Hope returned home from the tower late at night. As he settled in, he glanced at his stats, each number making him happy as he realized he was becoming more powerful. He looked at his stats:
Species: ???
Class: None
Status: Normal
Health: 50/50
Mana: 12/12
Strength: 14
Defense: 15
Agility: 10
Luck: 8
Intelligence: 16
Skills: 4
XP: 40
Unallocated stats: 0
Hope sat on the bed, thinking. Since he had no weapons, he couldn't fight properly. He remembered some old weapons he had stored somewhere in his home. He searched for them but couldn't find them anywhere. Finally, activating the detection skill, he not only felt the old weapons but could see the entire room within his mind. Hope located the daggers beneath his bed and retrieved them from a box.
Upon touching the two daggers, two messages popped up, one after the other: "Growth activated: repairing in progress using 10 XP. You can instantaneously repair the item or let it repair over time when the user occupies this item," and the other message was "Combination possible." An idea struck Hope; he put the daggers down and purchased nearly damaged items with low durability from the hunter's store, nearly draining all the money he had gained. He knew that over time, the items would repair themselves, allowing him to sell them as new items for more profit.
The next morning, Hope eagerly awaited "truck-kun" at the entrance of his home. As soon as it arrived, he retrieved the items and hurried back to his room, closing the door. Opening the box, there were daggers, knives, swords, and a bow, along with a cracked lens that was nearly destroyed.
He first touched the lens, and a message popped up. Hope smiled and said, "I am going to be rich. Not only does this work on normal items, but it also works on items with skills." He held the lens in his hand and waited. After some time, the crack on the lens slowly repaired itself. He then used the lens to appraise the items with skills. The sword had a skill called "slash," and the dagger had a skill called "sharpness." Hope felt happy, but the appraisal skill lens cost him more than anything, even in its nearly broken state. With all his money gone, Hope realized he needed to hunt and mine more.
Hope traveled to the tower's first floor with all the weapons and his mining tools. Holding the sword in one hand and the dagger in the other, with the lens over his eye, he spotted a trap near the hunter's path.
Thinking to himself, "This lens is really good. I'm able to track the trap with ease. Normally, people don't use appraisal items for this purpose because of their low durability. But with my skill, I'll be the top hunter and the richest person."
Following the trap, he eventually arrived at a place where he saw three goblins armed with weapons made of stone and wood. Sneaking into the bushes, he threw a stone to a nearby bush. The goblins heard the sound and attacked the bush, allowing Hope to attack swiftly with both weapons, killing them instantly. Hope noticed the changes he had undergone in the past few days and smiled lightly.
He tried activating the skill Eater, but the purple-black teeth devoured the items with skills he had with him instead of the bodies. Panicked, Hope threw off the items. He saw the items he had devoured by the purple-black teeth, then exclaimed, "My items, my way to make a profit, are gone! Why does my skill keep causing trouble for me? I thought I had gotten better?"
At that moment, a message popped up:
"Skill learned: sharpness, slash, appraisal."
Hope realized he had learned all these skills, just like how the Growth skill had extra powers. But all his items were gone, and he said, "My money-making plan is gone! Even if I sold them at half durability, I could have made five times the money I spent."
He saw many messages popping up. There was a message of combination; he clicked it, revealing sharpness and slash. He pressed OK, then another message popped up, "Combination successful."
"Skill learned: blade art."
"Now I can't complain about the items. This skill I've heard of; some swordsmen and blade masters have this skill. It makes it easy to use blade-type weapons. And the appraisal skill..."
When he said that word, the appraisal skill activated. He could see the surroundings in a new way with the skill; it was more effective and developed. When he used the skill by himself, it was different. Then, focusing on the dead goblin, he saw its stats:
Species: Lesser Goblin
Class: None
Status: Dead
Health: 0/0
Mana: 0/1
Strength: 4
Defense: 5
Agility: 5
Luck: 1
Intelligence: 1
Skills: 0
"There is no skill; that's why the Eater skill did not activate. Okay, with this appraisal, it will surely be easy to kill and gain new skills. And I must get more mana stones."
Hope continued his hunt. Late in the evening, Hope walked away from the tower. "I made a lot of money more than yesterday. I'm sure it's because of the luck and my skills," Hope looked at his stats.
Species: ???
Class: None
Status: Normal
Health: 50/50
Mana: 12/12
Strength: 22
Defense: 20
Agility: 20
Luck: 15
Intelligence: 20
Skills: 8
XP: 100
Unallocated stats: 0
Skills:
Dash E
camouflage E
Appraisal E
Resting E
Growth
Eater
Blade Art E
Detection E
"Hope thought, 'I've grown, and my body is changing. My height increased, my body slowly changing, I can feel it. And these skills... Now I have a lot of skills, even rare ones too. And as a plus point, I can grow. Now, I need to make my hunting more efficient. I need to go to higher floors. I've been hunting on the first floor solo all my life, and when I tried to hunt on the second and third red floor, I knew I would not be able to do it. Now, all has changed. Tomorrow, I think I can go hunting on the second floor and make an efficient hunting. Maybe I buy an item with subspace storage. Oh, it will cost a lot of money. I think I should come up with a plan for this situation." At that time, Hope saw a family of three walking past him. It was a woman, a man, and a boy. The boy was holding the mother's and father's hand while walking, and Hope thought, 'I should visit my mother. I think I should go to see mom tomorrow. I can go hunting the day after tomorrow.'
Next day,
Hope reached the hospital where his mother is. He opened the door slowly; Hope was scared to see her. When he saw his mother lying in the bed, his heart was beating fast. Finally, he reached near her; he held her hand. Hope cried like a newborn baby and told her, "All this time I didn't come to see you because I knew I was the one who did this to you, and I thought I'll hurt you if I am closer. Now, I am free of that power, mother. I will not hurt you." He cried, hugging her.
apprasel skill opened up reveling
Species: Human
Class: Mage
Status: weak
Health: 55/850
Mana: 0/1112
Strength: 3
Defense: 6
Agility: 5
Luck: 8
Intelligence: 16
Skills: 41
Hope said this while crying, "I did this to you mother. All your stats have decreased to an E ranker's level."
At that time, Hope's father came into the room. "I've heard what you said. Are you okay, son? And that power you had, is it really gone?" Hope looked at his father and smiled. Later, in front of the hospital, Hope and his father sat on the bench and talked.
Hope: Dad, why aren't you blaming me for what happened to mom?
Father: Why should we blame you for what happened?
Hope: Because my power caused it. It caused mom to go into that eternal sleep.
Father: Tell me, son, did you intentionally do this to your mom?
Hope: No, how could I? But my power caused it.
Father: Son, so this is not your fault. And do you know something? Your mother, she is strong, stronger than any person I know. I knew her from my childhood; she was sick all the time, but she pulled through it and kept on moving. And from the day she had you, she never been sick since. And now you're here; I know she will be alright.
Hope: Dad, I will find a way to save her. I will cure her.
Father: I know, son. I can see now you have grown. You are not the crybaby that came home sad because of the awakening result.
Together, they sat outside the hospital, sharing stories and memories, finding solace in each other's presence.
After spending some time with his father, Hope made his way back home, his heart lighter than it had been in a long time. As he walked, thoughts of his mother filled his mind, along with plans to find a way to help her.