"How can I ever repay that favor? I'm already overwhelmed by the meal you bought for me."
"You can just repay us once you find a stable job. I can't just ignore someone in your situation."
Thus, Leo and the family walked back to their house together. It was one of the detailed wooden houses. A two-story building with plenty of room for a family.
"Welcome to our home. My name is Mort, and my wife's name is Anne. This little kid behind my legs is called Runo. He's a bit shy but has good manners."
"Once again, thank you for the hospitality. My name is Leo. I hope we get along well during these few days."
Leo shook Mort's hand and walked inside, right behind the family. They were overly polite, but Leo didn't mind it and acted the same. He noticed that the people of this village were happy and everyone was friendly.
Mort showed Leo the room where he was going to live in the unforeseeable future. It had a small drawer beside a bed. There was also a fancy mirror on the wall. Leo finally had the chance to see his face for the first time since he arrived.
What surprised him the most were his crimson-red eyes. They were unusual for someone who belonged to Earth, but Mort and the others didn't seem to mind it. There was an orange flame tattoo on the right side of his face.
This was also something unusual for him, but not for the people of this world. Mort labeled him as someone strong based on this tattoo alone. Leo decided to find out the meaning of this in the future.
The rest of his features somewhat resembled his earthly vessel. His average height and messy hair were the same except for the long side bangs. He was slightly underweight, but his skin was spotless, and his hair was silky.
In short, he ended up becoming the better-looking version of himself.
"How do you like the room, Leo?"
Mort asked him after a few seconds. Leo looked confused as he looked around the room, but Mort didn't know it was because of his reflection.
"This room is great. I don't need anything more than this."
"I'm glad you're satisfied. I will go now since this is when we usually start sleeping, and Runo is sleepy. We'll talk about house rules and the uninteresting stuff tomorrow."
"Good night, Mort."
Mort left Leo alone, and this was the moment that Leo had been waiting for. He wanted to test his new powers and get a better grasp of this world before deciding his following actions. However, getting a roof above his head was the most important part.
Leo closed his eyes and remembered the words of the beggar.
"Everyone has a different system with different abilities. You can see your system window if you concentrate on summoning it. It takes some time to learn it, but you will get used to it in no time."
Leo followed the advice and imagined a red status window. The same as the ones that most video games had. He imagined it popping up out of nowhere, and a spark suddenly appeared. The air caught fire, and the status window unfolded before his eyes.
[NAME]: Leo
[TITLES]: Blessing of Ina (A-Rank), The One Cursed by Enriel (???)
[ABILITIES]: Fire (F-Rank), Hand-To-Hand Combat (S-Rank)
[RACE]: Human
'Interesting. My race is set as human. Does this mean that there are other intelligent races living in this world? I also seem to have two titles. One of them is by Enriel. She mentioned something about giving me a weak ability. Did he mean Fire (F-Rank)? I also retained my close combat experience from earth.'
Leo focused on his title, which was given to him by Enriel, and a new page popped up.
'Oh, it worked.'
[Description]: A curse given to you by The Goddess of Creation, Enriel. It erased all your potential abilities and replaced them with Fire (F-rank). The curse doesn't affect the abilities you get in the future.
'This is so not over. I'm going to get my revenge. Let's see the other ones.'
[Description]: Blessing of Ina (A-Rank) is a title given to those born on the day of the Fire Goddess, Ina. Those blessed by the Fire Goddess are only allowed to use fire-related abilities. However, as an exchange, their affinity with the fire element is raised to the extreme.
'How comfy. Does this mean that Enriel made a mistake? She gave me a fire ability on the wrong day. Did I get to keep my close combat ability because I got that before the blessing?'
Leo tried his best to find possible reasons for the contradicting abilities and titles, but he continued the description reading in the end. Thinking about something that could be nothing more than the whim of a God or a Goddess was useless.
[Description]: Fire (F-rank) is the ability to produce Fire. However, it is barely enough to light a match.
Leo chuckled, seeing the pitiful description. He expected nothing more from an F-ranked ability. He looked at his palm and tried to think about his finger catching fire.
You've successfully activated [Fire (F-Rank)]
A small flame appeared on the tip of his middle finger. Leo couldn't see how such a small flame could light a match, but it was probably possible if the system told him.
'I wonder if all abilities are related to fighting or if there are abilities like cooking or dancing.'
Leo had many questions, but all he could do for now was sleep and ask Mort tomorrow morning. After a few tries, he closed the system window and went to sleep without a bath.
Little did he know that his first real fight against a real ability user would happen tomorrow. Little did he know that the reason it would happen was because of a certain someone whose cooking was so bad that he had no choice but to vomit.