[Status Initiated]

[Status initiated]

Suddenly I began to see data tables and information, the same way I was able to calculate trajectory and graph the movements of the monster, and my arrows when I was shooting with Airsidh.

"Whao…"

I looked down at my hands and suddenly I could see my callouses in great detail and had a perfect understanding of which parts were more calloused and harder than the rest.

I looked to the mirror, walking closer and taking a look at myself.

{

"Siya-Sevidde Aaliyah Nayanathulu

Race: Human

Age: 14

Height: 4'7''

Stats:

Stats are based on a relative system in which the average healthy adult male would have 100 in all stats.

For comparison. The average stats of a 15-year-old would be 45 in all categories.

  Strength

35

Agility

50

Endurance

60

Constitution

25

Intelligence

150

Wisdom

200

total

493

Faith

300

Divinity

7

Magic

0

Skills:

A quantification scale based on a 1 - 100 premise, where 10 is capable, 20 is adept, and 50 is master.

  Great Sword

20

Greatbows

20

Javelin throwing

8

Blunt damage resistance.

23

Evasion

45

Horseback Riding

10

Persuasion

35

Interrogation

10

Perception

70

Etiquette

30

Titles:

Gift from the gods: (+5 Divinity),

Grand Strategist: Grants various unique abilities.

Mana well: (After surviving the reaping, your manna reserves, as well as your regeneration, have both increased by +15%)

Frail body: (All physical skills related to strength and constitution grow at a limited rate.)

}

The screen appeared directly by my side, as if I was looking at a character menu. When I looked closer I could see extra details, like how I acquired specific titles, or what exactly the stat numbers represented, and so on.

I was a bit surprised that my "skill" with a sword and bow was actually rated fairly high, saying I was adept. 'So It's less that I suck, and more like I'm just physically too weak to properly use the ones we have.'

Looking around the room, I had a similar screen appear for objects. It was far less detailed though, and seemed to be somewhat limited by my own understanding of the object I was scanning.

A sharp sting shot through my head like a bullet from a rifle, leveling me. I collapsed to my knees and grabbed my head, screaming.

[Status: Deactivated.]

The vivid image appeared in the back of my mind, and moments later all of the text faded away, like paper getting torn to shreds by a gentle breeze.

"Siya!" I heard a voice, but I couldn't make out who it was. Several heavy footsteps trampled on the wood floor as I slowly came back to my senses.

"Not so loud please…" I groaned. Pushing myself up off the floor. As far as I could tell I never actually lost consciousness. If I had it would have only been for a moment. The sharp sting in my head faded until all that was left was the dull pain from my injury.

"Siya what happened?"

As I turned my head towards the man that was speaking the whole room went out of focus. It took me a moment, but eventually, my vision cleared and steadied. "Nillous?"

He rushed down to my side and wrapped an arm around me, steadying me. "Siya, are you alright?"

"Y-yea, I think I'm fine. I just tripped…" Just as my vision cleared, and I regained my sense of balance, I began to feel a steady stream of blood drip from my nose. Before long, it started covering my dress.

"Siya…" He muttered my name.

I quickly grabbed my nose and leaned forward, trying not to get too much blood on my clothes. "Agh!" I cried out in frustration. "Nillous, can you help me clean this off before it stains."

"Uh, right, if you take it off I can wash it quickly downstairs."

My nose was filled with blood, causing my voice to sound congested. "Ok… But, then what do I wear?"

I still had Finlo's cloak, but there was no way I was going to walk around wearing (only) that.

He let out a sigh as he took his shirt off. "Here, I don't mind if you get blood on this."

I took it with one hand, still holding my nose. "Are you sure?"

He waved his hand, turning around and waiting just outside the door. It only took me a couple of seconds to change, trading one oversized garment for another, but as soon as he left I started trembling.

'Just what was that? And why is my nose bleeding so much.' I felt the wound on my head flooding the bandage Catherine had wrapped around it too. 'It hurts…' I squatted down, trying to stop my legs from shaking.

"Siya."

'Right, my dress.' "C-come in."

I tried to stand up, but my legs were shaking too much, gluing me to the floor. He slowly approached, hesitantly reaching out a hand. "Are you coming?"

"Gaius, my head hurts." 'Wait, what? No, that's Nillous isn't it.' I looked up to confirm. "S-sorry, I meant Nillous."

His grimace turned into a scowl. "Siya, I'm taking you to the house."

My skin felt ice cold as he picked me up, but his warm arms didn't stop me from trembling. 'Was that magic I used? Is this a consequence? What's going to happen to me?'

Terrifying confusion and uncertainty flooded my mind, only making me shake even more. 'Am I already anemic? But there's no way I've lost that much blood.'

At the very least, my mind was still clear. 'The pellets!' I grabbed the pouch from around my neck and took one out, throwing it into my mouth and biting down as hard as I could. The moment I let go of my nose it started dripping again. "Why won't it just stop!" I cried out in frustration, grabbing it again as I chewed.

Nillous set me down in a large ominous and bloodstained medical room. "Keep applying pressure to your nose. I need to make sure that the wound on your head isn't too bad."

He was clearly panicking as much as I was, and his voice was just as shaky. Unlike me though, his body was still completely under his control, moving with extreme speed and precision as he grabbed everything he needed from various cabinets and got to work.

Chapter 45: Side Effects.

By the time it was all over everything seemed to kind of blur together. I still remembered the events clearly, how Nillous applied medicine to the wound on my head, and helped me with my nose until the bleeding had finally stopped.

It all seemed so vivid though, like I was only half conscious while it was all happening.

"Siya." Suddenly my vision came into full focus as a bright light shined in my eye. "How do you feel?"

The light moved to my other eye before I finally realized what was happening. "I feel fine." I said plainly. It wasn't a lie. My nose and head did admittedly hurt a little, but besides that I felt like normal again.

"Are you absolutely sure that you're ok?"

I lowered my head and rubbed my eyes. "My head hurts, but it's not that bad really."

He let out a sigh and sank down into a  nearby chair. "Can't you go 1 week without almost dying? Seriously."

"You're exaggerating." My voice was completely void of life, almost like I just didn't have any energy left to add any to it.

"Maybe a bit. Still, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." I looked down at the shirt he lent me. It was covered in blood. 'Is this really all mine?'

"Don't worry about it, it's armor, it's supposed to get covered in blood."

Nothing he said was going to make me feel better about ruining it. I couldn't help but highly value clothes, even if he didn't feel the same. "If you say so… What about my dress?"

He pointed to the door behind him with his thumb. "Jerry's wife came by while you were zoned out, she grabbed it for you and washed it. It's drying, all the blood came out."

"Well, that's good at least." I looked down at my arms, the shirt he gave me was oversized, of course. Big enough to be an effective substitute for a dress. The main difference was that it was thick, and had sleeves. To an extent, I actually preferred it to the thinner nightgown.

I used my hand to grab the collar and bunch it together at my neck before jumping off the table and taking a moment to catch my balance.

"Hey, easy now."

I felt his hands on my back and shoulder, steadying me as my vision faded to small circles for a moment. 'I'm starting to get really sick of this… All of it. Never knowing what's happening or why. Getting injured or sick… Being… Being weak…'

"Thanks Nillous…" I gritted my teeth as I said his name.

"You lost a lot of blood, are you sure you didn't hit your head that hard? It was bleeding too."

"Nillous, would you believe me if I said I didn't actually fall until after this all started?"

His face twisted into a worried snarl. "I'd be far more concerned if that was the case."

"It doesn't matter I guess. At the very least I'm sure that my head is fine."

"Young miss, I'm going to have to report this to your parents."

I let out a sigh from the side of my mouth. 'If he is addressing me formally then he really is worried.'

"Yeah, I know. You should go and do that now. If they call for me I will be in the archery range. I need to clear my head."

"Miss, I would avoid any physical activity for at least a couple of hours to make sure you don't reopen any of those wounds. The last thing you need to do is lose even more blood."

I looked down at his shirt, and the floor under where I was sitting. It hurt if I tried to breathe through my nose, not that I even could with all the dried blood and gozz that was in it. Furthermore, it almost looked like a murder had taken place with how much blood was around the room. There was even a trail leading from where we had come in.

Looking back up to him I slowly realized his hand never left my shoulder. It was steady, but I could tell from his eyes he was trembling on the inside. "You might be right…"

He slowly removed his hand, some of his worry dispersing.

Still, I felt awful. My body was tired, and my head felt worse than when I would have fevers. "Can I take a bath instead? A hot bath would help me relax just as well."

"Young miss. You should know that you are able to do as you please so long as it does not contradict the master and the lady's wishes."

"Nillous!" I whined his name. "That's not what I meant… Although, honestly I never knew that."

He snorted, the rest of his worry seeming to vanish before my eyes. "I suppose you would like me to just keep talking casually with you. Sorry about that."

"Of course. I'm hardly a lady, and even if I was I wouldn't want my friends acting like I was above them somehow."

The once serious expression he had slowly changed to a gentle smile. "No I suppose not." He walked to the door, opening it for me and leading the way. "I'm off duty right now so I can heat up the bathhouse before making my report. "Though, if I'm being honest, I'm worried about leaving you alone in case something else happens.

The thought of how uncomfortable bathing with Mara was jumped to my mind and I reflexively covered myself with my arms, tightening my grip on the shirt. "Nillous, no."

"I didn't mean me!" He yelled in protest.

It took me a minute to even comprehend what he had said. 'I guess, it makes sense that he would assume that's what I was thinking with how I reacted.' "Uhm… No, that's not what I thought you meant. You were suggesting you would get Elsie, or Catherine or someone right?"

He coughed, clearing his throat and recomposing himself. "Yes, exactly. I'm glad there wasn't a misunderstanding."

'He looks so awkward.' "I'd really prefer to be alone. If other people were there I wouldn't be able to relax. Even if they were girls."

The puzzled look on his face was more than enough for me to know full well I was being weird, but it didn't bother me. I didn't care if it was weird, it was still the truth.