Chapter 21: The Skill Shop
I decided to learn some skills to further strengthen myself.
I didn’t have any skills I could use for attacking.
Moreover, since I’d spent my whole life in the countryside, far removed from anything to do with adventurers, I didn’t even know how to acquire them.
How exactly does one acquire skills after birth, anyway?
It seems that if you have a {Job} or something, there are methods like skill points or leveling up…
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a job like {Item Artisan} or {Tamer}.
Even the Hero or Ghuftok hadn’t used any skills against me.
Well, the Hero might have just been careless…
Skills must be pretty hard to come by.
My {Guaranteed Rare Drop} skill is probably an innate one too…
“Eh? Skills, you say…? In that case… how about trying the Skill Shop?”
“A Skill Shop…? Such a thing exists…”
According to Salina-san, it seemed there was a shop in this town where you could purchase things called Skill Books.
Fortunately, I had earned a large sum of money from the recent ranking bonus.
I had more than enough money to buy Skill Books.
“Thank you very much. I’ll go check it out today.”
I thanked Salina-san and left the guild.
Since then, Salina-san and I had become close enough to share meals several times.
Next time, I should get her some kind of present…
◇
The Skill Shop was prominently located on the town’s main street.
As you could tell from its exterior, it looked like a rather expensive establishment.
“Welcome.”
“Ah, hello…”
When I entered, a suspicious-looking lady wearing a witch’s hat greeted me from behind the counter.
It seemed she was running the shop all by herself.
Bookshelves lined all the walls, and every one of them seemed to be filled with Skill Books.
“Um… I don’t have any skills yet… Do you have any recommendations?”
“Ah, in that case, I’ll pick out something suitable for you.”
“Please do.”
After a few minutes, the lady brought over several books.
{Water Grimoire 1}
{Fire Grimoire 1}
{Wind Grimoire 1}
“Whoa! These look amazing! What kind of magic… can you use with these?”
I asked with interest.
I couldn’t imagine what they actually did just from the book titles.
“Let’s see… With this Fire Grimoire 1…”
The lady lit a flame on her fingertip.
—Fwoosh!
It was a tiny, tiny source of light, like a candle flame.
“Eh…? I-Is that all…?”
“Yeah, that’s right…?”
In my imagination, I had pictured something like a huge burst of flames shooting out…
“Um… Don’t you have anything stronger? You know, something I can use in combat.”
“Let’s see… We might not have many of those here. Even if we do, it’s mostly daily life magic.”
“Ehh…?”
“We do have some, but they’re quite expensive, you know?”
“I-I have money! Please show them to me!”
Thanks to the ranking bonus, I had assets close to one hundred million.
I should be able to easily get a few Skill Books.
“Here you go.”
The lady, though looking skeptical, showed me a list of expensive items.
Apparently, the expensive Skill Books were carefully stored in the back to prevent theft.
Seeing the prices, my eyes widened…
“O-O-O-One hundred million G…!?”
Unbelievably, even the cheaper ones cost about as much as my entire fortune per book.
The expensive ones were in a world where two or three hundred million was commonplace.
“Powerful Skill Books are quite the Rare Drop items, you see… Adventurers, even if they happen to get one, usually use it for themselves. That’s why the ones in Skill Shops like this are mostly lacking in practicality.”
“Is that so…”
Well, it’s true that few adventurers would probably bother selling something so hard to come by.
Wait… What did the lady just say!?
“U-Um…! Did you just say… Rare Drop item!?”
“Yeah, I did… But you should give up on that. Those aren’t things you can get just by aiming for them.”
The lady, not knowing about my ability, gave me a cold look.
Well, if you tried normally, it’s probably something you’d never get in your lifetime…
To the lady, I probably looked like some crazy gambler.
But for me, that wasn’t a problem at all.
“Please tell me! What kind of monster drops Skill Books!”
“Hmm… I could tell you, but… I’ve seen many young folks like you waste their time or die needlessly seeking Skill Books… You need to have a certain resolve.”
Indeed, what was I thinking…?
Skill Books, if they’re valuable, are items that cost hundreds of millions.
Trying to get information about the whereabouts of such items, it couldn’t be for free, right?
Information should require a suitable price.
“I understand… In exchange for the information, I will pay a price.”
“Wha-… You… This much!?”
I placed almost my entire fortune on the spot.
That’s right, the entire ranking bonus of 97,800,000G.
It was such a large sum that I hadn’t converted it to cash yet.
So, I just had to hand over a single check.
“This is money I no longer need.”
“I-Is that so…?”
Because, as long as I knew which monsters dropped Skill Books, I could get as many as I wanted.
If that happened, I should be able to get hundreds of millions.
As an information fee for Skill Books, this might even be cheap.
“A-Alright… You’re serious, aren’t you? But… just don’t think Skill Books are easy to come by. Those things are purely a matter of luck of the draw, you know.”
“I know! It’s alright!”
I secretly obtained information about Skill Books from the lady.
It seems Skill Books can be obtained from a monster called a {Skill Mage}.
However, the probability is said to be less than 0.001%.
Many Skill Mages only drop simple magic like daily life spells.
Moreover, Skill Mages themselves are said to be rare monsters that are hard to encounter.
Even if you’re lucky enough to encounter a Skill Mage, defeating it doesn’t mean a rare Skill Book will drop.
“Well, as long as I have my ability, it’ll work out somehow.”
I headed towards the place where Skill Mages were said to inhabit in large numbers—
Death Ruler Volcano—Death Ruler.
An S-rank danger zone dungeon, said to be home to many super-powerful monsters.
But before that, time to grab a bite to eat!