Skill Stones
Mikaela still couldn't believe her eyes as B-ranked mana stones kept dropping like waterfall from Adler's inventory. She had thought she would never be as surprised as the day when she first awakened. She had woken up one day to see a floating status window and that had been surprising. What she was seeing today was giving that day a run for its money.
Slowly the B-ranked stones trickled to a stop. Mikaela was finally about to breathe when suddenly more stones started pouring. She immediately jolted up from the shock and what she was seeing was even more shocking. Instead of B-Rank it was now A-ranked stones that were falling like a giant waterfall. Every single stone. An A-Rank stone. Something that guilds would get maybe one a day by sending a 5 man A-ranked party to a dungeon, Adler was dropping them like some sand he picked at the side of the beach. About a minute later, They finally came to a stop.
Mikaela finally started breathing again, but her eyes were still just as wide. The droid took a couple of seconds to count all the stones Adler had just dropped in the panel. After a while, it spoke up. " 2645 C-rank mana stone, 3483 B-rank mana stone and 1743 A-rank mana stones. Would that be all?"
Adler looked at the amount and said, "Yes." "Please select an account to deposit the money to by scanning your retina on the right." Adler did as he was told. Suddenly, he felt something vibrate in his left hand. He looked at his hand and saw his wricon was lit up. He tapped at it twice the way Mikaela had taught him to and a hologram popped up from inside.
- $105,887,500 has been added to your account. -
'Hmm.. did mana stones get expensive or did it just cost this much due to inflation?'. He didn't know and he didn't care.
It seemed the wricon had automatically connected to his bank account and was now relaying relevant information. That was easy.
He turned around and saw Mikaela with big eyes staring at him as if she just discovered a dungeon break happening in front of her. Well, not even a dungeon break would have as much monsters as the mana stones he just brought out. He laughed internally thinking, 'If just this amount is enough to shock her, what would she do if she saw everything in my inventory.'
"Let's go." He said and started walking out. Mikaela seemed to realize what was happening and quickly followed him. They got to the parking lot and drove back to their home.
During the entire way, Mikaela couldn't help but think about what she had just witnessed. So many mana stones. She thought about it so much that she couldn't help but be curious about what other things he could be holding in his inventory.
"Uncle, you had so much mana stones. Do you also have skill stones?" That was the first thing she had said ever since leaving the bank.
Adler got curious. 'Why would she ask this?' "Yes, I do have a few." He replied.
Mikaela's eyes lit up and said, "Could you please give some to Michael."
Adler got confused at this point. 'Why would she was me to give a skill stone to her brother when he is not even awakened yet?' he thought. So he decided to ask, "Is your brother awakened?"
"No, that's why I'm asking you to give him one. Even an E-ranked will do." She said. This just got Adler more confused. "Why would you want to give a skill stone to a non-awakened? What will he do with it?" he asked.
"Of course, he will awaken with it." She said.
"What?" he screamed a little
"Hmm.. Don't you know uncle? That a skill stone can awaken a normal human to an awakened one? I thought this was normal knowledge?" she replied.
Adler was shocked with the new piece of information.
"No. I didn't. I don't think this fact was discovered when I was a hunter. They probably found out about it when I was stuck in the dungeon." He decided to look it up and found out he was right. A scientist was working on a skill stone to see how it worked during 2030's and had accidentally awakened himself. Ever since then, people started to buy skill stones at an even higher price as most realized that it could give them power.
Now that guilds and governments had monopoly over the dungeons, you wouldn't see a skill stone in normal auction. The only way to get one was to go buy it from the guilds or DA themselves. And they asked for a lot of money for it.
"Alright. I will see if I have a good one for your brother." he said as he thought to himself, 'I should give her a good one too'
"Thank you uncle." Mikaela replied
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Once they got home, Mikaela immediately ran up to her brother's room to bring him down. Adler had just walked into the house when Mikaela was already downstairs with her brothers. There was a giddy expression on her face, while her brother was confused.
"Why did you bring me down sister? What was so urgent?" He asked.
"Shut up. Uncle is about to give you a surprise." She said happily.
Adler decided to check her status first to see what skill stone would fit her.
"[Analysis]" he said softly.
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STATUS SCREEN
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Player Info
Name: Mikaela Jones
Level: 1 (0%)
- - - -
Stats
STR: C+
INT: A+
VIT: B+
AGI: B
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Miscellaneous
Skills: [Firestorm - A][Mana boost - B][Lower chanting - B][Magic Missile- C][Magic Damage Amplification - C]
Equipped Items: None
Inventory: 82/95 *open to check further*
- - - - - - - -
'Nearly A-rank at level 1. What I wouldn't have given to have awakened as her.'
Looking at her player screen, Adler contemplated for a few seconds and opened up his inventory. He took out two S-ranked stones. Mikaela was surprised he took out two stones, instead of one. 'Was he going to give Michael 2 stone? But he only needed one.' She thought.
"This is for you, Mikaela." He said as he handed both stones to Mikaela.
Mikaela took the stones. She just stood there with, two stones at her hand, not comprehending what just happened. She looked towards her brother in order to give him the stones. Only then did she realize what he had just said.
"Did you say its for me?". She asked thinking she misheard, yet at the same time hoping she didn't.
By this point, Adler had already taken out 2 different stones and was handing them to Michael. He looked towards Mikaela and answered her, "Of course it's for you. Didn't you hear me?"
Now, both brother sister were dumbfounded at what just happened. Before they could even say anything Adler said, "Hurry up now, Use it."
Mikaela crushed both stones in her hands and her body started to shine a mixture of red and blue shined around her body. She opened her status to check the new skills. What waited for her shocked her once more. This was more shocking then watching him pour thousands of mana stones.
[Phoenix Flames - S : Greatly increases the damage of Fire skills and efficiency of Healing skills. Can create small flames that can be used to heal minor injuries. ]
[Mana Shield - S: Create a shield around you that protects you from all magical and physical damage. Can be held up as long as you have enough mana]
Two S-ranked skills. Never in her life had she expected him to have given her 2 S-ranked skills. These skills were precious. If sold at an auction, These 2 skills could easily garner over ten billion dollars. While she was stupefied by the revelation, she heard cracking sound. She turned to the side to look at what had just happened. The sound came from her brother's hand. He had just crushed his two skill stones too.