Published at 12th of January 2022 12:10 pm

Chapter 645: Skills to Pay the Bills

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In the end, I made my proposal to the others, wanting to buy the Class Restriction system, the Personal Minimap system, and finally the Skill Proficiency system. Not wanting to seem too overbearing, I put it to a vote on these three systems, though the result was unanimous approval. Although Ashley seemed to have some reservations when it came to the price tag of the skill system, she cast her vote with everyone else.

“Alright, then let’s figure out how to make this work.” I said with a small smile, mentally purchasing the three systems. My first goal was to test the Class Restriction system, seeing how it would work in conjunction with all of our other systems.

To my surprise, it actually appeared fairly easy to use. When I activated the system, I was presented with a menu listing all of my currently active systems. However, the Boundless Caravan’s trade platform was not listed, likely due to it being a system that Ashley had implemented with her divine power as opposed to something purchased through the market.

When I selected the minimap system, another menu appeared to list all of my currently active classes. And then, another one for the different major functions of the system. For instance, I could control the perception range, clarity, and memory of the minimap.

Thinking it over, I began adjusting the functions while tying them exclusively to the Scout Class. This was a class that almost everyone would get if they did a fair amount of traveling in their life, so I had no doubt that it would be available to the regular public. And for those that did not have it available, or were unable to use its higher level functions, they would have a build focused such that they would not use those functions as much anyways.

The most basic functions of the minimap would unlock at level twenty for scouts, and would continue to improve all the way until one hundred and fifty. At that level, they would no longer have a limit to the amount of information they could store in their maps, and would be able to accurately map anything in their perception.

With that out of the way, I opted to apply the system, as well as the skill system. Then, it was time to do something that I had not done in a very long time…

Tsubaki was diligently reading through a large stack of papers, each personally written by Chel and containing information about photons and the effects that they had on the environment. Although she knew that the light domain was incredibly powerful, she had not quite understood the full extent of its reach.

She knew that she would need to understand far more about the behavior of photons before she would be able to release the powers that Chel had suggested were possible. However, as she was thinking about that, a message sounded in her mind. One with a rather familiar voice.

People of the scattered worlds, this is the Keeper, and I would like to make an announcement. This message rang out not only in Tsubaki’s head, but in the heads of all ‘recognized’ races. At this moment, I am currently releasing an update to the laws governing the world. From now on, there will be a system in place to help you train and measure your skills, as well as a new system to aid scouts in their exploration. Please uncover the full extent of these new systems yourselves.

After the Keeper’s voice faded, there was a faint fluctuation, only just barely perceivable. This new system did not alter the way any fundamental energy operated, nor did it have an influence on the natural growth of any established creature. As such, it could be said that this system may have gone unnoticed for quite some time if not for the Keeper’s words, as well as the system prompt that appeared in front of people.

Once everyone had left the meeting room, I decided that I should descend and investigate the utility of this new system myself. If it was valued as high as a hundred thousand points, that meant that it should have a lot of power, right? I wanted to make sure I understood how it worked, and that I had not been ripped off by the market.

A moment later, I appeared within the body of my World Host, who had still been seated upon my throne within the Sky Citadel. Thankfully, the message that appeared when the new system was ‘patched in’ hadn’t been removed from the host’s perception, allowing me to review it once I arrived.

The new Skill Proficiency System is now online!

To get started, please use the command ‘Register Skill’. You may also use the command ‘Skill’ to view your skill list, as well as other features provided with this system!

Well… that’s helpful. I gave a small chuckle, feeling more and more that this system was a product of either Sarah or someone similar to her. If it had a tutorial included like that, it was likely a well-planned system, with a portion of the cost being from how deeply customized it was.

Skill. I focused, mentally issuing the command that the prompt had informed me of. However, to my surprise, I did not receive any lists of additional features. Rather…

Error! You must first register a skill in order to unlock additional features!

Shaking my head, I decided to play along with the system. Register Skill. I instead used that command, at which point a new prompt appeared, telling me to perform my skill. After thinking it over, I used a rather simple first-tier spell to create a hovering ball of light.

Active Skills detected! Analyzing…

Magic Control(Primary): The ability to accurately control one’s mana, before releasing it in the form of spells or special abilities.

Illumination(Secondary): A First-Tier Geometric spell which creates a light source.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised that Magic Control had been listed as well. However, the division between primary and secondary skills and the mention of active skills gave me a bit more idea about what this system really meant. Once again, I called out the Skill command, and this time was greeted with a new menu.

Skill List

Display Skill

Teaching Mode

Student Mode

Aside from the first option, each of the others surprised me, though their meanings were rather obvious. For now… I decided to see what skills I could register. If the system was this expensive, then there shouldn’t be a limit on the number of available skills.

The first thing that I wanted to do was try to register a passive skill. Of the abilities I had, the best passive that I could think of would be my application of the illusion domain to hide my domain information from others. As such, I once again chose to register a skill, and focused on that ability.

Yet… nothing happened. Thirty seconds passed by without any kind of prompt. Then one minute, and two minutes… after five minutes, I was finally greeted with a message from the system. Though, at that point I was honestly expecting it to just be about my attempt to register having expired.

Passive Skills detected! Analyzing…

Hidden Domain(Passive): The ability to use your divine power to hide your divine domain from others! Restricted to those with deception-type domains.

Ki Flow – Five Lights(Passive): The Ki Path belonging to the Saint of Five Lights, allowing one to gather basic ki, as well as different types of elemental ki and the Ki of Beginning.

Soul of the Keeper(Passive, Unique): You are the Keeper, the only one in the world! Congratulations! Your soul holds the greatest power of every type belonging to your system! Keeper Skills system has been unlocked!

Divine Constitution(Passive): You possess the body of a god, allowing you to reshape yourself into any form you wish. Physical wounds are no longer fatal, and merely deplete your energy, while you are able to reshape your body to recover. Only through energy attacks or the complete depletion of your divine energy will you be killed.

World Sight(Passive, Primary): You possess the absolute detection-type energy, World Sight, allowing you to see the truth of all things. As a passive, this skill recovers and strengthens your World Sight. As an active, you may deploy your sight to any area you are aware of.

Split Soul(Passive): Your soul is divided, allowing you to have an avatar with a separate psyche from yourself.

World’s Shadow – Earth(Passive, Primary): You control the darkness of Earth, master to the realm which exists within its shadows. As a passive skill, the shadow world will constantly monitor the shadows of the world. As an active skill, you may directly control the energy which makes up this alternate realm.

I was… overwhelmed by the sheer number of skills that were listed. I had only intended to register one passive at the moment, just to see what effects it would have. However, it would seem that was not quite how the system worked. If a certain amount of time passed without a skill being registered, it seemed as if it would register all passive abilities currently in use by the wielder.

For each skill, I was able to identify its origin, leaving me with no doubt about the authenticity of the list. The only thing that confused me was the entry regarding the ‘Soul of the Keeper’. Was there a hidden feature built into the system specifically for Keepers? If so, I would have to take special care in the future when attacking worlds with a game system.

Curious, I decided to try it out. I focused again on using the Skill command and, sure enough, there was a new entry at the bottom. When I opened it, my eyes went wide in shock.

At this point, no more than ten minutes had passed since the system was released. Most people would still be thinking about whether they wanted to register a skill, or which one they wanted to register. As such, it would not be a surprise if there were only a few dozen unique skills that had been registered at this point.

Instead, what I was greeted with was a massive, ever-growing list of skills that were being constantly updated and expanded on. There were primary skills, secondary skills, even some tertiary skills. Even a large number of passives had been registered in the system already, despite the time needed to register them. However, I noticed that almost all of the passives were listed within a red box, showing that they were currently unusable.

Right… even though it’s only been five minutes here, it’s been over four hours for Lorek and Spica… Even then, the number of skills that were not unusable seemed a bit extreme. It was only at that point that I was able to fully grasp the enormity of my population. Even if only one percent of people had registered a skill, and only one percent of those skills were unique… that would still be tens of millions of skills, at least.

The next thing I noticed was the proficiency level. This was a measurement that wasn’t listed when first registering a skill, and would likely only be shown in the skill list itself. However, for all of the skills I saw displayed, the proficiency level was measured as ‘Pinnacle’.

Does that mean that the system is designed to measure the greatest proficiency of all identical skill holders, and give that proficiency to the Keeper? My eyes went wide at the realization of that. If it were true, I would completely understand the reason behind the absurd price of the system.

“Okay… let’s go over everything I know now…” I took a deep breath to calm myself, piecing together the information in my mind. “The system analyzes skills based on universal recognition with the system’s assistance. Otherwise, these skills wouldn’t already have names. I would have had to have named at least one skill myself.”

“More importantly, the skills covered by the system are not only single actions, but can come as a set. Cooking can be a primary skill, with various recipes as secondary skills, and specific cooking techniques as tertiary…” That was something I had briefly seen flash by when I was watching the Keeper Skill list. “Most likely, other profession skills are the same, and there might even be similar aspects in magic…”

“Next… I do not automatically have the skills from the Keeper list. My magic power control hasn’t immediately improved after getting the Soul of the Keeper skill.” I closed my eyes as I thought about that. “I probably need to focus on which skill I want to take from that list.”

“Finally… there is both a Teaching Mode and a Student Mode. Most likely, these modes have to both be activated by their respective parties to take effect. At that point, either it becomes easier for the teacher to impart a new skill, or the student might be required to already have the skill, and the system increases proficiency…”

Just from what I had seen so far, I was confident that this system was worth the expense. Not only did it offer me a personal boost, but it had wide-reaching effects for everyone else as well. There might even be other aspects I haven’t discovered yet…

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