A few hours passed since her training. All while Camille continued through her day as if nothing had changed. Reading this, looking up that, and just all around chilling, the whole routine seemed natural at first. And yet, something was distinctly missing. A key element to her day to day life and one of its few highlights, it was only after a while, did Camille realize that it was a desire.
A detail which pertained to the yearnings and desire of her stomach.
Huh, I'm not hungry.
Digesting that information, Camille only now realized its absence. After all the training and a day or so on top of that of nothing to eat, she still wasn't hungry. The fact that she would otherwise be ravenously feasting on cup noodle right now, unsettled her. Though on further retrospection, Camille was actually more enthusiastic at the idea of food then she thought.
Neither particularly hungry nor outright dismissive of food, Camille drifted in an awkward middle zone. Between a side that demanded she eat and consume her delicious cup noodle and another which saw it as a mere inconvenience, Camille gave the whole idea a curious look.
Ah, screw it.
With a sense of bizarre desire and an insatiable hunger for knowledge, Camille figured there would be no harm done. Her cup noodle delivery, still uneaten, she figured that there was no better time than now. With no particular expression or emotion on her face, she carried out the necessary preparations for her food. A series of actions almost as integral to the core of her character as fighting, Camille's love of food was strong. So strong in fact, that it had overridden her usual procedure. Halfway through just pouring boiled water on her noodles, Camille stopped.
Actually, today is a special day, she decided.
A special day deserving of an extra touch of love and ingredients. Usually reserved for grand occasions such as when she just finished a fantastic video game or acquired precious loot, she figured literally getting video game powers worked too.
Going back to her kitchen, she took exactly two steps forward and stopped. In a calculated move, she extended her arm to the right, and felt a cold metal handle brush against it. Knowing it to be the fridge, she opened it.
As if it were the very call of heaven itself, Camille was blasted by a beacon of light from within. Compared to the light outside, which paled in comparison as a flashlight would to the sun, the sheer power of her fridge was unstoppable. Easily the greatest enemy among her landlady and own ego, she did her best to adjust to it. Comprised of a mix of darting her eyes away, covering her eyes with her hands, and slowing opening it, it was quite the nuisance. Only after a half minute or so had passed did her eyes finally adjust. Gradually acclimating to the extreme light, she felt its power get lower and lower before it became barely an inconvenience.
Well I got that over with.
The byproduct of another trial of sorts had once again bestowed her with a new ability. No matter how many times she would see the familiar blue box, Camille didn't think she would ever tire of it. Still, wasn't giving an ability just from opening a fridge a bit of a stretch?
You have acquired the Skill [Lightborne]
"Lightborne, eh?" If the name was any indicator of its ability, it suggested something to do with well, light. Whether it be summoning literal beams of it, or getting some other buff, she had no clue.
Excited to see what the advantages of this new power would be, she called upon the skill menu and tried to equip it.
Skills Active Skills Passive Skills Permanent Skills Fistwork (Active) Gamers' Resilience Sudden Strike (Active) Identify Lightborne (Non-Active)
Non-active? Perplexed at why this was the case, she clicked on it.
You have run out of Passive Skill slots! Please select a pre-existing skill to replace with Lightborne!
Ah, better now than later, I guess. Now that she thought about it, there were many games that held skill limitations to them. Only allowing a certain number of skills to be equipped or having some form of a point threshold that couldn't be crossed, Camille had finally found hers. Yes, despite her currently limited selection of two skills, what she saw did make sense. With how broken certain systems could be, being allowed unlimited skills would only result in a mess of gameplay design which would be awful in multiplayer, or the result of a power fantasy in singleplayer. Taking into consideration that her current situation was of the former, there wasn't much she could do.
By all means, it was as if the world itself was putting a limit on her. From the outset, who even dictated the balancing of her own abilities anyway?
Camille thought long and hard on that idea. For the first time in forever, Camille actually considered the idea of a god or demon. She was skeptic as to why one would even choose to help her. When she thought about it, the vast majority of those who were sponsored, had either offered something in return or were blessed from birth. Camille on the other hand, who was born talentless and offered nothing but the occasional donation to her megacorporation didn't fit into either of these two categories.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
That's an interesting thought. She admitted before moving on. Fascinating as it was, there was no use in considering it longer.
If she really wanted to understand the origin and implications of her ability, Camille would not rely on mere conjecture.
When things have to be done, they will be. In the correct manner and with utmost efficiency, Camille was no fan of leaving things half-assed.
Pleased, Camille replaced Fistwork with Lightborne.
Lightborne: You gain immunity to blinding effects from light. In addition, any individual who tries to blind you will be visible through any physical and magical obstruction.
Besides the very poor game design choice that she required to swap a skill to even see the effects of the one she's swapping with, there wasn't much else that bothered her.
Not even the fact that she would be restricted in the number of skills. While inconvenient, it wasn't anything to stress over. After all. Even if she would have to play by the rules, that didn't mean that there weren't any loopholes or exploits to take advantage of. With more then a dozen years of metagaming and theorycrafting on her back, Camille knew that she would find a way. Lost in a stupor of envisioning all the endless possibilities and playstyles she could make, she had forgotten her original plan of identifying the ingredients and their properties. And so, Camille finished making her meal. Ten minutes passed by in a blink of an eye and before long, her delicious dinner was set in a bowl with utensils by its side. A more sophisticated cup noodle with accompanying scallion, egg, and tomatoes, she was ready.
"Identify."
Modified Cup Noodles Effect UNKNOWN UNKNOWN
Unknown values yet again, only the status menu this time was a little different. Perhaps because her mind registered it as food and not an opponent, the corresponding information would differ too. Regardless though, it would seem that the only way to gauge its information would be to eat it.
Let's dig in! No matter how irrelevant hunger was, the aroma and warm steam on her face were still enough to draw her innate tenderness for food. A pair of chopsticks in her right hand, she dug into her meal. Salty, sweet, and ever so fragrant, Camille, since acquiring her ability, was thankful. Thankful that she could enjoy a tasty side of curry or fish and chips with her taste buds intact, it was almost enough to bring a tear to her eye.
Almost. Among one of the sole pleasures she appreciated in life, there was little she could do to express its value to her. Ever since her untimely loss of any semblance of power and self-esteem, Camille had been largely distant. Distant from the delights or pleasures of life that other people commonly accepted. Whether it be friendship, love, or success, Camille had none of those.
Merely another lost fool among many, the only thing that remained of her past was food. Delicious, nourishing, and enough to bring a smile to her face, Camille was content that she was wealthy enough to not live in poverty.
"Identify."
Jabbed at her half-eaten meal, she called upon her innate power once again.
Modified Cup Noodles Effect A delicious bowl of modified cup noodles made with love by Camille. Topped off with scallion, egg and tomatoes. Restores 3 HP upon whole consumption.
Did her eye just see that correctly? Impatient, she leaned in to the menu and squinted her eyes at the effect. For all intents and purposes, her eyes did not betray her. Just as her initial impression had suggested, her deluxe cup noodles restored 3 HP upon whole consumption.
Three out of a total of ten, Camille was more then delighted at its healing potential.
Restores 3 hp. RESTORES 3 HP. Her face flushed a bright red as she felt a remarkable chill down her spine. Memories and flashbacks of food abuse in video games instantly resurfaced within her mind. Ah, those were the days. To be confronted by mortal danger, mere inches away from having your health bar shredded to zero. Only to then open up a menu, eat all the bread, cheese, and potatoes you have and instantly be fit for battle again. And from what she could tell, Camille felt no feeling of being full in her stomach either. Which meant that given enough time, she could eat as much as she wanted. Content with the idea of what it did, it was only then that she realized that she had missed a crucial aspect of food abusing. And that was that Camille had totally forgotten about how she would transport it.
I can't exactly lug around twenty pieces of bread, can I?
"Inventory!" Camille shouted with a grin.
Inventory Set of Clothes (Equipped)
Twelve blocks of space, and her clothes only took one?
Perfect. Oh, it truly was perfect! The inventory system turned out to be as exactly as she had envisioned. The classic system of days of old, there didn't seem to be a apparent weight limit or resource management aspect to it either. To test the validity of her claims, she picked up her bowl and brushed it against the spare inventory slot. Cut off halfway, Camille saw what could only be described as ripples form along the inventory. Halfway in the real world, and halfway in some dimension of blue boxes, she gave one final gentle push. As if it were some sacrifice to some deity, it vanished from sight. Now no longer bound by the laws of physics and weight, it now existed in another plane of existence entirely.
A plane of existence defined by a combination of letters that suggested its presence in her inventory.
Satisfied, Camille then went to the kitchen and took it back out.
Another day well spent, and another important discovery had been made. Progress and success both being equal doctrines that she now once again subscribed herself too, Camille cleaned the messes of her cooking with a smile on her face.