First Skill!

Seeing Lily looking down on him as he lay on the floor, it was the most weird feeling. On one side, he was happy; on the other, he was scared. Turning his head from her, he looked at his chest. He was topless, with bandages around his torso, which were stained with blood, especially where the sword wound was.

Trying to move, he only managed to grunt in pain, and so he just stayed there, extremely wounded and in need of rest. Looking around, he saw the others busy gathering the loot and piling it together. He let out a sigh of relief; they had won the battle.

He wasn't sure if Lily and Kevin could handle a strong one themselves, but somehow they had managed. He was the most wounded, with Talon being the least affected.

Comparing his present state to the day he had arrived at the city gates, where a young person had asked him to join their party, Lucius couldn't help but feel a stark contrast.

The clean and pristine clothes he had worn, along with his well-maintained appearance, were now replaced with ripped garments, green blood stains, and a myriad of wounds. The journey had already changed him so much in just a short span of time.

Taking a moment, he looked at the system. Before he fainted, he had put 2 points into Health, hoping it might save him from blood loss. Turns out, it did. It might not have given him more overall health, but it seemed to enhance his natural healing ability, allowing his wounds to regenerate faster.

He had noticed this when Kevin was heavily injured. It appeared that each stat had multiple roles; for example, Agility affected both mobility and reaction time.

[Status Panel]

[Name: Lucius Maxwell]

[Age 36/200]

[Level 3 Exp 10/300]

[HP 12/150]

[MP 100/100]

[Free Attributes 0]

[Strength 16]

[Health 15]

[Agility 13]

[Intelligence 10]

[Mana 10]

Skills

Gold 31

His health was gradually increasing, a sign that he was out of immediate danger, but he knew he still needed to rest. Turning his head, he tried to locate the goblin he had killed earlier and spotted its armour and sword among the pile of loot. Curious about the items it carried, he called out to Kevin, who seemed busy carrying some items.

"Kevin, that goblin I killed, what loot did it have?" Lucius inquired.

"It had a very nice sword, decent leather armour, and a scroll" Kevin replied, pointing to the pile of items.

"A book?" Lucius asked, intrigued. It was the first time they had come across a book in this world.

"Erm, book? Scroll? Not sure, but yeah, it had that. Here, take it," Kevin said, tossing the book to Lucius, who groaned in pain as he caught it.

"Oops, sorry," Kevin quickly apologized, realizing his mistake, and walked away awkwardly.

Lucius glared at Kevin's back but sighed and picked up the book. Moving his injured hands was challenging, but he managed to do so. Suddenly, the robotic voice of the system was heard.

"You have found a skill. There are two types of skills," the system explained. "The first type is a consumable drop, like the one you are holding. You can find them anywhere—whether from monsters, natural treasures, humans, chests, libraries, or any other place where they might be hidden. Once you use them, they will be consumed, and you will learn the skill."

"The second type is self-created. At level 5, you can create skills, and if the system deems them good enough, they will show up in the skill section. The reason it requires level 5 is so that your body can handle the mana surging in your veins each time you use it," the system continued.

With that, the system fell silent again. Now, Lucius understood why no one he knew had skills. First, they needed to reach level 5 and either create a skill or find a consumable, which was a rare occurrence as the monsters holding such books were usually above level 5.

Glancing at the book in front of him, a prompt appeared, asking, "Consume Empowered Luster? Yes / No." He hesitated for a moment and then turned to the others.

"Kevin, when you picked up the book, did you all get a prompt about the system?" Lucius asked him.

"Yeah, we all got the information, but we decided not to consume it. Even Lily was against it, saying it was your loot," Kevin replied, continuing to gather some wood to make a temporary campfire.

"I see," Lucius muttered. The fact that they had passed the skill book to him without hesitation increased his trust in them. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to consume the book, and the system's skill description changed accordingly.

[Skill: 'Empowered Luster' - Manipulating the mana in your body and covering it on the blade increases its power and sharpness. The power and use of skills depend on user knowledge.]''I see muttering that the group had passed him the skill and didn't backstab him made him increase his trust in them.

Thinking a bit he consumed the book and the system skill words changed.

''Kevin, help me get near the campfire and pass me the goblin sword,'' he asked Kevin, who had already finished the job.

''Sure,'' Kevin replied, putting an arm around Lucius and carrying him to the campfire. Each step caused him to groan in pain, but he endured it. Talon brought a piece of log to make a backrest for him so he could sit up comfortably.

''Here,'' Kevin handed him the goblin sword before they set out to skin the boar. Kevin busied himself with preparing the food, while Lily looked on with interest at Lucius' new sword.

''Oh, that's a nice sword,'' she commented, nodding her approval.

''It is,'' Lucius replied. The sword was one-handed, 75 centimetres long, making it quite agile. It appeared to be made with better quality materials, with a silver hint of colour in its metal, as there were no dull edges after the battle.

Thinking about the system, he tried out the skill he had acquired. Feeling a warmth near his heart, mana started to flow until it reached the blade, covering it and making it glow with a light blue hue.

As the mana continued to flow through his body, he began to feel a sharp pain in his wounded chest, as the mana was being drawn from his heart. Concerned, he quickly cancelled the skill, making it vanish as if it was never activated.

Glancing at his status, he saw [MP 95/100]. In just a few seconds, he had used 5 mana. This meant that the Sword Aura could be used for around a minute without stopping, but he didn't know what would happen if his MP reached 0.

Pushing aside these thoughts, they all focused on eating the boar meat and enjoyed the day before resting. Talon took the first watch, and the others settled down for some much-needed rest.

[Author Note: Check The Auxiliary Chapter: Zone Map for an Epic Map(Some minor spoils!)]