"So. How do you feel? Makes your blood boil, doesn't it?" Mira asked with a smile on her face as she observed me.
"Can we… do it a few more times? Please…" I asked politely, acting like a child, trying to be humble. It was quite a fortuitous opportunity to get to hunt Desert Goblins without really putting much effort…
"Well. I would have said no, but it's not like I have anything better to do. But I will take all the money earned from the goblins," she put forward her point, at which I nodded with no objection.
"All I want is some experience," I spoke honestly, at which she hummed before looking around us.
"All right. I'll bring another one. Just wait here and stay hidden," she asked as she began moving towards the monster camp again. It doesn't seem like the scout goblins are going to be a problem for her.
'Let me just add some points to the other attributes then.' I focused on my power.
[Intelligence: 8 -> 10!]
[You have unlocked a new Basic Skill: Mana Sense!]
[Dexterity: 8 -> 10!]
[You have unlocked a new Basic Skill: Frenzy!]
[Wisdom: 8 -> 10!]
[You have unlocked a new Basic Skill: Active Mana Regeneration!]
[All Physical Stats at 10! You have unlocked a new Basic Skill: Battle Zone!]
[Battle Zone(Common)!]
[Effect: Allows the user to increase his or her ability to increase their stats by 50% for 2 minutes!
Limitations: The user can only focus on the selected target. Everything else becomes blurred!
Cooldown: 30 minutes!]
[All Mana Stats at 10! You have unlocked the Basic Skill: Mana Zone!]
[Mana Zone(Common)!]
[Effects: Allows the user to perceive mana around him in a limited radius of 5 meters!
Cost: 2MP/seconds!]
'Good. Now to get a few more level ups and move on to upgrade the skills,' I recollected from my memories how [Skills] worked.
The Orthodox Methods.
-You can obtain a total of 10 Basic Skills from Attributes.
-You can have 10 Advanced Skills from Level 100, 200, 300 up to 1000, which was the max limit of the players. There were only three people who had crossed level 900 though.
-You can obtain [Class] related skills from various classes.
-You can get an [Inheritance!] which can give you a couple of skills from Basic to Advanced.
The Unorthodox Methods.
-You can obtain a few basic [Skills] by practicing hard and repeating the same actions over and over.
-You can obtain some basic [Skills] from killing certain monsters and observing their cores
-You can obtain some [Skills] from completing main quests and choosing a [Skill] as a reward, though it was never a good idea because the skill would always be basic.
Other than [Inheritance!] and Level Ups(100, 200, etc), all the [Skills] you get will be basic. It was done to maintain fair play and to reduce the luck based gameplay. Kind of balance for all players to have equal opportunities.
You can upgrade the Basic Skills to Advanced Skills and then to a higher level.
Common -> Uncommon -> Advanced -> Rare -> Epic -> Legendary
Other than that, there were [Class] based [Unique] skills, which were strong as [Epic], but cannot be upgradable beyond that. You start at basic as usual, but the method to upgrade it is through quests rather than repetition.
The methods to upgrade the skills? Use it more often and kill more enemies using those [Skills!].
-Rawrrrr!!
The goblin came running again, and this time, I focused on the goblin for a couple of seconds. Just like last time, Mira had weakened it considerably and, taking a deep breath, I locked on to it.
[Battle Zone!]
I used the ability, as I found my eyes locked on the goblin, while everything else turned black. It was as if I was in a separate dimension where only I and that goblin existed.
A smile formed on my face as I found the goblin's speed to have decreased quite a bit… or perhaps I was just faster now.
Running towards that monster, I reached him up close, and using my increased strength, I went for the direct kill as I stabbed its head.
-Stab!
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[+500 Exp!]
[Level Up +1]
[All Stats +1]
[+2 Free Attributes]
The [Battle Zone!] ended as I saw myself back at the desert, with Mira looking at me with a slightly amazed expression. Her eyes were locked on to me as she gasped,
"You know how to use Aura?!!!"
"Aura?" I asked, rather curious. It was a term I wasn't familiar with.
"Hmmm… you don't know? Did you use it subconsciously?" she muttered silently as she looked at me for a couple of seconds before speaking,
"Let's try again."
And immediately after she spoke that, she moved away from here, this time faster than before. It seemed she found this interesting and wanted to experiment with it a little.
[Strength: 14 -> 16!]
"Well. Seems like it's gonna be smooth leveling up from here onwards," I mumbled as I saw her attacking those goblins before bringing one of them here again.
30 minutes later.
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[Level Up +1!]
[All Stats +1!]
[+2 Free Attributes!]
[You have unlocked the Basic Skill: Haggling!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[You have killed a Weakened Desert Goblin!]
[Level Up +1!]
[All Stats +1!]
[+2 Free Attributes!]
"This looks rather fine, now," I mumbled as I saw my level increasing slowly, before I added a few more points in [Strength] and [Dexterity].
[Strength: 18 ->20!]
[Dexterity: 13 ->15!]
"It's not working," Mira, however, was disappointed with the results. Because [Battle Zone] was still on cooldown, I couldn't use it. It was not usable now, so while I had time,
"Why not let me deal with a couple of them at once? I feel like I will hit the Aura thingy if I am in a desperate situation? If anything goes wrong, can you just save me?" I spoke as I assured her. Though she was still skeptical about it.
"No. It's not safe. What if you were to die by mistake? That'd kill all of us at once. I can't risk that," she rejected after giving it some thought.
But still, I wanted to use the skill and upgrade it. I believe it takes about 10 repetitions or 10 kills before you go from Common to Uncommon.
"Okay, how about bringing 1 healthy goblin? That'd be safer right?" I tried persuading her, but she was still thinking about it… Fortunately enough, she nodded as she spoke,
"All right. This would be the last of the goblins, though."
I agreed with a bright smile as I was ready to upgrade my skills [Super Strength!] and [Frenzy!]. All they need is one more repetition before they get to the next Grade.
"All right then. Wait here. I will find a comparatively easier looking one," Mira spoke as she went off to search for the goblins.