“Sheesh, maybe I am a Child of Folly,” I muttered in disgust. A new window had popped up as I was resisting the impulse to bang my head against the cave wall again because of my ADHD, impulse control issues, or whatever else was to blame for my choosing the eldritch mind class.

Based on your class, choose two of the following skills.

Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Arcana, Athletics, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Religion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival

“Dang, are you trying to confuse me? You already said I had insight and perception. And you want me to choose three more, but those two are still options? Are you kidding me? What happens if I pick both options again? Is my choice wasted? Do they gain double proficiency?” I tried to see if the system would explain, but nothing happened. Annoyed, I decided not to risk it and chose three new skills instead. “Screw you system for not giving me more information.” Sighing, I finally settled down and thought about my new set of choices.

Acrobatics wasn’t important, and neither was animal handling. Arcana was a maybe. Athletics was out. Deception was also out. I never really liked having to lie, and if I was going to be a god in this life, then I might as well be me. History seemed useless, as did intimidation. With that, I discarded two more options.

Investigation actually didn’t sound too bad, but I wasn’t sure it was worth it. Medicine could be useful, but if I had magic, couldn’t I use that instead? I skipped over nature since there wasn’t a whole lot of nature in the caves, at least what I considered nature. Performance was probably useless since I wasn’t an entertainer.

Persuasion sounded like a good choice, however. Since I was going to be a leader among the kobolds, I probably needed to be able to persuade others into doing whatever I needed them to do. I almost clicked on persuasion, but decided to think about it some more. Religion was also something that I should probably take.

I just couldn’t make myself choose religion though. Sleight of hand seemed stupid if I was able to do real magic. As for stealth, hadn’t I given up on a feat because I didn’t have this skill? Now it appeared again? “Freaking system…,” I trailed off mumbling to myself. That left survival, which again, wasn’t something I was going to depend upon. I was a city kobold and was definitely not some loser loner in a cave without anyone else to help.

Finally, I clicked on arcana since I hoped eldritch mind would allow me to cast spells of some sort. At the very least, knowing what spells my enemies were casting would be useful. In fact, it seemed like a must have choice in fact, especially considering I was in a magic world. I was stuck on the last choice, however. I finally chose stealth since I was still weak and might need to avoid danger in the future.

After making my decision, I waited to see if there was going to be another prompt, but nothing happened. “Curious, I would have thought there would be more, such as spells. I guess I do have to study a spellbook to get a spell. Either that or the spells are innate and I don’t have a choice. Either way, my information screen must look different now.” Deciding to see what had changed, I checked it out again.

image [https://i.imgur.com/Y12ID7P.png]

There were actually a lot of additions to the screen, but I hadn’t been given a choice in some of them. Were they random, or were they because of some unknown factor that the system wasn’t willing to share with me? If I wasn’t provided a chance to choose what spells to learn, wizard would have been better after all.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It looked like I could now wield simple weapons but had no proficiency with armor, which was both good and bad. I wasn’t sure what to think about the saving throws, but decided I would probably find out later. My health points had improved quite a lot as well. I also had magic points in addition to mental energy.

Furrowing my brows, I stared at the ® in confusion. “What did a registered trademark have to do with…?” I paused as I realized that it meant the spell was also a ritual. I could cast those types of spells as a ritual and not have to use magic points to cast them. “Nice,” I thought. “ancestral memory for the win.” Rituals could be useful, especially considering that I could cast these types of spells as often as I liked, although it might take a few minutes to cast the spells.

What is up with my class features though? Death bringer? Soul collector? Based solely off my information screen, anyone would think I was as evil as a gnomish merchant. It didn’t help that I have no idea what either one of these features did. Would it kill the system to provide some more information?

“Screw you system,” I muttered. “Why can’t you give me more information, or at least let me make more decisions? Ugh, stupid system.” I was tempted to grumble some more, but I decided to try to focus on the bright side.

Then again, I shouldn’t blame the system. Maybe the system was a gift from a god. I should be thankful that I was learning everything so quickly. I bet others couldn’t learn as quickly. Of course, it might have something to do with having the twilight dragon bloodline. Hopefully, I would get a chance to choose what cantrips or spells I wanted to learn in the future. After all, how could I live in a magical world and not be able to decide my own fate?

I wondered what was up with the information screen though. I could definitely use a few more hints. This was especially true with the obsidian evolution. For example, could I change myself based on what I ate? If I ate snow, could I gain the benefits of snow? Would I be able to breathe a cone of snow? Would I be able to endure cold temperatures? Would there be any drawbacks or changes because of it? Was that why white dragons who lived in snowy areas could breathe ice? Did they eat snow? Should I accept the obsidian evolutionary path?

I was already black, so I wouldn’t change color much if I ate the obsidian. Would my scales change to obsidian? While obsidian was extremely sharp, it was also brittle. With this thought in mind, I decided not to use the obsidian. I was sure that other choices would present themselves.

I did have to wonder if gold dragons were gold because they ate gold. Maybe silver dragons ate silver. Is that why dragons have a hoard of gold, silver, gems, and so forth? No, that wasn't right. Green dragons didn’t hoard poison. Did they eat poison? Did black dragons eat acid? How would a red dragon eat fire? Or what about blue dragons and electricity? I had a lot of questions and the system wasn’t giving me any answers.

I suddenly muttered to myself as a thought came to mind. Could I eat energy and convert it into a draconic evolutionary path? Could I gain fire breath that way? Maybe obsidian dragons got sharp scales while fire dragons got fire breath. But then I would have two different types of breath. Could I have two types of dragon breath or would I lose the ether breath?

Before too long, the sweet scent that I had gotten used to was gone. The vision mist must have cleared, meaning that the chieftain would return soon. I was actually a little disappointed. I still had not found a chance to try out any of my abilities since I hadn’t been left alone for however long I was experiencing the visions.

“Whatever,” I muttered, and just accepted it. It wasn’t like I could change it anyway. Taking a few seconds, I looked at my information screen again and smiled, quite pleased with myself. I looked at the skills and proficiencies I had now. It looked like I had a lot of abilities.

Actually, I was feeling pretty good about my information screen. It definitely made me look overpowered. I felt like a god compared to my previous life. Raising my hands, I yelled loudly in a squeaky voice while staring at the ceiling, “Bow down before Nóttormr, the reborn god of twilight!”

Just as I was starting to laugh maniacally, I noticed that Dróttinn had returned and seen my performance. I probably should have expected him to come back as soon as the vision mist cleared but I was too focused on everything else. The chief cleared his throat, clearly trying to figure out what to say as he stared at me like a gnome who had actually told a funny joke. At that same moment, a ding chimed, and a new notification screen appeared.