Chapter 23: The Fork Can’t Move (Wait, Isn’t That Normal?)

(POV Ferdinand)

Two horses trot along a flat dirt road. It seems a painfully slow pace to be travelling at when there could be people dying every moment. “Can’t we go any faster?” I ask anxiously.

“If we were to go any faster the horses would run out of stamina all too quickly, especially since we are riding double. Trust me, this is the best pace for travelling.” Luc replies calmly.

Horseshoes continue to crunch against soil in an endless rhythm, somehow making the silence even more prominent.

I briefly ponder if there’s anything I can say to break the silence, but most of the things I think of would be inappropriate, given the situation. Mentioning the queer behaviour of the skeletons is a possibility, but I doubt it’s anything important. If the necromancer wants to divide up his forces and make it easier for us to kill them, he can go right ahead, I say.

We arrive at a village a couple of hours later, and the sun is starting to get low. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to make it back to the city before nightfall, I think absent-mindedly, before focusing on the problem at hand: skeletons.

Dismounting from the horse, I draw my sword. ‘Forty-five, including the ones in the fields… again with the weirdness. Also, two of the skeletons here have armour and weapons.’ Informs Gerald.

My eyes narrow. Unfortunately, that isn’t all. Mixed in with the normal, pale white skeletons are black skeletons. Now, I don’t know much about skeletons, but I am fairly sure that the white ones are the weakest of the bunch. Therefore, these black ones must be stronger.

But with a couple of paladins by my side, they won’t be a threat! I charge into battle, but Lily and Luc overtake me before I’m even half-way to the group of skeletons that are turning to face us.

From atop her horse, Lily raises a gauntleted hand towards them. A holy light springs forth from her hand, and the skeletons it shines upon have their flames extinguished, regardless of colour.

Luc mimics her action, and another group of skeletons fall apart where they stand, although a smaller number than when Lily attacked.

…At this rate, there won’t be much for me to do.

I continue charging, but by the time I reach them, Lily and Luc have already cleaved through them, leaving only a single black skeleton! They head deeper into the village, leaving this one for me.

Upon spotting me, the dark flames in its eyes blaze sinisterly. It opens its jaws wide as if trying to shout or scream, but no sound comes out. Then, to my shock, it starts to run towards me. I barely parry its first blow, again finding myself startled by its speed and power.

Until now, skeletons could be described with two words: tenacious, slow. But this one moves almost as fast as a regular human, and just as strong.

Of course, that still isn’t as strong or fast as I am, so after the first few blows I become accustomed to the difference and start to retaliate.

With a kick I shatter its leg, sending it tumbling to the ground, and with another step I stomp on its head, shattering it. Much stronger than the normal skeleton, but still weak on its own.

Skull fragments crumble under my boot as I run further into the village. Everywhere I go, all I see are piles of bones. I hear sounds of combat from up ahead, so I hurry along, reaching them just in time to witness the last armoured undead get beheaded.

Lily sheathes her immaculate blade. Perhaps the only benefit to fighting undead is that you don’t have to clean your weapon afterward.

“Let us split up and see if we can find another of those cats.” Leaving her horse to graze on the grass by the roadside, Lily picks a direction and begins searching, with Luc doing the same.

‘Inside the house over to your right, the one with the broken window. It’s under the bed.’ Meanwhile, I had a helpful fork supplying me with its exact location.

Striding over to the house, I step over the fallen door through the entrance and follow Gerald’s directions to find the bedroom. Peeking under the bed, I see a pair of feline eyes looking back at me. Stretching out an arm, I try to grab it, but the cat hisses and claws my hand. I wince at the pain and try again, this time managing to pull it from beneath the bed, still flailing its limbs and try to inflict whatever damage it can.

Awkwardly trying to hold it in such a way that it can’t scratch or bite me, I hurry out of the building and call out, “I found it!”

…Well, Gerald found it, but he doesn’t want other people to know about him, so what else can I say? And I did find it. Gerald just found it first.

Lily and Luc promptly return, and I deposit the unruly cat in her hands, where it is unable to do any harm. She closes her eyes in concentration, but soon opens them again as the cat falls limp in her hands. “Again! If we were able to catch him when he is sleeping, then I would have more time…” she trails off in frustration.

“So what now?” I ask. “Clean up the skeletons in the fields?”

Lily shakes her head. “That is what I shall be doing. Meanwhile, the horses will be resting, and you will start your training with Luc.”

At first, I’m faintly disappointed that she won’t be teaching me herself, but that feeling is replaced shortly by excitement. With this training, I should be able to become at least somewhat more powerful, right?

“Come, let us find a more suitable area to train in.” Luc beckons me over, and we find ourselves an empty paddock, the animals formerly residing here having long since fled. He looks around and nods, drawing his sword. “Alright, first let us have a brief spar. I need to find out your current level of skill and style of fighting if I am to train you.”

Drawing my own sword, I say, “I reached advanced proficiency recently, if that helps.”

He shakes his head and swings towards me, his sword little more than a gleam of silver, faster than I can react to. I try to block, but I am barely able to raise my sword half-way before his sword stops just short of my forehead, making my whole body break out in sweat. “It does not. Two men can have the same proficiency in a skill, yet entirely different methods of using it. The only way for me to truly understand how you fight is to fight you.” He says, lifting his sword away from my face and taking a step back.

“Again.”

This time he lets me attack and calmly parries every one of my slashes, his green eyes steadily tracking my movements as I endlessly try to breach his defences.

“Enough.” Luc says eventually, sheathing his sword. “I think I have a clear enough picture of how you fight, now.”

Hands trembling, I lower my sword and try to steady my breathing. Now that I’m not fighting, I notice Joe sitting on the fence nearby, a stalk of wheat wiggling about in his mouth as he chews on it. Where did he even get that; aren’t all the crops here dead?

“Not terrible for someone who has obviously never been trained, but not great, either. However, that just means you have much room for improvement. Let us start… with the basics.” Luc grabs my hands, shifting them slightly on the hilt of my sword.

“At least part of the reason why you are so tired right now is because your grip and stance are sloppy.” He explains. “You aren’t exerting as much strength as you could where it matters and are exerting too much where it doesn’t. There are many other problems with your style of fighting, but we’ll start with that…”

(POV Gerald)

Hello, I’m bored. ‘Hello Bored, I’m insert-name-here’, I hear you say? Haha.

But seriously, not much happening for me, lately. A bit of recon here, some chatting there, and the rest of my days are silence.

I’m half tempted to notify those paladins of my existence just so I have freedom to move about again. Plus, there are a whole bunch of questions I would be interested in asking someone a bit more knowledgeable than Ferdinand.

But anyway, all I can do is the usual training – minus some of the more showy skills, for obvious reasons – and watch what’s happening. Ferdinand’s currently getting a bit of training, which is nice to see. I’m watching that closely, for future reference. Never know when I might get a skill that allows me to assume a human form, after all.

Although, given my stats I’d be more fit to be a wizard. Then again, with the strength and dex enhancing traits I have, perhaps melee combat would be the way to go… I’d really rather use magic, but it will depend on whether I can find something with a good trait.

Intelligence and wisdom… all I can think of in terms of intelligent animals are dolphins, and for wisdom I’m drawing a complete blank. I mean, they say owls are wise, but are they really?

Then, what about monsters? I can think of plenty of ‘intelligent’ monsters, but that generally means they are of a similar level of intelligence as a human. I need something particularly intelligent or wise. Mind flayers come to mind. I didn’t get it last time, but maybe if I come across another, evil one in the future?

Dragons are often depicted as intelligent, and wise too. But… I don’t think killing a dragon is currently within the range of my capabilities.

…Not much else I can think of, but what to do? After all that time playing it before, I pretty much hate minesweeper now. I suppose the only thing I can do is meditate.

Meditate the days away… Patience.

Telling myself to be patient seems almost like an insult, after how long I’ve waited…

Days and villages go by, a constant life of travelling, fighting and training… for them. Guys, reckon we can switch places for a bit?

“Almost sixty in this village, with four of the armoured ones. Looks like we managed to get to this one in time, some of the villagers are still fighting.” As always, I inform Ferdinand of the movements within the village as soon as we get in range.

“Ugh, scratch that, the last one just got mobbed. Well, at least this time we’ll be able to recover their bodies.” Every single time, there hasn’t been a single corpse in the village, as if the villagers had just vanished and been replaced by skeletons.

…Except that would mean there would be way more skeletons in each village.

By now, I am quite curious what exactly that necromancer is doing, so I am keeping a close eye – so to speak – on the events currently happening.

The skeletons are carrying the bodies to the center of the village, where the usual cat is watching them. Once they are all there…

A huge mass of mana appears in the village, the suddenness of which temporarily blinds me. Seconds later, It disappears – and along with it all of the bodies and the skeletons carrying them.

Eh?

Did they just teleport or something?

I’m so shocked and confused that I miss most of what Lily is saying about summoning magic. Right, makes sense. By now, I reckon I can say ‘because magic’ to anything that I don’t understand.

Alright, whatever, moving on. Ignoring what just happened, the rest is as usual: run into the village, re-kill all of the undead, find the cat, cat dies, move on to the next village.

Some adventurers turn up now and again to help, which is something, but the army is still conspicuous in its absence. By now, anyone with half a brain in this empire should be able to see that the necromancer has some ties to people in the top echelons of society.

But then again, some of the nobles and city lords seem to have less than half a brain. How on earth has this Empire held itself together when most of the people of importance are blithering idiots who, when not sleeping, are either spending money extravagantly, losing themselves in debauchery or yelling at some unlucky chap in the street because their face looks funny?

Honestly, I hope the rest of the world isn’t like this.

(POV Ferdinand)

Crackling, the fire spits out a spark which curves through the air, landing only to wink out a moment later. I roll my stiff shoulders; the rigorous training of the past week has been taking its toll on my body.

Gerald is lying somewhere in my pack as usual, probably bored out of his mind, as he so often tells me. Like me, Lily and Luc are seated around the fire, sipping at bowls of vegetable stew.

Their God apparently restricts them from eating meat unless they have to. Personally, I enjoy a good steak, but this isn’t half bad either.

Like every other night, both of them have taken off their armour and are instead dressed in simple tunics and leggings. Like this, I can hardly liken them to their usual appearances – armoured holy knights that will dominate the battlefield or heal the wounded wherever they appear.

Finished gulping down the stew, I set the wooden bowl down to one side; it will be cleaned before we leave in the morning. Stomach full, a question comes to mind that I can’t help but voice: “You two are very strong, so how is it that I’d not heard of you before we met?”

Luc lifts his gaze from the fire. “We come from the far north, so it is no surprise that you never heard of us.” He looks over at Lily, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Besides, even we did not know of each other before this. It was only when I was upon the Empire’s borders that I heard our lord’s voice telling me where to find Lily, and that she would be leading the mission here.”

My eyebrows raise involuntarily. “You get along well for two people who barely know each other.”

“Why would we not?” Luc shrugs. “We serve the same God, after all, and Lily is such an accomplished wizard that it’s hard for me not to be in awe of her.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I am only proficient in a few miscellaneous magical skills, and cannot claim to be anything more than average in other areas.” Lily leans forward, warming her hand over the fire. “Rather, your skill with the sword is much more impressive. It approaches that of the old masters where I live.”

Luc smiles slightly. “My sword master says that he’s nearly out of things to teach me. Soon, I’ll only be able to rely on myself to improve further… How about you, Ferdinand? What are you good at?”

Taken by surprise, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “Farming. Farming was the only thing I was ever good at.”

“Why did you never go back to farming, then?” Luc asks curiously.

I’d never thought about it before, so I take a moment to think before answering. “I suppose I saw too many people who needed help, and not enough people who were helping them. If I went back to farming, that would mean more people wouldn’t be able to get that help.”

“How noble. You might do well as a paladin yourself.” Lily says, then turns to – was Joe sitting there this whole time? That guy is so quiet that it’s hard to notice him, I swear. “And how about you, Joe?”

I don’t expect him to answer, but to my surprise, he does. “Actually, I’m a farmer too.” Pulling a straw hat from behind his back, he places it on his head. “It’s hard work, y’know? Figured I’d take a short break. After all this ends it’s back to the farm for me.”

‘Call me sceptical, but I don’t believe him.’ Says Gerald.

‘You could hear what he’s saying?” I ask.

‘Nah, he’s writing it on the ground.’ I look, and his finger is indeed on the ground. It is still right now, but I know from experience that it can go at incredible speeds.

I go back to the original topic. ‘But does it mean anything if he is lying?’

‘No.’ Gerald sighs. ‘It doesn’t. Or rather, it would make less sense if he is telling the truth… but either way, we know too little about him to determine anything. Even friend or foe… although from his actions so far, it’s neither. Really, there’s no point in thinking too much about it.’

…I never did.

“How close are you to finding the necromancer’s location?” Luc asks Lily in the meantime.

Lily takes out a map and looks at it. “Very. The directions I am able to find with every one of those cat familiars are quite inexact, but if I can do it one, maybe two more times, I should be able to narrow it down to one area.”

Furrowing his brows, Luc asks, “And if he has not been staying in one area?”

“It would make this more difficult, but in that case there should be larger deviations in the directions, and a pattern we could follow.” She answers.

“Then it looks to be a big day tomorrow. We should get some rest.”

A dim, pale light shines down on the world as Teroc glowers down, alone in his own piece of the sky.

One ghostly pale hand resting lightly on the rails of the balcony, a young man looks up at the sky and shivers. Turning around, he walks back into the room, pulling the gilded doors closed behind him.

He glances briefly at the large bed, with its silken sheets twisted into knotted clumps at the foot, and walks instead to his desk. He sits down. With a practiced motion, he reaches under the desk and presses a concealed button. His other hand enters a number combination, and a slight ‘click’ notifies him that the secret compartment is unlocked.

Apparently, the man thinks that even this is not enough security, because the book he slips from the compartment is itself padlocked. Taking the key from where it hangs around his neck, he unlocks it. Glancing fearfully about the room one last time, he opens the book and flips through to an empty page.

Taking up the magical pen on his desk, he begins to write.

Night 257.

Questions surround me no matter what answers I give, and those who should be loyal hounds bay for my blood without regard for what I feed them. I fear that soon all my plans will unravel and with them so too will the noose be tied for my demise… Oh, how I wish that I could simply leave this all behind.

But archers lay in wait to fill me with arrows, daggers lurk in the night and soon enough my own soldiers will march against me. Only here am I safe, and yet even here my ‘protectors’ will tear me limb from limb if I so much as utter the wrong word.

What a fool I was, what a fool I am! If only I had never been brought here! If only I had run when I still could! Too late. Too late.

I still cannot sleep.

A tear glistens against his pale skin as he once again locks the book, places it in the compartment and resets the mechanism. Head in hands, he weeps.

Gerald: Status

Status

Name: Gerald

Race: Living Fork

Level: 30

Experience: 2799.08/6400

Gender: None

Age: 11 months (local time)

Allegiance: None

Fame: None

Strength: 6.5 (65.0)

Intelligence: 48.0

Dexterity: 5.0 (10.0)

Wisdom: 48.5

Charisma: 6.0

Luck: 12.1

Hardness: 25.6

Durability: 17.2/17.2

Mana: 960/960

Mana regen: 9.70/min

Psi: 485/485

Psi regen: 4.80/min

Ki: 9837/3152 (31525)

Ki regen: 3.15 (31.52)/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.

Cat’s flexibility (Minor) – Base Dexterity is multiplied by 2. Range of movement of joints increased by 1.1 times.

Skills

Absorb (Advanced) (Racial, Low Unique) 27.82% - 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) 0.34% - 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) 10.94% - 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) 27.95% - 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 (Advanced) (Low Unique, Passive/Toggled) 0.09% – 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 (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive/Toggled) 2.05% - 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) 7.05% – 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) 13.26% - 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 (Expert) (High Rare, Active) 24.63%: 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 2.5, Psi regeneration multiplied by 2.5, Ki generated at 20 times the normal rate.

Ki blast (Advanced) (Mid Rare, Active) 41.52%: 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 10 points.

Form manipulation – Self (Advanced) (High Rare, Active) 20.08% - Through the use of mana, you can manipulate your own form at will, albeit a bit slowly and roughly. Cannot change density or mass. Costs 4 mana/second while changing form, costs 8 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.

Lip reading (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 45.10% - You have learned how to understand what people are saying by the movement of their lips. Doesn’t hurt that you can see their tongue and jaw movement, either. Rarely inaccurate, you can usually tell what people are saying, unless they have some crazy accent. Good luck with those.

Nine lives (Static) (Passive) – You will avoid the next eight attacks that would be deadly to you, seemingly by accident. After avoiding eight attacks, this skill will disappear.

Charges remaining: 8

Telekinesis (Advanced) (Low Rare, Active) 6.37% - Through Psi, your mind pushes at the world around you, moving objects without the need for physical contact. More Psi is required to produce greater forces. Currently inefficient.

External Ki manipulation (Basic) (Low Rare, Active) 0.51% - You have discovered how to manipulate Ki outside of your body. Doesn’t mean you’re any good at it. Difficulty of control increases drastically with distance and quantity of Ki.

Magic missile (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Active) 36.62% - Fires a projectile of mana. Power scales with mana consumption, unable to exceed 25 mana per shot. Maximum range = Intelligence*1.5/metres. If remotely controlling, there is an additional mana cost of 0.75 mana/sec, otherwise direction of travel is set at initial creation of shot.

Mana control (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 93.39% - Your practice with magic has led to an increased familiarity with handling mana. Maximum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 25 mana. Minimum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 0.5 mana.

Power stab (Basic) (High Common, Active) 52.45% - Multiplies the speed and power of a stab by 1.1. Cooldown: 5 minutes

Mud bath (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - Your injuries heal faster when they are covered with mud, by 1.2 times. Slightly lowered chance of contracting infection and parasites from this activity.

…However, as you are for most purposes an object, this skill does not affect you.

Climbing (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - You have a slightly increased ability to find handholds and footholds when climbing something, as well as a slightly increased ability to maintain grip on smaller handholds.

Ferdinand: Status

Status

Name: Ferdinand

Race: Human

Level: 28

Experience: 5109.48/5700

Gender: Male

Age: 23 years

Allegiance: None

Fame: None

Strength: 44.1

Intelligence: 8.1

Dexterity: 35.7

Wisdom: 8.0

Charisma: 8.0

Luck: 37.8

Endurance: 38.4

Health: 384/384

Health regen: 2.304/hour

Stamina: 357/357

Stamina regen: 3.57/min

Mana: 81/81

Mana regen: 0.8/min

Psi: 80/80

Psi regen: 0.81/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.

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

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) 47.37% - 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) 48.53% - 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) 14.93% - You can speak common fluently, but you don’t know many longer or rarely used words.

Common language-Written (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 49.33% - 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) 19.61% - 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) 96.28% - 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) 38.72% - 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) 30.52% - 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) 87.59% - 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) 69.67% - 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) 27.54% - 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 (Advanced) (High Common, Passive) 23.17% - You have some experience using a standard longsword. Minor increased grip strength when wielding this weapon, and +1 to Strength and Dexterity while wielding this weapon. Maintaining this type of weapon is easier for you.

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) 39.26% – 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.

Telepathy (Basic) (Mid Rare, Active) 17.29% - Allows one to communicate with other beings in exchange for 1 Psi/sec*distance between user and target in meters, to a maximum range of (Wisdom*Intelligence)/10m. Currently only able to communicate emotions.

Flee (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive/Conditional) 32.14% - 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.

Power slash (Basic) (High Common, Active) 13.86% - Multiplies the speed and power of a slash by 1.1. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Stamina cost: 50

Power stab (Basic) (High Common, Active) 7.39% - Multiplies the speed and power of a stab by 1.1. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Stamina cost: 50