How to Suck at Being a Ghost: Help! I'm Dead and Useless!
Back to the beginning, Harold looked at the spiders and floated down and waved his hands in front of their eyes.
"Helllooooo." He called out to them but they did not respond as they wolfed down his remains.
"Damn, am I that delicious? Perhaps I should try some. Wait, that line of though is dangerous." Harold mumbled and looked at the spiders once again before shifting his focus away from them.
"Status." He whispered and the familiar window appeared. Well, not so familiar again.
[Name: Harold
Level: 1
Job: None
Race: Ghost (Flicker)
Status: Dead
Strength: 0 Speed: 0 Perception: 30 Vitality: 0 Intelligence: 10
HP: 0/0
MP: 100/100
Skills: Flicker Whisper Ghostly Manipulation Stealth Perseverance Concentration
??????????
Titles: Reincarnator, Spirit-type Undead,
]
'Hmm… I wonder what is with that skill that is covered with question marks. But more importantly…' Harold directed his gaze at his sparse Status and held his head.
"Waaahhhh! I lost most of my skills and even my Job. I know I got off easy by even being alive but it still hurts!" Harold figured that if no one was seeing him or hearing him, he could scream as loud as he wanted.
One of the spiders that was nibbling on his heart tensed up and looked directly at Harold and bared its teeth at him.
"Whoa! It can see me? No, its probably just using its perception to observe me." Harold quickly figured it out and tilted his head.
"When did I become so smart?" His mind had become a lot clearer and faster to the point it made his body seem like a dumpster truck in terms of handling information.
"Oh! That's it." And as expected of his newfound intelligence, he quickly figured out the reason.
"Ghosts are basically balls of energy. Without the restraints of the human body, each and every part of me is able to handle data with extreme speed. Therefore, I am able to go through ideas faster than anyone and reach a conclusion." He mused and forgot that there was a monster right in front of him.
"Kierrkhhhh!" The spider yelled and Harold saw the telltale signs of magic weaving in the air and his ghostly instincts warned him and he floated away as fast as possible.
But not fast enough. As the spell was completed, it shot out a brown beam of energy that nicked Harold's left hand.
"ARRGHH!" Harold's face contorted in pain as the hand turned into a piece of rock and fell off from his body.
"KKKKhhhh…." He breathed out and felt his body weaken slightly as another hand appeared where the previous one was.
"I let my guard down." He muttered and glared at the spider monster and ran away. Well, floated away. Anyways, he fled from the scene as fast as possible.
"I wonder why that spider was able to hit me." After getting to a place that could be considered safe, Harold activated his skill and reduced his presence as much as possible.
"Status."
[Name: Harold
Level: 1
Job: None
Status: Dead
Strength: 0 Speed:0 Perception: 30 Vitality: 0 Intelligence: 10
HP: 0/0
MP: 95/100
Skills: Flicker Whisper Ghostly Manipulation Stealth Perseverance Concentration
??????????
Titles: Reincarnator, Spirit-type Undead,
]
'My MP went down?' That was the only change to his status after he viewed it before. The only things that happened between then and now was…
"Getting hit by that attack. So, I guess as a ghost, my MP serves as both a source of power and my life." He sighed at the thought of dying from a lack of MP and resolved to level up.
"Though the only problem with that is…" Harold spotted a weak looking snake and floated over to it and stabbed his hand into it.
There was absolutely no change at all. The snake just glanced as it felt something weird in its body before continuing with its life.
"How the hell am I supposed to go about killing monsters!?" Harold held his head and whisper-screamed.
"Let me just take a look at my status again. Perhaps there's something that might be of use." He muttered and opened his panel before flipping through it.
"[Flicker], [Whisper] and [Ghostly Manipulation]. Those are the skills I gained after becoming a ghost. And as for their description…"
[Flicker
Skill Type: Active
Description: Increases body movement by 20%, ignoring ordinary physical obstructions.
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Cost: 5MP
]
[Whisper
Skill Type: Passive
Description: When talking to corporeal beings, inflict a certain amount of damage to their bodies
Cooldown: None
Cost: None
]
[Ghostly Manipulation
Skill Type: Active
Description: Allows the user to grab and interfere with objects. Strength depends on user's mental fortitude and level.
Cooldown: None
Cost: None
]
"What the heck… these skills… are amazing!" Harold yelled and pumped his fist into the air and looked at the viper.
"Hehe… looks like you're going to become my first kill as a ghost. Be honored." Harold grinned and focused deep into his spectral body.
Skills were similar to magic. They were both a means of utilizing energy or MP. But there was a bit of a difference between them.
Skills and magic both involved altering reality and performing supernatural feats. Magic often utilized the elements and a well-prepared formula in order to do so. Skills, on the other hand, were activated manually withing one's body without the need for any formula.
'Some might say magic is the science form of skills.' Harold remembered what some of the people he was acquainted with said.
He never had the chance to attend a magic school and mostly learned his skills by watching others or spending skill points.
"I'd really like to learn magic." He whispered and felt he was ready.
"Here I go." Harold breathed in and extended his hand. "[Ghostly Manipulation]"
Nothing happened. The snake was still there, lying on the floor, being lazy.
"Huh? Did I do it wrong?" Harold jerked his hand but the snake did not even shake. Not even a bit.
"Wait…" Harold gave the description of the skill a onceover sighed.
'I see. It depends on my level and mental strength.' Harold certainly wasn't going to start shouting like all those protagonist types, going on about the power of will and stuff.
"How about I go for something smaller?" He shot a regretful glance at the snake and continued floating around.
Later, when he thought about it, he realized it wasn't a good idea. At the cost of his M