Chapter 121: Other’s Perspective 2

Yafe soars through the sky, the wings on her back giving her the power of flight! The thrill of the wind rushing past her, of seeing the village from so high up, all of it makes her yell out in pure joy.

Alysara chases after her, having already tagged Yafel, whose punishment for being caught is having her wings turn black from their previous wonderful display of vibrant colors. Even when turned black, though, the wings still have a sheen that makes them incredibly beautiful!

Yafe can't wait until she has the ability to make her own wings, so when her older sister goes to the dungeon for a week she can still fly. When she finally gets her Class, she is totally going to get a flying one!

Ever since riding on the airship for the first time, she has known what she really wants: to fly and dance in the sky! She twirls and flips, staying just out of Alysara's reach. Her older sister is going easy on her; she knows that… Alysara is amazing: beautiful, elegant, smart, she can do just about anything! Yafe wants to be just like her when she gets older, but for now she can't help but feel a little inadequate, unable to measure up to her.

Alysara finally tags her, and the game restarts, this time with Yafel as the monster. They play in the sky for hours, changing up games every now and then until it is time to return home, which is always the saddest part of Yafe's day.

That isn’t to say that being at home is a bad thing, by any means: when she, Yafel and Alysara arrive home, Momara is already setting the dining table, and there is stew simmering away on the stove.

"Yafe, Yafel," Momara Feyan calls to them as they pass by. "Sit down at the table for a moment."

"Okay," they reply in unison, sitting in their chairs.

"You both are eight years old; you need to start thinking about what kind of art and craft you want to pursue."

"Dancing!" Yafe declares. Alysara has already taught them [Agile Movements] and [Acting].

"Mana weaving!" Yafel says. They knew this would eventually come up, so they have already talked, and this is what they really want: to follow in their older sister's footsteps.

"I can teach them both," Alysara says, elegantly sitting at the table next to Yafe. "But they should probably learn [Tailoring] under Topobe first; it will give them a good understanding of cloth-work."

"They aren't going to gain any cursed skills, are they?" Momara Feyan asks skeptically.

"I don't think so. If anything, mastering [Tailoring] first will help prevent that, by having an achievement related to cloth-work. That experience should help develop the magic framework in a safe direction."

Yafe doesn't understand what Alysara is saying, but she knows that it means she won't be learning actual mana weaving for at least another year.

"Aww, but I want to learn how to weave mana now!" She can't help but complain.

"No!" Momara Feyan says, adamantly, "You are learning [Tailoring] first!"

Unable to argue back, Yafe pouts, her twin doing the same. They aren't geniuses like Alysara, who mastered [Tailoring] in about a year; it will likely take them four or five years to reach the same point.

"It's alright," Alysara says, side-hugging the twins. "I'll help you whenever you need me to. Just train every day, and you'll have mastered [Tailoring] in no time!"

"We aren't like you, though!" Yafe complains, pouting and using [Acting] to raise her cuteness essence.

"We can't train all day!" Yafel adds in, drooping her ears cutely.

Alysara flicks Yafe and Yafels’ foreheads.

"No charm!" Alysara chastises, which only makes Yafe pout even more.

"It's not fair; how do you always know!" Yafel says grumpily.

Alysara smiles her ‘Older Sister’ smile, her posture suddenly radiating an aura of refinement and elegance.

"I trained every day, for longer than you’ve been alive, that's how. Doing something productive is always more fulfilling than simply playing," Momara Feyan nods her head in agreement with what Alysara is saying. "When you fail, fail, and fail again, it makes actually succeeding far more satisfying." Momara nods again.

"Don't forget about having meaningful connections to others, Alysara.” Momara Feyan interjects. “Having someone who you can trust and relate with gives your achievements meaning. Being able to share your successes with them, being able to show the village how well you've mastered something, it ties everything together. It took you long enough to understand that, so don't you go forgetting it!"

Alysara laughs lightly, the sound carrying a faint musical impression to Yafe’s senses. It's not just a sound: there's something else present that Yafe just can’t put her finger on. Whatever her older sister is doing, she wants to know how she's doing it!

"I won't," Alysara reassures Momara.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chofel watches the toilet dispose of the waste. The technological marvel still impresses her as much as it did when it was first built: no more having to carry out stinky pots of waste every morning, no more having to walk across the village to the dumping zone, this automatically does everything for her. The water refills the bowl, the effect seeming almost like a spell even though she knows that none have been cast.

Chofel walks to the faucet and turns it on; again, just like a spell, water flows out of it for her to wash her hands with. What used to be a bowl of cold water, emptied and refreshed as needed, is now warm water that can be summoned at will. Somehow, the water comes from below with no action from her to draw it up: it’s not magic, but nonetheless it just seems to defy everything she knows.

Leaving the toilet room, she rejoins the group. Once a week, the Lojyo Musical Band gets together to talk, share knowledge of their skills, and practice. They write new songs and teach any newcomers.

Among this group is the one who made the technological wonder that brings water and convenience to every home, Alysara. She is currently playing a song, one that immediately brings up images of a mountainous landscape blanketed with snow. The song tells a story of battling against nature, of surviving harsh blizzards, avalanches, and cold nights. She uses her breakthroughs perfectly, using mana to subtly change the sounds to icy yet beautiful notes until the climax instills feelings of joy, of having reached the summit of a tall mountain and gazing down upon the path taken to get there. Chofel's [Perfectionist's Eye] is practically humming along, it is so pleased.

Yet Chofel can't help but notice something... more. There's an unworldly beauty to the notes Alysara is playing, but Chofel can't pinpoint how she’s doing it.

"Did you get a new breakthrough?" Chofel asks once Alysara is done with her song.

"No, why?" she replies.

"There's something… else, about your music, but I don't know what."

Alysara tilts her head quizzically. The simple motion of her body, the way her tails shift, the way her hair frames her, it all seems to be the epitome of beauty, and yet it’s clear that she isn’t actually doing anything to make it that way.

"I noticed that too," Sayo says, "There's just something about you, not just your music, recently."

Alysara adopts a thinking pose for a few seconds, then sighs visibly and slumps somewhat, even that action somehow coming across as almost unbearably cute rather than childish.

"Ah, that, I thought I had it under control... maybe it requires more practice than I thought," Alysara mumbles, mostly to herself.

Once everybody has had the opportunity to show off their individual songs, they work on their group songs to play at the Lojyo. After that, for the last hour of the evening, they brainstorm ways to get more breakthroughs in their skills.

"I notice that I don't have a ‘state of focus’ breakthrough for [Musician]," Alysara says eventually. "Not all skills will have one, but I am pretty sure [Musician] should."

"State of focus?" Epybu asks, as everyone else goes quiet.

"Fundamentally, it's a breakthrough that puts you 'in the zone', a state where all of your focus is on the task you are doing. Each level in the skill will enhance the power of both the skill itself and its breakthroughs when you are in the state of focus. It's probably the most widely-shared breakthrough among skills, since pretty much all skills seem to have it.” Alysara pauses for a moment, then continues her explanation. “Most general skills anyway;, some of my Class skills can't get it."

"So let me get this right," Chofel says, after taking a minute to process the implications of that. "It's a breakthrough that will enhance a skill based on what level that skill is, as long as you’re concentrating on that skill specifically? How much? Is it the normal one percent power increase per level, or is it a base number?"

The others are listening carefully: with the potential of a new breakthrough for their skills, they want to know as much as they can so when they get it they will start with more knowledge levels.

"Half a percent per level. So a level one hundred skill will receive a fifty percent bonus to all of its abilities." Alysara answers her.

"All of it?" Sayo clarifies. "Meaning every breakthrough will also get the boost?"

"Yes, but the normal rules apply; a two hundred percent increase to something provided by a breakthrough won't become three hundred percent, just two hundred fifty percent. But a base number like two hundred meters will become three hundred meters."

"You have that breakthrough for your [Sense Magic]?" Chofel asks.

"Yes," Alysara gives a short answer and an elegant nod.

"How far can you see with it?" Sayo asks, curious.

"Well, after the enhancement bonus and my Race bonus, it should be..." Alysara pauses for a moment and then facepalms. "I completely forgot that it also increases how far I can see, not just how well I can see."

"Sooo, just how far can you see?" Sayo asks again, dragging out the first word.

"Over nine thousand kilometers, assuming my math is right," Alysara says, face still hidden behind her hands.

Nine thousand? That's more than forty times the diameter of the entire Nexus... Chofel is completely stunned by the number. Surely that can't be right, it has to be wrong... but this is Alysara, and with an enhanced skill which she says is ten times as powerful as the base, maybe she is right.

"That's quite impressive," Kotodo says, patting Alysara on the head. "As expected of our most talented child."

Alysara pulls her hands away from her face and frowns at Kotodo's words, to which the elderly woman simply chuckles.

"You have to start accepting the fact that you are a genius, Alysara.” Kotodo continues, still smiling. “Who else could enhance their skill? Who else could invent the village plumbing and make it work so well?"

"Yeah, who else could have invented the airships or the spell crystals?" Jyue chimes in.

Alysara is visibly upset now, still frowning and with ears slightly drooping, but she doesn't say anything.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

All of those things, I could only 'invent' because of my memories from my past life… almost everything I've accomplished can be attributed to that. I could only invent the airship because I have basic knowledge of how lift works; I could only invent modern plumbing because, in my past life, I lived with it and knew basic things that make it all work, such as water pressure and how liquids behave. There is no way I could have enhanced [Sense Mana] without having basic knowledge of physics, something that I would have never come by without my past life knowledge.

I don't even consider my past life as me, so all of my greatest accomplishments are things I can’t really see as ‘mine’. I didn't discover some amazing breakthrough in the study of physics; I just had it handed to me. I am not a genius, just someone who is very fortunate.

What will everyone think if they find out I am just a fraud? I don't deserve any recognition for anything I have really accomplished. Even with my Bond, I was guided by the Guardian, and learned so much from battling with Esofy, Chyzu, and the others. I had help every step of the way: even from the very start, Myrou's blessing probably helped me with my Bond in some way.

The only thing I can really call my own accomplishment is my study in mana and magic, especially magic, and the nature of the System. Yes, I had previous knowledge that helped me understand mana, but I didn't actually learn anything related to mana from textbooks or videos from my past life. It is from my own observation and experimentation that I know what I know about mana and magic.

As one clone maintains my social life – what little there is, anyway – the rest are busy with their own tasks; training my Class skills, studying the mana-producing monster materials, and now testing just how far I can really see while using my state of focus for [Sense Magic].