Not Registered

A mother sat down at the end of a small, uncomfortable bed. A crying child lay there, clenching his thin covers. She smiled kindly at him as she reached out and held one of his quivering hands.

"Why are you crying?" she asked him softly.

Between sobs, the child answered, "I'm weak!"

The mother scrunched her brows and shifted her position to be closer to her child and held him in her arms. He sobbed into her shirt. "Who said that you were weak?"

"Nobu did!" the son sobbed.

The mother tutted disappointedly. "I might have to have a word with Nobu's parents if he's going to continue to be this silly to you." She leaned back away from her son and wiped away his tears, "take out your Status Window."

The boy's sobs had lessened from the comforting that his mother gave. He moved his hand in the specific motion that his parents taught him and a near-opaque box appeared in the air in front of him.

The Status Window. Commonly the first function of the Paradigm System that everybody is taught about. It holds information about the user's current status. However, the boy's Status Window simply said:

[USER HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED. PARADIGM STATUS WINDOW LOCKED]

Even though she couldn't see its contents, the mother knew what her son's Status Window message said, and yet she still asked the boy, "what does it say right now?"

Quietly, the boy murmured, "Status Window locked..."

"And why is it locked?"

"'Cause I haven't been Registered yet." the boy looked down in embarrassment. He already knew the point that his mother made, this is not their first conversation about the subject, but what Nobu said had bothered him.

The mother crossed her arms confidently, "and why aren't you Registered yet?"

"I'm too young...?" With each answer, the boy got quieter and quieter. This time it was barely louder than a whisper and there was a hint of doubt.

"Exactly." the mother said, and held her son in an embrace again. "The system hasn't figured out what you're going to be in life yet, has it?"

She raised his gaze to hers softly. The boy couldn't muster up a verbal answer, so he weakly shook his head.

"So..." the mother started, "how do you - or Nobu - know that you're weak? Even the System doesn't know yet."

The son pulled away, his voice croaked as he struggled to control his emotions once more, "but some of my other friends have been Registered already, and they're only a little bit older than me!"

The mother hugged him at that. She waited for a moment as the raised emotions of the boy overtook his body for a little bit. Once he calmed down, she assured him, "there's nothing wrong with being Unregistered. You should cherish it as much as possible because you're the freest you'll ever be while you're Unregistered. You can dream to be anything you want."

"I want to be an adventurer like dad was." the boy grumbled.

She smiled at his determined face and gently pressed her forehead to his. "And you can work towards that goal while you're still Unregistered. So, who cares if someone like Nobu calls you weak? Because in some ways being Unregistered - as free as you are right now - there are some things that he can't beat you at."

"Really?" the boy asked hopefully.

That was when a knocking could be heard at the front door.

"Who could be here this late?" the mother mumbled under her breath, "honey, could you get that?"

"Sure." her husband said from the other room as the knocking at the front door came again, this time a bit more impatient.

***

[You have received 1EXP for capturing a Qrell.]

The message snapped me out of my daze. Why did I suddenly remember that night?

I grimaced as I reset the trap that the creature had unfortunately found itself in. I removed the corpse of the small woodland creature and attached it to my belt with my other catch of the day.

Looking up at the position of the sun, I realised that it was starting to get to the end of the day, and sighed at the fact that I had only managed to get two Qrells today.

You see, every day I set up a bunch of small traps in the forest near my hometown in the hopes of being able to gather some catches that I might be able to sell to buy vegetables for myself and my family. But there's never enough. Today with only two Qrells, it's especially disappointing. I guess it's probably going to be another day of just vegetables or something.

A stick broke in the distance behind me and I instinctively crouched and grabbed my bow and an arrow from my quiver.

There was something out there, rustling through the brushes and soon, something caught my eyes in the distance a little bit further in the forest. It was an Alk. The Alk looked majestic as it stood in a clearing as it grazed, and I swallowed uncomfortably as I felt bile rise in my throat in excitement. They have four extremely powerful legs and are known for their skill at running away. It was a little bit tough to hunt one, but if I could hunt the Alk, that means I can just bring it home to the orphanage and for the next couple of days, everybody would be able to have meat. It would make everyone so happy.

Making sure that I didn't disturb any branches or greenery, I managed to make my way to within about fifteen paces from the Alk. Luckily, the wind was working in my favour and the creature had no idea I was that close.

I managed to follow the Alk for a little bit, as it approached another clearing and continued its grazing. I was crouched behind a tree and I noticed that the grass in the clearing was a strikingly-turquoise colour, which was a sign that there was a clearwater watering hole nearby. The Alk was probably taking its time making its way towards it.

From my position, the Alk had fortuitously stopped right in a clear line of sight and I tightened my grip on my bow.

I breathed out quietly to calm myself.

Please let me get this Alk.

As I drew the arrow back, for a split second, I was surprised and hopeful that I was going to be fine. However, suddenly something akin to lightning traveled up my left arm that caught me by surprise and dashed my hope. It started from the very tips of my fingers, and made its way up my forearm to my shoulder and it felt like it just slammed into my mind.

Pain seared into my head and I cried out in pure agony as a flash of colour appeared behind my eyelids. I lost my grip on the arrow half-drawn and it sailed through the air weakly. I crumpled down onto the ground in a fetal position and I cradled my left arm.

I didn't see it happening myself, but I knew that the Alk had heard the commotion and went off on its way. I had missed my opportunity to bring back a full meal for my "family".

As the pain slowly subsided, I found myself laying on my back, looking up at the leaves of the trees of the forest. They displayed wonderful variances of green as the light from the lowering sun slithered through.

I motioned my hand and my Paradigm Status Window appeared in front of my eyes.

My Status Window shimmered as I read my stats:

[NAME: Yoshinaga Ryuu

AGE: 17

LEVEL: 2

TITLE: N/A

HP: 120/120

MP: 20/20

STA:120/120]

Even though they're now higher than they were, ultimately Nobu was right about me being weak. My health, mana, and stamina were normal when I went through my Registration. However, my five attributes were and still are disappointing low and extremely below average.

-Strength (STR): 3

-Agility (AGI): 3

-Wisdom (WIS): 3

-Vitality (VIT): 5

-Intelligence (INT): 3

I was only a little bit away from my home town, Ohda. For obvious reasons (my left arm), I don't go too far out from the town just in case something happens.

I sat up and held my left arm gingerly.

"Run Status Analysis on the left arm," I mumbled. Just loud enough for Paradigm to register my instruction.

As I waited for the system to process the information it needed to, I took off my coat and awkwardly unraveled the bandaging that I struggled to put on this morning. The cloth loosened and revealed the huge dark ring of scarred tissue that circumvented my whole left arm. Even looking at the scar now, nearly ten years after the incident, still makes me wince now and then.

The memory of the local doctor stitching my arm back together is still so vivid to me. I rubbed the scar lightly and traced the scarred tissue.

A message appeared in front of me.

[ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

[VIEW] [CANCEL]

I pressed the view button that hung in front of me and a new message appeared, replacing the original. I cringed at what I read.

[ANALYSIS ON LEFT ARM]

[STATUS: Nerve Degradation: 32% (+2% since last analysis).

EFFECT: User experiences pain when the limits of the arm are pushed. Seek help from a health professional to avoid loss of whole arm.]

I angrily swiped the information away and gazed at my arm. The pain had finally subsided to the point I was able to clench and unclench my fist. It still throbbed, and I felt that my grip strength had lessened a little bit.

Great.