Master Of None

"Oh, that puzzle looks nice. I did not know that carpenters made painted and carved wooden puzzles like that. It looks like it is a field of white daisies." Alice approached Walker then looked up in surprise.

She had not noticed that across the room two more puzzles were being done with a fourth held fast on the ceiling.

"I am training my mana manipulation to hold the pieces and do the puzzles while reading this mystery novel. It’s about the third demi-human king. He had traits from a spider monkey, whatever that is. An extinct monster or animal. But the point is they were cunning and tricked many of their people in to farming fruits and vegetables that could survive the northern territories which expanded their trading in to a larger area than ever before even though the general merchant populace didn’t want to."

Walker was not even looking away from the book but Alice was not unhappy with that whatsoever. She knew that he was trying to awaken a more advanced level of the deciphering skill but the puzzles seemed odd as a trick to decipher languages.

Realizing that Alice would need a bit more information since he hadn’t shared enough just yet, Walker spoke up again.

"The wooden puzzles had different written languages carved on the back of pieces. Some are deceptive since they have multiple meanings while others are perfectly translated. I have to differentiate between what is natural and what is a trick. Even the translation skill doesn’t go with perfect intent for what word is meant because it is made to be tricky."

The way that Walker determined this was simply that it was not a malicious or violent intention by the creator but one made to spur joy or growth. Therefore, the natural translations worked with that within the realm of all races that it could be translated to. That and it was made for training so the intent was to be tricky in a good way.

Regardless of the actual reasoning behind the overall translations from the will of existence, Walker found himself being tested.

"The mental strain is actually greater than I thought. I have the split mind skill so I can focus on more than one thing at a time but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel the pressure. My will is being tested and my problem solving skills are too. I have learned a skill called adaptive thinking that lets me learn written and spoken languages better along with learning to understand non combat skills slightly faster."

Fior Walker, such a skill was very valuable. For the average person, it would help them in their daily life. For a crafter? It would make them appear to advance many times faster than the average crafter like them. Therefore, it was a great skill to have.

"I don’t think I learned it just from this training though. I think it comes after a longer time learning things. So teachers who work to learn and then share the proper and best knowledge with others or scholars overall most likely get this skill naturally."

He was showing one finished puzzle to Alice now, a picture carved in to wood and burned to replicate the image of an erupting volcano. The craftsman that made the wooden puzzle was very skilled but the deception here was following the lines made by carving and burning.

Anyone else would look at the images separated like they were a mess of damaged wood. But once properly together the perspective changed in ti an amazingly intricate art that showed the moment a volcano erupted and sent a river of magma in to the open air creating a lava lake below.

"I did get the language deciphering skill after the third book of mysteries and deceptive language. It was interesting seeing how some nobles worded contracts that allow them to do some terrible deals. But that’s a great deal in the past now. Especially since we stopped some of the races that could use contracts more maliciously." Walker thought about the demons and his recent excursion to the elemental planes but decided to skip thinking too deeply since there was always a potential for trouble with such things.

"I need to advance the skill I think. The words are still hard to grasp and I have only gathered a few words that don’t make any sense." It wasn’t that Walker was bad at this, he was just expecting too much with the fact that he was literally reading a journal copy of someone who went mad and made their own language.

"How about your studies? Did you gather anything valuable from the new works copied from a journal of the broken healer?"

This brought a bright smile to Alice’s face. Meaning that she had found something good that wouldn’t be harmful to the healers if she encouraged them to learn it and work with it.

"A skill called nutrient sharing was once popular for vampires. The broken healer found ways to use it with life mana, but nutrient sharing is still possible. I need to speak to some of the oldest vampires since it may be a lost skill."

"How did it work? Did a vampire share their bodies’ stored mana with someone else?" Walker assumed it was mana since health and anything else was a little tougher to share.

"No! That’s the amazing part." The light flickered as Alice let her control slip slightly in excitement. Walker could only smile and be glad that she was enjoying learning something new so much.

"The skill allowed the direct connection and sharing of blood to give nutrients to someone malnourished. It was a way to save babies and children or a severely injured partner. The drawbacks are the same bloodline or similar traits as the one receiving, but it is possible to ignore those downsides with potions nowadays. It might have become a lost skill because it was dangerous to both sides but now will be useful and very possible."

Catching on to how major this might be, Walker began to look at some of the people he knew who stored nutrients and food within their bodies naturally. Many races and classes did such a thing for their health or for their long term growth. Dragons being one of these races.

"That means you could heal someone faster with magic without needing to worry about depleting too much of their stored nutrients! That’s a major breakthrough if that can be tested and proven true!" Alice nodded and leaned in to Walker’s arm trying to encourage him to help her with this.

He couldn’t shake his head no since he could focus on helping her with this in the cathedral while also trying to dig in to the details of the journal. He even felt a change in area might be what he needs. He could only stay locked in the archives for so long anyways. It was better to visit the cathedral and do some good there too.

"So to the cathedral we go." Holding her closely, the space mana shifted and Walker and Alice appeared at the door to the cathedral creating a small commotion as a few playing children jumped and screamed in shock before starting to talk wildly seeing a hero and saintess at the same time.

Their arrival also brought out a few of the working knights and nuns. Some seeming a little distracted despite the fact that few people appeared to be here for healing.

"It seems lively here for a slow day with fewer injuries. Your work helping grow the healers in number is working well. But who might that group of guards be?"

"Sir hero, that is a group who have returned from a pilgrimage to help and heal. It appears the guards that went along with them have advanced their classes to something different." This brought a somewhat wild smile to Walker’s face and a slight smirk to Alice’s. She knew that Walker wouldn’t be able to resist this with his curiosity.

Then we have to ask them a hundred questions. Alice, you’re in charge now, let’s see what we can do." she sighed knowing that working on the new skill and experiments she had just learned about would fall to the side, but it wouldn’t be for a bad reason. She could share the documents she had found in the broken healers notes and what she referenced first. Building a team of healers for it would be better after all.

The group standing at the front seemingly waiting for a chance to do something all watched Walker and Alice as they arrived before them. But, they all did not speak or move. Only one did, the leader of what should have been five light warriors and themselves. But instead, they now had a different, more serious aura about them.

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