NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62: Uesaka Shino and Skilless (II)
Shino POV
“I see…” <Shino>
I nod as I understood what is written in the book I was reading.
Like I always do in my past time, I am now reading the book I bought from the Scale Atelier.
Right now, I am in a place called Kaleen.
A small city east of the city of Altus.
As for the reason I am here in Kaleen right at this moment is nothing but a coincidence.
More than a week ago I was in the city of Altus.
There I met some of my classmates whom I haven’t met for some time.
The reason we gathered there at the time was because of something entirely different.
The reason I came to Altus at that time was because of an emergency quest issued by the Scale Atelier.
Also, I have something I want in Altus at that time and so I took the emergency quest and marched toward the city of Altus together with many other adventurers.
The reason I’m in Kaleen is that I wanted to be away from Altus.
What turned out to be a leisurely quest became an unforgettable experience for me.
Have you ever thought of being in a Zombie apocalypse movie?
A movie where zombies start appearing and attacking people?
The people who had died on their hands become zombies like them?
I had that kind of experience during my time at Altus.
I could not wish for a better time to be with my classmates.
[Just who the world expects such a spectacle to happen right? To think that my original purpose of coming here was to take up the quest and look for a “Rainbow Lizard”. Just what in the world happened that things would turn out this way don’t you think?]
Ever since I’ve experienced life in this so-called alternate world, I’ve experienced things that I never would have done in my life.
For Instance, I experienced killing rabbits and dogs for the first time in my life.
I would never think of doing such things if it were in our world.
But, to survive in this world, I had to do such a cruel thing.
It is what the so-called “Adventurers” do for a living.
Speaking of... I got a job class called “Thief”.
How funny…
In our world, having a "thief" as a job is something really bad.
Have you ever met someone who had “Thief” as his job to be proudly walking in the streets in full confidence, this is while the people around you know well that you’re a thief by profession?
No way, right?
But in this world being a thief is a good thing.
In this world, the job class “Thief” pertains to a person who had abilities perfect for sneaking, fighting, and searching.
A job class that specializes in using short swords and daggers.
A job class that is known for being slippery and quick in battles.
And I am one of them.
With this in mind, I have to survive in a world where monsters and magic exist.
“Status”
I said as I was looking into my status card and checking my current status.
My status appeared in the thing we call a status card.
A status card is one of the most important things in this world.
It acts like a universal I.D. that you can use anywhere.
It also could inform its owner of his/her current Status and Level.
Hell, it can even show you your skills.
“Skill List”
I looked at the stats and skills listed on my status card.
For all the time I’ve been an adventurer I could say that I’ve become stronger than the time I left the castle.
This is another thing I appreciate in this world.
By killing monsters, Training, and buying equipment you can become powerful.
The type of power that you can find in fantasy stories.
The things they call skills are fascinating.
It will give you an ability that you can only wish to have in reality.
To experience having these abilities, you will certainly think that this world is quite something.
For example, my skill (Skilless: Horned Rabbit- Hearing II).
This skill gave me the ability to hear things exponentially better than when I did not have it.
There is also this (Skilless: Green Leaper - Burst I)
A skill that allows me to move at an incredible speed when moving in 1 direction.
And many more skills.
If you are asking where and how I got this skill it is all thanks to my skill unique skill “Skilless”
"Skilless", is a mysterious skill that I got after being summoned into this world with my classmates.
It was a skill that even the imperial magician of the Empire of Artesia did not have any idea about.
I haven’t fully understood the effect of my skill but I have an idea as to how it works.
At the very least I know that It can give me the abilities of the monsters I’ve killed.
This points to why the reason I was reading this book right now.
Right now, I am reading the book called “Monster Encyclopedia: Skills of the Monsters in Artesia Empire 5th Edition”.
It is a picture book that has a brief description of the monster, its class, where it lives, an explanation of what it looked like, the skill it possesses, and other small information about monsters.
I am reading this book to look for a monster that I could hunt and take their skills.
“Aa~ as expected the monster with the skills that I am interested in is too strong for me to take on as I am right now.” <Shino>
Yep, the reason I was reading this book that cost me around 8,000,000 DAL is to look for my next target.
I’ve been taking notes of the monster that interested me in a notebook.
I stretched my arms upward to circulate blood in my body.
As expected, I am tired.
I have been in the field from morning till evening and now tiredness has come to me.
“Alright! Let’s do our best again tomorrow!” <Shino>
I said as I covered my body with a blanket and sleep in the soft bed of the inn.
***************
Next morning.
I went to the bulletin board to see the request for adventurers posted there.
Today I took the “Dream Pupa” extermination quest.
A Dream pupa is a monster that is found around the area.
Although it is a monster “Dream Pupa” is not particularly harmful but if left be it can become one.
As the name indicates, this monster is the “Pupa” of what locals call a “Dream”.
"Dream" is an E-rank monster.
It has the appearance of a butterfly and it preys on the blood of other living things.
Although it is ranked as an E-rank monster, it is a quite problematic monster that can cause one to fall asleep when one is to inhale the dust produced by its wings.
If dealt with properly this monster is nothing much as its physical capability is comparable to any other E-rank monster.
That being said this monster is still quite problematic as it has been the main cause of deaths around the area.
That is why this monster needs to be exterminated.
I head out of the city and looked for these monsters.
As a precaution, it was suggested that in exterminating these monsters, one should be wearing a mask to make sure that they would not inhale the sleeping dust of the “Dream” monster by accident.
Some skills can prevent the effect of its dust such as (Sleep Resistance), (Status Ailment Resistance), and some other special skills with similar effects.
One can also use Potions that have similar effects to those skills.
Since I don’t have such skills or potions, I needed to wear a mask.
And so, I explored the area.
The area around the city was a forest.
Like any other place, there are slimes and other weak monsters around.
Since they are not that dangerous, I tried my best to ignore them.
After some time of exploration, I saw a white object dangling from a tree.
It was the monster I am after, a “Dream Pupa”.
"Ain't that my target?" <Shino>
I jumped over the tree.
With my current stats, I am now capable of leaping for at least 3 meters high.
As one jump was not enough, I used the tree as a footing and leaped toward the nearby tree.
I grabbed a branch near the Pupa with my left hand.
At the same time, I pulled out the dagger hanging on my back and used it to cut off the silk string that connects the ball of silk and the tree.
I swung my hand and cut the silk.
The silk was quite sturdy but not to the point that my dagger could not cut.
As a result, the pupa fell to the ground with a thud.
Just from the sound it made, I knew that that pupa is quite hard.
I came down the tree by letting go of the tree branch.
I fell on the ground like a cat.
This was another perk of having great physical ability, all thanks to the thing we call “Stats”.
If I were to do such actions in our world, I would not be able to climb the tree much less go down from it in such a manner.
When I tried doing these actions for the first time, I felt like I was some kind of a “ninja” of some sort.
It’s quite exciting.
Anyhow…
I was looking at the white ball of silk in a shape of an egg lying on the ground.
Now, all I have to do is kill the monster.
To do that, I held my dagger to an ice pick hold and swung the dagger.
My dagger did not pierce the thick layer of silk despite putting all my weight into that swing.
It only sunk halfway.
I pulled out the dagger and repeated these 3 more times.
The white silk protecting the creature inside turned to light brown.
This indicates that the monster is now dead.
According to the book, I’ve been reading.
The monster “Dream Pupa” had a skill called (Harden I).
A skill that makes your outer skin resist physical damage to some extent.
This is also why the pupa is quite tough.
As I was curious, I check my “Skill List” and discover that I’d learned the skill (Harden I) as I expected it to be.
“Alright, a new skill!” <Shino>
I was happy since it’s not all the time you can find a monster with skill, much less a skill that is quite useful.
“Alright three to go!” <Shino>
I continue to explore the surroundings to find more monsters such as this one.
The hard part of doing these quests is the “Searching” part.
If you are good at searching, it will make things a lot easier.
Normally, I would use my skill (Skilless: Small Blue-eyed Wolf - Smell I) to help me in searching monsters around the area.
Unfortunately, the “Dream Pupa” doesn’t have a particularly strong and distinct smell.
This made this quest a little bit harder.
I spend the whole day looking for these monsters.
Thankfully I managed to find and eliminate 4 of them by noon.
When I got back to the city.
I saw numerous people gathered outside of the town hall.
It was also the house of a noble.
The noble who established this city.
Although this city is quite small, small to the point that there is no adventurer’s guild.
Although this land was quite large it is by no means comparable to Altus or the Imperial Capital.
This land is owned by a Viscount.
I became curious about the fact that people gathered in front of the viscount's home.
“I wonder why there’s a lot of people here?” <Shino>
As I was nearing the crowd, I notice that those people are adventurers just like me.
There were about 40 of them gathered there.
I walked toward the crowd and asked one of them.
“Ummm… what’s happening here?” <Shino>
I asked one of the adventurers standing near the gate of the property.
He looked at me and realized that I am also an adventurer and answered my question.
“The Viscount is hiring adventurers to escort him to the south.” <Adventurer>
“Oh, an escort quest?” <Shino>
“Yeah, pretty much... we saw that he was paying quite an amount.” <Adventurer>
“Oh… interesting… How much is he going to pay?” <Shino>
The adventurer smiled in joy.
“Don’t be shocked, but he’s willing to pay a minimum of 1,000,000 DAL.” <Adventurer>
“WOW! A Million?!” <Shino>
He nods.
[No wonder why there is quite a lot gathered here]
I too need DAL right now.
I’ve spent most of the 10,000,000 DAL provided to me by the Empire.
Most of it was due to the Books I bought at the Magic Store in the Scale Atelier almost a month ago.
Since it was quite an investment for me, I am not particularly regretting that I’ve spent all of my fortunes to buy those books.
The information I got from those books had been very helpful.
As of the moment I currently have a total of about 500,000 DAL
It is enough to get me by for another month but a reward of 1,000,000 DAL is quite tempting.
“I wonder If I can join too.” <Shino>
“Hahaha, as expected of a fellow adventurer, you would not pass off such an opportunity.” <Adventurer>
“Well… I’m quite short of money you see.” <Shino>
“Hahaha, I understand. Most low-ranking adventurers have the same problem.” <Adventurer>
“Good Evening Adventurers. Thank you for being here. I, Viscount Gilbert Albern Kaleen am grateful for your presence. As you all are aware, the house of Kaleen is now looking for Adventurers who are willing to join us during our travel. As you can see, we are willing to pay a large amount of money for it.” <Viscount Gilbert>
An adventurer further in front raised his hands and asked a question.
“We are also grateful Gilbert-sama. But to reward us with a minimum of 1,000,000 DAL is something very captivating. My only question now is “WHY”, why are you willing to pay us such an amount. The minimum rank you require for this quest is F-rank, what’s the catch?” <Adventurer A>
Hearing the fact that the minimum rank they are looking for is an E-rank made me a little bit hopeful about taking up the job.
The fact that they are willing to hire, even F-ranks was something to be happy about as I am still in F-rank.
Now all I need to hear is the detail of the job.
“I can see why you are doubtful about this quest, especially since the reward is quite big. To be honest we will be traveling toward the far south. We did not specify the location as it may turn off some of you. But since you are here, we are willing to double that amount if you agree to join us.” <Viscount Gilbert>
[Double?! meaning that's a minimum of 2 million DAL.]
Commotions started to echo with the adventurers who are present listening to the viscount's words.
The fact that he was willing to double the amount of pay was something that they did not expect.
“We are going to Riles. To be specific, to Vestir the capital of Riles.” <Viscount Gilbert>
When he said those words, louder murmurs echoed.
“RILES?! That’s too far.” <Adventurer F>
“No wonder they are willing to pay such an amount.” <Adventurer G>
“Hey, Riles is that country, right? The country of the half-bloods?” <Adventurer H>
“Riles is a little bit…. Ughhh…” <Adventurer I>
When the viscount reveals the destination of the escort quest, some of the adventurers became hesitant.
Some of them even turned around in disappointment.
Some were still contemplating whether they would go or not.
And there are those few who were not bothered at all.
As I was clueless about where the country of Riles was, I asked the person who answered me a while ago.
It seems that he was one of the few who was unaffected and was still willing to go.
“Oh, don’t you know? Riles is a country located in the south. It is at the edge of the continent and traveling there would take 2-3 months.” <Adventurer A>
“Is that so?... so, it’s in another country huh…” <Shino>
“Hehe, these adventurers are quite hesitant since Riles is very far. As a low-rank adventurer, you would rather take up more low-ranking quests that would be finished in a breeze than take on a quest that will take up months to finish.” <Adventurer A>
Most of us here are low-ranking adventurers.
I can see why they would hesitate to take up the quest.
“I see… so they don’t want to waste that amount of time…” <Shino>
“Well to some of us, fame is better than money. You can't blame them for that. To sacrifice that much time for just 1 quest is very unproductive.” <Adventurer A>
I contemplated for a bit, thinking about what he just said.
[It’s not as if I am aiming to increase my adventurer rank… I need the money more]
[Oh! What kind of monsters are there in Riles?! I wonder if I can hunt monsters that will give me useful skills?]
I don’t have any particular place I wanted to go.
I nodded as I decided what to do.
“Alright, I think I’ll be joining this expedition.” <Shino>
“Oh, that’s nice… I guess we’ll be together for some time then? My name is Marlo nice to meet you…” <Adventurer A/Marlo>
“Oh, I’m Shino. Nice to meet you.” <Shino>
I took the hand of the guy who answered my question and shook them.
Ultimately, A party of 5 E-rank adventurers, 3 Solo E-rank adventurers, and 2 solo F-ranked adventurers including myself remained in front of the gate.
“I suppose, you will be the only ones who will come? No matter, I welcome you all. For now, let’s discuss matters about the escort quest inside. Come be my guest.” <Viscount Gilbert>
And so, I joined an escort quest going to Riles.
It seems that we will be leaving in a week.
During that time the caravan would prepare all the things we need during our journey.
We expect to arrive in Riles in around 3 months.
During that time, we are allowed to take on quests in the villages and small cities we pass by.
All the food expenses are covered by the Viscount's caravan.
We will be traveling with several other guards and soldiers.
*****************
In the meantime, I still have 1 week before the escort quest start.
Meaning I can still do some stuff here as I wait.
For now, I am focused on hunting monsters to kill around the area so that I can gain more skills.
I’ve learned that in this world, gaining "level" and increasing stats is very useful.
I think that gaining new skills is the best way to become stronger.
And in this world where the law of the Survival of the fittest is very much applicable the more reason I need more skills.
During this week, I tried my best to look for interesting monsters around the area.
I wanted to kill as many monsters so that I could gain more skills.
In the end, I concluded that having a new one is better than having none
This mentality came to haunt me later.
Right now, I am chasing after a monster called “Sticky Tongue”.
It is a large frog monster.
It is an E-rank monster, a monster that is considered to be a “pest” as it destroys farmlands and eats domesticated creatures that are meant to be human food.
Just like any other monster, it looked like an animal that grew so large that it can be called a monster.
I’ve noticed that most of the low-ranking monsters in this world are like that.
In all honesty, I think that the weak monsters in this world are insects and animals that grew into giant sizes.
For example, this frog-like monster “Sticky Tongue” resembled a large bullfrog, only larger.
I guess the difference it had with an ordinary frog aside from its gigantic size was its sharp-looking teeth.
I saw this creature by chance.
I’ve seen this monster in the books I bought.
I am not the kind of person who can memorize everything and anything I read perfectly.
That is why I don’t remember the skill it had.
I am just an average person in terms of intelligence.
If only my INT stat would increase my IQ but that was not the case.
The INT stat does not affect one’s intellectual ability but rather it only affects magic and mana-related abilities.
[What a downer, if by chance INT stat increases my IQ, I would devote my time to increasing that stat too. Too bad, too bad indeed…]
Anyhow, I managed to corner the monster.
“Hehehe, you have nowhere to run now.” <Shino>
I pulled out my dagger and attacked.
The monster tried to fight back.
It shoots out its long tongue to me.
The tongue shoots out of the frog at an incredible speed.
I could barely perceive it but I manage to dodge it barely by shifting my body to the side.
The tongue retracted back to its body just as fast and the monster shoots out its tongue once again.
This time I was more prepared and dodged it more easily as I was able to predict what it was going to do next.
This time I did not want the frog to do the same attack so I swung my dagger in an attempt of cutting off this monster’s tongue.
-swish-
The blade sliced through the tongue of the frog.
At the same time, it struggled in pain.
As it was struggling, I took the chance to finish off the monster.
I dug my dagger between its forehead.
It struggled for some time but in the end, life left its body.
“Yuck.” <Shino>
I said in disgust.
The frog's body was covered with sticky fluid.
Making contact with it made me all sticky from all over.
The monster's fluid and the monster's blood mixed and it was disgusting.
“Whew... I’m getting better at this.” <Shino>
I complimented myself, as I notice that hunting monsters had become easier and easier for me.
If it was a month ago, I would have had a hard time defeating this monster.
With the experiences I had during this past month I can tell that I am better than I am before.
A certain sensation enveloped me.
It was a familiar feeling, at first, I feel so uneasy having this feeling but by now I started to feel accustomed to this phenomenon.
It was the feeling of something changing within me.
The sensation when the Skill (Skilless) activates and gives me a new ability.
But then…
“Mhnnn???” <Shino>
All of a sudden, I feel something sticky in my mouth.
It was a defined sensation of something being in my mouth.
At first, I thought that the sticky fluid covering the Sticky Tongue from earlier found itself in my mouth.
It was like I’d eaten something viscous; it was like some kind of thick tasteless syrup in my mouth.
“What the hell.” <Shino>
-Phew-
-Phew-
-Phew-
I tried to spit it out but more of the same thing replaced it.
Then I realized, it was my saliva.
It became very thick and slimy.
It felt so uncomfortable.
I took out my status card and spoke.
“Skill List” <Shino>
I checked. And a new skill was there.
(Skilless: Sticky Tongue - Sticky Tongue)
It was the effect of the new skill I obtained.
And I thought…
“I messed up…” <Shino>
[I don’t want this skill… are you telling me that I will have this skill for the rest of my life?]
I protested.
.
.
.
There were downsides to my skill “Skilless”.
I only realized it now but there are skills such as (Skilless: Horned Rabbit- Hearing II) and (Skilless: Blue-eyed Wolf - Smell I) where I don’t have a way to turn it off.
I realized just now that with this skill, there will come a time when I would gain a skill that I don’t like and eventually regret obtaining.
Such skill was this skill (Skilless: Sticky Tongue - Sticky Tongue), I never knew that I would feel disgusted with my saliva.
I wanted to use this experience as a lesson and be careful of the skills I gain.
I will find out later that this Sticky Tongue skill was not the only skill that I would regret obtaining.
Before this, I’d hunted a few monsters other than the sticky tongue.
And from that, I gained another skill that I don't want.
Later on, I will be realized that I’ve been very lucky up until now.
Suddenly.
“Eh?” <Shino>
All things became silent.
“What’s happening?” <Shino>
Because all of my surroundings became so silent, I felt chills.
Author Note:
Now we're on Shino's perspective.
I was planning to go back to Kazue POV @chapter 65 but I don’t think I would be able to do that.
I think I have to push it to chapter 70.
I realized that I still needed a few more chapters to introduce the other characters who would be involved in what would happen in Riles in the next Arc.
To do that I need more chapters that are not focused on Kazue’s POV.
As you can see, Shino will be one of those characters.
Anyhow…
Let’s try to enjoy Shino’s POV for now.
Cyaa on the next chapter!