Alfred's POV
"It's related to how we can get out of here too." said Ian
"It's through that huh..." I said while looking at the green portal object. "So do we have to just clear that?" I asked
"I need to get something called a dungeon core, and not all dungeon has it. Depending on what type of dungeon it is, my skill will take on similar characteristics and resources, like if a dungeon has a forest biome, my skill will have trees and herbs as its resources and right now at my level, I can assimilate 2 dungeons. There is a cache though, sometimes it will spawn monsters, the explanation for that is because its main core is a dungeon core." Ian replied with a bit of panic
"Hmm, that's extremely OP, is there some sort of fuel that runs it? Like mana is to magic?" I asked, because there is no way a skill like that will not ask something for return, even my sign in skill takes one day to replenish a charge, granted it is plenty powerful compared to Ian's skill in the long run, I haven't asked the system but I think there's a chance for me to get a similar skill, if I manage to survive that long
"It does require energy supplements like monster cores, dungeon stones, sacrifices or even lower ranked dungeon cores to something called the 'Altar' once it exceeds the population limit but if the population is under the limit, it seems like it doesn't ask for anything. It says that the realm can supplement its own energy to support itself. It's saying that it gathers the excess mana of the existences in it whether its trees, animals, humans, or even monsters." Ian said while looking at empty space, it seems like he's saying this while asking his system questions
So from what I understand, it seems like Ian's skill can operate itself. Hmm, so its like a town and the population is its taxpayers. If the population is under the limit, the energy they release or 'tax' is enough to operate it but if it exceeds that, it seems like the population that's over the limit is treated like refugees, a burden to the system. Well not quite but that's the best analogy I can think of. "So what's the population limit?" I asked Ian
"I need to activate the skill first in order to know and to activate it, we need to clear that and be lucky enough to get a dungeon core, sorry." Ian said apologetically for some reason
"It's fine, sorry for putting you in a tough spot." I said to Ian, it seems like he is still shook by that corpse, who wouldn't? I turned to Hans to ask something, "Hans, what about you? I heard you saying your innate skill allows you to communicate to us like SMS?"
"Oh wait a sec, it seems like I need to add you guys as friends, hmm search up nearby players, hmm, I can add Ian and, oh Rolan and my classmates shows up too, add all of them. Weird though, why won't Alfred show up?" Said Hans, that's good, we have a way to contact the people in the other room.
"Hmm, it seems like I need to get a system number from you, Alfred, it says that some types of system can't be detected and if I try to ask why, it says that I don't have enough authority." Hans said, as expected, from what I gathered so far, it seems I'm not registered as one of this 'Players'. Do you have an answer system? and what about my system number?
[(Hint - Its because you're special :) this is the limit that the system can disclose and your system number is in the bottommost left-side corner of your status)]
Should I be worried about me being special or? I really need to upgrade my system to get more answers I need. I thought while swiping through the holographic screen, and soon enough, I found it, I told Hans and after a short while, I heard a ding, a notification of sort, a friend request, hmm, is this function limited to a certain skill? I asked the system
[(Hint - The friend function becomes available to systems above the basic system although the low level systems where it becomes available imposes various restrictions. The skill of
Am I just surrounded with people who are blessed or is this type of skill just common?
[(Hint - The system is not allowed to reveal this kind of information)]
Hmm, weird, why didn't it say that its authority cannot disclose that kind of information? Is it just plain forbidden? Anyways, I think its time to prepare to enter that green portal, its either we do it in an hour or two, or do it tommorow. Although considering we don't have any food right now, I think it's better to do it within this day or else, we'll run out of energy but if we do it tommorow, Hans will be able to hone his skill more and I'll be able to draw something, speaking of draws, I haven't drawn the charge for the Race lot and I need to extract the goblin corpse there too.
"So are we going to enter there today or do it tommorow and don't you need to open up the newbie gift pack too? I said while standing up, trying to make it sound like I already opened it. I don't know why but this seems to be the right choice. I walked over to the goblin corpse with a grimace visible on my face.
"Hmm, I think it will be better to go during the day, it seems that most normal dungeon follows the day and night pattern. For the box, Hans, what did you get from the gift pack? I got the weapon voucher, E-rank polemanship, E-rank marksmanship, and D-rank support magic. It seems to be skills that can rank up if conditions are met." said Ian
Not like it matters much considering the sun setted quite some time ago, so there's no way to tell the time and our watch for some reason got busted too. We can only estimate how long we've been here, I assume its about 11:50 am now considering we came here when it was 30 min before lunch which is at 12:00 o'clock and I think we've been here for 20 minutes? I am not entirely sure
[(Hint - Host, it is useless to count the time with your old world's method, the official time will be shown after your world has fully accepted the existence of the system]
hmm? What do you mean by that? After a few seconds of no response, I moved on, knowing that the system ignored me.
Anyways, I heard Hans replying "Oh, I got the weapon voucher too, E-rank blunt weapon arts, E-rank reinforcement, and D-rank warrior arts."
I heard them talking while I focused on looting the goblin corpse. "Use skill, [Extract]." I said in my mind and 5 orbs came out. After looking at them for a while, something came to mind
"Ian, does your marksmanship skill apply to a sheperd slingshot as well? And Hans, how long does it take for you to learn the skill of shieldmanship?" I asked Ian and Hans
"It will take me an estimate of 3 hours to learn shieldmanship up to F-rank it says." Hans said while looking at empty space.
"Hmm? it does say that it can make me use any range weapon up to the basic skill proficiency, why?" Ian asked in return
"I think I can make those with this things." I said while looking at the orbs in detail.