Couldn’t fit the Sage in this chapter. Sorry.
Units in this story match my past life (Earth).
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About half a year into the lessons, Mom was still drilling me on magic theory. Actually casting spells was still off the table. Dad called it overprotective, but never said as much to Mom’s face. Two months ago he’d tried to teach me a little on the sly, and gotten flattened for it. That had been a revealing window into the power balance in this household. Per Dad:
“Once Mom hits that mode, do not push back. Stop resisting. Quiet acceptance is the correct play.”
Whether because of that or not, the supervision on Dad’s side had eased up a little. Lately he’d been teaching me basic game-dressing with a knife. As I was working on that, two figures came over.
“How’s it going, Tenma?”
“Studies coming along, Tenma?”
Mr. Mark and his wife, Mrs. Marsha.
“Hello, sir, ma’am. I’m trying my best, but it’s hard.”
The two of them laughed.
“For three, that much is already plenty.”
“Yeah — when I was your age I used to cry at the sight of blood.”
While I was getting taught odds and ends like this in the open, more villagers had been stopping by to chat. From which I’d figured out: there were no other kids my age in this village. Actually — no kids at all.
The villagers’ children were apparently all already grown, and most were living in larger towns and working as adventurers.
In this world, eighteen was the standard line for being treated as an adult, though under some circumstances you could come of age at fifteen. Usually nobility or merchant families, though.
“Tenma, something up?”
“Nope. Nothing, Dad.”
This world has three continents and a lot of island nations. This village sits on the largest of the three continents, Yurens Continent, in a country called the Krastin Kingdom. North of the Kingdom is the Humble Principality, and to the east is the continent’s largest country, the Gilst Republic — all three are in an alliance. To the southeast there are a few clustered smaller nations. This village is at the edge of the territory of one of the Krastin Kingdom’s strongmen, Margrave Houst. The village’s name is Kukuri Village, and the nearby forest is called the Great Elder Forest.
“Tenma?”
“I’m fine, Dad.”
The Great Elder Forest is genuinely enormous — basically the same area as the territory of past-life Japan.
Mostly uncharted, resource-rich, but the deeper you go the stronger the monsters get. Three kings back, the throne sent in multiple military expeditions to try to bring it under control. All of them failed.
That nearly broke the kingdom’s finances, but a number of large dungeons happened to be discovered inside the kingdom around the same time, and the budget recovered. These days, since poking the snake in the bush isn’t worth the trouble, royal troops basically never come out here.
“Tenma. Oi, Tenma!”
“Wh — what, Dad?”
“You’ve been mumbling to yourself for ages. You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay. Just got a little tired.”
“That right? Let’s take a break, then.”
He sat me down in the shade. He went a short distance off to talk with Mr. Mark and Mrs. Marsha. I aimed [Appraisal] at the three of them.
Name…………… Ricardo
Age……………… 40
Race…………… Human
Title…………… Former Top-tier Adventurer · Top-tier Hunter
HP……………… 18000
MP……………… 6000
Strength……… A
Defense……… B+
Speed………… B+
Magic………… C+
Spirit………… B-
Growth……… C
Luck………… A+
Skills:
Archery 9 · Dismantling 8 · Throwing 8 · Hand-to-Hand 7 ·
Swordsmanship 7 · Traps 7 · Endurance 7 · Status Resist 7 ·
Spearmanship 6 · Axe Arts 6 · Fire Magic 5 · Wind Magic 5 ·
Water Magic 4 · Cooking 3
Gifts:
[Beast God's Blessing]Name…………… Mark
Age……………… 37
Race…………… Human
Title…………… Former Adventurer · Hunter
HP……………… 7000
MP……………… 1000
Strength……… C+
Defense……… C-
Speed………… B
Magic………… D
Spirit………… C+
Growth……… C
Luck………… C
Skills:
Throwing 7 · Dismantling 7 · Endurance 6 · Archery 6 ·
Hand-to-Hand 5 · Swordsmanship 5 · Status Resist 5 · Traps 5 ·
Cooking 5 · Axe Arts 4 · Fire Magic 4 · Wind Magic 3Name…………… Marsha
Age……………… 35
Race…………… Human
Title…………… Housewife
HP……………… 3000
MP……………… 500
Strength……… D
Defense……… D
Speed………… C-
Magic………… E
Spirit………… B+
Growth……… C
Luck………… C+
Skills:
Cooking 8 · Dismantling 7 · Endurance 6 · Status Resist 4 ·
Fire Magic 3 · Water Magic 3 · Archery 3 · Traps 2 ·
Hand-to-Hand 2 · Axe Arts 2— came up in my head. Stat values: C is roughly average. The numbers next to a skill are its level, capped at 10. 1–3 is beginner, 4–6 is intermediate, 7–8 is advanced, 9 is master, 10 is superhuman. Average is 5. Note that “level” is purely a measure of technique — actual output also depends on physical conditioning, current state, etc.
(Looking at it like this, Dad’s stats are pretty respectable.)
For reference, Tenma’s current status:
Name…………… Tenma Ootori
Age……………… 3
Race…………… Human
Title…………… (Favored Child of the Gods)
HP……………… 500
MP……………… 2000
Strength……… F-
Defense……… F
Speed………… E-
Magic………… C+
Spirit………… C-
Growth……… S
Luck………… B
Skills:
Throwing 3 · Cooking 3 · Night Vision 3 · Endurance 2 ·
Dismantling 2 · Fire Magic 2 · Traps 2 · Archery 2 ·
Swordsmanship 1 · Hand-to-Hand 1 · Spearmanship 1 ·
Staff Arts 1 · Axe Arts 1 · All Magic Affinity 1 (6)
([Appraisal] 10 · [Detection] 10 · [Concealment] 10 ·
[Technique Acquisition Boost] 10 · [Kin Empowerment] 10 ·
[Growth Boost] 8 · [Vitality Boost] 8 · [Recovery Boost] 8 ·
[Status Effect Resistance] 8 · [Sense Enhancement] 7 ·
[Physical Ability Boost] 7 · [Destructive Force Boost] 5 ·
[Magic Boost] 5 · [Creation Magic] 5 · [Enchantment Magic] 5 ·
[Destruction Resistance] 5 · [Instant Death Resistance] 5 ·
[Martial Arts Mastery] 5)
Gifts:
[Blessing of the Gods]The parenthesized entries are [Concealment]‘s work — at any level, [Concealment] can hide or falsify titles, stats, and skills up to the same level-count. The base numbers are low because he’s still small. Plenty of growth ahead.
“By the way, Mark — what happened with old man Sage?”
“Beats me. He’s a weirdo. Probably got distracted along the way and turned around.”
“Probably.”
Tenma wasn’t particularly interested in what Ricardo and Mark were chatting about — though, as he would learn later, this Sage would end up being one of the most influential people in his life.
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[Appraisal] and [Detection] are rare skills, and people who have them are highly valued. They cannot be learned later in life (the exception being if you receive one as a blessing from a god whose domain includes it). The level you have is basically what you were born with, and doesn’t go up. The highest seen historically, among non-reincarnators, is [Appraisal] 7 and [Detection] 5.
[Appraisal] at level 1–3 gets you name, age, and race. At 4–6 you get a brief description and the target’s stats, skills, and gifts. At 7–8 you can tell whether [Concealment] is in use (though not what level). At 9–10 you can see usage methods, composition, public reputation, etc.
[Detection] is radar-like. Up to level 6, the radius is roughly level × 100 m. 7–8 covers 2–4 km in diameter; 9 covers 5–6 km; 10 covers 10 km or more. At every level you can attach simple filter conditions (e.g. “only entities with hostile intent” or “only those intending to kill”).
[Appraisal] and [Detection] can be combined — appraise something you’ve detected, or detect a target you’ve appraised.