Achieving the 3rd skill

-24th of March, near Guill-

Travis got up from his position. The sun was slowly beginning to rise on the horizon as he stretched his arms, taking a look around his surroundings. Leaf was lying on the ground, head on her backpack, roughly 3 or so meters to his left, covered with a small blanket she took from within. She had her hands and ankles tied, but that didn’t seem to be much of a hindrance to her, at least not in her position. For a brief moment, Travis eyed her chest, hidden beneath a green tunic, before turning his gaze away.

They were sleeping off-road, in huge plains with rather tall grass, enough so that they were hidden so long they at least crouched. A small circle of about 4 meters in diameter was trampled on thoroughly (mostly work of Berry), and in the middle, there were some ashes, left after their campfire.

Travis looked around across the grasslands and saw the tall blades move in waves, one after another, as the sun was beginning to show itself above the horizon. Over half of the sky was already transforming into warm colors, and the visibility was pretty good. No rain, fog, or any other weather phenomena.

*Ting!*

[Your daily quest has arrived.]

He turned his head toward the notification and quickly confirmed its contents. Nothing special in requirements, and neither was there anything in rewards. Today’s bounty was a total of 6 points, and additionally, a ‘Full Restore’ spell.

‘Don’t I already have a Full Restore?’ he pondered for a moment before checking his information. ‘No… this is Full Recovery. What’s even the difference? RALS, bring up information on both.’

[Processing…]

[Spell: Full Restore (single-use)

Instantly refill your HP and stamina to the max, and disperse all debuffs on you. Grants a flat 1/3 chance to disperse future debuffs for 5 minutes.

Cost: None]

[Spell: Full Recovery (single-use)

Instantly refill your HP, MP, and stamina to max. Boost all regeneration effects by 150% for 10 minutes.

Cost: None]

‘…huh. So there’s a difference. If so, then they will be both available, right, RALS?’

[Processing…]

[Correct.]

Travis breathed a little sigh of relief. So, once he completed today’s daily quota, he’d have two saves from **** situations, so long he remembered to use them. But, enough pondering. Still need to earn that other one!

He took a few steps into the grass, and dropped to the ground, beginning the first exercise: push-ups. A few minutes passed, and he kept on going. After quickly finishing the first exercise, he went on to the second one: lunges. Within 15 minutes, he had completed it as well, and sat down, taking a breather. Even though his Endurance was thrice the amount he had just a few days ago, his stamina wasn’t thrice as great. Sure, it was increased no doubt, but it has hardly doubled, or at least it felt like that. Or maybe it was him getting so used to a continuous workout that he didn’t notice the increase? Who knew.

He looked at the blue panel and decided to dismiss it and return to Leaf. The third exercise he needed to do was running for almost 5 km, which he most definitely didn’t want to do right now. The last one was the ‘Plank’ exercise, which he would be able to do during the day. The optional condition was a large number of pull-ups, which he couldn’t do right now.

From the assortment of different exercises, there didn’t seem to be much of a bias toward anything, but there always were 3 things: one Strength-related exercise (such as pull-ups or push-ups), one Endurance-related ( like ‘Plank’), and one Agility-related (like running or swimming), with the fourth one being randomly chosen. The optional condition seemed to ignore what the main part did, and had its own set of things to do, like using a skill some times in the day (which he actually didn’t get again since day 1). Though, from all of the 15 exercises he learned of so far, he truly dreaded only one: swimming. The reason was simple: Travis couldn’t swim. He never needed to learn it. In the first place, the distance from Silvana to the nearest coast was at least a couple hundred kilometers, too much for him to travel just to learn that. And now, it seemed like he’d need to find some space and time to learn. But, that was secondary at the moment. Right now, opening his status, he noticed a thing that made him slightly shiver with excitement.

[[Name: Travis Salliv
Class: Apostle of Tricks & Manipulation
Level: 24
HP: 780/780
MP: 70/70
WP: 225/380]

His level was just below what he needed to achieve to earn himself <Mana Bolt>. Yesterday, he was able to reach 24, but not further. It was disappointing, but he knew he was close. An hour of hunting and he’ll be getting his hands on his third skill. He formed a small smirk as he closed his status. Today was the day.

But before that happened, both he and Leaf had to move. Looking at her, she was still sleeping peacefully, hair untied and flowing around her face and dropping down onto the ground. He smiled slightly at the sight. ‘She really looks similar to Kanya... except Leaf has blue eyes, not yellow.’ he thought. ‘Come to think of it… it’s almost time for my annual visit. Should I go before Autir? It's not that much of a detour.’

-About an hour later-

The two of them were walking down the road, looking at the city on the horizon. Guill was a spectacular sight even from the distance, as it was nearly 15 times the size of Silvana despite only having 5 times the citizens. However, taking into account that Guill was a place where multiple merchant routes intersected, it was no wonder. It was a splendid city with multiple high buildings, some reaching as high as 6 stories high, imposing and strong in structure. It was of such scale that it had two layers of walls, separating the city into an inner and outer circle around the main castle. The lower, outer walls had about 5 meters in height and were outfitted with multiple watchtowers in regular intervals, guards going between them on their watches. Inner walls were nearly twice as high, and while they didn’t have as many towers, they were most definitely thicker and more fortified.

Guill’s life was most vivid in its outer circle. 90% of all the city's residents lived there. While not visible from a distance, Travis was sure that there would be at least a few marketplaces where one would be able to get whatever supplies were necessary for them and even exotic materials.

The inner circle was most definitely the place where the wealthier of the citizens lived, and probably wouldn’t be as hectic as the rest of the town. Most people wouldn’t be even able to get inside the inner circle, as it was a place where only the wealthiest of merchants were allowed.

However…

Travis looked at Leaf.

“Do you have any business in there?”

“…I don’t think I do,” she replied slowly, frowning a little as she took a moment to think. “The security seems to be heightened currently. It’s probably best we avoid it.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same,” he nodded. “Besides, I don’t have an MID, so I’d not even pass the gates.”

“You don’t have one?” Leaf raised an eyebrow, unsure whether he was joking or speaking the truth. “Didn’t your teacher give you one when they taught you your class?”

‘Is that how forbidden classes get their MIDs?’ “I didn’t have a teacher.”

“Oh, so you’re self-taught?” her sapphire eyes widened slightly. “But, I thought MID was mandatory to have in Forna?”

“Mine got broken before I moved from Silvana,” he shrugged. “And I can’t exactly ask the authorities to make me a new one, can I? I don’t even know where I could ask for a counterfeit.”

“…I see,” Leaf said and seemed to look away for a short moment. “If I told you I know where you can get a MID as good as mine for a decent price, would you be willing to come with me there after you finish your business?” she asked, gazing back at him, her eyes slightly glimmering with what could be described as… hope? Or was it anticipation?

“…I’m listening,” Travis replied.

“There’s a man in Midriff that specializes in making MIDs for forbidden classes. He’s the best in his art, as far as I can tell. His MIDs require quite a high mana detection ability to tell apart from those made by authorities.”

“Midriff? That’s a long way,” ‘Over 600… no, it’s nearly 700 kilometers west… it’d take a month to get there.’

“I know… but I think it’s worth it, no?”

“Are his MIDs that good?”

“You saw mine. It’s no different in structure from what Forna authorities would give to a normal class. The only way to tell it apart is to detect how it changes the flow of mana to display a different class.”

“…is that how it works?”

“Don’t you know how MIDs work?” Leaf made a slightly surprised expression.

He shook his head gently. ‘Work behind the desk isn’t my strength… and neither is learning mechanics of things...’

“They sample your mana and compare it with the device's attunement to determine your class and all the fancy things they can do. Pretty simple in how they work, and changing what they display isn’t hard to do, either. It’s just a matter of not getting caught.”

“…I see,” ‘So, it’s useless to me, since my mana breaks MIDs… wait… could I use that?’ “Is it possible to make a MID that scans many people at once? From a small distance, perhaps?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I’m not working in that area. He’ll probably know, though.”

“…alright," he nodded. "Well, I can't tell you for sure now, but once I'm done with my business in Autir, I'll try to come up with an answer. Does that sound fair?"

Leaf smiled, nodding silently. Fixing the straps on her shoulders, she could not help but feel a slightly uplifting feeling deep in her chest.

-3 hours later, about 5 km past Guill-

Travis stood in one spot, sweat going down his temples as he was eyeing a small group of monsters ahead of him. Grass in the plains trampled all around and red with the blood of the monsters, bodies lying all around as they kept on slowly moving in a direction. They had been fighting for nearly an hour by now. No, actually, it was him fighting the monsters, as he told Leaf to only stay in the vicinity. She was sitting on Berry (who was lying down to hide in the tall grass, from a distance resembling a dark rock), bow in her hand and arrow on its string, ready to aim and fire at any moment.

The beasts Travis was fighting were huge rats. Those were the most common types of monsters, especially around big cities. They grew endlessly, often reaching as large sizes as 30 cm in height and almost 15 kg in weight. The sheer speed at which they could breed was a huge contributor to their commonity. The main limiter of their growth was their lifespan; a one-year-old rat was already on the verge of dying of old age. On top of that, they had multiple weaknesses that made them low-level monsters. Firstly, they were fast compared to other monsters of their level, but their strike power was negligible (in the RALS-type of view, they had a high Agility that came from sacrificing other stats). Secondly, they were mostly nocturnal creatures, which made their eyes too sensitive to the bright daylight. Thirdly, even in packs, they had very weak health. Realistically speaking, even a child would be able to defeat a small pack on their own.

But Travis didn’t kill them all. Despite the monsters sending out cries for help over and over again when left be for a moment, he didn’t finish them off, always leaving at least a few alive and not letting them escape with his superior speed. Leaf was watching the spectacle and kept on wondering. ‘What is he trying to achieve? Their level is too low to bother, no? Why is he letting them summon more?’

Meanwhile, Travis kept on killing the monsters. How many bodies were there lying around? He lost count at fifty. Pacifist in his left hand and usual dagger in his right, he struck with one, and then with another. Rats were dying pretty quickly, so much so that he quickly managed to gauge their level. ‘They are at most level 5… maybe even lower. As expected of a place near a very populated area.’ But he didn’t keep on going just to learn their levels. There were exactly two reasons why he killed them. The obvious one was to gain just this little bit of experience to level up. Every time a monster died, he could feel it. He was getting closer, one step at a time. He was just too close to stop now. Just 20 more, no, 10!

And the other reason was one of a more practical nature: he needed to train. It’s been a while since he had an opponent that he could not just hunt, but also train on. He was accustomed to wielding two daggers, but there were always things about his style that could be improved. Storm Rogue had explained his flaws to him cleanly, as a person with more experience.

He barely could hold his stance. Even after an hour of fighting, Travis could hardly stand in an optimal position for him to lunge forward, instead standing more with his front and prepared to defend at any moment.

He easily let his guard down. After killing a dozen or so monsters, he was starting to get so used to doing it that he was beginning to leave openings. But, he had learned the lesson slowly, but surely. The rats exploited his open sides a few times, and he started to stay on guard at all times in response. Although he still left openings, they were no longer caused by his lack of concentration, but rather by his inexperience.

Lastly, there was one issue that he noticed himself. At first, he thought he was seeing things, but…

‘Huh? I couldn’t see the dagger.’ he thought as he made a little distance. It happened pretty early in the fight, maybe no later than 10 minutes in. After a short while, he rushed back into combat and started paying a bit more attention to his blades. He swung a few times at maximum speed, and… ‘I can barely notice the blur… why is that?’ Travis kept on massacring the rats, and finally, he came up with a theory. ‘My Agility is too high compared to my Sense.’ he realized. The difference was so big that it made it difficult for him to track his own movements. This was something he would definitely need to do something about soon. Slowly, he started adjusting his speed to the level where his eyes could just barely track the blades as he struck. For now, this much was all he could do.

Eventually, he also started experimenting with his attacks. He began twisting his daggers just before they hit or **** them into the opponents with a light push, he did all sorts of different things that made his every next strike different from the previous ones.

In the end, he received notifications that made a smile appear on his face.

[22 experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up!]

[5 stat points have been awarded.]

[1 skill point has been awarded.]

He chuckled to himself as he made a quick step back, the monsters hesitating to go after him. Finally. His efforts were paying off. Without even thinking, he opened his skill tree and chose the long-awaited skill.

There was a feeling that flushed over him. How to describe it? It was difficult to do so. When he learned <Hypnosis>, there was a slight rush of energy going through his body. It was a surge of power that made him feel like the apex predator for the briefest moment. But, that power had also clear, questionable roots inside. It was a power bound by manipulation. He could reach the top as long as he kept feeding this ‘thing’, and it only was hungry for control over others.

Compared to that, learning <Mana Bolt> sent a much cleaner sensation through his body, one that seemed to resonate deeply with every cell of his body, filling him with the cleanest possible power. For a moment, he felt like he could break a mountain if he dedicated himself to it. Like the bright moon and its dark enigma, the two skills were so similar, yet so different about how they made him feel. Was this what it felt to grow stronger? Why couldn’t he feel that before, with so many other classes?

‘Is it an effect of RALS?’ he wondered for a moment and shook his head. No need to ponder too much. What was important was that he now had the ranged skill he wanted. ‘5 points into Intelligence.’

[Processing… finished.]

There was another surge of power welling up inside of him. It seemed to burn through his veins and seep through his skin as he began charging up the strike. He has used a magic spell before, but… they were so… dirty. All they did was imitate different things, never using their true form. But now, in his hand, he was holding the essence of pure mana. A grin appeared on his face as he hid Pacifist behind his back. Rushing forth a little, he punched a rat in its guts, sending it back a little. It hissed, preparing itself to lunge at him.

But…

A thing appeared in his hand. It was reminiscent of a wisp. A coalescence of energy, bright blue in color, swirling in the palm of his hand like water stuck inside a ball. Pale, weak light emanated from it and illuminated his side as he simply looked at the beast, picking it as his target.

“<Mana Bolt>,” he released the magic, pointing at the rat.

The magic launched from his hand, reaching the monster in a split second and causing it to tumble backward. The mana, once in a ball form, dispersed on the rat, a portion of it forcing itself into its veins and rupturing them together with its skin, while the rest went into the air and quickly vanished. A sound of bones breaking sounded for a brief moment as the beast was pushed back, dead.

Another beast rushed at Travis, not caring one bit for the light show. He swung quickly, splitting its head in two. Blood splashed all around, including his face, but… there was no reaction from him.

Calm. Perfect, undisturbed silence permeated his mind at that moment. There was no longer any will to kill the monsters, nor was there any need to complete Cecilia’s quest. Apostle Competition reverberated somewhere in the back of his head, but even that seemed to be distant at the moment. There was only here and now. Travis looked ahead, concentrating with all his will. 7 beasts, all rushing at him. He only had 7 more opponents to beat.

He lunged forward. Unlike before, when he was excited to get a new skill, he was no longer swinging his dagger intending to kill, but rather, to finish the matter quickly. His moves were no longer erratic, instead being calculated and precise. For a brief second, he swung at maximum speed while not missing a single moment of the movement. His concentration reached its peak.

He pointed his hand at another beast, then another. <Mana Bolt>. <Mana Bolt>. <Mana Bolt>. Blue wisps of pure mana were shot forward, and they either instantly killed the monsters or severely hurt them, in which case they were followed up by a second one.

7 became 5, then 2, and finally, the final beast stood in his way. It started circling him, its red eyes looking directly into his brown ones. Its wave of fury against his wall of calm. This fight was already decided a long ago, but the beast didn’t care. It rushed forward, attempting to overwhelm him with its speed. However.

“Double <Mana Bolt>,” a stronger light emanated from his palm, and he slowly rose it to level with the rat’s head. Well, it only looked slow from his perspective. To the rat, it was a speed that overwhelmed its own twofold. The distance between its head and his hand was 30 centimeters, and no way to stop. 25. 20…

10… 5…

And then, the magic was released. Rat’s head exploded, sending blood and gray matter all over the place as its lifeless body was thrown a few meters away. Amidst the spectacle, Travis was standing, the calm, indifferent expression not abating one bit as he looked around, and then at Leaf.

The elf woman felt a cold chill travel down her spine, and then a warm feeling spread throughout her stomach. She felt… weirdly amused. Was it because the man suddenly used a new trick he had never shown before? Or because of how calm he was while completely mauling the rats into fine pulp in the last moments? She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t care much.

Meanwhile, Travis felt the feeling of emptiness inside him wane as he came back to his senses. He looked once again around and noticed the bodies of rats all around. He heaved a little huff as a small smile made its way onto his face. He hid his dagger in its pouch. ‘Finally.’ he thought. ‘I am finally a little stronger.’

---

[[Name: Travis Salliv
Class: Apostle of Tricks & Manipulation
Level: 25
HP: 780/780
MP: 0/80
WP: 225/400]

[Strength: 55
Agility: 80
Intelligence: 40
Endurance: 60
Wisdom: 24
Sense: 25
AP: 0]

[Possessed abilities: Suggestion lvl.2, Hypnosis lvl.1, Mana Bolt lvl.1]

[Current status: No anomalies]]

---

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