A while later, Luke and Lori gathered all the dropped items. There were 25 red treasure boxes and this time Luke's luck was good because he also got three skill books.
Ignoring the treasure boxes, he grabbed the three skill books and checked their information.
[Basic Weapon Mastery (Passive) (First order skill): When the user learns this skill, he will gain the basic mastery over all the weapons.]
[Rapid recovery Level 1 (Passive (First order skill): The user can recover their exhausted stamina 1 point every 3 minutes.]
[Mana amplification Level 3 (Active) (First order skill): The user can use his mana to amplify the effects of his active skills. He can also cover his weapons with mana to enhance their destructive or defensive power. Requirements: 50+ Intelligence.]
After seeing the skills' information, his eyes glowed. Both [Basic Weapon Mastery] and [Rapid Recovery] were skills he needed very much right now.
The latter can resolve his stamina problem to some extent.
As for the former, [Basic Weapon Mastery], it would prove useful to better handle his sword and other weapons he might have to use in the future.
He didn't think much and immediately learned both. Thankfully, both were passive skills that he could learn as many as he wanted, unlike the active skills.
After he learned them, a large information about them appeared in his mind which then turned into two runes. Although he couldn't test his danger sense now, when he grabbed his sword, he felt as if it was a part of his body unlike before.
"It's nice." He nodded in satisfaction before glancing at the last skill in his hand.
Although it was pretty good to be able to increase other active skill's effects and increase the destructive power of his attacks and his intelligence was also well above the requirement, he wasn't sure if he should learn it and fill one of his last two spots for the external active skills.
The reason he learned his first external active skill [Berserk] without thinking anything because it suited his needs at that time.
But now that he had become stronger and all of his status points had almost doubled, he realised it wasn't long before [Berserk] would become a useless skill since it only gave him a boost of 10 points in strength and agility each while consuming one stamina per second and he could only use it for a maximum of 10 seconds even if he had more stamina.
Furthermore, its evolution requirements were also impossible to fulfil in the near future.
That's why he was being careful right now with his next active skill.
After thinking for a while, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and learned it.
Whoosh!
The book turned into dots of light and entered his forehead. A lot of information about the skill appeared in his mind and turned into a faintly glowing green rune.
Phew!
He exhaled and opened his eyes, smiling bitterly. He didn't know if his decision to learn it would turn out to be good or bad in the future. However, after seeing so many high levelled zombies appear in this deserted area, he knew he needed to be a lot stronger than he was now to save Lori's daughter and safely leave the city.
What he didn't know was that in the near future, he would be glad to make this choice.
Seeing him smile bitterly, Lori, who was watching the skill books magically disappear in astonishment, asked, "What is it, Luke? Do you feel unwell?"
"I'm alright." Luke shook his head.
Then he glanced at the red treasure boxes and murmured, "Let's see if I should open them now or not."
Saying this, he willed and his status window appeared in front of him.
[Luke Greyson
Level: 6
Race: Human
Class: None
Title: None
Strength: 23 (20 +3) / Agility: 22 (20+2) / Health: 13 / Stamina: 2 (21) / Mana: 26 (35) / INT: 101
Available skill points: 2
Available status points: 2
External active skills: Berserk Level 5 (First order), Mana amplification Level 3 (First order).
Passive skills: Rapid steps Level 3 (First order), Basic weapon mastery (First order), Rapid Recovery Level 1 (First order)]
Seeing his current stamina and mana, he thought, 'Let's open a few and see if I can get stamina gems. If I don't, I'll have no choice but to hide somewhere for an hour to recover.'
Deciding this, he grabbed ten red boxes and injected 5 mana points.
Whoosh!
The light flashed, and boxes disappeared, leaving behind a white bracelet and two stamina gems.
[Bracelet (Level 10): When activated, it will create a mana shield to protect the user from any physical or magic attack at level 10 or below. Activates itself when the user is in danger. Uses left: 1/1]
Seeing the bracelet's information, Luke nodded lightly in satisfaction. He then gave it to Lori. "Here, wear this. It will save you if I'm not able to do it in time."
"This…" Lori hesitated. She didn't want to impose on him any more than she already had.
Seeing this, Luke faintly smiled and said. "Remember our deal. After I save your daughter, you'll become my personal maid and serve me. So, I can't have you die before that happens, can I?"
"O-Okay." Although she knew it was just an excuse, she stopped hesitating and took it. Before equipping it, she looked at him gratefully and said, "Thank you."
Luke nodded. He then threw the two stamina gems in his mouth, and recovered two points of stamina.
Now that he could recover 1 stamina point every three minutes even without resting thanks to his new passive skill, there was no need to waste any more mana to open the treasure boxes for now. Therefore, he stopped.
He then glanced at his status screen. After thinking for a moment, he put the two free status points into his health stat. If he wasn't wrong, the health stat should affect the recovery of the stamina.
After this, he stored the remaining 15 treasure boxes in his waist bag and stood up. "Let's go."
"Um, shouldn't you rest a little more? You are still exhausted." Lori said, worried.
"There is no time to rest," Luke said before walking away.
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