Chapter 32 – Unique Skill
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Player: Kurase Hirotatsu
Level: 52
Acquired Skills: 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』, 『Intuition』, 『Barrier Coating』, 『Mana Manipulation』, 『Magic Swordsmanship: One』, 『Flying Banner of Revolt』, 『Galloping Rider』, 『Long-Cherished Desire of a Samurai』
Titles: 『Daredevil』, 『Usurpator』, 『Warrior』, 『Hidden Blade User』, 『A Match for a Thousand』, 『Fearless Champion』, 『Lone Cavalryman』, 『Witty Castle Taker』
My level went up quite a bit and my titles increased in number.
Title 『Witty Castle Taker』
Given to one who made several castles fall “flawlessly.” Enhances physical ability and increases experience gained during siege battles.
Title 『Lone Cavalryman』
Given to one who mastered combat as a lone cavalryman. Enhances physical ability and increases experience gained while acting alone.
Title 『Fearless Champion』
Given to one who overcame his own fear in pursuit of battle.
With her spoon still in her mouth, Satoha peeked at my phone’s screen and commented, “Somehow…it is very Japanese, isn’t it? Then again, using Western language scarcely makes it easier on me.”
“I’ve been thinking this for all the time…it’s oddly accommodating, isn’t it?”
“It shouldn’t have been made to be like this, though,” Satoha muttered.
She calls it ‘like this’, but I wonder what the stat screen of other players actually looks like.
In line with my level increase, I also got a considerably big number of SP to spend on skill acquisition. If I use these, I’ll be able to update my own abilities again. Let’s decide on what to take while consulting with Satoha.
“Say, Satoha, it’s fine to consider it as just giving me a reference, but what skills should I take in your opinion?”
“…Hiro, first off, do you understand how you are being strengthened by Dungeon Seekers?”
“No, I don’t. Last time you told me that you’ll explain this another time and left, right?”
She moved her spoon with a clinking, scooping up more of the Creme Brulee. As if declaring that leaving behind even a small fragment of it would be a sin, she thoroughly cleaned out the cup, savoring each and every spoonful. And here I had long finished eating my cake…
“To explain it very briefly, it’s a bit like adding a program to a PC. Dungeon Seekers writes the spell formula into its user’s soul so that they become able to exercise the ability.”
“Okay?”
“The soul provides the mana we use…right, Hiro, please think of a single orb,” she placed the spoon on the white saucer and raised an index finger. “DS writes spell formulas on the surface of that orb, the 『Soul』 which administers special abilities such as mana, and thus grants the user the ability. There is a limit to how much you can write on the surface, but the orb will gradually grow bigger as you level, stretching the surface. Naturally, this adds more space to write which likewise leads to the possibility of recording more abilities.”
“…And the surface is being expressed through SP?”
“Correct. Now then, there is a problem with that. A spell formula usually covers a big part of the surface area. Accordingly, you can optimize the surface usage if you compress the area used by each individual spell formula. This is represented by Dungeon Seeker’s optimization and development function.”
She lowered the now empty cup, looking reluctant to part with it.
If she liked it so much, I might as well buy her another one as a take-out souvenir.
“So, if you ask me what I want to tell you with all this, it would be an advice to desist from recording various, half-baked skills and instead strengthen your already existing skill set with skills from the same category. If you do that, you will be able to obtain genuine strength through the optimization of spell formula, something which you cannot obtain by simply writing skills on your soul.”
After a short break, Satoha drank some of her black tea. She had finished the explanation of how Dungeon Seekers works.
I mean, I’ve always thought it to be weird and dangerous, but is what I could call my soul being in the grasp of this app…?
“Having stuff written on your soul or stuff like…hearing about this would even startle conspiracy theorists, wouldn’t it?”
“Even so, it’s normal in the eyes of an 『Occult Slayer』. 『Skill Vendors』 have been around for several hundred years now and as a matter of fact, the surface of my soul is also densely covered by various spell formulas. Dungeon Seekers is a revolutionary technology, but ultimately it’s simply an app that writes spell formulas on souls, so it cannot destroy the souls themselves.”
“…Mmh, I see.”
“There are many other details to this, but…for the time being, I believe it would be smart for you to go all out on the Japanese-styled attack. Affinity between soul and spell formulas also plays a role, and yours is already completely leaning into that direction.”
“Gotcha.”
I opened the list of skills I can acquire and checked them out while keeping her advice in mind. Just as she said, Japanese-styled attacks might be good. Japanese-styled…what’s a Japanese-styled attack anyway?
“Also I forgot to tell you earlier, but I think it would be smart to save up for the 『Evolution』 of spell formula. 『Evolution』, which basically tailors a skill towards you by optimizing a skill and improving it further, is extremely powerful. It uses up a huge part of your soul’s surface, but I think it’s much more beneficial to go with this than acquiring three or four separate skills instead.”
“Is your Invisibility the same sort?”
“Yes. Because of that, no Occult Slayer possesses the exact same ability as me. It’s that sort of a unique ability. Dungeon Seekers also has unique skills and people possessing those are regarded as high-ranking Occult slayers. But well, as with everything it’s a jumble of wheat and tares.”
She spat out a breath, acting like she finished a chunk of work. Thanks to her, I was able to obtain information that would have remained inaccessible to me under normal circumstances.
“Thanks, Satoha. I feel like I can now see the path I should take.”
“Are you going to acquire something now, Hiro?”
“Let’s see…if I base my selection on what we talked about,,,I’d say this will fit the bill.”
I looked for something that I’d be able to acquire now, in addition to the list of skills I had in mind from before. Japanese-styled…Japanese-styled, huh…?
『Progress of Castle-Taking』
Necessary SP: 15 pt.
Simplifies the understanding of the battle progress during a castle siege. Makes it possible to see through existing defense mechanisms and discover weak points.
I got a skill called 『Progress of Castle-Taking』 which became available through the 『Witty Castle Taker』 title. At a first glance it’s a general purpose-type of skill and it won’t degrade over time as I head into higher dungeons either.
Moreover, I found a skill I can 『Optimize』…or rather 『Evolve』.
“Say, Satoha, I have a skill that can be evolved.”
“Eh…really?”
Seeing the formula displayed on the screen, I got stunned by the ridiculous cost.
『Daredevil』 + 『Fearless Champion』 + 『Lone Cavalryman』 = 『???』
Necessary SP: 100 pt.
“Quite nasty…”
I didn’t expect the cost would go into the three digits. It also uses up three titles. But, 『Hidden Blade』, which cost 1.5 times as much, has been pretty crazy…
Anyway, there’s no reason to not do it. Disregarding Satoha looking completely surprised, I pressed the Evolve button. The app asked me 『Are you certain?』 to make sure, but I tapped YES in a flash.
No different from Optimization, a plain animation was shown. But this time I was a lot more excited than back then.
☆『Indomitable Heroic Figure』
A daredevil got to know the enemy, survived countless battles, and moreover turned into a soldier dealing with all sorts of dangerous predicaments.
Permanently active
You possess an indomitable heart that doesn’t yield no matter how dangerous the situation. Assists the will to actively face every possible fear.
Active
Exceed the limit of your body.
Seeing me evolving the skill without any hesitation whatsoever, she sighed deeply.
“I definitely didn’t expect that you would be able to reach the level of high-ranking Occult Slayers in front of my eyes. B-But, ultimately it’s just a “Special Spell Formula (Unique Skill).” The one I possess is a “Decisive Spell Formula,” which is one level above that. Because of that, mine is stronger.”
She folded her arms and tried to show off her superiority. Going by her exhibiting a hint of rivalry, it seems this counts as fairly amazing.
“S-Sure…but…is this strong?”
I held out the smartphone to her, showing the screen. Seeing the description, Satoha’s face turned rather grim and she started to slowly explain, “If you ask whether it’s strong or weak, it’s probably difficult to say. We don’t know the recoil from exceeding the limit of your body either.”
“Yeah, figures…”
“But, you should be happy to have reached this level in your current state, you know? Maybe you will be able to form some incredible battle tactics through the synergy of this ability and others.”
She said to encourage me while looking at me anxiously.
Sure, it’s extremely weak compared to an ability like the one owned by Satoha…oh well, whatever. It’s not like I actually tried it out yet and it’s versatile.
Satohi and I finished our sweets, so it was time for us to soon leave the coffee shop.
“Anyway, leaving this skill aside, thank you, Satoha. You showed me a path. I can walk.”
“Well then, Hiro, it looks like we will clear vortexes together in the future as well, so I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Yeah. I guess we should go for another one now. A C-Class.”
“Eh? Are you serious?”
She asked me with a flabbergasted tone as I paid for the bill, before we left the coffee shop together.
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Translation Notes: