Ch 19 Grinding Part 2

While he had been hopeful, Ron hadn't expected that he would get quests from both his parents and not only that, but both of them were also serial quests, meaning that they were going to be a source of experience for quite a while.

And while his Father's quest was quick and easy, it was meh... but the one from his mother was quite good as it even gave him a skill. 

"Ah! Ron, you're back," Arthur smiled when he caught a sigh of his son standing on the doorstep with an unfocused look on his face, "I am quite glad that you're keeping up with your commitment to continuing with your training, Son."

'Let's strike while the iron is hot,' Ron thought before immediately making his way towards his father, "Hey, Dad, can you tell me what it is like working for the Ministry and how can one get a job there?" he asked with an innocent look on his face.

"Oho! So you're interested in your old man's job, are you? Well, I can't blame you as it is indeed quite interesting, but let me tell you, it is not easy for one to..."

And so he went on...

and on...

and on...

For almost half an hour Ron had to listen to him explain in excruciating detail about everything that his job in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office entailed.

From how he went about filing his reports, to how he had to regularly look into the dusty old books to find which law applied in which case, how he sometimes had to fight with other departments on whether a particular rewarding case came under their department or not...

It was only when his mother came to his rescue and scolded his father that he was going to be late for work, that the mind-numbingly boring lecture finally stopped...

It seems that his old man was too excited that one of his sons (not counting Percy, because we don't mention him) was finally taking an interest in his job and had gotten carried away with his lecture...

But while it was a bit boring, Ron felt the time spent was worth it in the end because...

[Quest Complete!]

[Reward: Exp+10, Ministry Corporate Slave (2)]

'Hmm, Let's see,'

[Quest: Ministry Corporate Slave (2)]

[Objective: Do you want a stable Job? Do you want to work for the biggest force in the Wizarding world? Do you want to do the same mind-numbing task every single day from 9 to 5 for the rest of your life? Then you are on the right path! Ask your father for the rulebook containing all the Laws involving the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts and then... Read it!!]

[Reward: Exp +30, Ministry Corporate Slave (3)]

'Ugh! That sounds... painfully boring,' Ron grimaced as he imagined reading a dusty rulebook filled with decade-old rules made by stick-up-their-asses old purebloods. He wasn't quite sure if would be willing to go through the sheer torture of reading something so dull... but then again, the reward was quite tempting...

'Argh! Let's forget about it for now... Maybe I will think about it after I've raised the level of the Reader skill by a bit so that I don't waste too much of my time... but for now, onto the next,'

"Mum! Let me help you,"

And that was how Ron spent his morning...

He brought ingredients when needed, stirred the ladle above the pot when asked, and washed dirty dishes that were accumulated... in essence, he did everything he could to help his mother in the kitchen which not only brought a wide smile to her face but also help him achieve his objective...

[Quest Complete!]

[Reward: Exp +20, Cooking Lv 1, Magical Cooking (2)]

[Quest: Magical Cooking (2)]

[Objective: Molly Weasley is well known as one of the most skilled by anyone who has ever tasted her food. Now as her, son, you have an incredible opportunity to inherit a few of her highly coveted recipes. Ask your mother what her favourite cooking books are and learn all the charms contained in them.]

[Reward: Exp +100, Cooking Lv+1, Magical Cooking (3)]

'Amazing! And not to forget the Cooking Skill...'

[New Skill!]

[Cooking Lv 1]

[Description: A survival skill that everyone should learn. Magical cooking involves bringing divine taste out from mixing all kinds of magical and mundane ingredients at the simple wave of your hand.]

Surprisingly, this cooking skill actually came with some instinctive knowledge...

He now knew the names of many of the spells he would have to learn and master if he wanted to level up this Cooking skill... and while they were just names, they would work perfectly as a starting point.

"Good Mornin'!" mumbled the youngest and only Weasley daughter as she came down the stairs in her pyjamas while yawning widely.

"Good Morning!!" Ron replied jubilantly with a bright smile on his face as he ate the delicious full-course breakfast his mother had served him.

"Ugh! Why are you so perked up just after waking up," Ginny groaned with an annoyed look as she fell into the seat beside her brother.

"Because unlike you, your brother's been up since five," Molly rolled her eyes while gently slapping the back of her daughter, "He is only now coming back from outside after completing his training,"

"Since when did you start training," Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Since you both came home," Molly said with a hint of pride in her tone while fondly rubbing her son's hair, "He's been working hard, training to get better at Quidditch and has even been studying for hours..."

"That... can't be right," Ginny mumbled with a strange expression on her face, "There's no way a lazy ass like him would do so much hard work on his own... There's got to be some..." she said with a frown on her face before her expression lit up, "Oh, don't tell me! Is it because of a girl? Are you doing to impress some girl?" she exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"What?! Of course not!"

"A girl?" Molly abruptly turned around with narrowed eyes, "Really? Is this true?"

"No, It is not! There is no—"

"That is the only way something like this would make sense, Mum," Ginny said with a very interested expression as sleepiness completely disappeared from her face.

"You're right, Ginny." Molly nodded with an enlightened expression on her face, "Why didn't I think of that? I knew that there was something strange..."

"You know what! I don't have to sit here and listen to your absurd suggestions," Ron huffed while rolling his eyes as he stood up from his seat after putting the last piece on his plate in his mouth, "I'm going to my room,"

"No, Don't run away! At least tell me her name—" Ginny shouted as Ron ran straight up the stairs ignoring the clamour behind him.

...

'Damn! That girl is sinister,' Ron chuckled helplessly because even now, his dear sister was creating conspiracy theories with his mother down in the kitchen.

Sighing and shaking his head, Ron went to his desk and opened the next book on his list of books that he was going to complete during the summer.

The clock on the desk showed 8 am when he began reading the first-year book, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration...

And almost immediately Ron was able to see a noticeable difference in his reading ability between yesterday and now...

His eyes were flying across the lines of the pages, and his mind was somehow able to not only keep up but remember and deeply comprehend everything that he was reading...

The effect of the Reader skill was such that barely an hour later, Ron had completely finished reading the book...

And when he closed his eyes, he was delighted to find that he remembered every single piece of transfiguration concept and formulate that he had read...

While Ron had expected the effects to be good, this was still too exaggerated for a Level 1 skill...

As one only needs to remember that the first-year Charms book was almost similar in size to this one and that had taken him almost three hours over the course of the previous day to complete.

Besides the effect of this skill was supposed to be just 2X better, and not 3X, 'So why...'

With a little bit of thoughtful introspection, Ron was able to realise what had been different from the previous day.

'It's my ability to concentrate...'

Like any normal young man, Ron also didn't have a high level of attention span, especially when it came to reading a thick course book.

He would get easily distracted, and when he came across a difficult concept he would have to read a line multiple times to understand and even get that unbearable urge to take a break every fifteen minutes...

But somehow this Reader skill had managed to destroy all those distractions from his mind and made his concentration almost reach the peak as if he were reading the most interesting piece of fantasy novel and not a dull course book.

[Reader Lv1]

[Description: Read any piece of written information at 2X the speed while retaining as much information as possible.]

"While retaining as much information as possible," Ron murmured out aloud as he finally understood what this meant, "This is... so amazing,"

Now even more motivated, Ron immediately picked up the next book, first-year DADA The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, and began reading it...

And like clockwork, he completed it before the strike of an hour and then went on to the next one... and then the next...

Until almost five hours later when the clock struck 2 pm, did he finally stop reading as he began to feel tired and sleepy, so after completing the sixth book of the day and the last book of the First year he left his desk for the bed and fell asleep instantly...

He woke up about an hour later, completely refreshed, with his status showing that his physique had improved by 0.1 once again, and while not a lot, it still made a faintly visible change in his body.

He now possessed visible muscle mass all over his body, and looked like someone who's been regularly going to the gym for over a year...

Seeing that it was only 3 pm, Ron didn't waste any time, and after a quick snack in the kitchen, he went back to his reading, this time beginning with the Second Year Charms book...

But just two hours later and after completing two more books from his second year, Ron completely stopped, not because he couldn't go on, he could, but because it was time for him to use his... physical body...

And the reason he was leaving the house an hour earlier than yesterday was that from today onwards he had decided that he would spend an hour or so... flying on his broom.

So excited to be in the air once again, as it would be his first time since the merger he hurriedly picked up his relatively new Cleansweep Eleven from the storage near the attic before he ran out of the house with a wild grin on his face.

'I am going to fly!!"

///