I woke up to the morning light shining through a window, illuminating the table I was on. My sleep had been mercifully peaceful, either Radia didn’t have the power to contact me through my dreams again or she didn’t want to. Whichever one, it was preferable to having to talk with her again, and I felt fully rested for the first time since I came to this new world.

The bedroom I was in was a bit small, but rather cozy. The window currently shining on me kept the entire room well lit with a warm glow. Books such as Advanced Potion Brewing, Adventuring for Beginners, and Monster Encyclopedia were scattered about the floor and stacked on the table I was on, little paper notes sticking out from in between the pages. The table took up about a fifth of the room, stretching from wall to wall and housing many round bottles, beakers, and tubes, both empty and full of varying liquids and solids. Along with the bottles, there were a few complicated metal tools, clamps, and stands, and a very worn and full open notebook. Finally, there was a roll of bandages on the table. Probably related to my injured paw, which I was now noticing hurt a lot less and had been wrapped up protectively in bandages while I slept.

There was more room beyond the table, but who cares. Generic bedroom, there’s a bed (wow), a wardrobe with clothes, a closet, a bookcase, some pictures on the wall, all the regular bedroom stuff. You know what isn’t regular bedroom stuff? A bunch of weird metal implements, what the hell were those. I focused on them intently, trying to deduce their purpose. Medieval torture instruments? Cooking utensils? What could they be…

By fulfilling the required criteria, you have unlocked a new skill: Insight

I jumped a bit as a soft chime and a notification rectangle notified me of the new skill. Maybe this one wouldn’t be complete garbage. What’d it do though?

Insight

Level - 1 of 10

Effects - Allows for information to be gained by observing. Skill gained due to your curiosity and desire to learn more.

OK, that wasn’t as bad as Pathetic, but still not amazing. I can already gain information by observing stuff, that’s what the point of observing something is. Uselessness aside, might as well test it out. I focused on the metal thingamabobs again, trying to get Insight to activate. A notification popped up, it worked!

Various tools.

Well that wasn’t very insightful.

I tried again, focusing on a single tool this time.

A stirring rod.

Hey, that was something! I focused on some of the other implements, one after another.

A burette clamp.

A micro mixing cauldron.

A distillation apparatus.

A titration flask.

What did half those words even mean? Were they new exciting fantasy terms, or was I just an idiot who failed chemistry class? Probably both, but I’d rather not dwell on that and I was rapidly finding myself not caring.

I carefully made my way off the table, going down to the chair and then the floor so as to not hurt my bandaged paw. I crept through Mina’s bedroom door, which had mercifully been left ajar, down the hall, and began my way down the stairs. Walking down stairs on four limbs was an odd experience, especially when I couldn't put much weight on one, but after about a minute of carefully descending, I was at the bottom of the stairs and had gotten to the main floor.

While the downstairs had been fairly quiet yesterday, with only a few stray patrons having meals, it was now absolutely packed. Upbeat music was playing, although I’m not sure how they did that in this world. Almost every table had a group of people seated, some in regular clothes, some in full on armor, some in elegant robes. The non-restaurant portion of the floor had more people as well. The counter that had been empty last night was now being staffed by Mina. A few customers were perusing the shelves of supplies and other goods, but most were lined up before the counter. The person at the front of the line walked away and Mina turned to a large board covered in paper slips and symbols, pulling one off of it. She glanced over and noticed me, perking up a bit and holding her index finger up to the next person in line as if to say “gimme a sec” before rushing over to me.

She picked me up without a warning or greeting, which I thought was a bit rude but then again I’m a cat and she doesn’t know I’m sapient. She rushed back to her counter with me in tow, plopping me down on a neatly folded blanket on the corner of it. I kneaded the blanket a few times to test it’s comfiness, which was sufficient, and curled up on it to quietly observe.

A man covered in heavy, gold-trimmed plate armor with inlaid rubies, wielding a large gold and silver warhammer, and with incredibly over the top hair walked up to the counter. The armor kind of seems impractical, it was pretty hot in here. Maybe he was trying to flaunt how strong he was? Mina put on the overly sweet smile of a customer service worker and greeted him.

“Hi! Welcome to the adventurer’s guild! How can I help you?” Mina said cheerfully.

“Hello there fair Maiden, I’d like to test my skill on the A+ rank Stone Wyvern slaying quest.” He said in a self assured tone.

“Alright, would you like to do it solo or do you have a party?”

“Solo, of course! I work alone, for I could never handle the guilt of endangering others with the peril I encounter and defeat on a daily basis.” Well that’s one excuse for not having any friends I guess.

Mina marked something down in a large spreadsheet-like notebook, and walked over to the board to do something with it. In the meantime, I decided to try out my Insight skill a bit more, focusing on the guy in front of me.

Bronson, “Beloved Hero”, human, level 152.

Alright, more intel than I expected there! Was level 152 a lot? Seemed like it, but I decided to use Insight on Mina as she walked back to the counter to compare her and the adventurer.

Mina, human, level 11.

Oh, she sucked.

“Alright, you’re all set! Happy Adventuring!” Mina said with a smile and a wave, taking the next customer who I immediately used Insight on. The skill said it was level 1 of 10 after all, doesn’t take a genius to figure out I should use it as much as possible to level it up.

Tohn, “Fledgeling Firecaster”, human, level 22.

Riveting. I guess the “Beloved Hero” and “Fledgeling Firecaster” things were titles? And Mina didn’t have one. Or maybe she did and didn’t use it, I don’t know how anything works, I’m new here.

“Hi! Welcome to the adventurer’s guild! How can I help you?” Mina said in the exact same way as before.

“Hi, I’d like to buy these please.” He mumbled, placing a green potion on the counter. Insight time!

A green potion.

“That’ll be one silver.” He handed over one silver, as one does when they have to pay one silver. This was going to get boring, wasn’t it. “Happy Adventuring!” Mina said, waving the next person up.

A group of three stepped up this time, and I used insight on all of them.

Irr, “Swordsman of the Wind”, human, level 54.

Ele, “Silent Shadow.” human, level 58.

Vant, “Perfect Shot”, elf, level 63.

Oh! Not human, that’s new! The elf had a green hood up over her head, but it had slots of the sides for her ears to poke through, and they were indeed pointy. The hood kinda looked stupid though, and wouldn’t that be annoying to take on and off quickly with the ears sticking out? They’d get cold, too, which would go against the purpose of the hood. Why let the ears stick out anyway? To let people know you’re an elf? Most people could probably figure it out with Insight so what’s the point? Absolutely garbage fashion choice.

““Hi! Welcome to the adventurer’s guild! How can I help you?” Mina said in the exact same way as before. Again. I was beginning to think she had a bit of practice with this job.

The stupidly-hooded elf began to speak with an aloof and regal voice, seemingly the leader of the three. “My comrades and I would like to request a B rank quest for the three of us to embark on, are there any you would recommend us to take?”

Mina didn’t miss a beat. “There are two Glowhide Trolls causing trouble in the forest to the east of here, y’all don’t look like you use much offensive magic so it shouldn’t be too much trouble. Does that one sound good?”

The three of them turned to each other and nodded, and the elf spoke again. “That task sounds within our combined skill range. We shall complete it, thank you greatly for the suggestion.” She was kind of pretentious to be honest, and her hood was still atrocious, but at least she was polite. And also she just walked off so she doesn’t matter. Here comes the next person.

Timbly, “The Coolest Guy”, human, level 23.

Oh wow, he was The Coolest Guy. Very impressive, Timbly. You’re so cool.

Due to repeated use, Insight has reached level 2!

I blinked in surprise. Thank you Timbly.