Cry 5 (Not enough time)

He stared blankly at the book in his hands, his hands quivering in annoyance. He should have expected something like this, considering how hard it was to create a Skill without a skill book, but it still shocked him. He snuck into the campus library that his friend was attending using their library card, as it was open at all hours. 

So he figured he would spend nearly the whole day just looking for books to read and to set up his skills. That dream came crashing down as soon as he picked up the first skill book that he found. A little how-to book on cooking.

[Congradulations you have found a Skill Book. Skill Books allow you to gain a skill without the never-ending grind of working for it! In exchange you have to read the whole thing and have a comprehensive understanding of what the book is trying to tell you!]

That little fact tore down some of his dreams of getting a literal ton of skills from this library. He felt like he had a pretty high level of reading comprehension but learning all the little tricks in a book of this size really needed a deeper understanding. Something that would take days of time instead of the instant gratification he was searching for.

He might be better off simply grinding out the actions that made the skill with his Title on. It might take a little longer but he could certainly do other things while he was doing it instead of sitting down and going over every single detail in a book. Sure, that did not stand for skills like Cooking as it was something you had to focus in on but Running should be more than fine in that category.

Which really showcased how valuable the title he had gained was in the long haul as even Skill Books were not as impressive as he thought they were.

He looked over the book in his hand with some hesitation. He might be better off grinding for most skills but there were exceptions in that mark like Cooking and more importantly Meditation. Trying to grind out Meditation would require him to find that inner peace himself and that was not something he was prepared to do. So it was better to read books for that. Not to mention the various magical skills he might encounter later on.

So he needed to figure out a way to make disgesting and reading books a whole lot easier. Increasing his INT stat would hit the mark obviously but that was not something he does with points right now and grinding INT would probably require more reading if he was being honest so he should aim for something useful right now.

He put the how-to book for cooking back and looked for a different one. He never really thought about getting a skill like this but it would make reading Skill Books easier and it would allow him to increase the speed in which he grinded INT points.

A book teaching you how to speed read.

Now speed reading was not actually that helpful in comprehensive digestion of material as it was more a trick in getting the general sense of a book. That was the case with regular speed reading but with The Gamer, even the most mundane skill of Cooking can touch the realms of gods. So Speed Reading should be able to reach a level that is more than adequate for helping him in the future.

So he took the book from the shelf and put it in his inventory. One book going missing was not going to draw attention and he made sure to take it out of camera lens. Worst comes to worst they catch him later from some convoluted mess and he has to pay a fine and maybe never come back to this place. Not exactly the end of the world as there were other libraries in this world.

He left the Library determined to not waste a single second of time right now. It was rather late and while there were still people wandering the streets it was quiet enough that he had some peace of mind. So he went to a park he was familar with to run while reading the stupid book.

It was not going to be as effective as simply sitting down and reading it but he wanted to do three things. Gain the Speed Reading skill and work on getting the Running skill and finally grind out some physical stats by running in itself.

All of this action also took his mind off of the dilemma he was facing. As his feet met the pavement over and over again he could not afford to think about the pain of letting go of those he loved. As his mind struggled to comprehend the concepts the short book was trying to get him to understand the worry had no place to hold on. As his lungs burned from the constant breaths, he had to take he could not really afford to lose focus for a second.

Yet, he knew he was just delaying over and over again. That did not mean he was prepared to face that reality just that he knew that his actions were pointless. What will come will always come so there was no point in burying your head in the sand. No matter how pleasant that ignorance could be.

Before he even knew it the clock of night gave way to the rising sun. The rays breaking the cloak painted a vivid pink in the sky as the world moved on when he felt stuck. The feet that met pavement over and over again finally seemed to pause as he looked up from his book in a daze.

He was never really an advocate for the beauty of the world. Too lost in worlds of fiction and the gripping stories that defined them but in this moment he got it. He could understand why Will would spend hours simply enjoying the world around him as he hiked. How he could sit on the edge of a cliff and simply be at peace.

This sight was gripping in a completely different sense as it did not captivate his mind or stir his soul. It simply was what is was, peaceful in the sense that he really needed something like this at this moment.

As the sun finally claimed the sky for its domain on this day he felt his breath steady. The world that he was trying to ignore finally came into focus. Now that his focus was lost he found several windows from the Gamer telling him he had gained several stat points. Ranging from DEX to VIT as he pushed his body over and over again throughout the night.

He honestly did not even notice that he was that far into this. He was able to gain a grand total of 7 points in DEX and 4 in VIT. Which was great considering how squishy he was. It was a bit fast gaining those points but the earlier stages were always going to be rather easy.

He frowned as he did not receive the skill he wanted but that was to be expected. He had been in a rather complicated mood when he read that book and while he felt like he understood it generally he had to re-read that short book again to get a clearer understanding of it.

Maybe this time he won’t lose himself in the moment and sit down to really read the thing.

He took a deep breath and decided to focus on it for now. He wandered over to a park bench and sat down to read in the morning light. This time he was completely focused instead of trying to burn everything into his mind at the same time.

The concepts that stood at the edge of his mind seemed to form much quicker now that he was not so distracted. The words struck a chord with him despite the book itself feeling rather dry. He reached the halfway point in the book rather quickly which was surprising but it was not as surprising at a window appearing in front of him.

[Congradulations you have gained the Skill Speed Reading LV 1/100]

He stared blankly at that screen for a moment as he did not think it would pop up so soon. The vague concepts that he only briefly understood from his first reading of the book seem to fall in place with the skill being given to him. The information swelled and formed into something he just got despite not really knowing how it happened.

He should have had to read the entire thing properly if he wanted to get this skill but he got it at the half way point. That bugged him for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his head. His Title allowed for him to gain Skills with less strict requirements. He figured that was only in reference to the efforts required to grind out a skill book naturally but that was clearly not the case.

Which was amazing as he only needed to understand half of the skill to get said skill from the book. Again something that will help him later.

As he looked over his newly gained skill he let out a sigh. It worked exactly as he thought it would right now but it clearly had ground to grow from. Maybe one day he would be able to treat a Skill Book as the ones from the original story. The type where as soon as he touched them he could learn the Skill with just a click of a button.

In this case he would be able to flip through the book quickly and get everything he needed from it in an instant. He could see it happening but it was going to be a rush to find what is most important.

He knew that bad things were coming and while building a foundation was imporant he could not afford to spend all of his time reading to level up that skill. He had to priotitize his damage-dealing skills and grind out passive skills. Getting a handle on Meditation should be at the top of his list as it would help with skill grinding as it increased Mana recovery.

Well, it might not work as it did in the orginal story but he was not willing to give up something that vital just based on the fact that it might be different. God, there was so much to do but there was just not enough time to face any of it. Who knows when the ticking clock that is chasing him down will finally burst?

Oliver frowned as he contemplated something he wanted to put off. Time paused as long as he was in a Dungeon or a fictional world. If he entered one of those words right now he could gain some time to gain strength and it would allow him to explore fictional power systems.

So if the worst was to come in reality he would be able to face it. He wanted to avoid doing that for now as his own death still was on his mind but maybe he did not have time to wait? 

He gritted his teeth and prepared to go on a journey. He really hoped he did not regret what came next.

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Mine is up next, working on it right now. Got free time so hopefully it will be out in a couple of hours.