It didn't take much to get the image of my mother pulverizing a goblin, but it took me a while to get the image of me being pulverized in the same way for angering my mother out of my mind.
Okay, she probably wouldn't strike me down with lightning, but being an angel and me a vampire (half vampire), any outburst of emotion might cause some kind of "light" reaction, and since one of my abilities is [weakness to light]....
So... yeah, it is what it is....
"You really need to stop getting so depressed about your mother being an angel. Especially considering you haven't even seen her yet."
Mari said, exasperated and a little irritated.
"You have no idea how worried she was about you, not to mention Dad and I... Well, it doesn't matter, the point is, we were all worried about you not waking up. Now that you're here, are you just going to be depressed about Mom being an angel?! If you're just going to be like that, you might as well hole up in your room or find another place; there must be plenty of them out there now!!!"
She said all this in one breath. The part that hurt the most was that she was right; you can't just stay down about this. And knowing my parents, they're not the type to leave me alone over disagreements, even though they're much more... direct now.
Slapping myself in the face a few times, I finally decided to stop caring and said,
"You're right, I'm not going to worry about it. But now tell me, why are you here and they're not? Where are they anyway?!"
"Oh, I was just about to start talking about that."
She said, pausing for a moment and waving her hand in the air, and then a can of Coca-Cola appeared and she drank it.
"Well, right after Mom sprayed the goblin on us—"
"Wait a minute!!!!"
I spoke with a little more force than I intended.
"What's wrong, crazy?!"
"Where did that come from?!"
I said, pointing to the can.
"Oh, obviously, I had it in the [item box]."
"Item box, is that one of your skills?!"
"Yes, a skill I got with AP. Oh, you still haven't done the skill allocations and acquisitions, have you?"
She said, looking at me with a mix of surprise and pity.
Okay, honestly, I don't think I needed that; it was just a little thing that slipped my mind. But come on! You can't blame me on that one. I haven't even had 10 minutes to understand how things are since I drained that goblin (hhhhaaaa the memory of the taste of blood again, uugggfff).
"Okay, before we continue, let's fix this quickly. Oh yeah, can I see your status too? I want to see what differences we have now. Or is the status only visible to the person?"
I've seen several stories where it was like that.
"Okay, but don't judge me. I had to rent them in a hurry during fights. I didn't have the time off like you do now."
"But at least you were with Mom and Dad, and your dogs, right?"
I countered, to which she just looked away.
"You can just do that now. We still have more important things to do."
Okay, okay, then let's see first.
[Name: Fernando Bezerra
Level: 1
Race: Dhampir (half-vampire)
Job: none (selectable)
Pt: 3
At: 5
HP: 7/15
Mp: 20/20
Condition: Hungry, Slightly Stunned
Str: 4
Def: 3
Agi: 3
Mag: 2
Mag Def: 0
• Unique Ability: Resistance
Skills: (selectable)
Racial Abilities: Blood Magic 0, Night Vision 1, Body Enhancement 1, Advanced Senses 1, Obsidian Claws 1, Bloodsucker 2, Weakness to Light 2, Vulnerability to Heat 2.]
I clicked on my status first to distribute the points. This is usually what I did in games, since in many games, status also influences the abilities you can gain.
Since I don't have much of a clue how the world works right now, I decided to choose the stats I think will help me the most: strength, agility, and magic.
Strength and agility are obvious; I was able to cross meters in seconds and catch the goblins by surprise, even when one tried to fight back. And thanks to the agility, [enhanced senses], and [body reinforcement] combination, I could literally land three fatal blows in a second before he could react.
And magic, since I already have a magical ability, [blood magic], I have no idea how to use it, but even if it just serves as a distraction, it's something.
As soon as I made my choices, I felt a warm feeling spread through my body, but it quickly disappeared, like the warmth you feel when your heart pumps more blood. Other than that, I didn't feel any major changes, but it was only one point each.
Now comes the part that's usually the most fun: the skills. As soon as I clicked on the [selectable] tab, a large screen with skills to choose from appeared.
[Skills:
Unarmed Combat I (1ap)
Knife Fighting l (1ap)
Fencing l (1ap)
Archery l (1ap)
Body Reinforcement ll (1ap)
Vulnerable to Light I (3ap)
Cooking l (2ap)
Cleaning l (0ap)
Enhanced Senses ll (2ap)
Dark Magic ll (3ap)
Fire Magic l (5ap)
Water Magic l (5ap)
Reading l (0ap)
Hide l (1ap)
Silent l (1ap)
Sleep Resistance ll (0ap)
Fear Resistance ll (1ap)
Pain Resistance ll (1ap)
Disease Resistance ll (1ap)
Antisocial l (+2ap)
Appraisal l (4Ap)
Item Box l (4Ap)
Appraisal l (5Ap)
Experience Bonus (8Ap)
Hunger l (+1Ap)
Negotiation (6Ap)
Necromancy l (7Ap)
....]
There were even more, but these were the ones that caught my eye.
"Hmm, so these were the ones you're most compatible with. That makes a lot of sense."
So focused on the skills, I didn't even notice Mari approaching me, or that she'd reverted to her pixie form and was sitting on a fern leaf near my head.
"Aahhh!!!!!, are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"
"Don't be dramatic. So, have you decided which ones you're going to get?"
"I just started looking at the skills, shouldn't I see the effects of each one first?!"
"Do you really want to read what each one does? How long do you think we have before more goblins or other things show up?!"
That's true, even with Nawa, Lumi, and Pomo (I still don't get the name) acting as guards, they can't just enter through the front door.
"Okay, genius, then what would you say to do?"
One of the things my dear little sister always loved was telling me what to do, from what to wear when we went out to how I should act and how to cut my hair.
Of course, most of the time I didn't listen or do something that made her angry, even if it affected my clothes a little... let's not talk about that much, okay.
"First of all, get all the free skills. Second, carefully consider whether it's worth getting a skill that increases AP. And third, choose something that's both offensive and defensive. Fourth, carefully distribute your AP to get booster and utility skills. And fifth, definitely get an item box."
….
They were... actually pretty good points, especially since despite having an AP limit, there's no skill limit, so I could choose as many skills as I wanted.
"But is it worth taking something like [Cleaning] and [Reading] in the world as it is now?"
I asked, looking at her, who didn't seem to care much about having some seemingly useless skills.
"For those, I think you should check the description."
I did so, and this appeared.
[Cleaning 1: The skill allows you to clean floors and furniture more efficiently.
Slightly increases a tiny amont of vision and agility.]
[Reading 1: Allows you to read faster and better retain the knowledge gained. Slightly increases a tiny amont of intelligence and vision.
• Caution: Using this skill constantly can damage your retina.]
Hmm, interesting.
"See, even non-combat skills can help with status. Besides, even though the world is chaotic, it doesn't mean the whole society has collapsed... Not yet, at least. (I hope.)"
She didn't sound very confident when she said this.
"And that being said, even someone who cleans well might still be able to get a job, or someone who reads quickly could earn a good salary. Maybe when the world gets back on track, these skills might end up becoming the most popular?!"
She definitely didn't sound confident when she said this, a little desperate, actually.
"Okay, what about the skills that increase AP?"
"Obviously, these skills come with greater demerits than merits. Like this [Antisocial], look at the description."
[Antisocial: Distrustful of everyone around you, including family, preferring solitude. Decreased ability to interact with others.
Increases distrust of strangers.
Increases hostility strangers have toward you.
Slightly increases recovery within your safe space.
Decreases charisma.]
That's a lot of demerits.
"Just one thing, the last one wouldn't apply to you as much since you don't even have a charisma section in your stats. Buff."
She said with a laugh, which obviously irritated me, but she was right. Why didn't I have a charisma section?
"Hey Mari, do you have a charisma section?"
"Of course, check it out."
She said, waving her hand again, and soon a new tab appeared in front of me, but instead of being blue like mine, it was green.
[Name: Mari Martins
Level: 7
Race: Pixie (fairy of the woods and animals)
Job: Tamer
AT: 0
AP: 0
HP: 25/35
MP: 23/90
Condition: Slightly drowsy (constant)
Str: 8
Def: 6
Agi: 7
Cha: 4
Mag: 12
Mag Def: 9
Unique Ability: Drowsiness (Sloth)
Skills: Item Box l, Negotiation l, Reading l, Body Reinforcement l, Fire Resistance l, Meditation ll, Track l, Taming ll.
Racial abilities: Green Magic II, Spirit Sight II, Animal Communication II, Pixie Form, Mana's Beloved, Weakness to Fire II.]
Heeee, there's a lot there. But wait a minute.
"Why don't your items appear if you have an item box?"
"It's one of the magics of the item box; the items are only visible to the user; no one knows what's inside, including weapons."
In any self-respecting universe, if you have the chance to have an item box, GET IT!