Arya's thoughts were in turmoil. Should she tell them her level? She didn't want to keep it secret, but she also didn't want to attract too much attention to herself. "Don't worry if your level is low, you will keep leveling naturally until you become an adult after all. It is really impressive that you have unlocked and already! And you even activated the system on your own!" Her aunt said to reassure her. Her mom had told her aunt about it. Arya hesitated before writing her basic status page down on the paper. It was called 'basic status page' when you didn't include your skills. The room went quiet when she finished writing.

----- Status Page -----

Level 149 (20%)

Health: 1000/1000

Stamina: 504/590

Mana: 6367/6370

Stats:

Strength: 29

Dexterity: 30

Constitution: 50

Spirit: 583

Intelligence: 54

Her mom was the first to break the silence "Arya, your aunt has decided to take time off to help you with magic, you know you shouldn't joke about this." Her aunt cut her mom off. "The math is right..." They both went silent again. "What math?" Her mom asked after a while. "Your level is found by calculating the average of all your stats... Strength + dexterity * 10 is your stamina, constitution + constitution * 10 is your health, and lastly spirit + intelligence..." Her aunt explained while Arya hung her head down in shame. "How is this possible? Arya, is this really on your status page? How in the world is your spirit so high?!" Her mom asked her and looked bewildered. While Arya nodded slowly.

Aunt Vanessa smiled wryly after a while. "That is one talented daughter you have got, sister. I will gladly help her with some magic training. If there is much I can teach her..." Her aunt said. This made Arya giggle. "But Arya, it is important that you keep the extent of your talents a secret until you are older and more experienced. You need to be careful ok?" Her aunt said and gave her a serious look. "Yes, aunt! But we can tell dad and Runo right?" Arya asked. Her aunt nodded.

Later that day they told her father. Runo was too young to understand so they didn't tell him yet. One thing no one said to her dad, was the fact that it should be kept a secret.

James' perspective (Arya's father)

James was sitting in a bar with his three good friends Eric, Edward, and Vortric. He was starting to get drunk by now and Edward was talking about how they just took Mika, their son, to get his system activated. "Mika actually has ! That is amazing there is only one mage in this village from before! Congratulations Edward, you have a talented son!" Eric said with a laugh. "Heheh, yeah our Mika will grow up to be a great mage! James, when are you taking your daughter to the prest, to get her system activated?" Edward asked. "Oh, she didn't need it, activated it herself somehow... and she is on a higher level than me too! And she is a mage at that age... I'm worried about her future. She has been talking to her aunt about adventures and she seems to want to be an adventurer when she is older... I'm so worried, I hope she decides to just stay in the village." James said and sighed. His three friends were shocked. "What?! What level is she? And she has too?" Eric asked. "She is level 149! She said she just played with mana... I think my daughter has some insane mana talent! I just really hope she doesn't go adventuring..." James said. "Wow, you should be proud! Wait... 149?! But she is only like nine! That is impossible... Did you hear wrong?" Edward asked while shaking his head. Vortric stood up and excused himself. "What's up with Vortric?" Eric asks. "He has been down lately because his wife is sick... they have been trying for a child for so long without luck, we must have made him feel bad, talking about our talented kids" Edward answered and shook his head with a sigh. "Hey, I don't even have a wife! Let alone kids!" Eric said and pouted. "Give him some slack, his wife has been unwell for around 3 years now" James said.

Arya's perspective

It was Arya's birthday today. Arya was out in the village with her dad and Runo. They were going to buy some new clothes for her while her mom and her aunt were getting things ready for her birthday. She had learned a lot from her aunt the past week. Skills varied from person to person, even if they had the same skill name and same level. It was usually just small changes. For example, some people with might see fire mana better than other types, her aunt said that Arya's skill description was very good since it didn't specify certain types of mana. That means she should be able to sense all types, which was very rare.

When they went inside the local clothing store it was empty. The store owner lived on the second floor of the same building, so they were probably upstairs. The store was open after all. "I will go up and knock on the door" Arya said to her dad. When she got to the top of the stairs she heard Runo scream from below. Arya hurried downstairs to see her dad on the floor. Behind him were 3 masked people, dressed completely in black. One of them grabbed the screaming Runo and put a hand over his mouth "Arya Zenter, put on these cuffs without struggle, and we will let your family go. Your father is merely passed out" One of the people said and threw what seemed to be two bracelets on the floor. The voice was muddled, almost robotic. It must be some sort of voice-changer. Arya was in shock. Should she do as they said? Would they let her family go? Was her dad ok? "Now! Or your father dies!" The other masked person said. Arya picked up the bracelets and fumbled with them to get them on. She was shaking so much that she almost dropped them, but she got them on at last. The moment they were on, some sort of activation happened and they lit up. Her mana started draining rapidly. She fell to her knees. "L-let my f-family go" she stuttered out. She quickly activated to try to convince them it was wrong to do this, but her skill level was too low. One of the people walked over to her and injected something in her arm. Everything started to go black and she struggled not to pass out. "L-let them go..." She said. "We will let them go" The person said and she blacked out.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Arya woke up with a headache. What happened? She looked around and saw that she was in a moving carriage. Why was she in a carriage? And then she remembered. She jolted up and looked around frantically. "Where is my family?!" She screamed. "Shush, they are fine, we are taking you to the Magic Tower." A person in front of her said. He didn't have a mask on anymore and Arya remembered him. He was her dad's friend. "Y-you are Vortric. Why are you here? Are you here to save me?" Arya whispered. This made Vortric laugh out loud. "Saving you! Hah! I was the one that informed people in the magic tower." Vortric said with a manic grin. "Why!?" Arya asked, disbelief written on her face. "Because of the gold of course! I will be paid handsomely for this. Serves your father right! I wish I could see the look on his face when he figures out it was because of him. Hah!" Vortric said and laughed. Arya tried to calm down and focus. She needed to get out of here somehow. It would probably be easier now than when they arrived at their destination. She checked her status

----- Status Page -----

Level 149 (40%)

Health: 946/1020

Stamina: 274/590

Mana: 10/6370

Stats:

Strength: 29

Dexterity: 30

Constitution: 51

Spirit: 583

Intelligence: 54

Passive skills:

lvl N/A

lvl 6

lvl 9

lvl 239

lvl 58

lvl 32

lvl 1

lvl 3

Active skills:

lvl 104

lvl 92

lvl 70

lvl 42

lvl 39

lvl 30 (Max)

lvl 2

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

Her mana was very low, but she had gotten two new skills. She checked them in more detail.

Level 1

----------

Lets you resist poison

Cost: None

- You can resist mild poison

Level 3

----------

Lets you resist mana drain

Cost: None

- You can resist mild mana drain

She assumed that the bracelets were what drained her mana, after she put them on her mana body had also deactivated. And whatever was in the needle must have poisoned her. She looked into her body with and saw traces of poison in her system. It seemed like had already taken care of it though. She also saw how her mana was sucked into the bracelets when her mana pool went over 10. She tried to use on the bracelets, but she was met with the same problem she had faced before. Her skill only worked on mana in the atmosphere. She couldn't take mana from items or people. She didn't give up, her aunt had told her that some people were able to from people and objects. She should be able to do it too. She started to focus on only one of the bracelets. She tried to penetrate the thin layer on the mana flow in the bracelet with her . It seemed so simple, it wasn't a big barrier, but her mana just wouldn't go through. She used up 9 of her 10 mana and had to extract some more mana from the atmosphere. She had to be careful not to use up all of her mana. She continued trying to use and on the bracelet. Suddenly without warning the bracelet cracked and her began working. Most of the mana in the bracelet rejoined the atmosphere. The bracelet fell off her hand and she stared at Vortric and gaped. She didn't have a plan, and one of the bracelets was still on her hand. "No, you don't!" Vortric said. He reacted quickly and tried to stab her with a syringe. Arya was quicker and leaped out of the carriage while it was driving. She yelped in pain and rolled on the ground. She stood up and started to run. She wasn't sure how her body was able to keep up, especially without mana. She saw the carriage stopping and kept running. She was in the middle of a town. Her knees were bleeding and her clothes were dirty. She rounded corner after corner until she fell over. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She wasn't able to keep her eyes open any longer. And fell over in a puddle of water. She accidentally inhaled some of the puddle water and started coughing. She sat up in the puddle but didn't have the energy to stand. She started crying. She was kidnapped and she swallowed gross puddle-water! How unlucky is it possible to be?

Suddenly someone picked her up out of the water. Arya was ready to scream, but she saw it was an old lady. They stared at each other for a while. "I have some spare clothes for my great granddaughter... they are not as nice as yours but you can have them if you want. It's better than wet clothing." The old lady said. Arya nodded. She was grateful for the old lady's offer. Anything would be better than this, and maybe new clothes could keep her hidden from her kidnappers.

The old lady led Arya into her house that was nearby. She gave her a brown dress with some patches. She even put bandaids on her scratched-up knees. Arya thanked the old lady for the help. She completely forgot to ask her name, as she had enough to think about already. She went out in the streets again. She looked around and wearily walked forward. She stopped a second later. She should have asked the lady where she was, she had no idea on where to go.

Arya asked some random strangers which town they were in and it was somewhere called Warlington. The only reference point she had was the nearest town to her village Cragwarf, no one knew about her small village Heartstone. She was told Warlington was 3 days away from Cragwarf in a carriage. She couldn't believe she had been out for over 3 days! Her parents must be worried sick! How would she get home?

Arya suppressed a sigh and walked to the town gate. She started asking people if she could join their carriage. They asked her to pay, but she had no money. "Ugh! Beggars. No pay, no trip!" One of the people she asked said. "But I was kidnapped! I just want to get home..." Arya said. The person just left without answering her.

It was starting to get late and there was less traffic in the streets now. Arya sat down and tried to cheer herself up. "You can do it, Arya, just try again tomorrow. Someone will take pity on you and let you ride in their carriage... It's not like you're asking a lot..." Arya said out loud to herself. She slapped herself on her cheeks. It was not like her to be so negative, but she was worried about her family. Her father was unconscious when she was taken away.

Arya was starting to doze off. Her head dipped down before she was jolted awake again. She looked to her left and saw a familiar syringe in her neck. "N-no..." She stammered before passing out.