Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold

With his enemy defeated, Mark peered back toward his allies—quickly becoming confused.

Nils had entered a staredown with the last squirrel, with neither making any sudden moves.

The squirrel stood on a tree branch, its strong legs primed to shoot out with blistering speed.

Meanwhile, Nils held a single shortsword in front of him. His eyes were unwavering and uncharacteristically calm.

WHOO—SHING.

Mark's Insight barely allowed him to witness the spectacle.

As the squirrel shot at its enemy, Nils sidestepped and slashed with pinpoint accuracy.

The squirrel bisected; two halves flying off to the sides before crumbling to ash.

It was as if Nils had been possessed—perhaps by a sword god. His usual spiteful and immature eyes returned as all threats faded.

"Wasn't that badass?" Nils smirked at his sister.

"Yeah, yeah. You're just Skill merchant," Jiri sneered as she walked toward the injured Brutus who was blowing air into the gaping hole that was his hand.

"Skill merchant?" Nils exploded. "So what if it's a Skill? Power is power. You just think you're better than everyone because you wasted all that time in the Academy studying fucking parlor tricks."

"Quiet, your mouthing off almost got us all killed."

"My mouthing off? What about—"

"Can you guys please whisper at least?" Mark silently scowled as he returned to the Squad. "You're giving our position away to every beast within a mile."

Jiri handed a glass bottle to Brutus, who immediately downed the potion. In the gaping hole of his hand, flesh and blood began to weave and stitch itself back together—it was fully healed within a minute.

"What's a mile? And who's 'you guys'?" Jiri replied. "I didn't do shit."

'Crap, I forgot the novel used the metric system…'

"Yeah, why don't you shut up and find the church, huh?" Nils sneered, pointing his sword at Mark condescendingly.

'I'm about to get a migraine…'

"If you were quiet—for the tiniest of seconds," Mark slowly emphasized each syllable. "I could actually tell everyone that I found the church."

With all eyes on Mark, he motioned toward the building that the squirrel had crashed into. It was difficult to see above the treeline, but if one squinted, they could see its roof barely peaking over.

"You could've just said that," Nils shrugged as the Squad veered off the roadside and toward the church. "You talking and me talking are completely independent of one another."

"Just be quiet and ready to fight."

Nils scoffed, looking toward his sister for support, who only shrugged and complied with Mark's order herself.

The building had caught his eye mid-battle, but Mark ignored it temporarily. When everything settled, he backtracked; it checked all the boxes for what he was looking for.

A small church outside of the Holy City of Olym in a dilapidated town. Covered in vines and trees, not too far off of a cobble road. All the details that he could barely extrapolate from his novel knowledge seem to add up.

As the Squad rounded the small stone church, they came upon the entrance. It was covered in thick roots and vines that entirely blocked the entrance.

They seemed unnatural—as if created from magic.

'No shit, it's a world of magic. With magic beasts and magic portals to other dimensions all around, surely one of them can create unnatural vines.'

Brutus proceeded to tear the roots off with ease—the ripping of wood and plant was quite satisfying to the ear.

The wooden doors underneath croaked as they swung open. It was as Mark expected: just a small, dusty old church.

Jiri summoned an orb of light, raising it high into the air to illuminate the darkness. But there wasn't much need, Mark knew where to go.

"Now what?" Jiri asked.

"Just hold. I'll grab it and then we leave," Mark replied, walking down the aisle.

He stepped on the stage and stood behind a lectern, his eyes trained on the ground—fingers crossed.

'You better not have taken this one, William. I really need this man.'

As Mark stared at the hollow floorboards underneath the lectern, his eyes caught onto something.

Gently sitting upon the lectern was a book.

'Isn't that…'

When Mark touched the book, his eyes turned wide as a system prompt appeared.

┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐

Skill: Calm Mind

Grade: D

Description: Clears the user's mind. With newfound clarity, the mind observes the surroundings at a slower pace. When using Calm Mind, the user cannot perceive color or hear. Can be used at a base level for 10 seconds, with the time limit increasing by 20 seconds per Intelligence upgrade.

Cooldown: Timer resets with rest.

Scales with Intelligence

└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘

'Holy shit…'

This Skill's appearance completely took Mark by surprise. It wasn't mentioned at all in the novel—not to his knowledge.

Then again, it appeared to be a dusty old piece of religious text. The plain markings of a Skill book were barely visible. William could've very well just ignored it—he and the author both.

But Mark was incredibly thankful for this boon of fate; the potential this brought was unfathomable.

Not because it was an overly powerful Skill on its own, but what it could do in the future.

'My class—Shredder of Weave—allows my Skills to mutate and improve as they scale…'

A time-slowing Skill was on Mark's bucket list of powers, even before his transmigration. It could quite literally improve everything.

It would already be useful so long as he put Shards into Intelligence, but the future possibilities would also be incredible.

'Though I don't think six Stat points are enough to trigger my Class' effect, or else it would've for the Hidden Hand.'

┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐

Skill Detected:

► Would you like to begin Skill Integration?

└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘

'Yes.'

Everyone knew the run down. The book promptly weaseled its way through Mark's chest as he gave one last shiver. No being could get used to that surreal feeling.

┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐

Skill Integration Complete.

→ Maximum Skill Slots Reached (2/2)

└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘

'Wasn't planning on adding anymore anyway.'

"What are you doing back there? Can we go now?" Nils complained as he leaned up against the wall, motioning toward the door.

"Just give me a second."

Now this was turning into a full-on vault raid for Mark; back-to-back heavy-hitting System artifacts made his heart race.

'Time for the big money…'

Getting on one knee behind the lectern, Mark smashed through the hollow floorboards, the wood cracking and caving inward.

The orb of light shone down into the dark hole below.

And reflecting back at him was a smooth cylinder of obsidian.

Mark took hold of the cylinder, inspecting the Item in his hands. It faltered in his grip, disintegrating into ash.

┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐

Power Item Acquired!:

► Soul Sword

└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘

'Bingo.'