The Retired Hero is an Extra

Despite finding the additional information slightly useful, it didn't matter to him at the moment.

Not wanting to go through the wrong memories once again, as he didn't know what might get triggered, Jash made a crucial decision.

'Maybe I should head to the library?'

Thinking so, he left his room directly but stopped in his tracks as he soon heard a voice calling for him.

"Young Master Jash." Emma bowed as she moved from her position outside the door and stood in front of Jash.

He flinched momentarily at her unexpected presence before questioning her, "Emma? What are you doing here?"

"Young Master, it is my duty to assist you," Emma answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

Nodding to himself, Jash didn't waste time evaluating the change in her actions and instead got to the point.

"I am heading to the librar– No, wait. Emma, do you know the difference between the types of awakening?"

Instead of delving into books, Jash thought of asking her as a shortcut, saving him time and effort to search the books.

"Uhm, you mean the private awakening and the ones sponsored by others? But why would you–?"

"No! Not that! Natural vs Artificial Awakening!" Jash interrupted her midway through her question, but she didn't seem to care.

"Ah, that! Young Master, I'd suggest heading to the library instead of asking me or anyone else," Emma said sternly before adding, "Also, don't go searching for it online."

Jash's expression soured as a frown marred his face, only to be quickly replaced by a look of bewilderment.

'Online? Online as in Internet? INTERNET!? This world has internet!?' Jash chided himself as he really didn't know about it.

'Damn! I really should search about my world instead of thinking I know everything about this world!'

He took a few seconds to remind himself to look out for unexplored elements since he hadn't confirmed if this world was the novel itself.

Even if all the signs pointed to it, he wouldn't believe it unless he had some solid proof regarding his theory.

Not that it mattered, though. He was already hell-bent on not dying, thereby changing the starting plot itself.

'The cliche of the Hero facing enemies and someone sacrificing to save his and his friends life so that the Hero gets an awakening or some shit. Why should I care? I plan on changing everything to suit myself, not someone else.'

With that thought, Jash ascended the stairs with Emma in tow and started walking down a certain hallway on the second floor of the mansion.

Unknowingly, he remained lost in his own world to the point of not even realizing where he was headed.

If not for the timely call from Emma, he really might just die of second-hand embarrassment.

"Young Master!" Emma shouted before hurriedly pulling him back, preventing Jash from hitting his face on a wall.

Stunned by the sudden shout and pull, he stumbled before balancing himself with Emma's support and looked at the wall in confusion.

"Where?" He mumbled in confusion, prompting Emma to clear it.

"Young Master, you were walking in random directions without a care in the world and ended up almost..."

'Damn it! Just how stupid can you be, Jash?' He scolded himself inwardly as he got the gist of what she said, even if she didn't complete her sentence.

"Let's just head to the library," Jash implored, not wanting to linger on his mistake.

"As you wish," Emma was happy to oblige and led the way with a smile.

However, the reason for her smile remained elusive to Jash as he couldn't help but wonder if it was because of his stupidity or his request for her to lead the way.

'Whatever. Not like it matters,' concluded Jash as he followed behind her.

Without any surprises or accidents, they reached the small library in the mansion.

"Emma, isn't this where our classes and tests take place?" Jash asked, his eyes fixed on the door.

"Yes, Young Master. It contains all the knowledge you or the Young Lady might seek before going into the Solarnelle Academy," Emma responded curtly.

Hearing her response, Jash turned to face her and asked as he pointed his thumb at his chest, "You mean to say it was here all the time and it was me who ignored it..."

Seeing Emma not answer, he absentmindedly entered the miniature library.

It wasn't extravagant with special designs or anything.

After all, it was a place to study. Also because Ramilles believed education should be provided to all, so it came as no surprise how plain the room was.

With lightly painted yellow walls, the room had more wooden stuff than even the mana lamps, lit up using a mana stone.

Jash walked with great familiarity before arriving in front of a bookshelf and reading the titles of the books.

"Introduction to Awakening"

"What is mana?"

"Monster Encyclopedia Vol-I"

"Hunter Ranks"

"Advanced Knowledge on Awakening"

"Beginner's Guide on how to use mana"

…

After glancing past all the books, he only picked out a selected few.

"Awakening Vol-I to Vol-V and this Advanced Knowledge on Awakening should do the job," mumbled Jash as he placed them on the table and started to read them after making himself comfortable.

He wanted to pick up all the books, but he didn't really have the time to finish them today.

Despite his dislike for studying, Jash focused on each word in the book and even wrote down the things he found interesting.

Three hours flew by.

—Rustle rustle

Rustling of pages sounded as Jash closed the final book and leaned back on his wooden chair as he closed his eyes.

'There wasn't anything I didn't know or hadn't experienced in the five volumes. The jogged memories of this morning already filled the few gaps I had.'

'But this last book... It did the job,' mused Jash as he sat back straight and turned to see his notes where he had noted the points.

{The first one, a normal—artificial—awakening: All the person has to do is absorb ample amounts of mana from the gem and the room they were in to awaken with all the knowledge they would have. It has a high rate of success.

However, even the most talented one with an awakening time of 3 hours and 56 minutes can't beat a naturally awakened person. Maybe one needs to cross the threshold of 4 or 5 hours for it. But is that even possible?

After all, the naturally awakened person is literally blessed by mana in the sense that they don't even have to do anything. The mana awakens them directly.

The biggest difference would be that natural awakenings only happen until the age of 13. After that, only artificial awakenings can be done.}

"Haa..." Jash sighed as he re-read his note for the 4th time.

"Even if useful, the information seems based on myths and whatnot. It doesn't give me anything to work with."

Frustration etched his features as all his intense 3-hour session netted was some mix-matched information.

Even if he could make sense of it somehow, he still frowned as the comparisons were vague, and the only useful point could be the difference in interaction with mana itself.

"I guess I will work with what I have until I can ask Grandpa or someone else," concluded Jash before leaving.