12 Potential gains

The next morning, Ensen woke up early to do some necessary chores. Foremost he needed to pay both his rent and various bills. Launching his banking app, he quickly paid the bills, trying to ignore the feeling of emptiness from his dwindling bank account.

After randomly grabbing a purple shirt and some sweat pants, he quickly put his shoes on and walked out the door heading to the elevator, walking with stiff legs like a possessed man. After entering the elevator and slowly descending before entering his car. At this point, his legs began to wake up.

Slowly accelerating the vehicle, Ensen slowly pulled out onto the open road heading towards the closest supermarket.

About an hour later, he returned to his parking spot. In the trunk were a few grocery bags full of a random assortment of food pre-prepared food and ingredients to cook with. Ensen was oddly dedicated to improving his cooking after all.

Shutting off the car, Ensen opened the trunk and grabbed all the bags, unwilling to make another trip. After spending a disappointing amount figuring out how he could walk fast while holding the bags, he made his way back into the building.

This time he was not so lucky as to avoid other people. While he was approaching the elevator, the doors suddenly opened revealing a rather old woman, around 70 years old. Seemingly taken aback by the sudden sight before her, she slowly stepped out of the elevator and stood to the side. She did not move one bit after that, staring directly at Ensen in what seemed to be in confusion while he was slowly approaching the elevator doors.

Embarrassed by the unyielding stare of the old lady, Ensen focused on keeping a straight face and making his way towards the elevator as fast as he could. But his flushed cheeks exposed how embarrassed he really was.

After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, he entered the elevator and quickly elbowed the button corresponding to his floor. As the doors were beginning to shut, Ensen gave off a relieved smile. He could feel his cheeks slightly burning from the embarrassment.

He waited for just a short while before arriving on his floor. With no further incidents, he quickly unlocked and opened the door to his apartment. Not bothering to take his shoes off, he slowly made his way to the kitchen counter. He slowly began placing each bag on the counter, making sure to avoid placing any around the metal box to avoid getting rust anywhere near his food.

Swiftly returning to the front door, he took his shoes off before promptly putting away all of the groceries.

After the groceries were put away, Ensen stood before the metal box with a menacing glare.

He muttered out loud "I will open you even if it's the last thing I do."

In his left hand was a flat-head screwdriver with a tag still attached to it. Ensen didn't have many tools around his apartment in the first place. None of his tools would be suitable for this, so he resorted to buying a screwdriver just for opening the box. Who knows if he would find a use for it afterward, but that didn't matter to him right now.

After trying for several minutes to wedge the head of the screwdriver into the tight opening, he finally succeeded. It was only the very tip of the screwdriver, but he was making progress. After wiggling around the screwdriver aimlessly to try to get a better grip, he managed to find a good position.

Next, he gently began applying force in a downward motion, trying to get the old rusted lock to break from the pressure. But it stayed firm. Only after a few minutes of constant pressure did the lock begin to show signs of giving way.

By this point, Ensen's hand was beginning to ache in pain. He was not a particularly athletic individual if you couldn't already tell. But he persisted, his curiosity growing stronger with each passing minute.

After only about 30 seconds longer, an audible crack was heard from the direction of the box. With his excitement being fueled even further, Ensen pushed down harder.

Suddenly, another distinct loud crack was heard, and the box flew open.

Thrilled by the quick change of events, Ensen quickly laid the screwdriver on the counter.

After doing a victory fist pump he turned his attention to the contents of the mysterious box. But what he saw left him... underwhelmed, to say the least. A small old notebook laid in the center. While the cover was visibly worn, it was still in relatively soon condition.

Although slightly disappointed, he still wanted to satisfy his curiosity. Trying to get the notebook out, he realized just how perfectly it fit into the box. Only after flipping the rusty old box over and shaking it did the notebook come out. After ensuring there were no bits of rust on the floor or countertop, he lightly grabbed the book and walked over to his old couch.

Sitting on it, he began reading with a gentle and delicate touch, trying to minimize the damage he would do to the book. Ensen sat for the next few hours there, attempting to comprehend the book before sighing and giving up.

There were a few things that hindered his ability to understand the book. First of all, it was written in old English, which wasn't too bad in itself. But it was also a music textbook, which was an entirely different problem. While his musical talent was vastly superior when compared to his cooking talent, it still left much to be desired.

There were a few things Ensen noticed still. It seemed to be a textbook about the piano, written for a beginner's class. There was also a name inscribed on the back of the cover, Holly Davis.

Curious about this so-called 'Holly Davis', Ensen decided to search her name to see if anything would come up. Surprisingly, there was. There was a small website commemorating local musical geniuses throughout the times, and Holly was actually near the top of the list. Reading her description, Ensen quickly confirmed his speculation. Near the end of her little description, it spoke about how she renounced performing for money and fame in the early 1910s, deciding to instead teach at a small school just little ways out of town.

Now satisfied with having both his speculation confirmed and his curiosity about the box content, Ensen began walking back towards the rusted box intending on putting the book back into it and donating it to a museum specializing in the local culture.

As he was about to place the textbook back into the box, a blue screen suddenly appeared, completely replacing the box itself.

[Master pianist intent detected][Scanning and archiving book]

Ensen paused, wondering what the system was doing. He still didn't know much about the system at all now that he thought about it.

[Completed. Would you like to learn: C grade Pianist]

[Yes (5Ep)]

[No]

Looking curiously at the blue notification, Ensen tried to logically think his way through just how the system was able to extract the information and allow him to learn it.

For once, the system decided to answer him.

[Through a combination of the source material provided plus the intent left by the original writer, the information is able to be interpreted using the intent of the writer. For example, while the writer was explaining basic note-reading techniques, her knowledge and understanding were unconsciously poured into the paper.]

'That's... weird. Does that mean I can just pick up whatever textbook I want and learn it?' Ensen contemplated to himself.

[Intent may only be imbued by a person writing the textbook when they have a deep understanding of the subjects discussed. When was the last time you heard of somebody writing a complete textbook by hand?] The system displayed, in a seemingly mocking tone.

That was true, Ensen thought to himself. While some parts of the world may use labor to individually write books, the laborers wouldn't have a deep understanding of the contents and theories used inside of the actual textbook.

'Well, there goes my master plan.' He thought disappointed.

Turning his attention back to if he wanted to learn how to play piano, he was tempted but ultimately decided to hold off on it at the very least. It wasn't particularly useful at the moment and he was rather low on education points. Saving up points for when the shop would be unlocked was a must for Ensen.

After discovering its potential use, he decided to keep it to himself for now at the very least. After all, he could just turn it over to the local museum after he was finished with it. Slowly putting it down next to the box, Ensen grabbed a bag from the groceries he bought in earlier and gently placed the rusted box inside of it.

Satisfied with his solution, Ensen took the cloth the box was resting on and launched it into the bag as well, keeping it together in case it needed to be rested on the counter again.

After confirming there were no holes in the bag, he quickly washed his hands and turned his attention towards his phone. It was time to make an offer.