Victoria PoV

The first thing that happened when I left the academy was a new skill being added, ‘Red String’, which I instantly tried and got to talk with William, the King of Hearts.

After speaking with him, I concluded that he is a nice person and it may be useful to work together to take advantage of our classes.

The problem is meeting, at the moment we are at different countries.

I found out that my location is the town of Shipton, in the Boreagia Kingdom.

For the time being I have explored the town and talked with the people.

The population of this kingdom is divided between the followers of Naleya and Natech.

Luckily for me a small temple for Naleya’s followers is in the town.

Daniah told me that if I ever needed help I could go to temple and use her name.

Guess what? I don’t have a place to sleep, I’m hungry and penniless.

William told me he had to get a job just to eat and gather some money to buy equipment.

I don’t want to lose time like that.

My best chance is to use Daniah’s influence in the temple.

When I arrive outside of the temple, it is the biggest building in the town, that said, it’s nowhere near as big as the one in the academy.

I walk inside, a chubby man is praying in front of the sculpture of the goddess.

By his clothes I think he is the priest here, so I decide to wait until he finishes praying.

Once he is finished, he walks to me with a smile.

For such a big body, the man has an incredibly innocent face which doesn’t match at all with his body type.

“Good afternoon”

His voice is soft, almost girly.

It is quite hard to hold back the laughter.

“Just now the goddess told me that she sent you here to learn a skill and I’m to teach you”

Hearing about learning a new skill changed my mood.

Looks like there is more training for me even outside of the academy.

“Could you tell me you name?”

“My name is Victoria, I was told by my friend, the priestess Daniah that I could get some help here, I wasn’t expecting that the goddess sent me here with a purpose in mind”

The priest looks shocked.

“Incredible, you are friend with a Grand Priestess candidate”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Grand Priestess?”

The man laughs.

“You didn’t know? The Grand Priestess is the highest ranking member within the followers of Naleya”

And Daniah is going to get that role.

He sounds excited while talking about it.

Then his mood saddens.

“The current Grand Priestess has reached old age and is sick in bed, so five candidates have been chosen to take over her place”

“I understand, Daniah didn’t tell me about that”

A smile returns to his face.

“By the way I am the priest in this town, my name is Ernest”

“It is a pleasure to meet you”

“The pleasure is mine”

He seems rather happy.

“It is the first time our great goddess talked directly to me, and even more incredible, she entrusted the important task of teaching her chosen one”

Chosen one? Well she did say something like that when she gave me the class.

Now I wonder if that means that I have certain advantages within the followers of Naleya.

“So what is this skill I have to learn?”

I’m certainly curious about it, after all the goddess herself wants me to learn it.

“It is the most basic skill for a follower of the goddess to have, Naleya’s Teachings, looks like somehow you skipped the most basic training for a member of our temple”

What? Well, Daniah did teach me in a different way than the rest of the adventurers.

I’m slightly disappointed.

He notices that.

“Don’t be mistaken, even if it is the most basic of skills, it is one of the hardest to master, normally you would have to be reading books for months, then you would have to learn and practice some of the rituals and finally travel to a certain place to prove your faith, one or two years may be necessary”

Years? I don’t have that kind of time.

Wait, he said normally.

I stare at him.

He is grinning.

“You said normally, which means there is another way”

Ernest nods, he looks proud of himself.

“I developed a way to teach the skill in only one month, but it is a quite hardcore training and no one besides me have managed to accomplish it”

“I see”

At least one month sounds more reasonable, if the goddess sent me here is because I should be able to keep up with the training.

“After hearing that, do you want to learn the skill from me?”

“I will follow the path that the goddess set for me”

The priest looks pleased.

“For the time being I need you to rest, you must be in top condition by tomorrow”

The priest takes me to the dining room inside of the temple, a couple of women serve food to our table.

I can’t refrain from jumping to the food, I was feeling really hungry.

After eating, Ernest takes me to the room I will be using to sleep.

“We will start the training tomorrow”

Then he leaves me to rest.

As I look through the windows I notice it’s already dark outside.

[Victoria? Are you busy?]

William’s voice is deep and warm, makes me feel comfortable.

[I was just about to go to sleep]

[Sorry to interrupt, I just needed to know if you already found out your current location]

I forgot to tell him.

[Yes I did, I’m currently in the Boreagia Kingdom]

[Oh… we are quite far from each other]

His voice sounds a little bit disappointed.

[I will check where the most convenient place for us to meet up is]

[I leave it to you then]

Before I forget.

[Looks like I will be stuck training for about a month]

William takes a while until he answers.

[I guess that is a good thing, it will give me time to prepare for the journey]

I’m a magic user, so I don’t really need equipment to fight, but in William’s case, he has to prepare.

[I will take into consideration that you need a month for training, maybe I will find a way to get there during that time]

That would be great.

I don’t feel like traveling by myself and Lucy won’t be able to play with me until she gets the game, besides, she will have to spend some time in the academy before meeting with me.

[I hope you find a way, I would like for us to meet as soon as possible]

[Well, I won’t take more of your time]

[I don’t mind, talking with another player is quite refreshing]

He laughs.

[Then let’s keep the conversation going]

After that we talked a little more than one hour, until my body forced me to sleep.

“Wake up!”

I slowly open my eyes.

Ernest’s voice comes from outside of the room.

I take a look outside of the window, it’s still dark outside.

“Victoria, it is time to start your training”

His voice is loud enough for the whole temple to hear.

“I’m awake, give me a minute please”

“I will be waiting at the dining hall”

I hear his footsteps as he walks away.

Let’s see what this training is about.

I put on my clothes and leave to meet Ernest.

His expression is different, there is no longer an innocent face, he looks more mature and gives a different aura.

We have something to eat, then we leave towards a room filled with books.

“I’m going to use magic on you, but I have to warn you, it is possible that you will pass out during the process, are you okay with that?”

There isn’t much of a choice.

“Yes, let’s do it”

“Sit here”

I do as he said.

Ernest picks up a book and hands it to me.

“Don’t let go of it”

Then he starts chanting in a strange language.

A light appears on top of the book.

I feel information coming into my brain.

The history of this world, mainly about the goddess.

There various interesting parts.

At the beginning of the world, gods fought each other making use of all living beings in this world.

Naleya was one of the few gods who choose to remain out of the conflict for power, she disagreed with the notion of using living beings as playthings.

For centuries the war between gods continued, causing the destruction of cities, extinction of species, a whole continent disappeared.

Until a thousand years ago, ten human beings appeared.

They appeared out of nowhere, it is said that these people came from another world.

At first, no one gave importance to them, the gods thought they were just human beings.

But these humans had a power beyond the gods, they easily stopped the war, destroyed the gods who didn’t accept the new order of things and set up a ruling system.

They chose seven gods who didn’t take part in the war and gave them the power to rule above the others, their mission to maintain the balance in the world.

When peace arrived, these ten people left the world one after the other, never to be heard of again.

The ruling system they created has been successful, anything that could be a threat is efficiently dealt with.

The gods no longer interfere in the matters of mortals, they just keep the balance between all living beings.

I felt a sudden pain in my head, slowly I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, Ernest was in the room reading a book.

“What happened?”

“You passed out, you have unconscious for two hours”

There is an incredible amount of information inside of my mind.

“How do you feel?”

“It is strange, I have all this knowledge I didn’t have previously”

He smiles awkwardly.

“It is the first book of many to come, the pain may be unbearable”

“I understand, I can keep going”

He shakes his head.

“No, we will do another tomorrow, it is possible to damage your head if you pour too much information in such a little amount of time”

I hope this isn’t dangerous.

After all, the information is in my head, not only inside of the game.

“What should I do now?”

“Go to your room and train your mana, little by little you will become stronger and the amount of information I will be able to transfer will increase”

I nod.

Looks like more practice with water.

Well, I have something else in mind that I would like to practice.

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I'm going out of town this weekend, meaning no internet connection until monday. I hope i will be able to write during these days so i can have chapters for you when i come back.

Don't forget to leave comments, questions or suggestions, it helps me improve the story.