Chapter 3: It’s a Secret That I Have the [Appraisal] Skill

This country was home to many different races, but aside from my memories of my previous life, I possessed something none of them had.

—The [Appraisal] skill.

The [Appraisal] skill I possessed allowed me to see detailed information about people, monsters, weapons, medicinal herbs—almost anything—in a listed format.

The reason I knew the home countries of the man who had just joined the elf women’s party and the man taken away by the Guildmaster was because I used [Appraisal].

In truth, I could even see their real names, as well as most of their strengths and weaknesses.

However, I kept this convenient skill a secret from everyone.

That was because the existence of the [Appraisal] skill itself had not been confirmed anywhere in the world.

There were no magic tools that could measure ability values, either.

Long ago, when I told someone I trusted, “Your stamina and magic power are about this much, and you have these skills,” they were extremely shocked that I could know such detailed information.

Then they made me promise never to tell anyone about this ability.

Apparently, common knowledge in this world was that while some people could vaguely sense the strength of humans or monsters, it was impossible to know the details precisely.

According to common sense in society:

・ There were values for stamina, magic power, strength, intelligence, speed, and endurance.

・ “Stamina” was one’s life itself, decreasing when moving intensely or taking attacks.

・ “Magic power” was consumed when using magic.

・ Skills existed as special abilities, but there was no way to confirm them.

That was how it was understood.

From my perspective, with the [Appraisal] skill, the explanations of stamina and magic power were mostly correct.

“Stamina” was like HP from those… games that existed in my previous life on Earth.

It decreased when fighting monsters and the like.

If it reached zero, one would die.

“Magic power” was similar to MP.

Using small spells caused small decreases, while large spells consumed much more.

Both recovered through rest, meals, or potions, and their upper limits increased through growth and training.

While stamina and magic power were publicly explained, the other ability values were not clearly addressed.

Perhaps that was inevitable, since they were not visible to the eye.

However, if one was an adventurer, one could feel them instinctively.

For example, that female mage over there.

“Look, look! I bought this staff recently, and when I use it, I feel like my burning power has increased several times! I wonder if my intelligence went up.”

“Nice. Where did you buy it?”

She was proudly showing her staff to an acquaintance.

It seemed she had sensed that her “intelligence”—the value that increased magical power—had risen due to the new staff.

Indeed, my [Appraisal] confirmed that it had increased.

It appeared to be a good purchase.

And over there, two men were talking.

“Hey, haven’t seen you in a while. You’re still an adventurer?”

“You’re one to talk. With nothing but strength to brag about, how’re you still doing this job?”

“What’d you say?!”

A fist was thrown, but it did not connect.

The conversation escalated into a fight.

“If you can’t hit me, it’s meaningless! I’ve been polishing my speed!”

The “strength” one of them bragged about referred to physical power like arm strength.

The “speed” the other had honed referred to running speed, evasion, and attack speed.

“Fine! I’ve wanted to settle things with you! You scrawny stick!”

“I’ve wanted to try going at it with a pig like you! Guh—?!”

“Wha— Gweh?!”

Suddenly, both slammed into something and collapsed as if licking the floor.

One was dragged along the floor by a transparent wall, while the other rolled repeatedly as they were pushed toward the exit.

“Take your fight outside. Do it without causing trouble.”

My barrier sent them straight to the exit.

One boasted of strength but lacked speed.

The other excelled in speed but lacked strength.

If they teamed up, they would balance perfectly.

Even without seeing numbers, people recognized values like “intelligence,” “strength,” and “speed” through their own senses.

One value difficult to sense was “spirit.”

This value was not even known to the public.

The higher it was, the easier it became to manifest skills and magic, and the less susceptible one was to status ailments.

It was unfortunate that this was unknown.

As for me, this was the value in which I excelled most.

Especially in skills—I possessed more than five times as many as those around me.

“Next person, please. Sorry for the wait.”

It had finally quieted down.

Now only this party remained at the counter.

“Yo. That guy outside with the Guildmaster—was he picking a fight with you, Charlotte?”

The leader of a well-known A-rank party asked.

Perhaps the Guildmaster had been lecturing that man.

“Ignorance is scary. From the looks of it, wasn’t he F or E rank?”

When I had [Appraised] him earlier, he had been E rank—an adventurer from another country.

Of course, I could not say that, so I replied vaguely, “Around that, perhaps.”

“You work reception, Charlotte, but you’re actually an A-rank adventurer yourself.”

The party leader grinned and placed his gleaming gold A-rank registration card and a request form from the bulletin board onto the counter.

When I used [Appraisal] on people, there was a section called occupation.

When I used it on myself, this was what appeared.

Occupation: Forester Kingdom Adventurers Guild, Arys Branch Staff Member
Forester Kingdom Adventurers Guild, Arys Branch A-Rank Registered Adventurer

Arys was the name of the town where I currently lived.

Although I now worked as a guild staff member, before coming to this town, I had been an adventurer.

I was still an A-rank adventurer.

I also possessed a gold registration card.

It was the result of making good use of my ability to easily learn skills and magic, performing well as an adventurer.

You might wonder, a guild staff member who is also an adventurer?

However, becoming staff did not require deregistration, nor did it violate any employment rules.

The townspeople generally knew this.

The Guildmaster himself was also an active A-rank adventurer, and in this country, many guild staff members were active adventurers as well.

In fact, while A-rank adventurers were rare in other countries or rural branches, they were not so unusual in this town.

Because this town was famous for frequently spawning monsters.