Helpful help
It's true that being a stone has its perks: No need to eat, poop, pee or sleep… but it has some nasty drawbacks as well! Since I had nothing better to do, I spent all night counting stars. By the time I reached ten thousand, I was bored out of my mind and started praying with all my might for one of them to fall from the sky and crash right on top of me.
‘Enough, I can't take it anymore! Aaaaaaaaa, please, somebody put an end to this suffering!’
Not more than a day had passed, but still, if things continued like this in the coming days, it would drive me completely crazy. I wanted to simply stop thinking and put an end to the nonsense that my existence had become. Fall into an eternal sleep from which I didn’t have to wake up… but I couldn’t even kill myself.
I let out an imaginary sigh… That’s right, I actually had to picture myself sighing, since in this body I couldn’t even sigh for real…
‘Crap… Just who the hell reincarnates as a stone anyway? I mean, is it even possible to reincarnate in the first place? Well, I’m kind of experiencing it in my own flesh… In my own mineral formation… Ok… I think I've already lost my mind… God, if you do exist, I curse you!’
I still couldn’t accept the pathetic situation I was in. My only hope was to think that I would wake up any minute now and go back to my old life… Breaking rocks...
‘Are all the stones I blew up exacting revenge on me? If this is a dream and I manage to wake up from it, I swear that I will never damage a stone ever again.’
But alas, this doesn't seem to be a dream.
‘No, no, no, Surely there must be something I can do, even as a stone!’
I was in denial. I could not go on doing nothing or I would go haywire in no time. This useless body must have some sort of perk that I have not realized yet… whatever it is...
‘Ah! I forgot that this world has a game-like system. Maybe if… Status!’
Status:
Name: Peter Gravel
Kind: Common stone | Race: -
HP: 5/5 | MP: 20/20
Stats:
Vitality: 0 | Strength: 0 | Agility: 0
Intellect: 10 | Magic power: 20
Special abilities: Help: 1
Titles: Thinking stone
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The transparent blue screen appeared in front of me again. Nothing had changed since the last time. All stats aside from HP, MP, Intellect and Magic power were still at 0. That’s to be expected for a stone… I guess?
‘Why are all my stats zero except for those two? Well, I don’t even know what stats a stone should have in the first place…’
It’s not like the answer I sought would magically pop up out of nowhere. Every other area in the status window was empty except for “Special abilities” (which contained the “Help” ability) and “Titles” (which contained the “Thinking stone” title), so I sensed that there was some clue to be found there .
‘Thinking stone… Is this a joke or something?’
I had a feeling that it was thanks to this title that I had intellect and magic power. Who knows, maybe it also had something to do with the HP and MP, or it could even be related to some other features that I hadn’t figured out yet. Anyway, what piqued my curiosity was that special ability… although its name wasn’t particularly informative.
‘Help, huh? Could it be some kind of tutorial? That would be great… Let’s see if I can get this to work… Help?!’
A new blue screen popped up just in front of the status window. At the same time, a robotic voice began reading out loud what was displayed on the screen.
[Help: A Special ability that allows the user to obtain information.
-Lvl 1: Limited to basic general information.]
‘Is that all? Well, that was useless…… Anyway, unless I’m mistaken, this is some kind of personal assistant?’
Although the description was very vague, at first glance it seemed to be a useful skill. Anyway, I would need to do some proper testing in order to figure out how helpful this really was. First of all, what does “Limited to basic general information” mean exactly?
‘Let’s give it a go. Ehm… Help, what am I?’
[A stone.]
‘What the… Hey, seriously, Help, who am I?’
[A stone.]
‘Ok…’
I took a look at the grass surrounding me.
"What is that?"
[Weed.]
‘Fuck off! Ahhhh how useless…’
I think I roughly understood the meaning of “Limited to basic general information”, but that information was a little too basic! I didn’t need any special ability to know that a stone is a stone or some random grass is simple weed. I required something more specific and useful.
However, it was too early to give up on the skill. There was a 1 next to it, meaning that it should be possible to level it up. It's quite possible that at high levels it would show useful information.
‘Why the hell did I have the bad luck to start with a skill that is worthless at level 1? If only I started with an OP ability like everyone does in these kinds of situations… Aaaaaaaa, whatever, complaining won’t change anything! What’s important now is to level up this shit as soon as possible.’
But how the hell do I even level up this useless skill? Would using it increase its level? The problem was that I couldn’t think of anything useful to use it on…
‘Hold on, there is something very basic that I could ask for. Help, give me information about the status windows.’
[Status: Numerical representation of someone’s knowledge, skills and achievements.
Name: The name of the creature.
Kind: The species to which the creature belongs.
Race: Subdivision of the species.
Level: The current level of the creature.
HP: Health points. Shows the damage the body has received. Decreases when one is injured and increases as the wounds heal. If the HP drops to 0, death awaits.
MP: Mana Points. These are necessary to cast magic or use certain skills.
Classes: The different paths that one has decided to follow. Classes strengthen one’s status and allow the acquisition of special abilities or unique magic spells linked to specific classes.
Vitality: Resistance to damage and stamina.
Strength: One's ability to carry out activities that require physical actions
Agility: The ability to move quickly and easily.
Intellect: Mental processing capacity.
Magic power: Magic proficiency.
Resistances: The capacity to withstand ailing effects and abnormal conditions.
Abilities: The different skills that one has acquired. They can be obtained through training and dedication.
Special abilities: Skills that cannot be obtained only through effort. Perks unique to a kind or race, skills linked to one’s class, or powers obtained in unique situations.
Magic: Spells one has acquired.
Titles: External recognition.]
There were some areas that did not appear in my status window, but it was probably because there was nothing to show in them. Anyway, I got the impression that this information was common sense and could be inferred simply from the names... But at least it was better than nothing... Probably...
‘But what’s with the HP? Can I really die if it reaches 0? Mmmm, better not put this to the test… And how is ‘common stone’ a kind? I have no level either… This makes no sense...’
I let out an imaginary sigh again. Was there anything else that this skill could tell me? Something useful… Well, there was one last thing I could try...
‘Let’s try something more specific… Help, what is that “Thinking stone” title?’
[A title for being a stone.]
‘I don't need something to remind me all the time that I'm a stone!’