Chapter 13.
***
As the two shook hands in agreement about their exchange, Amelia followed up with: "Please forget about what happened just now…"
"Huh? What are you talking about? After I said I would make an exchange with you, you stood up, went to another room, and came back…"
"Right…, sorry for what I just said." Amelia appreciated Jake's action of acting like nothing had happened a while ago.
"But are you sure you're okay with just that?" She asked, pointing at the three-ring bracelet on his arm.
"Don't worry, I'm satisfied with this alone. Well then, please excuse me." Before Jake could say a word more, she followed up with:
"Then. Would you like me to make you an adventurer now? You don't have to pay the 10 silver coins fee. I'll gladly make you one with my authority."
Jake didn't say a word and only shook his head as he left the room.
As he continued to walk out of the room, Amelia still could not believe how he could keep the same expression on his face the moment he entered.
"Not once did his expression change at all. Except when he shifted his gaze when I pressed my chest against the table. He had the same stern expression all this time…"
"....Am I not beautiful as I think I am?" This situation with him made Amelia rethink her looks. Still, she was glad he was able to show decent respect to her.
"God. I just remembered those guys who tried to blackmail me, when they saw me naked." A bad memory came to mind when thinking about it.
"Well, not like I'll let myself be ordered around by them. Still, is he really alright with exchanging a Glass worm for a gold rank item?"
…..
Once Jake left the room, leaving Amelia alone in it, Amber grabbed him by the shoulder and asked:
"Are you alright? She tried to seduce you, didn't she?" Startling Jake. Regaining his composure he answered:
"I'm alright, I didn't even fall for it. She kinda embarrassed herself though." Easing Amber's worries.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So can we go now? I have to go to the Temple to check something." He said, gently pushing Amber to the side.
"Sure." She replied, as they started walking back to the 1st floor.
"By the way. Are you sure you should be here right now? Aren't you supposed to be working in the main hall?" Jake asked, remembering how Amber was supposed to be working right now. Especially since it's past noon.
"Don't worry about that. I have a skill that allows me to create a clone of myself that can last for an hour at best. I can make three of them if I want to."
Remembering how he had a smile on his face when he left the room. Amber said, "You should smile more; it looks better than frowning all the time."
"Smile…?" Hearing her suggestions, he wondered if there was a reason to do so. The things that happened to him from the day he got into this world till now are nothing to smile about.
'I really want to. But I don't think I can do it.' He said inwardly, keeping his stern expression on his face.
Saying goodbye to Amber, Jake started making his way to the center where the temple is. Why? It's about his new skill {Reduce}.
Looking back on it, Jake realized how weird a skill it is. Not only did he gain it from eating seven spheres he found in the forest, but also how it erased a point of the increased points it gives when he leveled up.
Shouldn't a skill only give a drawback when it actually makes sense?
Like the {berserk} skill. For a great boost of power, your stats will temporarily be half of the original numbers after using a skill.
So why is a skill he gains that can't even level up have a drawback? Even going through countless possibilities on why it had one, Jake did not come to a conclusion at all.
Except for one.
Before Jake even knew it he was already right in front of the fountain he had been watching in the last few days.
Pulling out the singular gold coin he had from the bag. He tossed it into the fountain and clapped his hands before going to the temple.
Once Jake was a few meters near the giant wooden gate of the temple, a voice called out from the side of it. Shifting his gaze towards the voice he found another one of the seven priestesses on the day of the baptism.
Running towards her, Jake said as soon as they were near each other. "I'm here to check my potential?"
The priestess said back with: "You should do this at another time. The temple priest is not here today. If I'm the one doing it, I can only show three details about you."
"That's alright. I only want to check three of my stats."
In those three days of Jake not doing anything, he created connections with the people around the town, these people are:
Amber, with whom he is currently living and staying in her house. The one he is most grateful to.
Allen and Roth, the two guards of the west gate, with whom he made a connection by going there in the last few days. Ultimately, he received a water pouch and dagger from them.
And finally, the temple people (priests and priestesses).
Since Jake avoided Amber during his time staying in her home, he had to go to the temple to have something to eat for those days.
And in that time of his getting food from the temple, he made sure to observe what the temple did. Not just from the basics of worshiping the God they believe in, but also what other things they do for the public.
One of his findings is that the Temple people or residents are required to give everyone a free check in their potential.
[Potential] or [Status growth] is an act of using Divine power in one Status Card and showing their potential/growth when one level up.
Since most people who have a Divine power are people working and living in the Temples and Churches, one can only know about their growth when visiting one.
Though the temple gives a free check, people normally give a large donation to the temple in the hope of great results.
This is what Jake wanted to know. Since his skill {Reduce} has that one drawback.
As the two entered the small room consisting of a 3x3 meter space with only one small fountain in the middle of it.
Jake handed his card to the priestess. Placing his card in the water, the priestess closed her eyes and started praying.
A minute later, a single droplet of gold could be seen in her eyes. She gently wiped it and slowly moved it to the floating card in the water. A flash of light appeared.
"Excuse me then, Jake. I have to go back outside now. Just wait till your Status Card shows what you want to see." The priestess said leaving the room.
"Thank you again, Maria. I'll wait here then." He said to her, closing the door of the room.
The three things he wanted to know about his potential are.
One is his growth in [Vitality] stat, recalling how the system gave a (Lowest possible) remark, he knew he needed to know how many points it would increase when he leveled up.
Though each race/species has a guaranteed number of increases in their stats when they level up he still wanted to know how much it truly increased when he leveled up.
"Humans receive a minimum of 2 points in Vitality when they level up. However, I would like to ensure that my increase in the Vitality stat is at least 4 or 5 points."
Two is about his hidden traits. Though the Status Card does not show it he learned that there exists a concept called traits in the system.
No one really bothered to know about this since most already know the traits they have.
Humans have a trait called [Unlimited growth]. This trait is said to be the ability not to follow the existing rules of world.
An example of this is when a human levels up, four of their stats increase by one point, except for the [luck] stat.
Another example of this is the ability to learn a skill by eating a monster's corpse. So if a horned rabbit has a skill {Leap}, and a person ate this rabbit, unknowingly, this person has a chance of getting this skill.
Of course, to make sure the natives of this world do not grow too much to the point they overthrow all the other species, the system made sure they can only obtain skills from them.
And finally the third one. The most important thing he wanted to check was his [Luck] stat.