Idle

After confirming that our physical body was linked very closely with our HP, I helped Cielle move her sister onto a cleared away table. Except for an initial groan of pain, Cielle's sister didn’t really react much.

She just continued to heavily pant and groan.

Oh right, apparently, Cielle’s sister is named Hina. I’m not really good at names so I wonder if I can memorize that...

Cielle went and checked over her sister’s injury. She had done this earlier when she first came into the room, but now, filled with renewed hope, she checked more earnestly. She was looking for anything that might indicate an abnormal effect, somthing similar to [bleeding status].

It was important to check for these, since abnormal effects can stop or halt hp regeneration.

Unfortunately, we had no way of looking at her sister’s status window, so the only thing we could do was diagnose her with our amateur opinion.

Of course we couldn’t really make a proper diagnosis, considering we’re just high school students with little medical experience, but at least it was better than doing nothing.

After some deliberation, we concluded that she had suffered a heavy loss of blood. We didn’t know whether or not she had any internal bleeding, or whether there was anything else wrong with her, but it was the best we could do.

After finding a first aid kit tucked away behind the teacher’s desk, Cielle went and treated the external injuries of her sister.

While she was doing this, I had some time to think.

I casually limped over to the backpacks strewn across the room, and looted-- I mean, checked if there was any food. My mind wandered as I continued this monotonous task.

I once again focused on the absurdity of this event. Before long, my mind shifted towards my recent discovery.

If hp had such an effect on a person, then it wouldn’t be wrong to think the stats like agility, and strength acted the same. Maybe mana was like that too, but since it was something that really didn’t exist in the previous world, I still had my doubts.

Although not that it mattered. I already knew I couldn’t use any mana thanks to that ability of mine.

Speaking of that abilities, what exactly was it suppose to do?

According to the screen, it said something along the lines of “equipping items”. That really didn’t make much sense.

If it were something more orthodox like super strength or telekinesis, then I could have immediately confirmed, but [Equip] was a bit too vague. How exactly was I suppose to equip items?

I didn’t really see one of those equipment menus in my status window, so that brought even more confusion to my situation.

While I was thinking such thoughts, Cielle called me over with that trademark soft voice of hers which I had already began to attribute with her rather ‘soft’ personality.

“What is it Cielle?” I asked while walking over. I had a granola bar in hand which I found while looking through the bags.

I unwrapped it and handed half to Cielle while she began to talk.

“Um… what should we do next?”

She said something rather vague, but I kinda understood she was referring to her sister. Hina was now wrapped up in gauze and bandages. Her breath was a lot more even than before, but still, her face was unnaturally pale.

If this was any normal situation, I would have been at a lose as for what to do next. But luckily, this situation wasn’t normal, and the rpg-esque scenario gave me some semblance of familiarity.

I sat on the table and thought for a moment.

We really didn’t have many options. I didn’t quite know for sure, but there was a high chance that a status effect was disrupting Hina’s hp regeneration.

If this was the case, then we were really left with only two options.

One, was to remedy and fix the status effect. I knew this was possible, going by how a quick bandage made [bleeding effect] on my leg disappear. On the other hand, we didn’t know what type of status effect she had, or if she had one in the first place.

The second option was to forcibly  rise her hp. If she couldn’t do it herself, then we would do it for her. Although a big issue to this was I didn’t really know how to do that.

In rpg’s, a simple potion or healing spell could do such an easy task, but as to whether these two things existed, well, that was still up for debate. And if they did exist, I didn’t have a way to aquire them.

“....”

Although, maybe if we’re lucky, a potion or something could fall as loot from a defeated monster. Since exp could be gained from killing one, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that their would be item drops.

But this brings up a whole ‘nother slew of problems. Would monster’s even drop potions? How exactly were we going to kill a monsters? How high is our level gap?

I sighed.

It was tough coming up with an on the spot solution like this.

I looked over at Cielle.

Her head was bowed down, and her hair covered her face, but I could kind of tell she was earnestly worrying about her sister.

Seeing her like this was a bit refreshing for my heart, but the expectations she had developed was kind of a major burden.

I sighed once more, which attracted Cielle’s attention.

“Have you thought of anything yet?” She asked.

I awkwardly scratched my head while playing with my words. “Um… I don’t have anything concrete, but I atleast know what we’re going to do.”

“Oh!” Her face brightened, and the octave in her voice rose.

“Y-yeah, for now, we’ll heal your sister.” I declared with false bravado.

“Oooh.. *sniff*....”

Cielle started to whimper, and for a moment, I thought she was going to break down and cry again. Luckily, she was able to regain her demeanor, as she nodded with conviction towards my direction.

“Then, what are we going to do?” She asked.

“Hmm… for now, we’ll have to go over to the infirmary. I don’t think the first aid kit will be enough for your sister… and it would be good if the school nurse managed to survive…”

I smiled bitterly as I looked down.

I didn’t really know the nurse, actually, I never ever visited the school infirmary, but having her in this situation would be much more helpful and reassuring.

Cielle responded to my words with an enthusiastic nod while she spoke.

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“Actually, before I stumbled into you, Hide, I was planning on going to the infirmary to see if anyone could help my sister…. Although I was a bit reluctant to leave her alone…”

I nodded at this.

“It would be bad to leave Hina alone, so one of us has to stay behind while the other looks for help…”

“I-I see…” She had a troubled expression after hearing my words.

“Ah, no, I’ll be the one who goes out to look for help, so you don’t need to worry.” I confirmed.

Sometime’s being a man means you have to stand up when people are in trouble. Volunteering like this might have been unusual for the normal me, but situation changes people.

“Ah, no, I didn’t mean to…” While Cielle was earnestly trying to deny this, a micro expression of relief couldn’t help but show itself on her face.

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll make go once my leg fully heals so….. in about 1 hours and thirty minutes.”

It was troublesome that the health regeneration was so slow, but I guess it can’t be helped. Besides, I’m sure there are ways to boost it up in the future.

After confirming our pseudo plan, I went about the room in an effort to waste that 1 hour and thirty minutes.

Cielle was currently looking after Hina, while I was back to looting the backpacks and checking the cabinets.

This time, I was looking for a weapon of sorts. It was pretty dangerous out in the halls so I needed something to protect myself. Plus, the infirmary was pretty far from here, and I doubted I could make it there without stumbling into a monster.

No, I had another plan.  I was going to bet on the flimsy gamble that monsters might really drop loot, and that if I was lucky, they would drop a potion or two. And in order to hunt down monsters, I was going to need a weapon.

After a while, I found a box cutter in one of the cabinets. It didn’t really look intimidating, and its effectiveness was questionable, but one thing did bring me comfort; it’s stats.

Boxcutter

A tool used for cutting paper and cardboard. It’s not much of a weapon.

Damage: 4 -10

+3 strength

+2 Agility

Durability: 7/9

Surprisingly, this thing gave bonuses and effects like any other weapon in an rpg or mmo. I expected something like this to happen, but I only thought really weapons, like swords, or maybe even guns would be affected.

It’s weird seeing a status screen for a flimsy boxcutter.

Nevertheless, a weapon was a weapon, and stats were stats. I pocketed the object, and rummaged around the cabinets some more. I managed to find another boxcutter, but its stats were a bit different than the original.

This one had a damage of 5-8, while it gave 1+ to strength and 2+ to agility. To be short, it was of lower quality than the first one.

After procuring these objects, I moved back towards Cielle and handed her the second boxcutter.

“Huh?” She looked questioningly at the mini knife in her hands.

“You need a weapon while I’m gone. Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but a monster might come here or something.”

Hearing these words, Cielle shivered in fear. After she calmed down, I continued explaining.

“It might not look much, but at least the stats are decent.”

I flashed what I thought would be a reassuring smile as I finished explaining.

This smile was returned by another questioning look.

“Stats? what are you talking about?” She asked.

“Huh? The stats on the boxcutter. This one gives a boost in strength and agility.” I explained.

“And I’m asking what stats? I don’t see any stats.”

As if to prove her point, she moved the boxcutter around and looked at it from numerous perspectives. In the end she shook her head as if to say, “it’s hopeless”.

“You can’t see it?” I asked in a tone of disbelief.

“I guess not?” She stated while tilting her head to the side.

“I see… well, I’m going to see if I can find another weapon then, one that’s a little more reliable than a small boxcutter.”

I left the second boxcutter with Cielle as I moved back over to the cabinets and backpack.

I rummaged around while my head was lost in thought.

Why couldn’t Cielle see the stats? They were there as plainly as my own stats were. She should have been able to see them like me… Maybe she was lying? No, I doubt that’s the case. She genuinely looked like she had no clue what I was talking about. Then why? Why couldn’t she see it?

Maybe it wasn’t her.. maybe it was me? Maybe I'm the one who’s odd. Maybe I’m the only one who could see the boxcutter’s status screen...but why? I mean, we both should have been able to see it, our situation’s practically all the same. The only thing that sets me apart from Cielle is...my….

…. ability.

Ding!

As if to confirm, a ringing sound vibrated through my mind as a new window opened up in front of me.

Congratulations! Do to further understanding of your skill, [Equip], new information has been unlocked.

Followed by this, [Equip]’s status screen flashed in front of me, but this time, there were noticeable changes.

[Equip] (Active)

Skill Type: Unique

Skill Rank: Beginner

Skill Level: 1

Skill Experience: 5.43%

Effects:

Enables user to equip items. Items are granted stat bonuses. Weapon bonuses are only applicable to the skill owner. Consumable items may vary.

(???)

(???)

Available Sub-skills:

Identification

Demerits:

You cannot use mana.

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