Thank me; Shine;

Two people were lying down below a tree somewhere in the forest.

One is a man, one is a woman.

They were somewhat pretty and one could even say handsome.

They were quiet, both had something to think about.

As time went by some monsters tried to approached them, but they died even before they could get closer.

Some goblins died due to their heads suddenly falling off their necks.

Other died because their bodies were split in half.

Occasionaly, some just fell down and laid unmovingly, just like those two people.

Unlike them, however, they were dead.

As such, several hours went by, and just as you'd think that you need to fence off this place...

- You're not going to thank me? -- girlish voice could be heard.

- Thank you for stealing? Where in the world do you thank people for that? -- man responded without any care in the world.

- Hmph, u're always like that! I saved you! Why cant you be grateful for once? -- the girl responded with some scorn in her voice.

- Grateful? Want me to massage you or something? -- he said as he slowly lifted his head and looked at the source of the girlish voice -- You know what? That i can do, come here, i'll give you a nice massage. -- he started slowly getting up.

- Dont come closer you creep! -- as the girl saw it, she too started getting up -- Just say "Thank you" and be done with it! -- she was faster than the man and was already standing on her legs.

- Well, until you tell me what the clue was i wont do anything you tell me to... -- he stretched lazily -- Oh, right, you'll try to do it by yourself, and when you fail u'll come crying, asking to help, how could i forget? -- he mocked the girl.

- Oh god... Fine, the clue told me that the boss is an "Annoying bloodsucker", so we gotta look for a vamppire somewhere here... -- she said without any emotion in her voice.

As first, the man, whose name is Kerren, simply stood there, as if he turned into stone!

His expression was insanely strange and one would think that he was thinking about something really important before turning into stone!

However, as you already came up with a price for the statue... it spoke!

- Yusaya, i'm sorry, "Annoying bloodsucker" is... who, again? -- he asked as politely as he could.

- A vampire, you know them? Those bloodsucking creeps who hate sunlight, why are you making me repeat what i said? -- she didn't understand why he asked twice, maybe those pests weren't present in his world or something? Or, perhaps, he didn't encounter them yet and a "vampire" is something new to him?

Kerren simply stood there, as if in a daze, then turned around and casted a spell. It didn't have any visible effect at all, but invisible one? Lots of them, he used an investigative spell!

- Oh, right! You dont have any investigative skills, do you? What do you prefer, Insight or Inspect? -- she hurriedly ran closer to him.

- Both. -- he didn't look at her as he spoke, as usual.

- Haha! Silly you, you cant learn both, you know?

Yusaya laughed at his words, that might sounds strange but one couldn't learn two of them at the same time. For some reason if one already had an Insight skill Inspect would become unavailable for him and vice versa.

People didn't really know why such a limitation existed in the first place, as those two skills had almost identical use. Both were used to identify whatever was infront of them.

The only significant difference was that they had different usages in general, if inspect gave you lots of physical information about the item and some of the magical part, insight reversed it, and gave lots of magical information and some of the physical.

Thus, identifying armor or a sword with insight wouldn't be the smarted decision. Of course, they could be pure magical, but chances of that were incredibly small.

As for why one couldn't learn both? Well, some speculated that it's due to an axistence of a skill that combined both of those, the only requirement of which was having both at the same time, but since people weren't allowed to have that skill, just like when Kerren read the entire book several times but still couldn't get the skill until he read the last word, they didn't get anything, simply wasting their time.

Such a limitation existed for many skills, but this one was widely known as many people wanted to use both...

- I said both, why do you argue?

Kerren didn't bother to explain his plan. Of course, he knew that such a limitation existed and it's not like he had a way to learn both, but why not have them then? It's not like he couldn't try? Maybe he was indeed special.

- Fine, take it -- she then threw two book to Kerren.

As Kerren caught those books he was distracted by them, and as he wanted to look at Yusaya again... she was standing really close to him!

- You dont owe me anything for saving your life... But... answer my question, okay? -- she asked gently, as if it was really important for her to get an answer... -- How are you special? What makes you... so unique? -- she couldn't move her gaze from his face!

- Unique? -- Kerren said and left his mouth half-opened -- Well, i'm not, by any means. Why do you even think so? Oh, right! -- it suddenly clicked for him -- That's why you're running after me! Who the hell told you that i'm special? -- he couldn't understand that part, but understood something else.

Some of his hopes were crushed by that. It wasn't anything bad to hope that she ran after him because she liked him so much, is it? Sadly, it wasn't like that at all.

- Uhm... -- Yusaya thought for a moment -- Well, i guess i can tell you. I have a special skill, "Shine means good", that's how i found that branch. -- she smiled at him as she said it -- It does what its name implies, whatever is good for me will shine with a golden color! It could be anything, random rocks that contain rare ores, branches that lead somewhere important or specs of dust that lead out of that place and... -- she looked him directly in the eye -- people.