บท 16: Smooth Progression
Chapter 16: Smooth Progression
[No, it might backfire. Usually, learning the [Instant Memorize] skill would only restrain one's mind a little. But you experienced severe headaches, which shows that's the limit your current soul can handle. If you try to learn another skill now, your soul might shatter at any moment.] Zera's words made his face go pale.
[But don't worry. We are going to focus on alchemy now. For the next two years, you will learn hundreds of books about the Basic Alchemy.] As she spoke, she slowly turned around and walked toward the left side of the bookshelf.
More than five hundred books were arranged in seven rows; each seemed to have held profound knowledge.
Zera soon arrived before the bookshelf, bent down her waist, and picked up an Introduction to Alchemy book.
[Hmm, this book has a total of 564 pages. You have to memorize this book within the next 48 hours. Think of it as your life depends on it. When you have free time, enter the library and read the books.]
"Yes." Raven nodded solemnly and started reading the book.
Days passed as he focused entirely on memorizing the Alchemy related books like 'Herbology and Brews: A Comprehensive Guide to Magic Materials and Potions,' 'Essential Potions: Mastering Potioncrafting for Beginners,' Enchanting Flora: Unveiling the Secrets of Magical Plants for Potions,' 'The Alchemist's Garden: Growing and Harvesting Magic Herbs Vol.1 to Vol.14' and so on.
Every day, his theoretical knowledge of making potions increased exponentially.
Before he started reading about Alchemy, his progress in Elementary Class studies was good. But Raven didn't put too much thought into it and sometimes entered the 'Memory Library' even during the class periods. Thanks to this, Athena and Shirley received multiple complaints about his behavior from the schools, causing them to worry more.
What shocked both was that he stopped playing with other classmates and always sat alone. Even his best friend Robert came to Raven's home and complained a lot. Both thought that his body and mind must have weakened due to the weakened soul and became more resolute to get stronger. Athena began to train her Knight Technique even at night, while Shirley frequently took dangerous missions to save more money.
Their main goal was to save more money to get the Wizard's Miracle Life Potion.
Months passed, and soon, it was Athena's 21st birthday. But unlike the previous birthday, this one ended quietly. Although Shirley and Athena spent more time with Raven daily, they didn't slack a single moment and started working madly.
Athena had already reached the 6th Circle Official Knight Rank and learned two unique skills thanks to the Knight Technique. One was an Attack Skill called 'Eclipse Fury,' while the second one was 'Obsidian Shield' defense skill. Although she was still an Official Rank, her power was enough to stand against an Elite Knight!
Thanks to her increase in strength, she also applied for the 'Sub Inspector' position and went through more than three written and two physical fitness tests.
After a month, the result came out with her perfect physical fitness tests and the written tests with 80% passing marks.
After another ten days, she was finally appointed as a Sub Inspector of Narcotics and took charge of R9 Police in Commoners' Borough.
Under her control were 24 constables, three Head Constables, and Two Assistant Sub Inspector, with her being the sole leader of this department.
Thanks to her rise in position, her salary was also increased to 2 Gold Coins, greatly relieving the family situation.
Alas, her responsibilities became bigger, too. Night duties and even overworking became common for her.
But she never stopped even a second and continued to push forward.
But what was even more impressive was Shirley's progress. After discovering Athena's current Knight Technique was better than the Imperial Knight Technique, she decided to use the money herself.
She brought an Elite Knight Technique using 50 Gold coins in the auction at the Highhold City and started taking even more dangerous missions. Although she was still stuck in the Official Knight realm, her battle power had increased significantly. But what worried Athena was that she had seen Shirley returning home injured multiple times and was scared.
Unlike Athena's government job, Shirley's was more like a private mercenary squad. Merchant companies, Industrial companies, the higher officials in the Town, and even some shady, mysterious people like wizards commission her with special tasks and even reward her with an extra amount upon completion.
What was more dangerous in her missions was that 90% of those tasks involved going through the Mirage Woodlands. For example, wizards sometimes commission tasks to get potion materials only found in dense woods, merchant companies commission tasks like getting some specific monster materials or even rare goods found in abandoned mines located deep in the woods, etc.
Athena even asked Shirley if she could join those dangerous missions and help her, but all her requests were denied. Shirley firmly warned her to only get near Mirage Woodlands once she learned the third skill and told her not to worry about her safety.
On the other hand, Raven completely memorized more than 300 Basic Alchemy books and was already capable of brewing basic potions. However, Zera didn't allow him to do any practical tests and told him to focus solely on increasing his theoretical knowledge.
Of course, he also knew how hard his aunt and sister were struggling every day and became more desperate. But one thing that worried him most was that his lifespan was getting shorter. At that moment, he only had around five years of lifespan.
Like that, another year passed in a blink.
He was seven years old with only four years left to live.
During the past year, many things happened in the small family's life. The first good thing that happened was Athena's progress in strength and achievement in her field. During the past two years, she cracked down on multiple illegal drug dealing cases with an 80% success rate and arrested more than ten high-ranking officials, earning her the title of 'Dame Knight.'
At the same time, she also restlessly trained the Knight Technique and even managed to comprehend the third Knight's movement skill called 'Night Dash.' Not only that, her physical strength also increased rapidly and reached Elite Rank, allowing her to take on the blow of a Radiant Knight once.
In truth, there were only a handful of Walkers in the police Head Department capable of going on one-to-one in terms of pure strength with her. One of them was Inspector Henry!
She gained two honor badges thanks to her achievement and was awarded 20 Gold Coins by Baron Alexander. Not only that, but her salary was also increased to 3 Gold coins per month.
The next thing that happened in their life was none other than Shirley's increase in rank. She was also promoted to an Elite Knight after training herself with the newly brought Knight Technique and even created her own Mercenary Team, which comprised only five members.
Unlike Athena's job, her job was more like private one. Like her, 1,000 mercenary-type Walkers worked for the Town Administration privately and were responsible for clearing out dangerous quests from different sectors. But unlike the Police and Military, they were not under the control of Baron Alexander. They were more like private forces who only cared about money.
Due to this job, Shirley's life was always filled with dangers. As the days passed, she barely smiled and always returned home with seriousness.
Alas, the one thing that made her keep pushing herself was the amount of Gold coins she earned every mission increased steadily. At that time, she earned more than 83 gold coins by selling hunted monster loot and taking dangerous missions like escort, scouting, gathering, etc.
Most importantly, Shirley's team managed to track down a massive nest of monsters deep in the woods and presented the town administration with evidence of the upcoming danger.
Even Baron was impressed by their scouting ability and finally requested her team to work under the Town Administration.
After mutual agreement, her mercenary team became part of Darkgrove's private force and officially became the first 'Scout Team.'
At this moment, Baron had four teams under his wings in the Darkgrove Town. First was the Town's Police Force. They were the primary force with 540 police officers, ranging from Apprentices to Elite Walkers.
The next team was the Elite Walker Squad, which had twelve members!
They were the elites of the elite, and each possessed an 'Aether Rifle' weapon.
The third team under Baron's wings was the Military Squad of Darkgrove.
They were the best of the best Official Rank Knights and were well-versed in combats.
And finally, the newly formed mercenary team became the Town's Scout Squad.
Unlike other teams, this team had a total of only five members. But each was peak-level Official Knights with years of battle experience and a 90% success rate!
But what made Baron happy was the birth of two Elite Knights during this critical time.
In truth, he was stunned to hear that both were actually from the same family!
Although he wanted to investigate this family background, he restrained from doing that for now. He knew that if he somehow offended the duo and got on their bad terms, only he would lose the Town's strength.
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