Desaray was unsure of many things, and she could only assume that they would be safe at the hospital. But with monsters that do not care for human life or have any fear of a weapon, this might not be the case. What bothered her most about this situation was the lack of people. They lived in New York, one of the most populated cities in the country, yet there were so few people. Take this office building they were currently holding up in, there was no one around. Not a single person has come to the first floor to check things out. There were two cameras in this entryway. You would think they would have come out a long time ago to check on the kids that were taking refuge here. While it was human nature to protect one’s self, this did not mean everyone was like that.

Desaray stood on the front stoop of the stairs and looked around. She could see something across the street sniffing around. It looked like a grey wolf but much bigger than any wolf she had seen on tv. She did not move and waited for it to pass by before stepping down off the stoop. She had no idea how strong the monster was, and right now, she did not wish to find out until she understood her own abilities.

She opened her menu and took a look at what she had access to. She quickly spotted a button next to the skills title. She reached out with her claw and poked the button, causing a new menu to appear. “So this is the skill menu?”

Desaray was actually quite happy to see this menu. She hoped she could find something useful in it. “Let’s see. I can learn a lot, from attack skills to passive skills. Some mixed with magic, some not. But each one costs skill points which I do not have, sadly….” Desaray let out a sigh. She had two skills, but from what she could tell, they did not use mana of any kind, it seemed. If this was the case, then she might be able to use her ice breath for as much as she wanted.

“These skills all state mana cost, and those that don’t do not show any mana cost…. Oh, the king of all skills is in this list as well.” Desaray looked at the skill named Appraisal. This was a skill she wanted very much since it was a skill that would tell her what things were. In any game that did not do it automatically, it was a must have skill.

“It costs only a single skill point, so I will get that and a few other single point skills. There is even a basic first aid skill here which can heal minor wounds.” Besides basic first aid and appraisal, she found another one called toughened skin and everyday magic. Everyday magic cost two skill points, but it allowed her to cast a few spells that one would need in everyday life. This included spells called spark, cleanse, drink, dig, and dry. Just from the names alone, she could figure out what they did.

Desaray closed her menu screens now that she had a bit of an idea of what she wanted to do. She had no idea how many skill points she would get per level, but she did not it was more than one. If she got two, she would get appraisal and basic first aid to start, then toughened skin next. Then the level after that, she would get everyday magic.

“Okay, now to try out this ice breath.” Desaray jumped up on top of a car and looked down the road. She was not too sure how she was supposed to activate the skills, but she found voice activation worked for her menu, so she decided to try it like that. She took a deep breath, aimed her snout toward the middle of the road, and said: “Ice Breath!”

Cold air began to build up around Desaray’s mouth. A bright blue ball of cold energy slowly began to form. Ice formed in the air, and after about five seconds, a blast of cold icy air shot out in a cone in front of her. The further out it went, the wider the range was. But the distance was about thirty feet. The road that was caught at the edge of the blast of cold air had a sheen of white and blue ice covering its surface.

As the energy dissipated, Desaray closed her mouth and pressed her scaly lips together, and opened her menu. She looked at her stats to see her mana did not go down at all, which meant this was an innate skill. “So I don’t need mana to use it, but its charge time is around five seconds. It last for about twenty seconds. Although, this is only at level 1. So if I level it up, the time and the duration might last longer.”

Desaray jumped off the car she was on and walked back towards the building where the others were. She figured she could try to charge it while fighting, but in order to test this out, she would need to do so while in a fight. She hated to admit it, but she was actually kind of excited that she was able to use all these new abilities. To her, what she just used was magic, something she could only see in games or on tv, but now…. Her scaly lips curled up slightly. “While the situation is not good, it is not all that bad either. I just hope my father will recognize me….” This was the only fear she had at this time….