Chapter 2

The days pass quite peacefully. I’m actually so at peace that I would be giving a Buddhist monk a run for his money.

The sun rises over me from what I assume to be east and sets to what I assume to be the west.

My new life is uneventful.

And the boredom is making me insane!!!

Please, something happen!

Skills allow one to perform actions that would normally be impossible.

What does that have to do with me?

Maybe you can learn a skill that will help keep you entertained.

Hmm well it’s not like I have anything better to do. Okay, how does one learn a skill?

Some skills are learned by repeating an action so many times, it becomes ingrained in your body and manifests as a skill. The other way to learn skills is by investing skill points obtained by leveling up.

Hey, that was actually pretty helpful. How do I level up?

By defeating monsters, learning new things, or practicing a skill.

I see… I wonder how close I am to the next level?

You have 70 experience and are 70% to the next level.

Close! But I haven’t done anything? No wait, I’ve been learning a bunch of stuff from Advice. That must have contributed. Well then, let’s finish off this level, shall we?

Hey Advice, teach me about something I don’t know.

Like what?

Like, uh… what kind of tree is that over there?

That one? A maple tree I guess?

Oh? Never new that. Now how close am I to leveling up?

You have 71 experience and are 71% to the next level.

…

1%?!

Learning things is a terrible way to level up!

The experience gained is proportional to how much you learn about something.

Guh! Fine then let’s work on a skill then. Any idea what would be a good one?

How about [Detect Presence]? This skill is pretty good.

Alright, how do I get it?

Close your eyes and try to sense the creatures around you.

Sounds simple enough.

I can’t close my eyes, but instead cut off my vision of the world. It’s now complete black.

To get this skill I have to sense other creatures. I listen carefully to my surroundings.

I hear the rustle of the leaves.

The whisper of the breeze.

…

And not a single sound by an animal.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t even heard birds chirping or the sound of insects.

Isn’t that weird? Somehow… I don’t like this…

Skill acquired! [Bad Omen] has been added to the skill list!

Even though I hear the sounds of an upbeat fanfare, there is nothing good about what I got. Even though I’d really like to ignore this skill, Advice, what does it do?

[Bad Omen] this skill is passive and will warn the user of an impending unfortunate event, by way of annoying nagging doubts.

…Well at least it’s better than I thought?

The impending unfortunate event can happen between a range of tomorrow, up to a year.

Nope. I take it back, this skill is shit.