Chapter 18 - Skills

"No! I won't go back!"

Saying so Devin wore the ring back on his finger.

"I might be a fool, but I don't go back on my words. Elena is mine and unless one of us doesn't want the other anymore then other nothing can separate us!"

'Though I would teach her a good lesson for hiding these things from me.'

Devin was a man of morals no matter how crooked they might be. Leaving behind what he claimed to be his? Even if he has to go to another world to see the end of this he would do so!

'Act first think later' That is his motto. He would go to the world and then think from there was he has to do.

"I don't have anything back on earth anyway.'

Devin shrugged as he was reminded of his life back on earth.

"I have decided. I will go behind Elena"

Devin clenched his fingers into a fist.

"As you wish but for that you have to take a soul fragment with you"

Devin raised his brows not sure what it meant.

"To the world that you are about to enter, you are but a parasite. The world will actively try to oppose your entry. You might even get destroyed completely. To prevent that I merge your soul with a soul fragment that belongs to that world. In this way, the world won't go too harsh on you. Not only that but having a soul fragment on you would enable you to communicate with the people of that world."

Devin nodded.

"Fine, give me this soul fragment or whatever it is."

"Choose," the voice ordered.

A series of information came into his brain. One might call them information but it was just text and descriptions.

"What are these?" Devin couldn't help but ask as he knitted his brows.

"Skills.. Powers that you can use. The soul fragment has to represent something right? So I cater them as powers that might help a world traveler to adjust to the new life in another world."

Devin nodded.

'Is that so? But why all of these skills seem like everyday stuff?'

Devin knitted his brows in annoyance.

There were ton of skills in front of them which could be considered as something one would learn to help them in day to day activities. There was [Swimming], [Cooking], [Butchering] etc. Most of them seemed completely useless to Devin. Devin wanted something that could enable him in survival. Who knows what kind of dangers lurk in that world?

There was one skill however that caught his eye.

[Negotiation]

He couldn't help but feel some familiarity with it. And true to that if used in the proper way it can help a ton in fixing and surviving in another world. It was funny how Elena had picked the same skill and here he was checking out the same.

'But I still can't be sure.'

"What kind of world does Elena belong to?" Devin asked.

There was a silence after Devin's question.

"That I cannot tell… ," the voice finally replied. A tint of melancholy in its voice.

Devin frowned. With such a response what was he supposed to make with the situation? The world could be anything! It could be an uncaring world, a world of assassins and what not! How would he be able to pick a skill if he doesn't even know what he would be facing?

'What is the worst case scenario? It would probably be 'death'.'

But Devin doesn't care even if there is the possibility of death. He would act first and then see how things go from there. But he did wanted to choose a skill that would aid in his survival and none of the skills present had anything to do with it.

"These are some shitty skills for world travelers." Devin claimed.

"They aren't… they are all designed in a way that it would help you in a general purpose way in the beginning and later once you upgrade and get better at them they would help you to get stronger!"

"What do you mean?" Devin raised his brows.

The voice seemed to sigh as it gave up.

"This is why I don't like newcomers with no information. Elena was much better," the voice continued. "Consider the skill [Knitting]. In the basic stage all it helps you is to make clothes and nothing else. But when upgraded to a high level you can fight as a thread user obliterating your enemies with threads alone."

"Is that so?" Devin held his chin. "Sounds interesting..."

But what was the point of it if he were to die early on?

"That is why you should focus on your need at the early stages because that is when you are the weakest and most likely to die."

Devin nodded. His eyes scanned through the list of skills. There were a lot of different kinds of possible worlds that came to his mind.

His eyes fell on one of them.

[Food Magic]

"Hey, mysterious voice. What does the [Food Magic] do?"

"It helps you generate eatables and drinkable out of thin air? I think I provided you with the description of the skill in your brain."

Devin shook his head.

"No I am asking what it does at higher levels?"

There was another silence that followed afterwards.

"That I cannot tell…"

"Huh? Didn't you told me about knitting just now?"

"That was a special case. Something told to just make you understand. If you want explanation so much why don't you pick {knitting] itself?"

"Stingy…"

Devin bowed his head. There was a reason he was interested in food magic. What if he gets into a middle of a desert? What if he gets into a place with no water or food? He couldn't help but worry.

***

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