For the next several weeks, Raymun experimented whenever nobody was watching.
The System was useful.
It was not generous.
Appraisal could tell him that a sack of grain showed signs of dampness.
It could not tell him where to buy the cheapest grain in the Crownlands.
It could estimate that a horse was healthy.
It could not make Raymun understand horses better than Garran.
And people were even more complicated.
Most appraisals returned incomplete information.
Until one afternoon.
A traveling carpenter stopped at the Briar Hearth to repair a damaged shutter.
Raymun watched him work.
Appraise.
HARROLD
Carpentry: ★★★
Potential:
Carpentry: B+
Stewardship: C
Raymun’s eyes widened.
Three stars.
The highest ability he had seen so far.
For the rest of the afternoon, Raymun watched Harrold closely.
How he measured.
How he cut.
How quickly he worked.
He barely noticed the elderly traveler waiting near the counter.
“Boy?”
Raymun kept watching.
“Boy.”
A hand landed lightly on his shoulder.
Raymun turned.
Mara stood behind him.
“The gentleman asked for water.”
“Oh.”
Raymun hurried to fetch it.
Later, after the traveler had gone, Mara found him near the stable.
“What was so interesting?”
“The carpenter.”
“Why?”
“He’s very good.”
Raymun hesitated.
Mara folded her arms.
“And?”
Raymun looked confused.
“And what?”
“The old man asked you twice for water.”
Raymun looked down.
“He could wait.”
“So could you.”
That stung.
Mara crouched until they were eye level.
“Being good at something doesn’t make someone more important than everyone else.”
Raymun said nothing.
She tapped his forehead.
“Remember that.”
Then she stood and returned inside.
Raymun remained there.
The System hadn’t corrected him.
No warning had appeared.
No morality score had decreased.
Because the System didn’t care.
It measured things.
People decided what those measurements meant.
That evening, Raymun opened his Journal.
Under a new heading, he wrote:
ABILITY DOES NOT DETERMINE HUMAN WORTH.
He stared at the sentence for a moment.
Then saved it.
A few days later, Raymun appraised Mara.
He had observed her his entire life.
Perhaps that was why more information appeared.
MARA
Occupation: Innkeeper
Observed Strengths:
Household Management: ★★★
Cooking: ★★★
Commerce: ★★
Negotiation: ★★
Social Perception: ★★★ New chapters come out on g.com first.
Potential estimates remained uncertain, but several were extraordinarily high.
Raymun looked toward his mother.
Mara was currently arguing with Garran because he’d bought too much firewood.
“You said the price was good,” Garran protested.
“It was.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“We don’t have anywhere dry to put it.”
Garran opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Raymun smiled.
The System had merely confirmed something he’d already suspected.
His mother was terrifyingly competent.
Then he appraised himself.
His potential was impressive.
His actual skills were not.
Commerce: ★
Stewardship: ★
Most others weren’t even worth mentioning yet.
Raymun stared at the results.
Potential wasn’t ability.
Knowing what he might become meant nothing unless he learned how to become it.
He closed the interface.
“Mother?”
Mara glanced toward him.
“What?”
“Can you teach me how you keep the accounts?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You want more work?”
Raymun reconsidered the wording.
“I want to learn.”
Mara smiled.
“That answer was smarter.”
She pulled out a stool.
“Sit.”
Raymun climbed onto it.
The System could organize knowledge.
But first, he needed people willing to teach him.