"You and me. I propose we form a sort of alliance until we escape whatever... this is," Han said. "But that means there has to be a level of trust between us," he continued.
Chul nodded, not getting where Han was going with this.
"Our abilities. I'd wager they're going to be the most important puzzle piece if we plan on surviving this... so it follows that it's the most important bit of information we have right now."
Chul's eyes narrowed at that. "So you're saying we should tell each other what our powers do?"
Han nodded.
For a moment, Chul remained silent, before sighing. "It's not like you didn't already see what my ability does," he said. "I can shoot fireballs. What about you?"
Han smiled at that. The rat bastard was trying to hide his powers.
Even if it was just for a moment, Han had heard Chul call out his trait screen in the metallic room. Back then, he had shouted 'Copy Skill', so Han could already guess what his true power actually was.
But this was more a test of wits than anything else. He had to know if Chul was a pushover or if he was the type of person to strategise. And if Han wanted to survive this with as little risk as possible, he needed a partner who was the latter.
"Yeah, that's the power you stole from pigtails, isn't it. How many can you steal at a time?" Han asked, face blank.
"Pigtails? Is that what you call her?" Chul asked, laughing awkwardly. However, his smile slowly faded with every second that Han stared at him with that blank, bored expression.
"So you heard me call out my skill earlier, then?" Chul whispered, eyeing Han thoughtfully. "...and this was a test... wasn't it?"
Han nodded. "If you want, we can part ways here. I owe you for saving me back there... but I'm not sure I want to walk around if we can't establish a basis of trust right now."
Chul crossed his arms. "Then how about you go first?" he asked.
"I heard you call out your skill earlier... Queen's Gaze, right."
"And then you turned into some sort of ninja. So what does it do exactly?"
'Should I lie to him?' Han pondered. Telling him the truth would be beneficial; they'd be able to come up with contingency plans more easily, and their chemistry as a duo would likely be better if they knew the strengths and weaknesses of one another's skills.
'But who knows...' In a world like this, there might come a time when the two would have to fight to the death. What would happen then? And to begin with, Chul had already lied; it wouldn't be the smartest thing for Han to just give out the information.
"Queen's gaze heightens my vision for a few seconds. I can see more clearly."
Chul stared at Han for a moment, as if pressing him for the truth. But after Han's expression remained the same, Chul began rubbing his chin.
"So like a bee's? I guess that's why your trait is called the Beekeeper," he whispered.
After contemplating for a moment, he straightened up. "Mine is called Copy Skill. It sounds exactly like what it does," Chul explained. "It can copy two skills at a time."
Han nodded. 'Only two, huh? But that's still quite good...' Just then, a thought occurred to him.
"Did you manage to copy the goblin warrior's healing and growth skill?" he asked, excitedly.
Chul's eyes widened at that. "Wait, I could've done that?"
Han sighed. "Well, what about Nari's. That execution skill was quite powerful. At least tell me you thought of stealing that one."
Chul scoffed at that. "I'm not an idiot," he grumbled. "I just..."
"You just?"
"It didn't let me," Chul said finally. "Some skills can't be copied... like yours," he added.
"Mine?"
"I think it has a cap on the rarity, or level, of the skill that can be stolen," Chul explained thoughtfully. "Which was why I gambled chasing after you when I saw you make a run for it," he continued.
"It was either you or Nari... but she was losing it those few final moments," Chul whispered to himself.
'He's probably right about the rarity cap. Whoever gave us these traits probably doesn't want one person dominating whatever sadistic trials they cooked up by collecting all the extremely powerful traits.'
He opened his system screen and looked down at the 'grade' section.
〖Grade: U*〗
"What grade is your trait?" Han asked.
Chul chuckled smugly. And with a grin..."S grade."
"S grade? So does that mean you're lower than someone who is an A grade?"
"What? No." Chul stared at Han as if he were dumb. "Wait. Don't tell me you've never consumed any fantasy content whatsoever."
Han shrugged his shoulders. "I read Harry Potter once."
Chul sighed.
"No. Usually, S rank is the highest rank in fantasy settings. Despite it being lower than A on the alphabet," he explained. However, based on the confusion on Han's face, he could tell that Han still had a few questions.
"Think about it like this. If a grade, or rank, is far away from the normal grading system, let's say Z...or even X, that means it's likely special," he explained.
"What grade is yours anyway?"
"S," Han replied instantly.
"S?!"
"But that makes sense. So I can't copy other S-grade skills..." Chul whispered. "Though that means S grade isn't as rare as I thought it was," he added in a disappointed tone.
Han looked over the rest of his system index. His health had returned to 100, so at least he knew that it regenerated with a bit of rest.
'But what's this?'
At the bottom of his system screen was a notification.
〖Achievement 'First to exit the dungeon' awarded!〗
〖A C Grade Reward Pack has been added to inventory.〗
'I got an achievement for exiting first?'
〖Open Reward Pack?〗