Calista led Wade through another corridor.
The walls here were made of smooth stone, carved with faint patterns that caught the torchlight.
It felt less like a guild hall and more like the interior of a temple.
They stopped before a narrow doorway where a man sat behind a counter. His face was long, his hair thinning, and he wore the same blue and gold tabard as the other guild staff.
"Badge," Calista said.
Wade handed it over, the metal still warm in his palm.
The clerk took it, held it under a glass lens, and nodded once.
"Standard issue," Calista continued. "Three skills. Observe, Conceal, and Inventory. Oh, and Exchange."
The clerk raised an eyebrow at the last one but said nothing. He rose, pushed open a door behind him, and disappeared into the back.
Wade glanced at Calista, whispering, "Exchange?"
Her mouth curved slightly. "A utility skill. It suits you. You'll thank me later."
Before he could ask what that meant, the door opened again.
The clerk returned with four crystal stones cupped in his hands. Each one shimmered faintly with its own light. Green, blue, silver, and pale gold.
"Skill stones." Calista said. "They contain skills."
The man set them on the counter one by one, each landing with a soft click.
"That will be twelve thousand, five hundred gold coins," he said flatly. "The charge is logged to your account. You'll see the debt after your first dungeon crawl."
Wade blinked. "Twelve… thousand?"
The number rang in his ears.
The previous owner of his body, had never even held more than 30 coins at any one time.
A decent meal at a tavern costs 10 coins. With the cost of a single spell, he'd be able to eat more than 300 times. That's more than a hundred days of three square meals. And he was getting four!
It was so far beyond anything he'd imagined that he almost laughed.
"Don't worry, you're an adventurer now." Calista smiled, seeing the look of shock on his face. "You can afford it."
"Besides, it's standard prices. Basic skills like these are not cheap. They're the foundation of every adventurer. Consider it an investment."
'Investment,' Wade thought bitterly. 'Or a chain.'
But he kept the thought to himself. He couldn't enter a dungeon without any skills, and this was better than nothing.
Calista picked up the first stone, the one glowing faint green, and placed it into Wade's palm.
The moment his skin touched it, golden letters appeared in the air.
[Observe]
[Allows the user to observe the status of creatures, objects, and other adventurers. Accuracy depends on the user's level and Perception compared to the target.]
[Requirements: 5 Perception]
[Cost: 1 Mana per use.]
He exhaled. "Requirements…"
He scanned the line again. He had nine Perception points, more than enough.
"Crush the stone," Calista instructed.
Wade tightened his grip. The crystal resisted for a second, then cracked, shattering into fine shards that dissolved before they hit the counter.
The fragments turned to motes of light that swirled into his chest.
A tremor ran through his mind, and the golden text flickered again.
[New Skill Acquired: Observe!]
The knowledge slotted into place like a tool he had always owned but never noticed until now.
He swallowed, lifted his gaze, and thought the word. 'Observe.'
A faint shimmer crossed his vision as he looked at Calista.
[Name: Calista Rynne]
[Level: ???]
He frowned. "I think your level's too high for me to see."
Calista chuckled, shaking her head. "Good. That means it's working. Don't point that at people without cause, though. It's considered rude."
Wade let the shimmer fade, the new ability settling in his mind. He nodded. "Understood."
She picked up the second crystal, silver this time, and passed it to him.
[Conceal]
[Hides the user's status from observation attempts. Effectiveness depends on user's level and Constitution compared to the observer.]
[Requirements: 7 Constitution. Passive.]
Wade looked at his status in his mind. He had fifteen Constitution points. It was more than enough.
He crushed the stone. This time the shards burst into thin smoke that curled into his chest and vanished.
[New Skill Acquired: Conceal!]
The skill settled into his body like an instinct. It was already working.
"It's a passive skill," Calista said. "Costs no mana. Always on. A necessity for someone with numbers like yours."
He nodded again, a flicker of relief running through him. With Conceal, he might actually keep some secrets from prying eyes.
Calista reached for the third crystal, faint blue light pulsing inside its heart, and pressed it into his palm.
[Inventory]
[Grants the user six inventory slots. Each slot can hold up to ten units of a single item. Additional slots may be gained through further stones.]
[Requirements: 7 Constitution. Passive.]
He crushed it. The crystal dissolved like the others, and a new space unfolded inside his awareness.
[New Skill Acquired: Inventory!]
Six empty cells, each a hollow square waiting to be filled.
"Inventory stones are different," Calista explained. "You can expand it later, but each new stone raises the Constitution requirement. Many adventurers struggle to maintain it."
Wade flexed his fingers, feeling the strange emptiness in his mind. "Six slots. Ten items each. Not bad."
"It will keep your hands free and your packs light," Calista said.
She picked up the final stone, the pale gold one, and let it roll across her knuckles before handing it over.
"This one," she said with a smirk, "is what I mentioned earlier."
[Exchange]
[Allows the user to exchange items from their Inventory with another person's, provided both agree.]
[Requirements: 17 Perception. 17 Constitution.]
[Cost: 5 mana per use.]
Wade's eyes widened. A skill that would let him trade without showing everybody what he was trading.
He couldn't use it yet, but with 100 unassigned stat points, raising his perception and constitution was child's play.
"Told you." Calista chuckled. "This skill will serve you better than any sword."
"A… Dimensional Merchant should never need to show his goods in the open. With Exchange, you can seal a deal in an instant."
Wade nodded slowly. He saw it already. The freedom to trade unseen, to move items without letting the guild watch every coin.
He crushed the stone. It dissolved into him, joining the others. The golden text confirmed it.
[New Skill Acquired: Exchange!]
[Warning: Requirements Not Met. Skill locked until conditions are fulfilled.]
The skill sat inside him, dormant.
"And that's that." Calista's smirk widened.
The clerk scribbled something onto his slate, clearly noting the debt down.
Wade almost asked how many lifetimes of dungeon crawls it would take to pay twelve thousand coins. But he held his tongue.
The stones were gone, absorbed. In their place, four new tools rested inside him. His status had changed, and with it, his future.
He turned the badge over in his fingers again, the lion crest catching the light. The numbers hovered faintly above it. His debt, his chains, his path forward.
But now he had Observe, Conceal, Inventory, and Exchange.
They were his tools of survival and profit.
He looked at Calista. "What's next?"