The Origin of Skills
“Do you know how skills are born?”
Haru’s question hung in the air, and Ain fell silent, letting his memories surface.
He had quite a few skills. Even now, a single phrase could summon a window listing everything he possessed, so he wasn’t exactly lacking in that knowledge.
Every single one of those skills had appeared alongside a window etched with words right before his eyes.
- Skill acquired! -
Ain had picked up several skills with that unnecessarily cheerful notification window,
but “…does it just not happen?”
“There’s no way.”
It was special for him.
Other people didn’t even have that cheerful message window, nor did they possess the ability to view a list of their own skills.
“Skills are a process. A systematized way to easily repeat certain actions.”
“Calling out the skill name you’ve set yourself is the same. By saying the name, you can easily summon the image tied to that skill.”
Comments from Er and Jina, who both possessed skills.
Skills were image-ization for easily repeating certain actions.
It was image-ized to extend mana and attacks with familiar movements.
That was the skill.
“That, Ain can do too.”
“Me? How?”
“With magic.”
“So how exactly do you do that?”
Haru fixed her hazy eyes on the impatient-looking Ain and spoke.
“Just turn magic itself into a skill.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s a sloppy, rootless, undeveloped way, but it suits you, Ain.”
“Are you calling me sloppy, rootless, and undeveloped right now?”
“…”
“Answer me!”
Unlike Ain’s outburst, Haru’s face remained unchanged as she continued.
“After all, Ain isn’t walking the path of magic… some tricks are fine.”
“…Huu, so how do I do it?”
“I told you before I’d teach you mana manipulation.”
“…I remember.”
It had been around the time he first met Haru.
Right after that, the chimera had burst out and everything had gone wrong, so he’d forgotten.
“On that extension. Induce mana and process it the way you want. Even if it’s a cowardly, insidious, and foolish method, it’s something Ain can manage at least.”
“Do you have any grudge against that method?”
“…No.”
Still, a faint displeasure showed on Haru’s face as she spoke, and Ain smirked.
“If you hate that method so much, you don’t have to do it…”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s just that those smug fools who look at it with that method find it unpleasant. After all, just seeing that the sect was read and copied by someone else shows how thin and limited those bastards are—”
“…Haru, you talk well for your age.”
“…That’s not it.”
Whether he knew or not, if Haru was fine, it was fine.
Ain let out a small sigh and said,
“So, what do I have to do?”
“…First, there is something to do.”
“What is there to do… Tell me anything. If I can do it…”
“Food.”
“…Food?”
Ain tilting his head, Haru grabbed around her stomach and said.
“I’m hungry… I haven’t eaten anything today…”
●
“I wonder if it’s okay to leave the two of them alone.”
Jina, who had come out to the street leaving Ain and Haru at home, turned to Er standing beside her.
“You finished work and came back, and you caused another incident?”
“…It’s a bit worrying if the two of them are together.”
Er also seemed to share the same thought, furrowing her brows in concern,
“…Well, it should be fine. After finishing the meal, she said she would immediately focus on creating Ain’s skill.”
“I thought there wouldn’t be anything we could help with, so I thought we could check out the weapon shop in the meantime…”
The time was later than expected, so there weren’t many weapon shops open.
There were adventurers who demanded weapon maintenance or supplies even at night, so there were occasionally open places, but that was it.
Even after checking several places, Jina and Er let out a small sigh and said.
“Shall we come out early tomorrow?”
“That might be better. Most seem to be closed, so…”
“Yes? Let’s just look around moderately and stop. Let’s go to that shop over there.”
Jina nodded at Er’s words.
Both thought that no matter how much they wandered, they wouldn’t find anything decent, so they entered the weapon shop without hesitation,
“…Er-nim, Jina-nim. It’s been a while.”
A familiar face was saying that with a blunt voice.
The guild’s uniform that valued cleanliness without much else, and an expressionless face.
“Lize?”
“Why is the guild staff here?”
Lize, the staff of the Karpe Adventurer Guild, said to them in front of the counter of the weapon shop.
“We are disposing of the low-quality weapons and armor purchased from adventurers during the robbery incident. No matter how cheap the weapons are, we can melt them and use them as is.”
“…Has the post-processing not been completed yet?”
“It might take a while. The scale is large. By the way, you two…”
Lize, who had met a man this morning and talked, had no choice but to sense that the two were here.
“…What about Ain-nim?”
“Do you think we don’t move without Ain?”
“That, it seems correct only for Jina.”
“There is no such thing! Speak straight, I am following Ain!”
“…”
Er showing an expression as if she didn’t know what to say.
Lize, watching the banter of the two, tilted her head slightly and said.
“Then what is Ain-nim doing right now…?”
“…What does that have to do with you?”
Suddenly, Jina said with a sharp voice, feeling somewhere uneasy,
“Speaking of which, Ain said he was going to the guild this morning… Is there something you heard?”
Er asks that, noticing Jina’s words.
There were several parts in Lize’s words that were bothersome.
What Ain was doing right now.
The question was too focused on Ain alone, as if asking if it’s rare to be alone with two people.
Lize, hearing Er’s words, said with a rare look of dismay on her face.
“…I made a mistake.”
“What happened?”
“…It’s nothing special. I need to consult with Ain-nim a little.”
“Consult?”
Jina, who widened her eyes as if asking what that meant, and Er showing a calm gaze, Lize let out a small sigh and said.
“Ain-nim seemed to have a lot of worries. In many ways, he looked depressed.”
“Why are you looking at it alone!”
“…Did Ain do that?”
Since there was nothing to point to, Er said in a low, calm voice.
“…From what I see, thanks to Lize, Ain seems to have gotten his energy back. Thank you.”
“Managing the psychological state of affiliated adventurers is also part of the guild’s role. So… what happened to Ain-nim?”
“…He seemed to have found a way after trying various things. Right now, he’s doing various things with Haru.”
“Is that so?”
At that moment, the two couldn’t hide their strange feeling from Lize.
“That was a relief.”
“…Something strange.”
“I’m not the only one feeling that way, right?”
Lize, who usually didn’t show emotions much.
But right now.
Her face, which was smiling very faintly, as if a bit disappointed but feeling relief.
“What? What happened.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“It’s strange!? My instinct as a woman is screaming! You, what exactly are you doing with Ain─”
“Jina, calm down. Solving everything by killing Ain is the problem.”
“…Yes! That would work!”
“What kind of treatment is Ain-nim receiving within the party?”
Lize’s question was not resolved.
The two, who were talking to each other, immediately jumped out of the weapon shop and returned to the mansion.
For some reason, Lize, who thought she had done something wrong to the Ain who wasn’t here, her eyes twitched as she sighed.
“Jina, here is the payment.”
“…Thank you. It’s accurate.”
Lize, who received the payment for the low-quality sale from the weapon shop owner who had been away for a while, said.
“Then, I’ll see you again next time.”
“Ah, before I go, wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“The guy you left me, the repair is done.”
“…Already?”
Lize, slightly raising her eyebrows in surprise, the weapon shop owner said.
“I put in some effort. Recently, an orc warrior was caught from the pioneering village? How much I suffered to get those tendons…”
“…Where is the item?”
“I knew you would say that, so I brought it with me.”
The weapon shop owner, saying that, took out a huge bow comparable to Lize’s height.
It had a black body resembling Lize’s eye color, waiting quietly for its owner’s touch with a faint light.
“The broken body was barely restored, and the string was newly made with the tendons obtained this time. Where on earth did this guy get it from? I thought I wouldn’t be outmatched in skill around here, but if it’s this much to repair…”
“…Thank you. As expected, there is merit in trusting and leaving it to me.”
“Even though I suspected so when I first entrusted it,”
The weapon shop owner, saying that, handed over the bow.
Lize, picking up the bow similar to her height without any troubled expression, seemed to examine it with careful eyes,
“…It looks okay at this level. Is the payment sufficient with the previous payment?”
“I received enough, so no additional fee. But who is that? I want to ask the owner where they got such a weapon…”
“Thank you. Then, see you later.”
The weapon shop owner, looking at Lize’s back as she left, only scratched his beard.
That was the end.
“The owner is someone I wonder who it is…”
Only that murmur of the weapon shop owner lingered in the empty place.
●
“Jina and what happened with Lize?!”
“Tell me right away!! Before I strip you naked and search every inch!!”
As soon as he returned to the mansion, Ain muttered while looking at the two charging at him with full determination.
“What kind of commotion is this… Why Lize?”
“You, what happened with Lize? Otherwise…”
“Stop with the strange talk, it was successful.”
“…Successful?”
“If successful, did you really make the skill…?”
To their questioning, Ain said with a smirk.
“Will you help with the experiment?”