I wake up and it is still night. I am not feeling like myself since I've set foot on the road. I'm anxious to get back to the Syrup Meadow. I sent Shraaizar escorting the monkeys and goblins back south, but what if they are found by humans or a stronger monster appears? I can't even worry too much or I'll jinx something. Like triggering a crusade flag.

I get off the wagon without waking up the girls. Outside is cold as heck, but I don't care because of the water mastery skill. Everyone is resting, apparently. Mittens noticed me and tilted his head.

"Shh. Don't wake up Helen. Here, have some meat." I literally bribed my bride's pet to keep it silent.

There is nothing to do, so my only choice is to mess up with the status. There are some sections in the options I never access.

Skill Fusion, Skill Evolution. They are not grayed out so there might be something to do there. I could fuse some appraisal skills. It is ridiculous to have this many skills to do basically the same thing to slightly different things. And merchants get [Appraisal (trade goods)] that covers all of them. I don't believe the System was designed to be this way, but there are millennia of abuse and skipped maintenance. According to Zahariel, the original heroes were the designers of the system. It is obvious they drew inspiration from several Earth games and other media, like comics and animated series. Or blatantly plagiarized, if you want precision. I'm sure this rock is out of copyright jurisdiction anyway.

Skill evolution has only one entry. [Status Conversion UP], the Super Villager skill that increases the amount of stats retained from inactive jobs. It is not much but piles up, especially if you develop an inactive job to a medium to high level. I'm getting a +3 to all stats from the villager job, for example.

Evolving a skill requires the sacrifice of a skill of the same category. The status category. What other skills I have that affect status? Only one.

Emperor's Might. The SS skill from the golden ticket. That suspicious floating head kid that allegedly 'gave' me this Loot Crate Maniac bugged skill. Honestly, it gave me more hurt than harm. Not to mention I'd probably get something else in its place and it would not mess up with the ability to turn human or lock down the other special skills.

The scavenger hunt I needed to do to unlock my last two uniques was absurd. Eat humans, eat a job crystal, infiltrate the guild...

Emperor's Might is a one-trick pony. A one trick pony with a Sure Kill kick if it hits. But it is a trick that wouldn't work if used on me, for example. I'd just proc [Full Evasion] and dodge the heck of the attack once I hear the activation chant. Anyone that knows what the skills do would save a defensive skill to use versus me.

The evolved form of Status Conversion... Probably something related to inactive jobs and their stats. A stronger version. From the looks of it, there are lots of jobs to unlock and train. And the bonus is not only to strength. It would make me stronger across the board. Prowess, Agility, and Magic. For both offense and defense purposes.

And there is the fact that it is a skill hidden under an unattainable job for normal people. Developers usually leave unbalanced things hidden in these places. Because game balance these days is all about nerfing stuff once people start to complain.

The success chance is listed as 100%. Helen said that the problem of evolutions is the chance of failure. You lose the skill by attempting. But the rewards are worth the loss if it is a skill you can retrain easily.

"..."

I don't know If I should perform this evolution or not. A one trick pony trump card is still a trump card, even if its origins are shady. But it is already locked in its growth. Getting more out of inactive jobs, on the other hand, could grow indefinitely.

I don't even know if jobs have a level cap. Is there any lv 999 villager out there?

But it is a decision I don't have to do now. I'll postpone the choice for later, once I have more information.