Chapter 4 Danger

Vincent can't do anything about this since he's still a small child in his grandfather's eyes.

"Come here, Vincent. I brought your favorite! I even brought a couple of eggs for your breakfast. You have to grow and gain a bit more weight if you want to really learn anything about mana."

Raizen eagerly said to his grandson while showing the wildfowl he caught. It seems that he thought of using this to encourage Vincent to eat more. However, he didn't have to use this tactic at all as he never plans to be shy during his meals.

Anyway, during the past three months, he learned that all the animals that his grandfather caught allowed him to regenerate his pitiful amount of mana.

Thanks to this, Vincent was always looking forward to his dinner as he continued gaining Exp for his Item Enhancement Skill.

He would even hide his leftovers so after he passes out because of his successful enhancement, he would just eat them to refill his mana.

Unfortunately, he can't do this too often as there are cases when his leftover would be spoiled before he can consume them. Well, there is no refrigerator here after all.

[ Your Mana has increased. ]

Suddenly, Vincent saw new notifications after having a few bites from the wildfowl's meat.

This is the first time he had this notification from his system and this is something that he needed the most!

While eating his meal, he secretly opened his Status window and saw that his mana has indeed increased just like what the notification said.

[ Mana: 1.10/1.10 ]

It is a very pitiful amount. However, considering that he's only eating this 'normal' food, it's already quite good for him.

He can even guess that he probably has zero mana before but since he was getting fed like this since he was young, it had reached the 1.0 Unit after a few years.

"A progress is still progress…" Vincent said to himself as he happily enjoyed his dinner.

He then checked the other notification that he got.

[ Congratulations! You have increased your mana for the first time. ]

[ New feature unlocked. Auto-Enhancement Mode ]

[ Auto Enhancement Mode: Enabled. ]

"Oh…"

Vincent checked the details of Auto Enhancement and realized that enabling it would allow him to enhance anything he touches from that point.

That's dangerous!

This is why he quickly disabled it and surprisingly, disabling it also stopped the system from often asking him to Enhance with Mana.

It means that he is no longer seeing the notifications unless he triggered the Item Enhancement Skill.

'I see… More features would probably be unlocked once I've completed those 'first-time achievements.'

Vincent guessed.

On the next day, as he was planning to enhance his towel, he was called out by his playmates.

"Vincent! Let's go! We don't have class today! Let's play!"

"No, we need to hurry! Uncle Eric will harvest his white grapes, we need to be there quickly!"

"Ahh! That's right! He'll surely give us his leftovers!"

Currently, there are only about 10 children between the age of five and eight years old in the small village. Since they are all attending the same class, it was quite easy to befriend everyone.

"I'm coming!"

Vincent decided to stop his enhancement for now as he's also curious about the white grapes that Eric has been using to sell a sweet candy.

These candies were even being sold to the merchant caravan that would visit this small village every three months.

Considering the timing, this caravan should be arriving here in a few days enough for Eric to make some candies to be traded.

Soon, the group of six children arrived in what seemed like a small orchard owned by Eric.

It is further south of the village near a cliff. Kiefer, the one who critically injured him, was also Eric's nephew.

Anyway, Vincent decided not to pursue the issue since he also learned that it was partly his fault. The original owner of this body was basically asking to experience the Silent Toad Fist Technique!

"Hmmm... They look beautiful…" Vincent couldn't help but praise after seeing the small orchard. Apparently, Vincent's memory of this place was quite blurry so this is the first time he could appreciate its beauty.

The orchard was filled with what seemed like white shrubs but once you looked closely, they are all filled with white grapes.

As soon as Eric saw them, he immediately called out to the kids as he asked them to start harvesting some white grapes with a small basket he prepared.

Of course, none of them refused as they took one basket each…

Vincent then decided to pick up one cluster of white grapes and urged his Item Enhancement Skill to see if it can be enhanced.

He already knows that living things, like humans, pets, and trees village can't be enhanced. Regarding the tree, to be exact, unless a branch or a leaf hasn't left the tree yet, it can't be enhanced. Only after it was cut or processed can he enhance them.

It is quite a simple rule so Vincent had no trouble with it.

Nevertheless, he can't say the same for fruit yet as he had never tried them before.

[ No Enhancement Stones found. Do you want to Enhance this item with Mana? ]

'It shows. This fruit can be enhanced… I wonder what will improve if I enhance it now.'

This is the question that he really wanted to know from the beginning. What kind of improvement will happen to the items he enhanced?

After all, he can only tell that his "Dirty Wool Shirt +1" has been enhanced once.

However, because he can't appraise them with his lack of mana, he wouldn't know if the shirt became durable, if the knife became sharper, or if the fruit will become richer just by looking at the plus one on its name.

Anyway, he decided to continue picking up the grapes and filling his basket.

"Hmm? What's going on?"

"Uncle Eric! The ground is shaking!"

"Ahh! Look! There's black smoke up there!"

As Vincent was almost done, Millie and the other kids saw a trail of smoke in the direction where the waterfall is located. Regarding the ground shaking, it was more like vibrating if Vincent would explain it.

"Hmm?"

At first, Vincent thought that there were just hunters in the forest who set up a campfire. However, Eric's pale face seems to say that there's something else.

"We need to hide! Hurry!"

Eric did not bother with the baskets filled with grapes, as he grabbed the two girls in his hands while urging Vincent and the other boys to run away as well!

'Are we in trouble? What's going on this time?' Vincent had no idea what was happening but since Eric is running away, he can only follow his lead.

Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, powerful explosions occurred from where the smoke was coming. It was then followed by an earthquake leaving the villagers terrified!