11 - Question Marks Are the Biggest Enemies of Appraisal Users [1]

After days of pain and depression- No, there wasn't any pain, I'm just complaining.

Someone used a healing Skill on me, and I've been doing nothing other than jogging once in a while. All the pain and discomfort from the events in the Elgin forest were now almost completely gone. My status looked like this.

| - Status -

| Name: A Chul (Alex Stanley)

| Age: 16 (23)

| Species: 99.8% Human

| Titles: Transmigrator, Entertainer, Undying

| Strength: 1.46 (up 0.01)

| Stamina: 1.59 (up 0.07)

| Mana: 0.38 (up 0.02)

| Dexterity: 2.37 (up 0.02)

| Agility: 2.43 (up 0.08)

| Luck: 1.12

| Fortune: 0.55

| Skills: Appraisal II [D], Rosetta's Gift [S], Fortuna's Contract [U], Immortality [U]

| Arts: Shadow Step [Dark], Shadow Inventory [Dark]

From observing my status in the past few days, I learned a few things: my mana will increase by 0.01 every day if I don't consume any mana stones, agility will increase the more I run, strength will increase with arm exercises, and stamina increases no matter what kind of exercise I do. I'm still in the middle of testing dexterity, but it increased when I finished folding twenty paper cranes out of boredom. The only issues I have are luck and fortune. They will only increase through Fortuna, but due to my statement back in the Elgin Forest, it seems like my luck won't increase any time soon.

The other thing I learned was that the average person in the world of Numen without a Skill is 1.50, so before I consumed the mana stone, I was weaker than an average person in this world.

Sadly, I didn't have any free time to be depressed. I had to prepare myself mentally for the next three years of suffering.

I didn't agree to attend school, but I found myself sitting in a classroom anyway.

The school sent me a package, inside was a new Leaf and a uniform. There weren't many differences between the bracelet the principal took and the new one other than the color is now black.

[Ding! The Host obtained a unique version of Leaf that tracks the Host's vitals every single second.]

Thanks for giving me more reasons not to die.

"A Chul?" A lady with a pair of glasses asked. My heart skipped a beat; I shouldn't be daydreaming on my first day of school.

"Ah, yes. That's me." I answered. Then she continued down the attendance.

Passing or failing the school didn't matter to me. My second highest priority is to help the Hero kill the Demon King. The first is getting rid of my 53 billion won debt. I can't focus on anything if my bank account is under 0.

By the way, who is she?

I used Appraisal out of curiosity.

[Appraisal: Heo Soomin, 45 years old.]

Who?

[Ding! Heo Soomin, 45 years old, is currently a teacher under TREE. She has an A-rank Skill called "Psychogalvanometer." She teaches the strength and habitats of well-known magic beasts.]

Psycho-what-meter?

[Ding! Psychogalvanometer, an S-rank Skill, can detect the truth or lies of what any person said.]

I wanted to stay as far away as possible from her, but she was my teacher. I'm screwed. I need to be careful of what I say. Does the system have a way to block her Skill?

[Ding! The system does not, and the Host has lousy acting skills. The Host can't fool a normal person.]

Oh, shut up!

[Ding! The system will now be in silence mode.]

Last time I got lost in the Elgin Forest. I would be an idiot to keep the system muted.

No, wait! Stop! Come back!

[Ding! The system is now in communicative mode.]

I don't understand anything about this world. I should pay attention... What's the smell in the classroom?

[Ding! Would the Host like to be notified that a Demon Worshipper is 5.3 meters away?]

Sometimes, having near-perfect senses will ruin your life.

You just did! But please do.

[Ding! A Demon Worshipper is 5.3 meters away from the Host.]

I gave up on trying to talk to the system.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

I regret taking that deep breath. The smell of rotten eggs and oranges that was left in the back corner of the refrigerator for two years overwhelmed my senses.

The smell was way worse than Park Hyun's. I'm going to die from nausea before the Woke can even kill me. I need to bring a mask tomorrow.

I only slept for four hours over the past two days and some parts of my body are still in pain. I'm not going to waste energy dealing with the walking trashcans. We're in a school where the principal has a fight-to-the-death relationship with these Wokes, so I'll probably be fine.

"Kim Haru?"

"Here!" This girl was the most enthusiastic person in the class.

I decided to use Appraisal on some of my classmates here. They probably won't mind.

[Appraisal: Kim Haru, 15 years old Human.]

Okay, she's not the Demon Worshipper.

[Ding! The Host has reached the requirement to level up the Skill "Appraisal!"]

Oh, nice timing!

| Appraisal III (C-rank Skill) - Congratulations to the Host for achieving the highest recorded level of Appraisal in the world of Numen. The Host can receive some amount of information. [This Skill can grow]

Highest level? No wonder Appraisal was only viewed as a scouting Skill. Why can my Appraisal still grow? I thought it was the highest level.

[Ding! Level three Appraisal is the highest recorded level.]

How many people have level three Appraisal?

[Ding! Reply to the Host. There are 14 people in the world of Numen with level three Appraisal.]

"Yamagata Kyou?" The lie detector called.

Wait, that's 100% a Japanese name. I've been enjoying manga and anime for years, I would know.

"Yes." I turned my head to take a glance at the girl in the back.

She's pink, like cotton candy pink.

[Appraisal: Yamagata Kyou, 16 years old Human. Title: Swordsaint.]

Titles? Titles show up? All of my titles will reveal my identity. If I ever meet the other fourteen people with Appraisal, I'm doomed. What if they take me and lock me up in a laboratory?

I immediately turned my focus to the projection screen next to Heo Soomin.

Let's be realistic, who would try to piss the Goddesses off other than me? Unless they have a death wish- oh wait, I had a death wish. However, I'll get pretty famous, and then everyone will threaten me to tell them my secrets.

"Song Eun Sun?"

Instead of answering, the girl with elegant sunset-colored hair in front of me waved. She's probably the prettiest girl in the class and every living organism in a one-hundred-meter radius is staring at her, but I dislike her.

Why? She has the "I'm noble and I'm rich, you're not on my level" snotty princess aura.

[Appraisal: Song Eun Sun, 17 years old Human. Title: Spearmaster]

How do you even use a spear? If her thin arms are anything to go by, at most she can only hold a toothpick.

"And last but not least, Nam Kyung."

No one answered.

"Student Nam Kyung?" Heo Soomin asked again.

"Sorry, here!" That took a while. Was that guy daydreaming?

I shifted my gaze to the right, where the voice came from. A pair of yellow eyes met my gaze.

I found my biggest enemy.

No, not the Demon King, not the system, not the freaking Death Goddess who refuses to send me home.

It wasn't the kid who made eye contact with me either.

It's the question marks.

[Appraisal: Nam Kyung, 16 years old Human. Titles: Hero, ?????, ?????]

It felt awkward, so I glanced away.

Well, at least he's human, and his only title that showed up was Hero.

Yes, it's the Hero.

I turned my head back around and stared at Heo Soomin for a solid minute; She was starting a lesson about the Gray Wolves.

I was filled with disappointment.

This world is messed up. Searching through my memories full of fantasy plots from Anime and Manga, Nam Kyung in the future will probably face many hardships, such as losing a comrade, killing the Demon King, and saving the world. I feel pity for the sixteen-year-old boy.

Why are there question marks in his titles?

[Ding! The Host's level of Appraisal is incapable of reading the other titles.]

At least tell me what my titles are going to look like for other people with level three Appraisal.

[Ding! The Host's titles will be revealed as: ?????, Entertainer, ?????]

Question marks are truly the biggest enemies to Appraisal users.

— — — — — — — — — —

Tofu after seeing MC's name: Why is everyone sneezing? They should be put in quarantine.