Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

The second floor of the dungeon didn't look or feel particularly different than the first. However, the knowledge of how dangerous it was for me gave it an eerie atmosphere that was hard to brush off. I felt incredibly tense. Unlike the standard goblins, the ones down here had skills. Not only that, but their skills were varied and seemingly random, like the skills of humans.

This made them not only stronger and more dangerous, but also more unpredictable than the first floor goblins. I hadn't come down here much, but the few times I had, I'd never managed to kill a goblin, and had always barely escaped with my life. 

I chuckled dryly as I considered my situation. Instead of running away, now, I had to coerce them into attacking me so I could copy their skill. 

I stopped in my tracks.

Um…

How do I copy their skill, exactly? The old man didn't really explain it very well…

I considered the possibilities. It could be that the card has to be struck with the skill in order for it to work. However, this would mean getting in close range to a fatal attack, which I wasn't a huge fan of, especially if it was a ranged skill. Maybe if it touched the caster as they were using the skill it would work? If I remembered correctly, the specific verbiage the old man used was 'when it encounters a mana signature'. 

But what the hell was a mana signature? Where would I find one? Dammit, old man, you should have explained this to me if you were going to send me off with it and nothing else…

Ah. Wait a moment.

With my high mana sensitivity, there was something that only I'd noticed. It was a phenomenon that hadn't been researched, since the only people who knew about it were myself and the people I'd told. But whenever someone used a skill, there would be a little trace of mana that lingered afterwards.

Was this the signature? If I touched the card to that little bit of mana, would it copy the skill? I think this is my best bet.

I continued forward, knife in hand. Before coming, I'd checked out the Jokers, looking them over. I counted one hundred and twenty. This meant I could copy one hundred and twenty skills. And considering there were ways for them to be removed, according to the old man, I could copy any and every skill I wanted. This meant…

I needed to find S-Rank hunters. If I could go on a raid with one of them, and witness their skill being used, I could potentially copy it and, with time, obtain access to every S-Rank skill in existence. 

Well, there was still a problem, there. One that I hadn't really considered. Once I copied a skill, how would it activate? Skills required mana to be used, and that wasn't something I had abundant access to. It was unfortunate.

Mana doesn't work like in books and games, where it's a resource that exists within you which can be cultivated. Instead, we have to draw our mana out from 'somewhere'. Nobody, at least that I know, has the knowledge of the source of our mana. However, the fact remains that it's borrowed power. 

Every human being who awakened was granted a 'Gate' by the human god. It was very strange to adapt to at first, since it felt similar to obtaining a new limb. However, I couldn't feel the limb in space. It existed somewhere I couldn't sense. Regardless, the gate was inside of me, and I could draw mana out from it.

The differences in people's gates is what allows certain hunters to access more or less mana. Those with large, durable gates can access tons of it, and fast. They can be thought of as having a huge pit for a gate.

On the other hand, my gate can be thought of as the size of the eye of a needle. I could only trickle mana through it. 

So, if the card's activation requires my gate for use, it could be quite dangerous for me. If it kept trying to pull too much mana from my gate, it could damage it and maybe even kill me. It didn't matter, though. I'd have to try. Otherwise, I had nothing. Besides, if the old man wanted me to do a job for him, I doubted he'd give me a weapon that would kill me.

Anyway, the thought of using powerful skills was thrilling. However, in order for me to get back into a powerful party, I'd need to strengthen myself significantly to prove my value. Not only that, but I needed the strength to protect my only weapon. Currently, it was both my greatest strength and my greatest liability.

I carefully maneuvered through the halls of the maze as I pondered. Even though I'd rarely been here, I'd still memorized the path. I was a very careful hunter. Even on the second floor, I knew which paths were more or less typically taken by goblins. I was hoping to just encounter one.

Unfortunately for me, when I finally found what I was looking for, there wasn't just one. Nor were there two. Three goblins. Three fucking skill-powered goblins noticed me and instantly charged to attack.

God fucking dammit.

Three were way too much. I wanted to turn around and start running, but having my back to these three could very likely be deadly. If one of them had a ranged skill, and I didn't see it coming, then I'd be thoroughly fucked. I needed to get back to the first floor, though. 

I also considered which of us would be the superior navigator. Living here, the goblins probably know the layout of this place just as well as I do, so outmaneuvering them was out of the question. 

I walked backwards as I prepared my battle stance. I only had one choice here. I pulled three cards out of the deck and held them between my fingers. I had to copy a skill. Maybe, with that, I could push them back enough to escape. Plus, it would give me the chance to figure out their abilities. If all of them were slow, and without any ranged skills, I could definitely just run away. However, if they were faster than me and could shoot at me from a distance, then no way.

There was one way in which fortune was on my side. This particular passage was narrow enough that only two of the goblins could fit side by side. If I got pushed back into a wider hallway, it would make things more dangerous, so for the time being, I would try to hold my ground. 

Finally, one of the goblins activated a skill. It put its palms up as it crouched low to the ground. I could sense the mana coalescing in its hands. God dammit, it's a ranged skill. While the narrow hall reduced my disadvantage in numbers, it also diminished my mobility. If I couldn't dodge this skill…

I readied myself to dodge, and made a thin layer of mana over my head and chest. If it were to hit me, I needed to protect my vital areas. 

Meanwhile, the other goblin just stood slightly behind his friend with a scowl on his face. It seemed he was pretty confident that this skill would end me. Or maybe, he didn't want to get in its path. 

Of course, all of this happened within the course of just a few seconds. Finally, the goblin cast the skill. A pillar of fire erupted from his hands and shot directly towards me. Fuck, fire skills are the worst. I propelled myself against the wall with mana and tried to protect myself from the heat. Fortunately, the fire pillar itself rapidly dissipated. Glancing over at the goblin, it looked like he was preparing to fire off another one.

Shit, the heat was still present from the last one. I was definitely lightly burned all over my arms and part of my face. Quickly, ignoring the pain, I extended one of the cards out into the lingering mana from the first casting. Then, I witnessed an interaction I'd never seen before. The lingering mana, or I guess I should use the old man's words and call it a 'spell signature', gathered itself into the card, swirling around it like it was a black hole. Patterns started forming on it as the card turned blacker and blacker by the millisecond. 

Unfortunately, before I had the chance to truly comprehend it, another one was fired off at me. This time, it took me a little longer to get out of the way since I was pressed against the wall, and I suffered a worse burn than before on my right arm. Fuck. Fuck. I'm gonna die here. I need to cast the skill. 

I don't know how to. Shit. How do I use this fucking card? Come on! Cast!

Just as I thought hard about making the card cast, it floated up into the air before me.

'Huh..?'

I could sense mana building up inside it. So, it's not going to draw from my gate? Wait, does that mean each of these cards have their own gate? How does that make any sense? 

I didn't have too much time to think about it. While the card was charging up, I quickly swiped another one through the spell signature of the second flame pillar. Once again, it absorbed it, turning black and gaining strange sigils

I cast it again as I barely dodged a third flame pillar. The goblins seemed to be getting nervous from the two floating cards in the air. They looked at each other strangely before deciding to charge forward, leaving the flame goblin behind. It seemed they would go for a frontal strike now. 

'Come on, fire, fire…'

And then, it finally worked. Two spinning pillars of fire were expelled from the first card. The goblins were caught completely off guard. It hit both of them, leaving black bubbly singes on the sides of their chests.

Roaring out in pain, one goblin charged forward again, quite enraged. Mana coalesced in his body as his arms started to glow red. Then, the second card activated. Yet another flame shot out, hitting the goblin directly in the face, pushing him backwards and onto the floor.

His whole head was charred. Was he dead? Either way, he was at the very least unconscious.

As the cards finished casting their spells, they dissipated. I could feel them clink into place in my deck. So they had that feature, too..?

Um, still. I'd gained some ground, but this wasn't a great situation for me. I was injured with burns and facing two goblins. One was injured, but his skill was unknown, and one had a ranged skill. It wasn't a great situation. I'd collected the third fire strike into another card, but… they'd both seen the skill come out of it. It took a while to charge, too, so they'd just get out of the way.

What could I do? What was the proper action to take? Can I run? Is it safe?

My thoughts whirred through my head as everything slowed down. There was a split second of tension as the goblins and I locked eyes. At least, with their friend dead, they seemed a little hesitant to rush in again, but they were clearly pissed. 

In that moment, both the goblins and I were distracted by a sound coming from their rear.

"Here! This way!"

It was a shouting voice. Following it were several sets of footsteps.

Oh, my god. Was someone coming? Please, for fucks sake, don't be psychotic.

As the voice turned the corner, a party of four came into view. All of them were wearing grey combat suits with a "V" emblem embroidered on the chest. Hell yes, thank god. This party was from the biggest and most reputable mercenary company in the city, Vanguard.

"Haha, we got you little fuckers,"

The one in the lead spoke. 

Then, his eyes fell on me.

"Oh shit, guys. Don't fire off any ranged attacks, there's someone injured back there."

His subordinates nodded and prepared their weapons. The goblins were now fully locked on to the new threat, as opposed to the injured prey behind them. Unfortunately for them, though, it didn't take long for the group to dispatch the two remaining goblins. 

"Callenbury, with me,"

The leader called to one of his subordinates as he approached me. The others started to disassemble the goblins to extract the gloam shards. 

"You alright?"

He reached his hand out towards me, who was now sitting on the ground against the wall. I got a good look at his face this time. He was a handsome blonde guy who looked to be in his thirties. 

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

I took his hand and rose to my feet.

The leader gestured to his subordinate, an older guy, who came closer and placed his hand on me. While I was startled for a second, he quickly explained that he had a healing skill.

Feeling a soothing power wash over me, my burns rapidly started to fade away. I quickly palmed one of the cards from my deck, and as the skill ended, sensed the residual mana soaking into it. A healing skill was very useful to have. 

I was exhausted. Fortunately, these were good guys. They even gave me the gloam shards from the goblin I killed, and since they were heading out, they let me go with them.

To be honest, most hunters were at least for the most part helpful people. Since humanity had mostly fallen, those of us who survived gained some sense of brotherhood. If the threat wasn't unmanageable, most hunters would step in to help out someone else in the dungeon if it was necessary.

Of course, there were some bad actors, but I was glad that hunters on a whole, at least in the lower ranks, were good to each other. In the upper ranks, on the other hand, was a very different scene.

Parting ways with the guys from Vanguard, I stepped onto the evening train. I'd gotten lucky today. I knew that. If the others hadn't shown up, I'd probably be dead. However, this was nothing new for me. It just meant I needed to get better, so I could take luck out of the equation.

I slept soundly on the train back into the city, the clicking of the wheels on the track below and the dark open expanse of the wasteland outside feeling strangely peaceful. Today was a good hunt.