Chapter 44: Learning New and Useful Skills!
Chapter 44: Learning New and Useful Skills!
As Frank purchased two special books that seemed to teach special techniques to strengthen one’s body by exchanging them for fourteen thousand Contribution Points, he was surprised by a sudden System Message when the books were given to his hands.
Ding!
[A Skill Book has been detected]
[Do you wish to learn the [Body Aura: Level 1] Skill?]
[>YES NO]
“Wait, what…?” thought Frank, as yet another window appeared on his sight.
Ding!
[A Skill Book has been detected]
[Do you wish to learn the [Bronze Skin: Level 1] Skill?]
[>YES NO]
“Wait, wait for a second! This is… Is this?! This is like in those games where you can learn skills through Skill Books?! Really? Is my System that thoughtful of me to give me such strength as if nothing?! Well, I will still have to slowly level them up, but this also helps me skip all the boring learning that I would need to undergo to acquire them…” thought Frank.
Frank, however, desired to cancel the learning for now, as he did not want to bring attention to him… but his fingers slipped off as he ended up pressing to both ‘YES’ screens, which were also overlapping with each other, making it confusing to his sight.
Flash!
Suddenly, both Books became fragments of light as they merged with Frank’s entire body, a stream of information and knowledge rushed into his mind, giving him the knowledge and experience needed to learn the Skills taught in such Books within seconds. He was not granted power out of anywhere, but such an ability let him use his own capabilities to develop the skills at a faster pace.
In front of Matsuo and Hinata, the books that Frank was holding in his hands dissipated into yellow and white fragments of light, as they were infused into Frank’s body.
Frank felt the infusion of new knowledge and abilities awakening within himself.
“What?!” asked Hinata in surprise.
“That’s… what did you do with the books?” asked Matsuo.
“I… learned them, the Skills…” said Frank.
Ding!
[You learned the [Body Aura: Level 1], and the [Bronze Skin: Level 1] Skills!]
Frank had simply learned the straight away, with the cost of the Books disappearing, that is.
And because it happened right in front of Matsuo and Hinata, they were left in complete awe and even disbelief… Hinata in specific has not been introduced to Frank’s complete powers yet.
“Just what… what was that? Frank? Did you just absorb these books?” asked Hinata.
“Well, yes, it is something that we haven’t informed the clan yet… Hinata-san, please calm down…” said Matsuo.
“I… W-Well, I’ve seen even more fantastical things in my life… But still!” said Hinata.
“It is part of my Ability, Hinata-san… Well, how to describe it? It is a perk that lets me… well, learn the Skills from certain books straight away, it seems that as long as I… am compatible with them,” said Frank.
“He’s a Gaia’s Gifted, Hinata…” said Matsuo.
“What? So, you can do that… And, well, I guess that explains it. Gaia’s Gifted always have crazy Abilities… But I have never seen one like this, is it something like a Super-fast learning Ability?” asked Hinata.
“More than that, it seems… It encompasses a game-like system. A lot of his abilities seem to be… similar to that of games, to an extent. He even comes with an Inventory… and well, I was about to report this, but he can also make monsters inside of Hunting Domains grow strong, spawning what is called a ‘Boss Monster’, which even drops items…” said Matsuo.
“Eh?! T-That’s… That is wonderful! So that is from where you got that giant club?! Fufufu! That means a lot of profit for the Clan, Frank-kun! I think we got our golden egg roster, Matsuo, don’t let it go away!” said Hinata with a greedy chuckle.
“I… I am not going anywhere, I own Matsuo-kun my life, so the least I can do is to stay here and help the Clan,” said Frank with a mild smile.
“Hmm~ I see that both of you are quickly becoming good friends, that’s good, that’s good~ I will keep my mouth shut for now, as you will report this info to the clan,” said Hinata.
“I will, thanks for your consideration, Hinata-san,” said Matsuo.
Having been finally freed from Hinata, Frank left the Contribution Points Shop as he walked back to Matsuo’s room. Inside the room, both of them relaxed a bit to assess things out while drinking green tea.
“Man, can you stop giving me surprises like those? So now you can learn Skills from Books just like that? Well, I will have to add it to the report,” said Matsuo.
“Is the report that important?” asked Frank.
“Yeah, it is important to keep track of the capabilities of each Clan Member, so they can be given special missions and tasks that are fitting of their strength and capabilities. Well, even with all of that, your powers are all centered in growing, so you can’t begin any of these high-level tasks straight away…” said Matsuo.
“What kind of Tasks are even given in the Clan? Like killing monsters?” asked Frank.
“What? No, not that… well, there are some Monster Extermination ones, which often consist in cleaning Magic Domains that form naturally around the city, where monsters might begin to spawn and endanger the people there… But there are more than that, such as tasks to take down criminals from the Underworld that think that Tokyo is their playfield, amongst other things…” said Matsuo.
“I don’t know why but this feels as if we were more like Yakuzas,” said Frank.
“Hm, the Yakuza Clan is actually part of the Underworld too, although their history is not as long as ours, and are part of our allied forces,” said Matsuo.
“You what?! Really?! The Yakuza?! Aren’t they… well, delinquents though?” asked Frank.
“Yes, they are, but so what? They are nothing compared to what the true monsters in the Underworld are capable of… and they maintain a certain order within the many criminal organizations that belong or not to the Underworld, they’re like… well, to put it bluntly, watchdogs,” said Matsuo.
“That’s a surprise… I guess I will never see the Yakuza as I’ve always done ever again…” muttered Frank in a slight disappointment. Since he was a child he had thought that the Yakuza had powerful criminals and intimidating clans of katana-wielding delinquents with a lot of cool tattoos, but that was mostly what the media had made of them as a stereotype. If they were part of the Monk Clan, they were clearly the good guys in Frank’s head from now on.
“Anyways, going back to the main topic, tell me whenever you feel like there is a new ability showing up, it is important to keep track of these things,” said Matsuo.
“Okay… (Although I am not going to do so…),” said Frank.
“Alright… Your compromise with the Clan must be strong, Frank, you are part of our family. You can also check in the capabilities of any of our members by going to the auditory for free, so it is not like we are asking for your weaknesses, as the weaknesses of all of us are present there, our clan is forged with trust and family bonds, and the crests in our hands represent that we are family now,” said Matsuo.
“I see, I am glad you guys have very strong perceptions of this, it makes me feel a bit more relieved…” said Frank.
“Anyways, did you like the Hunting Domain?” asked Matsuo.
“Yes, it was a convenient way to level up, although only one level went up… the Items obtained were also nice for the contribution points, I am thinking tomorrow buying more Skill Books, as I feel confident that I can make a few more points,” said Frank.
“That’s good to hear, by the way, I didn’t tell you this, but the Hunting Domains are adjusted a bit, so the time we spent inside of there wasn’t as much as in the real world,” said Matsuo.
“Oh, really? How much is the difference?” asked Frank.
“Hmm, to put it simply, one hour inside of that Domain was half an hour outside, but there are higher-level Domains where time is even more divergent, such as an hour inside being ten minutes outside,” said Matsuo.
“What? That much? That’s indeed convenient, so I don’t waste much time,” said Frank.
“Yeah, but its overuse might bring you a lot of problems, alongside sleep deprivation which is very dangerous for your mental health, so don’t abuse these, okay?” asked Matsuo.
“Sure, I will try to not grind like a maniac,” said Frank with a mild smile, such smile was not very reassuring for Matsuo, who had already assumed that Frank might be some kind of hardcore gamer that loved to grind… perhaps his own nature as one gave him such an Ability.
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Author’s Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!
Thank you very much for reading!