About secondary Skills:

A question my students and Students often ask me is what it takes to unlock secondary Skills.

Well, the answer is rather simple. You need a primary Skill at a sufficient level.

Of course, the truth is a bit more complicated.

There are several conditions to unlock a secondary Skill. The first being for a primary Skill to reach level twenty. For those who may have forgotten, primary Skills are Skills directly granted by a Class or basic General Skills one may acquire by practice.

The understanding of one primary Skill is what will truly allow the unlocking of a secondary Skill. It is rather easy to reach level twenty with time and practice, but any people wanting a secondary Skill need to have a good understanding of the primary Skill, or else they may need to wait for a higher Skill level.

The secondary Skill granted upon reaching understanding and at least level twenty of a primary Skill depends on numerous factors. Those are still subject to debate to this day, but the specialists tend to gather around three hypotheses. The need, the want, and the random.

People may receive a Skill they need at the moment to survive or to thrive. They may receive a Skill they desire or one allowing them to get what they want. Or they may receive a Skill at random but still related to the primary Skill.

I personally believe it is some kind of a mix between the three.

Most secondary Skills can also be acquired as primary Skills, but of course, it means that those Skills won’t be acquired through normal means. This is usually seen as a good thing, as it allows people to get more Skills, but secondary Skills have the possibility to be stronger than primary Skills.

Evidently tertiary Skills and so one exist too, but they are immensely hard to unlock. A tertiary Skill needs for the associated primary Skill to reach level forty and secondary Skill level twenty, at minimum, adding to that an even greater understanding of the two Skills. I’ll let the readers deduce what is necessary for quaternary Skills and so forth.

As I said, a secondary Skill may be acquired at level twenty of a primary Skill or at a higher level. In truth, those Skills are unlocked at the moment one reaches the required level and a simple understanding is needed to get the secondary Skill. This means that if a person reaches the understanding level of their primary Skill at level thirty-five of the Skill, they will get their secondary SKill at that moment. It does directly impact the acquisition of tertiary Skills, if not for the meager probability for someone to reach sufficient comprehension of their primary Skill ffor a secondary one at such a late level to get the necessary understanding at the minimum levels required for the tertiary Skill.

Also, no someone managing to reach level hundred in a Skill without truly understanding it will get secondary Skill. But such feet of both talent and incompetence are far less encountered than people understanding their Skills.

Most people end up with four or five secondary Skills and no tertiary Skills as they tend to lack the need to reach a high level or a real understanding. Peaceful life in a secured area does not lead to the need for greatness. Everyone knows that adversity is what leads to grandeur.

Examples of secondary Skills for a classic Swordsman’s Skill such as the ‘Fast strike’ Skill would be ‘Double strike’ or ‘Hidden strike’, those two Skills can also be unlocked as primary Skills, but will allow the Swordsman (or Swordswoman) to pick up a new Skill at the next threshold of their Class.

While ‘Fast strike’ could also unlock Skills such as ‘Lightning strike’, it is far rarer as this Skill never appears as Primary for an unevolved Class such as Swordsman. It usually requires a speed or magic-based evolution.

Professor Tirtonius Frotnam,

Casin’s Imperial Academy.

23rd of Ryol, 1225 KC.

---

It had been free days since the start of the new month, Silvia was excused from work and Damian would have like to be able to rest too.

The arrival of a new slave to be used as a test subject for their boss had shaken the two assistants. It was not only the fact that Mikhaïl would casually torture this poor soul as he had done with the first, it was also the fact that ‘test subject number two’, as the Alchemist referred to her, was someone the two slaves knew.

She was named Sofia and was barely older than Silvia at twenty-two. The young Human woman had been made a slave to the bandits at the same time as Damian’s younger peer. But she had refused to bend her will and had suffered the consequences of her actions. After her failed training she had served as relief for the most violent and pervert of bandits at Madame Jezza’s establishment.

Now her broken body was beyond the capacities of the healing potions the brothel manager was ready to use. The woman deemed her too costly for what little money she brought in. So she had been gifted to Mikhaïl to serve in the lab as per the Beorn’s agreement with the bandits’ leader.

Damian looked at the sorry girl, she had never been a beauty with her too-big nose, crooked teeth, and wide shoulders, but she wasn’t that ugly either. She had had well-formed breasts and delicate arms and legs. But that was before, now her body was limped and she could not use her ill-healed members to feed herself, bent and weakened as they were.

The Gardener was sorry for Sofia, but he was rather relieved to not be in her place. He would need to make himself invaluable to Mikhaïl if he wanted to survive, and that passed mainly by taking good care of the Beorn’s fucking plants. Damian hated those plants.

As he was feeding and washing Sofia, Damian saw in her eyes that she was terrified of what would happen to her now. It surprised him, he was expecting her to be as unresponsive as Akim. But no, the new girl still had a will to live, and her gaze was filled with fear and hatred. Damian could relate to that, but not completely understand it, he had not been used as the lesser sex-slave of the camp for almost a year.

In a way, seeing that the girl’s mind was still unbroken terrified and shamed Damian. That was a testimony of will and bravery he could not even dream to have. Maybe he would have helped the previous alchemist if he had seen the look in this woman’s eyes before. But with Mikhaïl in command now, and Silvia so loyal to him? Damian was too afraid for his own life.

Thinking of Silvia and Mikhaïl at the same time reminded the Gardener of the Slave reaction when Sofia had been brought in with the supplies for the week. The girl had first been elated to see someone from her previous life joining her in the alchemy lab, she had started telling Sofia how great it was to work for ‘Sir’ Mikhaïl and that she was going to be happy here.

But the Alchemist had stoped her babbling fast. Sofia was not here to become the Beorn’s third assistant, she was to be his second test subject. Damian was glad that neither he nor Silvia was considered test subjects, he had been terrified when he had to eat some of the plant’s parts. He still had nightmares of that day.

When she had understood what would happen to Sofia, Silvia had been shocked. When he had seen she was silently crying but still carrying her orders, Mikhaïl had given the girl a day off to put her mind back into working shape.

That had been three days ago and the girl still wasn’t able to work. Mikhaïl was starting to grow angry at her and Damian was doing his best to calm the Beorn. He didn’t want the man to punish Silvia. He wasn’t sure if that was only because it could lead to him being punished too or simply because working alongside the young woman was more agreeable than without her. Did Damian grow a sense of camaraderie for the Slave girl? He wondered at times.

So the Gardener had taken over Silvia’s tasks of taking care of the two unluckiest slaves in addition to his own more plant oriented duties.

Maybe if he worked hard enough he could get a day off too sometime. He would try to get in touch with Massim’s old contacts and work to undo the bandits. But he would need to be careful, the old alchemist had been betrayed by Silvia, Damian would need to be wary of the girl.

Those were strange feelings Damian had, did seeing Sofia’s determination to remain free of spirit, if not of body, had gave him courage? Or was it simply a fantasy on which he would never act?

---

Mikhaïl looked at Damian as he was cleaning the new test subject.

At first, he had been bothered to see the physical state she was in. Such a degraded body would not do well for his experiments. But when he saw she still had a will to live and to be free the Mad Alchemist knew she would be useful.

He would start be reproducing on her the experiments he had done on Akim, the first test subject. And if her spirit lasted longer then he could finally start experimenting with the plant’s poison.

After a month of extracting the substance from different parts, he finally had enough to conduct real tests with those and would still have some in stock.

As for Akim, Mikhaïl looked at the man and decided to conduct a final experiment on him. One that would show Mikhaïl if he’s treasured plant was as malignant as he thought.

---

Bazil’s heart would have jumped in its chest if it still had either of those. As delicate as they were when handling the sentient plant, its captors moved faster than its time perception. That led to it always being surprised when they touch it and having the impression to be extremely roughly manhandled.

Every time this happened, Bazil did its best to focus its senses on the man touching it. It tried to get ways to recognize him, the plant was incapable of sight or real earing. But it had some smelling and tasting capabilities, mainly they served for recognizing the quality of nutrients in the soil and phytohormones. Bazil tried its best to get the scent and smell of the fucker who had cut its dicktatoes.

But this time, contrary to the usual, the sentient plant was not deposited back in its planter with fresher fertilizer. Well, it was the case, but something else was there.

Bazil’s roots had been coiled around something big, soft, and warm. It was kind of like the bits of flesh the plant had been fed on numerous occasions but warm. Warm and twitching. Had Bazil been fed a living being? It knew its captors were mad and evil and all that, but it didn’t expect this from them.

Not knowing what it was and was expected from it, the sentient plant let its instincts lead it. It would be more inconspicuous this way. The Growth Skill didn’t seem to mind, it was growing roots in every direction and had always followed the path of more nutrients and water. Bazil let the Skill start before deciding to boost it a little, it wasn’t about to complain if it was provided with a victim to torment itself.

It was kind of disappointing though. The first person Bazil would get to kill itself would be some poor soul just as much a prisoner as itself. It would have preferred for it to be an enemy defeated in battle.

[Hey!]

Hey! Perfect timing! Bazil’s considerations of what was happening were interrupted by Greeny’s salutation. The two of them had become much more casual in their exchange since the rules had changed. Three hours a day instead of two hours a week. It meant that the two were far less lonely and had much less to catch up. Bazil could therefore directly get to the heart of the matter.

What is it the crazy have put in my planter? It inquired.

[Well, remember the dude they dismembered and gave you pieces of?

That’s him.

He’s not dead, yet.

And that’s really gross.

Yew…]

Wow, they are true monsters, I’m almost tempted to let them live and serve me. Bazil thought for a second. But no, they did things to me I can not tolerate, they must pay.

[So, do you have any questions or are you ready to resume your language lessons?]

I’m fine. Lay the knowledge on me Sensei!

[Allright!]

Bazil could let its Growth Skill work by itself for the duration of its lesson, the sentient plant would take the lead later and grow its roots in the poor man’s lump of a body.