I'm sitting down on a short, stiff bed. I've made it to the village, but the past few minutes have been blurry. My head is down and my shoulders are slumped. The room I'm in is white, and a man is looking at me. He's saying something, but I can only make out a few words. Mana, scar and dirty. It intrigues me, but I can't think too much about it. I'm not sure how long it takes, but eventually I'm lying down. My eyes are closed and a small blanket covers me.

My eyes slowly open. I jolt up, breaking free from a nightmare. My heart beats heavy, but I take a few seconds to breathe. Slowly, very slowly, I remember where I am. There's still blood covering my stomach and chest, but it looks like I'm completely healed. The only thing that remains is a giant scar and my torn sweater. And my blood, of course. I want to go home.

A few seconds later, a short man opens the door to my room. He's wearing a simple white shirt with white pants. They look like leather? I'm not sure. Tanned leather? Like in belts and stuff? Huh. Anyways, he's speaking at me. A small bar appears over his head, too.

[Aldrich, Novice Cleric, Level 14, Rank F]

"You're awake. That's great! Welcome to the village. So, what happened to you?"

I look at him and shake my head. I don't want to remember what happened yesterday. Thinking about it makes me sick. It almost paralyzes me, remembering the pain I was in. Aldrich looks at me with a look of sympathy and recognition. He asks me another question, instead.

"What's your name?"

I look up at the bar above his head. I guess he can't see one above mine. Tutorial benefits, maybe?

"I'm Sam."

Aldrich nods his head and replies.

"Nice to meet you, Sam. I'm Aldrich. I'm the local Cleric. I provide healing services for everyone here."

He speaks with a calm, amicable tone. He definitely has experience with situations like this. Maybe other tutorial attendees? Or travelers, most likely. He's of a higher level and rank than me. I wonder what that means. Are all of his stats at least 14? Does rank change that? What did he put his stats into? Does he have a system? How strong is he? So many questions. He takes a step back and grabs the door handle, speaking as he opens the door.

"I'll grab a water for you and let you rest for a bit."

He leaves the room, closing the door and leaving me on my own. I guess that's better, for now. My heart has stopped racing at this point, reaching a calm and steady pace. My curiosity of the system and this new world has calmed me down a bit. I lay back down, taking a few calming breaths before I look down at my chest. My blood is dry and sticks to my body, and a large, vicious scar covers most of my abdomen. Looking at it makes me sick, but I have an idea. I grab my torn sweater and pull it together, using [Recover] on it. Thin strands of wool come out of it, stitching it back together. It worked. Holy shit. What else does my skill work on? Unfortunately, I don't have any other ideas. I think using it on my sweater used a lot less mana, though, so that's nice. The design is also ruined. There's a hole in the design of my sweater now, too. I rest my head back on the bed. I feel a little light-headed. Probably from all of the blood loss. Hey, maybe I can [Recover] that, too. The door opens before I can try, though.

Aldrich walks in with a wooden cup of water. He seems a bit surprised as he looks at my sweater, but he doesn't bring it up. Maybe special skills are normal in this world? He hands me the cup, which I sit up and take. I drink all of it in seconds. My stomach growls. I'm still thirsty. Fuck, man. Aldrich looks at me with an kind gaze.

"There's a bathroom in the hallway just opposite of your room. Wash yourself and meet me in the common area. We're serving food for everyone at the moment."

He leaves the room, leaving me on my own again. I gesture towards him with the cup as he leaves, but he doesn't see it. I set the cup on the ground, not sure where I'm supposed to put it. There's not a table anywhere, so I don't have many options. Soon after, I stand up and open the door of my room. It's a smooth, wooden door. It feels like it's just been sanded down. I see another door directly in front of me. The hallway ends to my left, and continues to my right, turning left after about 30 feet. A few more doors line the hallway. I close my door and knock on the door opposite mine. No one answers, so I pull it open. There's not a lock on the inside. Shucks. There's a small pool of water, enough to fit maybe 2 or 3 people. The room is made of a nice white marble. It's about 15x15 feet, and the floor is tiled. There are some strange runes on the ceiling and a little tile that sticks out a few feet in front of me. I step on it, and an intense gust of heated wind blows down on me, the runes above me glowing a gentle green. I quickly step off, nearly losing my balance. I think about stepping on the tile a couple hundred more times to see if I can figure out how it works, but decide against it. It probably has a limited number of uses, or runs on some sort of power. I slowly take my clothes off and step into the pool of water. There's a small button on the left wall, and I press it. The pool of water begins to heat. It's really, really nice. I wash all of the blood and grime off and wash my clothes, too. It's not very hygienic, considering the lack of soap, but it's much, much better than how I was before. After a few minutes, my clothes are completely drenched, and so am I. The pool is a light shade of red. It sucks, but it could be worse. I'm sure they have some way to deal with that. As I step out, a small hole opens in the bottom of the pool and all of the water is sucked into it, being replaced by new, fresh water a few seconds later. Green and brown runes glow in the pool basin. I think they're carved?

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I step on to the tile that sticks out, letting the hot air weigh down onto me while I hold my clothes. It takes a few minutes, but I'm eventually completely dry. My shorts and underwear are, too, but my sweater is still a bit wet. I get an idea. Maybe I can use [Recover] to dry it? Like, recover its natural state? I give it a try. Quickly and involuntarily, thin, red strands of mist reach towards the ground from my hand, picking up some water and pulling it towards my sweater. I quickly stop it. I'm very interested, though. What are those strands? How the fuck does this work? Whatever. I'll look at it later. I put my sweater on, partially enjoying the slight moisture. All of my clothes are hot, too, which is super nice. It's very cozy. I open the door and feel a slight resistance as the handle turns. There's a fresh pair of clothes in front of me. They look like the same clothes Aldrich was wearing, just brown instead of white. That's... very nice. And considerate. I pick them up and walk back in to the bathroom. Ah, wait, bathroom. A literal bath room. I think that's a European thing? Well, this is a different world, so I'm not sure how that works. But the name Aldrich sounds kinda German, I think.

I put the clothes on and carry my old Earthling clothes with me as I make my way down the hallway. After I turn left, the hallway extends for about 40 more feet before it opens up into a large room. There are a few more doors lining the hallway. In the large room at the end of the hallway, there are about 3 dozen tables wooden tables that can seat 6 people. Most of the tables are full, with people seated and eating food. Luckily, the small system bars only appear above people I focus on. It seems like most people are around level 10, Rank F. Except a few people, a table of level 1 people, Rank G. Everyone is wearing the same style of clothes, a few different colors and designs hiding in the room. Wait a second, that table of level 1s is looking at me. Wait, I know those people. Oh, shit those are the fuckers that left me to die! Or, well, I was probably already dead in their eyes. Wait, they're all level 1? So I guess I killed the Wolf on my own? Wait, no, one of them is level 2. Sophia, the tall girl. Now that I think about it, the Wolf had three wounds. A jabbed eye, a hole in its neck, and a broken leg. She probably broke its leg, then. Well, that's nice. Wait, how did it get the hole in its neck?

I can think about this later. I should talk to them, I guess. Before I can walk over, though, someone speaks right next to me, making me jump. Oh, it's just Aldrich. His eyes flicker to where I was looking, landing firmly on the table of my... associates. He looks back at me.

"Ah, sorry to startle you. You look much better, now. I'll bring some food to you, so go ahead and sit with your friends."

He flashes a kind, warm smile before turning around. He's so nice. Now I have to talk to people. Gross. They're all looking at me awkwardly. I mean, it makes sense I guess. I really shouldn't have survived. A shiver runs down my spine. I gather a bit of my confidence and walk towards them, stopping halfway there, feeling intensely awkward. I continue walking after a short moment, and I sit down. They're all looking at me. They have wooden plates with some meat and bread. Amelia has food in her hand, just frozen in the air. I guess she was about to take a bite before I walked in. I awkwardly wave at them and speak.

"Uh, hi."

Eric, sitting to my left, immediately responds.

"How the fuck are you alive? Ah, sorry for my language, but you were surely dead. There was a... well, there's no way you could survive that. Did Aldrich find you?"

Everyone looks at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. I think for a second before I answer.

"I used my skill. It's called [Recover]. Can we talk about something else?"

They all give me a look of understanding, a few of them interested when I talk about my skill, but they don't ask me any more questions about the incident. I feel a little better, now. My body still feels a bit numb, though. A phantom pain surges through my body every now and then. I think I might have PTSD, now. I feel very anxious sitting with everyone. Well, it could be worse. I could be dead right now.