Chapter 92: Water skills (2)
<Summon Razor-Gill School, huh?>
Based on the skill’s description, it allowed Reidar to summon fishlike predators, and ten of them at that.
Reidar actually checked if there was something else, but anything else was outside his budget, unless he wanted to get lower-tiered skills, and they were much worse.
The school only lasted fifteen minutes, with a one-minute cooldown. Most of the others were worse. They lasted ten to twenty minutes, but their cooldowns stretched to five minutes or more. That wouldn’t usually be a problem, since the summons stuck around for 15 minutes. But if Reidar’s creatures got wiped, he’d be stuck waiting. A shorter cooldown meant he could bring them right back.
"Add the summon Razor-Gill School to the cart," Reidar said. While summoning these would allow him to tackle the sunken turbine quest, Reidar still wanted something better to fight on land.
So he changed to land-based summoning skills. The names of each skill hinted at power, but the descriptions were vague without opening their interface, and he could not for sure check them all out. Though they all looked like exotic skills.
Reidar skipped over the weaker, low-level stuff, and soon he was scrolling through all kinds of wild summons and even stranger skills.
A voice then attracted him.
—[«SHOP»]—
—« Summon Spectral Knights »—
Tier 4
Description: Conjures a company of powerful, well-equipped spectral warriors to serve as elite fighters.
Price: 37,378 SP
Requirements: Level 40
Summon Details
Summons: 10 × Humanoid Warrior (Caster Level)
Spell Type: Batch Summon
Mana Cost: 655 (Fixed)
Duration: ~30 minutes
Cooldown: ~3.4 minutes
Creature Abilities
Intermediate Combat Proficiency: They are good at moving and fighting in teams.
Note: Upon reaching 100% proficiency, this skill may advance to the next Tier, enhancing power and effects.
—[«END»]—
Reidar’s eyes narrowed. He remembered spotting this skill in Keth’moran’s shop back in Three Lakes. He hadn’t been high enough level or had enough points back then, but now, though, he could actually buy it. The description hooked him. Ten warriors at his exact level, not lagging behind in levels like his Bone Militia.
They would be a significant upgrade. Reidar didn’t know if they could gain skills through his trait like the Rift-Sprites and Guardian Shade could, but even if they couldn’t, their base power would be a massive asset.
<This skill allows me to summon 10 spectral knights, who might be able to even go inside the waters since they are... Well... Specters? Aside from that, they would be in the same numbers as the Bone Militia, but that would have Intermediate Combat Proficiency and actually be at my level. To me, this looks good.>
Summoning skills could call up creatures locked at a certain level, either matching the caster’s or some levels above or below.
Skills that matched one’s level were rare and expensive. Ones that summoned creatures above were even harder to find, and the price shot through the roof.
But Reidar had a lot of Survival points, something the other survivors didn’t have.
<My trait really is a cheat.>
He smirked. There were benefits in taking this skill. Albeit they might not be good for helping him in his next endeavor, he didn’t care.
<There is just a problem, though. Will the Spectral Knights be able to get skills through my trait?>
He didn’t know if the specters could pick up skills, but at least they’d be an upgrade for his main fighters. The Primal Pack was tough, but they weren’t great with tactics.
He didn’t hesitate. "This one—I’ll take it too."
"Are you sure? There are many other skills in my shop. Maybe you missed something."
"For now, I would like to get this."
"Very well then."
—[Survival Points deducted.]—
—[Skill Book: Summon Spectral Knights gained.] —
—[Skill Book: Summon Razor-Gill School gained.] —
The tomes appeared in his inventory. Reidar didn’t waste time and used them both.
Energy rippled like cool water through his head.
<Great!>
Reidar exhaled and locked eyes with the Thalassari vendor. "Thanks." He paused.
"Look, before I leave, I wanted to ask you something else."
Morv’axil’s tentacles flicked in curiosity, and a weird grin flashed on his lipless face. "I wondered when you would have asked me."
That left Reidar confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... such a high-level survivor with no profession is odd. Though professions are the basics for any survivor."
<What the fuck? He knew? Can this dude read my mind?>
"Tell me more then."
Morv’axil nodded.
"As you have noted, not all survival is combat. People aren’t just fighters, not most of them anyway. Plenty seem obsessed with crafting. Smiting, carpentry, farming." He paused. "You must have theorized as much from the presence of blacksmiths and carpenters here in Havenwood."
Reidar nodded. "They are skills you learn, right?"
That was what Reidar assumed after he found out about professions.
Morv’axil extended one long-fingered hand over the table between them. "Professions," his voice resonated, "are from the system, in a sense. At the same time, not much from the system comes from the system itself."
Morv’axil paused again.
<This guy really likes these dramatic pauses...>
"One can learn as many professions as they want, and each must be leveled up through practice like they would with their own fighting skills. Leveling a profession unlocks the ability to learn or purchase new recipes."
"Weird..."
"Not as weird as you would think."
"While a crafter can try to create items without a formal recipe, the results are often unpredictable. Purchased recipes are schematics perfected by crafters, providing a higher quality outcome, particularly for equipment."
"These recipes can be sold or traded. We vendors can facilitate this on Sapient’s behalf, listing them on the market. The same applies to the items you craft. You have a choice: a local market, accessible only to survivors on this planet, or the universal market, available to all Allied Worlds."
"So you get them through skill books, right?"
"Obviously! They are skills, after all. Well... Not exactly," the vendor said. "Not at least in the sense you are intending, but that’s because you know little about skills in general."
Morv’axil gave him a grin.
"Skills are just a bundle of knowledge. Sapiens on other planets learned to use mana and bend it to their will, creating spells. Skills are just that... spells, but with the peculiarity that they can be instantaneously taught to others."
Reidar nodded. "That makes sense..."
<Somehow...>
Morv’axil nodded.
"Now... Recipes work like skill books. They are just prefabricated knowledge, crafted by scholars or artisans across countless worlds. To buy one is to honor their genius and afford their results."
Reidar crossed his arms. "So, people buy these ’professions’ skill books.’ You also sell recipes. Is it right to assume you also sell them on our behalf?"
"Yes," the voice deepened. "I never said we only sell those from the allied worlds, right?"
"What about the monster parts I’ve sold to you and Keth’moran?" Reidar asked.
"By default, once you sell an item to a vendor, ownership is transferred to us. We then place it on the universal market to ensure the widest possible distribution and a stable inter-world economy," Morv’axil said.
Reidar processed this. It was all fairly obvious in hindsight, an extension of the game-like logic the system had.
He’d seen the lumberjacks and blacksmiths and heard them talk about their work. But he had never seriously considered taking up a profession himself. His Survival Points came from hunting, a direct and efficient method, and one that gave him a lot. Crafting seemed slow, a waste of time and energy he couldn’t afford.
However, the idea of being self-sufficient on the road was undeniably appealing. The ability to repair his own armor after a brutal fight, to make his own arrows if he ever took up a bow, or even to craft a new wand from the materials of a powerful monster... that was a level of independence that could mean the difference between life and death in the wilderness.