Chapter 26 New skill
Rohan pulled out his sword and pushed it around a bit. It was slightly larger than the core he had taken before. As no reaction happened Rohan picked it up with a piece of cloth. He looked at the rest of the team.
"That's a new skill bro, haven't seen that before."
"Be careful with it, but you can take it if you want." Britta answered as the rest seemed to agree.
"I'll keep it in mind" Rohan responded. 'Not sure if it is safe, but looks more different than the skill core. It is completely smooth, like glass orb.'
"Have any of you seen anything similar before? It is very smooth for a skill core…"
"Bro, my skill orb wasn't smooth but the exact opposite, extremely rigid and more rough, so it can also be the reverse." Unexpectedly, Ragnar was the one with an answer.
"If you feel confident you can take it." Fiora added with a hint of curiosity. "There haven't been any deaths related to skill acquisition yet." She remarked.
"…Thanks, that really helps me…" He was taken back a bit. Not expecting that from Fiora.
"It won't do anything bad." Britta tried to lighten him up as Leslie and Jan agreed. The skill could benefit them greatly.
Rohan picked up the core with his fingers, to look at it closer. The moment he touched the red core it dissolved completely and entered his finger.
"Shit" He pulled back his hand in response, an electric shock went through his finger and hand but disappeared in his arm.
[Skill Unlocked]
Hearing the system respond, it had worked. He checked if it caused any damage, but nothing had changed on his body. Britta had taken out her axe and checked Rohan's body.
"Seems all right, what did you get?"
Rohan check his status window.
[Status]
Name: [Rohan Hughen]
Species: [Human]
Realm: [Awakened]
Mana: [144/264]
Level: [24]
Experience: [2226/4323]
Skills: [Fire Infusion] [Merciless]
He had gained a lot of levels during the fight and got close to becoming Enlightened.
'Merciless… interesting name.'
[Skill Merciless: Killing allows no room for emotions; it dulls the blade. Only the sharpest mind can cut the toughest foe. Dampens emotional thoughts and response. Requires host to kill all foes without mercy.]
Reading the description, he felt that it didn't explain much. How much did it dampen and was there no need for mana at all? Was there a limit to all foes, cause he couldn't just start killing all the satyrs right now.
"I got the skill Merciless, it dampens my emotions during a fight and doesn't have a mana cost." Explaining to the rest they looked up surprised.
"Interesting, that hasn't happened before" Britta marked up as Leslie started writing stuff down.
"It has a requirement instead, the need to kill all foes without mercy."
"That does make it more difficult."
"It's just like the satyr's you killed before, not stopping before all of them died. You didn't show any outward emotion. That might have triggered the skill core forming." Fiora marked up.
It all seemed rather logical.
"The problem is I don't know what they count as 'all foes', cause activating it randomly might lead to problems."
"No don't activate it rashly, keep it for later or during a fight with a straggler." Britta looked deep in thought. "And we should get up and move on, fuckers might still be on our tail."
Rohan felt curious in the new skill, but didn't want to risk it in this place. Who knows he might need to clear the whole city of satyr's, and if he couldn't make it, the drawback might be dangerous.
Ragnar took him out of his thoughts, he gave him a smack on his back. "Don't worry about it bro, it didn't kill you so it doesn't matter." He said in a light manner. He didn't feel the importance of it but it helped lighten Rohan's mood.
"Thanks" Rohan responded. Grabbing his stuff he followed team to the bridge. It had gotten all quiet as they reached the edge.
Rohan saw the dead satyr's when they had crossed the bridge before. A pool of dried blood laid beneath them with bones broken and spread out through it. All the muscles and organs were taken out, half eaten or completely gone. Only some remains were left visible.
"Fucking cannibals" Britta was disgusted by the satyr's. Everyone knew the satyr's were strange creatures, but fallen to cannibalism wasn't what they expected.
Leslie studies the remains rather precisely and wrote franticly in his notebook before continuing.
'How does he keep looking at the corpses without disgust. He has a weird sparkle in his eyes whenever he looks at a new corpse.' Rohan didn't want to stare too long, the smell was already bad enough.
Jan kept on the lookout with Fiora, sometimes they would exchange a couple words. But they were a silent pair.
"We passed the bridge so we can either rest in the same spot as before or push on for longer." Britta stopped on the corner of the street, it had been quiet for a while.
"Let's push on" Ragnar sounded energetic, but it was also the safest option.
"I agree" "Agreed" "Agree" "Agreed"
"Let's go" Britta wanted to move as well.
No one was against the idea, and almost none of them were particularly exhausted. Except for Britta, she used her skill during the fight which led to her being less response for half an hour. It would take time for her electrical pulses to return she had answered when Rohan had asked about it. He still didn't get what her or Fiora's skill did.
On the other hand, Jan and Leslie did tell him.
"I can improve my vision at the cost of some overstimulation." Was what he had told Rohan. Rohan tried to continue asking but he had gotten short or half responses.
Leslie on the other hand overexplained his skill. The moment Rohan had asked him he saw the rest of the team take more distance. They didn't have such a great experience asking Leslie the previous time. Ragnar gave Rohan even a very sad look.