Nemo skipped to the Count as he knelt down. His cloak shrunk into the shadow and his mask lowered until it was at the same height as Nemo. With a snap of his fingers, a patterned circle flared to life above his palm. Nemo’s eyes widened in excitement. She was witnessing magic first hand. It was one thing to be fooled by trickery, it was another to see magic circles come to life.

“I do believe conceptual trickery is far more impressive to pull off, but I do admit it does lack a sense of wonderment and elegance. This is your status page,” the Count chuckled before allowing the glowing circle to expand. “Come closer, let us see what powers did the System give you.”

The two of them huddled close and looked at the screen the Count called forth. Nemo leaned forward, her eyes glued to the circular screen in front of her.

Nemo (Level: 1)

Health: 3/3 Mana: 3/3 Energy 3/3

Strength: 1 Magic: 1 Endurance: 1 Agility: 1

Physical Strength: 1 Magical Power: 1 Quickness: N/A

Physical Defence: 1 Magic Resistance: 1 Balance: 1

ORIGIN

Precocious Child (rank E)

— unknown

PERSONAL SKILLS

Unyielding Curiosity

— unknown

Imagination for Adventure

— unknown

(hidden talent)

—(hidden)

PATH

(not available)

CLASS SKILLS

(none)

Nemo looked at the Count, who looked back, and both turned towards the screen again. Nemo always sneaked out the window when her teacher brought up math and numbers so she was never that good at the nonsense, but even she understood that her numbers were pretty bad. She looked at the Count and hoped he would explain her status page to her.

The Count stood up and straitened his cloak. Nemo just knew what was going to happen next. The Count was about to dramatically tell her about stuff and make a big show out of it. Although she found the animated Count amusing to watch, she still had to remind herself not to run off. The Count said the outside was dangerous and what he was about to say was important.

That was how Nemo convinced herself to stay put.

“Health is your most important stat. If it reaches zero you die,” the Count declared directly without a hint of hesitation. Nemo never knew what death meant. It was not something that she comprehended. The idea of sleeping forever, never waking, unable to feel as their skin turns cold, unable to hear the sound of people calling their names, were things far away. For all her life she always woke up to the morning light. She was always able to hear her mom call her and feel her warm embrace.

Nemo gave the Count a quick salute. Health at zero is bad, roger. No ifs or buts. The Count smiled and continued with his explanation.

“Mana and Energy are not something you should be worried about for now. Their purpose is to give you a resource to use your abilities. If they reach zero, then you have to wait for them to recharge before you can use abilities. For now however, since you have no Path, you need not worry about them.”

Rats. She wanted to have special abilities. For now, again, zero was bad, just not as bad.

“Don’t worry, Nemo. You will have abilities soon enough,” the Count reassured. “Moving along. The four main attributes is Strength, Magic, Endurance, and Agility. Each one empowers one of the six different stats, and they in turn influence the overall performance of your abilities and powers. If you gain enough experience points, you can level up and increase your attributes,

“Strength increases power in Physical Strength and Physical Defence. The power enhances your body. Whether it is the strength of your muscles, the toughness of your skin and bones, the Strength attribute makes them better. A powerful body is a gift, one that allows you to reach heights no normal person will be able to obtain. You will be able to destroy mountains, withstand blows equal to that, and remaining standing in the ruins of a shattered world!”

Basically, strength was how strong a person can punch and be punched.

“In essence, yes,” the Count said and coughed into his hand, a bit taken aback by Nemo’s casual remark. Nemo wondered if it was possible for the Count to cough, maybe all the smoke was getting to him. Aha! The Count was the mask all along!

“However!” The Count halted her running imagination and continued. “Magic increases the power in Magical Power and Magic Resistance. When the arcane elements deep within your soul is awakened, Magic empowers it, allowing it shine brighter. With its immense…”

Nemo cut him off. Magic was basically punching harder except with magic instead.

“In essence, yes,” the Count replied after pausing for a considerable amount of time. He calmed down from his exaggerated pose and returned to Nemo’s side, seemingly decided that it was just better to be simple with his explanations.

“Endurance is the more defensive attribute. It does not make you stronger or more magically proficient, it does make your ability to take more punches and more magical punches better. Balance is how many punches you can take before getting knocked down.”

Nemo smiled at the Count’s easy to digest explanation. Following the pattern, Agility would be how quick a person was.

“That is absolutely correct.”

Nemo felt proud as she figured it out. However, the number next to her Quickness was not a number but the letters N/A, and she wondered if it meant something.

“You are astute in your observation, Nemo. The peculiarity with your Quickness is the reason why I believe that there is more to your stats than them simply being low numbers. In this world, there exists unique powers. Rather than following the System, those powers have unique interactions with the system, giving them the ability to utilize the System that none other can.”

The Count then met Nemo’s gaze of wonderment.

“You, Nemo, I believe is one such individual.”

The Count then rustled Nemo’s hair and continued his explanation.

“However, your Origin is not one I have encountered before hence I cannot know of the exact capabilities of your Personal Skills. You even have one that eludes the System itself, which requires further examination. I will need to retire to my workshop to decipher your status page, so for now, I cannot provide you with much reassurance. Do beware however, your stats being low remains an issue, so do be careful.”

Nemo smiled at the Count and gave him a thumbs up. It was fine. Being at the lowest only meant that there was only up to go. If her stats were low now, all she had to do was work towards getting them higher.

Besides, you’ll keep me safe, right?

The Count nodded and took to Nemo’s side.

“I guess there is only one thing for us to do now, wouldn’t you agree?”

Nemo’s hopped into the air and ran around the cabin before halting beside the Count. She jogged in place, her grin wide and her heart thumping in excitement. She squealed in her head as the Count lead them to the door. He placed his hand onto the handle.

“Nemo, welcome to my mansion.”