- Ch. 4 - (Sera's POV)

[Character Menu]

– Status

[Abilities]

"Well then, this looks very promising…", were the first words to come out of my mouth after I clicked the abilities section on my character menu and read about my first ability.

[Abilities]

– Basic Meditation – Lv 1 – 20% {20/100} – {Active/Passive}

> Meditation is a practice where the practitioner uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing one's mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.

> With further practice and introspection, other abilities, skills, and talents could be found within. You must be willing to spend time and effort to know yourself. Know thyself and you will master your mind.

'I could gain more abilities, skills, and talents through meditation?! That sounds amazing. And what's the active in my ability mean?'

{Active}

– Active abilities, skills, and talents are the ones you need to consciously activate through a special action, with a mental switch, a chosen or locked mental state, and/or a certain emotional state. Some can be activated through a combination of those mentioned above.

'I'll definitely keep that in mind. And with active, comes passive abilities, skills, and talents.'

{Passive}

– Passive abilities, skills, and talents are the ones you don't need to consciously activate. With the knowledge of these abilities, skills, and talents growing, you'll be able to perform them subconsciously and without too much direct effort thanks to having gained muscle memory or the like through constant usage. Truly passive abilities, skills, and talents are difficult to level, but they are worth the effort.

– Basic Escapologist – Lv 3 – 2% {6/300} – {Active/Passive}

> The art or practice of escaping has been an integral and useful art for any person who has both common sense and a great amount of self preservation. Ropes, chains, cuffs, cages, jail, prison, and other situations that need you to use your resourcefulness and intelligence to overcome difficult situations are aplenty in your old world and this new one. Is it any wonder that you have this?

> 'If you have to use this ability, then you've done something wrong along the way or you weren't careful enough.', was what dad always told you when you were young. However, it is a very useful ability and who knows when it'll become useful. Use your brain and any tools on hand. Don't just think inside or outside the box. Think away from said box. You'll be surprised how many solutions can be found to different problems if you just observe and think before acting.

'Looks like certain abilities did translate from my old world. I'm glad dad taught me the basics of escapology.'

– Basic Real World Combatant – Lv 5 – 0% {0/500} – {Active/Passive}

> The history & art of unarmed & armed combat is long and arduous. Centuries of conflict have further honed it to deadly effect. There are numerous ways to disarm armed opponents. The ways in which one can debilitate, incapacitate, and destroy your enemies with your body and any weapon of your choosing are far too numerous to count.

> Having been enrolled in Aikido since you were young helped you in your physical development and self-defense. You were also taught how to use tonfa, eskrima and kali techniques for your own good. Thankfully, you never had to use your knowledge, until now. The world out there is fraught with peril. You know that you need to evolve and use what you've learned to survive. Do you think you can handle it?

'The short excerpts below the explanations are helpful, but does it really need to sound challenging? Or is it just me projecting to myself the gravity of my situation and reminding me how I need to take everything as seriously as a heart attack?'

After further ruminating about that, I decide to gloss it over for now and continue down the list.

– The Art of Languages & Journalism – Lv 7 – 15% {105/700} – {Active/Passive}

> Reading and writing the written word is a very valuable ability to have. The art of communication between individuals is an ever evolving organism that ages and gets ever refined with time and evolves with the people.

> You were planning to be a journalist, so is it any wonder why this ability is your strongest one? The art of gathering, processing, and disseminating news and information comes to you easily. How you use and evolve this ability is up to you. Remember, "WORDS have POWER! KNOWLEDGE is KEY!".

'I wonder how I can evolve it?'

– Adaptable Flexibility – Lv ? – ?% {???/???} – {??????/???????/??????/????-????????}

> This ability is an amalgamation of a few things you've learned and honed in the past. This combination is rare and your spark has deemed it enough to have given it to you. You need to find out more about it in order to unlock it's secrets.

With a nod of my head, I scroll back up and go back to my character menu. 'Time to check out my skills. I'll find out more about my abilities and level them up later. I'm even more excited to find out more about myself.'

[Skills]

"Well then, I'll call this great + amazing = unbelievably excellent."

With a wide grin, I scroll through my skills list and read through them thoroughly while committing most of the information to memory.

[Skills]

– Expert Aikido Practitioner – Lv 47 – 23% {1,081/4,700} – {Active/Passive}

> Aikido is a form of self-defense martial art that uses locks, holds, throws, and the opponent's own movements against them.

> You gain more momentum, have faster reflexes, and your STR & AGI is [quadrupled] when you use locks, holds, and throws against your opponents.

– Proficient Tonfa User – Lv 33 – 57% – {1,881/3,300} – {Active/Passive}

> The Tonfa; also known as tong fa', tonqua or tuifa, is a melee weapon best known for its role in the armed component of Okinawan martial arts.

> Your attacks are [tripled] in STR while your AGI & DEX is [doubled] when you use tonfa(s) in combat. Your reflexes are faster as well.

– Proficient Arnis Practitioner – Lv 38 – 64% – {2,432/3,800} – {Active/Passive}

> Arnis; also known as Kali or Eskrima/Escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. Stick-fighting, Knife-fighting, Swordsmanship, and Hand-to-Hand combat are it's foci.

> Your attacks are [tripled] in STR while your AGI & DEX is [doubled] when you use Eskrima/Escrima sticks, Knives, Swords, and techniques from this school of Hand-to-Hand combat. Your reflexes are faster as well.

– Professional Reader & Writer – Lv Max – {NA/NA} – {Passive/Active} 

> The language of the people of England and the U.S. and many areas now or formerly under British control. This is the language that you've learned and grew up with. You've studied it's nuances, comprehension, and it's history very thoroughly. You've also read numerous books both for your studies and leisure. It shouldn't count as a surprise as to how this skill is at it's maximum. The question you should be asking yourself now is, how can I use this here and now?

> Learning new languages, reading information from certain mediums, and retaining that knowledge is 5x easier for you. INT & WIS are easier to gain when using information mediums like books, tomes, etc.

– Information Gathering & Processing – Lv 13 – 5% – {65/1,300} – {Passive}

> The art of gathering and processing information is extensive. You've studied how to find sources, follow leads, get through the truth of the matter, collect facts, and other such matters. There's very useful applications to this skill. You've just got to be creative with it.

– Mathematics – Lv 21 – 60% – {1,260/2,100} – {Passive}

> Mathematics have been around since the Ancient Greeks or maybe even earlier than that. You've studied Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. What's interesting is that there is no limit to mathematics because it's not linear. It's like a wave that spreads outwards from it's foundations.

> If there's arcane and mental arts in this world, then finding a way to combine them with your foundations in math could become something unique.

– Swimming & Diving – Lv 6 – 73% – {438/600} – {Active/Passive}

> Learning how to swim & dive is essential to those who don't want to drown when living near large bodies of water. Those swimming classes sure paid of when you were still in elementary.

> Swimming speed and diving depth as well as the underwater pressure you can take will increase as you grow this skill.

– Holding Breath – Lv 3 – 90% – {270/300} – {Active/Passive}

> If you can hold your breath, then you won't have to worry about drowning while underwater, smelling garbage, and other unpleasant smells.

> Lung capacity will increase as you grow this skill.

– Movement – Lv 14 – 41% – {574/1,400} – {Active/Passive}

> Walking, jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, and other forms of movement are all in the purview of this skill.

>> Walking is 14% faster. 

>> Jogging is 16% faster. AGI, DEX, and STR affects your jogging speed.

>> Running is 28% faster. AGI, DEX, VIT, and STR affects your running speed, the length of time you can maintain this speed, your reflexes, and your breath control.

>> Sprinting is 56% faster. AGI, DEX, VIT, and STR affects your sprinting speed, the length of time you can maintain this speed, your reflexes, and your breath control.

>> Jumping is 14% more effective. AGI, DEX, VIT, and STR affects your control, balance, height you can ascend, and your reflexes while your in the air.

"This movement skill is going to be very useful. I'll just have to let this power of mine calculate itself to miles per hour a.k.a. mph, and meters high for the jumps to get an accurate read as to what I can do as I grow these skills. Simplified calculations and comparisons are definitely going to help me out with this. I just know it."

'And starting out with a total of 9 skills that came with me through my past experiences will be a total lifesaver. Thankfully, these skills are both passive & active and it specifically said that truly passive skills are difficult to level. I wonder what the difference is between a truly passive skill and ones that are both? Maybe it starts out being active/passive, but as I get better at it then It'll become passive/active. I also have to take in the fact that I've had my entire 24 years of living on my Earth to get these numbers. Who knows how long it'll take for me to raise them up and I'm going to need a plethora of skills with high levels in order to survive any encounters I know I'll be getting out there. Plus, the only reliable combat skills I could use at this moment are Expert Aikido Practitioner and Proficient Arnis Practitioner. And the last one is a big if, since I have to find or make actual eskrima sticks to use them.'

'It looks like I'll have to fallback on my aikido for now. I don't fancy meeting giants, or whatever big creatures are out there and survive them with just aikido. I'll need to get dodging to somehow appear as a useable skill, but that means I probably need to get attacked first in order to try and get it. Anything bigger than a humanoid monster, creature, or whatever and I'll be running the hell away. Or should I say performing a tactical retreat… Yeah, I'll call it tactical retreat. It sounds way better.'

[Character Menu]

– Status

– Abilities

– Skills

[Talents]

– Maps

– Quests

– Personal HUD

– House(s)

[Everything Below This Is Currently Locked]

I scroll back up once again and return to my character menu. 'Next up are talents, maps, quests, my personal HUD, and the house(s) sections. I doubt that there's going to be anything in them; besides my personal HUD that I'll need to customize to my liking, but it can't hurt to check.'