Discerning Eyes

With Jekyll telling him he had finally gotten a blackjack, all of the thoughts previously in Valyr's mind vanished in an instant, his tense body swiftly becoming relaxed. As he allowed his body to relax, he could not help but think for a second that Jekyll was messing around with him, prompting him to take a look at his hand once more. Seeing that he indeed had gotten a blackjack, he could not help but grin once more, letting out a bit of laughter soon after.

Allowing the adrenaline that coursed throughout his body from the victory to die down, Valyr eventually stood up from his seat, his face adorning a light smile, with Jekyll standing up soon after. Responding in kind with a light smile on his face, Jekyll brought out the box the cards were kept in from who knows where, placing the cards into it before closing it up.

Placing the box of cards on the table between them for the meantime, Jekyll moved closer to Valyr before placing his hand on the latter's shoulder, his gaze akin to that of a proud father. "To be honest, I was close to losing hope that you'd find the opening. Thankfully, you pulled through at the very end."

"It's not my fault you intentionally made it hard to find." Valyr shrugged his shoulders in response.

Lightly chuckling at Valyr's words, Jekyll shrugged his shoulders as well. "Well, you did grab those two skills from me before we started to playing blackjack. I had to even out the playing field somehow."

"So you're telling me you actually wanted me to use those skills to find the opening?" Realizing this, Valyr could not help but lightly shudder, feeling as if he had been seen through.

Jekyll nodded. "You know what they say. Use everything around you to your advantage."

"Anyways, since you've eventually figured out the trick despite losing over a couple hundred times, you've shown me that you're more than worthy of inheriting my legacy. Not only have you shown me that you have the tenacity, you also have the quick wits needed for it." Saying these words, a screen appeared in front of Jekyll, with him interacting with it as a string of notifications soon appeared in front of Valyr.

Ding!

[You have completed the quest 'Budding Curiosity'.]

[Your affinity with Jekyll has increased by 500 points. Current relationship: Confidant.]

[You have obtained the rights to inherit Jekyll's legacy.]

[You have gained the passive skill 'Gambler's Discerning Eyes'.]

Reading through the notifications he had received, Valyr could not help but raise his eyebrow as he noticed that he had obtained a passive skill. Wondering if this was the legacy Jekyll mentioned, he asked at the latter. "Is [Gambler's Discerning Eyes] your legacy?"

"Yes and no." Jekyll's expression was that of uncertainty. "It would be more correct to say that it's only a small portion of it. Then again, the fact that you own the skill means that you're the only one who can inherit the full legacy from me."

"Why not give me the full legacy, then?" Valyr tilted his head in slight puzzlement. "Surely it wouldn't be too hard to do so, no?"

"That's not the problem." Jekyll shook his head. "The problem is that you're still too low of a level to accept the other parts of the legacy."

"In any case, I'm pretty sure you're going to find that skill of mine incredibly handy." With a grin, Jekyll urged Valyr to follow him. Soon, the two ended up back at the main hall of the gambling den, with Valyr subconsciously taking in the sight before them.

In an instant, he noticed that his perception seemed to extend far greater than it originally would, allowing him to see more than half of the main hall with just one glance. On top of that, he felt that if he so willed, he would be able to look at any object in greater detail, allowing him to see the fine imperfections on its surface.

Wondering if his assumptions were correct, he went ahead and tried to focus his sight on his fingers, being left at a loss for words that he was able to see the fine ridges on the surfaces that collectively made up his fingerprints.

At that point, Valyr could not help but look at Jekyll beside him with a perplexed expression, with the latter laughing at the stupefaction he felt. "Surprised?"

With Valyr nodding in response, Jekyll laughed once more. "I told you you'd find it handy. Then again, you've only barely scratched the surface of what the skill can truly do."

"Unfortunately, I'll only be able to teach you those things once you've gotten stronger. Probably around Level 30 or so." Jekyll let out a light sigh, looking at Valyr with a bitter smile. After that, he patted Valyr on the back before pushing him in the direction of the exit.

"Come meet me here once you've gotten stronger. If you don't have anything else to do in this place, the exit's that way." Leaving those words behind, Jekyll nodded at Valyr before turning around, heading to the back of the gambling den before disappearing. In response, Valyr looked at Jekyll's fleeting silhouette for a bit, turning around and leaving the gambling den soon after.

Committing Jekyll's words to memory, Valyr made a promise to himself. "I'll try to come back as fast as I can. After all, what I've seen the skill do so far has already astounded me. But once I do…"

"You're gonna be in for the shock of a lifetime."

…

Although he had left the gambling den during the night, by the time Valyr returned to the main entertainment district, it was still as bustling as ever, with the streets lit up with lights powered by mana. Heading to the restaurant where he had parked his carriage, he was surprised to find out that the worker he had told to keep an eye on it had fallen asleep.

Awkwardly smiling, Valyr nudged the worker awake, alerting the latter of his presence. Funnily enough, just as the worker was about to complain about how Valyr had gone past the time he promised he'd be back, he solved the problem once more with silver coins, the worker's attitude making a full 180 once more.

After thanking the worker for keeping an eye on his carriage, he hopped on and gave a signal to the horses to start moving, their slow gait quickly turning into a gallop as the carriage left the gates of Anadhar City within a span of minutes.

Deciding to traverse a small portion of the journey back during the night, Valyr went ahead and checked the specifics of the skill he had gotten from Jekyll, already becoming bored of the scenery afforded to him by the man's incomplete legacy.

Ding!

————

[Gambler's Discerning Eyes] (Lv. MAX)

Rarity: Rare+

To gamble to is bet everything up to luck and hope it goes your way. On the other hand, to be a gambler is to utilize everything in your surroundings to your advantage, even using the house's tricks to win. However, not all gamblers are able to manipulate the house's tricks into their favor. Only great gamblers with the discerning eyes can do so.

This skill increases the user's PER stat by 10%. This skill also grants the user the ability to temporarily hyperfocus on an object, allowing them to view the surface of the object in greater detail.

————

Lightly hissing in wonder at the skill's effects, Valyr could not help but think of the many situations where this passive skill would come in handy. 'The percentage boost to PER is already good in and of itself, but add the ability to hyperfocus into the mix… wouldn't this elevate my future crafts to another level since I could see the imperfections and remove it?'

Allowing his mind to wander about, dreaming of all the things he could forge in the future with the aid of the skill, he went ahead and took a look at how much unused XP he had, only for his jaw to drop as he looked at the six digit number on the screen in front of him, being left at a loss for words.

"To think I've actually amassed over 100,000 XP… then again, I did kill a lot of monsters during the monster tide." With this thought in mind, Valyr pondered as to whether he should upgrade all of his skills up to Level 6.

Though it may not seem like it, upgrading a skill to Level 6 was the optimal move players had figured out to maximize the increase the skill's effects in exchange for the amount of XP consumed. To many, it had become a bottleneck of sorts for many players who could not afford the expenditure needed to max their skills out.

After all, one would need at least ten times as much XP to max a single Common grade skill than to bring it up to Level 6.

Eventually, he had made up his mind, quickly bringing the amount of unused XP he had left down to five digits as all of the skills that weren't Level 6 were brought up to that level. Though a part of him pained at the sight, thinking about the benefits leveling his skills brought in the long run, he eventually came to terms with it.

Aside from it, most of Valyr's journey on the way back to Astarto Village had been more or less uneventful. He would traverse the wilderness during the day, and set up camp and feed the horses before resting for the night.

Just as how long it had taken him and Wells to reach Anadhar City, by the time 10 days had passed since he had left, the sight of walls gradually appeared within Valyr's field of vision, the smile on his face widening once he noticed that it was the walls he had come to recognize.

"I'm finally back."