The village pretended nothing had happened.
That was the strange part.
Two days had passed since the Awakening. Greyhaven had already moved on. Fields needed tending. Roof tiles needed replacing. Animals still needed feeding.
Life continued.
Only the looks had changed.
Soren felt them when he walked through the village. Curious glances. Quiet whispers that stopped when he got too close.
Class: ERROR Not Found.
People did not know what to do with that.
So they ignored it.
Mostly.
---
"Soren."
His mother's voice came from the doorway. "Take the bucket and refill the trough before the goats start complaining again."
"Alright," he said.
Short answer. Easier that way.
He lifted the wooden bucket from beside the well and started down the narrow path behind the house.
Morning fog still clung to the fields. Dew coated the tall grass, soaking the cuffs of his trousers as he walked. The air smelled like wet soil and distant woodsmoke.
Normal things.
He focused on those.
The animals stirred when he approached the small pen behind the shed. Three goats wandered near the fence, chewing lazily on weeds.
One of them bleated at him.
"Yeah," Soren muttered. "I know."
He dumped the bucket into the trough. Water sloshed against the worn wood.
The goats pushed forward immediately.
Soren leaned against the fence and watched them drink.
His thoughts drifted back to the blue window that had hovered in front of him for most of the last two days.
```
[STATUS]
Name: Soren Vex
Level: 1
Class: ERROR - Not Found
Health: 100 / 100
Stamina: 100 / 100
Mana: 50 / 50
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 10
Perception: 10
Skills: -
Traits: -
Titles: -
```
Still empty.
Still wrong.
He had checked it more times than he could count.
Nothing changed.
Soren exhaled slowly.
"Fine," he murmured. "Stay broken."
A goat nudged the fence post beside him.
He scratched its head absently.
The animal blinked up at him.
And then
A soft chime echoed in his mind.
Soren froze.
The sound had not come from the yard.
It came from *inside* his head.
A faint blue shimmer flickered into existence in front of his eyes.
Not the normal status window.
Something smaller.
Less stable.
The edges of the panel wavered as if the System itself wasn't sure it belonged there.
Text slowly formed.
```
[System Notification]
Skill Fragment Detected
Observe (Incomplete)
Completion: 12%
```
Soren stared.
The goats continued drinking as if nothing had happened.
"...What?"
The panel hovered silently.
He glanced toward the house.
His mother was inside. The kitchen window faced the other direction.
No one else around.
Soren looked back at the message.
Observe.
Incomplete.
Twelve percent.
He frowned.
"I don't have a class," he said quietly.
Skills came from classes. Everyone knew that.
The System did not just hand them out.
Yet the panel remained.
Slowly, carefully, Soren focused on the word **Observe**.
The moment he did, something changed.
It was subtle.
The world did not glow or distort.
Instead his attention sharpened.
Details separated themselves from the background.
The goat closest to him lifted its head.
And suddenly Soren *noticed* things he hadn't a second before.
The uneven notch in its left horn.
The small patch of missing fur along its shoulder.
The way its right leg favored the ground slightly when it stepped.
Information arranged itself neatly in his thoughts.
A faint line of text appeared beside the animal.
```
[Common Field Goat]
Condition: Healthy
Notes: Minor limp (old injury)
```
Soren jerked upright.
The text vanished immediately.
The goat bleated.
"...Alright," he whispered.
His pulse quickened.
That definitely wasn't normal.
He looked around the yard again.
Still alone.
Good.
Soren turned his attention to the wooden fence post beside him.
Focus.
The strange clarity returned.
```
[Oak Fence Post]
Age: Old
Integrity: Stable
Weakness: Surface rot beginning
```
The text faded after a second.
Soren blinked.
"You're kidding."
He reached down and picked up a loose stone near his boot.
Focused.
```
[River Stone]
Weight: Light
Composition: Granite
```
The words dissolved again.
Soren turned the rock over in his palm.
Granite.
He had never studied stone types.
Yet the information had appeared instantly.
His heartbeat sped up.
Not panic.
Something closer to cautious curiosity.
"Observe," he murmured again.
The name fit.
---
He spent the next hour pretending to work.
Which meant he actually finished most of the chores while secretly testing the new ability.
Carefully.
Always checking that no one was watching.
The chicken coop came next.
He scattered feed across the dirt.
The birds rushed forward.
Focus.
```
[Village Chicken]
Condition: Healthy
Temperament: Aggressive (toward food)
```
One of them pecked his boot.
"Yeah," Soren said. "That sounds right."
The text vanished again.
Each time it appeared, it lasted only a moment.
Short.
Simple.
But consistent.
Objects.
Animals.
Anything he looked at long enough.
When he finished feeding the chickens, he carried the empty sack toward the shed.
Halfway there he stopped.
A thought had occurred to him.
People.
Would it work on people?
Soren frowned.
That seemed… risky.
But curiosity won.
He walked toward the road that ran past their house.
A farmer named Branik was guiding a small cart loaded with tools down the path toward the fields.
Soren leaned casually against the fence.
Waited.
Branik approached, wiping sweat from his forehead despite the cool air.
"Morning," the farmer called.
"Morning," Soren replied.
Branik nodded and kept walking.
Soren focused.
The strange clarity snapped into place again.
For a moment the man seemed sharper, more defined against the background.
Then the faint text appeared.
```
[Branik Deller]
Occupation: Farmer
Level: 3
Condition: Tired
```
Soren inhaled sharply.
The panel vanished before Branik noticed anything.
Level three.
That meant the System window wasn't just guessing.
It was pulling actual System data.
Information people normally only saw in their own status panels.
"Huh," Soren muttered.
That was… interesting.
And potentially a problem.
If someone realized he could see things like that
He stopped the thought there.
Best not to imagine that conversation.
---
By midday the sun had burned away the fog.
Soren stacked firewood beside the house while running small tests between each log.
Distance mattered.
If the object was too far away, the text did not appear.
Movement mattered.
Fast movement made the ability fail more often.
Focus mattered most.
If his mind wandered, nothing happened.
But when he concentrated…
Information surfaced.
Simple facts.
Names.
Conditions.
Sometimes small details that felt almost like hints.
Soren set another log onto the chopping block.
Focus.
```
[Split Log]
Material: Pine
Grain Direction: Vertical
```
He raised the axe.
And brought it down exactly where the grain suggested.
Crack.
Perfect split.
Soren stared at the two clean halves.
"Useful," he said quietly.
Very useful.
Which made it even stranger.
Why would the System give a skill to someone with no class?
And why was it incomplete?
Twelve percent.
That number bothered him.
Incomplete meant unfinished.
But unfinished *what*?
He glanced at his status window again.
Still blank.
No mention of Observe anywhere.
It was as if the System itself wasn't acknowledging the skill yet.
A fragment.
Hidden.
Soren leaned on the axe handle.
"You're not supposed to exist," he told the empty air.
The System did not answer.
---
Later that afternoon he walked into the village to pick up nails from the smithy.
Greyhaven bustled with its usual slow rhythm.
Merchants setting up small stalls.
Children chasing each other through the square.
Farmers hauling tools toward the fields.
Normal life.
Soren kept his head down.
He did not want another conversation about the Awakening.
Still, the new ability tugged at his curiosity.
He tested it carefully while he walked.
A market cart.
```
[Supply Cart]
Load: Grain
Condition: Stable
```
A stray dog near the well.
```
[Village Dog]
Condition: Hungry
Temperament: Nervous
```
A stack of bricks beside the mason's shop.
```
[Clay Brick]
Quality: Average
```
The information always appeared quickly.
Then vanished just as fast.
No one seemed to notice.
Good.
At the smithy door he paused.
Inside, the blacksmith hammered glowing iron on the anvil.
Sparks burst into the air with each strike.
Soren focused for just a second.
```
[Harlan – Blacksmith]
Level: 6
Condition: Focused
```
The text faded.
Soren stepped inside.
"Need nails," he said.
Harlan nodded toward a small crate. "Two copper."
Soren placed the coins on the counter.
Short conversation.
The way he preferred it.
---
By the time he returned home, the sun had begun to dip toward the trees.
Orange light stretched across the fields.
Soren set the nails on the table inside the house and stepped back outside.
The yard was quiet.
Wind rustled through the tall grass.
He looked toward the distant forest line.
Then activated the strange focus one more time.
The trees sharpened.
Shapes separated from shadow.
Movement became easier to notice.
The effect faded after a few seconds.
Soren exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he said.
He understood two things now.
First.
The ability was real.
Second.
No one else could know about it.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
Because if the System had truly made a mistake…
Drawing attention to it would be the fastest way to make that mistake disappear.
Soren glanced once more at the fading sunlight across the fields.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Observe."
The world sharpened again.
Just a little.
And this time he smiled.
Very slightly.