Chapter Thirty-Seven: Is this really a thing...?

"What were you thinking!! What if there are more assassins nearby you dolt!?" Natto said, reprimanding Drake.

Drake, still laying down on the ground resting as his status slowly ticked up, just smiled back. "It would be worth it. That was hands down nearly the best moment of my life."

Natto smacked Drake across the head as she knelt next to him, "Mixing up anime references and nearly killing yourself was a top moment for you..? I fear for our future!" she screamed into her hands.

Drake sat up, his status filling up slowly and already passing the halfway mark, "What? No. Well ok, yes. But no. What I mean is, do you know how long I have wanted to have a game where nothing was limiting imagination? And in just these two skills, I have just that. There are some pretty harsh limitations but there are still some crazy possibilities I can already see!" Drake rambled excitedly.

Natto stood back up and looked Drake in the eye, "Certainly there are, but you will not be able to find them out if you are dead, you stupid gorilla!" she sighed, "But what do you have in mind then? And don't forget you still have stones to go through, and cores to collect."

Drake recoiled slightly at the thought of going through all the monsters for their cores later. There were over 200 Kobolds laying around just the dirt road now that he thought about it.

"I.. uh.. Will get to that soon. Promise… As far as my ideas, you will just have to wait and see how amazing I can be!" Drake grinned, a small flicker of fire lighting up in his hand.

"I believe you mean cringy. I can not believe you made me sing!" she huffed.

Drake slowly stood up feeling much better and his status nearly full. He played with the fire, turning it into different 2-D shapes in his hand, having it move around him. He noticed how the mana felt as it left the magic circle, also observing that once it left the initial casting point the circle faded allowing him to manipulate it freely -but as he also noticed- at the cost of a slowly depleting mana bar.

"I. Didn't make you do anything. You just felt the compelling urge to burst out in awesome theme song because you knew it needed to be done," Drake finished.

"When I am finally F Grade I swear I am going to stab you!" Natto screeched, stomping her foot to the ground.

"You already did that, remember?" Drake laughed tapping a finger to his head, shaking his other hand lightly in the air.

Natto growled and pushed another skill stone to him, then turned around bringing out her bag of roasted nuts and plopped down to silently eat.

Before he subsumed another stone, Drake began running around playing with the fire, doing his best to test the limits of what was allowed by the skills and his imagination.

His imagination was going crazy as he went through every anime and manga he had ever read, every game he had ever played. All of the skills he used to use in games that were limited by the coding, he was free to mold it into something of his own. He was a kid in a candy store.

After a few more minutes of him being on a high, he came crashing back down to earth as his mana bottomed out, with his stamina also dangerously low. He fell backwards on the ground panting with a smile on his face as he looked up into the sky that was beginning to become reddish orange.

It was going to be night time in a few more hours, but Drake wanted nothing more than to practice at the moment.

Remembering that he was holding a skill stone in his other hand he brought it up so that he could inspect which one Natto had given him to use next.

[Skill Stone: Insight] [Uncommon]

[Unlocks a random skill from the Insight tree.]

[Requirement: Open Skill Slot. Have a Main Class-tree unlocked]

Drake screamed into the air, not having enough energy to pick his head up, "Where is this one going!?"

A moment later he heard Natto, "Internal Mastery! You need some regeneration skills, but we lack the stones, so the next best thing will be the passive buffs granted by the Insight Stones!"

Drake took no time to use the stone and gripped it in his hand tightly.

[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Insight [Uncommon]

[Confirm?]

Drake nodded mentally and felt the smooth stone slowly melt away into his palm as another drop in the proverbial bucket came.

[You have learned Skill: Weak Point [F Rank]

Weak Point [F Rank] P1(0%)

This skill allows you to gain insight into your opponent, through your knowledge of internal mastery. Your insight guides you to vulnerable locations on your marked opponent.

You may mark up to 1 opponent by saying, "Marked." (Increased based on Proficiency)

Passive increase in critical chance of 0.01% to Dexterity (Increased based on Proficiency)

Active increase of critical chance to marked targets by 10% (Increased based on Proficiency)

Mark cost of a small amount of Mana and Stamina.

Cooldown of 10 minutes, or after collection of marked target.

"Now, that's a skill…" Drake laughed reading over the description.

He was very happy with his acquisition of such a strong passive skill, maybe he would have to put more weight into these stones, if he could gain abilities like these.

Without sitting up, Drake yelled from his spread eagle position on the ground to Natto, "Hey! What's the next one?"

A moment later a stone hit Drake square in the forehead, he picked up the stone, leaving a small red mark in the shape of it. Drake rubbed the mark yelling again, "Where's this one going, this time!?"

A shout came back, "The same as the former, Internal Mastery! You still have four more slots available in that tree!"

Drake grumbled but began subsuming the stone all the same.

[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Insight [Uncommon]

[Confirm?]

He confirmed the prompt and felt the stone begin to dissipate as it was consumed by him. The feeling was slightly more intense this time, at least enough that he was able to notice it clearly, but not so much that it overwhelmed him like the rare and epic stones. He became expectant as he reveled in the feeling and reading the next notification.

[You have learned skill: Insight of the Apex Predator [F Rank]

Insight of the Apex Predator [F Rank] P1(0%)

Through this skill you channel the fierce beast inside you, a Predator of the highest degree. A mere gaze from your oppressive bloodthirst, solidifies your dominance.

An active ability to channel the apex predator's gaze, instilling fear into your opponent, making them vulnerable while the skill is active.

Mark a single opponent with your gaze, forcing them into vulnerability to all sources of your damage, with increased susceptibility to Critical Strikes. Effect depends on rank differential.

Passive increase in Critical Damage of 0.01% of Dexterity. (Increased based on Proficiency)

Active increase to Critical Damage by 10% to the target under your gaze. (Increased based on Proficiency)

Cost of a small constant amount of Mana and Stamina.

No Cooldown.

Drake sat up this time, as the burst of power he felt was on the edge of other powerful skills he had acquired, but it was only from an Uncommon stone. He guessed he had just gotten lucky, or was he starting to be influenced by his skills, his environment? Had he truly started to become a bloodthirsty killer?

He couldn't determine himself. He felt the same -well outside him going on essentially massive monster genocides regularly- he felt his personality hadn't changed much. Sure he had to grow some thicker skin because of his near death experiences, but it wasn't as if he thought of killing any and all things around him.

Drake shook his head and sighed, going back to the skill. He tried to feel for the skill in his mind and activate it. Like all skills there was a semblance of how to use it ingrained in him when he learned, but it was similar to only being given the first sentence of an instruction manual. He knew it used his eyes as a focus but everything else was up to feeling and experience.

He looked at Natto, who was now walking over with light steps to him, and tried to activate the skill. He could immediately feel the difference behind his eyes. The focus he had on Natto had intensified as if magnifying her in all of her being. He could make out the vitals of her body, where the most vulnerable places were instinctively. His eyes almost drawn to them.

Natto quickly stopped and a cold sweat formed on her face, a look of worry painting her expression.

"Di- Did, I do something wrong..? I-is.. this… about me throwing the stone at you?! I am sorry! I am sorry!" she wailed as she dropped to her knees bowing in fright.

Drake didn't know what was going on and instantly muffled the skill, standing up to rush over. "What? No, no. I think it was maybe the skill. Are you alright? I didn't think it would be that effective!" he said hurriedly, making sure she was able to calm down.

"A-asshole! How many times are you going to do something like that!" She cried, sniffling. "What skill is it that lets you put that much fear into a target? I felt that I was actually a small animal being frozen in fear under the gaze of a hungry beast!"

She was clearly frightened but still gripped at Drake's sleeves and battered him with her hands. He was about to say something else when he heard the banging of drums and the cries of something outside the outpost.

They both looked at the gate, wondering what could be making those types of sounds. Drake turned to the still shaking Natto and pulled her up to his shoulder.

Natto and Drake hadn't been together long but being quite literally part of one another they knew it was time to put a pin in their current discussion and Drake's mistake and figure out what was going on. Natto climbed to Drake's shoulder and melded into his head.

"I will make you make this up to me, you tactless brute, single celled one minded trash bag, enemy of all constructs! And It will not end with just more food! I want cores, lots of cores, more cores than you could possibly fit in your stupid inventory you hear me!!" she shouted -quite loudly for being inside his head- flipping her mood instantly.

"You really bounce back quick dontcha?" Drake chuckled wearily.

"I am not upset you used the skill on me to test it. I am upset you did not warn me, and had not compensated me for it," Natto chided inside his head. Drake almost able to see the small girl folding her arms and looking down on him in his mind's eye.

Drake grinned, relieved that she was being so upfront with him. He would have to pay in long installments of stuff to make up for his mistake this time, he was sure.

He looked up and double checked his status that had now had enough time to fill up from his practice, as he jumped to get into the guard tower to see what was knocking on his new home's door.

When he touched down on the roof of the tower. What was waiting for him on the expanse outside of the outpost was quite the sight to behold.

Drake had seen how the monsters could form armies and ranks from his fights with the Kobolds, but this was on a different level. This was almost what he imagined an old medieval army would look like, albeit much smaller.

However he was surprised -well he supposed he shouldn't be at this point- at the sight of Kobolds in the small army of Goblins that were there. He was astonished to see them, not because it was a mix of monsters, but because of the state of the Kobolds.

The Kobolds had been pushed to the front of the small standing force, covered in chains and collars. They were prisoners, or worse. The Kobolds were bruised and battered, some not even having both arms.

Drake recoiled in disgust at the sight, "Are all monsters like this..?"

"I understand your frustration, but the multiverse is a completely different place than your relatively peaceful planet. The strong make the rules, and the weak are there for the strong to walk on. It is the law of the system," Natto said, "But that does not mean I do not feel your anger toward the display. It is wholly distasteful. I ask you do something for me, for earlier,"

Drake looked down at the small force of around 50, inspecting the new monsters one by one, as he listened to Natto. Two monsters catching his eye, as he looked over them with his new Magic Sight, seeing what new information he could now glean.

[Goblin Squad Commander] Level 19 [F Rank]

[New Quest! Subjugate 20 Goblin Squad Commanders [F Rank]

[Reward: Experience. Random [F Grade] Item]

[Juvenile Tyrant Ant] Level 22 [F Rank]

[New Quest! Subjugate 500 Juvenile Tyrant Ants [F Rank]

[Reward: Experience, TP. 2 Base Class Stones, 2 Random Class Stones, 1 Basic Profession Recipe Book.]

"What is it?" Drake asked, his eyes widening at the number of monsters for the subjugation quest.

"Massacre them. Their cores shall be mine to claim!" she shouted in his head.