Ben woke up at midnight after the sparring session with Roubaul. He tried to remember the sparring match to review it.
"Gramps didn't even try to attack us and let us try out our spells. Wendy can only last a hour, and I can last for 4 hours. In a real battle, we can only last for half of that time at most." Ben went over it.
Ben thought that they needed to raise their stamina and endurance. He thought that the management of their magic was good enough, but they lack the mp quantity and stamina. They ate their respective elements to restore their energy, but it's still not enough.
[Name: Ben Cooper
Age: 10
Status: Alive
MP: 4285/4285
STR: 30
AGI: 28
STA: 36
INT: 33]
"Thanks to the increase in stamina I can fight for 2 hours straight. That's a good amount of time for someone my age, but it's not enough." Ben stated.
He was aware that he would need to fight someone older, stronger and with more experience. That's why he had to get stronger everyday and prepared for anything. One such thing is knowledge, so he opened the book he was borrowing from Roubaul.
[Do you want me to scan the book and transfer it to your memory?]
"You can do that?" Ben asked.
[Yes, I can scan each page in a second and store it in my database. After that, I can send it directly to your brain, so you don't need to read the book. However, you need to process the data slowly, because your brain isn't fully developed. If you process all the data at once, it might harm your brain.]
"So I just need to take it slowly, right? It's still faster than reading the book on my own. Although I still need to comprehend the content by myself, it saves a lot of time." Ben pointed out.
[Then, please open the pages one by one so I can scan it.]
Ben then start to flip through the pages, one by one to let A.I Chip scan it. A.I Chip stored the information in it's database and didn't send it to Ben directly. It needed to process all the data first before sending it to Ben.
It took 6 hours for A.I Chip to finish scanning. Even with A.I Chip's fast scanning and computation ability, it still needed 6 hours to finish. The book wasn't only thick, the information in it was very complex. Besides, Ben needed to flip the pages one by one, and that takes time.
[Scan complete, total pages: 5163.]
"How long will it take me to receive all that information?" Ben asked.
[The fastest you can obtain that information is 60 days if you push your brain to the limit and you focus on receiving the information. For optimal results, I'd advise that you work on it slowly.]
"How long will that take?" Ben asked.
[After calculating all your activity, the optimum time is 516 with 10 pages each day.]
"Hmm, that's certainly a better option considering I have another activity to do. However, that's still too long, can I get the essential things first before the details?"
[Yes, I will sort the information for the essential stuff. Sorting process will take 10 hours.]
"Good, I'll learn the essentials first and the details after that."
While waiting for A.I Chip to finish the process, Ben decided to train. It's morning now, so he would train a little before going on a hunting job again. He did some exercises before going hunting with Wendy at 9 am.
Today, they were going deeper into the forest for bigger prey. Ben and Wendy slowly went further into the forest to increase their challenge. By fighting stronger creatures, they would also get stronger.
They keep moving deeper into the forest, until they found a new area. It was a wide swamp that they had never seen before. They need to be cautious and investigate the area first. They walk slowly on the outskirts of the swamp and spot some creatures.
"Lizardmen?" Wendy blinked
"This place must be their nest. It's a suitable environment for them after all." Ben noted.
"What should we do?" She asked her companion.
"Let's leave for the time being. Our job is to hunt for food, so let's focus on that." He advised.
Ben decided to leave the swamp and resume hunting for animals. The hunt wasn't his only reason. Lizardmen usually flock together and fighting them in their nest without a plan is stupid. They could fight a stray lizardman, but this swamp seems to be their nest. They need to be better prepared if they want to fight the Lizardmen.
"Do you plan to attack the Lizardman nest later?" Wendy questioned out loud.
"I don't know. Lizardmen are intelligent monsters and they are strong. If gramps judges them to be dangerous, then we will need to exterminate them or make them leave this area. But if not, then it will be better to leave them alone." Ben remarked.
The Lizardmen seemed to have occupied this area for years. They never attack the village, so it's apparent that they're not hostile. Ben still needed to investigate the Lizardmen though before he could come to a conclusion.
Ben and Wendy hunted like they normally did, and they returned with 3 white wolves and a big red bull. Wendy's enchantments are becoming strong and it can raise Ben's strength by 12 points. With his 30 original points and 13 additional ones, he can easily lift 4 carcasses.
Then they return to the guild hall to meet Roubaul. They informed him of the Lizardmen nest in the forest. The distance between them isn't far, so it is a little worrying.
"Hmm, Ben-boy is right. We need to investigate them first. If they've lived there for years, then their population might be very high now. Soon, they will need to find a new habitat, a bigger place and the best option is this place." Roubaul determined.
"What? Why?" Wendy asked.
"The lake, huh?" Ben mused.
"That's right. Lizardmen love water and this place has the most water in the lake. The swamp might have been enough for them in the past, but it won't sustain them in the future." Roubaul explained.
"Then should I investigate their nest?" Ben offered.
"No, I will send someone with a lot of experience. You just need to wait for the news and train to get stronger in case those Lizardmen decide to attack us." Roubaul instructed.
"Alright then." Ben nodded.
He and Wendy leave to train in their usual spot. They use their standard training routine, they weren't going to spar today. They sparred with Roubaul yesterday and know what they need to improve on.
[Data sorting complete.]
While Ben trained, A.I Chip finished sorting the information it received earlier. He left it alone for the time being and focused on his training. He checked the data after training was done.
[Essence theory: 561 pages. Consisting of 81 main subjects.]
"Hmm, so around 7 pages per main subject. Send one main subject to me everyday! If the main subject has more than 10 pages, split it in two!" Ben ordered.
[Understood, processing...found 8 main subjects with more than 10 pages. Calculating time to transfer: 89 days. Will you take the first subject now?]
"Sure, I'll ponder it while taking a bath." Ben said.
[Transferring first subject: Magic Power.]
Ben felt a strong headache and felt something is flowing to his head.
"It's just 6 pages of information, but I've never felt a headache like this. I really won't be able to take more than 10." He said.
When the process was complete, Ben suddenly knew a lot more about magic power. After he obtained the knowledge, he found out magic power is a lot more complex than he thought.
"It seems I can't handle these subjects everyday. Even a single subject will take days for me to understand. I can't only know it, I need to understand it or it will be useless." Ben said.
He realized that he underestimated the knowledge of magic. He thought that 1 to 5 years is long enough to learn this book, but it is very short actually. If he didn't have A.I Chip, it would have taken decades to finish the book.
"This book's content is more ridiculous than it's appearance." Ben muttered.
[Of course. It contains all the knowledge Roubaul acquired throughout his life. He spent decades amassing this knowledge. Compared to that, you'll only need a few years to complete it, so you need to be grateful.]
"...Are you lecturing me right now?" Ben asked.
[Yes.]
Ben is speechless now. He always thought A.I Chip had a personality, and it seems that he's right. Ben sighed and forgot about it. At least he can learn the magic theories faster than normal people now.