"I can get skills for free?"
Ar did not expect this to happen. Based on his experience of playing this series, skills were something that was quite rare.
Item drops, dungeon or raid rewards, auctions. All of them required a large number of resources.
"But this may be natural considering it's still in the early game." He could only think so. After all, he could purchase several skills namely, 'Pierced Shot' and 'Spread Shot' from the Merchant Store. Likewise with his younger brother, Vi.
'Energy (Core) Manipulation Skill, huh?'
From the name of the skill listed, he more or less understood what the skill meant. But still, the details in the description did not provide enough information for him.
Since he was not quite sure of what his new skill showed, he did the simplest thing he could think of.
"Energy Manipulation." He said softly the name of the skill while slowly raising his right hand. He focused his mind on that hand.
Black-blue energy came out of his fingers.
"This has the same color as the 'Bolt'. It's also the same as the one I saw a few days ago."
Ar remembers what he did when he got the Inventor Class.
Blue and black array were flowing in unison. His body remembered what he did with this similar Energy flow.
"But, shouldn't I be able to manipulate it naturally? This skill, what do you think, Silv?"
In retrospect, the test he took to become an 'Inventor' was all about manipulating this blue-black energy flow.
"What both Civilian and Adventurer get from choosing [Path] is the ability to use that Specific Energy."
"Is that so?"
"Manipulating it in such a way should be a different matter. That's the logical conclusion we can draw from why you can acquire these skills now."
Ar nodded to accept Silv's opinion. after all, that was the most sensible answer.
For a long time, he played with the energy arrays. However, it was only a motion that aimed to get him used to it.
"It drains a lot of my EP, huh?"
His EP, or could also be called CP. Stood for Core Point, since his Path and Energy were named Core. It went the same for Mystics who had Mana Point or MP as their way to call the Energy Point.
[Arceede: Is it over, yet?]
[Stugrd: Not quite. The Slimes were gone, but Korka said that the gas was still dangerous.]
[Arceede: Okay, tell me when it's done.]
Ar confirmed the situation.
Then, he continued the business he left before. Stockpiling his ammunition.
It was proven effective against the Slimes and he even asked Korka to give him some buffs that will benefit him in the process.
Energy Regeneration and Energy Cost Reduction Flask.
It benefited him greatly to the extent that he no longer need to worry about his EP at all.
"Well, the notification told me that the skill has to do with this work, right?" He talked to himself.
He used a similar process with some adjustments. The crossbow would not be needed for the thing he would try.
He channeled his CP to the stone he held in the other hand. Reformed the stone into smaller pieces with transmutation, and wrapped them in the blue-black energy with transfusion.
[System: Congratulations! You can bookmark a skill for Energy (Core) Manipulation Skill.]
[-Recommended Name: Magic Transfusion Bolt.]
[Do you wish to bookmark it?]
"Oh, another discovery." Ar was excited. He never saw this kind of notification before and inspected it thoroughly.
He looked at Silv and interrupted the robot kid before it could say anything.
"It should be simple, isn't it? I'll just follow the instruction."
Ar had some understanding of the skill and only needed to verify it.
He clicked the 'Yes' word on the virtual screen and follow the next instruction.
"Stone Infused Bolt."
With that, the process was completed with some instruction appeared for further detail to help him.
"Okay, it was basically a shortcut key."
He pronounced 'Stone Infused Bolt' while having some similar procedure from before.
After quite a time passed and repeated processes of making the 'Bolt' while monitoring his CP stats.
"Silv." He signaled his AI to explain what they monitored.
"Fixed amount of Energy cost, the time needed for every craft was constant, and each process was identical."
"Yes, it's become automatic in a sense. I think I can alter the energy flow, but I resist to try it."
He has crafted about 60 bolt so far and still has plenty of CP. He wanted to continue the craft, but a message popped up to stop him on his track.
[Stugrd: Let's go.]
With that only message, they started to explore.
"We are in a state where we can't confront threats." Ar reminded them.
"I know. I have a way for an emergency." Stugrd reassured.
"Yes, a teleport is reassuring"
"Ye-. What!?"
Stugrd was shocked and didn't expect Ar to know the thing he hid.
"Cih. Trying to keep the good part for yourself."
With a chuckle and apology, they have confirmed a way to escape danger.
"I think, we have to use it faster than it should."
Korka stopped abruptly before they reached their destination.
It was unexpected and gave the other an alert.
Ar and Stugrd immediately put on a fighting stance. Stugrd took the hilt of his sword and was ready to unsheathe it anytime. His other hand focused on the Inventory Tab that he opened.
"What is it?"
"A rare monster."
Korka answered Ar's question. A monster that able to categorize as a medium-size monster. A monster that was as big as the wolves that incited nightmare to newbies on the Begie Village.
It was only a single monster, but Korka has declared a retreat.
"That's a rare monster? Isn't that means... a jackpot?"
It was on the way to the same location they were heading and stopped on its track. The monster looked at their direction intensely.
"It's the monster needed to create the Repellant Flask. And currently in the research list of the Alchemist Guild. 'Germoura Skunk'." Korka explained.
The situation was at a standstill for a few minutes.
"How dangerous is it?"
"Big area of 'immobilizing smell'. It was what the Guild aimed for. But, as we saw earlier, only a smell that repelled monsters was produced."
"Ar, it's a real threat then. A monster with big CC like this is a real threat."
Right after he confirmed the threat, Stugrd also wanted a retreat. 'CC' as he said stood for Crowd Control. It was a game's term of abilities that mainly work to limit the movement of the others.
"Let's try it, first. That's the optimal way to utilize that 'Emergency Button' you have." Ar proposed.
After some consideration, Stugrd brought out a 'prism' and gave it to Korka.
"Try to secure your distance. Safe us when things went wrong."
He unsheathed his greatsword after he explained the procedure to use it.
On the other side, the 'rare monster' also made a movement.
"This is absurd."
"What's wrong?"
Ar and Stugrd had a conversation after Korka left and gave them some flasks and potions to hold.
"We haven't found a single clue of your quest."
"Well, it has no time limit."
"Is it?"
"Yes, he was an NPC that able to respawn. We could postpone the matter and come the other day."
Abruptly, the skunk started to move.
They switched their expression in an instant. They have confirmed the Skunk with a 'red' name as a threat not to be taken lightly.
Stugrd threw an orange-colored flask to his body and prepared a defensive stance. He covered his whole body with the greatsword.
Ar that has confirmed the Skunk's track of movement, ran away from the location.
It was a hard hit even for the Warrior. Fortunately, the Skunk didn't continue another attack and only stared at him fiercely.
[Arceede: Report?]
[Stugrd: Manageable.]
After Stugrd said that, the Skunk launched another attack. This time, the headbutt hit nothing.
Stugrd tried to have a counterattack, but the Skunk was so agile. In an instant, Stugrd was under a lot of pressure.
As long as he couldn't have an opening to restore his HP, he was pretty much in a danger.
[Stugrd: Switch.]
[Stugrd: Hey, hey. I need assistance.]
It was hard for him to maintain his defense and doing the party chat simultaneously, but he really needed help.
In his desperate attempt, he ran away from the current place to had a clear vision of the surrounding. He wanted to check Ar's condition.
But, once he saw the Human, he gasped and shouted reflexively.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
The scene he saw while giving his full effort to ran away from the Skunk was what he never expected before.
A man in the distance was sitting comfortably while playing with a stone in his hand.
When Stugrd's eyes met with him, the man he saw has a casual smile and waving his hand brightly.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"