Chapter 8

 

‘[Identify]’

I was still having trouble understanding how exactly Clare distinguished what intentions were meant for them and what weren’t. And how exactly I wanted them executed. For example, during the bandit-carriage party skirmish, I just sub-vocalized [Identify] with the intention of knowing everything about everyone in the fight. And now, I had done the same but my intention was me. It just… it boggled my mind. Maybe I had become less smart when I came to the Realm of Mesily.

[Species: Human]

[Name: Hartie]

[Sex: Male]

[Level: 10]

 

Status:

[HP: 782/1062]

[MP: 1487/1487]

[SP: 1430/1637]

Attributes:

[Agility: 8]

[Constitution: 8]

[Endurance: 13]

[Intelligence: 12]

[Strength: 13]

[Vitality: 9]

[Wisdom: 12]

General Skills [3/3]:

                [Identify: 1]

                [Language Proficiency: 1]

                [Mana Manipulation: 1]

Skills:

[Bludgeons: 1]

[Fire Bolt: 1]

[Stealth: 1]

 

The General Skills were all there, and I had gained two more Skills. I couldn’t remember getting a notification about those. Or the increases in the Attributes section.

‘Clare, how come you never informed me when some of these things about me changed? Some of them are pretty important and I would have wanted to know.’

‘Notifications are disabled when you are in attention demanding situations. All of them happened during such times.’

‘Oh. Okay.’ That meant sense, and I did tell Clare to make those choices for me. But, ‘You should have informed me when the attention demanding situations were over that I had notifications.’

‘Noted.’

I knew where the [Fire Bolt] came from. The [Stealth] Skill was an easy guess, though I didn’t think I did that much to warrant it being there. The reasons for the Attribute changes were a little muddled for me.

‘Clare, how did I increase my Attributes?’

‘By gaining the necessary [Experience].’

[Experience]? I had thought there was no experience to be gained.

‘How exactly did I gain this [Experience]?’ I asked for clarity’s sake.

‘By pushing your body in a way that allowed you to perform more efficiently than it did before.’

It felt like Clare was intentionally saying things to keep me confused. I was honestly learning nothing from all the answers Clare was giving me. I decided to go for a different approach.

‘When did my Attributes gain [Experience]?’

‘Continual exertion of your body within its limits has being steadily adding to your [Constitution] [Experience]—’

‘I thought that worked in favor of [Endurance]?’

‘You gain [Endurance] [Experience] when you exert your body beyond its physical limits for extended periods of time.’

‘And [Strength]?’

‘Too much physical exertion for short periods of time. Like with the rock you were trying to move. Although, that was highly inefficient. You also gained [Wisdom] [Experience] during that time too, for figuring out how to get the rock to move. You had gained [Wisdom] [Experience] before, with the other big gain happening when you learnt how to use the Skill [Fire Bolt]. You gained [Intelligence] [Experience] that time, but not enough for a level.

‘[Agility] [Experience] was gained in lots of instances; during your engagement with the [Forest Pillar] and the [Cat Fish], climbing trees, the short sprint, and sneaking around the forest.’

‘So, all I have to do is gain [Experience] and I will level up my Attributes and Skills?’

‘Yes. But you have to train and use those Attributes and Skills to maintain the levels gained.’

Oh, dear. That was bad. Very bad. Having to train to maintain a Skill or an Attribute meant that due to the limited time I had as a human, there was a limit to how much I could gain in those areas. Back on old earth, the top tier athletes were always specialists in their sports. There was no room to be top tier in all of them. There went my dream of becoming invincible.

I would need to pick what I wanted to specialize in, and train it without neglecting the others. I was not interested in becoming a glass cannon. The only downside was that I had no idea what the different Attributes did, and how well they worked together. I could choose two only to find that they were complete opposite that tended to cancel each other out. More information was needed.

‘Clare, tell me more about the Attributes.’

‘[Agility] governs how quick, flexible and steady you are. Your ability to make quick precise movements. It makes it easier for you to wield and manipulate mana. It also makes it easier for you to improve your proficiency with weapons that need to be handled with dexterity.

‘[Constitution] is the general resilience of your body. It is a measure how well your body recovers physically from impairments. It is the base Attribute for your HP and SP regeneration speed and efficiency.

‘[Endurance] is the energy for continuing to do something over a long period of time. The power of sustained exertion. It is the base Attribute for your Maximum SP.

‘[Intelligence] is the measure of your comprehension capacity and the base Attribute for Maximum MP. [Wisdom] is the discretionary use of knowledge, and the base Attribute for MP regeneration. It also factors in how powerful your spells get.

‘[Vitality] is your health. It is the base Attribute for Maximum HP. And then there is [Strength]. It is the measure of hard you hit, how much damage you can physically deal.’

There were a lot of things that I didn’t understand about the Attributes but I got the gist of it. But since I was in a fantastical realm, I decided to first focus on what governed magic. I needed to be throwing fireballs all over the place. Especially ones as big as the one I had seen the carriage driver wield. Maybe bigger, the bandit leader had somehow had protection against that. Or was it that fire wasn’t as powerful as it was hyped up to be?

‘Clare, explain to me the difference between [Wisdom] and [Intelligence]. To me, they sound all the same.’

‘[Wisdom] is the ability to apply relevant knowledge in an insightful way, especially to different situations from that in which the knowledge was gained. [Intelligence] is the capacity of mind to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice.’

‘I’m still confused.’

‘Think of it this way, [Intelligence] is how much knowledge your mind can hold and [Wisdom] is how well you can use that knowledge.’

‘Hmm… it didn’t help at all. I’m not even going to ask about [Constitution] and [Vitality] now.’

‘You do not need to know what each Attribute means. As long as you know what they stand for and how they affect you, that should be enough. I can always tell you what Attributes are associated with a Skill or anything else relevant to you.’

‘Thanks, Clare-san.’

I was finally clearing the forest and emerging into the clearing before the palisade. I had chosen to avoid the road altogether while I was within the forest. I didn’t want to get jumped by some bandits and loose the few coins I had earned. I would need those for the time it would take me get established in the town, if it was such.

To me, it felt like more than an hour had passed since I left the river for the town. And the sun was already kissing the mountains and hills to the horizon. I was just glad it was to my left and not directly in front of me. I had had to fashion a belt for the baggy trousers. Apparently, the bandit leader was bigger than I was. It hadn’t appeared so from a far. I knew I looked like a ruffian, with my worn out clothes and shoes. I had tried my best to make them appear presentable, but there was a limit to how much could be done with them.

‘Clare, do you know the name of the town I am approaching?’ I asked as slowed my approach to the town. I needed to prepare myself mentally for the encounter.

‘No. I do not know detailed information about the planet. I am only knowledgeable in the workings of the System.’

There went the hope that Clare would tell me enough to get through the gates without raising any suspicions. I didn’t even know what kind of story to give when asked. Did I just say the truth and hope no one really care? Would that work? Or was the Realm of Mesily prejudiced against otherworlders?

I remembered Clare saying something in the lines of safety and species integration. But did that include individuals like me? Back on old earth, I read a story that had otherworlders prosecuted for existing. There might have been an anime with a similar storyline too. I decided to keep that information to myself until I learnt otherwise. Better safe than sorry.

It was very possible that revealing I was an otherworlder could lead to me treated lavishly. With food and shelter, and maybe even clothing, thrown at me for free. I could get to live a life of luxury while I occasionally went to fight off the occasional monster for the town. That would be the dream, the height of fantasy itself. I could see myself easily killing monsters while I gained levels faster than the locals, and in a few weeks, be so powerful that they would stand no chance against me. But killing alone didn’t get me levels in the Realm, and I had seen no monsters around that could warrant a career in monster hunting. The only animals I had seen were the typical animals one would find in a natural environment. The herbivores, omnivores and carnivores, and those that crossed those lines. There was no excess of any, just normal, normal life in the wild.

‘Is there anything you can tell me that would aid me in my quest to enter the town without raising eyebrows?’

‘Raising eyebrows?’

‘Suspicion, Clare.’

‘No.’

‘You seemed to know that I would not be discriminated based on my species, should that not apply here too?’

‘That was general information on the Realm as a whole. There could be pockets where discrimination of species happens. Besides, knowing what would rise suspicion on a town level is just beyond my capabilities.’

I could already start to make what appeared to be a gate in the palisade. It was closed, with a smaller one by the side opened to let someone in. There were people lined up for entry to the town, less than ten by my estimations. I would need to get closer to know for sure.

Claiming to be from another town or city was not really an option, considering I knew no city names for the Realm. How a System overseeing a whole Realm couldn’t know such things didn’t make sense to me. I was willing to bet that Clare was just withholding that information from me.

I decided to go with amnesia. There was no way people used to magic didn’t have exposure to amnesia. I was about to hit my head with my staff to make it more convincing before I remembered that magic could be blamed. And if that seemed far-fetched, I could always go with poison. Eww!

I was close enough to pick up sounds from the waiting queue, which was now only five people. Four, as another person was allowed into the town. I could see a few others approaching from the other side of the road, in the direction of the fields. I guess it made sense not to have the fields close to the forest edge. There were two guards with only their bodies visible on top of the palisade. They both had what appeared to be crossbows. Loaded and roughly aimed at the queue.

I made it to the queue with just two people left. I had tried to walk slowly to let the ones I could see approaching arrive before me, but they were too far away and walked way too slowly. It looked so to me. In front of me was a man, several centimeters taller than me and also bigger of frame. He was carrying a hoe on his shoulder and a shortsword at his hip. His clothes were of a better quality than the ones I wore. But mine were cleaner. He must have been working in the farms. He advanced as the person ahead of him was let through.

This close, the palisade wall was tall. I estimated that it was around five meters in height. The gate itself was around the same length. The part that didn’t include the small gate, that is.

“Card or fee,” a bored and gruff voice said from a small opening by the side of the small gate. It was just enough for the head of the man inside to be visible from outside. I couldn’t even get a clear view of him with the taller guy ahead of me blocking my view. And the opening being waist level didn’t help.

I saw the taller guy produce a small rectangular piece of wood and place it on a ledge in the opening. The main inside picked it and after a several long seconds, returned it. I then heard the sound of metal rubbing against another metal as the taller guy picked his card and pushed the door open. He disappeared inside. I tried to get a glimpse of the inside but the door closed too fast for me to see anything.

“Card or fee,” the bored and gruff voice said again.

‘I do not have a card,’ I replied.

The man then looked at me questioningly. He had slightly wrinkled skin with a touch of gray in his hair and beard. He was old, maybe in his late fifties if people aged the same as back on the old earth. His look kept changing slightly as he kept staring at me. Getting more annoyed if I was reading him correctly.

“Are you deaf? Do you have a card or are you paying a fee to get in?” he asked. His voice had gained an anger tone to it.

‘I just told you…’

Then it clicked, I was subvocalizing like I had been doing for most of the time I had been to the Realm of Mesily. I cleared my throat before speaking,

“No card.”

I wanted to berate myself for such a minimalistic sentence. I couldn’t even come up with a whole complete sentence? It was just the usual old me, having issues talking with people, especially the ones in positions of power. Which the gate-guard clearly was. I was just glad it had been in the Common Tongue. I could have spoken in one of the four other languages I knew. That would have been the opposite of not rising suspicions.

“That will be two coppers,” he replied, still angry.

I quickly fished out two coins from the pouch and went to place them on the ledge. I pulled back just in time and checked what I had picked. A gold and a silver. I returned them fast and picked again slower. Making sure that I only picked the copper ones. Then placed them on the ledge.

The gate-guard picked them carefully before inspecting them. He eyed me as his hands disappeared below the ledge, suspicion clear on his face. Damn my nervousness, I would need to be careful for a while. I heard the same sound of the small gate being unlocked and moved to it immediately.