a run for the bath.

"Just doing my job, Noah. Can't have you making a mess here..." Angie could only stare in exasperation at the empty hallway as he was out of her sight before she could complete her sentence.

Sliding the bath doors aside, he stepped into the changing zone. There, he threw his wet sloppy mess of wearables in the laundry basket to take it out later. Right after which he made himself comfortable in the bath.

Within a few minutes, his eyes started drooping as the tiredness caught up to him. Mr. Atlas here was headed for a sweet ol' slumber.

Oblivious to the passage of time, he was in the dreamscape as evident by the light snores coming from him. Unfortunately or fortunately, he was soon abruptly woken up by loud knocks on the bath doors.

"I'm leaving it here. Don't forget to take out your laundry." Angie said so after placing the robes on the side and headed back to her post.

"Not good. How long was I out?" Noah rushed out the tub in a panicked manner before the surroundings registered to him. Angie most likely saved him the hassle of confronting the ripoff symbiote. A bit late and he would have been tussling around with the Imprint.

His calm didn't last long though, as the same surroundings reminded him of the grave danger he was swimming in at the present.

'Please, let the regular times be passed by now. I am seriously not in the mood for a recap of that day.' Squinty eyes continued to be pointed at him for the better part of the week because of the mishap that day. The ladies sure knew to hold onto a grudge. Now he knew not to get between sweaty ladies and their baths. It is proven to produce quite an adverse reaction.

After drying himself with the towels while acting jumpy, he donned the robe and tucked the basket filled with his laundry under his elbow. Thereafter, he fled the location. A commendable decision considering what he encountered next.

Along his way back, he witnessed the swarm of females heading for their daily ritual.

'I should thank my lucky stars for today. That was a close shave.' Noah was tired of this charade; barely escaping every day. He couldn't help it. Gul was clearly at fault here for dismissing him this late. Noah was considering shifting his schedule a bit forward, letting everyone have a go first. He could reasonably do this. It's not like he was sleeping for the majority of the nighttime.

After dropping the laundry basket at the collection center, he made a check off the list of things to do in his mind just in case he forgot something.

"Nope"

He seems to be in the clear. Slinging the still yet-to-dry satchel over his shoulder, he headed back to his room.

Twisting the knob, he took care not to make too much noise. His roommates could be in bed.

A strange sight greeted his vision upon entering the room. On one side was Shaun going through some notes under the lamp while Ava was collapsed on the sofa haphazardly, her arms and legs splayed with her head plunged in the cushion. He didn't know what to address first.

'Better start on with Shaun, I guess.'

With Ava, he wasn't fancying his chances of getting lectured just for giving the simple reminder to sleep on her bed. In fact, it was all but waiting to happen.

"Hey, how was the day?"

"Pretty much the same. Kitchen Nightmares airing all day long." Shaun visibly shivered when saying this. Someone's got a bad case of PTSD.

"That bad, huh."

"Still, the lvls ain't stopping no more. I got my Cook Profession to LVL 3 today. Hey, are you even following?" Shaun cheered up a bit remembering his gains. He then saw Noah looking somewhere else.

Noah was eyeing Ava on the other hand. The unsightly manner in which she was lying on the sofa. In his mind, he was considering utilizing the opportunity sent his way. A few pics and he would have some blackmail-*cough*-negotiation materials at hand. Never know when you might need it.

"Yeah, continue on." Noah turned back to Shaun. Maybe not today. The position wasn't compromised enough to garner the potential of negotiation material.

"Let's move on from me. What about you?"

"Me? I just got my Profession." He pointed at himself and replied.

"kinda late to the party, aren't you?" Shaun didn't forget to take a jab at him.

"At least I got in" Noah wouldn't admit but that was a critical hit. His face scrunched up in indignation.

"Don't act sulky now. Look, here's my 2 cents. You can still catch up easily."

"You think so?"

"Maybeeee...ok, I will stop now." Shaun was ready to tease him some more but stopped upon seeing Noah's pouty face.

"what were you up to today?" Seeing him stop, Noah's expressions relaxed as he continued with the previous topic.

"We were given an assignment. I thought I would try a hand at a combined dish from Earth and this place. Something like pierogi should be fine as a base, I guess?" He has been looking through the recipe book for ideas.

"Why a polish dish, out of all? And something so generic."

"I am part-Polish after all." Shaun's eyebrow twitched hearing the ignorant statement. But he chose to let it go as he may have done it unintentionally.

"you are?" This was news to him.

"1/8th"

"That doesn't count." Despite being a Half, he can't call himself either a Brit or a Desi. Who does he think he is to even consider himself Polish? 1/8th is next to nothing.

"It does"

"No, it doesn't" Ava, all of sudden chimed in.

"The resident expert has spoken" Noah backed her up. Shitting on Shaun would always take priority for him.

"Who are you calling "resident?" She growled back at him.

"It does. I ain't accepting otherwise. Moreover, mind repeating yourself, Noah. I didn't catch the latter half clearly." Shaun sensed the change in the tides of this battle and seized the opportunity.

Dammit, that was a good one Shaun. Noah could feel he was at a disadvantage. He could only do one thing.

"What do you mean? If it's about you having a hard time in the kitchen, I empathize with you." Try to divert their attention.

"Now now, don't try to stray away from the topic. We were having a serious discussion. What were you saying about my cherished pierogi? Something about it being generic." But Shaun wasn't going to fall for such rookie tactics.

"Oh that. it's just stuffed dumplings made out of plain bread." Noah said without any fluctuation in his voice.

Had Noah not realized that it was a trap?

Shaun's eyes shot open the instant those words registered to his mind.

"You had the AUDACITY, to say PIEROGI is plain bread."

"You are twisting my words now. I said..."

"Mate, I felt the german inside me die."

"I thought you were Polish?"

"Die"

"I kid" Noah held up his hands in surrender. He was backed up in the corner with no way out.

"You better be, our friendship was in jeopardy." Shaun felt gratified with being able to make Noah eat his words. Today was his dub. Bóg Honor Ojczyzn.

"You can be a drama queen. What were you going to do? Throw your pierogis at me?"

"You dare talk shit about my pierogis again?"

He wasn't about to let him just road roller over his body. He had his weakness in his grasp. Some may call it cowardly but he would call it tactical retreat.

"Miss Florelle doesn't seem to be the Gordon Ramsey you claim her to be seeing how much free time you have on hand to be arguing with me right now." Justifiably so seeing its effectiveness.

"Crap, I need to do this soon. I will take care of you tomorrow morning" In haste, Shaun returned to his desk to finish his assignment. Evidently, it took precedence over trash-talking to him.

"Looking forward to it. Dobranoc."

Noah trotted towards the bedroom while waving back to Shaun with his back facing him. Ava joined him midway and whispered in his ear.

"He looks like he wants to unalive you."

"He wishes he could." Noah looked back to see him still occasionally glaring daggers at him.

"I can never understand how you two are still friends despite all the shit talk."

"Men you see, though simple in nature are complex creatures. There is this strange dichotomy present within boys. In movies, we look for sex. In porn, we look for the story." Noah gave a blank stare towards the distance while reciting those lines. He then paused dramatically for a moment before delivering the punchline.

"That is the duality of man"

"More like degeneracy of man." Ava wasn't impressed in the least by his performance.

"Semantics."

"You're not gonna deny that. Whatever, I feel stupid arguing this with you. Leaving that aside, Is the sun rising from the west today? You normally arrive an hour or two from now."

"FYI, it does rise from the west here. Observe the sky sometimes."

"Answer my question."

"Gul, my instructor, freed me sooner for the party he threw on getting my Profession. Spared me the time for having dinner."

"Well, Congrats."

The duo neared the partition in slow steps.

"Thanks. Speaking of being late, shouldn't you be in bed by this time?"

She stopped in front of the entrance to their bedroom and twisted around to address him. "I am going for just that. And you look to have a long night ahead of you"

"You know it. I'm nocturnal in that sense."

"Isn't your condition improving?" She looked a bit worried about him.

"It is. but my sleep patterns are already fucked beyond repairs." Noah rubbed his hair roughly in frustration.

Ava was relieved knowing it wasn't his condition worsening.

"Well, good luck to you then."

"See ya"

She headed inside the room while he stood around in contemplation. What should he do tonight?

Looking over, he could see the expeditiously studious Shaun packing up too. He nodded to him as a good night which he responded to in the same manner.

Guess his time of the day starts now. Better begin with something very urgent. He had a look or two back in the diner but a proper look was necessary. Sitting on the sofa, he opened his Status Page.

[Status]

Name: Noah

Race: Human(F) - LVL 2

Profession: Blacksmith - LVL 1

Status: Healthy - [Blessing: Universal Tongue (Limited)] [Blessing of the Titanos Ragnarok]

Talent: [Intelligent] [Focused Mind]

Stats

Strength: 1.6

Agility: 1.3

Vitality: 1.4

Constitution: 1.5

Endurance: 1.6

Perception: 1.3

Intelligence: 1.8

Wisdom: 1.7

Willpower: 1.9

Skills: [Language] [Meditation] [Smithing] [Tool Mastery]

[Smithing]

The art of refining raw materials and combining them to create or improve pieces of armor or weapons. Acquired upon learning sufficient knowledge of metal weapon recipes, like swords and daggers. The higher your skill level, the better your chances of crafting high-quality items.

[Tool Mastery]

Unlocks through acquiring basic proficiency with tools and crafting devices. The skill allows users to handle tools to a proficient degree while simultaneously gaining an instinctive understanding of their proper applications.

He has seen the trickle of stats from both exercise and meditation throughout the week. This gave him the awaited confirmation that stats can be improved not just from LVLs but through other methods like training too.

The two new skills were welcomed by him regardless of how basic their descriptions were. It was pretty clear what these skills entailed. [Smithing] was him hammering all day every day and [Tool Mastery] could be attributed to the garage of tools he had to use in the past few days. All from the basic hammer and anvil to the obscure ones like punch and drift.

'I got my Profession today. Most likely I should be expecting a few LVL ups on my way in the next couple of days. I didn't die in any of the dreams today so no extreme headaches either.'

The day is going to be complete without any hiccups? Then, There was a party thrown for me.

What the fuck is going on?

This is kinda freaking me out.

To borrow a line from a classic Soviet film: "Murky doubts are wracking my mind"

I'm not used to this.

If this was a week before, his thoughts would go everywhere and he wouldn't be able to do anything productive. Now, he doesn't need to worry for he had found a new and effective way to remedy that. Meditation. Not the simple calm your mind stuff. This was the real deal. If he were to put it into words: his mind enters into an entirely new state of being.

Noah rubbed his hands in anticipation. Then, he stepped towards the only cupboard in the drawing-room before pulling out a Morwo leaf from the leftmost drawer.

Surprisingly, this purple-leaf was faded out and looked shriveled, a far cry from the previous vibrant look. A bunch of these was passed to him along with a short note by Miss Florelle the day after. She told him the "lord" had provided those for him.

Opening the note, he was informed that these were dried Morwo leaves of inferior quality. Now, why was he treated with such discrimination, you ask?

Well, apparently his sensitivity was way too high for regular consumption. He had to make do with this. Now, should he be flattered by this treatment? The note did say that it was better for him not to rely on these for initiating the meditation process. They were external stimulants and he would need to learn to do it without the Herb in the future, anyway. He agreed with it, for the most part. The thing that was making him scratch his head was this one-way note exchange.

If this was everything, it would be fine and dandy but no, there was more. The problem was, the notes didn't stop coming. Every day, during the morning session with Miss Florelle and Nephra, he was passed another one of these.

He dug deeper through the same drawer and took out a bundle of wrinkled sheets of paper.

The irritating part was it was filled with either nonsense or mundane stuff.

He didn't know how to reply to "How was your day? Did you visit the market?". Was he supposed to say it was fine?

And what did "Abooga Haruman" even mean? He was almost certain this wasn't a proper word. He even checked the dictionary to be sure.

Trying to reach out to him turned out to be futile as he was out of town. At least, that's what the staff told him. This left him stumped. He could do nothing but continue passively accepting the notes.

Ugh, what was so interesting about him anyway? The only thing he could pinpoint was his relation to Vanadis. That could be the motivation behind this unusual communication. Or was he reading too much into it?

Noah exhaled a long breath. Better start his meditative session.

He plopped the leaf inside his mouth and chewed on it to release the juices. Since it was much more diluted in dosage, he had to do this to consume it. Slowly, a feeling of tranquility spread within his mind.

Noah made a beeline to the balcony attached to their room. Sliding the curtains aside, he stepped out. Looking up, he could see the wooden ceiling did its work keeping out the rain.

Meanwhile, there looked to be a missing crystal lamp on the far side of the balcony wall. Only a few Inconspicuous holes and scratches were left as evidence of its prior presence.

The heavy rain looked to have stopped quite some time ago with the clouds parting to give him the view he looked forward to every night.

Taking in the smell of the moist earth, he sat under the starry sky.

He found it exceptionally easy to meditate within the silence of the night. Closing his eyes, he focused all his attention on his breathing.

As per Rylee's instructions, merely beginning your meditation allows you to unconsciously draw in primal mana from your surroundings and convert it into mana of your own use. Granted, it is an insignificant amount that cannot be used for any purpose other than to maintain and gradually strengthen your astral form i.e. your soul.

'Right now, if I'm not wrong, my soul is in a nascent stage. And through continuous meditation, I'm able to grow it to a size where it will undergo some sort of metamorphosis and something amazing will happen.'

Seems about right.

Practicing his breathing also brought other benefits. Such as his mental stats increasing. Who would have known you could improve your Intelligence through Meditation?

"Allow your instincts to guide your breathing. Don't exert your will. Let the body do the work." Rylee's words echoed in his mind.

He did just that. Relaxed his body, mind and spirit. Progressively, his senses became fine-tuned and he was able to access his "sixth sense". Their sessions had not yet reached this phase so he could only give it this name. What he had managed to do instead was extensively test out this new sense of his.

The first thing Noah found out was that his sense was exponentially more potent inside his body compared to outside. The outside was like a fog of darkness compared to the X-ray he was given of his internals. His breathing, heartbeat, even the electrical impulses, he could sense it crystal clear. Regrettably, without any directions, he was left to his own devices to explore this sense and the results have been mixed so far.

Prolonged periods of practice have made him more adept at accessing this state and his sense has objectively improved. He was now able to zoom in on any part he wished without much delay and with further clarity.

While this may sound he was doing considerably well, he was overall disappointed by his performance. All he did was improve quantitatively. That is not to say he didn't like this change. After all, any change is better than no change. But he would like to have some qualitative improvement.

This sense of his right now functioned just as a glorified X-ray-cum-MRI Scanner with a touch of ultrasonic in the mix. His intuition was screaming at him that it would do much more than that. The merely probable theories he had were enough to wake him up at night.

His patience was growing thin by the snail pace the meditation session was proceeding with. Why couldn't that guy just get done and over with the basics?

'Oops'

His agitated emotions destabilized his meditative session. Despite trying to stabilize, it seems his practice today was completed.

He was a bit disheartened by his mistake. However, having made good progress today gave him some solace.

Standing up, he stretched his limbs to allow the blood to circulate back again.

After a session, not only his mind but his body too felt rejuvenated. Could Meditation substitute for sleep? An interesting idea.

Just then, his ears picked up on a series of footsteps coming from the inside.