Silima walked through the gate opposite of Djin's and saw a commotion starting just near the city square. Nearly everybody in the town was circled up around something. She got closer and managed to bump into Griffit.

"Hey, what the hell is going on Griffit?"

The Rogue sighed and leisurely gestured to the center of the circle.

"Hanazure is trying to kill your recruit."

"WHAT?" Silima's gaze tore towards the center of the ring, there was Leon and Hanazure, and down about twenty paces was Djin. Leon seemed to be scolding Hanazure to no effect.

"What the hell is going on? I thought we wanted Djin in the guild, not in the grave!"

Griffit sighed again, it was becoming a bad habit.

"We do, but Hanazure's little insecurity issues got in the way. She talked big and the newbie didn't back down either. Now they're having a duel to see who was right and who was wrong. Stupid shit too, Hanazure is level 28, how is she going to lose to a level 8 player?"

Silima looked at Djin and hoped there was something he could do, she muttered... "He's level 10..."

Kreo saw the crowd forming and took the chance to get into town and the safety of the quest hall. Luckily no one paid him any attention, Djin's distraction worked like a charm! Whatever he did anyway. The quest hall was barren except for the NPCs, he walked up to the nearest one and accessed the menu.

Accessing...

Kreo fidgeted, it was taking a bit longer than usual.

Congratulations!

You have reached level 10!

You have unlocked the ability to create your signature skill!

Please take your time and consider the options presented. The signature skill you create is a permanent addition to your arsenal, while you may be able to adjust it in the future, it will retain most of it's original characterisitics.

If you are ready, please hit continue.

Kreo gulped. This was a defining moment for his character, the skill he got would be a foundation for the rest of his character to build upon. He took a few breaths, stretched, did some jumping jacks, slapped his face a bit, then he was ready. He touched the menu and a new screen loaded in front of him, full of cryptic images.

Please select five symbols that resonate with you the most.

The same symbol can be selected multiple times as well. Take your time and good luck!

Kreo stared at the grid of symbols... most were recognizable.. but to pick five of them and have them form a skill? What the hell? Kreo hit his head in frustration.

"Damnit... Djin, I need your help!"

Djin watched Hanazure as Leon bitterly walked to the sidelines. It was a heated argument but a short one, and it seemed as though Leon would be upset with Hanazure if this duel happened or not. The entire situation was playing out directly as Djin had hoped, now he can take a quick dive on the duel and call out Ashen Fury for bullying new players. Silima would step in at that point and be the one to reel in Djin after the others snapped the line.

Hanazure shouted over the din of the crowd towards him.

"Djin, I challenge you to a duel! Skill only, no levels, no stats!"

Djin paled a bit, this would put the two of them on an even playing field. Shit, if he lost now then his worth would plummet, he'd have to win or the plan that they came up with might fail. He accepted the duel prompt and a large screen appeared overhead.

Duel beginning in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Begin!

Djin quickly gathered mana to his palm and fired off a 6 missile Magic Barrage at Hanazure. She narrowly dodged the volley by diving to the ground, Djin didn't relent however. He fired off 1 or 2 missiles each cast, taking advantage of Magic Barrage's free missile perk he got at rank 5. Hanazure didn't have time to get up so she rolled to the side, frustrated at how dire her situation became.

Djin closed the distance, hoping to reduce how much time she had to react to his casts. Hanazure waited until he was within 15 feet before shouting out.

"Ice Pile!"

Djin felt the power pour out of her and into the air, he glanced up in time to see a humongous mound of snow coalesce above him. It started falling towards him while still increasing in size, it must've been nearly three tons of ice and snow. Djin frantically tried to push mana out of his body before the snow could cover him, but he was too late. The cold blanket smothered him completely, burying him at least 4 feet deep. Hanazure stood up and brushed dirt off herself as she sauntered over to the pile.

"Looks like even he couldn't stand up to my Sig. It'll be my win as soon as the cold damage does it's job, any moment now..."

The crowd watched as Hanazure gloated next to the pile of ice, Silima prayed that Djin could find a way out of this and still win, but it all seemed too dire. The ice and snow wouldn't melt, not as long as Hanazure maintained the spell, it was a strong spell for immobilizing and damaging minions, but it didn't have much effect on stronger enemies. Minutes passed and Hanazure started to get pissed that the duel was still in progress.

"The hell is going on in there, is he casting healing spells on himself?"

She started walking around the pile, looking if Djin had tunneled out. Then she started kicking and digging in spots where she thought she saw him... eventually her patience ran out...

"Release." she said, and the snow and ice immediately began to melt away into nothing. The crowd looked, Silima looked, Leon looked, and Hanazure frowned...

"Oh shi-"

An enormous fireball flew out at Hanazure and hit her chest dead center. It lingered there for a moment, as though it wasn't aware that it's only purpose in this world was to explode, then it finally remembered.

BOOM!

The force of the explosion blew Hanazure backwards, she was charred from head to toe and hit the ground like a ragdoll, rolling another fifteen feet before she finally came to a stop. A pop-up declared Djin the winner, but no one even noticed it, they were still staring at Hanazure... wondering if it was in fact possible for someone to die during a duel. After a few seconds she started to shimmer and all the damage on her vanished, she stayed on the ground though... a bit shell shocked. Leon felt bad for her but he sprinted over to Djin.

"Djin, that was incredible! What did you do? How were you in her skill for so long?"

Djin was sitting, but as Leon started talking he stood up.

"Didn't know what her skill was going to do at first, thought I might be able to blow it up. As it got closer I realized that there was nothing I could do to it that would save me so I just held my spell in my hand."

Djin started walking over to Hanazure and Leon followed, he continued.

"So I was hit by Ice Pile but it didn't do a lot of damage on impact. I started to get cold though and saw that the damage was getting worse, but I still had it in my hand. The fireball, you know? So I made it bigger and it kept me warm, but it didn't melt the snow. I just kept it there and fed it mana, it stayed cool because of her skill and because of that the mana made it larger but not hotter."

Djin had reached Hanazure now and he crouched down next to her.

"So I had a gigantic, slow burning fireball heating my front and freezing snow chilling my back, just waiting really. I was almost out of mana to sustain the spell, when I saw sunlight and her face, and I just let loose. I never expected the effect to be so big, there was probably some more forces at work than just hot and cold... maybe her own mana in the snow was helping me compress my fireball... hmmm..."

Leon stood there speechless, was that it? Was it all just a lucky fluke that let him win the duel? Djin waited next to Hanazure for a minute, not saying anything, just waiting for her to get up. She stayed down though, conciously choosing to avoid having to talk to him.

Djin got up and shouted over his shoulder as he walked to the quest hall.

"Sorry Leon, but I don't think I'd be a good fit with your guild, Silima and Aeleo seemed nice but your group has some issues to work through."

Leon wanted to argue the point but couldn't think of anything to say. Djin was gone and Hanazure was slowly getting up, still shaken. She stood and looked at Leon.

"It wasn't just luck..." she said.

Leon looked at her, she was muttering under her breath.

"Speak up Hana, what are you talking about?"

She turned to Leon and looked him in the eyes.

"Leon, you can't just hold a spell in your hands. When you cast it, it happens! If I hold out my hand and say Fireball then it would shoot out a fireball! It doesn't put it in my hand and ask me when I want to use it, I can't start filling it with mana like a water balloon! I don't know what he did, I don't know what skill he has, but it's not normal."

Leon thought about that, thought about the fight, then he asked...

"Wait, did you hear him say any spells when he cast?"

Djin felt good, he WAS lucky to have won the duel like that, he'd have to look into what made his Fireball so damn powerful too, he felt bad for her. It was like a tank shell went off when it detonated, incredible. Just before Djin entered the quest hall he caught Silima looking at him and gave her a curt nod. She returned it before walking over to where Leon and Hanazure were talking, she didn't see Griffit anywhere though.

"What the hell is going on? Where is Djin and why were you dueling him?"

Silima put on a front to play her part, and it worked splendidly. Leon immediately turned to her to ask for help.

"Silima! Good, it's a bit to explain right now but we hit a rough patch with Djin but from what Hana says we could use him more than ever. Can you please go talk to him and convince him to join the guild? Make whatever promises you need to, just get him!"

The sheer desperation in Leon's voice was very unbecoming, in fact Silima had not seen Leon in such shambles ever since she had met him. She was prepared to push on them a bit more for screwing up the recruitment that she had sabotaged from the beginning, but the spark flickered out of her. She could only nod at Leon before turning around to listen to their talk while pretending to scan the area. Leon turned to Hana and gestured for her to continue.

She stuttered a bit but went on.

"Right so... I hadn't noticed it until recently, when the duel changed my stats temporarily, but mana feels different in the body. I think there's more to it than just being a number, and I think Djin can control it already."

Leon nodded at her.

"Right, what about you? You're one of my strongest casters, what can you do?"

Hana stammered at that, this was all fresh to her, and she didn't even think it was possible until the duel.

"Well, I... I can feel it a bit more now inside me. I'm... well it's like I'm trying to clench my gut, but it's a different muscle? It's like a muscle that I've never used before, or a thought I've never had. It's so... foreign, ya know? I guess that makes sense, since it's a game mechanic and all."

Leon concurred with her.

"Makes sense to me, wonder how Djin got so good with it... maybe he can use magic in real life!"

The two laughed at that and Silima took the moment to set off to the quest hall to meet with Djin.

It didn't take long for Djin to find Kreo, he was combing through quests and the place was still mostly empty. People were filing in fast after Djin though, he'd been stopped twice on his way to the building and he was sure other people were thinking of ways to approach him.

"Kreo, let's go grab an empty room."

Kreo looked up from the menus, caught Djin's suggestion and nodded. The two of them grabbed one of the private break rooms and relaxed inside. Kreo brought up a menu with some food and drink on it.

"You know that the meals are supposed to taste pretty good in the game right? Apparently play testers suggested to Lucky Day to keep memories of how things taste in game locked up so people wouldn't be upset when they had to actually eat to survive."

"Yeah but it's getting close to when we need to log so we can actually eat. Wouldn't you rather just wait?"

Kreo looked up from the menu and then back down at it.

"It's not going to matter, but I'd like to try the food at least."

He tapped two items on the menu and hit confirm, then passed it to Djin, who glanced at it before tapping one item and confirming.

"Alright pleasantries asi-"

KNOCK KNOCK

"Ah, food's here already!"

Kreo leapt up from his chair and grabbed the door handle, he opened it and saw a large closet space and a dining cart waiting. He pulled the cart inside and shut the door.

"Gotta admit, it's pretty nice being able to get food the moment you pay for it!"

"Yeah Kreo, it's called fast food... or even a buffet." Djin grumbled, but he grabbed the platter with his name on it.

Kreo had his two dishes as well, he pulled the lids off and the aroma burst through the room. Before him was a large sheppards pie, and he had scalloped potatoes smothered with cheese to go with it. Djin smelled Kreo's dish and instantly felt deeply hungry, a hunger that did not exist at all just a minute ago.

"Ah damn... this... this could be addicting. My entire meal barely cost 3 silver too!"

Kreo grabbed his fork and knife and dug in, Djin just removed the cover to his own dish. A rich scent emerged from within, Djin had ordered curry with rice and it came with two fried chicken cutlets and some naan bread. He grabbed his spoon and took a bite, it was incredible.

"Wow, I can see why they wanted to keep this seperate from the real world, it tastes absolutely incredible. This kind of thing would be a binge eaters dream!"

Kreo couldn't be bothered to stop eating to agree. The two dined for the next few minutes and as they finished their meals, they felt themselves begin to feel pleasantly full. A pop-up informed Djin that he had received a "Well-fed" buff for the next five hours.

"Ah man, I couldn't eat another bite. That's amazing."

Kreo pat his stomach with sastisfaction. Life was good for now. They sat there for a moment, just reflecting on their meal and sipping their drinks. Djin broke the silence after a decent time.

"So... you did it right?"

Kreo sighed while reclining in his chair, gazing at the ceiling.

"Yeah... I got mine."

Djin waited, but Kreo seemed content to make him wait. He pressured him a bit more.

"Come on dude, what'd you get? You know I won't show you mine if you don't show me yours."

Kreo chuckled at that.

"Heh, why you gotta make it sound gay?"

He pushed a few items on his menu before flicking the screen over to Djin.

Signature Skill - A Healthy Ambition (Passive)

Your critical hit damage is increased based on the percent of your current health.

Critical damage dealt while at full health will grant a temporary shield to absorb damage.

Djin let out a low whistle.

"Damn dude, that's insane!"

Kreo was a bit taken back by Djin's reaction.

"I thought it was pretty good, if I can manage to keep myself topped off then it'll pay off decently."

Djin chuckled.

"Kreo, what was the first achievement you got?"

"Super Healthy, what's that got to... do... oh... OH SHIT!"

The realization hit Kreo like a ton of bricks, would it work like that? Kreo looked to Djin who just shrugged.

"We can see, I'd say at the very least to hold off on investing points into Endurance."

"Ah... yeah... shit. I've already spent all my stat points though."

"...how bad is it Kreo?"

Kreo stalled, he tried to think of something to say but it was useless...

"I already put a lot of points into endurance... I thought that if you were going to be the bad-ass mage, that I would need to be the bodyguard, the tank, to give you time to cast."

Djin sighed but patted Kreo on the shoulder.

"Your healthy heart was in the right place Kreo. It's not that many points, we're only level 10, and it's not like extra health is ever a bad thing."

"Yeah, until it costs you thousands of damage..." Kreo mumbled, but he wasn't too upset.

"Well, I'll just have to create a healing potion to dramatically overheal you and we'll be all set!"

"Sigh... you don't always have to do that you know?"

Djin gave Kreo a puzzled look, Kreo continued.

"I mean, you don't have to give everyone answers to problems, you did it with Silima and now you're doing it with me. What if we end up being competitors with her? With each other?"

Djin laughed and mocked Kreo.

"Am I supposed to feel threatened by that?"

Kreo slammed the table.

"ENOUGH DJIN, I KNOW IT ALREADY! FUCK!"

"Whoa... Kreo, easy I didn't mean anything-"

"Yes you did! Fuck Djin, you're always like this with your superiority complex, you can become real condescending with it too. Maybe you mean well but the longer you go the worse you get. You think it's helpful to throw down every piece of a puzzle except the last one and nudge us to finish it ourselves? That's not letting figure it out, that's coddling me until I feel stupid for not seeing it already. If you figure something out, just say it, that's all."

Kreo stopped his rant and took a breath. Djin waited for him to continue and when he didn't Djin spoke up.

"Sorry..."

Kreo sighed.

"No, I'm sorry dude, I know you're just trying to help and I get-"

"No, Kreo, I mean it... I'm sorry."

Kreo looked at Djin and nodded.

"Well it's about time for you to go get your Sig right?"

Djin groaned.

"Is everyone really going to be calling it that? A sig? I get that Signature Skill is a mouthful, but surely there's a better idea than 'Sig' right?"

"If you want to make it a goal of yours to get everyone to change the slang we use for Signature Skill, be my guest."

Djin stood up, he nodded to Kreo.

"Then it looks like my goal is set, I will end the use of the word 'Sig' as a substitute for the term Signature Spell or I will die trying."

Djin took up a heroic pose and Kreo groaned again.

"Get the fuck out of here, go get your 'Sig' already!"

Djin bowed with a flourish and turned to the door, as he walked through it he started muttering to himself...

"Maybe another part of Signature... Igna... Natu, Ture? Hmmm maybe another language..."

Once the door closed and Kreo wasn't able to hear, his tone shifted. Djin stood there in the hall, clenching his fists.

"...Fuck... FUCK. FUCK YOU KREO! You think I WANT to have to coddle your stupid fucking ass? You think a passive skill is going to be any fucking good when you literally have no other abilities? So sorry if I tried to make the best out of the situation, sorry if I tried to turn a shitty skill into a good one! SORRY FOR EVER GIVING A SHIT ABOUT A FUCKIN IDIOT LIKE YOU!"

Djin's shout was loud but no one is the hallway, and even if someone heard him, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a player to act up. Ordinarily no one would notice, but Silima did as she sat in the quest hall waiting for Djin. She let it go though, everyone fought afterall.

Djin didn't notice her, he fumed still and he walked with a clouded head. He got up to the counter and accessed the menu available.

Congratulations!

You have reached level 10!

You have unlocked the ability to create your signature skill!

Please take your time and consider the options presented. The signature skill you create is a permanent addition to your arsenal, while you may be able to adjust it in the future, it will retain most of it's original characterisitics.

If you are ready, please hit continue.

Djin breathed in deep before pressing the screen.

Please select five symbols that resonate with you the most.

The same symbol can be selected multiple times as well. Take your time and good luck!

The grid of symbols came up in front of him, various shapes and concepts portrayed with drawings... and beneath that was some extras...

"Hmmm... additional achievements... looks like..."

Grid brought up his achievements from his character screen.

Achievements: Grand Achievement - First Elemental Mage Achievement - First to discover Holy Magic Grand Achievement - First Enchantment Grand Achievement - First Alchemist! Grand Achievement - First Perfected Brew Achievement - Groundskeeper

"Well I can connect the elemental mage one pretty simply... the enchantment achievement, maybe the crystal ball. The holy magic... must be the trophy or maybe that's the groundskeeper achievement. Wait, why is there only five? I have six achievements!"

Djin continued to mumble to himself, but Silima's skill wasn't turned off and she nearly spit out her drink when she heard him.

'SIX ACHIEVEMENTS? How the hell does he have six achievements? He's just now getting his Sig!'

Silima kept her thoughts inside though, she had some self-control... unlike the person she was listening in on.

Djin continued to himself...

"Okay so there are two bottles and I have two alchemy achievements..."

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

Djin ignored the players in the quest hall, he had to focus on this, this is what mattered right now.

"Let's assume I can't differentiate between the two, it'd be pointless to try. Maybe the best option is to make all of the bonus symbols into my skill... Yeah, let's go with that."

Djin selected each of the five symbols at the bottom, leading with the Elemental Mage symbol.

Please confirmed your selection.

Djin hit the affirmation.

Choices acknowledged.

Processing...

Unable to process. Escalating to higher authority.

Processing...

Unable to process. Escalating to higher authority.

Processing...

"Aw shit, I hope this isn't a bad thing."

Zo was reviewing the most recent events and looking over the newly created player list when he received a high-priority signal to resolve an issue. He sighed and brought it up.

"Unable to create a Signature Skill? That's a first... All-in had made that system perfectly... let's see what's going on. Ah, a player is trying to use only bonus achievements to create the skill? That is indeed unique... what are my options here."

Zo leaned back in a dark red recliner, he looked out over his domain.

"If only I could see this players I.D., but only All-In would be given that permission. Should I just kick it up to her? Nah, she'd just correct it and make it boring. Well, I am the supposed to create chaos and evil or something... let's go with the chaos part. I think I have just the idea...

Signature Skill - +1 (Passive)

You have been given a 1. Put it anywhere you want, any stat, any skill, any item.

You may only move the 1 once per week.

You may not put the 1 in your level.

"Looks good to me, All-in wanted the bonus achievements to augment the Signature Skill, now it does!"

Zo cackled and sent the skill back to the player. Some more chaos in this world was always a good thing... he supposed.

Djin read the skill he got... then he read it again.

Djin read the skill about eight more times before he even started thinking about it.

"Fuck... I broke the game."