38 Talkin'

After quite a few corners turned and bowing maids and assassins in grey passed, Hilde and Kumi finally reached a large set of doors.

'Fancy. I guess these assassins here aren't that poor, just dress like it.'

As two guards dressed in grey opened the door from the outside, Hilde looked back at Kumi as the doors flung open and a gentle breeze entered the building along with the fresh smell of flowers and bright sunshine.

Kumi momentarily covered her eyes as the sun was clearly in sight along with the bright blue sky.

As she got used to the brightness after a moment, she slowly followed Hilde outside while keeping her distance from the two guards.

'Nice weather.'

Kumi thought while looking at the clouds in the sky.

'Haven't seen those in a while.'

While following Hilde and looking around the garden area, Kumi frequently took glances at the clouds in the sky.

'Fluffy bunny. Floating mothership. Cute turtle. Gun. Heh, What interesting shapes.'

After a minute of walking and enjoying the lush scenery of dense flowers and trees filled with wildlife, Hilde and Kumi finally reached a classy table near the side of the road they were walking on.

Hilde pulled out a chair and motioned for Kumi to take a seat.

As she warily did so, she noticed the cups of tea and sweets on the table.

As Hilde sat down across from Kumi, she waited for a while as she enjoyed her drink.

After a few seconds, Kumi reached out and took a biscuit only to hop off her chair and offer it to the squirrel next to her.

As the squirrel munched on the sweet biscuit, Kumi watched closely.

'No poison in this cookie. Cool.'

She then went and took a cube of sugar from the table before waddling back to where she was.

'Feed the ants, enjoy the show of nature.'

As a group of ants started to retrieve the sugar piece by piece, Kumi deducted that nothing was poisoned since Hilde was drinking the same tea that was in her cup.

'I couldn't help it.'

Kumi thought.

'I should probably dial it down a bit. I might seem a tad bit strange to people. An overly cautious child is pretty suspicious.'

She decided as she slowly nodded to herself while looking at the remaining cube of sugar disappear along with the ants.

'Stupid tall grass.'

Standing up, she walked back to the table and sat down.

Taking the tea, she slowly drank from her cup before adding two sugar cubes.

'This is some nice stuff they got here. Rich assassins with taste. Who could have guessed?'

Setting down her cup, Kumi looked at Hilde who had been silently observing her.

'How cute. Giving food to the wildlife she had seen on her way here. A kind child, though kindness won't help in war...'

"Do you like the tea?"

Hilde asked as she set her empty cup down.

Receiving a small nod in response, Hilde continued.

"Let's talk about your Attributes a bit more,"

She said as she rested her head on her hands.

"Can you read the words on there?"

"yes."

"That's good."

'What more did I expect.'

"Then, do you see your Properties?"

"mhm."

"Can you tell me what they are?"

"F."

"Oh?"

Hilde widened her eyes.

"How many of them are F Grade?"

"...all."

"All of them?!"

'That is beyond Rare.'

Hilde thought deeply.

'If she trains well she could easily take a small army on her own.'

"You are very gifted."

Hilde said but received no distinguishable answer.

"It means you are smarter than others."

Kumi then nodded while thinking.

'I'll act a bit more like a kid. Them treating me like an adult right now would be pretty bad. Since I don't really know what their attitude toward me would be like.

I'll just act like I don't know a lot of words, I should be fine since no one can tell if I'm lying.'

So, Kumi nodded while muttering.

"smart."

"Right, very smart."

Hilde smiled before asking.

"Do you know what the words beneath the 'Properties' word mean?"

Receiving a small shake of the head, Hilde started explaining.

"Tell me if you don't understand a word I say and I'll explain it."

Hilde cleared her throat.

"Right, so. The first word below 'Properties' should be Vigour. It stands for how many times you can get hit before dying."

As she ended her explanation, Kumi looked at her Properties and focused on Vigour.

{Vigour}

{Property}

{Increases Maximum Health Capacity Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Physical Defence And Stamina Regeneration Per Grade}

'She missed a few things but I guess she doesn't want to overload me with information.'

Hilde continued.

"After Vigour should be Mana. It raises the amount of Mana that your body can have."

{Mana}

{Property}

{Increases Maximum Mana Capacity Per Grade}

{Also Adds Minor Increase To Magical Defence and Mana Regeneration Per Grade}

"Then, the next one is Strength. It makes your muscles and body stronger."

{Strength}

{Property}

{Increases Strength And Power For Every Body Part Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase To Maximum Carry Weight Per Grade}

"Agility, the next one, makes you faster and helps you use weapons better."

{Agility}

{Property}

{Increases All Aspects Of Speed In Body, Mind And Mana Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase to Dexterity Per Grade}

"Mind defends against magic and helps attack with it."

{Mind}

{Property}

{Increases Magical Defence And Magical Attack Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase To Certain Debuff Resistances Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase To Skill Effects Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Perception Per Grade}

"And Endurance helps defend against punches and the like."

{Endurance}

{Property}

{Increases Physical Defence And Stamina Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase To Certain Debuff Resistances Per Grade}

{Also Adds Increase To Art Effects Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Senses Per Grade}

'Why do Endurance and Mind seem a bit broken compared to other Properties?'

Kumi thought.

"And then, finally, we have Arcane. Arcane adds to a lot of things and is a very hard Property to increase, normal people have it at D or C Grade even after reaching a really high Rank.

It is Rare and a difficult Property to increase, the highest Grade someone has Gotten in Arcane is A- and that is the current Saint of the Central continent... Not that you need to know that right now."

'Oh no no, please continue with the lore... Wait. Holy...'

Kumi interrupted her own thoughts as she had focused on the Arcane Property.

{Arcane}

{Property}

{Increases Magic Related Abilities Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Luck Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Physical Defence And Physical Attack Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Magical Defence And Magical Attack Per Grade}

{Also Adds Resistances To Holy And Demonic Attacks Per Grade}

{Also Adds A Minor Increase To Debuff Resistances Per Grade}

'Hot. Damn.'

Kumi thought as she read through the information.

Hilde was smiling as she watched Kumi quietly observe the thin air above her lap.

'So diligent in learning. She pays good attention and tries to learn by herself too, though I doubt she understood every word in the Properties' explanations, it's good I chose to explain them to her so simply or else she would have probably studied the words for hours, not knowing what they mean.'

Hilde giggled to herself, not knowing that Kumi knew a lot more than she led on.

'Good thing my Arcane Property is high thanks to my Titles. I guess the boss lady- I guess Hilde here gave me some good information too, she seems a normal amount of trustworthy.'

As Kumi and Hilde were having largely different thoughts about each other, preparations were being made in the background.

By Death's Doorstep and the Eastern Continent both.

A War was slowly brewing and Kumi's training was being prepared.