Chương 82: (B2 Chapter 33)

There were just common and uncommon skills present in the system store, but the prices were absurd. I had amassed just about 40 gold by this point, and the cheapest uncommon skill was listed at 15 gold, while the most expensive was at a whopping 30 gold. It basically meant that my entire wealth would be gone if I picked two mediocre uncommon skills, and I think that meant one of two things.

Either the system store had outrageous prices for skills, or the gold coins I had gained so far were just a drop in the ocean to what I would be able to gain in the future. I was of the opinion that the second theory was more plausible. Most of the games I had played worked the same way; at the start money or gold would seem impossible to collect but by the end it became worthless. So far, the majority of my wealth had come from the reward at the end of the tutorial, which had been 25 gold coins.

Apart from that, the dungeon had been the most lucrative, as we had gained about 3 gold each from there. It looked like the system wasn't going to be making it easy for just anyone who had money to suddenly be able to gain a lot of skills. I filtered the skills to uncommon and then tried to search for quick step, just to be able to see how much that cost, but I ran into a problem immediately. There was no search function.

Not only that, the store only allowed it to be filtered in terms of rarity instead of there being more sub-categories like in the weapons section, so I couldn't simply look through all movement skills either. The cherry on top of the cake was that the list didn't follow any logical order. It wasn't arranged in alphabetical order, or by class type, or by any other way. It was just a long list of skill names that I could scroll through and see if a name called out to me.

Because the system still didn't offer a description of skills, even when buying from it. I tested it by trying to buy a cheap common skill, and just a simple screen wanting me to confirm my purchase popped up. The same was the case with an uncommon skill I tried it on. Having just the name of a skill to go on was a really risky strategy. Still, I went back to uncommon skills and started going through the skills. A few skills caught my eye, like a spell listed as greater mana bolt, which cost 23 gold.

There was also a greater wind bolt at 28 gold, but I could probably improve that on my own. What I was really searching for was something that could become a foundation on which I could build on. I paused in my scrolling of the skills list for a second, before getting an idea and immediately switching over to the common skills. Wishing there was some way to search as the far larger and seemingly endless list unfurled in front of me, I started trying to find what I was looking for.

I doggedly continued searching until about 25 minutes into the endless scrolling I finally found it. Dagger mastery. I remembered Sara had said that her sword mastery skill was a common skill, and a passive one. This was exactly what I had been looking for, and listed at just three gold, it was a bargain that I didn't hesitate to purchase. When I confirmed my purchase, a scroll of the skill appeared on my hand, and I immediately used it. The scroll burst apart and the skill rushed within me, and then…

nothing else happened. I waited, and continued to wait, but I felt no change within me. I opened my status and confirmed that the skill had been added and that it was a passive skill, but then why had it not worked yet? Didn't Sara say she had instantly received a lot of knowledge and that the skill repeatedly told her what to correct and how to improve…? I was honestly very confused, but it all clicked a few seconds later.

It had skipped my mind that all passive skills have a 'trigger' condition, and Sara had instantly gained a lot of knowledge about swords because she had been holding her sword at the time. I gripped the handle of my dagger and unsheathed it, and the expected rush of knowledge then arrived. I suddenly knew how to hold the dagger properly when stabbing when compared to the grip that was best for slashing.

I was now aware of the right way to angle my blade in order to minimize sound when slashing through the air, and how to minimize air resistance as well. Air resistance was something that I had honestly never thought about when swinging my dagger, but testing it out, I had to admit that the dagger moved so much smoother and quicker when doing it the way the skill suggested it. All in all, I was extremely pleased with my first skill purchase from the store.

I continued looking, and as I was in the 'mastery' section, I soon found out two more fundamental skills that would certainly be amazing to get. And still at three gold a piece, these skills were arguably even more of a bargain than dagger mastery. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Holding onto the two new skill scrolls; one for mana mastery and the other for footwork mastery, I was immensely pleased with myself.

I learned them on the spot, and tested both of them out a bit. Footwork gelled superbly well with dagger mastery, and the two skills worked in tandem to take my melee fighting skills to the next level. Footwork allowed me to understand how and where to place my feet in order to get a good angle on my opponent, as well as how to plant my feet to get the most force out of my swings, slashes, or stabs. Mana mastery was much more subtle, but also had great synergy with arcane comprehension.

The new skill actually didn't do anything when I launched a wind bolt, however, when I tried to free-form a new spell with internal mana manipulation, the two skills came alive together beautifully. Mana mastery informed me about the most efficient way to use mana and how to use it to form spells, whereas arcane comprehension helped me understand what I was doing wrong with my fledgling spell and how to correct it. Shouldn't this be the starting skill for every mage instead of mana bolt…?

It was an interesting thought, but then again, I hadn't started off with dagger mastery so perhaps the system didn't like giving its users an easy start. In fact, the system repeatedly awarded experimentation and effort instead of taking an easy way. I can't wait to get mana sense back, I have a feeling that these three skills would have incredible synergy! I continued scrolling the masteries section a bit more but couldn't find anything more I could use, so I switched back to the uncommon skills.

Taking my time, I was finally able to find quick step, and it was listed at an incredible 30 gold. I knew it was an amazing skill. Seeing the system agree with me through its pricing was incredibly satisfying for some weird reason. I continued scrolling the uncommon skills, but couldn't really land on another skill to buy at the moment. Some names just seemed too abstract to infer their meaning, while others looked like they should be much cheaper.

Besides, the constant commotion, although greatly reduced, was still going on, constantly distracting me. I closed down the store with a sigh. I still wanted to explore it, but with the constant sounds of children crying and people arguing over where and how to sleep, I just couldn't concentrate. I had always preferred peace and quiet whenever I wanted to concentrate on something, even in my accountant days, so the constant disturbance was annoying me.

I chose to leave the area, and started climbing back up the stairs towards the room I had slept in. During the way, I went back to the system announcements not too long ago. I remembered thinking that the clarification, improvement, and correction announcements were the 'specific' announcements, while the other four were the general ones. But even the general ones were nothing to scoff at. After all, just one of them had been responsible for dumping hundreds of helpless people, both young and old, at our doorstep.

The other announcements were more or less similar in scale in my opinion. The complete activation of the system store was clearly huge, but the last two were what I was concentrating on at the moment. I thought back to what they had said, and luckily, or perhaps due to my intelligence stat, I was able to remember the announcements exactly. There shall be more System events in the near future. It is suggested for Users to be prepared, as participation is compulsory for fit Users.

Opportunities to grow stronger shall now be more readily present for Users on their planets. It is suggested that Users should adapt to take advantage of them within suitable time. The first one about the system events was both exciting and foreboding at the same time. Having more system events would surely allow incredible growth, not to mention how it would allow us to experience something completely new! However, it was the second part of the announcement that gave me pause.

By now, I had come to take the system's 'suggestions' very seriously. They were more of a warning than a simple suggestion, and this message's warning was huge. It directly informed us that we should be prepared as we would get dragged into the system event, whether we liked it or not. As to how we could get prepared, that was up in the air, which was par for the course with this system, but I had an inkling I knew how we could be better prepared – by levelling up and reaching higher grades.

The second announcement was even scarier. The system's version of 'opportunities to grow stronger' was certain to be very different than what any sane person would call an opportunity. In my mind, this announcement either meant that there would be many more monsters in our vicinity now, or that there would be a lot more dungeons, and both possibilities carried a lot of danger. More monsters were obviously self-explanatory, especially with so many new vulnerable people here now.

And we had just gotten our butts kicked by that dungeon we just completed, which had been purely due to the mechanics of the dungeon itself rather than overly strong opponents. If more dungeons appeared, it could become extremely dangerous. Sure, it would allow us more opportunities to grow stronger and level up, but if this system allowed dungeon breaks to happen, then having multiple dungeons near us could very possibly wipe us out.

My mind kept racing and I had almost reached my door when out of seemingly nowhere a tiny hand grabbed my leg from behind. Having not heard nor seen anything behind me, I was understandably shocked and jumped up, my right hand immediately taking out my dagger while a wind bolt appeared on my left one. The small hand and the ability to get so close to me unseen and unheard pointed to one thing in my mind. Is it a goblin scout like in the tutorial?