Chapter 3 - Getting My First Skill

Walking down the streets of the town, made me think of pictures you would see of medieval times. I had no way of knowing if this is the normal standard or this town is just in the boons. The first order of business was finding a place to sleep. I was worried that I would not be able to read anything in the world but most of the signs had pictures and english.

Why do the signs have english? I am in a completely different world yet there is english. Honestly at this point I was so tired I did not want to question anything. I saw a sign that said bed and breakfast and ran right in; as soon as the door opened the smell of stew filled the room.

I almost wanted to get a hot meal but sleep was all I really wanted at this point, I walked up to the counter with a middle aged woman with brown hair and very average features aside from the room.

"That will be 2 gold for the room sweetie."

Remembering the 5 gold coins I had in my pouch I grab two of them "will this be enough"

"Of course here is your key, you will be in room 4"

"Thank you so much" walking up the stairs, the wood creaking with every step. I could not wait to get in bed and sleep. Using the skeleton key that the Inn worker gave me I opened the door; as soon as I saw the bed I closed the door and jumped straight on.

Only to realize if I should probably shower before I went to bed. Honestly I was scared about the shower situation in this world; after all it seemed to almost be medieval time in this world. To my surprise I saw a fully functional shower. Taking a shower and washing my clothes made me feel like a brand new human, I guess elf now. Letting my clothes dry I ran straight to the bed and crashed.

Getting up in the morning I put two goals in my mind for the day: first was to find a way to make money in this world, and second was to find more information about the world that I am going to be spending a long time in. I only had 3 more gold left and 2 gold a night meaning I needed to find a job and fast.

Walking down to get breakfast wondering if I will even have enough money to eat food tomorrow. Sitting down at a table the innkeeper walks over and hands me a menu.

"Order whenever you are ready."

"I was wondering how much breakfast is?"

"Honey breakfast comes with the room, lunch and dinner usually run about 1 silver each meal"

"Thanks, I will let you know when I am ready to eat" at least I have breakfast. The only issue is that I have no idea how much a single silver is. Breakfast passes and I set my sights on the outside; I decided that the first order of business is learning about the world.

Walking down the pebble road that definitely looks like it needs to be redone because many of the stones are missing or broken. Something caught my eye while walking to find an information center or library. A medium size building that looks a lot nicer than the other buildings in its surroundings caught my eyes.

In giant letters - Inspection Center: we can see your status or any item you bring - in a much smaller sign underneath it in red writing. Taking steps closer it says they are hiring they will even supply the inspect skill.

Inspect Skill? Like in video games; I mean that would be a very useful skill for someone like me that knows nothing about this world so I decided to walk right in. As soon as I walked in there was a young man at the front counter that looked to be around mid 20's.

"Welcome to the inspection center. What can I help you with?"

"Hey" I just realized I didn't plan what I was going to say at all. Taking a step forward "I saw that you guys were hiring. What would that entail?"

"Oh that is more of a question for the general manager, let me go get him for you. Stepping away from the counter he went into a room in the back. After a few minutes a man stood towering over me; he looked like he should be working in the military rather than in an inspection center. He stood there staring for a few seconds staring at me until finally he opened his mouth.

"I heard you want to work at this inspection center. Do you happen to have the inspection skill?"

"Ohh, no sir the sign outside said it was not required. I am new to this town and I was looking for work"

"No, that's fine, I was just asking. Follow me to my office" Then he just started walking to the room that the front receptionist originally went to. As I was about to enter the office I could see the receptionist mouth to me "good luck"

Just like my original impression of the general manager his office was perfectly kept; just like a military officer. Taking a closer look at the man in front of me he looked to be in his mid fifties with scars all over him.

"Take a seat right here:

"Okay sir"

He pulled out a piece of parchment that on top sayed Inspection skill, and placed it right in front of me. "Now the skill will be provided to you with training to level up the skill, but in turn your pay will be docked for a month to make up the expenses of the skill"

"Is that it?"

"It's a relatively easy job, the only Issue we would have is if you quit before the month is over then we will find you and force you to pay your debt." The way he said it made me not want to even question what that would entail.

"So how do you use this skill?" The way he looked when I asked that question made me feel like an idiot for even asking.

"You just tear the skill page and then the instructions will go to your head and then you have to practice to get the skill." He straightened out his expression and continued "there is a few things that you should know about the job"

"Okay!"

"If you do not have the skill points to level up the skill then we would hire someone to help you level up. Next you are allowed to obviously use the Inspect skill however you want but there is one exception. You can not use the skill on your coworkers together; I am the only person in our agency that has the authority to inspect my underlings."

I wasn't sure what the purpose of the last rule but it seemed easy enough. The thing that confused me was the levels and skill points; the more I am here makes it feel like a video game.

Before I got completely lost in thought the manager handed me the parchment with the name skill name on it.

"Here tear the skill page"

As soon as I grabbed the skill page I tried reading it. The only thing that made sense was the name of the skill and description. I tore the skill page but unlike what the manager said the information did not just engrave in my mind it feels like it went all the way to my soul. "What is going on?"

"That's because you have the Peacock Corruption. Did you not know?"

"What?"

"Check your status" as soon as he said that I used this ability I just learned to spread this power through me to inspect it.

Status

—-------------------------------------

Level: 1

Fatigue: 0%

Skill Points: 5

—-------------------------------------

Vit: 11

Str: 11

Dex: 11

Agi: 12

Mana: 5

—-------------------------------------

Inspect: F (0/10)

The manager looks at me as though nothing is out of sorts, I was at the point where I wanted to act like I know what is going on. However I was done with pretending that everything was okay. "Can you explain what this Peacock Corruption even means?"

"I don't think I am the best person for that job. My suggestion is finding one of the other seven corruptions to find a proper answer. Now can I ask you a question?"

I hesitated for a second before realizing this man is doing me a giant favor by helping me with my questions. The most I could do is answer his question. "Sure."

"Are you human?"

I froze. I never thought that humans and elves might not get along, I mean when I got to this world I was wearing a bandana that covered my ears. Maybe that was for a reason. However I decided it was probably better to be truthful, I felt in my gut that lying to this person would not help. "No, why is that an issue?"

"I would not call it an issue, but as a piece of advice if you want to live a peaceful life in this village I would suggest not revealing that you are not human."

"Thanks I guess"

"I will see you at work tomorrow at 7, okay?"

"Sure, I honestly do not know how much help I will be but thank you. You know I never even asked about the pay"

"Oh while you are paying your debt it will be 2 gold a day but after that it will jump to 5 gold a day" Just like almost everything in this world I actually did not have any idea how much that it but I went along with it.

Rushing to get out of the building I desperately needed more information on the world. I had one place that I knew would help - The library. Walking around the town trying to look for anything that looked like a library made me exhausted; but I knew I needed information so I was determined. Walking for another thirty minutes I was finally able to see a building that said Khaset public library on the front.

Walking into the building I walked up to the person that most looked like a librarian. "Excuse me do you have history books"

"Of course it's a library" she waved at me to follow where she walked to a wall of books that were all labeled history. Well at least there is not going to be a shortage of information; but how was I supposed to get through all of this? I turned to the librarian and asked. "What about anything on corruption?" it was a shot in the dark whether she was even going to know what I was talking about.

"Do you mean the Primordial Corruptions?"

"Uhh, sure" I mean it at least had the name corruption in it. She then held out her hand to follow me where she went to another section that was filled with books. Except it was labeled fiction and pulled out a book called The Legend of The Primordial Corruptions.

"It may be under the fiction section but many people believe that the Primordial Corruptions are real."

"Thank you so much"

"Enjoy your reading!" The librarian then walked straight off to where she started putting books back on the shelf. I found a table to sit at and cracked open the book and started reading but the farther I got into the book I realized.

"What did I get myself into?!"