Acting grateful was annoying but I worked in the customer service industry, faking it was a well learned skill of mine by now. It also wasn't hard to guess the woman's thoughts based on the way she acted. She had probably assumed I wanted to go to the library because the other children were isolating me and she wasn't far off the mark. Not fully there mind you but not totally inaccurate either. It didn't bother me to be isolated by those my current age, if anything I was grateful for it.-
I was a thirty year old soul in an eleven year old body and that meant my mind operated on a VERY different level to these normal children's. Honestly the only real downside to this situation for me was having to go through puberty again but that was a small price to pay in my opinion. I also needed to keep my reincarnation a secret till I die unless I was an idiot for some reason. My system too, though that would be harder since I was definitely going to be using the stuff I got from my trades to enrich my life here.-
The excuse that I "got it from mysterious strangers" would only work the first few times before it becomes obvious something is up, amulet or not. So long as I avoided drawing the wrong kind of attention though I should be mostly fine even if I refuse to say where the things I had came from. Leaving the orphanage through the front doors I gave the place a once over from the outside and wasn't surprised at how shabby it was. Sure the building was large but given it's purpose that was hardly impressive.-
There were weeds growing around the edges of the place and the paint was faded and peeling off it's walls. The cobblestone path through the grassy and weed covered yard was overgrown and probably wouldn't even be visible if not constantly worn down by foot traffic. The fence line was overgrown and in poor shape and all around the place was clearly financially not well off. Confirming this I resolved myself to ditching this place the moment I got the information I needed. While I highly doubted the folks from the magical side would like that they couldn't exactly stop me.-
Well they could using magic but all that was likely to accomplish is making me mad as I constantly tried to figure out a way to break the magic. Something I very much doubted they wouldn't also figure out. Stepping out onto the street I followed the directions I had been given and soon came across the library I was after. It was a well maintained building but not much bigger than the orphanage so not a very large library really. Still I pushed open the bright white wooden door setting off a little bell hanging on it.-
I was immediately hit with the smell of old books and dust. There were neatly arranged wooden shelves of books filling the entire place with small plaques denoting the type of information within them. There was a narrow staircase to the left of the entrance that went to the second floor of the library and a large desk right in front of the entrance with a middle aged woman with a stern expression sitting behand it. She looked up from her book with two stern brown eyes that narrowed at me suspiciously.-
"It's ten pence for a day pass or two quid for a month pass. Any damage to the books or library will be punished with a banning." She said firmly and I nodded.
Reaching into my pants pocket I withdrew the five pound note from my inventory and then my pocket. The woman checked it for validity before asking for my name. I gave it easily and she put a blank monthly pass into the ink machine next to her and punched on my name alongside the date before handing the pass to me along with my three quid change. After that she waved me off and I immediately headed for the non-fiction section.-
I looked over the titles on the spines of the books and eventually chose one called "Camping and you". The introductory section of the book made it clear that this was more or less a camping guide. It was a slightly older publication with a date of 1987 but should still hold up well enough for my purposes. I took a seat in one of the provided wooden chairs meant for reading and started reading the book carefully. The first chapter was about picking a location for your camp. It gave great tips to keep in mind such as overhead cover, whether the location was wet and had signs of regular water movement, that sort of thing.-
I soaked up the information like a desiccated sponge much to my own surprise at first. Once I remembered my new skill though I couldn't help but grin as the effect was much more useful than I had expected. I effortlessly recalled every detail of what I had read and could even mentally imagine how to use it. In essence it was like the distance between knowing the material and mastering it had been dramatically reduced.-
I'd still need to experience using the knowledge to fully make it my own but otherwise mastery was already mine. Though I had to admit that this particular information was an easy sort to take from theory and actually utilize so that may have played a big part. There was no real guess work about it but straightforward "follow these directions and succeed" type information. Anyways I eagerly moved onto the next chapter that spoke of setting up living space. This part took some liberties in assuming you had certain things on hand when you went to do it such as a tent or rope but otherwise was a simple guide to follow.-
My favorite part had to be the step by step picture guide to a series of camping knots such as the square knot for joining two pieces of rope or the adjustable grip hitch knot for tying things securely in place. Perhaps not super useful in day to day life but until I can set up something better like a primitive shed it would be good to know. The chapter after that one was one that was mildly disturbing since I was never a hunter myself but it was how to catch, clean and cook fish, birds and rodents such as rabbits.