Chapter 8

Skills came from many sources: crafted items, self-created, skill gems, and innate gifts. There were countless skills in the world, and of them all, innate gifts were the most likely to solve Keith’s problem.

Thinking this, Keith used his magic tablet to research his problem by browsing the magic network. With the magic tablet being a recent invention, people were still figuring out its uses, but some organizations already took advantage of the new technology. Of the many pages on the network, the mercenary guild’s page was just as popular as the auction house. It was there millions of adventurers discussed tactics, exchanged knowledge, formed parties, and asked questions.

However, Keith found it was much more than that.

As with many human organizations, the mercenary guild wanted to make money. What could have been a bastion of knowledge shared freely among humans was instead locked behind paywalls. Keith hadn’t explored the mercenary guild’s page in-depth before, but now that was he was, he was flabbergasted. They were making an ungodly amount of money!

For example, Keith found an info pack sold by the mercenary guild regarding the Rift he visited yesterday with his sisters, the Crimson Howler Den. It included information about all the monsters, their skills, loot, respawn times, geography, and farming tactics, all for the low price of 50 gold.

Adira had around 5,000 Rifts, and the mercenary guild sold info packs for every single one. Since the Crimson Howler Den was a lower leveled Rift, the cost was pretty cheap compared to some higher-level ones. Over 400 million humans lived in Adira, and if even just half the population bought an info pack now and then, the total amount of gold was staggering. That wasn’t even considering the other regions in the Human Domain.

Keith ran some calculations and immediately slapped his thigh. Whoever came up with this platform was a genius at making money, and since Keith now wanted to make as much gold as possible to fuel his Grimoire, he felt deeply inspired by this esteemed person.

Renewed with motivation, Keith began browsing another section of the mercenary guild’s page: the forums. In only an hour of research, he discovered many things. The one that baffled him the most was that Mana was considered a commodity in the business world!

One post made by a scholar in the forum had this to say, “Mana is both the catalyst for progress and a bottleneck. It is the resource that fuels everything. Crafting items, hatching monster pets, growing crops, war, casting skills, everything we do requires it. Even the magic network that shocked the world can’t run without Mana.

If an alchemist or blacksmith had access to infinite Mana, they could experiment without hesitation, advancing their craft to unseen levels. The same goes for every other profession, and this is why it’s a bottleneck. There isn’t enough Mana to go around. While there are items that generate Mana on their own, they are limited in number….”

The post went on for some time, expanding Keith’s knowledge several times over. After perusing other posts on the topic, Keith learned he wasn’t alone. Countless other people needed Mana as well. Thankfully, among his discoveries, there were several solutions, some more viable than others.

Among them was an item called a Mana Battery. Anyone could inject their Mana into the item and then sell it. When this item first appeared in the world, it caused quite a mess, with many criminal activities. The government quickly cracked down on this issue before it grew, but demons did the opposite. Keith learned demons in the Demon Domain turned their prisoners of war into Mana Slaves, a horrifying fate for anyone.

Regardless of its controversial uses, Keith couldn’t use this item to solve his problem. It was just too damn expensive. A quick search on the auction house showed a 10k Mana Battery selling for 1,000 gold, so he moved on to the following solution: Mana Workshops.

Once Keith read through what a Mana Workshop was, he found it to meet his needs perfectly. Among the many Mana Workshops in Adira, one stood above the rest. Keith went to its page on the magic network and learned about its owner, a level 300+ adventurer called Adeiv, the Contractor.

After learning about the ugly side of the Mana industry, Keith didn’t want to make money immorally, so before contacting them, Keith decided to look up Adeiv in the police database and found no criminal history. With everything pointing in the right direction, Keith sent a message to the Mana Workshop through its page.

From Adventurer K: Hello, I have two skills you might be interested in: Material Synthesis and Material Fragmentation. Both have no cooldown. Would you be willing to meet with me to discuss a potential partnership?

Although he was anxious, Keith thought he did a good job sounding professional. Now, all he needed to do was wait for a reply. He guessed it wouldn’t take long, as his two skills were natural moneymakers.

Indeed, a few hours later, Adeiv himself replied. Keith’s emotions spiked as he read the message.

From Adeiv: Hello, Mr. K. How could I not be interested? How does 5 pm at my business sound? Just walk in and inform the receptionist of your arrival. I look forward to working with you.

This was the first time he reached out to a high-level adventurer to conduct a business deal with such high stakes, so he felt both excited and uncomfortable at the same time.

Hoping the deal would work out, Keith looked at the time and found he had several hours to kill. After confirming the appointment, to be safe, he decided to ask his mom for advice before he left. Leaving his room, he found Elora and Annallee sitting on the ground against the wall outside his room.

Seeing Keith finally exit, the twins stood up as Annallee asked with a smile. “Well? Are you satisfied?”

“Yes!” Keith replied enthusiastically and summoned his Grimoire so his sisters could see. “It’s called the Collection Grimoire and-“

“Stop.” Annallee covered Keith’s mouth and reprimanded him. “Don’t share anything with us. Or anyone.”

“But we’re family,” Keith protested weakly. He’d already lost count of how many times he heard his teachers say not to share anything about your innate gift, yet Keith fully trusted his sisters and the rest of his family.

“It doesn’t matter!” Annallee shook her head. “Even if we don’t tell anyone, there are countless methods to make us. I can’t guarantee to keep my mouth shut if someone’s torturing me, and who knows what skills are out there to extract information?”

“Haha, no one is going to torture you.” Keith felt his sister was too cautious but reluctantly dropped the subject after seeing even Elora sharing a similar expression as her sister.

After checking up on Keith, the two sisters left without further questions, regardless of how curious they were. Sighing to himself, Keith found his mom in the living room reading a book. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow when he entered. “Well, well, well, look who finally left his room.”

“I was doing research,” Keith replied as he sat down next to his mom and informed her of his appointment with Adeiv without going into detail about the mechanics of his innate gift.

Mariane listened silently, barely reacting when Keith mentioned the two skills he now possessed, merely letting out a slight nod without asking any questions. After he finished his explanation, he asked, “Do you have any advice?”

Mariane pondered for a moment. “Those two skills are too famous and might bring out ulterior motives in others, so you’ll need to conceal your identity. What grade is your warding ring?”

“Legendary-grade,” Keith answered as he rubbed a ring on his hand.

[Legendary] Warding Ring

Description: Passively blocks inspection-type skills below level 300.

“That isn’t good enough,” Mariane said as she withdrew a purple ring from her inventory and handed it over to Keith. “Use this from now on.”

[Mythic] Warding Ring

Description: Passively blocks inspection-type skills below level 400. If a skill bypasses the ring’s protection, the user will still detect it.

Keith gasped as he looked at his mom with concern. “Are you sure? Don’t you need one?”

“Bah,” Mariane waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll just get another. Don’t worry about it.”

Keith briefly considered using this chance to cast Inspect on his mom to see her level and stats. He’d always wondered what his mom’s status looked like, as she always answered vaguely whenever he asked. In the end, he decided not to, as he didn’t want to damage her trust in him.

A moment later, Mariane also withdrew a blank white mask and tossed it over. “This thing can change your appearance. You might as well keep it now that you’re an adult.”

Keith’s heart warmed as he inspected the mask’s properties, instantly knowing how useful it was.

[Legendary] Mask of Deception

Description: The mask can change between 10 preset faces at the user’s command. No mana cost. No cooldown.

“Thanks for the help,” Keith said as he leaned over and gave his mom a side-hug. After a tight embrace, he stood up and returned to his room, deciding to put together a persuasive argument as to why Adeiv should work with him.