Chapter 2
The skills presented were all for the use of battling, it's possible that most skills are like this. If I want to be able to live a peaceful and enjoyful life free of work, hunger and suffering, I'll need money more than I'd need power. Getting overconfident with F-rank skills will most likely be the death of me if I were to choose skills made for battling. My safest bet would be to choose skills that can either benefit me financially or socially. The voice in my head did saye it could tweak my requested skill to fit into an F-rank caliber.
"For my magical skill, I'd like something that let's me create objects of my choosing."
*Request denied, that would resemble the powers of an A-rank skill.*
*Processing possible skills*
*F-rank magical skill, "Illusion of transformation".
Skill description: Upon usage, changes the visible appearance of an object touched by the user. The appearance of chosen object can only be changed into another object the user has touched, specified objects must be roughly the same size. lasts for 1 minute.
Uses 2 mana points.
*I'm afraid this is the best I can do for you.*
"Nevermind that, this is perfect!"
-F-rank skill magical skill, "Illusion of transformation" obtained.
*Peculiar... Now choose your next skill.*
This is definitely a cheap trick, but if I can change the appearance of a low value coin into a higher value coin, I could make some quick money by getting at least 10x more value from all kinds of currency. If I'm lucky there could be a lot of different coins in similar size I could change the appearance of.
With this my financial situation should look pretty good, so what can I actually do for a skill that can help me socially? I should probably pick my physical skill first, it doesn't really sound like it can be used for anything other than battling anyways.
"Could you give some advice on a physical skill that works well with my illusion skill?"
*I'm afraid I can't. I do not choose your path, I simply guide you*
"When did you become so spiritual... I'm not that good at fighting so I guess some kind of weapon skill would be good considering that you can apparently shoot fire in this world. What weapon has the longest reach?"
*The weapon with the longest reach would be the staff.*
"Then I'll choose a weapon mastery staff skill!"
*F-rank physical skill, "First strike".
Skill description: Upon usage, unleash a slightly more powerful attack with the equipped staff to deal more damage. Uses 10 mana points.
"I'm not really sure how useful it'll be but I'll take it! If someone capable in the use of skills sees me scamming some merchant it'll be good if I can fend myself off."
-F-rank physical skill, "First strike" obtained.
*This leaves you with 1 skill left. You may now choose your passive skill.*
"You should've started with giving me things, I'm starting to like you"
*Choose your skill.*
It seems like flattery won't work I guess. Once I buy a staff I'll be financially independent, and I'll be able to defend myself against thieves or bandits. Thieves will most likely have skills that will let them steal more easily if they can choose their own skills aswell.
"I want to be able to protect my pockets from thieves, is there any passive skill that can help me with this?"
*Of course*
*F-rank passive skill, "Field detection".
When an intelligent organism gets in contact with your field, you will be immediately alerted and be able to tell how long and when they were in your field.
Field size: 5cm surrounding the user's skin.
"This doesn't seem like a usual skill but it's the best passive skill I could think of so I'll guess this will do for now."
-F-rank passive skill, "Field detection" obtained.
"So what do you want me to do now?"
*This is where we part ways.*
"Can you just lead me to the nearest town first?"
"Hello?"
The forest gets darker and darker as the campfire gets weaker and weaker. The whistling of the trees and the cool breeze is enough to make stress disappear in an instant, yet it's enough to make even the strongest men tremble in fear.