Nature will Provide

Reader decided he'd leave the house early, and wildcraft food while he waited for the bus. The lot near Reader's stop had plenty of edibles for a student willing to think outside the box. As soon as he gathered the first edible plant, he got a notification:

New skill: Herbalism lvl 1.

Know the magical and mundane uses of plants. Higher levels allow more esoteric uses.

I kind of already had that Reader thought, though the various species he had known about did seem better organized in his mind now. He stared at the dandelion leaves in his hand, feeling like he was on the verge of something. The quest had said to have lunch in his inventory... that meant he had an inventory. And while he could be hallucinating game notifications and character sheets, being able to put things into his inventory and take them out again would be a clear proof that something more was going on. For a moment Reader felt whelmed by terror, the warnings he remembered from before his birth about high stakes threatening to reduce him to an empty shell. He took a few deep, calming breaths, willing his Gamer's Detachment perk to assert itself... and by the third breath, it did. He was just holding a dandelion leaf, and when he tried to put it in its inventory it would either disappear, or not. If it disappeared, he'd know all this was real, if not, he'd try for a bit, and if it still didn't work, he'd get some help. With that in mind, Reader took another couple breaths, focused on the leaf, and willed it into his inventory.

The leaf disappeared, taking with it some deep-seated sense of self sabotage Reader hadn't realised he'd been carrying around. Reader gave a small 'Whoop!' and did a short but intense victory celebration as he got a notification for his first successful quest. While he knew it wasn't a great victory in any absolute sense, it also felt like he had taken that first step which is all-important. Reader continued scavenging until the bus arrived, netting a decent haul of dandelion greens and rosehips which he stowed in his inventory, plus one funny-looking mushroom he wasn’t not too sure about. He decided to use observe on it as he got on the bus, to see,

Amanita (fly ageric)

+20 to mana, -4 to end for 4 hours. Can be refined by feeding to a reindeer.

Reader was so busy reading the notification that he didn't see the foot snaking out to trip him.

"Watch it freak!" Will's loud voice rang out as he hit the ground, hard. For a sickening second Reader saw one finger bend much too far back, before it snapped back into place. He’d lost two HP though. What an asshole.

Doing his best to ignore the scattered laughter, Reader made his way back to his seat, rubbing his throbbing hand. But he soon got another notification...

New Skill: Heal LVL 1

Convert MP to HP. Chance to remove temporary condition. Range: touch.

_This is the first skill that seems really useful _Reader thought as his HP went back to full. Reader spent the rest of the bus ride biting his cheek and casting heal until he ran out of mana, at which point he promptly fell asleep in his seat. He woke to the bus driver yelling at him to get off, his mana at three now and a welcome notification: his heal skill had levelled up, and now came with extended range. He'd also gained an achievement for spending all his mana, which had increased the maximum he possessed. Neither of those had any immediate use, but hopefully a sign of things to come. For the first time in years, Reader could imagine a brighter future.