"Now that you have selected a class and your starting weapon, you may now select your first skill." The robot added. "To bring up the list of available skills think 'available skills' or 'skill selection'"
Following what the thing said brought up an outrageously long list of skills. There were all kinds of things available. All different kinds of weapon proficiency skills with the Beginner label and different kinds of armor proficiencies to match as well like Plate Armor Proficiency(Beginner) and Light Armor Proficiency(Beginner).
A ton of different striking skills too, like Power Strike(Common) and Piercing Strike(Common). There were even generic skills too like Identify and Meditation. I brought up the skill for Melee Weapon Proficiency(Beginner) to read through.
Melee Weapon Proficiency (Beginner) – Using basic proficiency with melee weapons adds a minuscule bonus to the effect of agility and strength when using a fitting melee weapon.
"What does Melee Weapon Proficiency actually mean? Will it inject knowledge on how to use a weapon into my head?" I said mostly to myself.
"You do not gain any knowledge from proficiency skills." The robot stated.
"What? You answer questions now." What the hell, I thought. Why didn't it answer my questions before when I was making life altering decisions on basically no information.
"I am not allowed to influence the choice of starting class and weapon in any way. Starting Skills are different as they are not as fundamentally entwined with your path ." It stated.
Fundamentally entwined. What did that even mean. Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I queried the robot for more information.
"What does the skill do if it doesn't teach me how to use weapons?" I asked.
"If a user has Melee Weapon Proficiency, and they fight using a beginner level proficiency with a fitting weapon, a bonus is added to the strength and speed of swings." It said.
So it doesn't give me proficiency. It adds bonuses when using a weapon the right way. I tried to clarify what Beginner level meant, but that was apparently too much information and was ignored by the robot.
It turned out armor proficiencies worked the same way, but instead of adding a bonus, it reduced the penalties of wearing the armor on Agility and Endurance. The striking skills were self explanatory so I didn't ask about those just in case there was an unknown limit to the number of questions I could ask.
Power Strike(Common) – Enhances the next strike with mana for an increase of strength.
Piercing Strike(Common) – Enhances the next strike with mana, increasing the ability to pierce hide and armor.
"What's the difference between Melee Weapon Proficiency and Axe Proficiency?" I asked trying to find out why there were proficiencies for all kinds of weapons when a skill existed for all melee weapons. There were even groups of weapons like Blade Proficiency and Heavy Weapon Proficiency.
"The broader the Proficiency skill, the smaller the bonuses applied are. Axe Proficiency at the Beginner tier will have a greater bonus to strength and agility than Melee Weapon Proficiency while using an axe in both cases. Keep in mind that if the user has both skills, then only the one with the greatest effect will be used." The thing answered.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I guess that made sense. The more restrictive the skill was in weapon choice the bigger the bonus was, the more variety available means a smaller bonus. Them being mutually exclusive was a bummer but not that big of a deal.
The robot said that Identify would help me see the levels of creatures and the names and grades of items at the Crude tier and below. I assumed that crude tier was the lowest. Meditation would help in the recovery of mana and heal wounds faster.
"How important is skill choice for future classes?" I asked wondering how important this choice was going to be for the future.
"Skills a user has can affect future skills offered and class evolutions. A mage that uses exclusively ice or fire skills will be offered specialized classes with that in mind. Or a sword wielder will be offered more advanced skills if they have the prerequisite skills already." said the guide.
"That is not to say that skills cannot be obtained by other means. Skill books can be bought from others and acquired in various means; like dungeons and system prizes." The guide added.
That makes this choice easier. If I could buy Skills then all of the Common and Beginner skills that I was being offered now could be gotten later if I needed them. I wonder how many skills I can have, there is no way I can have them all.
"How many skills can I have?" I asked.
"The spirit can only hold so many skills per tier before it becomes strained," the guide said. "Outside of the six skills acquired through improving class level, on average only four or five more can be gained while in the lower tiers. Spirits grow with time and training but can be slow. Advancing in tier can greatly strengthen your spirit, among other things."
Oh, that added some juicy bits there. I assumed that there were different tiers given that my race was (H) Human, but that confirmed it. Also, the knowledge that classes gave six skills was new. Adding class skills and the extra skills that could be added gave me ten or eleven skills per tier.
"Please note that every person is different and some being's spirits can only handle one or two skills outside of the ones acquired through their class."
Ok, so four or five is average. I can only hope that my spirit was at least average so I wouldn't have to worry about the number of skills I had.
Knowing that my choice of skill wasn't exactly critical for the future eased my mind. Now that I didn't have to worry about ruining my future, I could pick based on immediate need.
I had no proficiency to speak of in armor or axes, so that got rid of them. The general skills like Identify and Meditation were thrown out next. Survival was paramount and being able to know the name of the creature that was going to eat me was useless if I couldn't kill it.
That left all the active skills of numerous types. I focused on the offensive skills because I figured with my choice of a shield, that a defensive skill would be unnecessary and augmenting my attacking power would be more useful.
Even narrowed down to the offensive skills that were compatible with what I had available, still left a long list. For some reason Mana Bolt was on the list even though I wasn't a mage. I ignored those and focused on those that could be used with my axe.
That left all the striking skills and a few that were to be used while throwing the axe. Not wanting to have a skill that effectively disarmed me, I ignored those. Penetrating Strike and Piercing Strike were extremely similar. Looking through the list left me coming back to Power Strike. It was the most basic and could be used in a variety of ways no matter what enemy I faced.
Power Strike(Common) – Enhances the next strike with mana for an increase of strength.
With my decision made I confirmed my choice. Knowledge of how to activate the skill was inserted into my mind, which was unnerving to say the least. If it could force information into my brain, could it take it away? Could it mind control me?
Activating the skill came naturally from following the knowledge that was imparted in my mind and I could feel energy moving through my body and flowing down my arm to the axe. The axe started to glow with a blue hue that got brighter as more mana entered the axe. Not wanting to waste the skill -since I knew it wouldn't last very long- I took a stance and swung the axe like a baseball bat. I could feel the axe swinging faster than what was normal, leaving a blue line in its wake from the mana expelled during the swing.
I swung at the air since there was nothing in the room to hit other than the robot, and I didn't feel like hitting it was a good idea. Not having a target made it so the only thing the skill did was glow and swing faster but I knew that it would hurt to get hit with it.
"Now that all choices have been made you will be transferred into your designated tutorial zone." The guide looked directly into my eyes and said, "We wish you the best of luck, may your spirit never be extinguished."