Finn pulled his attention away from the stone when he felt Syl staring at him. He smiled wryly. "Is it wishful thinking?" he asked. "To hope to awaken in my situation?
"It’s just that as much as I want to live a relaxed life away from conflict, I ended up in this position—and I have to find a way to protect it."
He never even considered leaving this place, even after being exposed to the dangers. For some reason, he just felt... attached. It could be because he already associated the Inn with his old dreams and the past that he missed, but also because it was what had been protecting him so far.
Without it, what did he have?
Inexplicably, he realized that he said these things out loud after doing so.
He was embarrassed, but Syl just looked at him with what looked like a neutral expression, but Finn could tell there was warmth and understanding there, even if other people might not see it clearly.
"You want to live a relaxed life, but you are not strong enough to protect it," she said. "I have a feeling it will be alright. You have a strong heart."
She let out a gentle smile as she said this, and frankly, it felt like she was glowing. Those red eyes of hers were really unique and striking. It reminded him of the golden hour, when the skies were turning red.
"You have such beautiful eyes," he told her without thinking. But when he saw her eyes widen a bit, obviously startled, he couldn’t help but be startled too. "Why do you seem so shocked?"
"This is the first time I heard of it."
"What? Impossible," he said, waving his hand as if he already assumed she was joking.
When she looked elsewhere with a melancholic look on her face, he couldn’t help but gape. " Seriously? "
She gave him a wry smile. "Most elves have colorful hair and beautiful, bright eyes," she told him, unconsciously touching her silvery-white hair. Her unique purplish-red eyes flickered in gloom. "I...am an anomaly."
Seeing her sadness broke his heart. Unconsciously, his hand raised and touched some of her long, wavy locks. It wasn’t anything too impudent—he still stood at a respectful distance—but it somehow felt...intimate.
"Rather than an anomaly..." He raised his amber eyes as he stared into her reddish ones. "I call it... special."
The silence that followed could’ve easily been awkward, yet it was not. They were both quite honest individuals and surprisingly simple in mind. They simply...accepted, whatever it was that was slowly forming between them.
It was broken when a certain Panda crept up, climbing his pants to his back and to his shoulder, looking at him with his bean eyes narrowed. "I feel left out all of a sudden. Why?"
The panda was genuinely confused.
Finn cleared his throat and looked at Syl, who was watching his interaction with the panda with a bit of amusement.
"You mentioned before that my aura is messy. What do the other ones look like? I’m also curious about how different physically-attuned are compared to mages," he said, changing the topic. It so happened that he was also a bit curious now that he asked about it.
The elf thought for a moment before speaking. "The physical awakened had concentrated essence, condensed in their bodies—to their muscles and their bones.
"They focus more on internal power, like the essence is getting compressed into the energy cores inside their body."
"Mages have a more...gel-like essence that goes outward rather than to the inside."
He nodded, taking note of this. He then looked at his [Status] again. "What about skills?" he asked, eye twitching again as he looked at the beasts, who once again triggered another [-1 Defense Point] alert from him.
By this time, Syl had already assumed Finn didn’t know anything , much like a child, so she answered like so.
"Skills could be learned by finding a master to teach you or by magic scrolls passed down," she told him. "They are finite and are limited in numbers, however."
Later, he would find the differences. Apparently, the process of learning manually would take a long time, perhaps weeks, months, or even years for more advanced techniques.
On the other hand, Scrolls were instantaneous, but they were also quite costly, even for the basic ones.
If one used a scroll, it would be like part of the master’s consciousness was copied and transferred to another’s mind, allowing them to immediately make use of the technique. This was incredibly magical, and definitely a good thing if the skill would’ve taken years or decades to learn using the normal route.
He’d later find out that most people would opt to learn the basics manually and aim to buy rare and difficult skills through scrolls. After all, they could at least learn the easier skills with time and effort. Rare and difficult skills relied heavily on talent, and some people could only depend on scrolls to have some of them.
"The ability to absorb a skill scroll will also depend on the type and level of your core, as well as one’s talent and comprehension."
It wasn’t that a less intelligent person would absorb less of the scroll, but they could only absorb a lesser number, and lesser quality ones.
They were also recommended to focus on certain skill sets or skill trees; otherwise, they’d be spreading themselves too thin.
The two engaged in small talk for a while after this, and he learned a few more things, even about Syl herself.
Vaguely, he knew she was from the far eastern forests where the Elven capital was. He still didn’t know a lot, however, though rather than keeping secrets, it was more like she didn’t think anyone would be interested in her story.
While he was lamenting like this, Syl stepped forward and took care of the monsters, disintegrating them after pushing them in, so that the core—if there was one—would already be inside the barrier.
They found two.
Sigh . Such a beautiful and talented woman. What a crime to make her feel inferior!