Hoarder and Diligence

For the next few minutes, Oria searched for another water valve. Eventually, she found one by the ledge down the stairs that was previously flooded. She turned the valve, causing the flow of water to stop from the last lion head statue. Subsequently, the water level dropped, allowing access to those treasure chests by climbing down a ladder.

There are two of them: red and brown. Naturally, the little girl goes to the red one since it is called as a special chest.

"Wah…!" Her eyes brimmed as if they're twinkling stars as she opened the red trunk. "Look at this, Faruk! There are five shining stones in here. Two of them are umm… magistones with yellow colors."

Faruk also looks at them. Clearly, the reflection shines in his wide pupil, "Black magistones… I see. (It seems this chest wasn't tampered…)"

"Umm… what are these three shining stones, Faruk? They don't look like a magistone… though their grayish color shines," Oria showed the remaining items. They don't look like a crystal at all. In fact, they are literal stones that has somewhat a dim light coming from inside.

"They are ironites," said Faruk, "a type of material that can be forged into a weapon or armor made of iron."

"Ironites…? What's their difference to irons?" Oria asked.

"Good question. The biggest difference is only that ironites are imbued with mana, whereas irons do not. Because of that, if they're forged, they will produce an exquisite piece of art; stronger and lasts longer."

"Okay, I get it now. So, umm… these ironites are considerably big, aren't they? Where shall I put them, eh…?"

Oria just realized she doesn't have any free space for those items. "Oooh… I wish I had my bag along. Only then I can carry as much items as I want."

"Don't get too greedy or else you'll obtain an unwanted skill. Oh, wait a minute…" Faruk stopped to look at her status screen and notices a certain skill: [Hoarder Lv.1]

It sends him into a flinging shock. "—You already HAVE it!?"

"Eeep! W-What do you mean?"

"This [Hoarder] skill!" he pointed out.

"E-Eh? Do I even have that kind of skill?" she asked like she didn't know.

"Do you even check your existing skills before?"

"Uhh… honestly, I, umm… kinda confused by the system screen, so I guess… no, not all of them, hehe…" the little girl scratched her head while giving out an innocent smile.

"Seriously, now?"

Oria curls her voice down as her index fingers touch each other. "Oooh… Faruk, why would you be so angry about it? Is it that… bad?"

"*sigh*… my apologies. I was ahead of myself. You see, [Hoarder] is a skill that is awarded to someone when they tend to collect and keep multiple things, though they're not sure whether they're going to use them or not."

"Ohhh! Umm… ehehe, I think it was one of my habits back then."

"What?"

"Umm, you see… I kinda liked gathering many things I thought as cute or beautiful. Leftover tools, broken utensils, flowers, tones, and even grasses. I did that to pass time when I was a slave. Somehow… it became a hobby."

"(So, THIS is why she suddenly loved gathering treasures! Now it all makes sense!) *sigh* Oh, dear Goddess Altria…"

"Oh, Faruk… it's not a bad thing to gather things like that, right?"

"You know nothing, yet. It'll awaken something that you shouldn't have! If that happens, you'll be facing a quintuple of prob—"

Oria cuts his series of rapid yelling by using Display Self Status, "—Oh, yeah, Faruk… do you know this skill?"

"Huh?" Faruk looked at her screen. "What skill?"

"Diligence," Oria pointed out. "I think it—"

"Are you trying to mess with me, Oria? That's not 'Diligence', that's a [Strategist] skill."

What Faruk said ultimately shocks the little girl. "Eh?! I-It's here. This skill! I mean, yeah, but it's beside the [Strategist] skill, Faruk!"

The Silver Dragon blinks twice, and then thrice in a row. "(Am I missing something?) I see nothing except [Strategist], [Hoarder], and [Survivor] there."

"H-Huh…?"

"*sigh* enough! See what's the content in that brown chest and leave it to me to carry them. You'll need some agility to deal with the dungeon boss, so carrying too many items will just hamper your movements. Come up once you're done."

Faruk ascends back up the ladder and upstairs, leaving her alone. Oria reluctantly nods and hurries to pick up the items in the brown chest, which contains two herb potions. While carefully climbing back up, she thinks in her mind.

"(Strange… Faruk couldn't see the [Diligence] skill? How odd… that skill is the highest level in my skills list. It's strange if he couldn't see it… let's see it again! Display Self Status!"

Oria immediately looks over the skill list she has obtained thus far.

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

[Strategist Lv.2], [Diligence Lv.8], [Hoarder Lv.1], [Survivor Lv.3], [Sickle Lv.6], [E-404 Lv.?], [Magic Processing Lv.1], [Caster Lv.1], [Agility Lv.1], [Weapon Witchcraft Lv.2], [Appraisal Lv.3], [Knife Lv.3], [Focused Eye Lv.2], [Pathfinder Lv.1], [Poison Resistance Lv.3], [Heat Resistance Lv.1], [Pain Alleviation Lv.1], [Signal Lord], [Fire Magic Lv.2], [Wind Magic Lv.1], [Earth Magic Lv.1], [Water Magic Lv.1]

Her eyes are glued to the one skill that Faruk failed to notice: [Diligence Lv.8].

"It's here… my eyes aren't deceiving me. Strange… how on earth did he not notice it?" Oria sighs disappointedly. Though, later she just realizes that the skill list is overwhelming her screen.

"Huh… the number of skills I have is so many now! Hm, hm, hm… I just reached Level 3, which means I have one skill point available right now. I should save it when I need it, just like I used it for [Pathfinder] skill!"

Suddenly, the system voice wreaks out, "Conditions are met. Hoarder Lv.2 achieved!"

"Eh? D-Did my [Hoarder] skill j-j-j-just… go up…? How strange, I didn't do anything like that, yet! How on eart—"

"Hey, ORIA! what the hell took you so long!?"

Faruk shouted so loud from above.

"Yes, yes, yes! I'm coming, Faruk! Sorry-sorry-sorry!"

As quickly as possible, the little girl rushes to carry the treasure items to where Faruk is. He looks like he's going to release a deadly steam. Though, he quickly cools down.

"*sigh* What took you so long? Don't tell me you're trying to look for more treasures."

"Oh, no-no-no! I'm just checking through my skill list for a moment, hehe."

Faruk squints his one-eyed Observer sphere.

"Is it regarding the [Diligence] skill you claimed you have?" Faruk asked, in which Oria affirms, "Y-Yeah…"

His voice suddenly turned deep and serious.

"…Look, I do not understand why you claimed you have a [Diligence] skill, but let me tell you this, Oria. Do NOT say those words ever again. [Diligence] is one of the Ruler Skills. And Ruler Skills are a taboo. Goddess forbids their usage. So, don't try claiming that you have that skill again…or else you will attract Her wrath.

…Also, try not to raise the [Hoarder] skill too much. It is also a type of skill that would award you a Ruler Skill if you raised them too high. Are. We. Clear?"

Oria can feel the ominous aura coming from the Observer sphere. Faruk's voice was calm, but dead serious, emanating the same threatening sensation, too. Ever since her first meeting with him, she never saw him being extremely serious and angered like that.

Scared, she nods to him. "Mm-mm. I, I understand… I'm so sorry, Faruk."

Hearing her apology, Faruk let out a long sigh, cooling down his fuming expression. He then nods to her.

"Hm. If you understand, then I won't bother it. Here, let me take those items into my possession. You'll need extra agility if you wish to defeat the last enemy in this dungeon."

Oria hands over all items she obtained throughout their journey in the pungent dungeon. Faruk generates a magic circle on the floor and tells Oria to put those items there. Shortly, they flash out of existence, followed by the magic circle disappearing. For the upcoming battle, Oria is only given three herb potions in addition to her alluring hairclip which she refused to hand over.

"So, how's your movement?"

Oria tries stretching her limbs, hopping, and then spinning around. Then, she replies in a quiet voice, "Quite good, I guess…"

"Hm. You're good to go. Remember what I taught you so far."

"Mm," she nodded lightly, although in her mind she's thinking, "(…I really wonder what the [Diligence] skill was until it made Faruk so angry. It was a Ruler Skill, a taboo he said.)"

Oria grabs her magical wand and tries swinging it around. Meanwhile, her mind is still thinking the same thing.

"(…But Master Dux noticed it, I remembered him realizing it was there and he wasn't angry or even complain about it. But Faruk… he didn't see it at all. It's so… strange! …Maybe I can ask Master Dux about it. He should know something.)"

Meanwhile, Faruk in his mind, "(…Maybe I was a bit too harsh on her? No, I guess not. After all, she MUST know boundaries. Or else… she'll be in danger.)"

Oria firmly holds her wand. She looks at Faruk, "I'm ready, Faruk."

"Hm. Then, let us go."

With that, they depart and head up the stairs to reach the final platform While climbing those stairs, Oria somehow hears a faint sound for a split second.

"Huh?" she looked around her in reflex.

"What's wrong?"

"N-No, it's nothing."

"Huh… okay, I guess. Let's hurry."

"Right." Oria thinks in her mind about the noise she just heard, "(I'm pretty sure I heard a buzzing sound…)"