“Priestess! Wake up!”

  There was a loud knocking sound coming from the door.

  “Please, stop sleeping and come out!”

  The knocking repeated itself once more.

  “The village is in danger, we need you-”

  “Oh shut up! I’m coming, I’m coming…”

  The door opened, revealing a lady with fuzzy ears and a fluffy tail standing behind it. The lady’s hair was in disarray and she continued to rub her eyes gently as if she had just woken up from sleep.

  “What is it that you want from me, it better be important or else I’ll rip all of the fur off your tails this instant.”

  The group of people gathered in front of the lady all gulped nervously while one male in the front stepped forwards gingerly.

  “Priestess, there was an earthquake just moments ago, did you not feel it?”

  The priestess tilted her head sideways as she thought for a moment.

  “I did feel a little rumbling, but what of it? It’s not like another earthquake will-”

  *RUMBLE*

  The ground shook while the surrounding thatch houses collapsed into piles of twigs and straw. Several people fell over at the tremors, including the somewhat sleepy priestess.

  “See, priestess, see? The tremors came again! Mount Feros must be awakening once more!”

  As the people who had fallen over got up, they mumbled to each other in fearful tones.

  “We must deliver a sacrifice quickly! Please, allow us to prepare right away.”

  The priestess stood up as she rubbed her rear sorely. A frown appeared on the priestess’ face as she looked over the group before her.

  “Is there anyone who is willing to give themselves up for this cause?”

  Nobody responded.

  “…it appears we will have to draw lots. Everyone come back in an hour for the lottery. You all already know what happens if you try to run away.”

  After a period of silence, everyone slowly dispersed from the group as some made their ways to the still intact thatch houses while others began rummaging through the collapsed piles of material.

  The priestess sighed heavily before she entered her own house and began preparing materials for the coming sacrifice.

  * * *

  Jean dismissed the two panels before him as he prepared to take a bite into the medium-sized red fruit in his hands.

  *crunch*

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Sensations like electricity ran through Jean’s tongue as he munched on the red fruit with leisure.

  ‘Library.’

  Jean suddenly felt as if his entire body was strapped down with weights and submerged into water while the fruit he held in his hands fell to the ground as he could no longer keep his fingers tightened around it. Panels full of information flooded his view all containing things he had previously used [Identify] on.

  ‘Is there anyway I can organize all of this?’

  Suddenly, all the panels began to arrange themselves into neat little stacks and piled up to the side of Jean’s vision. Looking at the organized pile of panels beside him, Jean had another thought.

  ‘Show me info on Zerke Apples.’

  A panel flew out of the organized stack and hovered before Jean.

  ‘This skill is really user-friendly!’

  Jean deactivated [Library] and regained control over the movement of his body.

  ‘Status.’

  After noting the changes in the percentages next to his skills, Jean’s attention was drawn to something he hadn’t noticed when he was looking over his titles, skills, and traits.

  ‘Identify.’

  Jean tilted his head at the panel before him.

  ‘I can increase my mana by meditating?’

  After pondering the second point on the panel before him, Jean closed his eyes and sat cross legged with his palms face up on his lap. Slowly, Jean began to empty his mind of all thoughts and attempted to allow the feeling of nothingness overtake him. As the thoughts left his mind, Jean was able to ‘see’ blue dots of light of varying brightness.

  ‘Is that… mana?’

  Jean attempted to reach out for the dots only to have them scatter away from him. No matter how many times he tried to touch the dots, they simply moved away from him. Tired of failing to touch the dots, Jean decided just to observe the specks of blue light in silence. Strangely, when he stopped moving, the dots slowly moved towards him.

  Eventually, one of the specks of blue light touched Jean’s body which caused him to glow in a blue light. As the light dissipated, Jean could feel something swirling inside of his body.

  *ding*

  Jean opened his eyes and saw a panel floating before him.

  After dismissing the panels, Jean immediately closed his eyes and began emptying his mind of thoughts once more.

  “No! I don’t wanna be a sacrifice!”

  Jean opened his eyes and looked around. In a short distance, he could see figures shuffling about in the distance. Standing up and dusting off his pants, Jean walked towards the people in the distance while silencing his movements as much as possible.

  “Don’t worry, your death will prolong the life of our people.”

  Jean drew closer to the group of people before him while observing them closely.

  ‘Giant cats? No… cat-people?’

  Jean squinted his eyes at the figures in the clearing before him as he noticed the cat-like tails and ears attached to their bodies. In the center was a small cat-person being tied up by and gagged by the others around him.

  “We’ve caught the runaway, let’s head back to the tribe.”

  “Wait a moment, does anyone else smell that?”

  The group of cat-people looked around while sniffing the air.

  “I think it’s coming from over there.”

  As the entire group looked towards his direction, cold sweat began running down Jean’s back.