[Breathing lvl 1] was such a mundane skill, that no normal human being would have ever accepted it as their first ever skill. "Who would be unable to breathe?" sarcastically came into Johannes' mind.
He was grateful, clearly — but a part of him feared he had just wasted his only chance. What if that was the only skill he could get?
He quickly noticed that even if it was the only skill he ever had, he would still finally be able to breathe properly now.
After he accepted the skill, something truly magical happened. For the first time ever in his whole life, he did not have to rely on machines. His body underwent a small restructure, in which his lungs had been properly connected to his heart. The weak heart has also been altered, as it was now able to work as intended.
"This cannot be. What is happening?", without a hint of his earlier depression, his body fully concentrated on his breath. While he started to wonder why his skill was level 1, he slowly tore the long tubes away from his body.
A painful procedure that had to be done. Though Johannes was scared that he signed his own death, by removing the only thing that had kept him alive for roughly 25 years.
As he started to properly breathe, his lungs finally filled with air. He always dreamed of this and now it has happened. The Trachea sucked in the air of the whole room, at least that was how it felt for Johannes.
Some would be weirded out when they saw what he did. Since he has never been able to fully utilize his body, his breathing must have almost looked comical if anyone else had been in the room.
An urge to move rose into his brain, caused by the influx of oxygen that went both into his head and his blood.
The gray walls did not feel as gray anymore. The moonshine that was illuminating his room felt like the prettiest thing he had ever seen. He could not wait until he could buy another skill.
Now a sense of guilt hit the frail young man. "Have I completely forgotten what happened?", he accused himself. "This is not something I am allowed to enjoy as much as I currently do".
Johannes notices how it gets harder for him to breathe. This was something that happened out of the blue and immediately refreshed his memory of what would happen if he kept having those thoughts.
Blocking off those thoughts was not an easy feat, but he eventually managed to temporarily forget about it again. Or, rather than forgetting he just pushed them away. Thus, his breathing resumed to be normal again.
Looking at his pale and dry hands, he notices a newfound strength that was flowing through him. It was not like he was suddenly strong, yet he felt like he could shove away mountains with a single finger.
Driven by this thought, he wanted to test out how strong a proper breathing has made him. He took one of those hand grippers his dad used to gift his fragile son, in order for him to build a bit of a grip to still hold bottles.
"I have never been able to use those...", Johannes remarked. With all of his strength, he managed to fully press down the 10 KG hand gripper once. This was not a small feat, considering he was barely able to hold a bottle a few minutes ago.
Johannes felt joy. He did not particularly want to feel joy.
Yet he knew that he had to live out his positive emotions in order to keep his newfound ability.
"I can't wait to tell my mother and my sister. They will not believe their own eyes", his cheeks were wet from tears of joy. Then, he noticed that they are still dealing with the grief of such a loss and even if this will bring them some kind of delight, it will not make up for the fact of what happened.
His new plan was to not let them know until he had more to show. "The more, the better" he thought. Next morning he would start to work on his breathing.
Level 1 should imply that it is possible to keep leveling... right?