Chapter 8

Rob was in a good mood.

He was earning system credits, levels, and now he had new skills for his class to choose from.

He was doing everything the Tutorial Panel had advised him to do.

Only ninety minutes had passed since the start of the Tutorial, and Rob felt as if he was thriving.

He could feel himself gaining more power with every passing minute.

He focused on the system prompt that mentioned new skills and a new window appeared in his vision.

Please select a new skill from the list.

From what Rob could see, it looked as if he had five options.

He started with option one and read it over.

Rob was a bit disappointed by the first option. He was sure his footwork could be improved, but he was hoping for something a bit more exciting. That said, he hadn’t gained any abilities yet that spent Stamina. Maybe a Stamina reducing skill like this one might pay off down the road.

The skill also felt quite passive. He wasn’t exactly sure how he would trigger it or use it in battle. Would it just be gained intuitive knowledge? In that sense, it wasn’t terrible, it would be an added benefit he had in every battle, but still, he wasn’t entirely convinced.

Rob hoped the other four skill options would be more promising.

He continued down the list.

Rob paused at this skill. It immediately took him back to the battle with the lizards. He had managed to keep his composure after getting bitten, but it had taken an extreme amount of focus and resiliency.

Rob was confident he’d be able to rise to a similar occasion again, but what if he was dealt a more extreme blow, would he still be able to stay calm?

He also wondered how this skill differed from his normal Endurance stat. He guessed the Endurance attribute calculated how much damage he actually received from an attack, whereas the Pain Endurance skill helped him in terms of how he responded–physically and mentally–in the moment to an injurious blow.

Just like the previous skill, Rob didn’t feel a strong attachment to this one. He could see himself choosing it out of sheer caution due to the fact that he was in a new and dangerous environment–and that reasoning enough made it even less exciting to him.

He continued on with the list.

Rob read the skill over. This skill was a bit more interesting. It was a classic Tank-style ability that would help draw enemies away from weaker allies.

There was something about the skill that appealed to Rob. While the primary purpose of the skill was to draw an enemy’s attention onto oneself, Rob couldn’t help but think the skill had powerful potential if used as a feint; a way of more forcefully redirecting an enemy’s movement in the way that one wanted.

Rob loved the sound of that; except for the fact that it would only work on monsters weaker than him. He had a hunger and an eagerness to take on more foes, get locked into deadly battles, and face off against creatures far beyond his imagination. To only focus on enemies weaker than him was not his style.

Moving through the skill list, Rob was getting more and more intrigued about what the different skills would actually be like to use. So far, they had been quite dry, but he had a feeling there would be more to them once he started using them. Surely, he could taunt a monster himself, the Taunt skill must be doing something more–triggering something within the granular magic of the system.

Thinking about all of this made Rob even more curious to get through the list of skills and finally make his choice. He was feeling the itch to continue exploring and hunting once more.