The Veteran Player Already Knows

Chapter 8 - Growth (2)

[ Share(Stage 1) / Uncategorized: Uncategorized ]

[ Copies one of the skills possessed by a friendly target. The higher the trust level with the target, the more skills can be copied. ]

“Alright!”

Just reading the skill description made such an excited voice come out of me.

To be honest, looking at the skill itself, it was hard to get a great impression.

It didn't guarantee immense destructive power like the top-tier skills of each class, nor did it have great utility like the Guardian Angel buff I had acquired a while ago.

However, This skill was the very driving force that had allowed the final boss of this game to function as the final boss.

Instead of having an effect that was intuitively easy to grasp, ‘Share’ more than made up for it with its limitless growth potential.

‘First of all…’

In this game, there were several skills that the player could not access through the system.

I meant the unique skills that NPCs had.

Some of them were even better in performance than the final tier skills that the player could learn.

The fact that it allowed me to acquire them somehow already made it a mouth-watering skill.

‘On top of that…’

There were no restrictions on the number of skills that could be copied.

And there was no restriction that skills above a certain grade could not be copied.

Even more, the guild I was in now was the Renegade guild, where the main characters who would serve as the central axis of the scenario in the future were destined to gather.

It meant I didn't have to worry about the supply of excellent skills.

‘And on top of that…’

This guy named Kim Gyu-sik, who would be acquiring such skills.

He was a bug character who had no equal in the entire world when it came to ‘combining’ skills to create synergy.

It was no exaggeration to say that this was like giving a jetpack to a tiger, not just wings.

Mulling over that fact, I got up from my seat.

‘Good…’

I had achieved my initial purpose for coming here.

But it felt a bit of a waste to just leave.

“Hmm.”

I examined the basin where I had mixed all the liquids from the flasks a little while ago.

Inside Conqueror, the probability of an item's grade changing due to the influence of another high-grade item was low, but it was a possible phenomenon.

And the Mysterious Solution I had just created was a legendary-grade item, the highest in this game.

So I was hoping that this bowl that had held such an item would have some kind of change as well…

“…”

It looked pretty plain.

Well, it was a phenomenon that happened with a low probability in the first place, so it wasn't strange.

Still, it was a waste.

It would have been nice if I could have modified this for the better too.

‘Modifying an item isn't that easy of a task.’

Item modification was something that only artisans who specialized in mana-related items, and among them, only very famous ones, could barely do.

It was practically impossible for me, who had no related equipment or skills, to perform it.

“…”

However, A method that seemed possible did come to mind.

Because there was a cheat skill I could acquire right away with the Share skill I had just obtained.

***

“…What is that?”

Yoo Ho-jun spoke to me with an incredulous voice.

It was the first thing that came out as soon as he saw the bowl I was holding in both hands as if it were a sacred treasure.

“Ho-jun. We're friends, right?”

“…”

Yoo Ho-jun glared at me with narrowed eyes.

It was a look that asked what kind of nonsense I was about to spew with such a grand start.

“…What do you want?”

“I just asked if we were friends, but your tone is a bit rude?”

“I asked what you want. It's obvious you're not asking with pure intentions.”

Hmm.

His tone already confirmed that I wanted something from him.

He was quick-witted.

“…”

And in fact, that was all I wanted from this guy.

[Activate the skill ‘Share’ on the target ‘Yoo Ho-jun’?] [Y/N]

In the first place, this guy was already in a ‘friendly relationship’ with me, and a lot of ‘trust’ had already been built up.

It meant there were no obstacles to using Share.

As I touched Y without hesitation, the list of skills he possessed immediately appeared before my eyes.

In the original story, despite being an extra character similar to me, the sheer volume was unusual.

But when you looked at the contents, it was like this.

[Yoo Ho-jun]

[ Warming Up Bread Lv.3 ]

[ Standing in Line for Someone at the Store Lv.3 ]

[ Poker Face Lv.5 ]

[ Sucking Up Lv.3 ]

[ Patience Lv.4 ]

[ Cunning Lv.2 ]

.

.

.

“…”

First, one fact.

For skills possessed by an NPC, only those with a significantly higher capability compared to other NPCs were listed.

And naturally, to increase capability, you had to accumulate experience related to that skill many times.

Even more, reaching level 3 meant you had done it an enormous number of times.

In the first place, a proficiency of level 1 was already at an expert level, and level 2 was considered a notable pro.

So even I couldn't help but feel a moment of pity for this pathetic list of skills.

What was with warming up bread or standing in line for someone at the store in the first place?

How on earth did you make that into a level 3 skill?

“…Why are your eyes getting watery? It's creepy.”

“I just felt like you've been through a lot.”

Of course, apart from such hardships.

This guy was a regular character who survived until the very end, even in the hellish latter half of the original story.

Even in this miserable list, there was a precious skill that shone like a jewel.

The reason I was casting Share on this guy now was for that.

Its name.

[ Observation Lv.10 ]

Hmm.

A proficiency level of 10 was at a level that belonged to the top tier within the game's world.

But just by its name, it seemed like a really useless skill.

The effect was also extremely simple.

Your observation skills improve.

That was all.

‘But to put it a little differently.’

Having good ‘observation’...

...in a way, meant having the judgment to establish countermeasures to gain an advantage in almost any situation.

And this guy was at proficiency level 10 in that area.

‘So as a result of that…’

The alpha test users called this guy the ‘King of Survival’.

It was a title that all users unanimously agreed on, seeing him survive like a cockroach no matter which route they took.

There were even some who mistook him for an important character, seeing him always alive for some reason.

[ Share the skill ‘Observation’? ]

[ Y/N ]

I touched Y right away without any hesitation.

[Skill sharing is complete. A modification will be made to fit the player's condition. ]

[ Observation / NPC-Yoo Ho-jun's Unique Ability ]

[ Increases intuitive ability and sense to solve situations wisely. ]

That's right.

I inwardly smiled triumphantly at the text that was displayed as expected.

This was all I was aiming for.

“Hey. Why have you been silent and just staring at me since a while ago?”

“Yeah. I'm done with my business now, so I'm leaving.”

“…This bastard?”

I ignored Yoo Ho-jun, who was still looking at me with suspicious eyes, and went out to the guild building's balcony.

Because this was the only place where I could do the ‘work’ without being noticed by others.

First, I opened the status window to check my current skill list.

[Kim Gyu-sik]

[ Threatening Strike ]

[ Hawkeye ]

[ Savage Strength ]

[ Observation ]

As expected.

The passive skill Dexterity was missing, but the skill I had shared from Yoo Ho-jun was in the list.

In the first place, for a player, skills were only divided into 'can use' or 'cannot use'; the concept of skill ‘mastery’ didn't exist.

The fact that all the proficiency levels that were attached to his skill list were gone proved that.

In short, it meant that even with a shared skill, I could only use it if I activated it myself.

At a glance, it might seem inferior to the original skill, which was always active.

But the cheat nature of the Share skill peaked here.

‘This is actually impossible.’

In exchange for the proficiency level being removed and it being changed to an active skill, I could always use the shared skill at ‘maximum proficiency’.

Because I had set it up to function that way.

In other words, in most cases, I could use the shared skill much more powerfully than the original.

So.

[ Observation / NPC-Yoo Ho-jun's Unique Ability ]

[ Increases intuitive ability and sense to wisely find answers. ]

What kind of things one could do when such an ability was blossomed to its extreme.

I was about to show you now.

‘I want to modify this bowl using the Mysterious Solution.’

First, I thought of the purpose in my head.

[ Observation ]

And here, I activated the skill.

Mana surged to find the answer to the purpose I had first presented.

And at the same time.

The world was ‘analyzed’.

“Fuck.”

I had been somewhat prepared, but still, a curse naturally came out at the sight unfolding before my eyes.

My vision, dyed blue, broke the world down into shapes made of countless dots and lines.

I instinctively understood that this was the ‘source of mana’ that made up the world.

“…Haha, crazy.”

This.

You probably wouldn't find 100 people in the entire world who could even imitate something similar.

Analyzing the flow of mana that made up the entire world?

It couldn't be explained unless I had some kind of legendary Demonic Eye.

So how did I do this?

‘Just by being observant.’

How could it possibly be explained?

It was something that was accomplished somehow through intuition.

Well, it was certainly a transcendent feat to use for modifying a mere bowl.

As I chuckled and looked down, a few of the dots and lines drawn on the bowl were glowing red.

I guess I just had to touch these.

It was the task of modifying just a few out of the thousands of lines, as thin as needles, that were intertwined in layers.

‘Just by looking at it, the difficulty is not ordinary.’

Fortunately, I had the useful ‘Dexterity’ skill for times like these.

It meant I could somehow do it with my bare hands.

I focused on the work, grunting with a level of concentration far beyond that of a normal person.

As my intuition commanded, as my observation guided, somehow.

I imbued my fingertips with mana and gently touched the bowl.

I solved the lack of mana by spreading the solution at the bottom of the bowl on my fingers.

As I fiddled with the bowl for a while.

“Oh.”

At some point, the bowl suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and at the same time, the Observation skill immediately ended.

My blue-tinted vision also returned to normal.

“…”

This was more draining than I thought.

I sighed deeply and checked the bowl again.

‘How has it been modified...’

Considering that the original item was at the junk level, I would be grateful if it was just upgraded to a high-grade item.

If a rare-grade item popped up by any chance, that would be a jackpot.

As I thought that and scanned the bowl.

“…Are you for real?”

I couldn't help but widen my eyes.