Some time has passed since Mia had started working on the lock, being especially careful since it was her first real lock. John was growing impatient behind her, at first pacing then after being denied the map to go ahead by himself, he sat down against the wall besides her, bored out of his mind. It wasn’t until a sharp *click* did he perk up.

“Did you get it?!”

Mia carefully lifted the lid, revealing the contents inside the chest. She momentarily flinched, expecting a trap to go off but thankfully nothing did “unlocked it.” Mia looked inside. Seeing a fist sized clear orb, she reached in and lifted it out of the chest, staring at it she was unsure what it was.

“Let me see, let me see!” John said, reaching his hand for it.

Mia squinted at him but gave in and handed it over. He had appraisal after all. “What is it?”

John took it into one of his hands, adjusting it over his view at several different angles before smiling “Mia, do you know what this is? It’s the skill! It’s the language!” He cheered, shoving the orb back into her hands “Use it, quickly!”

Mia blinked, fumbling as the orb was thrusted back towards her, this was it? She gripped the orb, feeling its weight in her hands, it felt somewhat heavier than earlier. “How?” she gasped, legs shaking. This was it, this was one step of her plan accomplished, right here in her hands.

“Hold it to your chest and wish it to be apart of you.” John nodded “Hurry, oh I can’t wait to see your status.”

Mia watched him jump in place, smiling softly, it felt like he was more excited than she was. She took a deep breath and held the orb close. She closed her eyes and wished for it to be a part of her and when she opened her eyes the orb was gone. She didn’t feel any different, did it work? And then it hit her. She dropped to the floor, clutching her head as the worst headache she had ever experienced assaulted her mind.

She thought she heard John yelling, but she couldn’t make it out, her headache drowning out everything else as knowledge was forced into her mind. Words, phrases, everything was forced into her skull by the skill, and as quickly as the headache had come, it stopped, Mia raised her head. The first thing she noticed was an empty potion bottle on the ground, smacking her lips she could tell at some point John had forced her to drink a potion.

The second thing she noticed was everything seemed clearer, but that didn’t matter, she took out the map of the dungeon and looked at what was previously just a bunch of scribbles to her, now fully comprehending what they were “Treasure chest spawn point, pitfall trap… dead end.” She read aloud, gasping for air.

“M-Mia? You can read! But… are you alright?” John said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him, recognizing the worry on his face she nodded. She then looked forward, she had confirmed the skill worked and it was time to see just how her situation truly was. She willed her status to appear, reading the entirety of it.

~~~~~

Name: Mia

Status: [Sealed]

Age: 11

Race: Fox Beastman

LVL: 6

Points: 50

HP: 30/30 MP: 100/100

Str: 5

Con: 3

Dex: 203

Int: 50

Mnd: 10

Lck: 1

Skills: [Ice Magic: 1] [Early Riser: MAX] [Willful: 3] [Packer: 2] [Dagger Arts: 1] [Common Language: 1]

Titles: [Slave] [Unlucky Child] [Shrine Maiden]

Hidden skills: [Time: 1]

“Eh?”

She had several questions, deciding to address them from top to bottom. “Points fifty?!” she shouted in surprise.

John snapped his fingers “Yes! That! I was told only heroes only gain that much on level ups! What title do you have that is effecting that?!”

Mia raised her open palm out towards him “One moment.” She said, looking at the next questionable point, her dex. She now kind of understood why John was so insistent on her spreading out her stats, and why each stat dump made such the difference. 203 dex was… well insane. Worried about dodging an arrow in a hallway? Hah, she felt silly. And there was that 50 int she couldn’t use…well, she felt like she had gotten a bit of use out of it lately.

To the next point, ignoring [Ice Magic: 1], what the heck was [Early Riser: MAX] and why was it maxed?! She faced john “Can I see more about a skill?” she asked, blinking after she finished speaking, feeling that something was different.

“Yeah, just focus on it and you get more info. Did you find the title or…?”

“No, looking at skills.” She focused on early riser, getting momentarily surprised when another panel popped up.

[ Skill: Early Riser. LVL: MAX. Skill given to those who wake up early, this skill reduces the negative effects suffered by lack of sleep. The level is maxed, no negative effects will accrue from lack of sleep. The skills effect will lesson with every day gone without sleep.]

Useful, she assumed she got this after years of being woken up by what ever skill caused that annoying beeping early in the morning.

“That’s good and all, but what about your titles? One of them has to be giving you those points.”

Mia twitched “Fine.” She decided to look at the others later, moving onto her titles. [Slave]… well to see what it says as an example she focused on it.

[Title: Slave. You are a slave. Current master: Athena, princess of Eldaha. Submaster: None]

She figured as much; it was neat it showed her current master but besides that… moving on to one she felt personally insulted by.

[Title: Unlucky Child. You are particularly unlucky, to the point a god has taken pity on your soul. Luck has been permanently set to 1, the effects of the luck stat are reduced. Luck works differently for you, particularly unlucky events build points, the higher the point value the more likely luck will be manipulated in your favor, after which the point count will be set to 0. Current points: 0]

“…”

This was… questionable… Besides her current life situation, she didn’t feel that unlucky to warrant such a title. Sure, her life for the past three years sucked, but compared to other slaves she was far better off. Regardless, the current point count being zero… that could have been anything from them getting the skill she wanted first try, a trap not going off, anything. She shuddered to think what that prevented now that she was aware of it.

And now the most questionable one, [Shrine Maiden].

[Title: Shrine Maiden. The hero of the fox tribe, their leader, their protector, the blessed one chosen by the last maiden through bloodline. Effects: Base stat points set to 50 on level up. Experience needed to level up is halved. Training to receive certain skills halved. Evolution unique to the fox tribe’s hero unlocked.]

“Ah…” Yup, that was it. Forget the last one, how did she get this one? She didn’t even know her tribe had a shrine maiden, or a hero…they had a shrine, but she never saw anyone like a shrine maiden… and the next one was chosen through bloodline? Her relative was a shrine maiden? Questions aside she now knew the culprit behind her stats. Her next issue was deciding on what to say to John, she sat up and looked towards him “… found it.”

John perked up “You did? What is it? What did you find?”

“Well…” She looked to her status, not knowing how to break it to him that, apparently, he wasn’t the only hero. It would fly into the face of his story, destroying it. She had to sidestep it. “A title I have is causing it but… Do I really have to tell you?” she decided to be direct “you won’t tell me yours so, it isn’t really fair.” She protested; she was also hoping he wouldn’t force her.

John stared at her for a moment, Mia noticing a brief flash of anger before he shut his eyes “…Fine…” he forced out” At least you know the reason…anything you ‘can’ tell me?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head “The titles I will tell you are [Slave] and [Unlucky Child].” She decided those were save enough to tell him.

“Huh, unlucky child…heh…” Seemingly satisfied he sat down “Guess you can be considered unlucky.”

Mia shrugged, then brought her attention back to her status, specifically to the bottom of it… the big one… [Time]. Name aside this was the skill that caused her so much grief growing up, waking her up every day early in the morning. It apparently being a hidden skill, something special and mysterious. She remembered last time she focused on it and that giant, red X that the collar punished her for even trying to interact with it.

She started to focus on it, when she heard a pair of loud *clanks* and a sudden weight being released from her shoulders, followed by a rush. Suddenly it felt like the world was open to her, her headache gone, her muddled thoughts gone, and the constant subduing pressure gone.

“M-m-Mia?! Y-y-your collar… w-what is going?! Mia?!”

Looking over to John, Mia found him standing up, his weapon drawn and pointed towards her. What is this idiot doing? She thought, a second later blinking at that thought and the lack of a headache… didn’t he say something about a collar? She hesitantly raised her hand to her neck, finding it bare.

“Eh?” She grasped her neck with both hands, not feeling the collar she looked down, split into two pieces the collar was laying on the floor “eh? Eh eh eh eh?!” She stood up, kicking the collar away. She couldn’t believe it, why did the collar suddenly release itself?

“Mia! Re-Remain calm. Don’t… Don’t return to the demon lord’s side! We wi-“

Her anger flared “Demon lord!” She shouted, turning towards the shaking John “There is no demon lord! Why the heck have you not noticed that yet?!”

John froze “I…I can understand you… but the collar…”

“You mean this?” Mia kicked a piece of the collar away “The thing that forced me to agree with that stupid lie?” She didn’t have to care anymore, she was free. It felt like such a rush, looking at John’s stunned expression as he fell limp to the ground in disbelief. “There is no demon lord, none that I am aware of.” She stated plainly.

“B-but the church… the collars…”

“All lies.” Mia spat “I was living peacefully in my village with my family until the church raided us.” She checked her status once more, finding her slave title had vanished. This whole situation was odd, why was she suddenly free?

“But! You said they saved you from the demon lord!” John shouted in denial.

“Yeah, of course I did. I was a slave under orders to.” Mia shook her head “Didn’t you find it odd? You have all this other worldly knowledge, even some where the church is evil, and you didn’t question it?” Mia spoke, glaring at him.

“We are not in that kind of world!” John shouted, standing up with his weapon drawn “I was supposed to save you, save everyone, I am the hero and there is a demon lord.”

“Yeah… about that.” Mia sighed and crossed her arms “This is that kind of world, as far as I know the demon lord as you know it doesn’t exist, and heck… you are not even the only hero apparently.”

John paused, his eyes focusing on her “…no… I am the hero, the one and only hero. The princess said so when I was summoned.”

“Oh, that’s another thing, the princess was lying to you. She has been this entire time.” Mia said, taking a step back when John pointed his weapon at her. She considered she might be pushing her non-existent luck.

“Take that back.” John said, taking a step forward “Athena would never lie to me, she is my princess.”

“John…I wasn’t even your slave.” Mia took another step back, regardless of her luck, Mia thought he needed to hear this.

“No, liar!” He tightened the grip on his sword “You… you're possessed by the demon lord… this is one of his tricks, I’ll save you…”

“Seriously?” Mia sighed; he was hopeless. Figuring it was time to put her dex to the test she looked for an opening to run, that was when *it* appeared.

A single

White

Mote

Floated down from the ceiling in-between the two, falling into and disappearing in the floor.

Mia’s eyes widened, recognizing it instantly as more began to fall. Her breath got caught in her throat and her legs lost their strength, causing her to fall to the ground and shimmy up against the wall “No…”

John, noticing the sudden shift in her behavior, lowered his guard “Mia? What is…wrong?” He then noticed the lights, raising his hand to catch one only for it to harmlessly pass through him “What is this? What is going on?!”

Mia brought her knees close to her chest; her tail wrapped around her “Not again.” She said “Not again…” She repeated, remember that awful day.