“They are not twins!” Hannah rolled her eyes. “After having their breakfast, they must have fallen asleep. It’s better to just let them have some good rest. They probably traveled for days, if not weeks.”

  Eric agreed. Both little girls were too pitiful, it was better they got some good rest.

  After lunch, he went back to his room. He considered checking out the library book. He was very curious to know what lay beyond Ringwood Town and the larger world.

  He sat in one of his chairs in his room with the library book open before him.

  The book was merely a tourist guide for the Silvia Kingdom, yet it was still quite thick.

  Eric skimmed roughly and saw many black-and-white photos on nearly every page. He had noticed those pictures while checking the book out at the library, and they impressed him again with the photos' clarity, almost as if taken by a real camera.

  This made him wonder once more just how far this world’s technological advancement had come. At least the printing press had already been invented.

  Good. Now he only needed to figure out if they’d invented guns yet!

  Eric continued flipping through the pages.

  While skimming, he noticed something strange. Several locations had inexplicably transformed into ruins, now inaccessible for unknown reasons.

  The text merely warned, 'Mortals are advised not to travel to these locations due to life-threatening dangers.' No further details were given.

  What even is a 'Mortal'? Are there Immortals too?

  Eric chuckled, shaking his head with amused smile. He assumed 'Mortals' simply referred to those who hadn’t yet become Mana Wielders.

  As he flipped further, he discovered some previously ruined areas had since reopened, suggesting the dangers had been cleared.

  Very interesting! But given the book’s age, none of this could be fully trusted.

  Eric continues checking, and he can now say for certain that just this Silvia Kingdom was massive. It could very well be called a continent by itself!

  There was also a barely detailed map of the entire Silvia Kingdom with rough markings of numerous big cities within, but no town or village names were marked.

  The entire Silvia Kingdom was roughly shaped like a vertical rectangle with a small conical end at the southernmost tip.

  Eric spent some time searching and eventually found Batley City, which was almost at the very southern end of the kingdom.

  By using Batley City as a reference, Eric tried to guess where Ringwood Town could be, as Batley City was almost directly north of Ringwood Town. In other words, Ringwood Town's location was somewhere in the tiny conical end.

  Eric felt his mouth twitch. He suddenly felt extreme pity for Ringwood Town. It was as if the town had been completely abandoned by the rest of the world.

  What he found interesting was that the surrounding area of this conical end was Langnar Ocean. In other words, the entire continent just ended here!

  It truly wouldn’t be strange to call Ringwood Town 'countryside,' as it seemed to be at almost the southernmost tip of a possibly massive continent.

  Eric didn’t know whether to be sad or happy about it, but he definitely wanted to visit Langnar Ocean, at least up to its shore. He was a self-proclaimed adventurer and explorer, and since he was already so close to an ocean in this new world, how could he miss checking it out?

  Eric glanced toward the open window of his room and noticed that the sunlight had dimmed quite a bit. It meant evening had arrived, and it was time for his training. He had already missed the morning session. After tasting the results of his training at the tavern, he was full of enthusiasm to train and become the undefeatable Final Boss of this galaxy!

  He also noticed dark clouds further away, so he guessed it would rain heavily soon.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Eric quickly set the book aside and changed into his training outfit.

  Just as he walked out of his room, his new neighbors also came out from theirs.

  Livy, who was in front yawning, noticed Eric with her sleepy eyes, and suddenly, out of nowhere, she jumped and hugged Eric tightly, like an octopus.

  Eric stood there dumbfounded.

  'What the? Is this an ambush? Should I punch her?'

  He quickly tried to pry Livy off his body, but she was clinging too tightly.

  'She is so strong!' Eric was amazed. Perhaps it was the universe’s way of reminding him that he’d gotten too arrogant after beating three weaklings.

  "Hey, Livy, let go of me!" Eric noticed Livy still had a sleepy face and probably hadn’t completely woken up yet. She also smelled nice somehow, almost like lavender...

  'Is she a lavender flower spirit?' He wondered.

  Lyria, who had just walked out of the room with a drowsy expression, froze at the scene in front of her.

  She rushed forward, grabbed Livy’s shoulder, and tried to pull her away. She knew her sister best, and she wasn’t blind. It was clearly Livy clinging to Eric.

  “Let go of Brother Eric! What do you think you’re doing, Liv?!”

  Lyria couldn’t use her full strength, or Eric would fall too, so she could only yell.

  Seeing Livy still wasn't releasing him, Eric finally took matters into his own hands. He moved his fingers and started tickling Livy’s sides.

  "Wa—hahaha! Let go, let go!" Livy burst into laughter.

  Eric snorted, "You let go of me, first!"

  Livy finally woke up and was stupefied. She hurriedly jumped backward, knocking into Lyria, who was right behind her.

  "Uh..." Both Lyria and Livy groaned in pain.

  Eric adjusted his training outfit and glared at the two girls. Though he wasn’t angry, he didn’t like being touched out of nowhere, no one would.

  Livy, realizing what had happened, blushed deeply. She forced an awkward laugh to mask her embarrassment.

  Lyria steadied herself, then grabbed Livy’s head and shoved it down, bowing alongside her. "Please forgive us, Brother Eric!" she said loudly. "My sister has caused you so much trouble!"

  Eric waved it off. "Don’t worry about it. But what was that about?"

  Lyria straightened up, releasing Livy. "Please forgive her, Brother Eric. She meant no harm, maybe her head wasn’t working right after waking up?" She shot Livy a sharp look.

  Livy stammered, "I-I’m sorry, Brother Eric! I just woke up, and I was happy we’re safe now… Please forgive me!" She bowed again.

  Eric sighed. "Fine, I forgive you. But don’t ambush me like that again."

  "Yes, yes!" Livy bobbed her head.

  Lyria deftly changed the subject. "Brother Eric, are you going out?"

  Eric shook his head. "Not out, just to the backyard. To train." He remembered Bella Noll’s suggestion that he should try training with the girls.

  Livy jumped in. "Brother Eric, do you mean physical training or ‘Mana Sensing Training’?" She already guessed it was physical, since Mana training could be done indoors, but she asked anyway to move past the awkwardness.

  Eric’s eyes brightened.

  'Mana Sensing Training! Is this how someone becomes a Mana Wielder?'

  He was very tempted to ask, but as a 'senior', he felt he shouldn't lose his composure. Either way, both the girls were not running away anywhere and would be stuck living within the orphanage, so he just needed to find another opportunity to ask.

  “Physical Training,” Eric answered calmly.

  “Then, Brother Eric, do you mind if we also come... to watch you train?” Livy asked.

  She and Lyria were also hardcore trainees; they had been training since they could remember. It had been weeks since they’d had any proper physical training, so Livy was tempted to train herself, but asking outright would’ve been rude. Instead, she requested to watch.

  Eric stroked his chin in thought.

  His training area was huge, almost half a football stadium. The orphanage was originally huge, but almost all areas were left barren. On his sixth birthday, he requested Bella Noll to build him a training area, and since then, that area had become his private training ground. No one was allowed inside except Hannah, as he didn’t like others to disturb him when he was training. But now that Bella Noll had suggested it that morning, Eric felt he might as well bring the two little girls and see what magic they were hiding.

  Eric shook his head. Before both Lyria and Livy could show their dejected expressions, he spoke in a calm tone, "Forget watching. Go wear your training outfits, then come with me. I’d like to see how capable both of you truly are."

  Lyria and Livy’s expressions brightened like the sun. Both of them quickly nodded excitedly.

  "Please wait for us!" After saying this, both Lyria and Livy dashed inside their room, closing the door behind them. Hannah had bought them plenty of clothes, and among them were training outfits as well.

  After a while, both Lyria and Livy came out of their room. Eric led them downstairs toward his football stadium-sized training field.

  The training field's outer periphery was covered with walls. Only a small, inside portion of the walls had a roof, while the rest of it was open sky with grass below.

  Upon entering, both Lyria and Livy were amazed by how big and clean the area was. Most of it was just trimmed grass, while the surrounding wall region had a roof, making it a perfect spot to rest.

  "Let's begin with some stretching exercises," Eric commanded like a senior instructor, then started his own. Both Lyria and Livy followed with their own stretches.

  While doing his warm-ups, Eric secretly observed the little girls.

  He was quite impressed by both girls' flexibility, especially Livy, who seemed to have mastered all yoga postures and no longer appeared to have any bones left in her body, she was that flexible.

  Eric was internally embarrassed, as his own flexibility paled in comparison to Livy, a little girl, while he and Lyria were closer in that regard.

  'I see... That’s what Grandma wanted to say... It seems noble families' children start their training much earlier. I guess they also have sufficient hand-to-hand combat training as well. Hm… Maybe this will be very exciting!' Eric thought, finishing his stretches.