“Um yeah, I do actually have a unique skill, it’s called portents.” I told both of the now very curious men staring at me.

“Well, what is the description of the skill then? Don’t leave us in suspense.” Knowles insisted.

“Description? I told you everything the blue box had written in it.” I replied, uncertain of what he meant.

“For the love of… what have you been teaching this girl Herbert?” Knowles demanded of Gunderson while waving his hand at me dismissively.

“Hey now, I only met her a little over an hour ago, we've had a lot of stuff to go over.” Gunderson responded defensively. “I was going to get to descriptions eventually.”

“This is why you brought her here, isn’t it? For me to just teach her everything in your place.” Knowles was starting to sound a little bit peeved. “I thought that you said you were ready to take on another one, that is what you told Irmingir.”

Another one? Another supernatural? Did Gunderson mentor and help others before me? It would make sense that I wasn't his first, given this was Gunderson’s job and his age. But the way Knowles said it made it sound more important and personal somehow. Also, who was this Irmingir? Their superior maybe.

“I am ready, I only brought her here to talk to you specifically because she has a magic-focused class.” Now it was Gunderson’s turn to start losing his cool.

This was already an irritating, and pointless argument in the making. If the goal they both had was to teach me, they should both just shut up with their bickering, and do what they claim it is they’re supposed to do.

“Shut up both of you.” I told them forcefully.

They both turned to look at me a little bit surprised. It was my turn now to be the pissed-off one.

“Can one of you please just explain what it is I don’t know instead of arguing and not teaching me the things you supposedly should be teaching me.” I didn’t want them to break out into another argument every time I didn’t know something about this stuff. And I could see that happening quite a lot with these things.

“Fine, you're right. Herbert and I have known each other a long time, and sometimes our history can distract us from the mission. So, the explanation for descriptions is simple.” Knowles told me, while seeming to have calmed down. “Focus on a piece of text the Akashic Record has presented to you and will it for more information. In this case, focus on the name of your unique skill, and will the Akashic Record to provide more information about it.”

“Alright…” I focused in on the specific word I wanted to know more about, ‘portents’.

Unique Skill - Portents

Dark dreams of warning and opportunity. A chance to experience visions of one possible future. Visions to show and forewarn of potential dangers you may face, or visions to hint at chance happenings that might lead you to great fortune and success.

I read aloud to them the description of my unique skill.

“Hmm a useful skill, even early on, but it doesn’t explain how you got it.” Knowles wondered out loud.

“Maybe she is descended from the Fae or Elves.” Gunderson guessed.

There were Fae and Elves? Were they monsters I’d have to fight too?

“Have you, your family, or your ancestors ever, willingly or unwillingly, been involved in any blood cults or practiced any form of ritual sacrifice?” Knowles inquired innocently.

“Uh no, I can safely say my family and I have never been involved in any blood cults or ritual sacrifice.” I replied with absolute confidence.

“Well, that still leaves Fae lineage as an option, do you know if any of your ancestors were…strange in any way? Maybe they had some weird rumors about them, or they were from a faraway place that no one has ever heard of.” Gunderson asked me politely.

“I mean, there’s nothing really like that I’m aware of.” I paused to consider Gunderson's odd suggestion about my family heritage. “I mean, there was Great Aunty Mildred who claimed she could talk with her cats, but everyone just assumed that it was dementia.”

“I’m guessing by your description that she is no longer with us?” Knowles guessed.

Were they actually giving serious consideration to the idea the Aunty Mildred could speak with her cats? Although, I suppose given all the other weird happenings I’ve seen, an old woman being able to speak with animals must seem pretty normal to these two.

“Yeah, she passed when I was around one or two I think?”

“Well, being unable to talk with them makes it hard to confirm anything, the only other options I can think of are that it originated from her class variant or possibly even a title.” Knowles theorized.

“A title? She hasn’t even been a supernatural for more than a week, how could she already have a title?” Gunderson asked Knowles loudly.

“It’s not any stranger than already having a unique skill Herbert. We may as well just have her check, if only to eliminate the possibility.” Knowles reassured him.

“Fine, you're right, can’t hurt to check.” Gunderson turned and looked at me expectantly.

When I didn’t react right away, Knowles rolled his eyes and started to explain. “Titles are special rewards and achievements that the Akashic Record gives out for completing dangerous or difficult tasks. It’s usually for something like defeating an exceptionally rare and dangerous monster, or finding a lost ruin or treasure.”

“Oh crap, you didn’t know about this.” Gunderson finally realized while smacking his forehead. He then cleared his throat to add on to Knowles’ explanation. “You can also acquire a title by saving lots and lots of people or completing the more strange and unique quests you can get. One example might be solving a seemingly impossible puzzle.”

“Huh, that is interesting, but I’d have to agree with you guys, I haven’t done anything like the examples you mentioned.” I told them.

“Still, it's a simple thing to check, you can do so like anything else with the Akashic system, think about it intently or say it out loud.” Instructed Knowles.

“Alright, titles?” I asked the air in front of me.

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Titles:

The O-@)(#!$^*%&~

“This is weird…” I told them.

“What?” Asked Gunderson curious at my reaction.

As Gunderson asked me that, the title continued to scramble itself up and turn into indecipherable gibberish.

Titles:

!$/~|#$^*({@)(#!$^*%&~

“Um, there is a title…” I started to explain. “But it's just a bunch of random symbols.”

“What?” This time it was Knowles to ask.

“I mean, it originally had a ‘The’ and an ‘O’ at the start followed by a mess of mixed up symbols, but after a few seconds even the readable part at the beginning turned into unreadable text.”

“You must be mistaken, what are you talking about?” Knowles insisted.

“I’m just telling what I see and what I saw. Originally there was a small bit of readable text for the title, and now it is all unreadable gibberish.” I replied with certainty. I know what I saw.

“I believe you, but what could this mean?” Gunderson reassured me while looking at Knowles for an explanation.

Instead of giving him one, he barked out more orders to me. “Check for a description.”

I did so, annoyed at the tone but still curious about it myself.

Title - !$/~|#$^*({@)(#!$^*%&~

%^#!@&%*<)(+/%$@^&#+|~?.-/:*][}{()=*#$>?#$%@”>@#?$

@#?%>$#!@&%*_}{<>"'|?/<)(+/%#^{}>>%$*@##*%%>@$%

“It’s just a longer line of nonsensical symbols that I can’t read.” I told them with some annoyance.

Knowles' expression scrunched up in confusion and suspicion.

“You’re not lying, are you? If you simply don’t wish to share information about a title you might have, just say so. Neither of us would mind.” Knowles insisted.

“I’m not lying, it's all just a bunch of gibberish.” I replied, not willing to back down at what I knew I saw.

“I believe her Knowles, she isn’t one to make up a story for attention or something like that.” Gunderson said calmly.

“Then what other explanation is there?” Knowles yelled at him. After his outburst, he tilted his head back in contemplation.

“Maybe we can still figure out which title it is based on the stats it gave her.” He finally asked after wracking his brain.

“Um, I don’t see anything here about stats or what it gives me…” As I told them this, a new line of text started to appear underneath the chaotic mess of symbols.

…This is a true statement, not having any statistical benefits attached to this title would not be appropriate…

“Uh…the blue box agrees that it should have some kind of statistical benefit.” I replied cautiously.

“What do you mean the blue box says, are there numbers listed there or not?” Knowles asked.

…This will appease you…

+5 Mind

+5 Spirit

+10 Aura

+10 Luck

“Um yes, they are there now.” I said.

“What do you mean now? What exactly are you seeing, young lady?” Knowles demanded.

“Easy now Agent Knowles, let her explain.” Gunderson jumped in.

“I told you exactly what I saw, there weren’t any stat numbers originally, only a short sentence agreeing that there should be. After a few seconds, a list of stat increases appeared along with a sentence saying ‘This will appease you’.” I explained slowly.

Gunderson looked at Knowles intently. “It couldn’t be, could it?”

“Assuming she is telling the truth, what other explanation is there?” Knowles replied.

“Could you explain what you mean to the new girl over here please?” I told them with a hint of annoyance to my voice.

“We think…” Gunderson tried to start before becoming lost for words.

“The only reasonable explanation is that the Akashic Record was speaking to you directly. Not the unthinking almost mechanical facts and requests you normally would see, but the conscious mind behind them.”

“Okay…” I replied not sure what to make of that.

“The Akashic Record is, as far as we know, a conscious entity, but it rarely if ever communicates with anyone.” Gunderson explained.

“And least of all with a newly minted supernatural, the only times it is regularly known to communicate are with those very high-level supernaturals who specialize in divination or analysis.” Knowles added on.

“But what about the mixed-up symbols that I have instead of a title.” I asked.

“It must be that the Akashic Record doesn’t want you to know what your title is, for some reason.” Gunderson ventured.

“That’s the only explanation I can see as well.” Knowles agreed.

“But why though, why hide my own title from me?” I asked.

Both men just shrugged.

“If you find out the answer to that, do let me know. I am also quite curious about that title.” Knowles requested offhandedly.

“The reports and records we have on direct interactions with the Akashic Record, suggest that it tends to be a bit…” Knowles paused searching for the right words.

“Sassy and rude.” Gunderson finished for him.

“That is not an incorrect description. Though ascribing human qualities like sassy and rude to it, may not be accurate. We don’t know if that is how it intends to come across, or its nature is just so different from ours that we are just misinterpreting its words to us.” Knowles explained

“In any case, you said that the title had stat numbers now, maybe they can still give us a clue.” Gunderson reminded.

“Ah right.” I said, looking back at the number it showed.

I relayed the numbers I saw and waited for their assessment.

“Well, that is pretty good for your first title, especially for having essentially started with from the beginning somehow.” Knowles concluded.

“So, you have an unreadable title and a unique skill already. Plus you have a variant class that we’ve never heard of before.” Gunderson mused aloud about my circumstances.

“Certainly a mystery.” Knowles agreed. “I hope you’ll find answers to those riddles, but to do so you’ll still have to survive.”

“Survive?” I asked with worry.

“He means fighting monsters.” Gunderson clarified.

“Exactly, you were brought here for advice on your class and skills, correct.” Knowles pointed out.

“I did. I suppose we get a bit distracted by other things.” I offered.

Knowles and Gunderson both seemed extremely willing to accept the strange and unexplainable things happening to me as if it was just an everyday normal thing for them. Perhaps it was, and I was the weird one who would just have to get used to it like they did.

“Strange mysteries, while interesting, won’t keep you alive.” Knowles declared. “What will keep you alive is a thorough knowledge of your class, your skills, and how to improve upon them.”

As he told me this he turned around on his swivel chair and reached for a large filing cabinet next to him. Pulling it open, he retrieved what looked like a large hardcover textbook.

“We should still go over your class skills, and future class paths, but this book should give you a chance to study on your own time.” Gunderson explained.

Turning back around to face me again, Knowles said. “This book will hopefully help answer many of the questions you have at the moment, at least when it comes to magic.”

Looking down at the book’s cover I could read the title ‘Basics of Magic’.