I looked between the tank and the [Flame Adept], then headed for the tank first. He looked like he could carry more stuff, so maybe he was.

  I crouched beside the body and started searching. Two health potions strapped to his belt. Score! I unhooked them and tucked them into my own belt. A small pouch with a handful of copper coins. Barely worth the effort, but I still took it.

  I went through his pockets. No magic rings. No interesting trinkets. Just a very dead man with very boring pockets.

  Then I spotted something under his armor: a pair of enchanted bracelets. I pulled them off and held them up. Definitely magical. I just had no idea what they did.

  "You wouldn't happen to have an identification skill, would you?" I asked Vasil.

  "No. Why would I?"

  Right. Because that would be too convenient.

  I stared at the bracers. For all I knew, these could grant superhuman strength. No way to tell without the right skill. And Vasil? Who knew what skills he actually had. He'd been suspiciously vague about everything so far. What if he did have an identify skill and just wasn't telling me? What if he was planning to take my loot? Convince me the good stuff was worthless and offer to "dispose of it" for me?

  I narrowed my eyes at him. He was still roasting his snail.

  Okay, maybe I was being paranoid. But also... was I? He claimed he was a former ruler. But what if that was bullshit? Frogshit? What if he was just some random frog who got cursed and made up a sob story to trick witches into doing his dirty work?

  And even if he was a king, that didn't mean he was trustworthy. Kings lied all the time. Probably. I didn't actually know any kings, but it seemed like something they'd do.

  Vasil's words from earlier echoed in my head: "How did you plan on surviving if you don't know what you're dealing with?" He had a point. And I had a bunch of skill points just sitting there. And I was currently holding magical items I couldn't identify. Being able to identify magical items seemed like a very useful skill to have.

  I pulled up the System, navigated to Skill Selection and searched for [Analyze].

  [Analyze]

  Tells you what something is. Doesn’t tell you if you should lick it.

  Type: Utility

  Reveals item details and properties. Low mana cost.

  The licking thing was still there. Still judging me. I was never going to live that down, apparently. Even the System was mocking me.

  But wait, if there was [Soul Index] version for people… and creatures, maybe there was one for items too? Something that saved the data so I didn't have to keep re-analyzing the same stuff over and over? I asked the System.

  [Artifact Index]

  Like [Analyze], but with a better memory than yours.

  Type: Utility Reveals item details and properties. Records data to System archive. Medium mana cost.

  What’s with the sass, man? There was nothing wrong with my memory. I remembered things. A lot of things.

  But say I found five rings that all looked identical. How was I supposed to remember which one did what without wasting mana analyzing them over and over? That's not a memory issue, that's just smart resource management.

  Besides, having a database of every magical item I came across was smart. Dare I say strategic even. What if I saw the same enchantment on different items? I could compare them. Find patterns. Make informed decisions. This was about being thorough and professional, not about forgetting what I had for breakfast. (It was swamp fish. Unfortunately, I remembered that perfectly.)

  What do you have to say about that, System? Nothing? Yeah, thought so.

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  I selected [Artifact Index].

  [Artifact Index] acquired.

  Now let’s see what these things can do. Oh. Out of mana. I pulled out a mana potion and downed it.

  I cast [Artifact Index] on the first bracelet.

  [Strong Bracelet of the Stag Beetle - Bracelet]

  +5 Barrier

  +1 Strength

  Alrighty then. Completely useless for my build, which of course wasn’t a surprise since he was a tank. I was absolutely going to wear these though, since I had nothing better. I popped them on and immediately felt twice as strong, because I was.

  I cast [Artifact Index] on the second bracelet.

  [Strong Bracelet of the Stag Beetle - Bracelet]

  +5 Barrier

  +1 Strength

  I stared at it. Then at the first one. Then back at the second one. Right. So I'd just used mana to prove that identical-looking items were, in fact, identical. There was a joke in there somewhere, I was sure.

  I popped that one on as well and moved on to the [Flame Adept].

  He had a single mana potion tucked into his robes, and a small coin pouch with three silver. Better than the tank already.

  I rifled through his pockets a bit more, but found nothing else. I spotted two gold rings on his left hand. The first was broad, heavy-looking, with a five pointed star etched into the surface. I turned it over in my hand.

  [Xorine’s Ring* - Ring]

  +6 Attunement

  -1 Strength

  Hmm. Interesting. Six Attunement for the low, low price of one Strength. If I had that before, I probably could have ended the fight right away with a second well-placed [Clean Entry]. Too bad the skill burned through mana like Phisto burns through my patience.

  I slipped the ring on, and the world immediately felt heavier. Losing a point of strength was pretty noticeable when you only had three to begin with.

  I pulled up my stats and checked my mana pool. Nope, still couldn't cast [Clean Entry] three times. But I was close. Two more points in Attunement would put me over the edge. I didn't assign my stat points yet though. The second ring might give more Attunement as well.

  I also looked at my Strength stat. Two points now, down from three. Guess those bracelets actually came in handy. Without them I'd be at zero Strength. I frowned. What would happen if my Strength hit zero? Would I just collapse, unable to carry my own weight? Would I turn into a pile of goo?

  I pulled the second ring off his finger. It looked kind of coppery, with a serpent design coiled around the band.

  [Ring of the Fire Serpent* - Ring]

  Fire based attacks and skills gain +50% power.

  I stared at it.

  Fire. Fire damage. For my very non-fire-based build. Completely. Fucking. Useless.

  I'd wanted Attunement. More mana. The ability to actually use my skills more than twice before passing out. But no. The gods had decided I needed a fire damage ring. For my guns. That shot bullets. Regular, non-flaming bullets. Once again my famously serene and exceptionally stable emotional balance was under direct assault.

  I pulled out one of my pistols and pointed it at the corpse.

  No. No, I couldn't. He was already dead. It would be a waste of a bullet.

  I lowered the gun. Then raised it again. “This is therapy,” I said as I pulled the trigger and shot the corpse in the chest. Vasil jumped. Phisto didn't even twitch.

  "Feel better?" Phisto asked dryly.

  "A little," I admitted.

  "Not what you wanted, huh?"

  I threw my hands up. “A ring that increases fire damage! Can you believe this guy?”

  “Yes, I can believe the [Fire Adept] had a ring that increases fire damage.”

  "Well, when you put it like that..."

  "Bit of a waste of a bullet though, no?"

  "He could've still been alive," I said defensively. “I thought I saw him move.”

  Phisto peered at the body, then looked back at me. "Without a head?"

  I shrugged. Anyway. Back to the matter at hand.

  I considered my skill upgrade point and the skill point I'd earned. Should I take a new skill right now?

  Maybe not. I didn't really know what would be useful yet. Better to save it. If I ended up in a tight spot, I could always pick something on the fly.

  The upgrade point was trickier. I'd have to figure out what the upgrades even did, and what offerings Mēnē... or Ambelios, would require for them. That sounded complicated. I'd think about it later.

  Right now, I probably shouldn't stick around too long. What just happened wasn't exactly low-profile. Smoke rising from a burning hut, dead Church members—someone might have been alerted. Come to think of it, that skinny guy was probably alerting someone right now.

  I pulled up my stat screen and looked at my points. Nine total to distribute.

  Okay. Two points in Attunement would give me three uses of [Clean Entry]. That left seven points, while I'd need eleven extra to get to four casts. Not quite there.

  Maybe I'd been neglecting Dexterity. It felt like it was falling behind. Better accuracy, more speed and agility, that mattered.

  I allocated five points to Attunement and four to Dexterity.

  Strength: 2 (1 + 1)

  Dexterity: 13 (13 + 0)

  Barrier: 11 (1 + 10)

  Attunement: 23 (17 + 6)

  Stamina: 1 (1 + 0)

  Luck: 1 (1 + 0)

  Chaos: 1 (1 + 0)

  There. That felt better.

  "Alright boys," I said, closing my stat screen. "Let's get out of here before they return with an army of fireballers."

  Phisto flicked his tail. "Finally. A good idea."

  Vasil hopped alongside me. "Where are we going?"

  "I got a place in mind." I started walking into the swamp. "And on the way, you can tell me about that job you mentioned. Plus everything you know about the Church of Stvora—what I just pissed off, how much trouble I'm in, and how long before they come looking."

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