Chapter 46: [Popularity!]
Effect: Create a near perfect Illusion based on your Wisdom Stat and extent of creation!
Restrictions:
-The Illusion is directly dependent upon the creation capabilities of the user!
-The Illusion is directly dependent upon the Wisdom of the User!
-The Illusion is inversely dependent upon the volume of creation!]
[Skill Card Cost: 5 Million Points!]
[Skill: Superhuman Senses
Effects: Enhances the Senses of the user to 200%, unlocking two extra senses!
Unlocks Sixth Sense - Allows you to Perceive any incoming dangers before they even occur!
Unlocks Seventh Sense - Allows you to Perceive the beings that are normally not seen to the naked eyes!]
[Skill Card Cost: 7 Million Points!]
[Skill: Weakness Detection
Effects: Allows the user to detect the weakness of all beings in his vicinity!
-Time taken to detect the weakness for a B-Grade Enemy with equal Wisdom: 1 minute!
-Time increases/decreases by a factor of 10 for every grade up/down!
-Time increases/decreases by a percent for every difference in Wisdom Points!]
[Skill Card Cost: 5 Million Points!]
Based on what I told the staff, they brought me the following three cards. Anything above 10 million points was in the A-Grade so I decided to not look at them for now.
Also, the intelligence collection type cards were either D-Grade that were pretty useless, or were pretty high as much as SS-Grade. They were their prized possession and required more than just points to be bought, so I didn\'t even bother to check it.
"Oh! These are nice. Didn\'t know they had cards like these in the B-Grades," a feeble voice came from behind as an old man wearing a golden eye piece appeared in my view. He was a bit fat, wearing a cream coloured suit with a red bow-tie.
I turned around to take a proper look at his slightly chubby face covered with a tidy white beard and a short mustache. Other than that, the only noticeable feature was his bald hair that was shining equally bright as the lights in the shop.
"Depending upon how many skill slots you have, you should go with [Superhuman Senses!], though [Weakness detection!] seems useful as well," he spoke as he observed the cards properly.
"Skill slots?" I was a bit confused. It was a term that I haven\'t heard before.
"Hmmm?" He looked at my confused face before he asked," I mean. Depending upon how many skill slots you have, you should choose the cards carefully. Lest you waste them on such low grade skills?"
Though it made me more confused.
"It would be better if I explain it, sir Alphonso," and the helping voice came from the side as Annikan appeared once again. This time with a troubled expression on his face as he looked at me and spoke,
"I should have explained it first. Crow, you probably won\'t know it since you haven\'t reached the limit, but a person here can only have 10 skills in their slot."
"???" I made a confused expression before he continued,
"I\'ll explain in detail. I am from a Vampire Lineage with part-human abilities. So, I have 2 Racial skills related to my race. Now, other than that, I also happen to have 10 skill slots which I can fill with 10 more skills of any type. These 10 [Skill Slots] are constant for all the players. There are two rules that you must know before you set the skills."
He raised two fingers before speaking the first rule,
"One. Once you choose a skill, you can never remove it. Except if you happen to get a [Skill Deleter!] type artifact, which is rare in itself."
\'Hmmm… that\'s…\' I had no words to describe what I just heard.
"Two. You can only choose a maximum of 10 skills. The only way to increase the maximum number is to increase the number of slots."
I looked at him for a few seconds before I processed that information and then I looked at the 9 skills that I had. Does that mean I can have only one more skill?
"How many skill slots do you have left?" Annikan asked and I looked at two of the skills that I had with least grade,
[Sleep (E)!]
[Blood Glaze (E)!]
And then putting in some commands through my thoughts, I tried something.
[Would you like to sell the skill [Sleep!] and [Blood Glaze!] For 4500 GM Points?!]
A sigh of relief on the inside as I made sure that I haven\'t wasted my skill slots. It would have been quite a big blunder not gonna lie.
Pressing [No!], I then canceled the command before looking at him as I answered," I have 7 more empty slots."
He sighed in relief before speaking," good. Many people make the mistake of filling their skill slots early in the tutorial. Even though the tutorial only provides a maximum of 8 skills, it isn\'t rare for the stronger players to fill half of the slots with those trash skills. Some even all the 8 slots."
\'I filled 9,\' I thought, a bit embarrassed, but didn\'t say that out loud.
"Is that so? Thanks, I guess but… what\'s the catch, Annikan? Sorry to be so rudely blunt but I don\'t believe in free lunches. Why are you helping me when you could have just let me be on my own?" I asked since all this help was something that was making me feel itchy.
If we were friends or we knew each other from a long time or something, then maybe I could have understood his intentions as a good will but we just met today. It\'s way too odd for him to be helping me out for no reason… especially when he knows nothing about me at all.
He looked at me for a few seconds as silence covered the area. I saw him peeking at that old man for a few seconds before he sighed out loud.
"Actually I wanted something from you. Kind of wanted to curry favor with you, before asking something in return," he spoke as he looked at me with an apologetic expression.
"My blood?" I asked. Since he was a vampire n all.
"I am a vegan," he answered with a serious tone.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously!"
A moment of silence before he continued,
"It\'s related to the Tutorial Phase 4. You haven\'t died in the previous one, right? You said you completed it."
I nodded, but for some reason, a chain reaction started as everyone around me looked at me with a shocked expression. The staff member, that old man, and the other people who were keenly listening to our conversation.
"Wait! So that means he can visit that place?"
"I think I saw him buying a B-Grade Card!"
"He has strength too!"
"Excuse me! What\'s your name? Can we talk privately?"
"Kid! Would you like a couple of B-Grade Cards for free? I can even buy you an A-Grade one."
"Hey! Move! Let me get through! I was closer to him!"
A huge commotion ensued making me confused as I looked around. I wondered what was going on and fortunately or unfortunately, someone suddenly entered the area where I was.
"What is going on here?" A brown haired female with two golden horns on her head, wearing a long red dress, walked towards us. On each side of her there 2 women with twin-buns, while they wore black dress similar to the staff members of this shop.
Her voice carried a heavy aura, making other people step back as they watched her appearing. The few who weren\'t shaken by her were Annikan, that old man and the staff members of the shop.
One of the staff members walked towards her, and mumbled something to her, to which her eyes first narrowed at Annikan before she looked at me. She then spoke out,
"Everyone other than Mr. Alphonso and Mr. Annikan, please leave. As a compensation, You will be given a 10% discount on the next purchase."
Though the fear was apparent on their faces, they still didn\'t move. They were peeking at me, while checking the facial expression of that red dressed lady.
"You have one minute," that lady added in a heavy voice before everyone grumbled and slowly started leaving the shop. Though they didn\'t seem satisfied with what happened, they still followed out of the shop without speaking a single word.
\'Seems like she holds a lot more authority than others here,\' I thought as I looked at that woman.
"Now Mr Crow. Will you please follow me? I suppose you have many questions. I will explain everything properly. And then we can perhaps reach a stand point where we can all have a proper deal," she spoke before she turned around and began back where she came from.
And after giving it a momentary thought, I realized that this solves one of my Goals.
The right people to collect information from.
A smile appeared on my face as I began walking behind her. My eyes observing the people around me give me glances as if I were some form of treasure.
What increased my value and what made them value me so highly? I didn\'t know. I had to find that out. It felt odd to be the center of attention even when I barely did anything.
Walking behind that woman, we walked through some form of strange door that took us to a huge open area. It seemed like a big office that had various types of objects lying around. At one side of the office there were some levitating cushions in the air.
Reaching towards that area, the woman sat on the biggest cushion, with her two staff ladies standing behind her. Annikin sat on the left sofa while Mr. Alphonso sat on the right, while I sat opposite to the lady as I observed her face, before she relaxed a little and asked,
"So tell me Mr. Crow. How much do you know about the Tutorials?"