Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)-Chapter 67 -

As my mom from my previous life used to say, neglecting reading and gaining knowledge was an awful thing to do. And at this point, I guess she was right.

With each book I read, and each notification from my system, I felt a pang of regret. Why the hell hadn't I figured this out earlier? Because I never attempted to find out.

A skill book could give you a skill.

And a wisdom book could give you experience points, free experience points.

For me, this library had become something like a dungeon.

Although most of the books didn't give me thousands of experience points, they were still valuable. The thicker the book, the more experience points I gained. Not only that, but I was becoming a more knowledgeable person as I learned many things in the process.

"Okay." I put one book down.

I grabbed water from a bottle and made it swirl around my hand, then placed it on my head to heal my brain.

To get the most effective reading I could, I decided to reteach myself speed reading.

With the brain hack of waterbending healing, I managed to relearn it quickly.

First, you train your memory, then your eyesight, and then combine them. With each re-heal, I could read faster and faster, and my short-term memory improved much quicker. I didn't do much—just tried to recall what I had read after a page or saw a large number and tried to recall it on the spot. Of course, that got better.

'Just one more night of sleep, and I'll get the max effect from this,' I thought to myself as I felt myself getting sleepy.

I had earned around 50 thousand experience points for free.

And I had leveled up my Stealth by reading books about the arts of assassination and footwork.

[Stealth 10 -> 13]

[Hunting 9 -> 15]

[New Skill has been acquired]

[Medicine up to level 4]

That's enough for today, I thought as I laid down next to a bookshelf.

Seeing me in this state, a fox approached me and nudged its head against me.

I could understand what it was trying to say without it speaking a word.

I said, "Sure, you can take them back to their place. I'm done."

Even though I had healed my brain repeatedly to modify it, there was a limit to my willpower. Simply healing my brain couldn't replenish the used energy—Willpower. But my motivation was high, so I could keep pushing forward. I just didn't want to push myself too hard and burn out. So, I took a well-earned break.

I had upgraded two of my skills to a high level.

Hunting and Stealth may seem like petty skills compared to Steam or Freezing.

But they are deadly in a battle.

Even if I lost my bending power, with just hunting and stealth, I could wipe out units alone.

Just give me a bow and an arrow, and with a wide range and accuracy of 99%, I'm pretty sure I would be a deadly force in a battle.

Hunting could even aid my waterbending skills by improving accuracy and giving me the power to hunt enemies from further away.

As for stealth, I'm pretty sure that even Toph would find it hard to keep track of me.

After all, the growth was exponential, just like leveling up.

I laid down and stared at the barely noticeable steam in the air.

The steam carried sounds, which didn't belong to spirits in this spiritual realm.

-x-X-x

"He got so tired and feel asleep," Toph said.

Currently, she and Katara were lying down, using two thick books as pillows while reading.

They were originally here to wait for Ryuk to finish his job.

But after Toph had spied on him—the floor was made of stone, so she could use it to sense things—they realized that he had drifted from the goal he had mentioned, which was finding out about the date of the comet's descent.

Both of them were smart enough not to talk about Ryuk's goal, especially since Wang had strongly hinted at his strong dislike for using knowledge in wars.

At the same time, they spoke in code to each other.

They said things like:

'He must be going around instead of taking a shortcut.'

'Yeah, I'd do the same if I wanted to mislead someone.'

They were talking while pretending to read.

But after Ryuk lost track of his original goal, they knew they would be here for a longer time.

So, they grabbed some fiction books to read.

While Toph found no joy in reading—since she could finish a whole story in no time—Katara was very immersed and impressed.

Katara had been thinking of copying the stories or even asking to take them with her.

But she knew it would be difficult if she attempted to, so she just wasted her time in the stories.

Toph just laid next to her, forcing Katara to read aloud for her while keeping track of Ryuk's movements.

"I don't get him. First, he read all about cooking, then some assassin stuff, and then some hunting stuff…" Toph said, her hands on her stomach.

"Mmm…" Katara, who had stopped reading for Toph, pondered her words. "To confuse your enemy, you must confuse yourself."

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"Well, smart girl. What was that about?" Toph turned on her side, propping her head up with her hand and elbow on the ground.

"It's in this story. That's what the man did before going against his third family-in-law." Katara said.

"Third?" Toph raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe you didn't hear me right. They discovered that the hero's third wife's family was running a slavery business. So they gathered a group of four benders to counter them. The wife is involved, too." Katara said, seeming to be immersed.

"The hero must be loved for all of his girls to work together," Toph said, "sounds like us, albeit they're more."

Katara closed the book and frowned.

"What are you trying to get at?" Katara asked.

"Nothing, just talking about facts," Toph said, her face blushing.

"Seriously. You can have any other man, yet why are you after Ryuk?" Katara asked.

She may be an over-caring woman, but she wasn't oblivious. She had seen how Toph was looking at Ryuk. She could even notice some tension between them. But she chose not to bring it up, not wanting to trigger a fight, which could lead to a breakup or something else she didn't want.

"A man, like who?" Toph tilted her head and deadpanned.

"I don't know. Isn't my brother handsome enough? He goes after girls left and right."

"But your brother isn't Ryuk."

"What's so special about him—other than being overpowered?"

"The way he looks at me!"

"Huh?"

"From the first time Ryuk met me, he never gave me that pity look. He treated me like a normal person. Even your brother looks at me like I'm a helpless blind girl. Even after knowing what I'm capable of, he gave me that pity look, like he thinks I'm living in the dark. Ryuk didn't even take my taunts seriously, and he's a good listener. He notices when I'm fine and when I'm not. I also feel safe around him, and I love him!"

Toph paused when she realized that she might have over-spoken.

Katara looked at her, jaw slightly dropped. For some unknown reason, Katara felt bad. Tears welled up in Toph's eyes.

Not knowing what to do, Katara did what she always did.

She offered Toph a hug.

"Must have been tough for you…" Katara said.

"You don't say," Toph replied, her voice back to normal.

"I never knew you felt that way," Katara comforted her. "Sorry for not noticing."

"Sorry for saying that. I should have kept it to myself." Toph sighed.

"No need to apologize," Katara sighed, "you only expressed how you felt, and it must've been tough to keep it to yourself."

"Yeah…" Toph said. "But you and Ryuk have something. Just because I was jealous, I shouldn't have…" She trailed off.

"I know where you're coming from," Katara said. "But you have to understand. I love Ryuk, and I don't want to lose him to anyone. I can't risk it."

"Yes, me too," Toph said. "Though I never got down on him."

Katara gave her a side glance.

"Well, don't worry. He's not the kind of guy who would leave you," Toph assured.

"I know…" Katara sighed, clearly seeing through Toph's attempt. But over the time they traveled, unbelievably, she ended up considering Toph a friend, and she felt bad seeing her that way. Besides, having a couple of wives wasn't uncommon in her continent, apparently.

"If you and Ryuk are okay, then I'll be okay," Katara pinched Toph's nose. "But if you try to turn him against me or steal him, I swear, I'll bloodbend you until your body breaks into pieces, and nothing's left of you."

"Hahaha… You're a very good girl, Toph." Toph made a forced laugh as Katara went from comforting to threatening.

What was worse? She was totally honest, and Toph could verify that through her heartbeat.

"Though, I won't promise you anything," Katara said. "I just see how you and Ryuk have tense moments, and I'm not doing this for you. I just don't want him to leave me for another girl."

If there's one thing she had learned from these novels, it was that women would go after a man with strength and power. And at the rate Ryuk was going, he'd be at the top of those two.

-x-X-x-

'Okay…' I, who had leveled up my Stealth skill, managed to fool Toph into thinking I was asleep. 'Oh, shit.'

I've heard everything.

I didn't dare move to avoid making Toph and Katara realize that I'd heard them.

I felt bad for Katara, who seemed terrified at the idea of me leaving her, so she accepted polygamy—which seemed normal in this area. Exclusive to the rich, rare, but practiced more than on Earth.

And that threat to Toph.

Even Toph didn't doubt that it was just an empty one.

And for the record, as someone who came from Earth, I had to doubt my hearing.

'Am I hallucinating after reading so many books? But that's a system that gives me knowledge. Or is it that healing my brain over and over messed with it?'