Gerald

> “Yes-no-kinda. Seems my luck is a little better than yours, see. I’m Gerald. The only living fork in existence.” - Gerald
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The protagonist of the story, Gerald is a living fork. Prior to the start of the story, Gerald was a human male living an ordinary life on earth. Everything changed in a bright flash of light, with him soon discovering that he was a fork.

Fortunately for him (and the story), Gerald found through the system that he had a single skill that would allow him to slowly gain strength: Absorb. This skill allowed him to absorb things and gain traits and/or skills related to that absorbed object.

He later discovered that the new form also came with a second important feature, one that is sometimes a gift and other times a curse: a perfect memory.

Although in the beginning he could do little else than wait for something of use to draw close enough to him, eventually he gained skills such that he could see, fly, talk and fight to a certain extent.

The name 'Gerald' was not the name he originally held on earth, and was in fact given to him by his friend Ferdinand, who was also the first person he had any contact with in his second life.

As of Chapter 39, He is a student at Wehttam Academy. Taught by Mr Telen, Mr Thurston, Mrs Felt and Miss Kate in his first term at the academy.

## Personality

The preliminary months of his second life, spent helpless, alone and a single accident away from death instilled a certain paranoia into him that he carries with him, even as he has become capable enough to ensure his survival in normal circumstances. Unless he deems it absolutely necessary, Gerald will avoid all contact with other beings, reasoning that nobody can possibly be out to kill him if nobody knows of his existence in the first place. His identity as the sole living fork in existence only makes this goal easier - if he feels that he is in danger, he can simply place himself upon a table, and nobody will take a second glance at him. This has led to negative consequences in the past, with some farmers dying on one occasion because he was unwilling to give information to Ferdinand which he reasoned would give his then companions reason to suspect something unusual was afoot.

His introverted nature in his previous life carried over to his second life, and he often finds it difficult to engage in casual conversation. But after months spent in solitude with next to nothing to do, he found that conversing with another could be the only thing keeping him from going insane - again.

Gerald might not be a saint, but he was human once - and the values of human society have followed him, at least in part, to his second life. With the 'Mana Sight' skill giving him a full 360 degree sphere of vision that allows him to see through walls and any other object, Gerald is often an unwilling witness to the many horrors of the world around him. Partially to keep his own sanity and partially to stop things getting any worse than they are already, Gerald sometimes does what he can from the shadows to have all manner of criminals see justice, generally informing the local authorities through telepathy of whatever crimes happen to occur while he is in the area.

## Powers

As a fork, Gerald is unable to see, hear, speak, smell or taste as most living organisms can, at least initially. As of chapter 33, Gerald is able to see mana with a level of detail that grants him vision akin to a human's, albeit with no colour variations. In exchange, however, he is capable of seeing in every direction at once at a radius of 1697.29 meters, or 1.7km, unimpeded by obstacles or terrain. He is even capable of viewing the internal structure of people and other organisms.

Gerald is able to fluently speak and write in Common, and Terran to a significantly lesser extent.

As of chapter 34, Gerald has borrowed two magical tools from Kleio, the 'eye of clairvoyance' and the 'ventriloquist's aid', which allow him to see & hear and speak, respectively, as a human would. These are strapped onto him, and require little mana to work. Gerald notes that the vision is actually slightly inferior to when he was human.

Before having access to these magical tools, and whenever it is more convenient, he uses lip-reading to understand conversations, with his own conversations are carried out through a two-way telepathic connection. He still has no way of smelling or tasting.

More recently, Gerald has become able to write, given that he has ink available, via the careful application of telekinesis. This requires some concentration, and thus distractions can cause the psychic construct to fall apart, splashing ink onto the page.

In terms of combat abilities, Gerald, being made of mithril, is quite resistant to damage, and his size makes him difficult to hit - if his enemies ever notice him in the first place. If his enemy does manage to damage him, Gerald is capable of repairing himself instantaneously through a the skill 'self-repair' at the expense of mana, psi or ki. Using 'telekinesis' and/or 'absorb', Gerald is capable of sustained flight at reasonably high speeds, and can also use absorb to burrow through the ground at similar, if not equal speed. In other words, if he's not able to defeat an enemy, it's likely he is able to flee - if Gerald doesn't have allies, at least.

Gerald is also capable of causing himself to become highly poisonous and/or slightly acidic.

If forced into combat, Gerald will generally use some combination of the skills 'ki blast', 'magic edge' and 'power stab' to unleash a single powerful attack on his enemy.

As of the end of chapter 41, Gerald can use some basic magical spells (earth barriers, fire creation, fire projectiles), which can be useful against monsters and less skilled combatants, but aren't currently enough to play a large part in higher-level battles.

His final and generally most powerful card remains to be the 'absorb' skill, as it cannot be blocked by ordinary means. However, this has several large limitations: firstly, the skill has a very limited range (currently 297.02 mm or 29.7 cm), and the skill can only absorb two things: matter and mana. The difficulties presented by the first limitation he generally circumvents through a combination of stealth and speed, but the second means that if his enemy has any form of protective layer that is not made up of mana or matter, he simply cannot absorb it. The only actual instance of this occurring was the doppelganger's armour formed from killing intent, but theoretically even a flimsy barrier of psi would be capable of preventing it.

## Status (As of the end of chapter 49)

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Some skill are missing from table