Running through the streets of Vyrenan City, Molly tried to remember the directions Max gave her a week ago when she last saw him. Sadly, it seemed she was just as directionally challenged in this life as she was in her last one.
Stopping in front of a bakery, she entered and waited until the shopkeeper was finished handling a customer. Once the customer left, Molly approached the motherly-looking middle-aged woman.
"Excuse me, I have gotten a bit lost. I'm looking for Glendale Farm."
The middle-aged woman looked down and gave Molly a kind smile. "Oh, you are going to need to go just outside the western exit of the city and walk a mile or so down the road."
"Thank you for your help!" Molly said brightly.
The kind-looking woman grabbed a pastry from behind the counter, wrapped it up, and handed it down to Molly. "Here dear, best not to walk such a distance at your age on an empty stomach."
Drooling a bit as she looked at the tasty-looking warm pastry, Molly once again thanked the kind woman before making her exit from the shop.
Walking towards the Western exit, Molly unwrapped the pastry and took a bite. 'Oh, cinnamon apple fritter!' she exclaimed internally, deciding the woman must have a system skill to help tell someone's food preferences.
Not paying attention as she savored her fritter, Molly was surprised when she walked right into a sturdy figure and stumbled down onto the hard ground, her delicious fritter getting crushed against the figure's chest.
Glancing at the smushed fritter regretfully, it took her a moment to notice the figure she had walked into was the same handsome man who had helped her up at the cathedral.
Looking up into cold grey eyes, Molly winced a bit as she noticed the disdainful look he was shooting her. "Do you not know how to walk or something?" he asked, his face stern, his tone disapproving.
"I-I'm sorry..." Molly stammered out, her voice a bit wobbly from the uneasy feeling his intense look gave her.
"Tsk," he sounded as he tried wiping the fritter off his nice clothes before walking around her and leaving.
'What a rude guy!' Molly thought, a bit exasperated by the handsome man's uppity attitude.
Getting to her feet, Molly quickly dusted herself off before making her way towards the Western exit. She walked rather slowly, happy to take in the sights of the bustling city.
The walk was pleasant, and she was a bit disappointed as she walked out of the city limits. Taking a deep breath of fresh air as she walked, she didn't even get upset when a bird flying over her crapped, falling right on her shoulder. Well, she was a bit upset; she just wasn't going to let her bad luck ruin her good mood.
Summoning an apple into her hand, she happily munched on it through her journey until she started to see sprawling fields of farmland. Seeing a painted sign for Glendale Farm, Molly followed it until she approached a large, well-maintained farmhouse.
Giving the door a knock, Molly wasn't even surprised when it broke apart, falling to pieces on the ground. An older woman wearing a maid outfit glanced at the door in shock. "My, I guess they don't make doors like they used to." She then glanced at Molly, who responded with a simple shrug.
"Well dear, what can I help you with?"
"I am here to see my older brother, Max," Molly stated happily, ready to tell Max about all the general skills she unlocked.
The maid smiled gently down at Molly. "He should be done tending to his fields shortly. Come in and enjoy a nice cup of tea." The maid said while guiding Molly through the nicely decorated farmhouse to a cozy sitting area and giving her a cup of tea as she took a seat.
Molly smiled as she took a sip of the hot peppermint-flavored tea, being extremely careful not to drop it. Once her tea was finished, she heard footsteps in the house. Looking up, she saw Max, who now possessed the appearance of an adult with handsome features and a well-groomed dark blue beard.
Placing the teacup down on the table, Molly sprang to her feet and launched herself into his arms.
"Wow, should've known it was you after getting a look at the door," he said, his voice laced with amusement.
"Max! My system has been unlocked!" Molly exclaimed, excited to go over her options before making her final decisions.
Separating from the embrace, Max placed a hand on top of her head and ruffled her long curly blond hair. "Well, we can go up to my room and talk about it," he remarked while guiding Molly through the building and down some creaking basement steps into a sparsely decorated but clean room. Definitely an upgrade from the orphanage.
Taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs, Molly made herself comfortable as Max took a seat across from her.
"Alright, close your eyes and send your log over to me," Max instructed.
Following his direction, Molly closed her eyes, allowing the system status to appear before her, accessing the log and sending it to Max.
Reading through the log, Max wasn't surprised that there were a few destruction-related skills since the little girl was a walking disaster, but he did think they might be more useful than they sounded. "Send over the log descriptions of the weird-sounding skills."
Compiling, Molly sent the descriptions and read through some of them herself.
[Destruction Magnet - Cursed with misfortune, you are learning to adapt. This skill will level every time you encounter misfortune and as it grows will help to alleviate the consequences; Notice: this skill has been granted due to interference from an outside source]
[Fire Starting - Things appear to go up in flames when you are around. Why not make the most of it and watch the world burn! This skill increases efficiency with fire damage, both magical and nonmagical]
[Curse Expert - While being born with a divine-level curse can be a bummer, you can make the most of your affinity with curses and become a subject matter expert in how to both give them and remove them. Skill increases curse-handling ability depending on level]
Well, fire-starting was not something she was interested in, but getting rid of that damn curse was something that would be appreciated, though she was a bit worried about how these skills would affect her class options.
"I recommend you take Identity since that is a standard ability everyone has, then Destruction Magnet and Curse Expert for obvious reasons," Max mused, looking through the other options. "Bargaining will be good for getting a good merchant class in the future."
Molly nodded along at his suggestions since she was thinking the same thing after reading the descriptions. She also did not mind bargaining since she had no money and no employment yet.
"Bottomless Stomach looks good if you want a magic-based class since it allows you to recover magic power when you eat..." Max stated, thinking that the little girl needed to be quite a glutton to end up with such a skill.
"Go with anything you feel will be practical and useful," he finally finished, deciding he had given her the best advice he was able to.
Thinking through her options, Molly selected the skills she decided on:
General Skills:
1. Identity LV: 1
2. Angelic Beauty LV: 1
3. Destruction Magnet LV: 1
4. Curse Expert LV: 1
5. Bottomless Stomach LV: 1
6. Bargaining LV: 1
She decided it would be best not to tell Max her last selection was an appearance-related one since it was a bit embarrassing, and instead told him that she selected Etiquette, though he didn't look as if he believed her.
"We should try and get your skills up a few levels before you go into class selection since that could help get you to acquire some better class options," he stated.
Smiling, Molly knew just where to start. Summoning her grandmother's homemade apple pie, she sighed and salivated as the delicious smell filled her nose.
Chuckling as he looked at Molly's hungry expression, Max stood up and grabbed a fork before handing it to her.
Taking the fork, Molly happily began digging through the pie, each bite tastier than the last, causing Max to watch in amazement as the small little girl devoured the entire pie.
[Skill- Bottomless Stomach LV: 1 → 4]
Burping, Molly thought that she would enjoy leveling this particular skill. With that thought, she summoned two pieces of chocolate cake, this time handing one slice to Max. 'Well, best work on getting through this hardship,' she thought, taking a large mouthful of the delicious cake.