The Scholar Master

As Shingi got ready to give them a few tips, the System 'spoke' first.

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Player Hineko reached the requirements of becoming a student of yours.

Will you accept them as your student?

YES / NO

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Player Mizuneko reached the requirements of becoming a student of yours.

Will you accept them as your student?

YES / NO

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It was the first time he got this type of notification either as NPC or Player. He knew Annoue was his first student since she got the appropriate title. Still, he didn't get a message back then to accept her through the System. It may be because she taught her before he unlocked his profession or cause she taught her he got the profession.

He wasn't sure how much it would help them, but anything that could make things faster could he use.

"From this point on, you, Hineko, and Mizuneko are my fourth and fifth students accordingly. You better not disappoint me." [Shingi]

As he said that, he accepted them as his student through the System. By their reaction, it seemed like the System gave them also a notification.

As for why they were fourth and fifth, it was cause he considered Wild Tycoon as his second student and Phoenix as his third. But, of course, Annoue was the first one.

"Excuse me, Master Shingi... but if were are the fourth and fifth, who are the other three?" [Mizuneko]

'Hmm... a man of curiosity and paying attention to the details. That is good.' [Shingi]

Shingi, at that point, stopped all of his illusions, and he looked like an average child. Except for his serious face, which separated him from any other children of his age.

"You will all meet each other in good time. But it seems that Gods have given you info of mine that I didn't share with you yet. My name. But it is ok since I would share it with you either way." [Shingi]

Of course, he meant the System by Gods, which was how the NPCs referred to it. NPCs were also getting notifications and could check their status. Still, there were limits to how much info they could see compared to the Players.

Continuing speaking, he gave a tip to Mizuneko and Hineko of some 'rumors' he heard, which were, in reality, tips for some repeatable quests he knew existed nearby. Some information on leveling up the Mana Skills of Mizuneko also increases his Water Element Manipulation to help get a special Class. Also, he taught a few moves to Hineko. Even if he currently didn't have the SLEIGHT OF HAND skill, his ACCELERATION skill gave him great speed. He combined it with the almost complete control over his body that his MARTIAL ART skill allowed him to show Hineko some new ways and moves with his hands.

He also gave him a few challenges that would help him to earn the Thief Class and told both of them to meet him in two weeks again in this place.

He didn't let them know about who he was as either a Player or as NPC. Still, since they knew his name, it wouldn't be too hard to find out info about his NPC identity, but he didn't mind it too much.

So after that, he made his way back home to check on Annoue and get some dinner.

It seemed like Garry returned before him and was already in his room sleeping. He found Annoue in the kitchen, working on her enchantment trinket, and it seemed like she had problems with it.

"Hey. What is wrong?" [Shingi]

Annoue seemed too focused on her training, didn't notice him returning, and was surprised by him speaking.

"The light is frustrating to stay in place. I fill one line, but before I finish the other shape, the first one is empty." [Annoue]

It surprised Shingi to see Annoue being stuck until now, and everything seemed to go smoothly for her. But it looks like she indeed wasn't just good at everything she trained at.

"Because you don't multitask. When you finish the first one, you focus on the second one and forgetting the first one, which you shouldn't do. You should keep some of your focus on the first one to keep your mana in check there, as it won't just stay there forever, and start working on the second one with the rest of your focus. It will slow your speed, but this is something you need to learn as later you will have to work on many more shapes and sometimes at the same time and not separately. But we will work with one thing on time." [Shingi]

Annoue seemed very confused about what Shingi said. She understood the words of what he said, as he had already mentioned them before on the tips he gave her, but she couldn't put them into action. And Shingi could read from her body language of that confusion and used unique means to help her. But first, he had to try something.

"Annoue, can you open your status window?" [Shingi]

She nodded, but she wasn't sure why since Shingi wouldn't be able to see it, but she guessed she could tell him what he wanted to learn.

But Shingi instead looked at her and where her Status window should be. Then, finally, he focused on the idea of an actual Status Window, and the System responded as expected.

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PROFESSION SKILL LEARNED

The profession skill STUDENT APPRAISAL has been unlocked.

Description: You have access to the status window of your students and can check their stats, skills, and spells.

*This skill is unranked and can't rank up

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At that point, the status window of Annoue was clear to him to see like his own, and since both didn't have a class or levels, all info seemed to be available.

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STATUS

NAME: Annoue Maki

CLASS: None

RACE: Blessed Human

TITLE: First Student

HP: 96/96

SP: 36/36

MP: 13/13

STR: 15

AGI: 8

END: 12

INT: 10

MANA POOL: Air Element

SKILLS

Low Rank: COOKING

Base Rank: MANA MANIPULATION, MANA SENSE

Master Rank: LIFT, PUSH

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Going through the window, he noticed a few interesting things. First, her HP, SP, and MP values had different modifiers to her stats than his, as she seemed to take 8 HP and 3 SP for each value on her END, while he was 5 HP and 2 SP. Also, while he had 2 MP for each of his INT, her modifier seemed between 1 and 2.

Also, he knew her STR was high, but 15 was higher than his expectations. Also, her INT made no sense as he thought they needed at least 12 for someone to have a Mana Pool but probably not the case for her since she seemed to have her already since her birth

He expected her to have other skills but didn't expect her to have Master Rank ones. Still, he wasn't sure if she had LIFT and PUSH were at Master Rank cause of her high STR. Or she had this high STR cause she has those two in Master Rank. So getting them that high Rank isn't impossible to have given her some points in STR.

He was also expecting her to have a rarer or a double Element Mana Pool. Still, Air was one he didn't have access to currently on his team. However, it can be helpful, especially since some Air element enchantments that she could use in the future will have a positive and significant impact on their encounters in the future.

"You seem like we have ways to go, but you are progressing very well. But I have a way to help you make your current training easier." [Shingi]

Annoue was happy to hear the small praise from her brothers. Also, cause she would work with him once more than these two days that he was working at the shop, she had missed him and was bored training on her own, affecting her having almost no progress.

First, Shingi had some dinner, some cooked meat with few potatoes, and was the first meal he had other than soup for some time. Then they headed to their room, and Shingi, after explaining again every move on what Annoue should do, then he put his hand over her shoulder. He enabled something he hadn't done ever since he got it.

He enabled the active effect of his Blessing of ?????? and had Annoue as its target. That way, she had an INT of 26. That would make her MANA MANIPULATION way easier and allow her to multitask somewhat better. He was using his MANA SENSE to check what she was doing, but she wasn't helping her any other way other than giving her tips and his Blessing effect.

There were some close calls of her succeeding through the one hour that the effect was active. Still, unfortunately, she kept losing her focus here and there a little, or being slower than she should be, or making other mistakes like that. Many improvements happened, and even now, she was a lot better than before without the Blessing, but she still had a few things to cover. First, she needed to increase her proficiency, which just an increase at INT wouldn't change it but help her gain more proficiency faster.

"You should keep working on your MANA MANIPULATION. Meditate and see if you can see any more pointers on your inner self and work on it. We will repeat working like that for an hour each night with the Enchantment trinket but try not to overwork yourself." [Shingi]

Annoue seemed sad at first, seeing that she still seemed to miss something, but she was happy noticing her brother being next to her and helping her. Also, she now will have one hour of his hand over her shoulder, giving her a warm feeling on her head, which she liked as it made the 'Lights' much clearer during that.

After the two siblings spoke a little more or more specifically, Annoue mainly talked. Then, they went to sleep as Shingi had to wake up early as he had a busy week with the orders and the delivery at the shop. He was sure that more would come; a few didn't scare seemed to be impressed with the work. Even if they were simple things, but since it seemed to be the only one in the town to make them, they would order more since it would be cheaper than importing them from somewhere else.

But he cared little about the money, as he still had some of what Varic gave him. He could keep raising his SMITHING skill rank and should find a way to unlock more crafting Skills in the future since it seemed like there were tools for them at the shops. However, Garry seemed to want him to focus on SMITHING. At least for now.

And so, for one more time, Shingi relaxed his mind and started thinking of the plans for the next days to come.