Chapter 5: 4. Examine

My father left in order to find out what my future may hold, but I have set my own agenda.

I want to raise my magic pool as quickly as possible, but there is something else I want even more. Since my father mentioned “aptitude appraisal”, I thought that maybe that cornerstone of isekai stories may exist as a skill too—appraisal! Appraisal, Analyse, Examine, Study, Scan, whatever form it takes, it’s a critical skill to learn about the world as an outsider.

Moreover, I hope that with an appraisal skill, I may be able to appraise myself and gain a clue about my racial heritage.

In this way, I have decided to double down on examining things.

I stare at my crib. It’s wooden!

I stare at my blankets. They’re cloth!

I stare at the stuffed salmon. It’s ugly!

…This is perhaps not the right way to get the skill. I don’t know how skills really work in this world, after all. I was born with unique skills, but what about others? Do they have to be granted? Or can you learn them? Do they grant you talent, or are they crystallisation of talent? In the end there’s not enough information.

Let’s see. If a skill is granted by exactly that—accumulating a certain amount of “skill” in a field of knowledge—then simply staring at things wouldn’t trigger it. I need to think about this.

When I first arrived here, I made deductions about my family social class based on the things I could see. First of all, this crib. Let me examine it properly. 

The wood is smooth and polished, with a layer of varnish on it. There are delicate carvings on the headboard of frolicking animals like deer and rabbits. A carpenter capable of these kinds of engravings must be pretty skilled. But the varnish doesn’t have much smell, and is quite scuffed, implying it’s pretty old. Now that I look closely, there’s even some charring on the corners, just out of sight if I don’t look.

An heirloom, or secondhand? I feel like this is actually quite a well made, maybe even expensive crib, but it’s old and has received damage over the years. It could lower the price, making it affordable for a less wealthy family. But it’s not that badly damaged, not enough to want to sell it or give it away. Hmm.

Let’s examine the blankets. They’re very soft and plush, with a lilac colour dyed in it. I don’t know the accessibility of dyes or materials, but I feel like the craftsmanship is, again, superb. Not that I’m a weaver, but it’s not made of any kind of coarse or average linen. It feels like a wool blend. Pure wool would be far more expensive, so upper-middle class?

As for the salmon…

No. Let’s stop here for now.

I take a noon nap and then continue my careful appraisal of my surroundings, making sure not to just stare at things but to properly examine them and think about the materials and the craftsmanship. When my mother picks me up to sit me on her lap by the window, I scrutinise the flowers in the vase there with the same fervour.

I continue this as long as I am awake, until the afternoon of the next day I am finally rewarded with that which I so long for! A text box pops into my vision while I am seriously surveying a wooden rattle! Yes, it's an appraisal skill, at la—!

With that, I pass out.

 

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When I wake, it’s already dark outside the window. My mother is sleeping in a chair beside my crib, a furrow in her brow.

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My body feels heavy and my head feels like it’s full of cotton. I feel feverish and weak. It takes all my strength to concentrate enough to summon my status.

Name TBD | LVL.1

Age: 21 days  |  Race: Half-human

HP: 6/10 | MP: 0/1

Traits:

Dreamer, Half Breed

Unique Abilities:

Oracle of Dreams, Harbinger, Skeleton Key, Jack-of-all-Spells, Wodetongue

Spells:

Examine Lvl.1

Effects:

Overdrawn

Ahhh, how did I lose almost half my health? No way! I quickly focus in on the effect listed on my status screen.

Overdrawn: You have cast a spell which costs more magic than you are capable of drawing upon, draining your vitality instead and leaving you weak. Status effect will go away once lost HP and MP is restored.

What! What spell? There, in my spell list tab. “Examine”? I see, so rather than a skill or ability, it’s a spell. It costs magic to use. Let me see, I’m missing 4 HP. Does that mean using “Examine” costs 5 MP?! You’re telling me that spell costs so much? No way!

Examine Lvl.1: 10 MP

Utilising your knowledge and expertise, through careful scrutiny you are able to deduce facts about items.

Huh? Huh?! Huuuuhhh?!? “Examine” costs how much to use? If It costs that much, then when I was overdrawn, and I have only 1 MP and 10 HP, that means I… I only had…

I almost died?!

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