A New Skill

After Cian logged in, he returned to see Aiden crouched down beside the altar, with Glint nowhere in sight. Cian felt a bit sorry for having to make him wait for this long.

The echo from his footsteps as he approached the altar forced Aiden awake.

"Warrior Cian, you have returned" he exclaimed with his usual carefree tone as he sprung up to his feet.

"Where did the mage go?" Cian asked as he approached the chest on the altar.

"He left a while ago, luckily the seal didn't break" Aiden gestured to the beast still resting within the magic circle.

[He has probably gone in search of his next victims, tricksters like Glint are always on the hunt for thrill]

"And the Sapphire stone?" Cian asked.

"The mage said it should be in the box, I figured it'd be best if I waited for you to return before doing anything" Aiden timidly replied. Now that Cian had returned, he went back to his pretense, carefully hiding his true nature.

Well, it didn't matter where the mage went, as long as the stone was still there. Cian opened the chest to reveal the small bright white stone among others.

"We've found it! We can end the drought" Aiden exclaimed excitedly, standing closely beside Cian.

The player Appraisal function activated as Cian came in contact with the Sapphire stone.

____

White Sapphire stone

Special grade item: A stone with pure energy capable of dispelling dark magic and demonic corruption. It can only be used once.

––––

"It can only be used once?" Cian read out loud.

If the stone could only be used once, he would have to choose between lifting his father's curse or saving the Lowlands.

[Did I forget to mention that? After it has been used, the stone loses its pureness and can no longer be used]

That means he had to sacrifice one for the other.

Although he started this quest to restore his father's mana he couldn't sacrifice the life of many for just that alone, especially when he had experienced the effects of the drought first-hand.

Thinking back, he couldn't even remember the last time it rained in Lowdan. All these years the villagers had been surviving on reservoirs and streams that had now dried up, all this because of a curse.

"Who the hell is even placing all these curses?!" Cian cried in frustration.

He heaved out a heavy sigh, "maybe we could try searching for another one?"

[Special items like this are very hard to find, we would have to travel deeper, into the darkest parts of the Badlands. Into areas where no man has ever seen, or we can wait for the item to regenerate, but who knows how long that would take]

There was no way he could travel any further, especially not as weak as he is right now. Cian had no other choice, his father would just have to be satisfied with his current skill level, at least he could still make Mid-grade items once in a while.

[That doesn't mean there is no other way…]

"Other way?" Cian questioned.

[I wouldn't say it's any safer, but If it works you can make use of the item as much as you want… would you like that?]

"How? Of course, I would, what do we have to do?" Cian excitedly replied, enough to startle Aiden, who had since been watching him mumble to himself.

He had figured out that this warrior wasn't normal even by the standards of warriors, so all he could do was observe in silence.

[You don't have to do anything, I just have to use the digital signature of the stone you acquired as a cryptographic key to edit my codes.]

[There are cryptographic keys like this hidden within the game in the form of items that when you acquire permit you to alter certain things, but only if you have the required tools to identify these keys and edit the codes… in your case, an AI that has access to the game's source code since we share the same general server]

Cian was a little confused, "I thought you said you couldn't do that any more, something about hiding your existence from the game?"

[And that is why it's still risky, but I don't think anything is going to create any issue, because I'll only be altering my codes and not yours, plus you've already acquired permission through the key. It would only affect you as I am your sprite. Sprites are very special because they are items that serve as familiars]

During this interaction, Cian realized that there was still a lot he didn't know about the game. If he wanted to use Blue efficiently he would have to learn more about 'Eternalblue', the super AI used in the creation of Aetheria, and also 'Active Vision' the company that created the game.

He needed to learn the laws that govern the foundation of this world, but for now, he had to focus on the matter at hand "Okay Blue, do what you have to do"

[With pleasure…]

[PERMISSION GRANTED TO MERGE ITEM WITH SPRITE INTERFACE]

…..

[ALTERING SPRITE CODE]

…..

[MERGE SUCCESSFUL. NEW SKILL CREATED: ITEM MERGE]

After Cian heard the final message, the Sapphire stone vanished from his hand, causing his sprite to shine bright for a few seconds.

"Wh- what just happened?" Aiden stuttered, but Cian was too far in his thoughts to hear.

This time, the Merge skill wasn't generated like the Sprite buff, it was created, making Cian understand that it was probably new to the system.

____

Properties Acquired from White Sapphire stone

<New skills generated>

Skill: Curse dispersion (4th grade)

-Active-

*Allows you to disperse dark curse energy cast upon others. It would also work for cursed items and places.

Skill: Dark energy Resistance (3rd grade)

-passive-

*Prevents you from being affected by most forms of dark magic like corruption and curses.

–––––

The item properties had turned into skills for Cian. He had gained two new skills, and one of them was the 4th-grade skill to dispel curses.

There were five different skill grades a warrior could get, with 1st-grade being the lowest and 5th-grade the highest. Some skills have the potential to grow, but most of the time the skill grade remains the same.

A 4th-grade skill was rare to come by, especially for a low-level player like Cian, but with his new skill that could turn items into skills he got one so easily.

At that moment, he could only see the limitless potential of the Merge skill. He could gain special effects and skills that were far above his level.

He was eager to test more of his new skill, itching for the chance to merge with something new. His eyes scanned the inside of the chest until they landed on a dagger, its blade emitting a faint dark energy that pulsed ominously.