Attributes and Abilities

The yellows and oranges of the morning sunrise had turned to blues. Leon's glass was half full of the slightly purple water. Its color due to the citric fruit that had a similar lemon taste to the lemons of his old world.

...The birds have 4 wings... But the trees and grass all look normal... But then again what do I know of plants? They're probably completely different types of here

He was leaning over the balcony, watching the birds in the mansion's garden. Admiring the beauty of this world's nature and noticing the subtle differences.

There are probably a lot of parallels between worlds; plants are green and drink sunlight etc. etc. but then there are differences... Maybe some birds out there only have 2? Maybe birds needed 4 to survive against monsters? I have a big knowledge gap that I need to fix if I want to blend in.

"You're up early. But I guess you were raised on a farm after all"

Leon looked toward the voice. Cersei had stepped onto the balcony and taken a seat at the table behind him. She rested her head, the exhaustion still evident.

Without her massive witch’s hat, he was able to get a good look at her. She was a small woman with black hair, pale skin and light blue eyes. Her face barely visible beneath bangs that fell just past her shoulders and covered the dark circles that shadowed her eyes. She wore a simple robe this morning, different from the elaborate magical ones she had worn yesterday. Her frame was thin, what one would expect from a caster.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Wow you have eyes! My sleep schedule is all messed up."

What the!? Maybe she's just cranky? Roselyn did say she and Rika were the two who hated men...

"So uhh want me to get you some water or something?"

"If I wanted something, don't you think I would have gone and got it myself instead of coming here?!"

Then why are you here!?

That's not important. I can't get mad. Cersei is the caster of the group. I should also use this as an opportunity to learn more about the magic of this world.

"Hey Cersei, can I ask you some questions about magic and stuff?"

"No. Go read a book or something. I didn't spend years studying to be a personal encyclopedia."

Stay calm. This is going to be rough.

"I can't read."

She let out a small laugh underneath her breath.

"Go learn to read first then before you worry about magic."

"I'm not trying to learn magic. I have no Mana. No Chi or Essence either. Even though I can't use them I still want to know about them."

"Ugh, it's pointless. You're not going to make it as a hunter. Why even bother? Whether we cure the princess or not you're going to be rewarded by the royal family. You can live a life of luxury. Don't be stupid and try to be something you can't."

"Maybe I can't but I'm still going to try. Since getting here people keep telling me to give up. But I don't want to live a quiet life. I've already tasted it. It was nice but now it's time for something different."

"You're naive. Ignorant. Unaware of what it's like to be a hunter."

"You're right. I am ignorant. Which is why I am asking questions."

"Ugghh you're not going to stop are you?"

"Nope"

Cersei let out an annoyed sigh. Answering the questions would clearly require less effort at this rate.

"FINE! What do you want to know."

Finally!

"Can we start with the basics? Rika told me Chi is body, Mana is mind and Essence is soul. I'm assuming you use those to do spells and they work like a resource that you spend."

"Yeah that's about right. Your attributes defines what you can do. What more needs to be said?"

"How do they work exactly? Are their other attributes besides those 3? What do monsters like vampires use? Also what are the 12 abilities and how do they factor into all this."

"Seriously?! Do you really know nothing..."

"Yeah."

Cersei lifted her head off the table and looked at Leon annoyed. Her hair still covered her face as she spoke.

"Every living thing is composed of the 3 attributes. When we say you have an attribute, it means you can control it. So a 0 doesn't mean you have none but rather you can't actively use it."

Leon left the edge of the balcony and sat back down at his spot on the table.

"Ok so now where does abilities factor into attributes? Also what are they?"

"Didn't you roll them already?"

"Yes... But I was kinda focused on the 0 attributes and high Vitality. I didn't really ask about the others. They were all average according to Rika. Except my intelligence, which was an 8."

"Doubt it. Anyways... Abilities affect before and after the use of an attribute. Intelligence as an example allows me to know and understand more spells. Then there are spells that become stronger or weaker based on my intelligence."

"Rika told me that you can increase your abilities. Attributes as well so long as they aren't 0. So do all Mana users work on their Intelligence?"

"Do you not even know what a class is?"

If she means like video game class yes... But I can't just say that, especially if it's different here.

"No...?"

"An 8 and 0 look very similar, are you sure it was two circles and not an oval?"

"I don't know. I rolled some dice on a table and they told me the numbers. But back to the topic, this is really helping me a lot."

Cersei softened a bit. Leon wasn't sure why but he figured he should not question it and just be happy about it.

"A class is the terminology used to describe how someone uses their attributes and abilities. Also the 12 abilities are; Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, Conviction, Creativity, Intelligence, Empathy, Wisdom, Perception, Charisma and lastly Luck."

I need to get Rika or the guild to write down mine later.

"Abilities also affect what class you might pursue. With Mana and high luck, you'd want to pursue chaos magic over arcane magic. If you had high agility you might want to pursue spellblade. This is also where double or even triple attribute users come in. Spellblades classes are pure Mana, pure Chi or both. Even among Mana, Chi and agility users, there are options. If you had high luck too you could be a harlequin by adding in the aforementioned Chaos magic. AND this applies for almost every combination of Attributes and Abilities, with many having multiple options."

This world has such an advanced class system and of course I can't use anything!

"You can see how it gets very complicated. Not just something you can learn by asking a few questions."

"Yeah you're right... just a few more please. What about monsters and vampires? How do they work?"

A familiar voice appeared.

"Hey, shouldn't you be asking me about that?"

Leading against the door frame stood Valeria. Before Leon could say anything, Cersei had already jumped up and took a defensive position.

"You're the Vampire. What are you doing here?!"

"Rika told me I could stay."

"Move out of the door"

Valeria moved away towards Leon's side of the table. Cersei then walked out of the balcony angrily, keeping her guard up as she went inside and yelled.

"Rika what the hells is wrong with you?!"

And here I thought today wouldn't be as crazy...