Chapter 15: Reminiscence

(POV Ferdinand)

In these past couple of weeks, a lot of strange things have happened. Most of them relating to Gerald.

At the start, he was just a telepathic fork who could see mana, and that was strange enough. But then as things went on, it just got weirder. He became able to attract and repel monsters, became poisonous, able to repair himself, use ki and who knows what else.

But after a while, I had finally resigned myself to the fact that I simply couldn’t use normal logic on him.

So, when his… body, as it were, started distorting and changing shape, I wasn’t that shocked.

…Maybe a little.

In fact, I was more surprised that the dagger he turned into was blunt and slightly misshapen. I suppose even Gerald can’t master new abilities instantly.

Well, it was a more… normal… weapon than a fork, at least. Even if the usability has barely increased.

On another note, I’d levelled up from that combat. Killing things above your level really does wonders. A shame it’s a completely unreliable method.

It’s only because of that freakishly powerful skill Gerald has that he can do it reliably. Honestly, doesn’t that skill have any limitations?

Range seems to be the only real limit it has.

…I wish I had a skill like that…

A short while after the slime died, Gerald told me that the fight is over – actually over, this time.

I still have no clue why I couldn’t see anything happening before, but with any luck, we should be heading back to land now.

I walk over the staircase and started to climb it. The next moment, the ground beneath me tilts, and I trip up the stairs.

Ouch…

This time, I hold onto the railing as I climb the stairs.

When I reach the deck, I am instantly jostled by someone moving past me. Looking around, I saw everyone is doing something, carrying something, fixing something…

Snaking my way through the flurry of activity, I make it to the helm, where Richard usually is when not fishing. Or fighting.

He is tying something to the leg of a bird, which he then throws up into the air.

It flies away.

Noticing me, he says, “Just a messenger bird. Some people need to know about what happened here, and birds fly faster than we sail.”

“What happened? After the beginning of the battle, I couldn’t see anything happening.” I ask.

Richard nods. “One of their mages must have cast a spell to prevent surveillance. There are some magicians who watch the oceans from afar, so only those with similar spells can escape detection.”

He turns his head, and I follow suit, the burning hull of the other ship greeting my eyes.

“As for who they were,” he continues, “They were demons and monsters. Smart ones, not your everyday beasts. We weren’t able to find out what they were after, but I doubt these few will be the end of it.”

Richard looks back at me and claps me on the back. “But you don’t need to bother yourself over that. Once we finish cleaning up the ship again, we’ll be heading back to shore.”

I’m left standing there, more confused than when it all started.

(POV Gerald)

(SKIPPABLE INFO)

Now that we’ve been here for, what, 10 months? I suppose I should have the stats explained, courtesy of the help function.

Name, race, gender, age, level and experience speak for themselves, so I’ll not go into that.

Allegiance is much what it sounds like; it lists all the organisations and factions you consider yourself as being a part of.

Fame is more interesting. Let me just get up the entry for reference… Okay, so for every 100 people who know about you and view you positively, it is increased by one, and for every 100 people who view you negatively, it is decreased by one.

Seems like it isn’t a very reliable way of determining whether someone is good or bad. Say you have this really nice guy, but he pissed off this massive dark organisation, and so they set up an internal bounty for him. Boom, you have -50 fame.

Although… If, in this situation, you didn’t know about it, wouldn’t the sudden negative fame boost be a pretty big indicator to GTFO of there? I take back my negative comment.

Strength represents the amount of force you can exert. Of course, it means nothing to a being like me who has no muscles or other way to exert force.

Still, physical stats like these really bring up some questions in a realistic situation. Say you’re human. Does increasing the strength stat affect appearance? Do you become more buff? And is that number a flat measurement of strength that is equal for every muscle in your body, or more a multiplier of their base strength?

Dexterity is a useful stat for anyone in combat situations, I think. If Strength improves your muscles, dexterity improves your control over them, and your body in general. On top of that, it increases your motion perception and thought speed. Well, even if you have perfect control over your body, there’s no use if your body is weak, so it’s not like DEX is the prime stat or something. Still, I imagine it would be incredibly important for any job that requires precision – craftsmen, snipers, scribes, acrobats, and so on.

Intelligence increases calculation speed, as well as the ability to think outside of common sense and question the norm. It also improves information retention – memory. Not that it affects me.

If intelligence tells you how to build a railgun, wisdom tells you that you didn’t even need a pistol to kill that slime. It reduces superfluous actions and improves decision making ability. Almost like a mental version of dexterity. It also increases your self-control, which is always nice.

Charisma enhances empathy and acting talent, as well as subtly improving your appearance based on your own preferences.

…I’m guessing that this is within reasonable bounds, like, you can’t grow horns or something, but… this is a system after all, who knows if that was included as a feature or not?

Hardness. Simply a number relating to the required force to do a certain amount of damage on an object. Any increases or decreases of this stat, outside of changes in material, do not affect density or appearance.

Durability, a measure of how much damage an object can take before ceasing to function as that object.

And luck. Now this stat - and I quote – “Increases luck.”

Now what the heck’s that supposed to mean?

Ah well. The rest of the stats; mana, psi, ki… well, it’s not hard to guess. Just measures of your maximum capacity of those energies, as well as your current amount. Regen, well, it’s in the name, right?

And a brief recap on other things.

Skills – I don’t know if there’s a rank below uncommon, because I’ve never gotten one. Teehee? From what I can tell, it goes; maybe something below uncommon, uncommon, rare, unique, with each being broken up further into low, mid and high.

Proficiencies go from basic, advanced, expert, master, something above master probably?

Traits – I’m not really sure about these. I’ve got minute, minor, small, average, moderate, large, huge. I think that’s the order, but I could be wrong.

Also, I’ve got a +1 attached to one of them. What’s with that?

(END OF SKIPPABLE INFO)

After all that kerfuffle ended, the ship turned around and started heading back to port.

In the meantine, I amuse myself by familiarising myself with the appearances of the many members of crew.

Walking around, climbing the rigging, sleeping… This doesn’t feel strange at all. Nope, totally normal.

You know, getting mana sight to expert proficiency has had some unexpected effects.

Case and point, that man over there. I can see through his body, to some of his internal organs. Lungs, stomach, a couple others. The hollow ones, I guess. Rather off-putting. Well, I’ll get used to it eventually.

Ignoring that, though, the trip is a peaceful one. I watch people chatting, wishing for the umpteenth time that I can hear what they are saying.

Then I realise: I may not be able to hear what they are saying, but maybe I can see what they are saying.

Time for this fork to learn how to lip-read.

(POV Richard)

The voyage back home is without incident. We must have used up a year’s worth of bad luck in the last few days; if anything more happens, the world’s gone mad.

I see Ferdinand off at the docks, laughing as he stumbles around for a few moments.

After I organise everything on the ship, I step down the gangplank onto the pier.

My strength drains away, thoughts moving slower as if through taffy. An ache pulses dully in my lower back.

It feels as if I have aged ten years in ten seconds.

This… is the worst part of sailing for me, I think. The landing. The loss of vitality, of youthfulness.

This is how I am, on land.

…Old.

And this… is why I go fishing so much. With my Blessing of the seas skill, I can feel young again, at sea.

With a sigh, I step slowly towards my house. It wasn’t always like this…

Cradling my newborn child, I gazed down at him lovingly.

Hearing a hoarse whisper behind me, I crouch down beside my wife, placing him gently in her tired arms.

As she held him, I saw in her eyes a love so deep and pure that my heart could not help but skip a beat.

Still exhausted from the labour, she spoke softly, “He’s a boy… His father should name him.”

I had been thinking of a name for weeks, months even, but her words had still turned my mind into a mess as I frantically tried to remember them.

Harold? No! Richard? That’s a good name… wait, no, that’s mine.

After about a minute of looking like I was carefully thinking, but really being in a panicked frenzy of thought, I finally managed to remember the name.

“How about Rodney?” I said softly.

She mulled it over for a moment, then said, “Rodney… I like it. You know, I half thought you might name him something ridiculous, like Richard Jr.”

“I would never do something like that!” I protested, as a drop of sweat ran down the back of my neck.

For a while, we just sat there in silence, watching the adorably cute sleeping face of our baby boy.

“Father, father you’re back!”

A small figure took a running leap into my arms, laughing as I spun him around in a tight hug.

Setting Rodney down, it took him a moment to recover his breath.

“Father, when will you take me with you on one of your trips?” he asked hopefully, sending a wave of sadness through me.

I had wished I could be home more often, but at that time, pirates were coming out of the woodworks. Smugglers and slave ships seem to have increased recently, as well. Something must be happening…

Discarding my rampant thoughts, I looked at his expectant gaze and smiled.

“When you become strong enough to defend yourself, Rodney. The sea is not a safe place, and you are only eight years old.”

Crestfallen, he looked sadly at his feet.

“But…” I continued, making him perk up adorably, “If you train hard enough, I might be able to arrange something for your tenth birthday.”

His face dropped again. “But father, that’s nearly two years!”

I ran my rough hand through his sand coloured hair and pulled him into another hug.

“Yes, son, it is. But if you train every day, it won’t seem so long. Besides, if we were both gone all the time, your mother would be sad.”

He nodded a bit uncertainly. “Okay father, I’ll try my best!”

“That’s my boy!” I said, setting him back on his feet again. “Now, how about we both go and give your mother a big hug?”

Smiling, he nodded, and we ran off laughing into the house.

I had watched as Rodney fought to the death with a pirate.

No longer a child, he stood only a bit shorter than the rest of us at the age of fifteen, and the muscles on his arms bulged visibly as he swung his spear to parry a slash from the pirate’s cutlass.

Even if I hadn’t been home much throughout his childhood, I could tell from his technique that he hadn’t slacked off on training. Smooth and clean, the movements were instinctive to him, able to execute them flawlessly with barely a thought.

I had felt a surge of pride as I saw him narrowly dodge a cut to his stomach. Truly, he was a better son than I deserved.

…There was one thing holding him back, however.

He had never been in a real fight.

Hence why I arranged that. The pirate was from a small-time crew of twenty, barely worth our time. We left only one alive, and promised him safety if he could defeat my son.

And then, despite the fact that the pirate couldn’t even touch him, Rodney’s counter-attacks were lacklustre, slowing down dramatically as they neared his opponent.

“Just imagine him as a training dummy, Rodney! He’s about as skilled as one, after all!” I encouraged him.

A small smile flitted across his otherwise tense face, and I saw him relax slightly.

Visibly frustrated, the pirate sent a strong thrust towards Rodney. But without a proper stance, such an action can leave you terrible off balance and vulnerable to a counter-attack, if it does not succeed.

And so it did, as Rodney avoided the blow with a swift movement. Simultaneously, he spun his spear, whacking the butt end into the sword hand of the pirate.

With a brief exclamation of pain and shock, the pirate dropped his sword, and in the next moment, the blade of Rodney’s spear gleamed at the pirate’s throat.

I let out a sigh.

So, he couldn’t finish it after all?

Sternly but gently, I said, “Kill him, Rodney.”

“But he’s unarmed, father!” He said, head turning to me.

His grip on the spear relaxed slightly, and the tip lowered a few centimetres.

The pirate’s eyes gleamed.

“An unarmed man who is just about to wrench your spear from your hands and kill you with it, yes.” I admonished.

Startled, he looked back to the pirate, whose hands have stopped inches away from the haft of his spear.

Rodney grimaced. Resolving himself, he gritted his teeth and thrusts forward, eyes closing slightly to prevent himself from seeing it.

It won’t work, you’ll just feel the sensation of the spear piercing his body even more…

The lifeless body of the pirate slumped to the floor at the same time as Rodney drops his spear, staring numbly at his hands.

“Good job Rodney.”

We’d have to correct that habit of closing his eyes at some point, but years of experience with rookies have told me that wasn’t the time.

I was shuffling through the reports in front of me, analysing them for possible deeper meaning as I sat at my desk in our family’s mansion.

My days in the navy hadn’t been without their benefits.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.” I said.

The door swung lightly open, and I looked up at my visitor.

Standing there was Rodney. Strangely, he was in plain clothing that day. Usually you wouldn’t see him without his navy colours, but I suppose we had been home for a few weeks.

He looked around, stiffly said, “Sorry, wrong room” and turned around to walk out.

A thought crossed my mind, and I voiced it to Rodney.

“You’re almost twenty-five now, perhaps you should think about starting your own family soon.”

He stopped and briefly turned his head back.

“I’ll keep that in mind” he said, then left as quickly as he came, shutting the door behind him.

How strange.

Shaking my head, I resumed my work.

Judging by the timepiece on my desk, it was about twenty minutes later that I heard the scream.

Naturally, I couldn’t ignore something like that, so I had rushed to the source of the scream. At the time, I didn’t even notice that it was Rodney’s room I had rushed into.

My heart had felt as if it had fallen into the depths of the ocean at that moment. It still feels heavy whenever I remember it.

A maid was frantically trying to stop the flow of blood coming from Rodney’s chest with her hands, as he lay on the bed. Unsuccessfully.

She was in a state of hysteria as I had pushed her aside. Looking back, it must have been the first time the poor girl had witnessed such a brutal death.

I had checked him over myself, and my blood ran cold that day.

Dead.

I hazily remember shouting at the guards to find whoever had done it. My wife’s wail of sadness as she saw what had happened.

We must have sat there for hours hugging each other and sobbing.

The guards never found anything.

And I had seen not a trace of anything that could have been related to his death since then.

Until now.

(POV Gerald)

I’ve mentioned this befork, but I can see a lot more now with my expert mana sight. And now that we’re back in the city, I’m noticing a lot more things.

For starters, not everyone is human.

There are a lot of furred bipedal beings that I’m guessing – bit of a stretch, I know – are beast men and women of some sort.

Some scaled, tailed people with clawed feet, probably lizardmen.

A scarce few elves. Well, I think so. They have the pointy ears and fair features, at least.

Another thing I’m noticing is… I really can see almost everything. And right now, I am once again extremely glad for having no hormones affecting my mental state, if you know what I mean.

Then there’s a few people in chains or cages.

Yeah, slavery is a thing here. Somehow, that makes me a little pissed. Of course, exactly how bad it is for slaves depends entirely on the sorts of laws that may or may not exist to protect them, and the personalities of their masters, but overall it’s just not okay.

And the last thing… Damn, can I see everything. And what I’m seeing is making me legitimately contemplate turning off mana sight.

Men not controlling their desires in the alleyways, theft in the streets, a murder at the docks, a group underground that is currently beating up people…

It’s maddening that they’re just blatantly doing that sort of thing, out in the open.

I mean, yeah, they’re not exactly out in the open, and doing it in secret is arguably worse… But with this sort of thing happening 24/7, I’m going to be angry, all the freaking time!

What’s worse is that I can’t do diddly squat!

The ‘voice in your head’ thing might work in a situation like before, but if a voice just pops up in a guard’s head, saying ‘there’s some criminals in x direction’, they’re just going to think their mind is making random things up!

And it’s not like Ferdinand is strong enough to do it himself… Yet.

So all I can do is ignore it and train this self form manipulation. I was kind of wondering what the level above master is, but that’ll have to wait.

And now, the ‘fork changes into various strange shapes’ show.

Gerald status: Barely changed at all.

Status

Name: Gerald

Race: Living Fork

Level: 29

Experience: 3841.03/6000

Gender: None

Age: 10 months (local time)

Allegiance: None

Fame: None

Strength: 6.5 (65.0)

Intelligence: 46.0

Dexterity: 5.0

Wisdom: 46.5

Charisma: 6.0

Luck: 12.1

Hardness: 25.2

Durability: 16.8/16.8

Mana: 920/920

Mana regen: 9.30/min

Psi: 465/465

Psi regen: 4.60/min

Ki: 4045/3022 (30225)

Ki regen: 3.02 (30.22)/day

Unspent stat points: 0

Titles*

Living – You are a living being, and as such, the energies of life heal you and the energies of death damage you.

-Trait: Average life energy absorption -Trait: Average death energy weakness

-Trait: minute life affinity -Trait: negative minute death affinity

Progenitor – The first of your species, and its forefather. Your reputation affects the reputation of your entire race.

-Trait: Minor fame gain enhancement -Trait: 50% of your fame is added to the fame of your race

Household object: Being an everyday, household object makes other beings less likely to notice you and mention you to others.

-Trait: Small fame gain reduction -Trait: Small presence reduction

Assumed inanimacy – Despite being a living entity and continually in the presence of other living entities, none have noticed your existence, assuming you to be an inanimate object. People are slightly less likely to notice you and less likely to notice your life energy.

-Trait: Minor presence reduction -Trait: Moderate life presence reduction

Fork – You are a fork. As such, you are designed to pierce, scoop and carry food.

-Trait: Minute taste enhancement -Trait: Minute piercing enhancement (restricted to food)

-Trait: Minute carry capacity increase (Restricted to food)

Second life – You have lived, and died, once before. While you died young, the experience nonetheless is an advantage over others. -Stats: Wisdom + 1, Intelligence + 2

Clinically sane - You have experienced insanity and overcome it, one way or another. The experience has changed you, for better or worse.

-Stats: Luck +5, Wisdom +1, Dexterity +0.5, Strength +0.5, Intelligence +1

Ouroboros – Like the serpent of legend, you bit your own tail. Then you ate it. Weirdo.

Stat – Luck +2, Charisma +1, Wisdom -1, Wisdom +2

Traits*

Life energy absorption (Average) – life energy heals you, causing you to regain durability.

Death energy weakness (Average) – death energy damages you, reducing your durability.

Life affinity (Minute) – You find it easier to gain life related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Negative death affinity (Minute) – You find it harder to gain death related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Fame gain reduction (Minor) – The amount of fame you gain is reduced.

Presence reduction (Small +1) – Others are less likely to notice you.

50% Fame added to racial fame – The fame of your race is equal to 50% of your fame plus the added fame of all other members of the species divided by the number of members in your species.

Life presence reduction (Moderate) – Others are less likely to notice that you are alive.

Taste enhancement (Minute) – All food that touches you tastes slightly better.

Piercing enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – It is slightly easier for you to pierce food.

Carry capacity enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – You can carry slightly more food than appearances would suggest.

Mana touched (Minor) – Mana permeates your body, changing it in some ways.

Herculean Strength (Large) – In possession of the ability to exert strength far beyond that of your peers. Multiplies base strength (Before using passive or active skills) by 10.

Structured sanity (Moderate) – a well-structured mind is a strong mind. You are resistant to mind affecting or altering affects, such as fear, charm and hypnosis.

Magic metal – You have gained the properties of the magic metal, Mithril. Your body conducts mana at twice the normal rate. Your passive mana absorption is doubled. Your maximum mana is now equal to Intelligence multiplied by 20 instead of Intelligence multiplied by 10. Your maximum durability is increased by your maximum mana divided by 100. Your hardness is increased by max mana divided by 100.

Psychic – You have unlocked the hidden potential of your mind. Stat unlock: psi.

Poison Resistance (Huge) – You are completely immune to weak and ordinary poisons. The effects of more potent poisons on you are greatly reduced.

Flea-bitten (Minor) – Fleas instinctively move towards you.

Physical damage reduction (Minute) – Damage taken that would do under 5% of your total durability as damage is reduced by 5%.

Ki Practitioner: You have gained the ability to control the energy within you, and to reinforce it with the energy around you, enabling you to perform far beyond the normal limits of your body.

Stat unlock: Ki.

Water-Proof (Minor) – Water, and many water based fluids, will slip from your surface with great ease.

Feather-weight (Minute) – You feel light as a feather. A feather that weighs slightly less than you originally did, that is. 1% weight reduction.

Skills*

Absorb (Advanced) (Racial, Low Unique) 18.23% - Allows the absorption of energy, or substances through the surface of the body or at a distance of (Int*Wis)/10mm. Rate of absorption can be controlled. Although this ability is magical in nature, as it is a form of mana control, and mana is also absorbed, mana cost is 0. Currently the only form of energy able to be absorbed is mana. Absorbing substances has a minor chance of giving traits, abilities and skills relating to the substance.

Mana sight (Expert) (Low Unique, Passive/toggled) 0.02% - You are capable of seeing smaller congregations of mana than before within (Intelligence*Wisdom)/1.75m. Their forms are now distinct. You can now differentiate mana by type.

Self-repair (Master) (Low Unique, Active) 10.86% - By expending a type of energy available to you, you can repair your own durability and recover your original form. Current energies able to be used: Mana, Psi, Ki. Exchange ratio: 5 mana: 0.1 durability, 10 Psi: 0.1 durability, 10 Ki: 0.1 durability.

Telepathy (Advanced) (High Rare, Active) 9.10% - Allows one to communicate with other beings in exchange for 0.5 Psi/sec*distance between user and target in meters, to a maximum range of (Wisdom*Intelligence)/5m. Allows the user to share emotions and thoughts with the recipient.

Body of deadly poison (Basic) (High rare, Passive) 13.63% – Deadly poison courses throughout your entire body. So potent is this poison that even touching you will cause great sickness and partial paralysis for a short period of time. Potency of poison scales a small amount with proficiency.

Flee (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive/Conditional) 0.00% - Multiplies base dexterity by 1.5 when running away from something. Will deactivate if offensive action is taken. Will not activate if you do not perceive the thing you are running away from as a threat.

Body of weak acid (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 7.27% - A weak acid courses throughout your body and on your skin. So weak is this acid that it acts better as a cleaning agent than a weapon. Acidity scales minutely with proficiency.

Magic edge (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.10% – You have discovered how to clad the edge of your blade in magic power, increasing the power of your strikes. However, you have little experience, and as such use most of your mana in a single powerful attack.

Gaming – Minesweeper (Expert) (Mid rare, passive) 13.24% - You’ve sunk way too much time into this game. And despite the statistics saying 0 wins, 306 losses, you are way better at this than almost everyone else. Slightly increased analytical abilities. Slight instinctive ability to correctly guess the outcome of a 50/50 gamble.

Meditation (Advanced) (Mid Rare, Active) 97.51%: Enter into a state unburdened by the worries of the physical world. There is only you, and your thoughts that exist in this world. While in this state, mana regeneration multiplied by 2, Psi regeneration multiplied by 2, Ki generated at 15 times the normal rate.

Ki blast (Basic) (Low Rare, Active) 3.28%: Expel Ki from your body in a concentrated blast. Power varies with ki infused. With your lack of experience, you are not able to accurately control the amount of ki you infuse into the skill, it may vary by up to 20 points.

Form manipulation – Self (Basic) (High Rare, Active) 23.86% - Through the use of mana, you can manipulate your own form at will, albeit slowly and roughly. Cannot change density or mass. Costs 5 mana/second while changing form, costs 10 mana/minute while in a form not your original.

WARNING! Do not use this ability if you are of a race with aspects that could result in death if you were to change them E.G. internal organs, mana pathways, et cetera.

Ferdinand: Not changed at all?

Status

Name: Ferdinand

Race: Human

Level: 24

Experience 4016.83/4500

Gender: Male

Age: 23 years

Allegiance: None

Fame: None

Strength: 38.1

Intelligence: 8.1

Dexterity: 34.7

Wisdom: 8.0

Charisma: 8.0

Luck: 37.8

Endurance: 30.4

Health: 304/304

Health regen: 1.824/hour

Stamina: 347/347

Stamina regen: 3.47/min

Mana: 81/81

Mana regen: 0.8/min

Unspent stat points: 0

Titles*

Living – You are a living being, and as such, the energies of life heal you and the energies of death damage you.

-Trait: Average life energy absorption -Trait: Average death energy weakness

-Trait: minute life affinity -Trait: negative minute death affinity

Human – Most of your ancestors were human, so you are too. The only noticeable advantages humans have over other species are their prolificity and creativity. Other than that, they have sub-par biological features – apart from their thumbs.

-Trait: Average prolificity -Trait: Average creativity -Trait: Minor light-based vision -Trait: Minor vibration-based hearing -Trait: Minute chemical-based sense of smell -Trait: Minor sense of pain/touch -Trait: Minute chemical-based sense of taste -Trait: Being of flesh and blood (Minor)

Insect bane – Killer of many creepy crawlies, you can instinctively sense nearby insects, especially those harmful to you. All stats increased by 1 when attacking insects.

Traits*

Life energy absorption (Average) – life energy heals you, causing you to regain health.

Death energy weakness (Average) – death energy damages you, reducing your health.

Life affinity (Minute) – You find it easier to gain life related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Negative death affinity (Minute) – You find it harder to gain death related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Prolificity (Average) – You are very good at making babies.

Creativity (Average) – You have a higher chance to imagine, invent, and create things.

Light-based vision (Minor) – Your vision is based on light. Your civilisation is not advanced enough to view more detailed information.

Vibration-based hearing (Minor) – Your hearing is based on vibrations. Your civilisation is not advanced enough to view more detailed information.

Chemical-based sense of smell (Minute) – Your sense of smell is based on chemical reactions. Your civilisation is not advanced enough to view more detailed information.

Chemical-based sense of taste (Minute) – Your sense of taste is based on chemical reactions. Your civilisation is not advanced enough to view more detailed information.

Sense of pain/touch (Minor) – You have a sense of pain/touch. Your civilisation is not advanced enough to view more detailed information.

Being of flesh and blood (Minor) – Your life is dependent on your body, which consists loosely of the aforementioned materials. Without enough of these, you die. You also rely on the consumption of foods edible to your species.

Skills*

Farming (Expert) (High Common, Passive) 21.28% - You have extensive knowledge in the tools and trade of farming. You instinctively know the fertility of the land you are standing on, and the current season. You also have an increased weather prediction ability.

Herbalism (Advanced) (High Common, Passive) 47.36% - You know well how to care for plants and herbs, and you can easily tell what common herbs and plants are, and what they do. You don’t know much about rarer herbs, but your experience means you will instinctively know if a plant is poisonous, as long as it isn’t too rare. Increased ability to notice rare herbs.

Sewing (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 76.93% - You have a basic level of knowledge on how to sew. Allows you to notice loose threads and fraying material easier, and slightly increases your ability to differentiate the quality of thread and cloth.

Tool Repair (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 46.11% - You can repair basic tools, but you might want to consider a replacement instead. Allows you to notice damage on tools easier.

Logging (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 9.78% - You can wield an axe with skill – if your opponent is a tree. Increased strength and reduced stamina usage when cutting trees, increased ability to notice wood quality and damage.

Common language-Spoken (Advanced) (Low Common, Passive) 13.01% - You can speak common fluently, but you don’t know many longer or rarely used words.

Common language-Written (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 49.32% - You can read and write, but don’t expect good calligraphy. You read and write slowly, and will make frequent errors.

Digging (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 83.00% - You’re no dwarf, but you can sure dig a hole. You also know the difference between a shovel, spade and trowel. Increased skill when wielding a shovel, spade or trowel, increased ability to determine soil hardness, small instinctive ability to avoid buried stones, or find them if needed.

Cooking (Advanced) (Low Common, Passive) 19.08% - You can cook, but you’re no gourmet chef. Minute increase to taste of cooked dish, according to your preferences.

Hunting (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 93.10% - You have learnt the basics of hunting. Increased ability to conceal yourself in forests and area with much greenery. Slightly increased senses when hunting. Minute instinctive ability to sense danger. Slightly increased tracking ability.

Fishing (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 27.01% - You are new to fishing, but you had a good teacher. Chance of catching fish with a fishing rod slightly increased.

Dismantling (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 23.67% - Provided you have the right tools for the job, you can dismantle most common beasts. Increased knowledge of some weaknesses of a being after dismantling it.

First aid (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 87.05% - You can treat and bandage a wound, even make a simple splint, but don’t expect anyone to come to you for medical advice. Slight increase to steadiness of hands when applying first aid.

Tracking (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 65.41% - You can recognise some of the basic signs left behind by incautious beings. Minutely increased ability to conceal yourself from your target.

Concealment (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 26.41% - You know a few tricks to hide yourself. When concealed, your basic senses are minutely increased.

Ranged weaponry - Bow (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 42.42% - You are capable of using bow and arrow at a basic level. Wind, target movement and other distractions hinder your accuracy greatly. minutely increased vision when aiming at an enemy. +0.5 Strength and Dexterity when using a bow.

Ranged weaponry - Sling (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 30.31% - You are experienced at using a sling and stones. Slightly increased ability to find stones or other items suitable as ammunition. +1 Strength and Dexterity when using a sling.

Thrown weaponry – Rock (Advanced) (Low Common, Passive) 40.07% - You can throw rocks alright. You’re a fair hand at skipping them over a lake, too. Slightly increased accuracy when throwing stones.

Thrown weaponry – Fork (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 1.23% - Why you’re throwing cutlery is anyone’s guess, but you clearly aren’t used to it.

Melee weaponry – Staff (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 5.64% - You have used a staff in a fight a few times, but you still don’t know how to use it correctly.

Melee weaponry – Club (Basic) (Low Common, Passive) 38.20% - You have a small amount of experience using simple blunt weapons. +1 Strength when using a club.

Melee weaponry – Sword - Longsword (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 89.23% - You have some experience using a standard longsword. Minutely increased grip strength when wielding this weapon, and +0.5 to Strength and Dexterity while wielding this weapon.

Melee weaponry – Fork (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 1.23% - Why you’re using a fork as a weapon is anyone’s guess, but you clearly aren’t used to it.

Magic edge (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 29.01% – You have discovered how to clad the edge of your blade in magic power, increasing the power of your strikes. However, you have little experience, and as such use all your mana in a single powerful attack.