I waited in the living room, practicing my newly acquired magic to feel things around me, while Jenny prepared tea and Meil completed his quest downstairs. Finally, I felt the newcomer walking up the stairs.

“I’m done, Jenny. What did you want my help for?” He said as he arrived.

“Thank you for taking the time to hear me out,” Jenny answered. “I know you are a very busy person, but I think this case should interest you.”

“Not at all! Don’t start being all polite with me now, you know I don’t like this. We’re friends, right? Furthermore, I don’t have any quest that I need to fulfill right now, so I have more free time now than ever. But let’s cut the small talk, should we? Could you explain what is going on?”

“Okay, sorry. Where should I start… Well, first of, could you use on Norr?” Jenny answered.

“Hmm… I don’t like using this skill without permission, so, Norr, do you allow me to look at your status?” Meil asked me.

“Huh, sure, I don’t mind, those two guys did it already without my consent, so I guess it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” I said nonchalantly as I pointed Tetsu, who was concentrated on some documents in the room behind us, and Jenny.

“You did?... How many times must I tell you to—” Meil started his sentence, heated up, only to give up half way. “Ugh, you never learn. Luckily only some of the Guild’s staff can acquire this skill, or everyone’s privacy would be hard to protect. But still, overusing it is no good, you know? You’ll end up depending too much on it,” He lectured her.

“Sorry, I’ll keep that in mind. But for now, please…” They seemed to have had that conversation already. I wasn’t sure to understand what it was about, but apparently the skill was rare and had some restrictions.

“Alright, then here I go, Norr,” he said as mana swirled slightly around him and I before forming a sheet of mana before him. “Wha—… The stats are normal, but the skills…” He said, thinking out loud as he stared at the sheet.

“Right? And, look at the Passives. I think all of that is caused by his Special Eyes,” she answered.

“What is wrong with my… huh… skills?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, sorry. Norr, do you know what skills are?” Meil asked.

“Are they like special abilities?” I guessed.

“That is correct. allows one to see another’s statistics, which represent the body and mind’s raw power, while the skills are things one can do. There are both Passive and Active skills, or Passives and Actives, with the latter being the more common. You can easily acquire any kind of Active skill by repeating over and over a certain movement or by practicing a magic spell, for example. When one masters a skill enough for it to appear in his Active Skill list, the ability is enhanced and can be furthermore enhanced by using it and refining it. I don’t want to go too deep in my explanations, so you simply need to remember that Active skills are abilities that can be acquired,” he explained.

“Oh, okay. What about Passive skills?” I asked, curious.

“Those are much rarer, and the methods to acquire them aren’t very clear yet. A lot of people are, of course, researching that, but we don’t know much about them yet. Most people get their Passives at birth, though some do by other, unknown means. Your eyes are defined in your Passive skill list as . You also have , which allows you to transform mana and cast healing spells,” he explained.

“I… I have the White Element? Like her…” I thought about my dear mother, who used to be a White Mage too. I battled to keep the tears from leaving my eyes. “Sorry, I was just a little shocked. What is wrong with my skills?” I asked after controlling my emotions.

“Actually, the list of your Active skills is way too long for someone your age and with your status. While it is indeed possible to acquire an unlimited number of Actives, but doing so requires both time and effort. The process of acquiring a skill usually trains simultaneously the mind or the body, which would raise some, if not all, statistics. One’s level might even go up while training. Yet, your statistics are quite normal for someone your age. Some stats are a little higher than the norm, but, by looking only at your stats, you shouldn’t have more than 3, maybe 4 Actives. And they should be low leveled, too. You have 7 Actives, and most of them are above level 5. That doesn’t make any sense!” Meil said.

“Wh—What did you say? I have this much Actives? What are they?” I asked.

“Plowing, level 11. Bartering, level 2. Human Language, level 14. Spell – Healing, level 12. Spell – Detoxification, level 1. Sword Wielding, level 5. Lumbering, level 6,” he answered camly. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I had understood everything. I had already made the link between the events in my life and my skills. But I didn’t want to admit it. I wanted to be wrong, I wanted Jenny or Meil to tell me that I was simply a genius, or that my Eyes didn’t have anything to do with that. I wanted to believe I was born with those abilities, not that I had stolen them. I wanted to believe that I hadn’t robbed my mother of her magic before she died. I wanted to believe I had inherited her Element, not that I had taken it from her.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah. That’s, that’s weird, huh? I, I don’t recall practicing any of those. Ha, haha…” My mind was a mess, I was understanding things I wish I hadn’t, I was recalling events I didn’t want to. I was blaming myself, and, once more, I was disgusted in my eyes.

“… Are you okay? Did you, perhaps, understand something…?” Meil asked, concerned. Jenny’s aura grew agitated, too. I must have been acting strange.

“No, I—I mean, yes, I’m fine, really, yeah. Uh, I didn’t, I mean, I don’t think I…” I panicked slightly as he questioned me.

“If you say so… Should I continue?” He asked.

“Of course, go ahead,” I answered hurriedly.

“Okay, here is what I think. That’s what you wanted me to tell you, right?” He asked, turning towards Jenny.

“Yes, please.”

“Alright. I believe Norr’s eyes make him steal other’s abilities when their gaze meet. I don’t know if it takes all abilities from the person, if it takes only one, or something else, but I’m pretty sure it at least takes one,” he said. “Furthermore, I think his eyes can also explain the level of Norr’s skills. Maybe, when they steal an Active, they keep its original level. It’s also possible that, if he tries to steal an Active that he already has, he’ll end up making his existing skill stronger. That’s pretty much all I could think of right now, I hope this helps.”

“Yes, thank you. That’s pretty much what I had thought of, but you did add some information there. As expected of you,” Jenny answered.

“Hum, what about… Er, I mean, when I look at people in the eyes, they usually die?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know that. Did everyone you looked at die?”

“No, he looked at me and Tetsu before, and we didn’t get any skill stolen. We only felt a slight headache too,” Jenny answered the visitor’s question.

“Interesting. Hm… I’ll tell you what I think, but, really, this is all just a theory. I could be entirely wrong.”

“That’s okay, I want to hear your opinion on that matter,” the Guild’s secretary encouraged him to continue.

“Well, I think it’s a matter of level… or, maybe, simply strength. It’s like this: Norr is level 8. Quite the low level, but this is actually really high for a non-combatant child. A normal adult’s level is usually around 5, maybe up to 10 if he’s strong. I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, that Norr only ever looked at non-combatants before you two,” he explained, looking at Jenny. “This means that the difference in levels between him and his victims was probably always less than 10. And so, I think his ability only works on people who are weaker than him, or that do not exceed his level by too much. Tetsu’s level is a lot higher than Norr’s, and yours too, Jenny. That’s probably why he couldn’t steal anything from you,” Meil explained.

“I see, that would make a lot of sense. What about the deaths, then?” Jenny asked, intrigued.

“I would assume that the deaths have no direct link to Norr’s eyes, but rather with the fact that their bodies lack an ability they are used to possess. The backlash from this was probably too much for their body to handle, which resulted in death. Yet again, this is only an hypothesis, but I think if a combatant, or someone whose level is higher than… let’s say, 15, had to meet the eyes of Norr, even if one of their skill was stolen, they could survive,” Meil finished his explanation on this note.

“They could survive… That is really interesting, Meil. Thanks a lot,” Jenny closed the conversation with this sentence. “If you ever need anything, please come see us, right? The Guild is indebted to you, yet you never ask for anything.”

“Please, Jenny, don’t say that. You know I don’t count such things. It is only obvious that I would help you. Oh, and I really don’t need anything. The only thing I seek is knowledge, and you already gave me access to the highest level of the library. I cannot possibly ask for anything else, as I simply need to experience more things.”

“I see… But still, if ever—” Jenny insisted.

“Of course, of course. Then, if you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll go grab another request,” The magician said as he left hurriedly.

“… Norr, did this help you?” Jenny asked when Meil was not in sight anymore.

“Yes. Thank you.” I had wanted to deny my ability, but everything leaded me to believe that Meil’s words were true. I couldn’t even find a single thing that could make it false. But the last thing he said interested me much more than the rest: It is possible to survive it. That meant… I didn’t want to build my hopes for nothing, but if it meant that there was still a very slim chance for my mother to be alive, I wanted to believe in it. I just had to.

If my mother was still alive, then she most likely was taken in again as a prisoner by my father. Or, maybe the villager succeeded in their rebellion, and they took her as a prisoner. If they didn’t execute her, that is.