About the World's System

Back in the Raskiel mountains, specifically the cave where Faruk resides. Oria is greeted by the Silver Dragon.

"Welcome back," said the dragon. His voice is astounding and wise as ever.

"I'm... I'm back..." said Oria, reluctantly.

"Ho... I see you've changed significantly. Somehow, you reminded me of an adventurer who carelessly wandered into this cave. Though, I fail to remember what happened to her."

"(Probably eaten by YOU.)" said Oria in her mind. "(Or perhaps... burned to death...)"

"Nyuhuhuhu, I might as well change form again. Don't go to the next chamber, 'kay?" Dux pointed out as he's carefreely leaving the dragon and the child.

"Hm. Good work as always, Dux," Faruk complimented.

"Yeah, yeah. Just give her your wisest answer if she asks you 'something' alright? He-he-he."

Faruk doesn't really get what the wizard is trying to tell him. It's kind of strange to him, where he usually gives a wise answer if anyone asks for a certain knowledge. The fact that Dux reminded him that makes him ponder of what he's actually trying to say.

"Huh... I can't see why not."

"Good! If you don't mind, I'll go now."

With Dux leaving the two alone, the Silver Dragon turns his attention to Oria.

"Now, Oria... I believe you might have questions that beg answers."

"Um... yeah. There's... so many things I don't really understand. I rarely see outside the slave camp, let alone stepping outside. So, going with Master Dux was... really scary. Having the sun piercing through my skin is also a pain..."

"It appears the effects of being a slave was fiercer than I thought. Well, we will work together to heal you from that."

"...*nod*... I understand. I'm sorry for burdening you, Faruk."

"It's not a major problem to me. After all, I can't have my protege to not know anything about the world she lives in. So... Firstly, I would like to teach you about the system in this world."

"I will try to understand."

"Well, fear not, Oria. I will do well not to use hard words, especially for you. I even adjusted my language to fit well with yours."

"H-Huh... now that you say it, you do sound more understandable than the first time we speak..."

"So, I was not understandable at first, huh..." the dragon sounded disappointed.

"N-No, it's not like that, Faruk!" Oria panicked. "It's just t-that... uh... I was too stupid to understand such great level of words coming from a dragon like you!"

"Hahaha, I do not bear resentment to your poor knowledge. That is more reason for me to teach you well, especially to survive in this world."

"P-Phew..." the little girl felt glad that she didn't anger the giant dragon.

"Anyway, allow me to tell you more about the world we live in..."

Oria sits on a stone slab, listening closely. Faruk notices great curiosity coming from her. In a moment, he let out a faint giggle.

"This world is blessed by the Goddess Altria. She created a grand system that allows the caretaker of the world to govern and control the stability of this world. Those who were chosen by Her became a Guardia—or so I've told you as the caretaker of this world—can utilize and control the grand system She built, meaning they're the governor of the system itself.

Status Screen is that screen you see when Dux uses Appraisal.

Every entity supposedly can see their own status screen. Once used, a floating picture, or known as status display screen, will appear before the users, showing them plentiful of information about themselves. For example, you can know how much health you have left by checking your status screen.

A basic usage of checking an object or subject's status is by [Appraisal] skill. Appraisal is the most basic status displayer for practically most people. One can check someone's level, HP, MP, and many more.

HP stands for Health Points, while MP stands for Magic Points. Just like how Sqidral did before by appraising your status, we know that your MP is 10.000 points, which... is shocking to be honest. Even my MP does not reach 3.000. How saddening...

...Anyway, so far, do you have questions, Oria?"

"I actually understood most of it, Faruk. But I do have one question... When you say Goddess, does that mean She is those people of churches pray to?"

"Oh, so you do know churches. Well, indeed. Goddess Altria is the divine being of the world, after all. Everyone prays to Her. Fastium is the religion that worships Her."

"I... I see. About the caretakers... you say only those chosen by the Goddess can become one. Then it's limited amount of them, isn't it?"

"Oooh... astute thinking. Indeed, their numbers are still within the count of human fingers."

"Is that so...?"

"Hm. It is only meant for the people that the Goddess trusted as her representative in order to protect the world we live in."

"I see. Oh, right... I'm sorry, but are you one of those 'caretakers', Faruk?"

"Hmm... Half right and half wrong."

"Huh?"

"I was indeed a caretaker. Until... some unjustly things happened, and I was no longer a caretaker. But even so, I still can access the system like other Guardias."

"I... I see. I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Nothing to be concerned of. In fact, I don't have to be wrested by the heavy responsibility as a caretaker. The unjustly things that befell on me made it impossible for me to return. In fact, I'm happy that I don't need to become one once again, huhuhu."

"I guess... it's when you were sealed, then you were no longer a caretaker, huh...?"

"Color me impressed, you are a sharp one, Oria! Even for a child, you pose such strong understandability. That's right... my job as a caretaker ended when I was sealed."

"I'm quite curious how you got sealed, though..."

"Well... it's a really long story. I'd rather save it for another day. For now... let's just focus on your study."

"I understand. I apologize for prying to that matter..."

"Mm. No need to worry about it. Going back to topic... you are currently at level 1, while I'm as far as level 216."

"Whoa... that's really high."

"It's normal for a creature who lived for thousands of years. But it should've been higher, knowing that I've been encaged for around 500 years long."

"What!? You've sealed for 500 years? That's... like, five centuries long."

"You understand those kinds of things, huh... well, back to topic again, you can check your own status by using [Display Self Status]. Here, let me demonstrate."

The Silver Dragon does a circular motion with his claw, making a circle light to appear. He then taps that light.

"Display Self Status."

The status of the Silver Dragon appears. But Oria is unable to see what's the contents of the display screen in front of the dragon.

"Display Self Status can only be seen by the user, by the way. Go ahead and try, Oria."

"Uh... r-right..." Oria then tries to make a circular motion with her index finger. But there's no light appearing from the tip of her finger, which makes her worry that she can't do it.

"Umm..."

"Oh, right... I keep on forgetting that you are a human. That 10.000 MP of yours really make me think otherwise," the dragon scratches his head. "You see, Oria. You don't need to make those motions. Try saying Display Self Status now."

"Y-Yes... umm... Display Self Status."

Following her words, Oria witnesses a floating screen appears facing at her. It shows mostly basic data about her.

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

Race : Human

Class : -

Level : 1

HP : 404/404

MP : 8,121/10,000

Cond : None

"Whoa..." Oria got impressed. She never saw something like that before.

"I... I did it, Faruk!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah. I saw it. You've done well for your first try."

"Tee-hee..."

"A-Ahem... well, if you won't mind telling me, how much is your MP right now, Oria?" the dragon asked. He's still having issues of believing the great numbers that Oria housed within her.

"Oh... umm... MP... MP... ah, here it is! It's uh... 8.121 out of 10.000..."

"Ngh! S-Still that much, huh... wait. Did you just spell those mixed-up numbers without missing one?"

"W-Well... it's still pretty easy, Faruk. It's not that much of a problem for me..."

"(Hmm... now that I look at her, for the first time accessing the Status Screen, she seems to be rather... calm. She's excited, but not scared. Not only that... despite her former self as a slave, but she's also quite intelligent. Now I'm curious...)"

"Faruk...?"

"Oria, come here," said the dragon, telling the child to come near him.

"Y-Yes, coming!"

Faruk then draws on the surface of the dirt, writing numbers varying from four up to six digits. He then tells Oria to spell those numbers he made to test her. Surprisingly, she doesn't miss a beat when spelling them out.

"(Let's kick it up a notch...)"

Faruk proceeds to write numbers, now from six to ten digits. He underestimates her, believing she won't be able to decipher all those random numbers without at least stuttering. ...That is his expectations, of course. Turns out Oria can easily say those random million numbers without stuttering at all.

"(Gh! She really is smart. Perhaps there's something more than it meets the eye about her. Hmm... even the Hero wasn't as smart as Oria... *grumble*...)"

Oria didn't really understand the reason for Faruk asking numbers to her. But she didn't think that he's willing to do anything bad to her, so she just keeps it at the back of her mind. In fact, there's something else she wishes to know.

"May I ask, Faruk?"

"Hm? Sure."

"Not long ago, Master Dux and you seem to be flustered by the amount of MP I have. Is mine abnormal?" she asked. Her voice is sounded slightly scared.

The dragon nods, "...That's right. But it is not a trait that you should be fearing of, Oria."

"Eh?"

"Indeed. It is unnatural for humans to exceed the limit of 999 MP, which is the maximum limit of human magic points. Even at that limit, only few humans harbor that much of MP. But you on the other hand... you are unique." The dragon stated, keeping his cool.

"But you and Dux looked extremely shocked, almost seemingly panicked by it."

Faruk instantly loses it.

"A-Argh! I-It just caught us by surprise. When I was released from that barrier, I was greatly shocked more than ever. I mean, hey, I was roughly at 2.500 MP, and with you having four times mine, it just surprised me since you don't show any signs of holding that much of magic."

"...???" Oria looked confused.

"A-Ahem... It seems I wasn't thorough with telling you about things, huh... well, let me tell you a bit about it. If a creature has more than 100 MP, then they will emit aura called magical presence. If they exceed more than 200 MP, they will have greater magical presence, making them susceptible to detection."

"Ah... I see. With you having 2.500 MP, does that mean yours is like... a fountain of aura?" she asked in a childish tone.

"A volcanic eruption might fit better. You on the other hand, having 10.000 MP should've been, what, like bursting hundreds of volcanoes. But I do not sense any of that within you. Which is why I'm still wondering whether it is true or not."

"Some sort of concealment, perhaps?" she asked.

"That's the first idea, yes. Like Dux, he can conceal his magical presence with his bracelets and rings. Not only that, but he also conceals the amount of MP he has, making him look like a simple wizard.

But the problem is... you aren't hiding your real MP at all."

"Huh... I don't know how to do that, either..."

From the gatherings of rocks and gravels, appear a funny laugh in shrilly tone.

"Nyuhuhuhu~ how mean of you to spill out juicy details of my secret, Faruk? Poor little Oria, bombarded by multiple knowledge she can hardly understand, what a mean father you are, Faruk."

Sqidral Dux appears from the rocky chamber he was in, now back in his squid-like form.

"—Well, I understand most of them."

"See, I told you—eh, WHAT!? Seriously, now?"

"It is as you hear. Don't underestimate her, Dux. It seems she's smarter than we think."