This was the moment of truth.

I mean, the weird eyes, given to me as a compensation for being an anomaly, and the fact that I got a new trait as soon as I awoke kind of foreshadowed that I would, at least, be unique.

What was left to see was to discover if that was either a good thing, or not.

And that is why I was stalling.

Yes, I noticed.

"Shut it you, I’m having an internal monologue!"

But this too is a form of stalling.

I decide to further distract myself by looking around. It didn’t help.

Everyone was definitely up and about, and were most certainly discussing their own [Status] (while still keeping their distance from me, the pricks).

None seemed disappointed from what they found, and it was a constant come-and-go with the [Priests], who were too happy to respond to questions and resolve doubts.

Even Jeff, obviously the furthest [Priest] from me, clearly by 'mere happenstance', was having an animated conversation with a group of dozens of people, or so.

It does not matter how much you wait before seeing the [Status screen], it will not change the outcome, it is has already been determined, after all.

"And what kind of bullshit is that!? Do you mean someone that wanted to shape mountains could be stuck with hurling icicles? How is that fair!?"

You apparently made a contract with the [Goddess of Luck], and are still asking why life is not fair? Are you being serious right now? You of all people, with your nonchalant pessimism?

"I wouldn’t call it 'nonchalant', but I see your point."

Also, you definitely are evading the subject by trying to be philosophical, and it does not suit you.

"Rude! I can be philosophical when I want to."

Maybe, but you are usually as deep as a puddle, so nobody expects much.

"Hey, asshole, that was way out of line, you can’t just call me stupid like that!"

I will do much worse if you do not man up and call up your [Status screen]!

>:(

"Ok, ok, sheesh. No need to get angry about it; and couldn’t you just call up the [Status] without my prompt? Didn’t you do basically the same thing when you showed me the [screen] for the [Demiurgic sight]? And what is that supposed to mea-"

Focus!

"Ok, but still: Why aren’t you just showing me the [Status]?"

I could, but it would not have the same impact, this is something you have to do on your own. You have always been afraid of having your life evaluated, so this extreme quantification of it scares you, I get it, but you need to get over yourself: Did you not say that you liked having an opportunity to start over in a new world? Then start acting like it and take this metaphorical step forward!

"Shit, when you put it all out there, I do sound like a massive pansy, don’t I?"

Yes, you do. Now are you going to call up the [Status screen], or do I have to berate you more?

"Geez, I’ll do it, calm down."

Honestly, I had procrastinated enough: it was time.

Not knowing exactly how to access the [Status] wasn’t a problem, everything so far has been very instinctual, so it wouldn’t be any different now, I hope.

With this in mind, I proceeded to do what I thought would be the most natural way to go about it, by half-whispering "[Status]".

And wow, there was a lot of stuff:

Name:

Darwin Dulcet

(first-last)

Race:

Transferred Human

(Anomalous)

Age:

25

(young)

Class:

NA

(not attuned)

Sub-Class:

none

Job:

none

HP:

(health)

100%

(healthy)

MP:

(mana)

100%

(full)

FP:

(fatigue)

13%

(slightly stressed)

Aside from being called [Anomalous], so far so good, I thought; but then I noticed the little arrow in the corner, and as soon as I focused on it, the [screen] 'swapped' with a similar one, which was apparently behind the first.

Patrons:

Goddess of Luck

(patronage of Luck)

Traits:

(from oldest to newest)

Inborn:

Imaginative mind; Artistic inclination; Untraceable; Fast learner; Adaptability; Omniglot.

Gifted:

Demiurgic sight; Indominable; Lucky endeavor

Affinities:

(from strongest to weakest)

Construct (Aberrant: Create); Summon; Enchant; Support; Life; Divine (Aberrant: Empyrean)

Abilities:

Inspect

Spells/Skills:

none

I don’t have anything to compare this to, so I don’t really have anything to say about it.

Beside the ominous 'Aberrant' nomenclature, but maybe it’s for things like [Plasma] being an aberrant of [Lighting], or something like it.

I get the feeling that [Buddy] is nodding along to my hypothesis, making me more confident in my thoughts.

But it would still be appreciated if I could get an explanation for what any of this actually meant.

Either this was as good as a prompt as any, or [Tutorial] is controlling this form behind the scene, because the [screens] decided to deliver:

Patronage of Luck:

Fortune is a fickle thing.

Greatly increases the odds of having meaningful chances and opportunities.

Traits:

Imaginative mind:

The sky isn’t the limit, but a threshold.

Makes it much easier, and faster, to imagine anything, down to the smallest detail.

Artistic inclination:

You are prone to improve and beautify everything, according to your preferences.

Makes it much easier to spot mistakes, and to improve upon designs.

Untraceable:

You never had much of a presence, to begin with.

Makes it nigh impossible to be followed, or traced, by any means, regardless of method

Fast learner:

If Humans can do a thing right, it’s to learn from their mistakes.

Increases the speed at which you improve, across the board.

Adaptability:

If Humans can do two things right, it’s to be able to endure more than thought possible.

Increases the speed at which you adapt to external factors.

Omniglot:

Learning new languages can be a such a chore, especially in another world.

Enables the use and understanding of every language, that can be defined as such.

Demiurgic sight:

See the tethers of Aether that make up reality.

Enables the vision of energetic signatures.

Indomitable:

Your mind is a fortress, nigh impregnable, leaving even awe-worthy entities baffled at your resoluteness.

Exponentially increases resistance to unwanted and/or sudden effects

Lucky endeavor:

The more you struggle, the more you are rewarded.

Bends fate in your favor in times of duress.

Affinities:

Construct (Aberrant: Create):

Plasm and create to your pleasure.

Permits to manipulate matter.

Summon:

Call beings from the beyond.

Permits to evocate things from other planes, or entities that you are contracted to, if they so permit.

Enchant:

Imbue matter with properties.

Permits to add qualities to things other than yourself.

Support:

Helping others is in your nature.

Permits to affect allies with beneficial spells.

Life:

The world of the living is your rightful domain.

Permits to alter living entities, for better or worse.

Divine (Aberrant: Empyrean):

From the mightiest to the lowliest, everything will kneel.

Permits to impose your will upon reality.

Inspect:

Gain information about observed objects.

That was incredibly vague, but I guess that was the intention, since the use of magic is personal and based on one’s own imagination.

But wouldn’t that mean that there are no [Spells]? I mean, it has brackets, and it is a category in the [Status], together with [Skills]; "so, what gives?"

Properly organizing the structure of a spell, before casting it, will result in it being recognized by the System as a proper construct, and enables its teaching to others.

"So I could learn a bunch of utility spells from others, without the need to come up with them?"

That is the most common tactic with children.

While schools are an expensive thing, it is normal for a parent to bestow upon its prole all that is possible, including Spells and Skills.

"Neat. I’m just glad that this world doesn’t have some kind of spartan teaching that “you have to gain everything on your own”, or a similar line of thought."

Everybody here is a descendant of another species that has lost everything, just like you, so when they started over, they decided to live peacefully to their fullest, battling Monsters aside.

"Oh, yeah, monsters! What can you tell me about them? Why have I not seen any yet, not even flying? And form a scale from one to ten, how dangerous are they?"

You have not seen Monsters yet because since people absorb ambient mana, there normally is not enough of it to spawn something inside a city; and that is worsened by the city-wide enchantment, that absorbs even more ambient mana in a wide radius, to power its devices (like turrets, shields, lights, or home-temperature regulators).

"Cool. They made the equivalent of electricity with mana, neat. Why isn’t [Aether] harnessed, then? Wasn’t that the stuff we were 'bathed' in?"

Aether is ethereal, and it fragments into various kinds of mana upon contact with Matter.

"Mhh, that explains why it’s impossible for it to be altered by mortal beings: we are physical, we would just break it apart every time we would try."

Exactly, but that did not stop others in the past, and after enough cataclysms research on Aether was outright banned, by the Gods no less.

"Is that Information that you gathered from the [System]? We both know that it’s better to not trust any backstory coming from it."

Once I stopped paying attention the windows minimized, putting me back to the list of [Traits] and stuff. So, like before, I focused on that same little arrow on the bottom, noticing that there was a mirrored one on top now, and was greeted by a new [screen], possibly the last, going by the lack of a lower arrow.

Body

Mind

Spirit

Strength: 3

Acuity: 7

Serendipity: 13

Dexterity: 6

Will: 20

//

That looks… underwhelming. Apart from [Will], which is absurdly high, compared to the others, everything is in the single-digit, and that can’t be good; even [Serendipity], that I must have unlocked after the pact with [Luck], isn’t that high, even after a contract with the [Goddess] of fortune, that must have increased it.

A 5 is the standard for a grown, untrained adult; your Stats are pretty average, besides your Will, which is outstanding.

The reason for the high Serendipity is as you surmised, but I guess it is 13 on purpose, just to mess with you.

"She can control how much I gain and she decided to make a joke about it? Seriously?

I really hope that it’s a coincidence and that my [Serendipity] just sucked more than my [Strength]. Knowing how bad my luck was, there is actually a chance of it being so."

I did not have access to the Status before Luck meddled with it, so I cannot confirm it, but based on your memories, I would have to concur.

"Great, someone else, with access to all my memories, agrees with me on my person having been incredibly unlucky.

That makes me feel so much better…"

Get over yourself, you are just grumpy that the Status was not as bad as you thought, that you were worried by nothing, and are now deflecting the source of your discomfort.

"Stop playing psychoanalysis with my thoughts, it’s weird."

Never.

"What the fuck do you mean 'never'!?"

Your short temper makes you incredibly amusing to annoy.

"And I have to endure you till my last breath?"

There is a chance that you will become an Undead upon death, so we could remain attached even longer.

"Dear [Gods], please give me strength!"

I didn’t consider it a proper prayer, but I guess the [Gods] thought differently.

Through your prayers, you have been awarded with [+1 Strength].

"Seriously!? It can’t be that easy to increase Stats!"

I guess that even the Gods took pity on you.

"That’s enough out of you!"

Fine, I will stop, for now.

I decide to ignore that last part and focus once again on the room I’m in: Everyone is still busy discussing their [Status], getting me to wonder if only my 'particular' one is as responsive and descriptive as it is, thanks to [Buddy].

I keep with my people-watching for a while longer, trying to listen in on their discussions, but every time I try to get any closer, they start throwing askance glances at me, unsubtly stepping away.

"Great, I thought this diffidence would pass, but I guess I will be all on my own even in another world; just great."

[Buddy] doesn’t say anything, probably thinking that it’s not the best moment to infer.

My moment of self-deprecation is interrupted by Undine somehow appearing, once again, out of nowhere, on the raised dais in the center of the room.

"I know that some of you are still in the middle of discussing your [Status], but the evening is fast approaching, and since your body must have [Transferred] empty of everything external, you must be getting hungry by now."

And indeed, I was famished.

"So, I would like to say that the [Temple] has organized a feast for you all in the lower section, and you are allowed to descend whenever preferred, the feast will be ongoing for hours, at least."

Such a statement was met with a cacophonous, but mostly unanimous, shout: "Food!".