A couple of hours later, as far as I could tell from the position of the sun, I was once again on the road to Rasenbur. At least, I hope I was. When I finally found the road after a long, tedious walk, I simply chose to turn left and march onwards. If only my luck stat actually affected the present, instead of simply being a record of my past fortunes...sigh. Well, I’ll eventually see how lucky I am this time.

As I walked, I wondered how much I would get for the Matron’s claws, if I could even sell them. After I received my title, I took the time to separate anything useful from the beast’s corpse. It took some effort, but I was able to salvage the claws from all four limbs, the short beak inside of the fleshy mouth, and a handful of feathers that somehow failed to be launched. They were soft, but strong. I didn’t have nearly enough to make even a small armor piece, and I actually wondered at how effective an armor made from these feathers could even be, but I did have a plan to use them.

Yes, they provided a strong defense for the Matron, but that was with thousands of feathers overlapping each other, possibly even strengthened from a miniscule amount of electrical power from the beast. I would have to use the same amount, and pack them in such a way that they would fit my much smaller frame, before I could enjoy anything approaching similar benefits.

Not to mention that I would look utterly ridiculous, dressed up like a giant chicken.

No, instead I decided to leave all the other feathers where they were embedded. I had the suspicion that they would be useless as a defensive crafting material after the electricity ran through them, considering that they were stiff and strong enough to pierce through several trees. Maybe I could have collected them to use as makeshift weapons, but it would be too much effort for an unreliable resource. Plus, I did try to extract one of them, but it was somehow still highly charged, and I got the distinct impression I would be unpleasantly shocked if I touched it.

Best just to leave them where they are.

Thinking back to the electrifying experience reminded me of the last bit of loot, the Attribute Core. Identify revealed it to be a Lightning Core. According to the common knowledge of this world, Lightning as an elemental affinity has very limited usage. It is known for its destructive capability, when used in a massive attack, but it is also regarded as highly unpredictable and dangerous even to the wielder of such power. The inhabitants of this world have no industrial use for lightning, as they don’t have the concept of electricity. Instead, mana is the key energy source for pretty much everything.

In other words, no one has a clue as to how dangerous electrical power can truly be.

The advantage goes to me.

I held off on absorbing the core, as I wanted to gain a better understanding of elemental affinities first. Hopefully when I reach Rasenbur I’ll be able to gain access to a library, or whatever equivalent they have here, and figure out exactly what the risks and benefits that I have not already worked out are.

In the meantime, I seem to have a lot of walking ahead of me.

Bored, I took the opportunity to look through some of my status details. The new title, “Well Rounded”, was just that, a title. No bonus stats, no additional effects. Just a short description, almost like an “achievement” from some of the old tech games I used to play...was it in the fifth or sixth iteration? I lost track, but I know there were more than just a few iterations where I played ‘video games’. Every time I picked one up I marvelled at the irony of playing a game while living life as a game...but play I did, nonetheless. It appears that in this iteration, titles are just another part of the life record, an acknowledgement of an accomplished task that could have been either deadly important or utterly pointless.

I already held the title “Master of One’s Soul”, which I ascribed to my prowess in using my soul for cheat-like abilities, so I figured long ago that titles would have some significance here. Like “Well Rounded”, my first title gave me no bonuses, but I didn’t have any expectations in that regard to begin with since what I could do is...not normal, to say the least.

My train of thought suddenly diverged into multiple paths, the eternal conundrum of an introvert.

First, something bothered me about “Well Rounded”. I obtained Specialty, Attribute, and Elemental Cores, but am I not missing something? What about Stat Cores? Does the system not recognize them as a category since they are man-made? It would make sense if that is the case, since the system let me know that I had obtained one of each type...it is the most logical conclusion. However, I intend to get a definitive answer once I find a library. The need just continues to grow…

Second, in thinking about my personal cheat-abilities, I decided to look over my Talents Menu and confirm once again that the system recognized the way I used my soul. It took a while before I discovered how to access the skills I created, in part because I kept thinking of a skill menu. That was the problem - this iteration sees “skills” as one category and “abilities” as another, but together they are listed under my “Talents”. I wonder if people call them collectively as Talents or individually per name...just another thing to learn in the city.

Talent Menu

Skills

Inventory

Identify

Abilities

Double Jump

Dash

Soul Arts

Battle Intent

Battle Memory

Universal Tongue

Cleanse Aura

The way I understand it is like this: Skills are things that I can learn from Specialty Cores and have no activation cost. There may be some Skills that can be created or learned without using a core, but so far I have not seen any evidence of that. I could use Identify and Inventory without restriction, though there is a limit to how much I could hold in my Inventory. Skills, in my mind, are part of the essentials of living in this world, and the more Skills one has, the better easier their life will be.

Abilities are on the opposite end of the spectrum, for me at least. I personally created both Dash and Double Jump based off of my experience in manipulating mana to augment my movements in previous worlds. It took a long time to adjust my mindset to how mana feels in this world, so I decided against creating anything too fancy. Simplicity is often best, after all, and even complexity is built off of simple parts. In any case, Abilities are not exactly needed for everyday life, rather, they are more battle oriented. They have costs, maybe even cooldown periods in some cases. I haven’t encountered a core that teaches an Ability, but I still have a lot to learn about this world.

Finally, my Soul Arts are listed. I didn’t give these...arts, for lack of a better word since I don’t want to mentally mix them up with Abilities, I didn’t give them their current category name. In fact, when I discovered how to access this menu, the Arts were already there. I found that the descriptions of each were more or less accurate, but I felt certain that there would be more than just these four...I’ll have to rectify that as soon as possible.

I liked how the system detailed the effects of each Art. Battle Intent is basically my mastery over bloodlust, my ability to direct my own and perceive that of others. With it, I could detect anyone trying to attack me and how, even if they are well covered through stealth. I could also hide my own intentions and prevent my opponent from knowing in advance what I plan to do, or focus my intent so that my opponent does know what I will do and breaks under the pressure of knowing that they can’t stop it. Battle Intent is a wonderful tool, but I try not to actively use it too often as it affects my mental state...but no need to worry about that right now, not on this peaceful walk.

Battle Memory is essentially what I have been using ever since my first fight with the Blue Slime (what a boring name, really). All of the combat experience I have gained over my last 99 lives has been imprinted on my soul. Those experiences are slowly being impressed upon my new body, gradually rebuilding it until I regain the muscle memory and reflexes that I held at the peak of my fighting condition. In this way, I don’t exactly have to fight over and over to turn my body into that of a veteran, I could develop that figure just through normal training and daily activity.

As much of a cheat Battle Memory is, the real overpowered Art is my Universal Tongue. Tired of learning a new language from scratch, I pretty much spent a few iterations working on my soul to the point where it could recognize nearly any language, written or spoken. The only problem is that I’m still not actually learning the language. Instead, my soul takes in the intentions of the speaker, or the words that I read, and provides my brain with the closest translation of words that I know. The same happens when I speak; I am not actually speaking the native language, but the recipient hears it as such, they get what I intend to say. If I am not careful, serious complications could easily arise from the use of this Art, so I do try to physically learn new languages still...when I don’t feel lazy or apathetic…

My final Soul Art, Cleanse Aura, is my ‘cure all, end all’ ability. With it, I can negate most negative effects placed upon me, so long as they are magically sourced or I could fight it off naturally. For example, when I was paralyzed earlier, I could tell that it was due to an Ability because of the foreign mana invading my body. Actually, maybe it could have been a spell, I don’t fully know how magic works in this world yet, if there are even such things as spells as a separate category from Abilities...why does my list of research topics keep increasing? Sigh. In any case, since there was foreign mana inside of me, I could have activated Cleanse Aura to rid myself of the effects and move freely. I saw no need to use it though, as I sensed no intent from her to kill me. It’s best to keep certain things a secret unless absolutely necessary.

I could have also used this Art if the paralysis was caused by a poison that could be naturally cured by my body, meaning without the use of another foreign substance. With that case, though, I would immediately cleanse myself, as most likely it would be a life or death situation. Otherwise, if I had the time and resources, I would actually find such poisons and ingest them over time to build up a resistance against them. One of the oldest and most effective tricks in the book, second only to “don’t let your opponent poison you in the first place”.

Nodding at the Skills, Abilities, and Soul Arts currently at my disposal, I continued my trek to Rasenbur, making mental notes and plans for when I finally arrive. I am long overdue to start my quest to find the answers to all my questions.

...I truly hope I am going in the right direction…