Appraisal

Mark opened his eyes and turned towards the source of the voice, which had moved right next to him. It was the male nurse who was here before when he first woke up with that Dr. Kiran.

"Come on, stand up and put on your clothes. We have other patients that need the bed. "

Mark was ready to ask something, but instead, he got interrupted by the nurse.

"Just make it quick, or do you want to get charged extra time? "

If it was someone else, the last question/silent statement could have annoyed them, but Mark was used to it. He understood that the hospital had found out who he was, and they didn't want to have anything to do with him.

But Mark didn't mind, as he wanted to get out of the hospital either way. The nurse had a bag, which had in it Mark's clothes which he had worn at the accident.

Mark stood up carefully, but to his surprise, he had much better control over his body. He was still moving slower than usual, but he could stand up without help, at least.

It was weird getting dressed in front of a person he didn't know, but at least he wasn't wholly naked after getting out of the hospital gown.

"Here is your bill. Part of it is taken care of already, but you need to pay the rest within the month, "the male nurse told him as he pulled a paper towards Mark.

Mark took the bill, as there was no way to avoid it. They probably found where he was currently living, although there was a good chance he wouldn't live there for long. He was already behind rent, and the owner could have evicted him since he was in a coma for two months or so. Of course, if that was the case, it would be illegal, and he could sue the owner, but he first needed a lawyer.

After checking the bill, Mark noticed that the paid part seemed like a familiar number.

'Wait for a second. That is my front payment from the last delivery," the young driver thought to himself as he made the connections.

He hadn't had the chance to put the money in the bank since they had paid him cash when he started the delivery. As for the fact that the hospital used his money like that without question once more, it was nothing he could do about it.

After sighing and noticing that the male nurse kept staring at him, Mark started making his way out. But, of course, he took the phone with him, which the nurse didn't stop him from doing so, as he probably assumed it was Mark's either way because of its appearance.

It didn't take long to find the way to the main entrance and exit, as there were signs, and also had been to this hospital.

"Mister… Mister. WAIT "he heard a familiar voice shouting from some distance behind him.

Mark turned to see Lylah running towards him like she would miss him if she didn't move fast.

"Is there anything I can help you with? "Mark asked her, as he was really curious why she acted that way.

"I wanted just to give you this, "and as she finished, she gave him a small folded piece of paper.

'Oh, god, please let it not be another bill. This hospital is ruthless if it is. '

But after giving it another look, that paper wasn't like what the other nurse gave him. It was much smaller and wasn't a white paper but a yellow one.

He unfolded the small note and noticed some numbers, but it didn't look like an amount for him to pay. Instead, it was a phone number, and under it had the name Lylah.

Mark raised his head towards the nurse, but she had already moved away, although he barely saw her entering a room. He wasn't used to people, especially of the opposite gender, giving him their phone numbers like that, especially if they knew who he was.

Next, Mark just shrugged, put the note into one of his pants pockets, and turned to leave the building. He moved to the parking area to check if there was any sign of his truck, but there wasn't anything.

As he made it to the park across from the hospital, he sat on one bench near the central fountain. The fountain was of three little boys standing up, holding their backs at each other, forming a triangle, and peeing water.

There were a few people around, as it wasn't too late in the afternoon. Still, Mark didn't mind, as he just wanted to use his < Appraisal> this time which shouldn't draw attention to him, as <Minor Energy Manipulation> would.

He pulled out the phone and focused on him again, like before, and a panel quickly appeared.

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SUCCESSFUL APPRAISE

Description: An artificial form of an unknown being

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'Is that it? 'Mark thought to himself as he finished skimming through the description of his appraise.

But then, a few more panels appeared.

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< Appraisal> reached level 2

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< Appraisal> reached level 3

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< Appraisal> reached level 24

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CHALLENGE COMPLETED - SKILL MASTER

Description: Level up one of your Skills over ten times with one use

Note: Because the user completed the challenge at level 1 System will adjust the reward one rate over the normal

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1x <Rabbit's Foot> added to your Inventory

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Mark didn't expect a simple action to lead to something like that. When he used his <Minor Energy Manipulation>, it leveled up only up to level 8, while <Appraisal> reached level 24 after a single use, which took even less time.

'Could it be that I lucked out on succeeding on something with a slight chance of succeeding? '

Mark couldn't think of another reason it would be the case, as he tried his Skill once more on the phone after closing all notifications.

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APPRAISE SUCCESSFUL

Description: An artificial form of an unknown being. Currently, a seal is active on it, preventing the unknown being from communicating with the outside world.

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Mark waited for a bit, but no other notifications appeared. Even if his Skill didn't level up this time, he got some new information. The higher the level of his < Appraisal>, the more details he got out of it.

'Could the Seal have ended or weakened if I had used the energy on it, or would it have strengthened instead? '

Mark was sure that the previous notification about the energy didn't tell him what it would be used for, which was also why he didn't use it. So instead, he reused his Skill once more and got the same panel as last time, with no fresh addition to the description this time.

Then next, Mark focused his addition on other items around him to see if his Skill worked on them. That should help him earn some levels, fortunately.

He started with the bench he was sitting on currently.

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APPRAISE SUCCESSFUL

Description: A long seat on which multiple humans may sit simultaneously. The item doesn't seem to have any special properties.

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Mark found two things interesting about the appraise's description. First, it said humans instead of something like people, and second, it referred to the nonexistence of special properties.

'The Seal of the phone should be one special property.'

Mark continued using <Appraisal> at every item around him and even stood up to look around for more things to appraise. It didn't take him long to understand a few things about his Skill.

First, even if he couldn't see an exp bar of the progress of the Skill for the next level, he could feel if he was close to it if he focused on it. It was a strange feeling, but it seemed to be part of the knowledge imparted to him either by the Skill or from earning the ability to get Skills like that.

Second, different items seemed to help him differently, depending on how complex or not the items were. For example, when he used his Skill on a sign, he didn't get as many 'exps 'as when he did so with the fountain. When he appraised the fountain, he also got the name of its creator, which he knew since they wrote it on a plaque at its base. But it also had written in it what year the fountain was created, which the plaque didn't have.

If he used the Skill on a different object but of the same what he already used the Skill on, he also didn't progress on increasing his Skill level. He couldn't just keep appraising every bench or tree, etc. Although if the tree was of a different species, it helped a bit more.

Third, he discovered that Skill worked only on objects, not humans or animals, like the birds in some of the park's trees. Every time he tried to do so, he took the same yellow notification.

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<Appraisal> Skill can't be used on this target

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Lastly, he discovered that if his Appraise didn't work, which happened only twice, he couldn't just reuse his Skill on the item. If he tried to do so, he was getting another yellow notification.

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<Appraisal> Skill will be useable on target in 23 hours and 58 minutes

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Until now, every time he failed, he couldn't reuse the Skill at that object for 24 hours. Fortunately, it didn't reset when he tried to use his Skill on them.