[Knife Mastery Lv - 1]

[0% towards next level] You have a basic understanding on how to hold knives. Damage dealt by knives has been increased by 10%.

"Wait, what?"

Evel blinked, and blinked again. He gave his eyes a few good rubs and stared, and the skill remained there, staring back at him. It even seemed to glow for a moment, as if to signify its existence to him.

Looking down at the magical tomato plant he'd somehow grown, he reached down and plucked another tomato off, staring at the green thing with a feeling of dawning realisation. With a deep breath, Evel steeled himself and took a bite out of the tomato, savoring the strange spicy aftertaste it gave before another notification came up.

[Knife Mastery] has gained 10% Exp!

"...Oh." He said with a short chuckle. "Oh dear."

[Skills] are powerful, and hard to attain. The boys from his village took years to even get their first skills; his own [Farming] skill required working under his parents for several of his early years to get, and even more to level them up to the point where it was now. But to have 10% exp be given to him in what amounted to a couple weeks?

Idly, he wondered what his dad would say to him if he was still around.

...Now that he thought about it, he'd probably just give him his affirmation and ask him to continue cultivating more of the magical fruit.

Of course, he wasn't sure if that was even possible. The two tomatoes he'd eaten had their own seeds he could plant back into the earth, but would they grow? Would they sprout just like their parents did? Would the tomatoes they produce be normal, or this strange skill-giving variant?

Still, he was quite excited about this. Not just because he'd managed to gain another skill to his repetoire, but also because if these strange tomato seeds do grow, then he'd be able to share his spoils with his mom as well!

Smiling, he plucked off the remaining two tomatoes and placed them in a basket.

But the moment he did so, the plant immediately wilted, glowing as it became limp before fading into sparkling dust. Evel watched it all, blinked, and stared at the empty space for a good minute or so.

His smile turned a tad awkward. "...Whoops."

Putting his blunder aside, he planted the seeds he got from the two tomatoes he ate atop the soil of its parent plant, watering it and giving it a gentle pat before went back to his cabin, the basket slung on his arm.

Thankfully, his cabin was empty, his mom out in the village with her friends, which presented the perfect scenario to test if the skill he gained was genuine or not. Giddy with anticipation, he placed the basket down on the kitchen desk and borrowed one of the few knives he had in the cabinets.

And it was amazing. The knife felt lighter than it'd ever felt, and his grip felt incredibly natural, as if he'd wielded a knife for most of his life. It was, admitedly, somewhat terrifying how his brain just subconsciously knew where to guide his hand.

He was ecstatic though! He'd always wondered what it felt like to have a combat-oriented [Skill], and now he did! Didn't mean that he could just go and start fighting monsters though; he wasn't willing to go through that so soon after nearly dying to a goblin.

Now, time to test out his new knife skills!

Deliah was a happy woman.

She had many friends to talk with in her village. Her skills as a [Seamstress] were matched by none in her village, and she earned a good living from them. She had a wonderful family; a goofy but ultimately kind husband and a kind and open son. Of course, her husband's death still loomed over her, but it was hard to remain sad when she noticed the fire that now burned in her son's eyes.

Truthfully, she wanted Evel to leave and try his luck out in the world like many other boys. She knew he'd be great out there, but no matter what she said, the boy remained adamant on staying. She'd once thought it was because of his lingering guilt over his father's passing, but as time went by, she came to see that his love of farming was indeed a genuine one.

Which was why she was so confused when she returned to see her son standing outside, swiping at the empty air with one of their kitchen knives. She smiled slightly at the scene, remembering the many times he whined about wanting to know how skills like [Sword Master] and the like would feel like.

She then stopped, and she watched again. The boy's footwork was a mess, he spun his waist too much, and he was putting too much force into his arm.

But the way he moved his knife spoke of experience, of having a [Skill], and she became confused. She'd seen his status before; he'd shown it to her just a week ago, and there wasn't any skills that spoke of mastering a knife. Where had this come from?

"Evel!" She called, and the boy quickly stopped and turned to her. His eyes widened for a moment, surprise and slight apprehension shining in those bright eyes of his, before he smiled.

The woman narrowed her eyes.

"Mom!" The boy called back, dropping the knife and running to give her a hug. Deliah accepted without saying much, hugging back with all the motherly affection she could give in a single moment.

Then, bouncing on his feet with excitement, he told to her to wait as he rushed into their cabin before coming back out with a basket filled with two...green tomatoes?

"Mom, look!" Evel took one of the tomatoes and gave it to her, smiling all the while. The woman inspected the curious thing, wondering why the tomato was of the wrong colour. "You should try it! Something really cool's gonna happen!"

Again, Deliah raised an eyebrow at his words, but the boy was honest to a fault. So, swallowing her apprehension, she raised the tomato to her mouth and took a bite.

And,

You have gained the skill [Knife Mastery]!

Her eyes flew wide open.

"E-Evel, this is...!"

"Yep! I got the skill as well!" He said proudly, picking up the dropped knife and giving it a couple swings. "I...don't know how it works, but it works!"

"Evel, may I borrow the knife for a moment?" She asked. With a nod, the boy handed the knife to her. She gave it several swings, and just like any [Skill], her body moved instinctively, gripping and swinging the knife like she'd been doing so for several years.

"This is amazing..." She muttered silently, staring at the knife in no small amount of awe. "Evel, how did you do this?"

"Eh?" The boy blinked for a moment, before he coughed and explained. "Well, remember when mister Garnt came a couple weeks?" Deliah nodded, and he continued. "Well, when I was saved by mister Garnt, I remember how dad told me that animal corpses can be used as fertilizer, so I thought the goblin corpse was the same. So I buried the goblin at my field and planted a tomato on top of it!"

"I...I see." She said with a silent sigh. A farmer she might not be, but she knew that was certainly not normal. She'd never head of anything even remotely similar to this. Though this tomato obviously came about by absorbing the [Skills] of the deceased goblin, the 'how' remained unknown.

Then, she stopped.

Her husband was farmer, but he didn't grow as one. He was a knight, then an adventurer, before retiring with her to live the rest of his remaining life in this remote village. His [Farming] skill remained at level 2, which was to be expected of someone who merely adopted the skill.

But Evel? He was born to the skill, his very first one in fact.

[Farming], as deceptive as it sounded, was not an easy skill to level. Reaching level 2 wasn't all that difficult, but advancing beyond that required more than hard memory. It needed knowledge on the subject, both on the techniques and the plants themselves.

That, and most people wouldn't bother upgrading such a common skill.

However, Evel wasn't exactly uneducated, was he? Their cabin had books upon books on [Farming] techniques, and while her husband could never get the information to stick, their son certainly did, pushing his [Farming] to a grand level 3.

Could that be why? Did the 3rd level somehow grant the capability to absorb [Skills]?

It sounded absurd, but her husband was the definition of absurd, so having her son inherit it wasn't all that of a stretch.

"Mm, I think that last tomato can be yours, Evel."

"Really? Do you not want it?" He asked, confused why his mom was refusing such a chance.

She smiled. "I don't need it." She said vaguely, her eyes twinkling with amusement at his confusion. "But are there more of these tomatoes?" She asked back.

He tilted his head slightly, scratching the back of his neck. "Well...I did get some seeds from the first two tomatoes I ate, and I planted them already, but I don't know if they'll grow like before..."

She nodded. "Mm, then let us wait, shall we?"

A couple weeks went by, and the answer they found was no.

The magical tomato seeds Evel planted grew to be normal tomatoes, albiet slightly bigger than normal. The boy was understandably disappointed, saddened by the fact that he couldn't grow more of those magical tomatoes to get his [Knife Mastery] to its next level.

But Deliah wasn't worried. After all, this just meant that her boy needed more monster corpses to use as 'fertilizers', right?

Well, a seamstress she might be, but like her husband, her background was certainly not one of a normal housewife.

And like her husband, if it involved her wonderful little boy, then anything shall be done.