Skill Acquired

Acquire 

[Casting Time: Instant] [Cooldown: None]

You are a master of many skills, but none of them were originally your own. Upon touching a creature with skills recognizable by the system, you can activate Acquire. Upon activation, you are given a list of the target's skills and can select one or several to learn. You can only have a number of skills equal to the number of blank skill slots you have available. If you activate this skill and have zero blank skill slots available, you can remove a skill already acquired and replace it with a new one. 

This was going to be a game-changer. I immediately walked over to one of the Thornheart Stalkers and placed my hand on it to activate Acquire.

Cast Acquire on Thornheart Stalker? [Yes/No]

I mentally selected yes, and a list of the Thornheart Stalker's skills popped up for me to select from.

Skills Available 

Natural Armor <<info >> <<select >> 

Hive Mind <<info >> <<select >> 

Tremor Sense <<info >> <<select >> 

Earth Glide <<info >> <<select >>

I was surprised to see that I could look through the skills and read their descriptions. This skill was absolutely broken because it would allow me to know what kind of abilities an enemy had and better prepare for them. The only drawback was that I would need to physically come into contact with them.

Out of curiosity, I let go of the Thornheart Stalker to see if the skills would end, but the connection was still there. I knew that I could still select skills from it even though I was no longer touching it.

"Looks like it isn't too restrictive."

After I finished looking through the skills available from the Thornheart Stalkers, I decided to learn the Natural Armor skill. I didn't need any of the other ones, so I passed on them for now. If I didn't find anything good from the Alorae solider who was bleeding out, then I might go back to get the Tremor Sense skill.

Notification

You have acquired the skill, Natural Armor. 

Passive Ability: Natural Armor 

[Casting Time: None] [Cooldown: None] [Duration: Permanent] 

Toughened hide, scales, or fur offer a barrier against harm, reducing the impact of blows and scrapes. Whether born with it or cultivated through training, this innate resilience grants its user an edge in the face of danger. Physical damage is reduced by one tier if your vitality stat is greater than the primary stat determining the damage of an attack made against you. 

This skill would make fighting against hordes of weaker enemies easier, so I could see myself keeping it for a while. I stepped away from the Thornheart Stalker and moved over to kneel beside the dying Alorae solider. I placed a hand on his shoulder and saw the list of skills I could copy from him.

Skills Available 

Adept Spear Energy <<info >> <<select >> 

Novice Sword Energy <<info >> <<select >> 

Hunter's Eye <<info >> <<select >> 

Warrior's Bond <<info >> <<select >> 

Banner of Combat <<info >> <<select >>

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I looked through the soldier's skills and only found one to be worth anything to me. I selected Warrior's Bond to learn with Acquire.

Notification

You have acquired the skill, Warrior's Bond. 

Warrior's Bond 

[Casting Time: 1 Minute] [Cooldown: None] [Duration: Permanent until dismissed]

The path of a warrior is not one that must be traveled alone. Select a target for Warrior's Bond. You and the target can communicate simple feelings and thoughts with each other over vast distances. While within 1km of each other, you are immune to magical fear and gain +5 to all stats. Warrior's Bond can only affect one target at a time and can be dismissed by the user at any time. 

I decided to pick up Warrior's Bond because I could just attach it to Tim. It was an easy 25-stat point increase, so holding on to the skill for now wouldn't hurt. I immediately cast Warrior's Bond on Tim and felt the stat boost come online.

Looking down at Tim, I realized I had a third target that I could copy a skill from. Except in this case, I don't think Tim would be very happy with me just taking a skill from him with that asking.

"Hey Tim, I need to copy one of your skills; is that okay?"

Tim's face appeared on the front of the smartwatch on my wrist. "No, that's not okay. Copy one of my skills? They can't even be compatible with you; they're unique to my physiology as a mimic. Fuck you."

I glared down at the smartwatch on my wrist. "Tim, come on, you could really help me with my survivability. Also, I could just take the skill if I wanted to. That's why I'm asking."

"And because you're asking, you're opening yourself up to the chance that I could say no. It has to mean you're okay with me saying no, so I'm saying no." Tim's little face disappeared from the glass on the watch.

Time was wasting, so I activated my skill, Acquie, on Tim the mimic anyway.

Skills Available

Transformation <<info >> <<select >>

Sentience <<info >> <<select >> 

Loot <<info >> <<select >> 

Contract Summon: Resistance <<info >> <<select >> 

Contract Summon: Restriction <<info >> <<select >>

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I looked over at Tim to see if he noticed that I activated Acquire on him. It looked as if Tim was none the wiser, which was good for me. Tim had a lot of skills that weren't in his status window when I first saw them, which meant that there could be some skills that players and monsters had that they didn't even know about.

Tim was a summoned monster, so the system created skills that limited him in some areas and buffed him in others. I didn't have time to look through all of Tim's skills, so I just browsed the ones that I thought would be useful. I ignored ones that I knew would cause Tim to get loud if he saw me use them.

I settled on using Acquire to learn the resistance skill that was granted to Tim because he was a contract summon. This was also a skill Tim would never know I had unless I divulged the information to him directly.

Notification

You have acquired the skill, Contract Summon: Resistance. 

Contract Summon: Resistance 

[Casting Time: None] [Cooldown: None] [Duration: Permanent]

Being a summoned creature is hard, but it doesn't come without its perks. The system has granted you resistance to the following conditions: Fear, Mind Control, Blindness, Deafened, Stunned, Paralysis and Fatigue.