With a fixed direction, I began to walk away from the place where I woke up, realizing that I had just been walking in circles while checking my skill guide and looking at my status.
"I guess I like walking while I think," I dismissed the passing thought and kept walking.
The forest floor, although it had some irregularities like roots or bushes, wasn't too difficult to walk on, and the tree branches were too high to bother me. I continued walking for several minutes following the world map, but without finding anything of interest until an idea occurred to me.
"Why don't I try analysis?"
I quickly tested the skill on a tree.
{
Tall Forest Tree
Quality: Common
A healthy specimen of a tall tree, this tree species grows in a wide variety of forests around the continent of Aetheria. Generally, its wood is used for making furniture or houses, as it is quite hard.
}
"There's more information than I thought. Also, it seems that the continent I'm on is called Aetheria," I said as I kept walking.
"I wonder, what will it say if I analyze a bush?"
{
Purple Fence Bush
Quality: Common
A common edible fence bush throughout the continent of Aetheria. Various types of small herbivorous monsters feed on them, and adventurers regularly consume them in the forest for their sweet taste if they don't have better options.
}
"So they taste good."
I said as I approached the bush and took a vine.
"The description says it's edible," I said before eating the vine.
"Mmm! It actually tastes good," I exclaimed.
After noticing the taste, I started eating more, and then I thought, why not save some in my inventory?
So, I opened my inventory, which appeared as a light gray circle floating in the air less than a meter (3.281 feet) away from me. With a slight hesitation, I put my hand into the circle and felt as if I could simply leave the vines there. And so I did, I withdrew my hand, and the vines were no longer in it. Out of curiosity, I put my hand in again, and now I felt like I could just take and remove the vines from the inventory with just a thought. But then I noticed something; there were three more things in the inventory. Curiously, I decided to take one of them, which turned out to be a book, the introduction to Otherworlds!
When I started to look at my status, I left it on the ground and forgot about it. But how did it get into my inventory?
"...Magic, I guess."
I decided it wasn't worth thinking too much about it and returned the book to the inventory. I looked at the other two items, which turned out to be a knife and a hooded cloak. I used analysis on both, and they showed they were both common quality items made of iron and monster leather respectively.
Since it wasn't too hot (although it wasn't too cold either), I put on the cloak, looked at the knife, and seeing that I didn't have a place to put it, I returned it to my inventory.
"Well, time to keep walking."
...
I walked for what I think were hours, considering the position of the sun if it moves the same way as on Earth. Also, during this time, I only encountered two species of animals or monsters. The first was a kind of red squirrel that ran away when it saw me, and the second was a herd of what I think are deer, but these are different from those on Earth. Firstly, they were all dark gray except for their antlers, which were a paler gray, and all members of the herd had them, which struck me as strange because the females don't have horns. So, I thought it was a herd of only males, or so I thought until I saw the deer walking at the front, which was two heads taller than the other deer. I used analysis on it.
{
Alpha Steel Antler Deer Level: 23
}
When I saw its level, I crouched down and waited for the herd to pass without noticing me. There's no way I could fight that deer with just a knife.
I hid for a few minutes until it was safe to pass, and continued walking without encountering anything. I thought maybe I would reach the mission village without any problems when I heard something running through the forest. The noise grew louder, so I assumed it was approaching my position. Quickly, I took out the knife from my inventory.
I knew there were ways to fight using a one-handed knife, but I didn't know any, so I held it with both hands. The noise grew louder, and I tightened my grip on the knife handle as my hands trembled. The noise kept getting louder, and I prayed to Vitalia that whatever was making the noise wouldn't be dangerous. But it seemed my prayers weren't heard because the next moment, a gray wolf emerged from behind the bush, coming to a sudden stop when it saw me.
I stood frozen in place, not moving, and didn't react until the wolf lowered its head slightly and started growling at me, baring its teeth. I took a step back, knowing that meant it was about to attack. I used analysis on it.
{
Gray Wolf Level 13
}
My eyes widened when I saw that the wolf was more than 10 levels higher than me. At that moment, I also noticed that the wolf had several wounds all over its body, from which blood was dripping. I think those wounds were the reason why it hadn't attacked me yet.
I couldn't run; if I turned my back, I would only make things easier for it. Maybe if I wait for it to—
Bang
My thoughts were interrupted when the wolf suddenly fell to the ground with a hole in its head. It happened too fast for me to see what it was, but I could swear I saw a red sphere piercing through its skull. Then, I heard footsteps in the grass again, but this time, it wasn't a wolf. Instead, it was an elderly woman gasping for air.
"Ahaa! You darn wolf, don't you know it's wrong to make an old lady like me run!" exclaimed the old woman after catching her breath and raising her fist. Then, she seemed to barely notice my presence. "Hooo, and who might you be, young one?"
I stood frozen with the knife in my hand, unsure of what to say.
"Are you alright, dear?" she asked upon noticing my lack of response.
"I, uh... Yes, I'm fine, thank you."
"You're welcome, dear," said the old woman as a smile formed on her wrinkled face. I couldn't tell her age, but she seemed quite elderly, with her hair white from age, her face wrinkled, and her eyes brown. She was hunched over, but even at full height, she would still be taller than me.
"And tell me, what's a young girl like you doing in this part of the forest?"
"I..." I didn't know how to respond. What could I tell her? The goddess of life summoned me to this forest a couple of hours ago. I couldn't say that, so I said the first thing that came to mind. "I got lost."
"Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Y-yes, I got lost."
"I suppose you're from the village further south, aren't you?"
"Yes!" I replied, perhaps a bit too eagerly.
"...And do you know that it's about 6 hours more of walking from here?"
I didn't know how to respond. The mission said the village wasn't far, so why another 6 hours of walking?!
Seeing the expression on my face, the old woman said, "Would you like to spend the night at my house? It's not far from here, just about a 20-minute walk."
After thinking for a moment, I said,
"Yes, please."
where as soon as something is unlocked, it's shown immediately and all at once, or do you prefer it to be shown as the skills are used
I think it would be better if the skills showed themselves as they were used.