Strength: 7 (+8)
Vitality: 7 (+18)
MP: 1
Agility: 5
Unique Skills: poison immunity
Normal Skills: none
Nice! I thought. My stats had improved even more than I’d expected.
For all the stray cowbirds I’d been hunting (and the goblins I hunted on the way to them), I didn’t have much to show for it in my base stats. But the numbers in parentheses had gone up so dramatically that I didn’t even care.
Given how little effort I’d had to put in, and the short time frame of only a single month, it was a really substantial improvement. I felt safe assuming I could expect even more growth in the future.
I’d had to spend good money on these assessments, but it had been worth it to zero in on which plants I needed to focus my efforts on gathering.
Of course, I knew it would be foolish to assume that my stats were guaranteed to keep improving at this dramatic rate. Still...it felt like I had a clear path ahead of me now for beating Claus, and that was enough to fill me with determination.
As I made my way back to the hotel, I had to fight the urge to spend all of my money on another retreat into the woods.
The room was empty when I returned, so I decided to spend some of my free time reading over the grimoire as I wrapped my untested plant samples in wafers and popped them into my mouth.
I was just washing the tasteless wafer-wrapped plants down with water, so it didn’t really feel like I was eating, but it wasn’t long before I grew full.
It kind of sucked, actually, because eating was basically the sole pleasure I found in life. But I had no choice if I wanted to get stronger.
Now that I’d eaten every last of the twenty untested plant samples, I decided to hurry back to the church before Ralph and Hester got home.
It had only been about two hours since my last ability assessment. Honestly, even I could admit it was a little weird to be splashing two gold coins on something like this in such a short period of time.
Father Graham, who had no idea about my circumstances, was probably baffled. I would have been willing to bet that he and the other priests had some funny nickname for me.
And just like that, my mind wandered from one silly topic to the next as I entered the church and made my way to the little room in the back for another assessment.
“So, you really meant it when you said a few hours...”
“Yeah. Sorry for coming by twice in one day,” I said, handing him the gold coin and my adventurer’s card.
“I believe I’ve said this before as well, but there’s no need to apologize. As long as you pay the fee, you may use the service as often as you like. Now then... All right. All done.”
“Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.”
“I’m sure you will. I look forward to seeing you then.”
After taking my adventurer’s card back and thanking Father Graham, I quickly left the church.
The church was actually a fair distance from the hotel—farther than one might expect—owing to the fact that it was in a different district. It took time to get here and back.
As I checked the results of my latest assessment, I found myself seriously considering moving to the Pigeon Inn just so I could stop by the church more easily for future assessments.
All right! It was only a one-point increase, but my strength’s improved!
As if on instinct, I pumped my fist in the air. It’d been a while since I’d last done that.
From my previous experiences, I’d known that there were some plants in Patia Forest that improved strength, but I’d had no idea which they could be—until now, when I’d managed to successfully forage one. Now, all I had to do was figure out which of the twenty species from this experiment was the one that did the trick.
Not only had I confirmed the effectiveness of ghost grass and speckled shrooms today, but I’d also discovered that one of the species I’d gathered could improve strength.
Plus, I had a new steel sword. It felt like I’d laid some really good groundwork today.
I hadn’t been this excited for a long time. As I savored the feeling, I hurried back to the hotel so I could help Hester read the grimoire.
“Ready to learn some more magic?”
“Yes, please,” said Hester.
“Yes, please,” said Ralph.
“Wait... Huh? Why’re you joining in, Ralph?”
“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do right now, so...”
“In that case, how ’bout I start coaching you on your swordsmanship?” I suggested.
“Huh? Wait... You’d do that?”
“I don’t like the idea of you surpassing me, so to be honest, I’d rather not... But I’m not gonna let a dumb reason like that get in the way.”
“Thank you so much! I’ve never had formal swordsmanship coaching before.”
“I’m just going to be passing down what I’ve been taught, so it’s nothing worth getting too excited over. Anyway, we’ll start after I get Hester going.”
A little while later, we left Realzahd and headed out to an open plain to practice. It didn’t seem like a great idea for Hester to practice magic in town, since who knows what kind of collateral damage might come of it, so we’d picked a spot where no one would get hurt if a spell went flying out of control.
“Let’s see... The key to magic is visualization. Light a candle and, as you gaze at its flame, practice transforming your mana into fire,” I read.