Mia took a deep breath “Alright…here we go.” She was finally prepared to go over every skill at her disposal, something she had been avoiding, partly because she did not fully understand skills and any other reason she couldn’t explain. She guessed it had something to do with her status, being brainwashed, or possibly caused by Assist Mode not wanting her to do so, either way, she had to fully understand what she was working with, no more half-assing it.

She opened her status page…

Name: Mia

Status: Brainwashed (minor)

Age: 8

Race: Fox Beastman

LVL: 3

Points: 81

HP: 100/100 MP: 100/100

Str: 50

Con: 10

Dex: 150

Int: 150

Mnd: 10

Lck: 1

Skills: [Ice Mastery: 4] [Early Riser: MAX] [Willful: 3] [Packer: 2] [Dagger Mastery: MAX] [Common Language: 1] [Magic Craftsmanship: 2] [Battle Dancer: 3] [Martial arts: 3] [Critical Eye: 3] [Battle sense: 1][Disguise: MAX] [Lying: 1] [Presence detection: 1] [Trap detection: 1] [Acrobatics: 3] [Cooking: 1] [Cleaning: 2] [Petting: 1] [Threatening aura: 3] [Axe arts: 1] [Sword arts: 1] [Bow arts: 1] [Sneak: 1] [Danger sense: - ]

Titles: [Unlucky Child] [Shrine Maiden] [Torturer] [Jester] [Easily Manipulated] [Critical Striker] [Trophy Maid] [indecisive] [Goblin Crusher] [Bramble Crusher] [Toy Wolf Crusher] [Cat Beastkin Crusher] [Human Crusher] [Rabbi Spider Crusher] [Slime Crusher] [Peblet Crusher]

Hidden skills: [time: 2]

… There was a lot, most of it new, but it was something that had to be done. She decided to just go in order, ignoring the ones she had done before like [Early Riser], [Willful] and [Packer].

[Skill: Ice Mastery. LVL: 4. Evolved form of Ice Adept. Evolved Bonus: +100 int. Allows the use of more precise and powerful ice magic. Greatly reduces the mana cost of casting spells while increasing how powerful the spells you cast are the higher the level.]

“Hrm…” Right off the bat she already had conflicting feelings, she never did get a chance to cast magic on an enemy, or get much practice with it at all, so that power boost and mana reduction had no point of reference. “Guess it is good I skipped beginner magic?” She’d have to fiddle with it, adding learning a new magic element so she could compare to a new mental to-do list.

The added bonus of 100 intelligence was also insanely good, and another incentive to get another magic skill.

[Skill: Dagger Mastery. LVL MAX (evolution unavailable). Evolved form of Dagger Expert. Evolved bonus: +100 DEX. When wielding daggers in combat few can best you. Increases your skill with daggers, imparts wisdom of how best to wield and attack with daggers.]

“Again, that bonus is nice…” Leveling up skills net her with 200 stat points that wouldn’t be lost on returning to a save, plus, judging by the wordings of both [Dagger Master] and [Ice Mastery] this was their second evolution “So, fifty points per evolution?” She’d have to wait till she managed to evolve a skill on her own “Still…to evolve these skills twice, Assist Mode really did a lot of work…” She had to wonder how long it would have taken her, or a normal person, to evolve these skills.

She told her it would take Mia a few years, so if she wasn’t lying to get her to hand over control then she could get a rough idea for how long it would take someone. “And that few years was me going non-stop, no breaks… well… at 30 minute intervals fighting a single spider… If she didn’t want me to fight the cats…” She shook the thought out of her head.

Sadly, it seemed like she couldn’t evolve dagger mastery for what ever reason, so finding out if the stat increase was a flat 50 per evolution would have to wait. Moving on to a new one…

[Skill: Magic Craftsmanship. Level: 2. Derived from blacksmithing, the ability to combine your blacksmithing skills and magic skills to make weapons out of pure magic, the only limit being your imagination, dedication, and the mana to supply your crafts.]

“So this is where blacksmithing went?” She had noticed it was missing, and since this said it was derived from it than this must be it. It wasn’t an evolution of it, so not bonus stat points, but how did Assist Mode even manage to do this? Judging from the way she fought, this would easily explain the ice daggers.

“The ice daggers…” She hated to admit it but those daggers were pretty cool, not only were they effective but they also solved her weapon of choice problem. No offense to the lumber axe, but it was just to unwieldy for her, still preferring to dodge and counter attack, hitting the enemy where it hurts quickly and then getting out of there. She was looking forward to trying this one out.

Also, the sass was gone, what was up with that anyways? She gave up on it, assuming she’d never find out.

[Skill: Battle Dancer. Level: 3. The battlefield is your dance floor. This skill increases the effectiveness of dex when dodging in combat by a minimal amount.]

“Just a straight increase? How much?” another thing to try out, but admit ably it will be hard to do so with how high her dex is already, but anything that increases the effectiveness of her fighting style was welcome. “Hrm…” It kind of stinged a bit, with all these skills that benefited her was it really *her* fighting style or was it *hers*, the other her being assist mode…

“Does it matter?” She asked herself, if she found something else that worked she could always just switch to it, and she already tried something new with the lumber axe and hated it. “Oh well, trying out different battle styles added to the list.” She nodded to herself, moving onto the next skill.

[Skill: Martial Arts. Level: 3. Weaponizing your limbs, making them as effective as weapons. Increases the raw damage done by your fists, legs, and any other limb. Scales with str. Level 3 str scaling is minimal.]

“…” Well, that was certainly a very useful skill, but wouldn’t punching and kicking things just hurt yourself more than what you are potentially punching? She could imagine her fists breaking on someone’s metal armor, or punching through the branches of a Bramble and getting all cut up, it would be another story if she could heal herself and ignore the pain but… “No thank you, next!”

[Skill: Critical Eye. Level: 3. You have grown used to hitting enemies’ weak point, allowing you to better see them. Passive is biased on dexterity and intelligence. The current effect is minimal.]

“Ooooh~” This one, while simple, was good. She assumed it would help her a lot with enemies that didn’t have an obvious weak spot, like that damned puppet or mimic, she couldn’t wait to see how much of a difference it would make.

But again, no exact value of how much it was increasing, it was just a vague minimal… “Oh…” It was at this point Mia realized that, even if it was a static increase, she’d be in the same boat of not knowing what the difference would be. For one she lacked reference, and for another…she was ashamed to admit it, but she was uneducated, and no amount of increased intelligence was going to solve that.

Sure, she could do simple math, but if it gave her anything like what [Willful] gave her, she’d have no clue what any of that meant. “Another thing to look into… learning math.” She was looking forward to it.

[Skill: Battle sense. Level 1. Knowing what to do in combat is important, you have gained a better understanding of what to do and what not to do in combat.]

“Mhm, another straight forward one.” She assumed this had to do with stuff like not turning your back to the enemy, remain focused, don’t ignore your surroundings, be sure to punish your opponents’ mistakes, etc. “Why did Assist Mode even hide this one from me?” Honestly, besides a few of these she had yet to get to, she questioned why so many of her skills were hidden from her, was it just so she could be manipulated more easily?

“Eh, trying to understand how she thinks is a waste of time…hah…” She let out a dry laugh, moving onto the next.

[Skill: Lying. LVL: 1. You are better at lying and are better at discerning lies.]

“Hey!” Mia shouted, “There is no way I lied enough to get a skill for it!” she felt personally insulted, hell, on a regular basis she hardly even spoke, when had she lie- “ah.” She remembered, the first cycle… when the kids hit her in the head, and she lied to cover for them so they wouldn’t get in trouble “That was enough to get a skill?!” She clutched her head, if she did that every single time at the start of the cycle then it would make sense… “Next!”

[Skill: Presence detection. LVL: 1. You can naturally detect living beings’ presence and the signs of something in immediate area. Makes it easier to spot tracks.]

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“Really… why did she hide this one from me?” Did she know how much she wanted it? Or did she really gain it during the 3-month training period and just hid it for what ever reason… “I really tried to learn it on my own…” she huffed, not feeling any better when she looked at the next one.

[Skill: Trap detection. LVL: 1. Finding and disarming traps is easier for you, you will have a less difficult time locating simple traps and automatically know how to disarm them.]

“I was trying so hard!” She yelled out in frustration, granted, it was for a day but still. “Wait, what ever that light thing is disables the traps, so I got this one!” Mia said, stubbornly refusing to believe Assist Mode acquired this skill, she got it on her own, yup, she did. She opened her status page to look at the next one, pausing once she noticed a particular skill had leveled up. she refused to acknowledge it, moving on.

[Skill: Acrobatics. LVL 3. You twist and bend your body both in the air and on the ground. Grants the ability to better maneuver yourself in the air and keep your balance on the ground. Also, slight increase to flexibility.]

Mia shrugged, would help with her dodging but she had to wonder how this was any different than battle dancer, maybe it was more air based? It also said increases her flexibility so… Like battle dancer it was also at level 3, so assist mode must have been making use of it.

[Skill: Cooking. LVL 1. You have entered the world of the culinary arts. Food you make will taste slightly better. Also makes it harder to burn or undercook any food you are preparing.]

“…when have I ever cooked?” She really couldn’t remember, even when she was a slave she was never in charge of cooking, at most she helped her mother cook from time to time but she did not really do much, she couldn’t do much as an eight-year-old. She thought about it for a bit, trying to recall any thing that would justify this “Maybe I picked up a skill orb? Or did something different in another cycle.” Those were the only logical explanations.

If she was bought by a different master and forced to cook during another cycle, it was possible that she could have gotten this skill, or in a cycle where she ended up in a dungeon and found a skill orb. Either way, with [Log] broken she’d never know. It was only at level 1, so she did not spend that much time doing it, but it was good to know that she could apparently cook.

[Skill: Cleaning. LVL 2. Keeping things tidy is something praiseworthy. Improves your skill to spot filth and clean it up, nothing shall hide from your sense of cleanliness. Improves damage done via brooms, dusters, and the effectiveness of soap.]

She nodded to herself; she could perfectly understand how she got this one. Being forced to clean the same few rooms and hallways for years, thank god she wasn’t aware of the cycles at that point. On another note, “What the hell does ‘the effectiveness of soap’ even mean?” Soap is just soap, how could something like that be more effective just because you had a skill for it? Were things just going to be more sparkly?

[Skill: Petting. LVL: 1. You know all the best spots animals and beasts like to be rubbed, inducing a relaxing effect and promoting favorability in them.]

“Wonder if Ashley has this skill… and how high it is…Don’t know why I have it, though.” Maybe, if she met some beastkin before she couldn’t help herself and pet them? She could understand that, after all, she really wanted to pet the cats sometimes.

“…Does petting myself count? Would be weird if it did…” How would *promoting favorability* even work when it is vs herself? The relaxing effect would be nice…

[Skill: Threatening aura. LVL: 3. You are particularly threatening; you can release this in a tangible aura that will cause fear in weaker opponents. The weaker they are the stronger the effect. Has no effect on opponents of equal strength or stronger.]

“Thaaaanks Assist Mode.” This was 100% her doing, she could honestly live without it. She wondered if there was anyway to just flat out remove skills…she’d have to look for one.

The next skills were just weapon skills, Mia knew they just increased the effectiveness of wielding them, so she decided to skip them. She was surprised about the bow one, however, wondering when she even picked one up.

[Skill: Sneak. LVL: 1. Sneaking is the art of avoiding detection, you have avoided a hostile enemy’s sight enough to gain recognition for your efforts. Makes it harder for anyone to notice you when you are actively trying to avoid detection. The god of thieves has high hopes for you, young owner, be sure not to disappoint.]

“Eh? What? Huh? God of thieves? What?” she was taken aback, reminded of the description of [Blacksmithing] when she had it, but this one was obviously different. “What does it mean it has high hopes for me? What does it want me to even do?” She crossed her arms, she had just gotten out of one person manipulating her, she did not need another “Well, prepare to be disappointed, I am not doing anything.” She huffed, while she wasn’t going to avoid the skill, since it was useful, she wasn’t going to do anything extra.

“though… Gods huh…” Besides Gaia, she didn’t know anything about gods, even her knowledge of Gaia was minimal, and seemed to be bias. There was also what ever god gave her the title [Unlucky Child], and now the god of thieves, clearly she had some more homework to do, but for now she could write off anything weird with her skill descriptions being some kind of god messing with her. “Wonder if there is a god of blacksmithing… moving on.”

[Skill: Danger sense. LVL: -. The ability to sense danger before it happens, Due to the effects of [Time] this skill operates differently than normal and cannot be leveled up. for more information, please see [Time].]

This was most likely caused by the *vague sense* ability in [Time], sucks she couldn’t level it up and it was being manipulated by Assist Mode but there was no use complaining about it now.

“That’s it…” She breathed a sigh of relief, all in all it wasn’t too crazy. She’d have to watch out for lying and threatening aura but she had a nice line up. Disguise would be the most useful, a lot of people tending to have appraisal was annoying, could also be useful if you looked at it like an easy way to prove she wasn’t just a kid, but at the same time bad if an enemy could do the same.

She could also use it to disguise her skills if she ever wanted to go back to potentially get more information out of John and Athena, or information about the church but… becoming a slave again was not ideal “Might be necessary…” after all, even if she saves her village she couldn’t forget about that explosion, no telling how much damage that thing caused.

“Titles are next.” Skipping the ones she already knew, she went to the newest one, one that could only be a present left behind by Assist mode.

[Title: Torturer. You are cruel in your methods and execution; do you just get off with the pain you cause? Regardless, you are very effective at dishing out pain without killing when you are not wanting to kill your target. Pain inflicted by a non-lethal strikes is amplified by 25% and you are more likely to get information out of someone who is afraid of you or is actively suffering because of you. You monster.]

“I never did anything… it was all her…” She sighed, this would be a permanent stain on her status page, the effects were nice though… but knowing how she got it did not sit right with her. The jab at the end making her head hang heavy.

[Title: Jester. Things are more fun with you don’t take it seriously! Anything for a joke! Your moves and attitude have marked you the jester, people will naturally take you less seriously, but that’s ok! You will make them take you seriously… so they can enjoy your performance! Long live the jester!]

“Another present from AM…” She was worried just how much this would affect her, right now she was fine because she was in the [Void] where she was not affected by her stats and skills, for the most part, but what she would be like when she got out… well, during her reflection she had already decided to change for the better, so maybe this would make her more outgoing and nothing else more sever. She didn’t want to end up like Assist Mode.

[Title: Easily Manipulated. You have been manipulated so much you might as well not even have a will of your own. Always ending up doing someone else’s bidding you are easily susceptible to suggestions, finding it hard to refuse. Maybe learn to recognize when someone has bad intentions for you? Unless you like being a yes man, hey, I won’t judge but hey if you have a second my friend got into this really sweet deal and made a bunch of money, he offered me a spot in, but I just need to pay an upfront cost, I am a bit short so can you spot me some cash? Please? If this works out, I can pay you back ten times over! So come on, help a friend out?]

Mia’s ear twitched, she punched the panel causing it to vanish. Clenching her shaking fist, she growled “Fucking….” She then sighed, dropping her shoulders “I deserve that…” She couldn’t argue with it, as angry as it made her, it was right. But wallowing in it any further was beating a dead horse at this point, she was striving to be better, even managing to remove one of the things manipulating her, now the only one she had to worry about was her aunt.

[Title: Critical Striker. You aim for the weak spot so much we gave you a title so you could benefit more from doing so. Hitting an opponent’s weak spot does a crap ton more damage, also doubles the effectiveness of any skill that involves critical hits. You like?]

“Uhm, yeah? Thanks?” Who was she thanking and who is *we*? Titles seemed to involve more gods if the skill shenanigans were correct, the title was good though, so she wouldn’t complain too much about it.

“Seriously, who is we?”

[Title: Trophy Maid. You are a prestigious maid. You have been bought and sold as a maid at a high value multiple times, any owner that owns you is blessed with wealth and prosperity as you do your job with dignity and grace, be it cooking, cleaning, or just standing there and looking pretty! You have even been owned by royalty, take pride in this accomplishment.]

“Yeah, no.” This title was a very bad joke, and likely a result of time travel messing what ever system decides titles up. While yes, she was sold at a high price multiple times, a lot of that was due to the cycles. For the wealth and prosperity…no, she has stabbed her masters on multiple occasions. And as mentioned before, she doesn’t even remember cooking anything for any of her masters, cleaning she couldn’t dispute, but no cooking… standing there and looking pretty was probably refereeing to the old lady who died of old age.

For the royalty bit, yeah, she was, but that was only because of a deranged hero thinking she was his fated one, practically forcing them to buy her. That princess wouldn’t have given her the time of day otherwise.

The next one was [Indecisive} but after a lot of thinking and debating with herself she decided to check out the titles that all shared the *crusher* part to get them out of the way.

[Title: Goblin crusher. You must really hate goblins; you have killed over 100 of them. Reward: 10 stat points.]

“Hrm…1,2,3…8 titles, so for each enemy I kill 100 times I get 10 stat points? Neat.” At first she was excited, titles were permanent to her knowledge, so titles and skills that gave her stat boost were appreciated. But then she noticed it didn’t extend just to monsters. “Cat beastkin and human crusher…” it was safe to assume everything had a crusher title, she’d have to be careful around anyone with a high enough appraisal skill to see titles and get past disguise.

She stood up and stretched “Finally done.” She gave a forced yawn, she felt like she was forgetting something but after a brief consideration she decided it wasn’t important and will check it out later, now it was time to face the music. “Here we go… how do I face them…” She knew that it was for the best that she acted like nothing happened, for the cats it never did happen, the 3 months of resets really hammering it into her skull that was the unavoidable fact.

But for her, she just spent the last 3 months watching herself kill them, it was going to be awkward unless something changed, or she managed to keep a straight face. She slapped her cheeks, deciding to cross that bridge when she got there. Glancing at her stats she knew there was going to be a lot of other problems the moment she loaded…especially if some of her titles affected her more than she thought they would, she hoped she would be fine since she didn’t really notice the effects of [unlucky girl] something she really should pay more attention to because of the accumulated luck points…right.

“Enough putting it off!” she willed her skill to appear.

[Would you like to load slot 2? (Y/N)]

She took a deep breath, then slammed her open palm down on the *Y*, finally leaving the [Void] after 3 months.