Each attribute had a positive and negative relation with once another. A circle of life. Nature's logic.
So where did I stand?
Our novel had a pretty simple system. Those who awaken would have around 3 compliant stars and rarely 1 ornate star. The 'Ornate Star' being the beginning of everything. It decided one's path.
People were split up into five areas of expertise.
They were considered roles for each position of a team... and this system is born after the cataclysm.
The first role was 'Pathfinder'. They were scouts and reconnaissance members that gathered information.
Usually the heart of any team and strategist.
'Flag Bearer' was a role of buffing and controlling the party through communication. Useful in big events.
The most necessary member in teams that were exploring outside the bounds of safe city walls.
'Flow Shifter' was an impressively variable role whose main job was executing strategies.
Competence was their only requirement.
While 'Breaker' and 'Marksman' were your average short range and long range DPS units in the team.
A great way of assessing talent for roles was the individual's Gift. Fitting them in suitable roles.
Because of the vagueness in each role, there existed a variety of team comps in our novel way back then.
But that was only in the future.
The most important point I'm making here is that element and role also restrained them in a way.
Marksman was weak to Flow Shifter. Flow Shifter was weak to Breaker. Breakers weak to Marksman.
In this triangle logic, you could say that beating them was easy so long as you understood the types.
The scummy MagiKnight didn't seem to be a Marksman. Judging from his whip, he didn't seem to be as aggressive as a Breaker. This meant that he was a sturdy Flow Shifter, but without the training.
Else he wouldn't have revealed his Gift so easily.
After all, knowing the nature and attribute of a person's Gift meant you could counteract them.
It only took an instant for me to compare our role types and statistics. Finding a perfect solution.
I myself knew that my Skillset was that of a Breaker.
Meaning that my Breaker Skills should be able to overpower his abilities as a more varied Flow Shifter.
The only problem was the difference in our Attributes. After all, 'Death' only intensified 'Metal'.
Bolstering the enemy's battle efficiency.
'Wood' was more incompatible with 'Metal', but I only had 'Evil' as my second attribute from Riot Hysteria. There wasn't really much type advantage or disadvantage between 'Metal' and 'Evil'.
That didn't mean I had nothing to show for.
There was one last Skill I could use.
The discarded 'UnLife Conductor' that seemed to be useless at this point. A card that needed tampering.
I used a certain function of the system not many would use. After all, Skill Learn abilities were rare.
[Would you like to degrade 'UnLife Conductor'?]
The System asked when I moved my will. Degrading a Skill meant giving up possible Evolutionary Paths.
The original user of UnLife Conductor could break common sense and use Death Healing, but I didn't have the time to find someone with a voice skill to use this ability. Degradation was the only option.
I affirmed inwardly of my current desire.
The portion of the ability that was related to vocal chords would be the biggest target for degradation.
[Processing…]
[Statistics of the user and the degraded Skill are synergising. New synergy is being formed.]
[Partial voice command functions of 'UnLife Conductor' has survived. Focus on Death Qi.]
[Due to the user's lack of Artes Lines, enchantment on a deeper scale will be locked until acquisition.]
Wait, I didn't have Artes Lines this whole time? No wonder circulating Qi felt so hard and painful.
But that issue will have to be fixed later.
['UnLife Conductor' has been degraded to 'World Enchanter'. User can enchant objects with magic.]
It was similar to UnLife Conductor, but there was now limitations on the scale of my enchantments.
This was exactly what I needed right now.
As I walked up to the confused MagiKnight, I raised my hands in front of me and smacked them together.
CLAP!
I loud sound straight in front of his face made him unconsciously use 'Iron Skin'. If that was the name.
"What do you think you're trying to do?!" The man roared while shifting his attention from the girl.
"Metal Poisoning." I spoke.
"What?" He raised his brow.
"Metal Poisoning." I repeated to him again.
"And how are you planning-" Halfway through his words, the man suddenly fell over to the ground.
Coughing blood and bleeding from his nose.
"W-what?" He seemed confused while holding his chest. Feeling like he had been poisoned somehow.
Every single Gift and ability were an amalgamation of smaller Skills. Each part creating a mechanism.
To use body transforming abilities, it was important to have resistances to the attributes when used.
Whatever this 'Iron Skin' ability was, it didn't change the fact that the user needed resistance to being poisoning by metallic substances. It was an Extra Skill that probably doesn't show in the status screen.
So how did I turn him into this mess?
Well, it now looked like I could enchant my 'Evil Attribute' onto things now. Since the metallic skin covering him wasn't considered as flesh, I was able to bypass that limit and increase the metal toxicity.
Right, the toxicity of the metal covering his body.
I had to do it twice just to make sure his resistance to metallic toxins couldn't keep up with the damage.
Which resulted in this scene.
The MagiKnight likely started to feel his organs failing at this point. A 'natural' cause of death.
"Y-you killed…!" The bunny girl was scared witless by what happened. A guy suddenly died pathetically.
"Don't worry about it. He died of natural causes at this point. Null!" I spoke to erase my traces on him.
This should be enough to make it seem like a misfire of his Innate Gift. Something that was common here.
[You have used Skill Acquisition.]
[Please choose a Skill you'd like to acquire…]
[1. Personal Skill: Metal Swordsmanship
2. Intrinsic Skill: Weapon Healing (Metal)
3. Intrinsic Skill: Power Sharpening (Fire)
4. Personal Skill: Detonation Step
5. Personal Skill: Magic CQC]
'Detonation Step' and 'Metal Swordsmanship' were probably attributed restricted. I couldn't use them.
'Magic CQC' seemed okay initially, but since it was an easy Skill to learn after acquiring Artes Lines on my body, I should skip it. The only ones worth looking at were the Warrior Class specific Skills.
'Weapon Healing' and 'Power Sharpening'.
They were pretty useful abilities on their own, and the reason why many chose the Warrior Class.
The former would make it so any weapon I held wouldn't run out of ammo or break from damage.
The latter amplifying my strength by 'Sharpening'.
Perhaps someone who was good with weapons would choose the former, but I wasn't that skilled.
Sure, I had my experience… but that only made me more certain that I was bad at fighting techniques.
Maybe using it on guns would be great, but the thing about firearms were that they were way too loud.
I didn't want to cause a scene anywhere.
And so…
[You have acquired 'Power Sharpening'.]
[You have gained the affinity for flames.]
Once I acquired another Compliant Star, I felt that I made up for me not having an Imaginary Engine.
What people considered an external Gift.
Since I didn't want to cause trouble, I wouldn't be stealing anything from the MagiKnight's corpse.
Deciding to keep myself as safe as possible.
"You… You killed that guy." The bunny girl was looking at me like I was a monster at this point.
"Yeah, and?" I spoke a bit intimidatingly.
The shivering bunny girl became so scared that she fell unconscious. Her eyes rolled back in her horror.
"What do YOU think?" I turned towards Talia and expected the same reaction from her… just like this.
Because anyone would say that killing is wrong.
But instead of a cold look or disgusted expression, I instead turned to see a face brimming with joy.
"You did it so perfectly." A chill ran through my spine at the sudden change in attitude from her.
I've known her for an entire year. Enough that I was well-aware that she was simply a ordinary nun.
All she did was eat, sleep, and pray. Dedicated to the 13 Graces and would usually follow their philosophy.
But now she looked different.
Like the woman was breaking stereotypes and now enjoying the act of murder that had taken place.
It made me feel like I was in danger…
I stepped back for a moment to calm myself. The sound of laughter from was sweet, but frightening.
"That so…?" I didn't know how to respond to her.
"I need someone like you." The scary atmosphere started to fade away, and felt she needed me.
Talia reached out her hand towards me.
"I need someone who can kill people without raising an alarm. Not a fighter or assassin, but someone who doesn't blink when killing humans." It was when she said this did I notice a discrepancy in her words.
'Humans'…?
Oh damn, did that mean she was…!
The surprise had caused my condition to start deteriorating at a rapid pace. Pain flowed into me.
It felt like my bones were rotting.
"Hold still for a second." After seeing my mouth start to bleed, Talia spoke up and held out her hand.
A refreshing scent of flowers filled the room.
I could feel a lively energy flowing through my once rotten muscles. It cleansed and rejuvenated me.
Reviving me once more.
This feeling felt different from ordinary methods used by Healers. It felt like a more complete 'Heal'.
My condition started to improve…
"You had this from before?" I tried not to sound like I was blaming her. After all, it was her own choice.
"Angry?" She started to approach.
"Not really. You have your own secrets… and I have mine." I tried to give her a chance to back out.
It was uncertain what she'd ask of me, but I was sure once I'd heart it, the situation will be do or die.
There's little reason she'd let me live if I rejected her.
"Then I'll be sharing them from now on." Without hesitation, she took off her headdress slowly.
Revealing a pair of pointy ears I recognised.
"You were a Kin?" Surprising, but not by much.
"Don't compare me to those counterfeit creatures cosplaying as us. My name is Talia, daughter of Silia and the last High Elf outside human clutches." Her words sounded so ridiculous that I almost chocked.
'High Elf'…? I thought our novel was written as an Urban Fantasy. I had no knowledge of her existence.
She never appeared in the main story scenario.
Not even those other Elves she mentioned.
But I quickly grasped my composure and suddenly felt that such an exotic figure was definitely elven.
Truly, elves were quite cute.
And what was a 'High Elf'? I even begin to understand how her status differed from mine.
"You want me to kill someone for you?" I decided to ask before she included me in something strange.
The fact she said she didn't need an assassin was making me think bad thoughts. What did she want?
"I need you to help me save my people." Talia walked towards me confidently and shot more healing.
Until her hand touched my chest and blew away the fatigue that had been killing me since a year ago.
For the first time, I truly felt comfortable.
"I'm guessing this is what I get in return." I grabbed her wrist. Acting like I was going to reject her.
When I looked into her eyes properly, the feeling that she had me locked-on wouldn't go away.
Talia seemed a little crazy.
Still, she was so beautiful that I wouldn't mind that whatsoever. If it's for her, I'll kill whoever she asked.
Unless it was truly dangerous, of course.
Well, the first thing to do was deal with this bunny girl and MagiKnight. Who knows what will happen.
It'd be best if he's found outside of this church.