I loved coming to the library to read, whether it was with my friends or alone. It was my way of forgetting my problems, even if only for a short time. Now that I was here with my friends, it was even easier for me to relax and focus on all the stories this place had to tell. When I arrived at our table, I saw that Kuro and Ryu were already there. I sat down at the other end of the table and placed the books I brought next to me. Without wasting any time, I searched my purse for my reading glasses and put them on. The books I picked up covered a variety of different topics. The first one, “The journey of a lonely mage”, was very thin so I decided to start with that. Every child in the Sural kingdom knew this novel. It tells the story of one of Sural’s greatest heroes. His reputation as the most formidable mage in history wasn't confined to the boundaries of the Sural kingdom. It echoed through the elven woods, resonated within the dwarven mines, reverberated across the dragon mountains, and even permeated the formidable walls of the demon empire. After his story was passed down hundreds of times, from generation to generation, details of his story and even his name got lost. Kuro was a huge fan of this novel, he even started to wear a gray robe like the lonely mage and learn about magic from the witch of the forest. I was sure that this novel was also one of his inspirations to become the strongest mage. When we were younger, I thought Kuro’s goal to become the strongest mage and Ryu’s goal to become the strongest swordsman were childish. Nowadays, I was a little jealous of them. They had a goal that they wanted to accomplish. I was almost fifteen years old now, yet I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.
“Maybe I can just join them on their adventures”. My friends looked at me and I realized that I accidentally said that out loud.
“Forget about it, it’s nothing!” My face turned red, and I hid it behind the book. Even though I was embarrassed to admit it, going on an adventure with them sounded very nice. I put “the journey of a lonely mage” away and took the book “An introduction to the world of skills and abilities for beginners” in my hand. I opened the book and noticed that it looked very new. It seems like this book just released recently. Even though I already acquired two skills, I had no idea how skills even worked. The book started with a short description. It was easy to understand, as expected from a book for beginners. There seemed to be three different kinds of skills. Skills that were always active, skills that activated on their own, and skills that activated when a certain ability was used. I used the ability [show status] to open my status window. I didn’t understand any of the information it contained except for the list of skills and the list of abilities. There were only two entries in my skill list. I checked the description of my first skill, [status].
[Status]
This skill provides useful information about the user. All of their skills, abilities and stats are listed in the status screen. To open the status screen, use the skill [show status]. To close it, use [hide status]. This skill also provides the user with a notification whenever a new skill or ability has been unlocked. This skill unlocks the abilities [show status] and [hide status]
Requirements to unlock this skill: Unknown
After I finished reading the description of the status skill, I opened the description of my second skill, [foresight].
[foresight]
This skill allows its user to see into the future.
Rank: F
Requirements to unlock this skill: Unknown
It seems like the amount of information the descriptions contain vary from skill to skill. I didn’t know what “Rank: F” meant, so I closed my status window and looked it up in the book. It took me a while, but I eventually found a chapter that explained the ranks of skills.
Ranks:
Every skill, except for [status], has a rank. The ranks go from F- up to EX+. The better the rank of a skill is, the better the skill itself becomes. While a higher rank doesn’t change the nature of a skill, it can enhance it and sometimes even unlock a better version of the skill. The ranks upgrade based on various conditions that differ from skill to skill.
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As I flipped to the next page, I saw that a few pages were missing. Someone ripped all of the pages about skill ranks out of the book. The description was all that was left. I couldn’t change it, so I opened the next chapter. It seemed to be about something called cursed skills and abilities. I’ve never heard of something like that. There was a short description at the beginning of the chapter.
Cursed skills / Cursed abilities:
While they bestow a tremendous power to their user, Cursed skills and abilities always come with a price to pay. They are usually unlocked by striking a deal with a demon or devil. In some rare cases, they can be inherited. Cursed skills and abilities don’t show up in the regular skills and abilities lists.
In the Sural kingdom, the use of cursed skills and abilities is prohibited under any circumstances and punished with death.
I quickly closed the book. I shouldn’t have read further. These cursed skills sounded scary. And what does “they come with a price to pay” even mean? I was glad that I didn’t read this book at night. These kinds of abilities had to be very cruel and horrifying. I looked out of the window and tried to get it out of my mind. I wasn’t in the mood to read another book, so I just tried to enjoy the view. Next to the library was a huge flower field, where I always played with my friends when we were children. The weather was nice today. There were few clouds, and the sun was shining down from the blue sky. The flowers didn’t bloom yet, so there weren’t as many colors as in the summer. Next to the flower field was our main road to the capital. Every year, when the travelling merchants come, the roads get cleaned and prepared for their arrival. It was a huge event for the citizens of Greenwood. As my gaze followed the main road towards the capital, I saw an army of soldiers on their way towards the village. There were around a hundred thousand of them, and they were fully armed.
What’s going on? What do they want in Greenwood? I turned around as someone grabbed my shoulder.
“Hey Shizuka, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Kuro looked at me with a worried expression on his face. I didn’t even notice when he got up and walked around the table.
As I looked out again, everything was peaceful. The soldiers were gone. All I could see were the grasslands that surrounded the village. But they were definitely there. I didn’t imagine them.
“It’s nothing, I guess I was just daydreaming”. I couldn’t tell him what I’ve seen. He’d think I was crazy. I needed some time for myself to sort my thoughts.
“Guys, I’m not feeling so well. I guess I’ll have to go home and rest a little bit. We’ll see each other at the party tonight”.
I picked up the books and brought them back to the shelves. Then I said goodbye to my friends and quickly left the library. I was feeling very hot and cold sweat ran down my back. The gentle breeze and fresh air of the approaching summer made me feel a little better. My house was located in the center of Greenwood, so I had a long way to go. My mind was racing, I still had the image of the invading army burned into my eyes. When I finally arrived at my door, I couldn’t even remember how I got there. It was like the last 20 minutes were erased from my memory. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and noticed, that I still wore my reading glasses. I took them off and put them back in my purse. When I grabbed the key to my house, my hands were shaking, and I needed a few attempts to get the key into the keyhole. I suddenly felt very sick and thought I was going to vomit. I opened the door and dragged myself inside. All energy seemed to have left my body. I never felt this bad in my entire life. I managed to close the door behind me and put the key back into my purse. I entered the bathroom and washed my face with cold water. My face was so hot, it felt like it was burning. I dried my hands and left the bathroom. On the way to my bedroom, my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. My body was wet with sweat, and it started to penetrate my clothes. I tried to look around, but everything was spinning around me. I crawled back to the bathroom and vomited into the pot that we used as our toilet. I didn’t have enough energy to leave the bathroom and crawl back to my room. I laid on the floor, wet and shivering from the cold. The light that shined through the windows seemed too bright. My head was dizzy, and I couldn’t see clearly. I closed my eyes and tried to stop myself from vomiting again. When I opened them, all light was gone. Everything around me was pitch black. That was the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I wasn’t laying on the bathroom floor anymore. Someone brought me to my room and put me to bed. I tried to sit up slowly and it worked without any problems. My clothes should have sticked to my body due to the sweat, but they didn’t. Whoever brought me to bed must have also washed me and changed my clothes. I looked out of the window to try to find out how much time has passed. It looked like it was still the same day, but the sun was already setting. I got out of the bed and saw a note on my nightstand. It seemed to be from my mother.
“Dear Shizuka,
I hope you’re feeling better. Don’t make me worry like this ever again! You almost gave me a heart attack when I saw you on the bathroom floor! If you still plan on going to the party at Kuro’s place later, please take it easy. I love you.
Mom”
I smiled as I read the note. It’s already late, but I could still make it to the party before it starts. I changed my clothes into something more comfortable and got ready to go out. Just as I was about to leave the house, I remembered to leave a note for my mother. I left a note on the table, explaining that I was better now and that I’d attend Kuro’s party. I made sure to lock the door behind me and started to make my way to Kuro’s house.. There was nothing left of the sickness that I had felt in the morning. I was full of energy and extremely excited to finally see Layla again. As I walked down the familiar path to Kuro’s house, I watched the sunset turn into a starry sky, hoping that I would arrive on time.