Once inside the city, I made my way to an inn, paid the three silver to stay a night, and closed my eyes to rest. After my most recent experience, I learned a rather critical fact when it came to recovering from my post-enchantment injuries.

If I disabled my Resilience skill after receiving the injuries, my body would revert to only being as durable as a normal level one character. However, my injuries would not become any more or less severe. The only change would be that healing abilities and potions would become more effective than if I received the same healing while the skill was active. For that reason, a single magic healing potion had been able to completely wipe away my injuries and let me join the fight without delay.

As long as I’m still able to drink the potion on my own after the enchantment, it should be fine. With that thought in mind, I let myself drift off to sleep.

When I awoke in the morning, the first thing that I did was to make my way back to the skill store that I had visited the previous day. With the money I had earned from helping to defeat the boss, I planned to get myself a better defensive skill. Naturally, I had employed Ruby Rampart during the previous fight, but… the sheer weight of the boss’s body crushing me broke my defense, which in turn completely shattered my body. It was not a pretty sight.

“Yo, welcome back.” The bearded man said as he sat behind the counter. “No healing spells in today, either.”

I shook my head at his assumption. “I’m not here for that, this time. Though, it would still be nice. I’m looking for a defensive skill, preferably a martial one.”

The man arched his brow, nodding and standing up. “Got a few barrier skills in, but those are all magic. While magic skills are common here, martial skills are a lot harder to come by.”

I gave a small grunt, acknowledging the problem. “I guess I’d need to go back to Brita for that?”

The man gave a small shake of his head. “Brita doesn’t have much of an inclination towards any one branch of skills. If you want somewhere that has a lot of martial monsters, head north to Decashear. Their monsters are mostly golems, but there are a few ogre tribes nearby. From there, if you grab a ferry across the river, you can hit Earthenbury. They got their name due to all of the earth-element monsters, so they’re bound to have defensive skills.”

I sighed slightly, nodding my head. Before I could speak up, he continued. “Do you have any requirements for your skill, other than martial?”

“It would be best if it didn’t have any inherent downsides. For instance, my Ruby Rampart makes my body stronger, but more brittle. I would like to avoid another skill like that.”

When he heard that, he gave a small nod. “I don’t think I have anything like that. Best I can do is recommend a magic skill for you.”

I was about to decline, before a moment of inspiration hit me. “Do you have a magic skill where damage received is converted to mana burden?” Would it be possible for me to get such a skill, using my unique trait to nullify damage entirely?

“That is… Mana Shield?” The man said, and my eyes widened in hope. “Though, it doesn’t quite work like that. The mana burden from taking damage is different from the burden used to cast the skill. That way, if you take damage, you can still reapply the barrier, but taking too much damage will lead to burnout.”

My hopes were immediately crushed when I heard that. The skill had gone from being completely overpowered to being utterly worthless. I didn’t have a skill to raise my magic stat yet, so that shield would be broken almost instantly. Worse, if I got hit with mana burnout, all of my other skills would likely be deactivated, leaving me completely helpless.

“Got it… I’ll pass on the barrier magic, then. Do you have any basic martial skills to strengthen the body? Toggle skills, again preferably without downsides.”

The man glanced over, walking back to the martial section, which was far more bare. “I’ve got the basic set of Endurance, Brawn, and Sprint for the body. Aside from those, the only one I’ve got in stock is Adrenaline Rush. I wouldn’t really say that it has no downside, though.”

My brow arched, not familiar with the skill. When I gestured for the man to explain, he shrugged his shoulders. “Adrenaline Rush doesn’t have a specific downside on the body itself. Its downside is that it has a high mana burden. Unlike other skills, the mana burden doesn’t go down as it is leveled up, but rather increases. Even those at a high level won’t maintain it for more than a few seconds.”

My eyes widened slightly, doing my best to hide my surprise. “I’m guessing that skill is pretty unpopular, then?”

The clerk nodded his head. “I’m not afraid to tell you. This book was dropped from a bandit leader a few years ago. None of the guards in the subjugation wanted it because of the mana burden, having seen how the bandit overused the skill. Likewise, nobody had come to look for it yet.”

“What’s the market price for the skill?” Even if the skill was unpopular, it was common knowledge that the world would still assign a market value to it. At best, I could expect a small discount, such as when I acquired Mana Bolt. However, given how rare martial skills were here, I doubted that I would get such a discount.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Twenty-five silver.” The man said, grabbing the dusty tome and walking back to the front of the store. “I take it that means you’re planning to buy it?”

I gave a small nod. This skill fit perfectly with my power set, especially my traits. I didn’t know how effective the skill itself was, but surely it would become better over time. Reaching into my inventory, I transferred twenty-five silver to the man, who then handed over the book. “Pleasure doing business.” He said with a small grin, and I turned to leave with the new book.

Once I left the store, I opened the book to read through it. Soon, the standard window appeared before me.

Skill Acquired!

Adrenaline Rush (Martial - 6☆): Increases Strength, Agility, and Stamina.

Mana burden: 0/sec. Level: 1(0%)

My eyes widened slightly at the information. If my guess was right, this was a skill that could be gained by leveling up Endurance, Brawn, and Sprint to level twenty without evolving them. However, now that I had already evolved those skills into their respective advancements, I wouldn’t also get the bonus from doing so to this skill.

I wonder if there would be a special evolution if I get the second tier of skills all to level fifty? I thought to myself, before pursing my lips. If I wanted to do that with all five stat skills, I would need to acquire the skill related to Magic.

I started to make my way away from the store when a familiar voice called out to me. “There you are! Knew that I’d find you here.” Hearing the familiar voice of Ennolf, I turned to see the brunette foxfolk walking towards me with a smile. “After last night, I figured you’d come to the skill store as soon as you could. Guess that you already wrapped up your business?”

I gave a small nod. “There wasn’t much to do, but yes. Sadly, they don’t have any healing skills, either.”

Ennolf gave a small nod. “I’d help if I could, but I know you don’t want to take the ‘official path’. Even Nuoda was surprised to see what regulations were put on who can learn healing magic from the church. Still, you must be getting pretty strong if you managed to help take out the boss last night. You didn’t lose… that, did you?”

I shook my head. “I was able to collect my corpse right away, so everything that dropped was returned to me.”

Ennolf let out a long sigh. “That’s good to hear. I don’t have long to stay online right now. I just wanted to see if I could find you and invite you to dinner tonight with Nuoda and I. A way of saying thanks for warning us to get out of Brita in time.”

I paused for a moment, before giving a small nod. “I’ve got a bit of training to do today. However, I’ll be staying in the area near the city, so just call me whenever you want to invite me.”

“Will do!” Ennolf grinned. He was just about to log out when my eyes suddenly widened at an idea, holding my arm out to stop him.

“Actually… I have a favor to ask. If it can be done, I’m even willing to pay.” When he heard that, Ennolf looked at me in confusion.

“I’d like it if Nuoda could enchant a healing skill onto a piece of equipment for me.” When he heard that, his eyes widened, and he nodded his head with a knowing look. As long as I wasn’t able to get the skill myself, there was nothing that I could do about it. However, if I was able to hire Nuoda to enchant her own healing skill onto the item, I would be able to use it when I was in danger in the future. I might not get the skill and experience to level it up myself, but I would at least be able to heal myself after an enchantment without spending so much on potions.

Ennolf simply smiled. “I’ll pass the request to her. Though, I doubt that she’ll decline. She’s got the day off, so will probably be more free than I am. Do you have anywhere you’d like her to find you if she gets the chance to log on?”

When I heard his question, I gave a small nod, thinking of my next destination. “I’m planning to visit the library next. However… if I’m expecting her help, I’ll start by making some preparations to increase the effect and success rate. She’ll be able to find me at the inn down the road.”

Ennolf nodded his head, logging off. His chosen gave me another nod, before turning and walking away. As for me… I rushed back to the inn to prepare. The first thing that I did was ask for permission to use their kitchen. Since it wasn’t mealtime, I was allowed to for the price of one silver coin.

After that, I began to brew a basic healing potion with four of the Cure Herbs I had on hand. The recipe had been written in the basic herbology book I read previously, so the information appeared in the corner of my vision as soon as I started. First, strip the roots carefully, without damaging the bulb, and remove the leaves.

Secondly, chop the herbs into thin slices, and boil them in a small pot of water, using only one cup of water. Use a blunt object to crush the herbs as they boil, and mix them thoroughly with the water. Soon, the herbs should begin to dissolve. Once dissolved, put a fine strainer over the container, and pour the contents into a flask.

By following the instructions and recycling my magic healing potion vial, I was able to obtain a basic herbal healing potion. After making sure that I washed all of the dishes that I had used, I made my way to the front of the inn, only to find that Nuoda was already waiting for me with a smile on her face.

Her outfit had changed since our last encounter, now sporting a white shirt beneath a brown, leather corset. She had a white, pleated skirt and a blue cloak, a single leather pauldron strapped to her shoulder. Finally, she wore leather gloves that went up to her elbows, and leather thigh boots.

“I didn’t interrupt your preparations, did I?” She asked with that same, gentle smile. “Ennolf said that you would be expecting me.”

I blinked quickly, shaking my head. “No, I was just finishing up and coming to wait for you. Shall we go to my room, then?” Even if she wasn’t going to be injuring herself like I did with the enchantment, it was best not to do it publicly, where we would be disturbing others.