Luckily some of them are discounted because they are unpopular with the students.
After breathing a bit, Reno calmed himself down. He was glad that the academy had some skills he could learn but was even more grateful that they were giving it away to him for a bargain price.
‘Every school year, the academy gives 1 credit as sort of a passive income system of sorts. One credit can get an average skill at the best, the reason it’s only one is most likely that the academy wants the students to be proactive
Along with the 1 credit given every term by the school, if students did well then teachers might give them a fraction of a credit, same with competitions and the like.
This meant that if students wanted to get good skills and stand out from their peers, then they had to be involved in any and everything.
Either that or get your parents and families to buy you good skills, which is actually what most students had arranged for them.
Only those like Reno who had low family authority, had to struggle and do their best to get one or two good skills before graduation.
Another option was that Reno, who was a merit student, could even learn fractions of a credit by completing missions, as such, it was rare for other merit students to be dirt poor and have only 1 credit like Reno.
After staring at the panel for a while longer, Reno was trying to make up his mind.
‘I already have something offense so choosing Parry for defense is a must, quickstep would be mobility but it’s free so I still have one more pick.’
After thinking about it for a while longer, Reno decided to pick the stab skill as being able to pierce through some defense and a chance of causing some damage too would be great against most opponents.
One of the most basic uses of one’s vital core is to increase their overall defense. This is achieved easily by just using some energy from one’s vital core and covering their skin with it. Even most children could do this, much less combatants.
As such, a skill able to bypass something like that, even slightly would be of much help to Reno
‘Quickdraw sounds like an interesting skill too but stab seems more useful for now, especially for merit missions. I can save up and even buy the rest of the skills later
After confirming what he wanted to buy, Reno bought all three of the skills and they were soon imprinted in his mind.
Skills worked like memorizing a book, when one got them imprinted, it was as if they read through a book and got the general outline of it for the first time.
This meant the user could use the skill even if it was a crude version of it.
After the initial imprint, the user had to start practicing it and trying to learn the skill.
Following the same book analogy, the reader of the book had to start reading the book over and over again until they could remember the important parts of it and be able to talk to others about those important parts.
Sadly, most people’s brains find it hard to remember a full book, meaning what the academy system considered mastery could not be called the actual highest point of the skill, just the most realistic pinnacle that a talented student could reach.
To put it simply, Reno’s focus skill allowed him to memorize a book piece by piece over time without forgetting any of it while most other students could only try to comprehend the important parts.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
After getting the three skills imprinted into his head, Reno had the urge to test each of them out but decided to just leave it for when he reached back to his dorm.
"If I practice again using focus, I think the skill proficiency will reach the second rank as well, I can’t wait!”
Snapping Reno out of his thoughts, Grania sat beside him and put her head on his lap.
“So comfortable, I feel like I’m melting away”
Seeing this, Reno just sighed and grabbed Grania’s nose.
“Owie, a maiden uses your lap as her bed, and you punish her, this is why you get no play Reno!”
Hearing this, Reno just decided to squeeze her nose more
“Awight(Alright), Awight(Alright, I gwive(give)”
Hearing this, Reno let go of Grania’s nose.
“I swear, no chivalry these days”
“Anyhow, I was searching and found a movement skill, it was even on discount, I got a good skill and even saved some credits, win-win”
Grania then showed Reno what she was talking about on her smartwatch.
+Tippy toe steps [Energy Required] (Not learned)
{By infusing energy into your toes and resonating it to match the frequency of the ground, your presence will be harder to detect for 1 minute} {Calculated based on the user’s energy/speed/strength and the skill’s proficiency level} (Rarity: D+ [Below Average]) [Cooldown time : 3 minutes]
=Cost: 0.5 credits (50% discount due to the small number of buyers)
Seeing the skill, Reno looked at Grania with distrust.
Seeing how Reno was looking at her, Grania immediately defended herself.
“I’m not gonna do any suspicious stuff with it okay, It’ll be great for gathering information.”
Reno was still skeptical. “It depends on what that information is, you know”
“I swear, you have no trust in your best friend.”
Reno sighed. “It’s exactly because you're my best friend that I’m skeptical, you know.”
After clarifying with Grania that she wouldn’t abuse her skill for the wrong reasons, Grania bought it and got the skill imprinted in her mind.
Seeing as both of them were finished with what they came to the library to do, they got up and were ready to leave.
As they were leaving, Grania bumped into someone which caused them to fall.
Grania went to help her up on instinct. “I’m sorry about that, I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
The person replied. “Uhm, I-It was my bad, I’ll be more careful next time”
Hearing a familiar voice, Reno turned around to find out that it was Cassia, his new roommate.
Before Reno could talk, however, Grania replied to Cassia. “Wait, aren’t you the new student in my Energy Manipulation class?”
Cassia did a slight nod. “Y-Yes, that’s m-me”
Seeing how shy Cassia was and that she didn’t even see Reno was right beside her, he went to insert himself into the convo in an attempt to make it less awkward.
“Cassia, you’re here to choose your new skill, right? Need any help on it, I’d be down to help you if you do”
Hearing a familiar voice, Cassia looked up to find out that Reno, her new roommate, was with the girl that she just bumped into.
“Uhm, I’m fine, I was already with Professor Reed who helped me to pick a suitable skill, thanks for asking though”
“That’s alright, me and Grania were just about to go test ours out”
Grania looked at Reno a bit weirdly and then whispered to him. “We were?”
Hearing this, Reno stepped on her shoes and Grania said out loud. “Yup, we were just about to do that, haha”
After hearing this, Cassia had no real reason to refuse. “If I’m not bothering you two or anything then I would like to tag along”
After saying this, Cassia bowed her head as if she were asking Reno an important favor.
‘Again with this huh’
“You don’t have to thank me like that every time, people might think that I’m taking advantage of you or something.”
Hearing this, Cassia was a bit worried. “Sorry, I didn’t think it was anything bad, my uncle said this was how you should always thank others”
“Formally sure but for friends, just a normal thanks is okay, unless you're like this green-haired lady and doesn’t even say that much”
“I say thanks sometimes you know”
Seeing the two banter, Cassia laughed a bit. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind”
Reno smiled at this response. “Good.”
“Let’s get going now then, we can go to public training arena 10, there’s a spot that usually isn’t packed until late into the night”
After agreeing on where to go, Reno, Cassia, and Grania set off to try out the new skills that they had learned.