Skill Discovered!

[Firemaking] Acquired!

My eyes were as bright as the stars. With the roaring flame in my view, I jumped up and danced around the fire. Like I was cast far away on an island of solitude, I howled and cheered in the frozen lands. With the knowledge that I could learn skills in this world and possibly level-up, my mind raced with all sorts of possibilities.

I can make my own sickles. Make my own food! Farm! Hunt! Slay! Create! “I can do anything, you bastards! Damn you all above who watch down upon me! I made this with my own two hands! I’ll be the best firemaker to ever grace this realm and burn the world to ash and cinder!”

I kicked the snow around me and it was at this moment that my fire sputtered embers and began to die. I muttered curses to the Creator while I foraged for more dry twigs. After piling enough for the night, I sat down with my head held high. I pondered my existence in this fantastical world. Why the Creator cheated me of my birthrights, I’d never know. A swift end was clearly designed for me, but none came upon this night. I needed to escape this world, but first I needed to continue to survive within it.

* * *

When the morning came and shimmered above the mountains to the east, I continued south. While I used my [Auto-walk] ability, I admired the [Firemaking] skill that sat lonesome in my menu.

Create and maintain basic fires. Reach higher levels to ignite fires with greater efficiency and power.

I read the description over and over. My mind wandered with how this skill could be used if I further specialized in it. A raging inferno inside the dampest goblin cave? Bonfires to signal across the lands? A string of fires to entrap a dragon in a forest? The possibilities were endless.

“If I can do anything… Then how do I spellcast?”

Although my attribute for [Spellcasting] was zero, so was my [Crafting]. But that didn’t stop me from trying. I snapped my fingers, shouted “Fireball!” in a hundred different ways, imagined flames growing in my palms, tore a twig from a tree and flicked it across the horizon, but to no avail.

I was trying odd positions of casting when my eyes met another’s down the road. My leg was raised while my hand was pointed in a gun-like manner underneath it. I slowly lowered my leg and unruffled my tunic as the stranger stared at me. Unmistakably another orc, I thought. But you’re not as round and brutish like the one’s back in the village. You look the same as me… half human.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

This guy must think I’m a damn psychopath. Probably heard me this entire time too. “Uh… trying to cast spells.”

“Can you?”

“Not yet.” I nodded toward him, “You?”

The words escaped my lips and a three-foot spike of ice pulled from his fingertips. I heard it whistle next to my head before it erupted into shards of frost against a pine tree.

“How’d you do that!?” I exclaimed. My heart raced as I prayed the next one wouldn’t be aimed at me.

The man shrugged. “I took the snow into my hand and meditated, I guess.”

Meditated? Who has time for that?

I cautiously walked closer to him. With every step I took in the snow I watched his hands as they clasped together or swung at his side. He wore an outfit similar to mine with a rucksack strapped to his back. The midday sun shone through the pitch black of his hair and reflected off his glossy olive skin. A dozen feet away and I could notice his garnet almond-shaped eyes, his wrinkles, his curled tusks, and the lack of ice spikes coming from his hands.

“Name is Karnyn. Nice to see I’m not the only half-breed in this world.”

The man chuckled, “My name is Taro.” He bowed and a neutral expression crawled across his face.

“Where are you from originally?” I asked.

“Nagano, Japan. But I spawned in the village to the east called Dorinor.”

“Japan, huh? Your English is really good.”

“My English? Your Japanese is practically fluent. Where did you study?”

I tilted my head and furrowed my brow, “…But I’m not speaking Japanese.”

“…”

“…”

“This world translates our languages!” we exclaimed at the same time. Taro and I wrapped our hands together and smiled in excitement.

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“So you’re speaking Japanese right now!?” I asked.

“You’re speaking English right now!?” Taro asked.

I smirked and thought that the [System] must have some flaws. Language was too complicated for it to translate perfectly. “Here, repeat after me. She sells seashells by the seashore.”

Taro looked at me with an inquisitive glare, “She sells seashells by the seashore.”

My jaw dropped and told him to repeat it faster. Each time was perfect. It’s not like I knew if the word ‘seashore’ existed in Japanese, but either way, I was impressed with the [System].

Taro snickered and laughed between each word when giving me my own tongue-twister. He said it slowly, I assumed it was hard even for him to say. “I laid this bamboo against the bamboo fence because I wanted to lay bamboo against it.”

I must have looked at him with the same confused glare, it wasn’t exactly hard to say. “I laid this bamboo against the bamboo fence because I wanted to lay bamboo against it.”

I’ve never seen a more shocked expression in my entire life. With ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ he told me to repeat it over and over. He stood frozen with a hand to his forehead.

“So I can speak fluent English? And you can speak fluent Japanese?”

“I guess so,” I laughed.

“Fuck!”

I was taken aback at this late-aged man shouting curses at me.

“Shit! Bitch! I hope you d-”

I laughed with a nervous smile, “Yeah man, you’re cursing in English. Be careful when saying that in front of others.”

Taro gazed at the puffy clouds above, a white fog of breath loomed in the air with every exhale. “So we can all understand one another. Cool.”

A smile grew across my face. “Cool.”

* * *

Taro and I officially partied together on the journey. His name and portrait appeared at the very bottom of my [Party Members] list below Elixir’s name. Alex and Don’s faces were still unknown to me in this fantasy world but their names were comforting enough. I could see Taro as a small dot on my map, as well as the amount of monsters and players he killed.

Taro Matsuno

Health: 10/10

Stamina: 10/10

Mana: 50/50

Monsters Slain: 0

Players Slain: 0

Must’ve put all his attribute points into [Spellcasting]. Glad to know he isn’t a serial killer either.

In the [Notes] section on his profile I put old Japanese guy. Orc. STR: 2. SPL: 5. Three more buttons were on his profile that weren’t on my friends’: [Message], [Block], and [Disband]. I pressed [Message] and a blank text box appeared that I could type into with my mind.

“Hello.”

[INSUFFICIENT MANA]

A red warning sign blinded me until I swiped it away. I couldn’t have shit in this world. It felt as if I truly was better off dead than trying to survive. When I vanished the rest of the menus, my overreactions and disgruntlement went with it.

I expected Taro to question me about my lack of statuses, but he never did. Whether he was too old to know how to use the [System] or couldn’t care less, I envied him.

While we walked south, he was usually quiet unless I spoke to him first. He explained how he was heading to other towns as well because his village kicked him out. I wondered if every orc village did that when us ‘hybrids’ randomly appeared at their front doors.

Out of the four bloodlines to choose from, I imagined what the dwarves, the elves, and the beasts lived like. This had me thinking of the lack of language barriers between the creatures of the realm, after all, the orc couple spoke plain English. I must’ve been speaking some type of orcish to them. I chuckled to myself, If only I could’ve heard a recording of it. It’d really impress Alex.

The shadow of night fell upon Taro and I. We ended our [Auto-walk] together and searched for a decent campsite. A dry enough spot was found and it was time to show off my new skill. With the sickle in hand and the rough rock from before, I slashed at the stone.

Nothing.

I wryly laughed, “It usually takes a few tries.”

“Take your time,” Taro said. Like a father watching his kid do homework at the dinner table; he was over my shoulder the entire time.

On the fourth strike I sighed in relief. A spark of ember shot out and landed in the nest of kindling. It was getting easier.

With the flame growing, we rested under the trees and shared our rations. We both had potatoes, carrots, beets, and turnips in our possession.

“Guess not much else is growing right now,” I said. My stomach growled and yearned for protein.

“They didn’t have a market either. We must keep proceeding south.”

I nodded. And buy meat with what money? I slammed my head back into the trunk of the tree and groaned. I looked through my [Skills] again to see if anything magically appeared, but no. [Firemaking] had a yellow progress bar beneath it that was a third way full. It was good to know that the level-up was in progress if I kept creating more fires.

Although this world was my prison, I found joy in company for once. Taro must’ve been a middle-aged man working in Japan one day that ended up signing the book and becoming a half-orc with magical powers. I’m sure he had lost more than I did, so I didn’t ask him anything about his personal life before all of this.

“Taro,” I said. “Did you see the book as well? On a red table surrounded by fog?”

“Yes.” He stared into the fire with open palms, extracting as much heat as he could.

“What made you choose orc?” I asked.

“I thought they looked cool. But I was expecting it to be more pig-like. Not green-skinned.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, “I’m sorry to hear that. At least your [Strength] is naturally better than other bloodlines.”

Taro nodded his head from side to side. “I put all my points into [Spellcasting] though.”

Mhm. That’s how you’re able to cast so easily. ‘Meditate’ my ass.

“Did you hear the Creator as well?”

He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, “The Creator? No. I didn’t hear anything there. I signed the book and a door appeared. I walked into it, and another step after that, I was in Dorinor.”

I clicked my tongue and looked at the clear sky. It was the most stars I’ve ever seen. In a world seemingly without electricity, I should’ve expected there to be no light pollution. I contemplated my life before, tears almost fell from my eyes when I thought of all the friends and family I was stripped away from. I shook my head and focused on the food and the company I was with.

“Hey, Taro… What if I told you that I wasn’t given any streng-” A rustle of brush shook behind us and all I saw was the illuminated white pupils of a wolf’s beady stare. Its low growl silenced the crackling of fire and the whispers of the wind.