After the meal has finished, we started to get up and follow one of the Weasley brothers. I think his name is Percy. Based on what he said, we were going to the Gryffindor room.
We had to go through some weird stuff. Ghost, live paintings, moving armors and some nasty poltergeist called Peeves. When I was going with Hagrid, I did not pay any attention to what was around me and honestly, we were in a hurry. But now, when I looked at everything it looked so chaotic and dynamic, due to movement everywhere.
Thankfully, Percy used some shortcuts and we reached our destination pretty fast. Most of the first-years here were tired and wanted to sleep. I can understand them, after all, they were up the whole day and had to go through sorting, being anxious and nervous can be taxing for your brain. Pretty soon, I found my room with a bed. I was fortunate enough to get a sole room.
Maybe that is because I came without invitation and in the original script all the students had a pair? Honestly, no idea. Anyway, I lied in bed and started thinking about all that happened today. It was a very hectic day for me. I died, came here, got the system, was screwed by it and saved by it. And I got a notification about a level up.
'What level up gives me, system?'
[It allows you to pick characteristics you want to improve by a margin and one skill point.]
'Characteristic? Can you tell which ones I can improve and what they affect?'
[Three main characteristics are Health, Magicka and Stamina. Improving Health will improve your health conditions. The overall work of your organism will improve, and your lifespan will increase. It also removes or mitigates negative conditions, based on their severity.]
'Wow, this is pretty overpowered, isn't it? By upgrading it I can technically live forever?'
[Yes, but increase margin is small due to the wide application of the characteristic.]
'That makes sense. What about Magicka then?'
[Increases your talent for magical arts.]
'So, it means, understanding books about magic and spells will become easier?'
[Indeed, it will.]
'And, because the application is so small, the effect should be very noticeable?'
[It will give you a percentage increase in talent. It will increment your talent by 1% of your own talent.]
'Um... Actually, that is not much and...'
At that moment, one thought came to my mind and I had to ask the system.
'You've said by 1% of my own talent. But if I have increased it previously and now improving it again. Will it increase by 1% of original talent or 1% of the already improved talent?'
[Second option. The more you increase your talent, the bigger that increase gets.]
'That is great! Now, what about the stamina?'
[Stamina is responsible for your physical and mental fortitude.]
'Elaborate please.'
[Higher stamina means your body can go through more physical or mental obstacles and tire slower in the process. You will have more energy and can work longer without resting.]
'You said both mental and physical? Does it mean, that by increasing stamina I can increase my perseverance and work harder without getting lazy?'
[Both yes and no. You will not get a decrease in your laziness. However, you will have increased energy reserves and a more active thinking process. So, it will be easier to do mental or physical work. Thus, it was called 'Stamina'.]
'All 3 characteristics are great. One can allow me to have better health. Second increases my talent and make it easier to study and practice, while the third one makes me kinda more hardworking and livelier. Hm... Hard choice. And actually, about choice, how do I level up?'
[Each time you improve one of the skills you get experience. Experience is used to get level-ups. After getting enough experience to level up, notification ' Level Up' will pop.]
'So, where and how do I spend the experience?'
[In skills menu. Just think 'skills progress' and 'Skills' menu will appear.]
'Skills progress.'
〖Skills〗
As soon as that line appeared, my eyesight went dark for a moment. What I saw afterward was a night sky full of stars. Some of those stars have combined into constellations, with dull gray lines connecting stars inside of those constellations. Then I noticed that most of the sky was somewhat dark and muddy. Not because it did not have stars, but more like some dark fog was covering it.
'What is that dark fog?'
[Skills that you have not discovered yet, are hidden. You need to experience skills on your own before the system starts helping you with them.]
Then I looked at those constellations, that were visible. There were 3 of them.
『 Sneak 16 | Speech 18 | Alchemy 16 』
Respective names with skill levels were underneath those constellations. Even lower, I saw 4 rows with information on them.
『 Level 1 ➣ Can increase 』
『 Health ➣ Improvement : 0 』
『 Magicka ➣ Improvement : 0 』
『 Stamina ➣ Improvement : 0 』
Then I concentrated on the level and words 'Can increase' and a message popped up in front of my eyes.
[Would you like to increase your level now?]
Let's think about what I will improve first. Health, Stamina or Magicka?
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I understood that Magicka is the most useful in my current situation. My mindset is that of an adult now, so I can endure a lot for now. Therefore, stamina's out. My health is quite good because I am 11 years old and my body is in practically the best conditions. Young, strong and healthy, so health is out as well. One thing I am unsure of is my talent for magical arts.
'Yes, I would like to increase it now.'
『 Level 1 ➔ 2 』
[You get one skill point and one characteristic point. Which characteristic you wish to improve?]
'Magicka!'
After I said it, I noticed a change in the 4 rows below.
『 Level 2 ➣ Not enough experience 』
『 Health ➣ Improvement : 0 』
『 Magicka ➣ Improvement : 0 ➔ 1 』
『 Stamina ➣ Improvement : 0 』
[You received a skill point. You can spend it to unlock an ability in one of the opened skill trees. Take note, only activated stars can give you an ability. Stars will be activated as you progress in the skill and unlock more abilities in the tree.]
After that notification, I noticed another change in the skills menu. The first stars in constellation became brighter and started shining with more light as if to draw attention to them. I concentrated on one of those first stars. Specifically, star in Speech constellation.
〖Strong argument〗
〖Your words and sentences hold more weight. People listening to you, with higher probability will trust you. Higher chance to win in verbal arguments.〗
That is a nice ability to have, especially with my questionable background, it can literally save my life. But let's not be too hasty here. I will check other skills and abilities, they offer.
I focused on the alchemy tree and took a look at its first star.
〖Focused mind〗
〖Becomes easier to concentrate and focus your attention during alchemical activities. Harder for external forces to distract you from those activities.〗
I never tried alchemy, so it is hard for me to say if it will become very useful. Let's check the ability in the Sneak tree.
〖Weak presence〗
〖Your presence is now harder to notice and some people would even ignore you completely as if you are not there at all unless you proactively attract attention to yourself.〗
It can be useful, however, it says, 'some people', so it is a very chaotic ability. Plus 'harder to notice' is not the same as 'hard to notice'. What skills do, it just makes my presence weaker than it was before. To what extent it weakens it, was not specified.
I once more looked at the whole skills menu, to check if I missed anything. I did not notice anything new and decided to close the menu for now.
'How do I close the skills menu.'
[Think about exiting.]
'Exit'
Right when I thought about exiting, once more my eyes went dark for a moment and then I saw the interior of my room. Should I pick a skill now? Or should I do it later? Hmm... I will push the decision for the morning. For now, I am going to sleep.