Skill Tree

"My what?" Jack asked that, since the start of this whole stupid convo, this man had not once mentioned these skills. He did remember getting something called a skill tree and gene skill from the box, but exactly what it was, he had no idea. He just waited for the old man to explain.

"So your skills. Well, I'll explain this in the most basic way: Skills are magic powers you get that are based on your DNA."

Those words ended up confusing Jack even more instead of helping in any way, as the old man rubbed his temples and explained.

"Okay, so you know every human has a different DNA." Jack nodded. "So your DNA is used as a map to create a magic skill for you that you can use to survive, fight, or whatever. You didn't think the game master was dumb enough to throw a few humans with weapons in the face of other supernatural beings. You develop your own abilities that you can use. And since it's based on your DNA, it's both related to you and randomized."

Jack nodded, trying to understand that whole system as he thought about the screens once more and then asked, "What about traits?" 

The old man was surprised as he spoke. "Oh, you have a trait? Well, that's an extremely rare boy. Traits are considered winning a lottery. Well, traits are special passive abilities some people possess. They are extremely rare and extremely valuable. Ah, to check your skills and stuff, just say the words skill tree out loud."

"Skill tree?" Jack said this as a tree-shaped screen appeared in front of him with many words on it.

[Skill tree: Jack Hoff

Rank: inferior

Inventory: Aquamarine fangs

GENE SKILL:

Devil's deck (inferior): the user is able to shuffle a deck of cards, excluding the king, queen, and jack for now. Whatever card the user lands on will grant him a certain effect.

Heart heals any injury or status condition the user may have received.

Diamond creates a protective barrier around the user.

Club provides users with a physical boost in all their physical capabilities.

Spade: anything the user has killed can be summoned to aid them in battle.

The number on the card drawn determines the strength of the ability or its effectiveness. The spade summons will be automatically assigned a number based on their rank between 1 and 10. New summons can be exchanged with old ones, but the numbers will always be decided via strength.

There is a cooldown between drawing cards, and when the next card is drawn, the effects of the old card are replaced.

GENE TRAIT

Devil's Hand: The user has increased luck while gambling, but their luck is reduced while doing anything else.

Merits: 460]

"Interesting," the old man said as he read Jack's skill tree. He was rather intrigued by the skill and how variable it was compared to the singular ability granted by normal skills, but what caught his attention more was the trait. In the system where everything was randomized, having the ability to influence the odds was no less than a cheat code.

Jack, however, was silent as he looked at the screen. He wasn't mad or annoyed anymore. He was pretty sure this was all a big fucking joke when he started laughing. He laughed and laughed harder, and he finally stopped and looked at the old man. "Can this be changed?"

"I am afraid not, but this is honestly a very good skill. What's wrong with it?"

Jack looked the man dead in the eye and spoke. "I'm just not a big fan of gambling," he said, remembering the time when his mom ended up making a deal to even sell him off due to her gambling addiction. Gambling has only ruined his life for the worse, and ever since he was a kid, he hated that, but now? His only hope of survival was more gambling. 

He was pretty sure someone was playing a very big joke on him as he sat down and just looked up at the old man. "So what am I supposed to do now? Start killing the giants."

"God, no, you'll be squished before you can get near them. For now, go back home and get some rest if you really need it. But I would give you one suggestion."

"And what is it?" Jack wasn't even annoyed anymore; he was just too tired to care about all this shit anymore. 

"I suggest saving your merits. They may be more useful than you think. Don't spend them before the tutorial ends." 

After saying so, the box finally stopped spinning as the light out of it stopped, and the box vanished. He was too tired and annoyed right now. He needed a good sleep to clear his mind from all this shit. The skills and all were fine, but in all honesty, he couldn't care less about a god or magic right now. He was mentally exhausted from so much information, his fate, and the memories resurfacing like that. The best idea for him was to just get some sleep. He jumped off the hollow trunk, holding his swords, as he glided down, landing right outside his own door. He went inside and hit the bed, covering himself in the blanket, not even wanting to wake up anymore after all this. He just wanted to avoid all his problems by sleeping right now, and that's exactly what he did.