Matheus didn’t have any luck.

  He cursed himself, imagining what abilities he’d wasted away.

  After eating his breakfast, he went straight to practicing with his new Echo Clap skill, anxious to test its capabilities. He had a very refreshing night, finally getting to sleep on a real bed after he’d started his second life.

  It was definitely not what he expected.

  The sound wave was strong enough it reverberated for many yards, giving a small push to everything around him.

  However, it made his whole body vibrate uncontrollably for almost ten seconds, and he stayed with a ringing in his ears for minutes afterwards!

  He only had the courage to practice with it twice.

  His new skill wasn't bad per se, just extremely uncomfortable. He of course would use it in a battle, but only after employing everything else he had.

  Daydreaming of the day he would manage to launch a fireball and do other cool things, Matheus decided to distribute his stat points.

  And had a very pleasant surprise.

  As usual, he only got 1 Skill and 1 Soul point when he went from level 4 to 5. But the System rewarded him with 2 of each when he got to level 6!

  He was able to make a lot of improvements.

  “Assign 1 Skill Point to Strength, Speed and Agility, 2 Soul Points to Connection and another to Core”.

  He froze, an unexpected notification in front of him.

  Connection has reached level 5.

  You have a permanent upgrade available.

  Before he could react to it, Matheus found something grabbing his mind, pushing and pulling it and forming something new.

  He felt himself being dismantled and put together. Except, he wasn’t the same this time.

  It all happened in a blink.

  He took a few seconds to compose himself, his head hurting.

  That hadn’t been pleasant.

  Still, he knew it had been worth it.

  For reasons he couldn’t explain, he understood exactly what had happened. The System or someone using the System had guided his mind to advance in the exact way he needed.

  It taught him how to connect to the things around on a deeper level, and how to keep impressions of his surroundings on his soul.

  Which meant, now he had a map of the region!

  That was a great upgrade! Matheus had developed a kind of mental map so far, tracking where he’d found each type of monster in a not very precise area.

  Now, every place he had passed through was clearly visible in his mind. It also let him add his own notes, which he spent the next fifteen minutes doing.

  The areas he still hadn’t visited still showed, but they had some type of black fog obscuring the view. There weren’t many details he could gather, just a general idea of the terrain. He thought there was a mountain in the far South, yet he couldn’t be sure. The only way of finding out was going there to check by himself.

  Well, if he was going exploring, he needed to accept his next quest first.

  No point in having no quest active. It was by far the fastest way to grow.

  This time, he wanted to get some magic.

  It was annoying not being able to access his Secret Stat, but somehow knowing he had MPs and no way to use it was way even more annoying.

  He looked through the options for a while, weighing the rewards against the risks. Unfortunately, a lot of quests talked about things he had never heard before, so it was difficult measuring the real difficulty of the tasks.

  At the end, he chose one that seemed to be what he needed.

  Find the lost child

  Reward: +1 Basic Spell

  That was it, not a single tip from the System. Maybe he could ask around?

  Luckily, Matheus had some places in mind he wanted to visit today.

  He had money to spend now, afterall.

  –/–

  “Please, do you have shoes?”

  Now that he already had a weapon, getting something to his feet was the number one priority on Matheus’ items list.

  Yes, he had gotten used to being barefoot by now, but he still hated it. There was no point in denying himself some comfort.

  Getting to sleep on a real bed in the Guilder’s Inn, even if it was one made of straws, had already been an incredible improvement of his situation. But it was still not enough.

  Now that he was among civilization, he would enjoy all it could offer.

  “There are some on the lower shelf that might fit you. Made of good leather. Only 3 silver coins.”

  “I’ll take it,” Matheus answered immediately.

  Truth be told, he was prepared to give all his money for the shoes. Now that he had some to spare, he looked for the second thing on his list.

  A way to take some pressure from his Inventory.

  “How much for it?” He asked, grabbing a backpack half hidden behind other goods.

  “This old thing?” The man seemed to think for a while, caressing his chin. “It’s yours for 2 silver coins.”

  Now, that was just perfect.

  It had been getting troublesome, balancing his storage between the heads and his other belongings.

  Matheus never had enough space for everything he wanted to store on his Inventory. At least now he had an easier way to carry supplies, and maybe some food around. It would be great not having to go back every time he needed to recover HP.

  A skill, a map, shoes and a backpack. He honestly couldn’t say which upgrade made him feel better. Today was a great morning!

  Just as he was about to leave, Matheus remembered he was supposed to gather information for his new quest.

  “Actually, if I could bother you a little longer, I was wondering if you had any information about a lost child? I’m on a quest trying to find him.” Matheus awkwardly asked, not knowing the right way to approach the subject.

  “Oh. You mean Dina’s boy.” The merchant’s face darkened a little when he said that, but he kept his friendly posture.

  “Dina?”

  “Yeah. Nice lady, lives just two streets below. Her husband died some years ago, while out completing some Hunt. She sells sweets to care for her and her boy. I swear, her apple pie recipe is the best in the whole world. I mean, it was the best. She hasn’t cooked anything since her kid disappeared.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Well, that was a lucky start. Maybe this quest wouldn’t be so complicated after all.

  Truly a great morning.

  “Where did you say she lives again?”

  –/–

  Matheus tried knocking, and the door opened by itself.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  No answer.

  “I’m coming in, ok?”

  There, sitting alone on a small chair, there was a very fragile woman. She didn’t look old, nor physically hurt, but Matheus had the impression a strong breeze could make her crumble away.

  She didn’t move, not even acknowledge him when he entered. He could be a burglar, a murder or a debt collector, but she didn’t seem to care.

  “Are you ok?” Matheus asked once he got close enough.

  “My son. Did you find my son?” She asked in a very low voice, her eyes focusing a little.

  “No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

  And again she was staring at the wall, her interest in Matheus all gone.

  “But I’m looking for him. There’s no need to lose hope yet. That’s why I’m here, actually. Can you tell me how he disappeared?”

  She was silent again, and Matheus started to think it was best to leave. This was going nowhere, and this woman was barely responsive.

  “He loved to play with rocks. It sounds stupid, I know, but he loved it. Some days he would get home, all excited about a funny shaped stone he’d found, and he’d talk about it for hours.”

  Matheus was the one silent now. She wasn’t really answering his question, but could he really interrupt a grieving mother reminiscing about her son?

  “His room was jammed with rocks, I had to forbid him to bring more, but he kept hiding it. He couldn’t help himself.” She completed, giving the ghost of a smile.

  Suddenly, Matheus felt an ache on his heart and a strong urge to cry.

  Was his mother going through something similar? Did she even know what happened to him?

  He hoped someone was there for her. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her all alone.

  “Ma’am,” Matheus found himself saying, still thinking of his own mother. “I’ll bring your son back to you. He will play with rocks again. I promise. But I need your help first, ok?”

  She didn’t answer him. She did nothing, except stare. But her eyes had a faint gleam, like she was finally really here. Matheus didn’t let her attention go away.

  “Please, tell me what happened.” He insisted gently.

  “It was late. He…Daniel was playing near the blue lake, looking for rocks as he always was. I was waiting for him to meet me in the market, but he never appeared. And that was very odd, because Daniel knows how worried I get… but I thought maybe he’d gotten a little carried away. It happened, sometimes. He would get distracted by things he thought were pretty.”

  Matheus listened. Now that she was talking, he was afraid to interrupt and take her back to her stupor.

  “But it was late, and getting darker by the minute. I decided to go look for him. I asked everyone on the streets if they’d seen Daniel, but none had seen him coming back from the blue lake.” She continued. Her voice, which had been emotionless this whole time, now had the distincts tone of despair.

  “I got there, but couldn’t find him. I shouted for him until my throat was dry, but no one answered.”

  “Are you sure he was really on the lake?” Matheus asked when it was clear she wouldn’t continue.

  “The guards came after a while, and a search party was organized. This was the only thing they could find, just in the limits of the lake.” She said and pointed to a bag on the floor

  Matheus took it. Inside, there were many rocks, all with different colors and shapes.

  “Thank you for telling me all this. I know it can’t be easy, thinking about this day again. I will bring him back to you.”

  She was silent again. After some seconds, she went back to staring at the wall. There was nothing else for Matheus here.

  He now had a clue. The only problem was, it wasn’t a very helpful one. If guards had searched for the boy and couldn’t find him, what chances did he have?

  Well, repeating the obvious to himself would lead him nowhere.

  All this gathering of information took him longer than he expected, and it was already getting dark outside when he left her house.

  He decided to check a few other stores, to have a general idea of what the city could offer and to add more information to his map.

  When he went to get his dinner, he found the cat again, in the same spot as yesterday.

  It tried to grab people’s attention, meowing to everyone who came closer. Matheus saw no one stopping to feed it.

  He came closer, cut his bread in half, put a slice of meat inside and showed it to the cat. It started coming to his direction on its awkward walk, half walking and half dragging itself.

  Matheus gave it the food, and they both ate together in silence.

  When it finished eating, the cat licked its paw and then came closer to Matheus, moving slowly.

  Once it got to him, it started rubbing against his leg, purring all the while.

  Matheus smiled, and slowly tried to pet the little creature one more time. The animal let him, giving him small head bumps.

  That was all it took, uh? A single day and some food and the cat was already letting his guard down, allowing a stranger to get close.

  Maybe Matheus could have done the same, years ago.

  Nowadays, he knew kindness was too often just a mask for cruelty.

  He thought about his promise to Dina. He had no way of knowing if he would succeed. Most likely, her son was long gone.

  Had he said what he said and given her hope only to make himself feel better? What a coward. The only thing he did was intensify her pain. That was beyond cruel.

  Matheus clenched his teeth in a mix of anger and determination.

  He couldn’t let it be true. He wouldn’t. He would keep his word and accept his responsibilities.

  He still didn’t know the kind of person he was, nor the person he wanted to be.

  But he sure as hell knew the type of person he would never become.

  And no matter what happened, nothing would change that.