Chapter 149: Think fast.

Determined Scholar Title A title given to scholars that in the wake of their studies have pushed through their physical limits to attain enlightenment in their academic field.  Parallel Thinking  Trait Grants the ability to think about multiple things and notions at the same time, speed, and amount is determined by the intelligence stat.  Just as he was about to go to sleep he was rewarded by a new title and even a trait. The title was obviously given to him because of his unhealthy sleeping schedule. With the help of his sleeping resistance that then has evolved into an immunity, he was able to maintain himself with only short naps. While the skill had the ‘immunity’ world to it, it didn’t allow him to quite resist the temptations of sleep. It was possible for him to stay up for about three days with no serious strain to his mind or body, but after that, he would feel quite drowsy. This skill was only at level two for now, thus Roland wondered that maybe if he maxed it out he could actually attain true sleep immunity. While the title was a nice bonus, what he really was interested in was the second thing he received, mainly the Parallel Thinking trait. After reading through the explanation he got the general gist of it but he was unsure of how it was supposed to work. ‘Is this trait supposed to help me be better at multitasking?’ Roland was not sure how to activate this trait but while going through the explanation he tried testing it out. He tried thinking about a hard mathematical problem while also trying to recall some activities that he did the previous day. It was a bit odd at first but he found that he was actually able to visualize all of it separately. He managed to perform this thinking exercise at the same time without having to strain his brain too much. ‘I wonder…’ With some inspiration, he pulled out two pieces of paper. This was part of the research material that he received from the Professor. One had research concerning golems while the other went into more detail about the runic programming. His test started as he attempted to read both of these pages at once. It was difficult at first as he found it hard to spread out his gaze between the two papers. After a few minutes of straining his eyes, he was finally able to read both of them at the same time. When he stopped he could clearly recall the information that he just went through without any holes in his memory. This realization made him lean back and chuckle, such a trait was a godsend for this situation. With so much research material and golem-related research, he was having a hard time keeping it together. He still had to craft runic equipment for the guild while also thinking about his own shop, the house defenses, and then his family problems. With this handy trait, he could double his research speed, maybe even triple or quadruple them. The description added a part about his intelligence stat which made the trait better. Intelligence was his best stat from them all. It was also possible that his rare class multiplier would be accounted for. After the golem testing was concluded Roland found himself doing a whole different round of testing. He needed to know the limits that this newly gained trait would give him. First came the reading test, which brought him to about three separate texts at once. The biggest limit when reading was concerned depended on his line of sight. It was hard to focus if the books were not close to each other. It was also a bit awkward to read at first but Roland discovered that he could also move his arms independently from each other. While he was reading some texts he was also able to scribe down a runic scroll. The grade dropped a bit at the first try but after he got used to it, he was able to actually scribe and read at the same time. Roland was sure that if he wanted he could create two separate runic scrolls at the same time. It was as if he had two separate heads working half of his body when he was performing this task. Luckily this trait didn’t give him something like an alternate personality, he was still only one person that could just use his brain functions at a higher rate. It took him the whole night and ever all morning to go through figuring this thing out. He realized that even though this trait was meant for gathering more knowledge it could very well be used for battle. His mind was able to react to more than one stimulus at the same time. It would clearly be handy during combat. While he focused on the enemy's weapon with one part of his mind, at the same time he could look for that deceptive strike that was coming and instantly react to it when it happened. This was easier said than done as he did not really have that much battle experience in using this trait. It could help him combat the gap that was slowly increasing between him and people with true battle classes. While they trained themselves to have lightning-fast reflexes and react to everything within a split second thanks to practice, he could use brainpower for a similar effect. Instead of muscle memory, he would actively react to everything by being able to split his thoughts between actions and multiple opponents. His eyes weren’t the only thing that he could separate from his body. Hearing and touch were also accessible. Taking this into account it would help him hear or feel people coming in from unexpected vantage points that he couldn’t see with his eyes. “Hey boss, you wanted to see me? What’s with the runic launcher are we getting robbed?” Roland called Bernir over as he was somewhat intrigued by how flexible this new trait was. The plans were to work on the third iteration of his golem but that could wait. If he managed to master this skill he could very well triple his output. “No, I just need to test a few things, it's loaded with empty shells, here.” Roland gave the slightly improved runic launcher to his assistant and then told him what he needed to do. “You want me to aim at you and shoot as fast as I can?” While the runic launcher still needed a crank it could shoot out large spheres of metal faster than Bernir could throw them. Roland just wanted to see if he could react in time to dodge them. “I don’t think this is such a good idea… you have that look in your eyes, have you not been sleeping enough? How about…” “I’m fine, I don’t need sleep, now shoot me, we are wasting time.” While it was true that Roland had been buried in research material and he was starting to feel strained by the work, he was somewhat excited to test this new skill out. Bernir on the other hand knew that his boss was being hasty as this wasn’t the first time when something like this happened. Roland was smart enough to place a helmet on his head and also use some body armor. He did a peculiar thing though as he didn’t face Bernir directly but turned so that he would see him out of the corner of his eye. “Uh, boss? Shouldn’t you look at where the shots are coming from?” “If I did that, then there would be no point in testing this skill…” The intent of this test was if he could react to a fast incoming threat while not directly looking at it. It would be somewhat easy to do it for him as he was a tier 2 class holder with enhanced reflexes. What he wanted to do, is to see if his parallel thinking trait was as fast enough to help him react as if he was looking at the muzzle of the runic launcher himself. He could still see Bernir to the side but his attention was elsewhere on a particular scratch on his fence. Bernir could do nothing but shrug and aim the runic weapon. If Roland had made up his mind about something he knew that he could not change it. He knew that the orbs were hollow and would not cause lasting damage even if they hit Roland. “Are you ready?” “Sure, fire them as fast as you can and try aiming for the body.” Roland got ready as a little green glow appeared on his helmet. This runic spell traveled towards his eyes and made them shine in the same hue. This spell somewhat enhanced his vision and would aid him in this test. He was not quite convinced of his own physical capabilities and wanted to test it first with some help. The first orb traveled towards him and he could clearly see it going for his chest. Even though his attention was on other things, out of the corner of his eye he was following Bernir’s every move. This new trait allowed him to see his assistant lean forward and take aim. He could clearly tell when the trigger was pulled even though he was mostly focusing his gaze elsewhere.  Thus he stepped to the side just in time for it to pass him and for the next one to be fired. While it wasn’t hard to concentrate on the first and second shot, the more pellets traveled his way the more concentration it required. This new skill seemed to be working just as he had thought. Normally he would not have enough time to turn his head and react fast enough to evade this speedy projectile. “Okay, that’s enough.” Roland started rubbing his chin while looking at the pellets that he had dodged. While he was able to do this when the weapon was right in front of him, could he do the same if two people were firing from other vantage points? His class was Runesmith, he could not reliably detect people that were standing behind him. He relied on the scanning device to detect hidden enemies and even Agni was better at detecting non-magical traps than him. Even if he could use his hearing to notice that someone was behind him, he had no training nor skills to judge how far away they were. But this didn’t mean that he didn’t have something in mind. With an enhanced reaction time and good eyes, he was thinking of implementing a small aid into his next helmet. Did he really need to keep the detection device in orb form and activate it constantly? What if he placed it in his helmet and had it show him what was happening behind him in real-time? It would be nothing more than an active radar that would show him if something was at his blind spots. Then it could be improved to a sort of camera that would actually show him what was happening there. With his Parallel Thinking trait, he could still keep his eyes on it while dealing with whatever was in front of him. At first, Roland thought that he might need to switch to some sort of battle class to protect himself. But now, on the other hand, he was thinking that he should focus more on what he was good at. He might have been depending on crafted items too much but so were classes like master swordsmen. Without the right weapon in their hands they would not be able to unleash all of their skills. Roland's weapon in this situation was his brain and all of his crafted creations that he could bring along. His biggest advantage over others was that he could customize his weapons and also prepare more if he needed them. Though this also put him at a bigger disadvantage. While a swordsman only needed one sword, he needed a whole lot more. A suit of armor to protect his body and for casting spells. Then he also needed specialized weapons for certain situations. Like for the Ruby Golem that required a heavy sledgehammer type weapon. Even though he might be able to make himself a number of golems to protect him, it would be impossible to take them along on his dungeon runs. Having them walk all the way from his house and down into the dungeon would probably increase the exploration costs. What he really needed was a certain storage technology. The golems were not living beings so he would be able to place them in spatial items. This would conserve valuable mana fuel that was needed for them to operate. This was also something that he was willing to put his research into but there was a small problem. Apparently dimensional magic was quite the difficult field and runesmiths were not really the scholarly type. This was also why all of the storage bags that he had come across were made by other means. He needed to somehow get his hands on that knowledge but he was refused by the only person that could make that true. The kitty professor apparently didn’t think that he was ready to delve into that field of magic. He gave him a little speech about trying to run before being able to walk. It seemed that he would need to prove himself to his academically inclined friend before he gave away the spatial runes. “I think we shouldn’t do things like this here boss.” Bernir called out to him while walking towards the large fence that was reinforced with logs. One of the orbs was embedded in the wood and after pulling it out an indention was left behind. “You might be right.” Roland looked at his house again before going back inside to go back to work on his golem. Now equipped with the new trait he wondered how much faster he could improve. While finishing up with his golem research he and Bernir were also moving along with the expansion. He was deliberating on buying up more land around his home while he was at it. With his home still being far away from the city, there wouldn’t really be a big spike in prices just yet. But when he actually made a successful spot for adventurers to visit, someone might see it as an opportunity to expand towards this location. There were already moves being made to build up taverns outside of the city. While it was more dangerous it was also not taxed as much. Some people didn’t really care about danger and had their own little bands of mercenaries ready to protect their assets. While Roland would do nothing more than build up defensive turrets and place massive golems all over his property, this dream was a bit far-fetched. It would probably take years till he would have enough skill and money for something like that. Instead, he would need to add more people to his side. One was the shop attendant which he still hoped to give to Elodia. The other would be to some guards that would stand there and look intimidating. “I guess it’s time, luckily the taxing system in this world is a lot easier than in the old one.” Roland commented while walking down into his workshop in which he would spend the remainder of the day in. After a good night's rest, it was time to head into the city where he would check the prices of land once more. Then only two days from now, the construction workers would be arriving and he could finally move forward with what he was striving to do for many years, start his own little business.