Giselle nodded to herself contentedly before hopping out of the back of the supply carriage and shutting the back door.

  “We’re all done with supply work, so all we need to do now is wait for Barson and Hobbs. I’m going to collapse inside a carriage for the next five hours. Disturb me, and I’ll stab you.” Giselle said as she playfully raised her sheathed sword and walked away from the other supply group members. They all dispersed to attend to their own business, but Mill noticed Izick staring a hole into the Honor Rod in his hand.

  “Are you OK? You’ve been acting a bit strange since we left the market.”

  “There seems to be some sort of major conflict going on here. This place is more dangerous than I first expected. It might get messy here if we don't leave soon.”

  “I heard some things as well,” Mill said, frowning deeply. “Apparently, there are heavy tensions between the Ogres, Elves, and Humins that live here. The situation has only gotten worse over the last few years.“

  “We can get caught up in something way worse than some untrained bandits,” Izick said, swiping at the frozen message on his left.

  The message from the Blessing suddenly disappeared this time, causing Izick to reel back.

  A new blue box appeared in front of him.

  [ Update complete! ]

  [ Now opening [SKILLS] tab ]

  The blue screen flipped like a book turning a page to reveal dozens of interconnected gray circles. Strange drawings of swords, flames, and numbers were depicted on each grayed-out node. Pure confusion overwhelmed his fears as his eyes went wide while shaking his head.

  "Mill, I think the Blessing is working again."

  "Really? Do you see anything weird or out of place?"

  "Everything is weird with the Blessing, but this [SKILLS] area looks way crazier than I expected. It’s like a mess of dots and lines that make zero sense."

  “Like a ward detection Skill?”

  “Not exactly. Its way more rigid but has all of these connecting lines and pictures inside each circle.” Izick said while testing the scrolling feature by waving his hands up and down. He tapped on one of the gray nodes, but the blue screen only flickered red and did nothing. He looked around at the oblivious mercenaries around them. Izick lowered his hands as a swordsman walked by him.

  "Let's move away from here. I want to fully investigate this new part of the Blessing."

  "Izick, I know you're anxious right now, but shouldn't you wait to mess with the Blessing? Something went wrong last time. We don’t know what this thing really is, or what Alister did to you anyway. What Foster Braun told us was merely scraps of knowledge he cobbled together. We shouldn’t be hasty about this."

  “That's the point. I can’t stay ignorant about the Blessing and the Honor Rod forever. If Alister really did something to the Blessing, I need to know as soon as possible. It might take years to find the Heroes or Yaria, and I don't have that kind of time. I need to know what I'm dealing with right now if I want a fighting chance. Being timid won’t give me any advantage against Alister’s plan for me, whatever it is." Izick said before pointing to the woods with his finger.

  “I’ll be back soon. I’m going to inspect the Blessing more deeply. I don’t want the mercenaries to see me pointing in the air like some idiot.”

  Mill sighed as she walked towards the woods.

  “I won’t stop you then, but I’m coming with you in case something goes wrong. Let’s get this over with before Barson returns.”

  ***

  Mill looked around at the many fallen trees before taking a seat on a tree trunk and crossing her legs. She folded her arms as Izick came up and sat on the trunk opposite of her.

  "Watch out for anything strange and talk me through and describe what you're seeing. I think this [SKILLS] section of the Blessing is related to Mysteria, which I might have insight on."

  "Got it.”

  Izick turned his attention fully to the expansive map of nodes on his left. He pulled the floating blue box from his left, positioning it dead center in front of him. He scrolled down until he found a few of the gray nodes glowing white. Some were solid white while others were pulsing like a flickering flame.

  "Wait, a few of these things are white."

  Izick tapped one of the blinking nodes. A smaller blue box popped up.

  [ RAPID SHOT: Shoots a barrage of small, low-cost Light Mysteria bullets at medium range ]

  Stolen novel; please report.

  [ Skill: Rapid Shot ]

  ├ Mana Cost: 2 MP every 3 seconds

  ├ Cooldown: Overheats after 9 seconds of continuous use

  ├ Recoil: Low

  ├ Unlock Requirements:

  ├┬ Establish Symbol Link ?

  │├ Reach LVL2 ?

  │├ Unlock first Block ?

  │└ Read Regalos de Estra Ch.III ?

  └ Shaping Readiness: 100% ?

  [ Unlock [Rapid Shot] for 2 SP? [11 SP available] ]

  [ YES/NO? ]

  Izick frowned at the new message and began to scratch his head.

  “So learning Regalos de Estra was actually important.”

  “Of course it's important, like I said before, it's the foundation of all modern Mysteria. But what does that book have to do with the Blessing?” Mill said as she carefully watched Izick, whose eyes were glued to an invisible message.

  “Hold on a second.”

  He took out his pocketbook and quickly jotted down what he saw before handing it over to Mill. She skimmed through the paper.

  "I see why this confused you. It seems like you unlocked a Mysteria Skill marketplace inside the Blessing," Mill said, inspecting the sheet of paper Izick gave her.

  “I like the idea of this [Rapid Shot] Skill due to its low Mana cost and efficiency. It requires reading chapter three of Regalos de Estra, which I believe was on the subject of Mana subdivision. Honestly, it's a bit creepy how the Blessing knows exactly what you read, but what are you going to do now?”

  "Check the other ones."

  Izick tapped on the other blinking Skills but was disappointed to find them useless, like the [Hand Warmer] Skill, which warmed your hands, or the [Shout] Skill, which made your voice annoyingly loud for a few seconds. He moved onto the two solid white nodes. These were the Skills [Bang Bullet] and [Burst Cannon].

  "Yeah, this is definitely a collection of Skills. It's like you said, Mill. This is a marketplace. Though I don't see any of my Scout Skills here, like Activation or Vocal Distortion."

  "So what are you going to do now?"

  “If I can buy Skills here, then I'm buying that [Rapid Shot] Skill. [SP] seems to be some sort of currency to buy Mysteria Skills through the Blessing. My current Skills take too much Mana to fire reliably, so this Skill will allow me to use the Honor Rod consistently without burning through Mana."

  "Again, we don't know what the Blessing will do this time around," Mill said, holding up the paper depicting the Skill Tree.

  "True, but how else will I find answers? I'll need more reliable Skills when I'm in danger or in a fight. I won't last long as a simple Scout or a glass cannon when fighting another Warrior or Mage. I have to see this through."

  Mill grimaced as she put away the paper Izick gave her.

  "If you're resolved to do this, then I won't stop you. Let's hope nothing goes wrong this time."

  Izick exhaled deeply as he tapped [YES].

  [ *Ding!* ]

  [ New Skill: [Rapid Shot] acquired! ]

  The message box closed and returned to the Skill Tree, where a white circle was now set with the image of three bullets of light.

  “Good, looks like it worked.”

  “That's a relief.”

  Izick dismissed the Skill Tree. He grabbed the Honor Rod with the intention of trying this new Skill out, but he stopped when a red box appeared.

  [ Congratulations, [LOSER], for unlocking your first Skill through the System (that was a complete waste of SP, by the way), you’re a real pro now! ]

  [ To commemorate your resounding failure, here's a bonus Skill! ]

  [ New Skill: [Black Shuffle] acquired! ]

  The Skill Tree reappeared. A white line connecting to a single white node blinked before opening a smaller red box.

  [ BLACK SHUFFLE: Summon Mr. Shuffle, roll the dice, and win the worst possible prize! All prizes are final, no take-backs! ]

  [ ATTENTION: SYMBOL LINK ENGAGED ]

  [ SYMBOL LINK: 100% ]

  [ SKILL: BLACK SHUFFLE ]

  "Mill, we have a problem!"

  He jumped back as a ball of swirling red light formed by his head. A tiny black, bat-like monster flew out of the ball of red light. Mill grabbed her staff and leaped to her feet.

  "Izick, get back!"

  Mill formed a green shield, then shot the shield off like a cannonball. The impish monster used its black bat wings to fly around the incoming projectile while cackling to itself like a maniac.

  "Heh, heh, heh. It's shuffle time!" it screeched with a high-pitched and grating voice.

  A puff of red smoke exploded over its hands, revealing two large black dice that floated in the air. The monster clasped its hands together and began to shake them, causing the two dice to begin rapidly spinning.

  Izick pointed the Honor Rod at the monster and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Mill shot off two more green shields at the monster, but it dodged each one like last time, with the black dice following close behind.

  Izick grunted as he pulled out a knife and slung it at the flying monster. It waved its hand, bringing the spinning dice forward to intercept the knife.

  The knife became lodged between the two dice, instantly stopping their spinning motion.

  "Shuffle complete! [All But One]!"

  A red box materialized right in front of Izick's face.

  [ BY ORDER OF THE EMPEROR ]

  [ ALL BUT ONE: Lose access to every single System Skill except for the last Skill you unlocked ]

  [ SHUFFLE COUNTER: +1 ]

  The monster used the momentary distraction to summon a black handgun, which it aimed directly at Izick below.

  Mill raised her glowing staff to form a green shield in front of Izick as the monster shot a red bullet of light. The red bullet passed through Mill's shields like a ghost. It shattered the red message box in front of Izick's face before slamming into his forehead, knocking into the ground.

  "No!"

  Mill rushed over to the motionless Izick as the monster above them laughed uncontrollably as it faded out of existence. She threw her staff to the side as she placed both of her glowing hands over his forehead.

  "Come on, Izick, don't die on me!"