Garcia continued to lead me to her house, and I saw a village house, slightly bigger than the other houses in the village.

   Oh… so this is Garcia’s house? The houses in this small village are pretty small, not to mention the little to no decoratives… even the walls are not in a good shape… are they really okay living like this..?

   We walked closer to the house’s front door.

   Hmm..?

   Something piqued my interest as I saw a gravestone under a tree beside the house. The gravestone is partly ruined, leaving only the bottom part of it still intact.

   Who’s grave is that..?  the upper part of it is missing… so I can’t figure out the name… maybe I shouldn’t think too deeply about this.

   The front door of the house opened, and I see Garren behind it with a welcoming gesture.

“Come in, come in! No need to be shy!” Garren said, inviting me in.

“Okay…”

   I stepped into the house, followed with Garcia behind me. She then closed the door behind her.

   It’s pretty cool here… I don’t feel as dizzy as earlier outside.

   I saw a dining room table and a kitchen. There are vegetables and meat cut up and organized on a wooden pan and a pot beside it.

“Here! Have a seat! Let’s fill your stomach first, I bet you’re hungry!” Garren said as he signals me to sit on the dining room chair across him.

“Ahaha… thank you…”

   Isn’t this too much..? I only need rest and Garren even offered me a feast…

   I sat as Garren instructed and Garcia walked towards the kitchen counter.

“I’ll take over with the cooking, dad,” Garcia said as she started pouring water in the pot.

“Go ahead! I know my daughter’s cooking is better than me, haha!”

   Garcia then put her hand in front of the pot and started concentrating.

“O’ Goddess of Flames, alloweth me to borrow thy wondrous strength…『Lesser Fire』”

   Sparks of fire appeared under the pot and blazing like a stove.

   Whoa… is that how magic works..? I wonder… is magic different from these so-called skills of mine..?

“Hey, kid, I was wondering something…” Garren said with a sharp and unsure look.

“Y- yes! What is it, Garren?”

   I have a bad feeling about this…

“How did you managed to beat the Goblin?”

   Oh… I thought Garren was onto me for a second there… as for the Goblins... I defeated them with pure speed, I guess..? it’s not exactly a lie…

“I’m pretty confident with my speed… so I killed those 2 Goblins with it…”

“Oh! Not only did you kill a Goblin, you actually killed 2 of them? It’s astounding, even for a person of your stature.” Garren said in awe.

   Astounding..? wait, are those Goblin creatures that dangerous..? I don’t remember them being strong in any game that I’ve played before… and a person of my stature..?

“Are Goblins really that dangerous..?”

“Goblins are clever creatures. Sure, they are weak if you fought them alone, but they’re really dangerous as soon as they gang up on you. Even Rank B adventurers will have a bad time if they fought dozens of them at the same time.”

   Adventurers? Rank? Don’t tell me there’s a Guild-like system in this world… oh, yeah. What is this world’s name? I forgot to ask Clara about it…

“You look bewildered with all of this. You’re not from around here, right?” Garren asked with a suspicious look on his face.

   I knew he would ask me that, but should I really tell Garren about my origins..? Clara and Ellie believed me… they trusted me… Garren is not a bad person at all… I should really trust others around me in this world…

“I came from a faraway country named Indonesia.”

“Indonesia..? I’ve never heard of that place. Are you from across the continent..?” Garren asked with curiosities filling his face.

“Y- yes, in Indonesia, we don’t have a thing such as Guilds and there’s rarely any monster there…”

“Is that so… your country is a pretty interesting one, kid. But, how did you get all the way here in Kardia?”

   H- How do I even explain this?! First of all, where in the world is Kardia even supposed to be??? I don’t know this world’s geographical structure…

   Garcia approached the dining room table while holding a pot with her mittens.

BANG

“!!!” I was taken surprise as Garcia dropped the pot really hard on the table.

   Garcia then glared at Garren angrily.

“Daaad! Dian is not in a condition for your questions! Stop it!” Garcia yelled as she sets up the bowls.

“O- oh, yea! Hahaha! Sorry, sorry! This old habit of mine is showing again!” Garren said with laughter and an amused smile.

“Habit..?”

“Dad was a guard in back in Lissen, he was in the interrogation squad of that town, the captain of it, in fact.”

“Hahaha! Even if I’m retired, I still question people here and there on a daily basis. Sorry about that, kid!”

   Lissen..? if it’s a town, there will probably be tons of information about pretty much anything… maybe I can ask about Mika’s whereabouts?

   Garcia finished arranging the table and then sat on the dining room chair beside Garren.

“Everything is ready, let us thank the gods for this glorious feast,” Garcia said as she holds up both of her hands.

   They both clasps both of their hands together and started whispering.

“O’ Goddess of Soil, Vydelia. We thank thee for the food thy provideth for us.” Said Garren and Garcia in silence.

   Theirs are different from what Clara and Ellie chanted… is there more than one deity in this world? And, are other races have Gods/Goddesses of their own to worship?

“Come! Let us feast.” Garcia said, picking up her utensils and started eating the soup.

   Garren eats his soup happily.

   I wonder what Garcia’s cooking tastes like? The scent is lovely.

   Peeled and chopped potatoes with diced mincemeats and other vegetables… there’s not much variation, but it still alluring… I can’t wait anymore, I gotta chow!

   I grabbed my utensils and started eating the bowl of soup.

...

…

   Phew… what a soup! Almost a contender against Clara’s cooking. I can feel my energy is returning to me ever slightly.

   I looked at the empty bowl of soup again.

   It’s been a while since I Absorbed anything, what about this soup..? [Absorb]

DING

[Absorb] – Activate

   What a surprise! I actually got another skill! As for the skill points… I’ll do it before I sleep.

   I checked the skill description by tapping on it.

   This skill is not bad…  after I got this skill, I can even hear sounds outside of the house… grass rustling, winds blowing nearby leaves as long as I concentrate. I can synergize with this.

   Garren finished his 2^nd bowl of soup then he got up from his seat.

“As expected of my daughter! Your cooking skill is out of this world, hahaha!” Garren said with amused laughter.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s not enough to apologize, dad! Hmph!” Garcia said with a pout as she turned her look away from Garren.

“Oh come on, Garcia! Don’t be like that! Haha!”

“I’m gonna do sword training outside, okay? Oh, Dian! You take a rest first, there’s an unused bed in that room over there.” Garren said as he points to a room beside the kitchen, then he picked up an iron sword and went outside with it.

   Garren’s right… ugh… even if my energy restored a little, I’m still weary from that battle and feel like I’m going to pass out…

   I got up and stacked my bowl on top of the other empty bowl of soups on the table.

“Well, Garcia. I’ll go ahead and hit the sack…”

“Ah! Go ahead! You rest until you feel better, okay? you’re my hero after all…” Garcia said with a blush and a little flustered.

“Oh, Umm… okay then?”

   I went into the room Garren pointed at, then closed the door behind me.

   I saw an unused bed, gathering only dust. I then put my backpack beside the bed and without a second thought, I dove into the dusty bed.

   It’s pretty dusty… but I don’t care. I really want to sleep but I have to put my stat points first. [Info][Stats]

   3 stat points? How did… oh, yeah. I got this “Class Bonus” thing when I leveled up… I’ll check that for another time, I’m on the verge of slumber…

   A point to [Strength] and 2 points to [Agility]. Speed is the core of my strength, and with a point invested in [Strength], I could hopefully be strong enough even for a little… [Perception] is looking pretty good… thankfully I got [Sharp Hearing] from the soup, these extra 2 points to Perception is nice. As for my Defense… not looking good. I’ll probably gonna get hurt badly if an attack land onto me, so I can only rely on my [Agility] to dodge incoming attacks. Hmm..? what’s this..?

   I tapped on the (?) beside my [Magic].

 

   Practice… how do I practice my [Magic]? The Info even mentioned spells… but I don’t think I have any “Spells”…

“Yawn…”

      So sleepy… even though It’s still in the afternoon… no matter, I’ll continue my journey tomorrow… it's been 3 days already... oh god please don’t let anything happen to Mika…

   I closed both of my eyes as I succumbed to a deep sleep seconds later.