Chapter 12 - What do the numbers Mean?

"I'm actually quite handsome," he says, admiring the face reflected in the water.

Well, Lao had at least one thing to be thankful for in his life. It seemed like the heavens had given him something to comfort his pitiful existence—an appearance that would put the famous movie stars from his previous world to shame.

It seemed like he had spent all his points in his character creation on his appearance and ignored every other aspect.

However, for some reason, he didn't recall Lao ever being popular with women. Sure, he was antisocial and acted cold towards everyone, but that didn't really seem to be a sufficient explanation. After all, not only was he handsome, but he was also rich and had powerful backing from his father.

That should have been more than enough for him to have a legion of fans, regardless of his own personality. In his previous world, Arthur clearly remembered multiple women sending love letters to a certain serial killer while he was in jail. And Lao far surpassed him in every aspect, so he should have had some success in this department, right?

But not only did that not happen, from what he could gather, not a single woman made any advances towards him at all. Lao didn't really seem to mind it; in fact, he appreciated being left alone and not having to deal with anyone.

But it was still weird.

Realizing he had gotten sidetracked, Arthur set his thoughts straight again. This was indeed a curious situation, but not something that required his attention for now.

He refocused on his reflection, this time looking closely at his right eye.

From what he could tell, there didn't seem to be any superficial damage to it. His vision was also working perfectly fine, which supported this.

'There really doesn't seem to be anything different at all,' Arthur murmurs.

However, Arthur was wrong. It was understandable for him not to notice anything. After all, the change was immensely small. Even if Lao, who had inhabited the body for some time, were observing his eye, he would not be able to notice anything either.

His right eye, at this point in time, had a slightly deeper and more profound appearance to it. It almost didn't manifest itself physically.

If someone who knew Lao before were to look at him now, they would definitely feel something was different when face to face with him. It's as if his eyes were piercing through their very soul, not allowing any secret or information to remain unturned.

This, however, was something only a third party could notice. No matter how much Arthur tried, he would not be able to discern anything, especially if this was the only change.

As Arthur started to grow annoyed, he strained his sight as much as possible, trying to catch any little detail that might clue him into something.

Of course, once again, this resulted in nothing.

As he's about to give up, however, something changes.

'Object (unawakened): Spring water 

Explanation level: 1

Summary: A refreshing drink capable of hydrating your body and soothing your mind

Purity Level - 90%

Rarity: 0

Value: 0

Quality Grade: 3

Safety: Safe for consumption. However, it would still be advised to boil it before drinking.

Arthur didn't know how to react.

Doubting his own eyes, he closed them for a few seconds. He rubbed them thoroughly, as if trying to shake off some invisible ghost causing him to hallucinate. Then he opened them again.

As he opened his eyes once more, he noticed the characters were still there, floating in the air in front of him.

A detailed explanation of the spring water running down near him.

He stood there for a long time, processing the situation.

He stretched his hand, trying to touch those sentences, but it passed right through. It seemed like they were not a physical object or phenomenon, and so, he could not interact with them. They appeared to exist in a different plane of existence, one that he had no access to.

He then tried to turn around, getting the water completely out of his field of view.

He stood like that for a few seconds.

When he turned back around, the characters that had been floating around a moment earlier were now gone.

However, this didn't seem to faze him.

Once again, he strained his eyes and focused his vision as much as he could on the water. Within a few moments, just like last time, the sentences appeared once again.

He read them one more time, and they seemed to be exactly the same as they were before. Not a single change.

He still didn't know what was going on or why, but he was starting to understand how this thing worked. He decided to try it out again, this time on something different.

He turns back once again.

This time, he focuses on a nearby tree. Moving toward it, he positions himself at arm's length away. The wooden smell of the trunk and the herbal scent of the leaves enter his nose.

He focuses on the tree as much as he can.

A few moments later, a new pair of characters, all written in the same style as the ones he saw before, appear in front of him.

'Plant (unawakened): Eucalyptus Tree 

Explanation level: 1

Summary: A very common type of tree seen in places with mild climates. 

Purity Level - 78%

Rarity (species): 0

Value (Species): 0

Quality Grade: 2

Safety: This type of tree does not produce poison. However, consumption of its leaves is not advised as it may be toxic in high doses and does not possess a nutritional value fit for humans.'

"Oh."

As soon as he saw that, Arthur immediately turned around again.

He tried this process on every object he could find around. And every time, the result was the same. When he focused his vision on a specific target, text would emerge into his view, detailing some of the characteristics of the object of his attention.

And it seemed to work for everything, at least everything he could find around him. Even the soil had a description.

This was interesting. It would certainly be extremely helpful to him in the future.

But the main question on his mind was 'Why?'

He did not remember Lao having this ability at all in the past. In fact, he didn't remember anyone in this world having access to this ability at all. So why did he get it all of a sudden?

He could tell it was related to the pain he had felt in his eye earlier. But the question remained: why did he develop this ability, and how exactly?