The moment Kenji smelled the aroma coming from the dishes, his mouth instantly watered.

  A quarter of an hour later, the table was nearly empty and Kenji was very satisfied. He hadn't had such a meal in a long time.

  “....As I was saying recently…,” throughout the whole meal, Mary kept talking about her job as a teacher and the time she spends at the library.

  Back on Earth, Mary had started teaching at a kindergarten before the whole Ascension Program started. After coming to the Ancient World, she had no clue as to what to do.

  Fortunately, a Hunter at her housing complex had a kid, and he wanted someone to continue teaching him. Since Mary had experience, she stepped forward and started teaching the boy.

  Whenever the boy would go out to play with other children, he always complained about his teacher always forcing him to study. When other parents got wind of it, they too started sending their children to her for studying.

  Thus, Mary somehow opened the first school in Aqua City.

  Currently, Mary has employed 20 teachers and is overseeing the studies of more than 2,000 kids.

  “Recently, I have been studying Gifts and have started a consultation, charging one Silver coin for details of each Gift.” Swallowing the food, Mary started talking about her recent side gig.

  “Enough about me, why don't you tell me more about yourself?” Looking at Kenji, who's been kept quiet the whole time aside from occasional biting sounds, Mary asked.

  Aside from Kenji's name, which Mary got from the mysterious man, she realized she knew nothing about the boy.

  “Me…? I am a… transportation worker. I help hunters… bring their spoils back… to the city.”

  Kenji, who was captivated by Mary, had her voice, facial expressions, and even her every move playing on repeat inside his mind. But suddenly everything stopped and he replied in an awkward tone.

  “That’s hard work. You must have a body-strengthening Gift. But let me tell you, it won't be long before all transportation work goes out of business. Currently, a few top parties have already switched to storage bags, and many are gathering money to buy them.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Before long every party will have a storage bag, and they won’t need you anymore.”

  Mary paused for a moment, letting Kenji digest the information while she came up with an idea.

  “How about this? You tell me about your gifts, and I’ll help you find some parties still looking for members.” As Mary said those words, she felt quite pleased with herself.

  This way, she would be able to learn which Gifts Kenji currently had, as well as which Gift she needed to guide him toward next.

  The mysterious man who contacted her wanted Kenji to acquire a certain kind of Gift. He had provided her with a list of three:

  F-rank [Split],

  E-rank [Trial],

  and D-rank [Dual Soul].

  Although Mary hadn’t had the chance to look them up, she could roughly guess their nature just from the names alone.

  “I… don’t have… any Gift.” Kenji said those words nervously, as if not having a Gift was some kind of major defect.

  “You don't have a gift? Then how are you doing all that heavy lifting?” Mary didn’t believe him. After all, his body wasn’t built for labor work.

  “I use my Ki… Some time ago, I discovered that if I circulate Ki within my body, it can increase my strength. I am… even able to perform [Ki Blade]… without using a… Skill Book.” Kenji tried to show off, but his voice was still low.

  “Wait… are you telling me you are able to mobilize your Ki to strengthen your body and perform skills?” Mary looked at Kenji in astonishment.

  Unlike him, she spent most of her time drowning in books and she could be considered one of the most knowledgeable people about the Ascension Program in Aqua City.

  Thus, she knew that the human body isn’t strong enough to handle chaotic surges of Ki circulating inside it, as it can easily damage various organs.

  Thus, the only effective ways of using Ki are either through [Skill Books] or Body Refining.

  [Skill Books] create such perfect muscle memory that Ki can run through the body without damaging it.

  Meanwhile, Body Refining strengthens the body so that it can withstand chaotic Ki moving throughout it.

  Mary hadn’t read anywhere about a person being able to use Ki without strengthening the body to a certain extent.

  Yet now, the skin and bones before her was saying that he could mobilize his Ki to strengthen his body and do extensive work for hours.

  “Maybe you underwent some sort of Awakening.” Awakening was the only possible explanation Mary could come up with.

  “Awakening… what’s that?” This was the first time Kenji had heard such a term.

  “According to the books, Awakening is when a certain extra organ inside the body is activated. The two most common ones are Ki Veins and Ki Body. Unlike Source Ki, they not only allow their bearer to use Ki, but also help strengthen the body.”

  Mary explained Awakening to Kenji in simple terms.

  “You… think I am… awakened?” Kenji’s voice carried a hint of excitement as he asked. Who doesn’t like being special.

  “As I said, maybe…” Mary hadn’t spent much time studying Awakening, so she wasn’t a hundred percent certain.

  “Bill!” Mary was fascinated by what Kenji had told her, and while she was lost in her thoughts, a Fairy flew by and dropped the bill.

  “Let me take care of it.” Just as Kenji was about to pick it up, Mary grabbed the bill first and went to pay.

  “I have to go. How about we meet tomorrow at the library, same time?” Mary quickly gathered her things and headed out. While talking to Kenji, she had completely forgotten about her night classes.

  It was only after paying the bill and seeing the clock hanging on the wall that she remembered.

  As Mary left, Kenji sat at the table, feeling bad about her paying the bill, until a Fairy finally asked him to clear the table.

  Leaving the Fairy Market, Kenji returned to his room, lay on the bed, and drifted into sleep.

  [Ancient Calendar: 2 Mar 0001]

  The next day after waking up, Kenji immediately got his gear and headed out to hunt.

  Along the way, he popped a food pill to keep his energy levels from dropping.

  “This is it…” Standing at the entrance of the Kobold cave, Kenji spent a few moments preparing himself before entering.

  Just as Kenji went a little deeper into the cave, he heard footsteps approaching.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

  Read advance chapters on Patreon:

  patreon.com/BurningSunlvl99