Evidently the magic wasn’t all gone. Tori laid in that bed for another couple of days, but she was at least awake for most of it this time. She got visits pretty frequently from the doctor, whose name was Pat. Pat would pop in intermittently to bring food, or see if she needed the bathroom, or to simply visit and see if she had any questions. Tori frequently had questions.

The area was called Irlishwood, named after the cat-eared people, the Irlifolk. The cat-ears were functional, and were their only pair of ears, and no she was not allowed to touch them. Pat was not his full name, it was Pattil Gunnarsson, which was a true patronym and his father’s name was Gunnar.

Tori could have asked more questions about the area and the world she found herself in. She definitely thought of many to ask. But she was feeling overwhelmed as it was, and trying to cram her brain full of all of that felt like a bad idea. She said as much to Pat, who agreed and then asked first before pricking her finger again. It seemed both of them were learning.

He smiled and pointed at the spot of blood growing as he squeezed her finger. “See that? It’s almost completely gone now.”

She looked closely at the red bubble and frowned. She couldn’t see any change at all.

New Skill - Appraise

New Skill - Qualify

The dot shimmered for an instant and text flickered into existence between her and it. Tori was dumbfounded, and her mouth hung open.

Blood of Tori (Human)

Healing Magic Overload - 2.2%

Blood Type - B

Known Ailments - None

“Holy shit.”

Pat looked up at her. “It’s exciting to get out of here and get on with things, right?”

She balked. “Pat! Why can I see my blood type?”

Pat’s smile faltered. “How can you have made it to adulthood without an appraisal skill?”

“Without a huh?” She asked.

Pat wiped the blood from her finger and the text vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He turned for the door and hurried to make an exit. “If you’ll excuse me, I may need to have an important conversation with some others of my group.”

The door clicked shut, and Tori was alone again. She sat on the edge of her bed with eyes wide, and looked over to the little leather ball Pat had brought her to entertain herself with. She grabbed it and held it up to her face.

Leather Bouncy Ball

Material - Skin (Sheep)

Value - ???

She pitched the ball across the room and it bounced off of the floor, then the wall, and back toward her. She caught it again, and text appeared.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Combo - 1

She threw it again.

Combo - 2

Heh.

She played with the ball for a little while and watched the number go up. It was deeply satisfying for some reason. She got her combo up into the high teens before she missed a catch and it vanished again.

New Passive Skill - Combo Novice

“What’s a combo novice?” She asked no one in particular.

Combo Novice - Passive Skill

Landing consecutive hits of the same damage type will increase damage a small amount

Tori’s mouth made a little o shape. “Wait, I can ask you stuff?”

There was no response. She pondered for a second and watched the ball roll across the floor, its combo broken.

“What skills do I have?” She asked.

Active Skills

Appraise

Qualify

Passive Skills

Healing Resistance Novice

Combo Novice

Progress to Level Five

[+++++++++++————]

“Neat.” She said, but thought for a moment, “Wait, what does the skill healing resistance novice do?”

Healing Resistance Novice - Passive Skill

Receive reduced effect from Healing magic

“Oh. That seems really bad, actually.” She frowned, and began wondering what other skills she could cultivate from within this little room.

Tori stood up from the bed and looked around. What did she have to work with? There wasn’t a ton of furniture, really. Maybe she could do something with the bedsheets. If she broke one of the legs off of the end table she could practice swinging it like a weapon. Maybe she could even figure out how magic worked and do something with that!

She paused and composed herself. Maybe something simpler would be wiser. Foundational skills. With that in mind, Tori stepped forward and did the first thing that came to mind. She started doing jumping jacks. Her body didn’t like that much, since she hadn’t really done much exercise in a long while, but she was feeling pretty intensely motivated. Even though it kind of burned and hurt, and her atrophied muscles didn’t want to do it, it felt good. A drop of sweat rolled down her nose and fell.

New Active Skill - Fitness

She stopped jumping and smiled broadly. She liked gaining these skills, she’d decided. She liked it a lot actually. Maybe it was giving her an endorphin hit or something. She sat down on the bed again and snatched up the book and pencil from the table. As she’d hoped, it was a blank journal. Flipping the cover open, she wrote her name on the first page for no real reason and then turned to the second and drew a quick sketch of the room and began planning activities to earn herself more skills.

New Active Skill - Cartographer

New Active Skill - Planning

The door opened and she looked up. It was Pat again.

“What are you writing?” He asked.

She held the book up facing him and pointed to the drawing with her pencil. “I got a skill and I was thinking about how to get more.”

Pat smiled and sat down beside her. “I saw you pick up an appraisal skill earlier. I’m not sure how you made it to your age without one, but we can fill in any gaps in your education a little later.” He paused and put a hand on her arm. “Why are you so… sweaty?”

She beamed like a child holding a lost tooth, “I also learned one called fitness!”

The doctor’s eyes grew wide. “Tori… am I right to believe that these are the first skills you’ve ever gained?”

“Yes.”

He stuck his thumbnail in his mouth and hooked it onto one of his long canines, and thought for a moment.

“Chosen, I think we should go for a short walk. How does that sound?” He asked.