A blue border appeared around my vision, and it was distracting at first, but after looking around the color faded into the background. I looked down at my ring and there was a small bar above it.
[Ruby 28%]
Not overly descriptive, but it said what it needed to. Now, I wanted to know what skills I had, but the second I wanted to see my skills, a menu popped up with a list of five skills.
[Shield Bash] Level 1
Dash forward up to 2 meters and if you hit a creature that is one size bigger than you or smaller you will stun them temporarily for 3 seconds.
[Battle Cry] Level 2
Enemy creatures within 5 meters must focus all attacks on you for 20 seconds.
[Rally] Level 1
Allies within 3 meters from you gain increased Physical Damage and Physical Resistance. This effect lasts for 30 seconds.
[Physical Resistance](Passive) Level 1
Gain an increased resistance to Physical Damage: 20% Damage reduction.
[Magical Resistance](Passive) Level 1
Gain an increased resistance to Magical Damage: 20% Damage reduction.
"How do I close my skills?" I asked Tim.
"Just will it closed. Good to see you already figured it out, how are the rest of you doing?"
Gloria was sitting patiently explaining to Mei, she must have figured it out already. Mei was looking side to side, but I could tell she was paying attention, she was just being Mei purely to frustrate Gloria. They were a cute couple, but then I got a whisper into my ear that tickled and almost made me laugh out.
"How do I do it?" Lesha whispered far too close to my ear.
"Shh, not so close love, that tickles! Just think that you want to see your skills and they will appear," I told her as she looked forward and started to concentrate hard, but then she jumped back in surprise.
She was so cute that I had to slide my hand into hers and kiss her cheek as she looked at her menu. I put my head on her shoulder and then she leaned hers into mine. It was nice to just relax like this, but I knew it couldn't last, but I would take in every minute or second I could spend with her.
"So, now you all know your skills, they should all be at level one, unless you have used them before. That won't be very likely, but not impossible. Sometimes the intent is enough for the skill to work; just knowing what you want to do can also activate the skill," Tim explained.
"I guess that I have used Battle Cry before because it's at level two already."
"Good, that is a very useful skill and can save lives. To use these skills you can do one of three things or all at the same time, it doesn't matter. Say it, think it, or mean it, but if you plan on using intent, I would still get in the habit of thinking it while you do it just to make sure the skill goes off. Nothing worse than going to use a skill at a crucial part and have it not work, that's how people die."
That was true, and I would get used to calling the skills out in my head. Calling the names of the skill out loud seemed a bit embarrassing. I could see some men doing it, and even maybe some women, like Mei might want to call out their spells out loud.
"What about magic? How do we see our spells?" Corbit asked, looking at his ring trying to concentrate.
"Magic is a bit different, and you can't see your spells with this ring. I don't know very much about it since I have no magic. The knowledge that I have is all learned from other people, but I think you have the spells stored inside of you and it is completely different. From what I have heard, magic and classes don't have anything to do with each other, and the only way to increase your power is to increase your devotion to your God, Healia."
"Devotion? What? Do we have to pray to her more or bring her gifts? Tch, typical God," Gloria said as she was ideally braiding Mei's hair.
"No, you will have to talk to Healia about it when we get to Dyster in three more days. Maybe more depending on how things go in the next town. If we didn't need supplies I would say that we should avoid the place, but I can't be helped," Tim said with a sigh.
"What's so bad about the town Greled?" Lesha asked.
"The people of the town don't have taverns or places to stay because they don't like travelers. It has gotten pretty bad since the dungeons appeared. Even before that the people treated travelers impolitely, now it has got to the point where it is almost not safe to go there anymore," Tim explained.
"How far are we from there?" I asked.
"Two days, but we will be okay, only you and I will go into town and get what we need. We will have to walk in, and the girls will have to watch the caravan while we are gone. Some real depraved people will do anything to make some quick coins. Best we can do is just get in and out and on our way."
"Is there anything on the way? Like between here and Greled?"
"I thought you would never ask! We can go and visit my parents tomorrow night, we will be very close to them!" Corbit said with excitement.
I hadn't been talking to him, but he seemed so excited that I could hardly tell him that I wasn't speaking to him. I didn't know that Corbit was from over here, but I had never asked him. I looked at Tim, and he nodded his head.
"Sounds like a plan, but what is the plan for tonight?" I asked.
"Not a lot of sleep, we will have to rest in shifts. This is bandit country."