New skills
Before the woman could further tease him he hurriedly changed the topic.
"I'm sure you know why we are here, so get the things ready."
"Don't be so impatient and don't try to distract me, I will surely remember this and we are gonna talk about it again."
She then pointed at a screen and said. "Put your finger there so that we can authorize the issuance of the starter skill books."
As soon as Ivan put his finger on the screen a light flashed and Mary nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad old man, your disciple really has potential, since he has the right to get the Slavers skill book."
Van Bergen smiled smugly, "Of course, how else could he possible be my disciple."
The woman can only shake her hand and ignore him. "For those who have superb initial potential there is a extra skill-book they will get which is the Slavers skill-book. It is quite rare and can be really useful for a new member.", she then explains to Ivan.
After a short time she then opens a little door in the wall behind her and pulls five thin books out. Four of them seem quite simple with a brown leather cover, while the last one has a white leather cover with a golden pattern, which had to be the slavers skill-book.
"Here you go.", with these words she hands the books over to him and then continues, "I would recommend to learn the skills here, especially the one from the Slavers skill-book, since it is a random one and we can help you to understand the skill better if it is a rare one."
Ivan takes a look at his mentor and sees him nodding, so he places his hand on the cover of the first book.
<< Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Inspect, do you wish to learn this skill? >>
Without a moment of hesitation Ivan presses the yes button and soon the next popup appeared.
<< Congratulations, you have learned the skill Inspect. >>
<< Skill Inspect (E) Lvl.1 : You can now see some information about what you see. The amount of information depends on the level of the skill and what you wish to inspect. >>
* This sounds really useful. *
He tried to use the skill on one of the other skill books he had.
<< Item: Skill book Mana manipulation. Can be used to learn the skill Mana manipulation. >>
The information didn't tell him much, but at least he now knew wich skill he would learn with the book. He then took the just inspected book in his hand and again the popup appeared.
<< Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Mana manipulation, do you wish to learn this skill? >>
Once again he pressed the accept button and he got the information for this skill too.
<< Skill Mana Manipulation (E) Lvl. 1: You can now manipulate your mana.
+ 1% Skill efficiency
>>
<< Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Slave space, do you wish to learn this skill? >>
<< Skill Slave space (D) Lvl. 1: You now have a slave space where you can store up to 5 (initial Inventory size in m³ / 20) slaves you have contracted. >>
* Ah, so this is why the initial inventory space is so important. *. He now finally understood why the initial inventory size is so important.
<< Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Tame, do you wish to learn this skill? >>
<< Skill Tame (D) Lvl. 1: Tames a monster to get it to submit to a contract with you. This skill has a high rate of failure which depends on the target and the level of the skill. >>
This skill seemed to be complementary to the one before and a way for slavers to get new slaves.
Now there was only one book left, while the others had crumbled after he had learned the skill contained in them.
When he took the last book into his hand he was surprised at how heavy it was.
<< Congratulations, you have found a skill book which contains a random skill of the Slaver, do you wish to learn this skill?>>
<< Skill Evolution (SS) Lvl. 1: Evolves the targeted slave. Has a ultra high rate of failure depending on the target and the skill level. Maximum evolution is SS. Cool down: 1 month>>
Seeing that he had finished learning the skills Mary asked him, "So what skill did you get?"
Ivan shared the skill name with them and they looked disappointed.
"Oh, so it was that skill."
"Is it bad? It doesn't seem to be."
"It isn't necessary bad. It depends a lot on the skill rank, but even with a high rank the rate of failure is just to high and the cool down is to high too, so it isn't practical except in the beginning and with luck."
* Guess it's like lottery if I'm lucky then its good and since the rank is so high there may be a pleasant surprise, so I'will just try it. *
They chatted a bit more and he learned quite a bit about the skills, before they said goodbye.
"Now go back and read the rule book. Tomorrow I will take you to get some more skills."
"Why didn't we get them today?"
"Cause they can only be gotten by finishing some quests."
"Oh, ok. Until tomorrow then."
He said goodbye to his mentor too and then took the subway back to his dorm.
After arriving at his room he took out the thin rule book and laid down on the bed to read it. There weren't really any surprising rules since most of them were concerning the interaction between him and the other members of the Alliance.
But there was one that surprised him and that was that it was forbidden to mention his membership until he reached rank C, but after some time he guessed it was to stop new members from misusing the name of the Alliance.