Skill Study
UPON RETURNING HOME, I soaked an old rag in water to wash my body. I
hoped that would be enough to clean me up for going to Hart Manor in two
days' time. Then I lit a precious candle to examine myself in my fractured
mirror.
Nothing much had changed. My clothes were still a patchwork mess, and
washing myself wasn't going to change that, so I gave up. I rolled onto the
bundle of straw I called a bed, stared up at the ceiling stains left by leaking
water, and reflected on what I'd just been through.
The day had started with Rafale's brutal notion of self-improvement. But that
very night, I'd fought bandits with Lady Roxy, and now there was even a chance
I could start working for the Hart family. It was like a dream.
Then I remembered the metallic voice I'd heard after killing that bandit. It said
my stats had increased. It also told me I got new skills: Identify and Telepathy.
Laughable. Identify was a rare skill. It gave its user detailed information about
things that existed in the world. If I'd really acquired it, it would make my life a
whole lot easier. Ha ha.
I muttered the word "Identify" and, against all my expectations, the following
information appeared in the air over my head: Fate Graphite, Lv 1
Vitality: 121
Strength: 151
Magic: 101
Spirit: 101
Agility: 131
Skills: Gluttony, Identify, Telepathy "Whoa! What the hell?!" I exclaimed.
Okay Fate, calm down .
I checked my stats first. They had always been a clean sweep of ones across
the board, but now they were all triple digit. With these stats, I could fight lowlevel monsters.
Next, skills. I used to have Gluttony and only Gluttony, but now I had Identify
and Telepathy, too.
This is unbelievable…
But the fact that I could check my own stats and skills was proof in itself; I
now possessed Identify.
Wait, wait.
If I had Identify, I could quit gatekeeping and become an appraiser. They
made good money, because their skills were highly specialized.
What on earth is going on here? All right, calm down, Fate. Be practical.
I used Identify to more closely examine my other skills.
Telepathy: Read the thoughts of those you come in contact with.
I had experienced this skill already, when Lady Roxy held my hand. I heard her
thoughts because the skill had activated.
But why was this happening? I racked my brain for an explanation and finally
arrived at an answer. It lay in the words the metallic voice had spoken: Gluttony
skill activated.
Whatever was going on was a result of the Gluttony skill, which I'd long
thought to be completely useless. But now I could use Identify to examine
Gluttony.
Gluttony: You are eternally hungry.
Well, that much I already knew. It was exactly what the appraiser had said
when they visited my village during my childhood. This meant the Gluttony skill
contained a hidden, unidentifiable power. As far as I could tell, that power was
the ability to devour the essence—the soul—of what I killed, thereby stealing
their stats and skills. As a side effect, my empty stomach filled.
I had the potential to grow exponentially stronger, depending on how I used
Gluttony from here on out. But I wasn't about to just start murdering people,
either.
What to do? The answer was simple: monsters roamed the wilds just outside
the Kingdom of Seifort. If I killed them, I could take their skills and stats. With
my stats where they were now, I stood a good chance of defeating low-level
monsters. I could make a new start as an adventurer.
Then, one day, I would be stronger than a holy knight. When that happened,
Rafale and the Vlerick family would have to crane their necks to look up and see
what I had become. Just thinking about it made me want to dash out of my
hovel and start monster hunting. But it was too dangerous to go after dark,
even for someone of my new stats, so I decided to get a good night's sleep and
head out in the morning.
Actually, I was supposed to gatekeep for Rafale early the next morning. But
you know what? I wasn't going to go. I would take Vlerick orders no longer. I
had a new boss, and her name was Lady Roxy. If the meeting with her father
two days from now went well, he'd hire me. An honest, decent life awaited me.
For now, I'd focus on tomorrow: get equipped, go monster hunting, and grow
stronger.
I closed my eyes, and my consciousness quickly faded.
***
I woke to the sound of cawing birds. I fixed my bedhead in my broken mirror,
brushed my teeth with a tree sprig, and dressed. Then I took a small leather
pouch from where I'd hidden it in a crack in the wall. In the pouch were my life
savings: two silver coins, painstakingly earned over five years. A silver coin was
equivalent to one hundred copper coins, and one hundred silver coins
converted to a gold coin. I'd never even touched one of those.
Others might have laughed at my two silver coins, but I'd gone through
multiple hells to earn that money. It was my getaway savings, for the day when
Rafale was done with me and I feared for my life. But that worry was gone, at
least for now. Instead, I would use this money to invest in monster-hunting
equipment.
With my two coins in hand, I bounded out the door.
The Kingdom of Seifort consisted of four districts. The castle sat in its center,
and around the castle were districts to the north, east, south, and west.
The holy knights' training grounds were located in the northern Military
District, and special weapons and armor were developed there.
The kingdom's high-ranking holy knights lived in the Holy Knight District to the
east.
The southern Merchant District was packed with stalls and shops selling all
manner of goods, including weapons, daily necessities, and food.
The western Residential District was where the common folk like myself
resided.
From the allocation of the districts, one could see how well the holy knights
were treated—their business took up a full half of the city.
I headed to the kingdom's busiest, most bustling district: the Merchant
District.
I pushed past the Residential District's crowds and into the Merchant District,
which was lined with redbrick buildings. From there, I slipped into a back alley
filled with stalls and ringing with spirited voices calling to passersby.
This was the other side of the Merchant District. I'd come here because I only
had two silver coins; I'd be lucky to get my hands on a worn-out secondhand
weapon. With what I was wearing, I didn't stand a chance of getting into an
establishment for high-grade weapons. In other words, I'd come to the
marketplace for everything people didn't want anymore.
I was searching the stalls selling secondhand weapons when a chubby middleaged man called out to me. He threw me a friendly smile and seemed kind
enough. "Are you looking for a weapon, my friend?"
"Yes. How'd you know?"
"I've been doing this a long time, and I watched you work your way down the
row. You don't have eyes for anything but weapons."
I was a little taken aback—he was spot on. This salesman was a smooth one.
"Well? Won't you take a look at my selection?"
Numerous weapons—the most I'd seen so far—were laid out along his table.
"And what's your budget today, my friend?"
I told the merchant of my two silver coins, and his friendly attitude melted
away. Not a sliver of his earlier kindness remained. There were only his hard
eyes looking down on me, like those of Rafale and his siblings.
"I knew it," he said. "Just another one of the poor. I can't believe I even tried.
With two silver coins, you can buy any of the scrap from that corner. That trash
should suit you just fine."
He knew I didn't have the money to purchase a serious weapon. But even if I
got mad, and even if I stormed off in a rage, it would be no different at any
other stall. My best options were still here, where I at least had an abundance
of junk to choose from.
I took each of the old weapons in hand and analyzed them with Identify. They
were all right on the brink of their durability levels. A few swings, and they'd
shatter. Lost in despair, I rummaged through the weapons until I found an old
black sword. As I laid my hand upon it, a voice flowed into me.
"Buy me. You will not regret it."
It was a husky male voice, speaking through my Telepathy.