Chapter 17: The Change of Skills

Sila woke up only to realize that it was time for lunch.

At first, he had planned to just do some shopping and stuff. But as he had received a hidden quest, which made him stay online for an entire two days to complete.

Sila pulled the brain scanner off his head. The life-supporting capsule was then opened for him to get out.

Looking around, he found that there was a cold porridge on the table next to him. As he had experienced the physical exhaustion before, he took it to replenish his strength.

After he finished eating, Sila sat down and rested for a while, waiting for his body to regain strength.

Later on, he got up and headed to the physiotherapy room.

An hour passed as he was training his body. As the doctor said, it was true that the actual body could gain benefit from using a brain scanner. Sila could walk more leisurely now.

Now that Sila could walk normally, his mood was brightened. He was smiling mildly all the way back to his room.

As he opened the door, there was someone with a displeased face waiting for him.

“Oh? Varee. What business do you have here?” asked Sila.

Varee looked rather expressionless as she heard his words. She said, “mister Sila, you’re not keeping your promise.”

“What promise?” Sila confused.

“The promise that you would tell me or my dad about your playing time before logging into the game.”

‘Opps, I totally forgot that.’

As Sila hadn’t planned to stay inside the game for a long time at first, he hadn’t left a message to tell others about his playing time.

“Yesterday morning, my dad came to visit you and found that you’re online again. He told me to contact you but you blocked me. What’s this supposed to mean?”

“Erm, I was busy at that time. Next time I will tell you beforehand, okay?” said Sila without care.

“I see... Okay, then”

Varee gave him an odd smile as if she was planning something.

“Well, I will take my leave now. I only came to ask you about that. Oh, the doctor told me just now that your condition is getting better. You would have to stay at the hospital for only four to five more days. By the way, if you need something, just contact me in the game. Don’t forget to unblock my contact.”

Then, she left.

Sila was free and had nothing to do. He planned to log in again. This time, he didn’t forget to leave a message on the table next to his bed.

“To uncle, I will log out in another 3 days. – From Sila.”

He picked up six nutrient pills and threw them into his mouth. Next, he equipped a brain scanner and turned on a life-supporting capsule.

He was online again.

***

Sila woke up on a bamboo bed in a shabby-looking hotel room that was used to log out by many players. The cost for his stay was only 50 silver coins per night. No surprise that there was only a bed inside; no bathroom, no furniture, no refrigerator, no anything.

His main objective was still searching for Montra. Lucy had suggested him to visit Blue Pigeon guild’s information center to purchase such information. It would be better than him looking for Montra’s whereabouts without a clue.

However, there was one big problem: There was no branch of Blue Pigeon guild’s information center on Beginning Island. As Blue Pigeon guild evaluated that new players wouldn’t have much money and there was already Beginner Building here, expanding a branch here wouldn’t yield much profit.

Thus, Sila decided to leave Beginning Island. However, as soon as he had arrived at a harbor located at the north of the island, he discovered bad news.

The ship departed once a week, and the last departure was yesterday.

Sila reminded himself of the nameless elder’s advice and decided to train his skills while waiting for the next departure.

He used the Invitation Card to Bamboo Hut. However, upon arriving, his teacher immediately scolded him.

“Go practice by yourself. I’m not a babysitter.”

Since then, Sila had been practicing firing hidden weapons.

Later, he opened the System Window to check information about his avatar.

He recalled that he had to unblock every contact so he adjusted the setting.

Then, he spotted the status of Right Arm of the Sealed One that was changed into

[able to unseal.]

“Unseal.”

The usual system sound alarmed.

[The level of Unseal skill has been risen to level 16 … 17 ... 20.]

[Player Sila has gotten a hidden quest: Search for Lost Android Kingdom.]

Sila’s right arm was no different from before the unsealed state. It didn’t look like a golem-like arm anymore. Anyway, he got a hidden quest again.

Sila read the information regarding his new right arm on System Window.

[(S) Right Arm of the Sealed One [Error] *Please read more detail]

‘Error?’ Sila immediately looked for more detail.

[Detail of Right Arm of the Sealed One]

[S-graded psychic-typed weapon. While being processed, it detected that user has chosen to become qi-type creature so it became malfunction. If you wish to repair it, an esoteric technology from Lost Android Kingdom is required.]

[Cannot be unequipped.]

[All special skills have been replaced by qi-type skills as below:]

[Special skill: Laser Beam has been replaced by Special skill: Ray Assemble]

[Special skill: Black Hole has been replaced by Special skill: Worlds Crossing Bridge]

[Special skill: Magnet Gravity has been replaced by Special skill: Universe Momentum]

[Special skill: River Blade has been replaced by Special skill: Unblemished Aqua]

[Special skill: Vacuum Ball has been replaced by Special skill: Cruise Breeze]

[Special skill: Electromagnetic Field has been replaced by Special skill: God’s Cathedral]

[Special skill: Unseen Flame has been replaced by Special skill: Flame of Torturing]

[Special skill: Frozen Hydrogen has been replaced by Special skill: Freezing Soul]

Sila was dazzled by new skills’ description. He felt both joy and sorrow. Some of these skills had the similar ability to his old skills, while some were completely changed. These skills were like “Soundless” and “Qi Concealment” skills, they’re special skills that couldn’t be leveled up. Their powers were solely depended on user’s expertise.

The part that Sila regretted the most was the fact that Right Arm of the Sealed One was no longer able to guard against attack anymore. It’s now a part of Sila’s flesh and blood.

He presumed that golem-like appearance that could block attack was some kind of psychic-type ability. With that being gone, now he wouldn’t be able to use it to absorb magical attack anymore.

His idea to use this arm to compensate for his lack of “Qi of Little Turtle” was completely ruined.

Sila spent the rest of the day trying his newly acquired skills. His teacher was surprised when seeing that and inquired Sila how he had obtained these skills.

When Sila had finished his story, the old man didn’t say anything but suggested to Sila how to utilize all the skills.

Later, the morning had come, and his prepared steam buns were out of stock. Sila begged his teacher for food, but his teacher coldly rejected, saying this place wasn’t a free food center.

In addition, his teacher told him to practice outside, “you can’t keep self-training forever, actual combat experience is important too,” prior to kicking Sila out while telling Sila not to come back soon.

Sila also overheard his teacher’s murmur:

“If I knew having a disciple was this annoying, I wouldn’t take him as one. Buying a dog to pet would be better.”

***

There were still five more days for the ship to depart again. Sila didn’t have anything to do so he went to the restaurant and ordered some dishes to eat. He was bored and didn’t have a will to fight. His teacher had said that Great Millennium Ape he’d fought against was a highest-level qi-type monster on Beginning Island so he had lost his interest in this place already. (By the way, Sila hadn’t listened carefully that Great Millennium Ape was merely a ‘highest-level’ ‘qi-type’ monster on Beginning Island. That meant there's still magic-type and psychic-type monster that their level might be lower or higher than it, but level wasn’t the only factor that determined monster’s ability.)

‘Should I use this free time to visit Slime Kingdom?’

Sila wondered, but then shook his head to discard the idea. He didn’t know how long a Way of Slime’s ordeal would take. If it required more than a week to complete, he would miss another ship. Hence, it should be better for him to visit there after arriving at Main Continent.

As Sila had nothing to do, He leisurely spent his time sitting in the restaurant for almost half a day. Even the waiter now started to complain behind his back about him sitting here with just only one set of food.

Later, Sila sensed that he was being stared at. He looked around and found one table with three men and two women sitting together. Sila thought that some of them somehow looked familiar but he couldn’t remember exactly where and when he had met them.

The other side seemed to notice that Sila had already spotted them. A man who Sila felt the most familiar with stood up and walked toward him.

“Hi, I’m Tiger,” greeted the young man.

As the other side had introduced oneself and seemed to mean no harm, Sila replied, “I’m Sila.”

“So your name is Sila. I’m here to express my gratitude that you once helped me and Alice from Heaven Dragon’s guild members.”

Sila finally recalled this man, since he had fought against Heaven Dragon’s guild members only once. At that time, he had been focusing on Montra and Heaven Dragon guild so he almost completely ignored two people he had helped. Well, actually, he hadn’t in the least thought of it as helping them.

“No need to thank me. I have my personal grudge against Heaven Dragon guild anyway.”

“Well, do you mind if I ask you to join our table? I would like to introduce you to my friends,” Tiger asked politely.

Sila’s motto was that: if someone hurt him, he would hurt them back; but if they were nice to him, he would try to be nice to them in return. Thus, with Tiger being this polite, he didn’t know how to refuse and eventually walked to their table.

“Mister Sila, this is Alice whom you had already met. The other three are Aek and Tod, who are twins, and Jundtrathep. Everyone, this is mister Sila that I once told you guys about,” Tiger slowly introduced them.

Tiger was a short-haired, muscular guy, with a personality of a leader. He was wearing a full set of knight armor. Sila perceived that Tiger must be this party’s tanker (the position which responsible for taking the most damage from the enemy.)

As for Alice, she was a young fine woman with a cute face and a naughty grin. She was wearing lethal clothes and had a bow next to her. Sila guessed she must be a long-range attacker.

Aek and Tod were young men who could be considered quite handsome. They were wearing armor similar to what Tiger was wearing. Sila guessed they were a defense-based player like Tiger.

Lastly, Jundtrathep was a delicate pretty girl with wavy blonde long hair. She was wearing a magicians cloak. The item next to her was an ordinary two-metered long wooden wand.

Everyone started to chitchat, especially the twins who were pretty good talkers, whereas Jundtrathep didn’t talk much. Tiger would be the one who reminded them when the topic of the conversation began to be far off.

“Mind if I ask what you were planning to do next, mister Sila?” asked Tiger.

“Based on your looks, our age shouldn’t be very different. Just calling me Sila is fine,” Sila responded politely.

“Okay. Umm... I heard the waiter said that Sila had been sitting here for half a day. Can I ask if you’re waiting for someone?”

Varee’s face came to Sila’s mind for a brief moment.

‘But I didn’t have an appointment with her, did I?’

“No, I’m not waiting for anyone. I’m just waiting for the ship going to the Main Continent to depart.”

“Huh? Big brother Sila. Isn’t that quite too long to be waiting like this?” said Aek.

“Don’t you have something else to do?” asked Tod.

“No, I’m quite bored of this Beginning Island already,” answered Sila.

“Have you been everywhere on this island?” Tod continued to ask.

“No, I only have traveled to the west, at the place called Stone Forest,” Sila replied in an uninterested tone.

He couldn’t imagine that his words would be a shocking statement to everyone.

“Stone Forest!” Everyone shouted in disbelieve.

“Now you’re just bragging. There’s no way a Level 3 player could survive in Stone Forest,” rudely said Alice.

Tiger glanced at Alice as if he was scolding her for being discourteous. Then, he apologized to Sila and started to explain:

“She just meant that: nobody would travel to Stone Forest; as it is the territory of Great Millennium Apes, level 500 monsters, who don’t drop any item. In addition, upon taken them down, their boss in Knight Rank would appear. But it also didn’t drop anything except a useless S Grade item.”

Sila didn’t seem to mind Alice’s rudeness, “that’s it. I had been given a quest to find that thing so I went there and hunted it.”

Tiger didn’t further ask about the quest since he thought it might be Sila’s personal secret.

“So, big brother Sila is free now, right? Why don’t you come with us to Illusion Forest?” Ake invited Sila.

“We’re going to hunt for Elf Card and Plant Card there,” explained Tiger.

“Why don’t you just purchase them from Card Shop? I remember them being sold there,” asked Sila.

“We want to use them to change Alice’s and Jundtrathep’s race, which the cards that are being sold in Card Shop can’t do that as they’re already identified. We previously considered purchasing them from other players, but their cost is 10 gold coins each, and both races are required 5 cards for a player to perform race changing. Even worse, we need 30 of both of them in order to obtain an invitation card to each kingdom. We just can’t afford to pay that much,” explained Tiger.

Sila recalled his moment when he had changed into slime race.

‘Everyone in the game really knows about this race selection thing, huh?’

“We have already been there four times. But we only got 3 Plant Cards and 2 Elf Cards. If we’re lucky, hunting there another two rounds should make it,” said Tod.

“Originally, our party also consists of two damage dealers, but they’re busy today. Thus, as I comprehend that Sila should be able to dish out high damage; I think it would be great if you join us,” Tiger politely invited.

Sila gave it some thought. He had nothing to do anyway. “Well, I’m in.”

With Sila’s reply, everyone agreed to separately go around shopping what they needed first. They agreed to assemble again at the east gate of the town in next thirty minutes.

Sila purchased many food boxes from the restaurant and went to buy throwing daggers just in case (now he carried around 200 of them.)

Afterward, as he noticed that his remaining storage space was low, he went to upgrade his System Window to C grade for 100 more storage space. (Upgrading System Window to C grade required 50 gold coins together with a condition that player must have killed a monster in Knight Rank before.)

Sila also changed his System Window’s wallpaper into slime theme.

When he arrived at the appointed place, he found that Tiger’s team was already waiting for him.

Thus, they were all heading to Illusion Forest together like this.