Jacob stared up at the ceiling of the room he'd been handed by that middle-aged inn lady. The room isn't something he was used to, just a simple square place that by his estimation, is 12 by 8 feet in size. Sitting to his right is a towel that he used to dry himself as and to his south is a rack where he hung his now wet shirt, his pants are gonna have to wait until the inn lady decides to give him the spare clothes that her "little boys" have. She had told him as much after she realized that Jacob didn't have any spare pants and he, being in a more or less desperate situation couldn't be more happier to indulge her help.

A knock came on the door a little while later and Jacob stood up from the chair he's sitting in, the wooden thing was soaked with rain water and looking at it, he felt thankful that he didn't try to lie down in bed with his pants on. 'The inn is definitely more thankful, though.' He mused at the thought of the inn lady doing her best to wash and dry the covers as he walked to the door, a simple twist of the knob later and he was greeted by the sight of a brown haired girl with freckles on the bridge of her nose.

"H-hi!" she said.

"Hello, do you have my pants?" As he said that, Jacob looked down and sadly didn't see the pair of trousers he'd been expecting, in its place was a tray of food that made him go hungry just from looking at. The bowl of grayish soup he did not know but Jacob can smell the scent of mutton wherever he ends up, "Ah, bread, mutton and..?" he trailed off.

"Vegetable soup, sir!" The girl's head moved down to bow but she quickly stopped, lest she spill the tray of food. "I- I hope you like it!"

Jacob resisted the urge to chuckle and instead chose to be polite, "You don't have to act like that in front of me you know?" He said, pointing at himself and hitting the vest of his jacket, "I'm fine with being referred to casually."

"Uh- Okay-" The girl got cut off as a head with light-brown hair peeked out of the door, the young kid looked just about the age of 6, a far cry from his teenage looking... sibling? Cousin? The place was deep enough into the Tavern that Jacob assumed the only ones going here would be family so sister it is, then. "Rega!" She hissed, almost dropping the tray of food as she tried to swat the boy's head away.

Jacob took it from her, "Thank you," he said, "And, hello." He said, bending down. The action caused the boy to shy away and move to the back of the walls again, far from Jacob's line of sight. "He seemed nice," he said.

"He is!" The girl actually beamed at that, "He can be a bit... silly at times but he's not a bad kid."

Jacob nodded, "I see, then. Again, thank you," And with that, Jacob grabbed the handle of the door and began pulling.

"Wait!" He looked down, seeing the face of Rega again.

"Yes?" He asked,

"A-are you a [Mage]?"

Jacob nodded, "Something like that. Why?"

"Can I see a spell?!" The excitement of the kid gave Jacob paused, "I've never really seen one before you know?!"

Jacob hummed and silently eyed the girl in front of him, who seemed to be content in watching Rega ask him for a spell. Mages are undoubtedly uncommon in this world- or at least he likes to think so - but he assumes that the reason why the kid hadn't seen a spell yet is because he lives in a village, one that's probably far from any mage-bearing capital.

"Hmm..." He hummed and made a show of considering it, the two siblings looked expectant enough and he guessed that a [Shield] is a good demonstration but that wouldn't satisfy the kid, maybe a weak [Bolt] wouldn't ruin the walls?

"Okay." He said and Rega looked excited, "My main spell is pretty damaging so I'm only gonna do a simple [Shield] spell okay?" Rega nodded and with that, Jacob channeled [Shield] until it was full and then finally cast it, "there we go," he said.

"Why is it yellow?" Asked the girl. Her face went red when Jacob stared at her, embarrassed, she started explaining, "It's just that- you know I've seen one before?" She said fervently, "Unlike Rega." She quickly added, throwing her sibling under the bus.

Jacob considered his answer and eventually decided for ambiguity, "That's a secret." He said with a stiff smile, "Now, I'm gonna close the door okay?"

They both nodded and with permission given, Jacob shut the door on the two and proceeded to eat his meal. He checked his system as he did.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Health: 20/20

Amp: 28/28

Class: Energy Mage (Lvl 4)

Stats (0) :

Physical- 5

Cognitive- 14

Mental- 2

Spiritual- 1

Skills:

Jabbing (Lvl 2)

Haggling (Lvl 3)

Financial Management (Lvl 3)

Cooking (Lvl 1)

Crafting (LvL 3)

Spells (4/4):

-Bolt (Lvl 5)

-Shield (Lvl 1)

-Guard (Lvl 1)

-Locate (Lvl 3)

Miracles:

-Commune (MAX)

His stats, especially his Cognitive, looked powerful. Jacob though, didn't really know what's the typical standard for reaching superhuman levels, he had assumed it was ten at first, or maybe even 15 but now that he has 14 on Cognitive, he didn't really feel any smarter or even different. That made him wonder what the stats actually do, do they have an actual physical effect or are they just there for his Skills and Spells?

He personally did not know.

Still, whether or not they do change him as a person, Jacob at least knew that getting his Cognitive stat up to 14 was the reason why [Locate] had been so precise during his move from the forest and into the village. Somehow, he had known what's the most optimal path to pick and after following said path, he was just surprised that he got out of the forest without tripping into stones or even getting struck by branches. The rain had gotten strong by then and Jacob knew that without [Locate], he would've been stuck in that forest, hoping for a way out.

'Picking Horos was the right choice.' Jacob thought as he finished his meal, the last bit of bread got dipped into the soup and Jacob ate it without complaints, it tasted good, what else can he say?

Putting the tray of food away, Jacob let himself fall back onto the chair's spine. He relaxed his muscles and craned his neck so that he stared up at the ceiling, he didn't like the way everything turned out, and he definitely doesn't like how he's not feeling guilty about killing those bandits. They were people, and even their leader, as much as he was a battle-junkie bandit, had a life. Illegal activities or not, Jacob took that from him and he knows he should've felt guilty about it. Then why didn't he?

'Whatever.' And with that, the concerns for anything related to that topic drifted off to the back of Jacob's head. The part where he recognized that it was the same as his displaced memory of spending his time somewhere but completely forgot about it encouraged him even further in compartmentalizing it.

If he can't move on from it even as he sleeps, then Jacob thought that he's gonna pick an upgrade for his [Bolt] and hope that the same effect he got from picking his class would swoop under him and force him to sleep. 'With much better results, this time. Hopefully.' He thought, holding back a grimace at the memory of him puking.

----------------------------------------

Camia did her best to calm her beating heart as she walked across the hallway of their Tavern- Home. With a breath, she loosened her grip on the black pants on her hands, one, that she had to "convince" her husband to part with. She made another attempt at forcibly calming herself down, it worked, sort of, but then the thought of confronting a [Mage] completely threw her in for another loop, an odd fucking feeling given that she isn't exactly what most people call frightful. No, people around here actually know her for charging headfirst into a group of Nightlings and swatting them down with nothing but a broken piece of a broom.

So why was she so scared?

Anera's- Her daughter - words echoed inside her mind, 'I guess he just casually threw out a [Shield] spell. Or maybe he wasn't tired? I don't know..?' Camia can't help but think that she let a mage inside of their own Tavern. The man seemed kind, sure, but she knew that his flock are of the unsavory kind, she's heard stories of what happened to people who disrespect mages before, and those usually aren't pretty. And even if the man would eventually get killed, Camia knew that he'd be able to wipe the world clean of her family first.

No, no, it's fine. Camia shook her head and stopped in front of the man's door, she knocked once. Then twice. Stopping afterward. She knows basic noble etiquette, courtesy of Horos' Acolytes.

Inside, the sounds of shuffling resounded and Camia's heart started racing as she stood out on the silent hallway, she knew she had no reason to fear him, but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't.

And all of this for a single gold coin. Camia almost wanted to laugh herself to death. She should've asked for an extra 50 silver at least!

The door opened and Camia flinched, "Uh- Oh my pants!" The man's happy voice had calmed her down, somewhat, "And I guess here, too." He said, handing out the tray to her.

Camia grabbed it and handed him the pants she had to wrestle out of her husband- he didn't want to let go of it, he said, sentimental value, he said, well what if the mage got offended because they gave him peasant pants? Will the sentimental value hold then?!

Camia shook her head, some people.

"Are you okay?" The mage asked.

She nodded, "Yep! Just dandy! I'll be leaving now!" She stepped away and heaved a breath she'd been holding once she heard the sound of a door closing behind her.