A ball and Skills

~Puff~

~Puff~

“Pwahahahaha!” She burst into laughter as Art’s face turned red, a mix of emotions rising within him.

The thing in his hand—or, better put, his true weapon, or what it was supposed to be—didn’t seem like a weapon at all.

He was holding a ball about the same size as a peeled coconut, fitting perfectly in his hand.

It was shiny and silver, perfectly smooth. This would’ve been pleasing to the eye if it weren’t supposed to be a weapon. As it was, it looked utterly useless in his grasp.

What the hell was he supposed to do with this? Play catch with his enemies? Even a screwdriver would’ve been better.

The process of all this thinking was giving him a headache, and his guide wasn’t making matters any better. He began to subconsciously grip the ball harder.

After laughing to her satisfaction, she spoke up. ‘Say, I take my words back about your luck. You keep surprising me in ways I don’t expect. So… how does it work?’

“DON’T FUCKING ASK ME THAT! How the hell am I supposed to know?!”

“Hmm,” she said, as though in contemplation. “That’s it!” she suddenly exclaimed, and Art felt a glimmer of hope—but once again, he judged too soon.

‘Do you remember that thing? Umm, yes, soccer. Maybe you’ll have to kick it at your enemy, and then who knows? It’s just too bad you didn’t take sports seriously,’ she clicked her tongue, leaving Art speechless.

Soccer? Such a joke. His leg would end up broken if he kicked this thing with too much force.

Art calmed himself down and focused his attention back on the orb.

After staring at it for some time, he shook his head, deciding to put it away. But just before he could, mana flowed from his body into the orb, which then broke into particles.

His eyes widened as he grew a little frightened that he might’ve destroyed his true weapon. Even though it was disappointing, he still found it precious. But much to his shock, the particles didn’t fall to the ground. They hovered around his hand.

He blinked several times.

‘What is this?’ he asked but got no response. It seemed that she was also observing it.

After staring for some time, he started using his fingers to touch the suspended particles.

He fell into contemplation, staring at the sight in front of him, which made him recall another memory.

The second world he was taken to.

He remembered the particles separating, coming together, and changing shape. When the realization hit him, his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Don’t tell me…” Not jumping to conclusions, he decided to test his theory. If he was right, this might be the best weapon ever.

He focused on the link with his true weapon and imagined the shape he wanted it to take.

It was very difficult, taking several minutes, but finally, the particles of the ball moved to his hand, rearranging themselves into a sword. He held back his excitement.

Just to be sure, he imagined a spear, and after several minutes, the particles moved once more, changing from a sword into a spear—though he didn’t get the exact shape and size he wanted.

His lips curved into a big grin, his teeth reflecting the rays of the sun. If he practiced more, he was sure he would get better at controlling it, and once that happened, this would turn into a killing machine.

He still had a lot he wanted to test out, but whenever the shape changed, it took a lot of mana from him. In his current state, that wasn’t a good idea.

So he decided to check it out later. With a thought, his true weapon—now a spear—dematerialized back into his body.

A smirk appeared on his face as a certain someone had gone quiet.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

‘………..’

Seeing her silent, he nodded in satisfaction.

‘Why don’t you use your inspect skill on it?’

“Inspect skill,” he repeated in confusion.

“I have something like that?”

‘Yes, genius. Check your new skills and features.’

“Oh,” he facepalmed.

He had been so immersed in his true weapon that he almost forgot about that. With a thought, the system appeared in front of him as he stared at the words written.

No one needed to tell him about the function of the inventory, and he was glad that he had one. He opened his system skills, and what he saw shocked him.

[Passive Skills:]

[Energy Drain: Host can use this to drain energy from intelligent life forms, which is converted into stat points.]

[Mana Drain: Host can use this to drain mana from objects and cores.]

[Inspect: Host can use this to get information about some life forms and objects.]

[Cold Heart: This skill suppresses some of the host’s emotions.]

[Note: Passive skills’ success depends on the person or object used against.]

[Multi Awakening: Host can receive awakening with all weapons wielded in his former world.]

[Note: System skills can level up.]

Art was moved to tears seeing this. Finally, everything was coming together.

‘Well, you worked very hard during the four weeks, but I have to say that I’m impressed with the skills you got. If you use them well, at least I won’t have to stay with someone weak.’

Her words, as usual, stung a bit, but most of his attention was on a particular skill: ‘Cold Heart.’

This skill must be the reason why his feelings for the opposite sex had diminished to such an extent—and that wasn’t all.

Even though he had killed several people in his former world, he still wasn’t immune to the feeling that comes after claiming a life. But now he could tell: if he were to kill anyone, he wouldn’t feel a thing.

His other skills were also very handy.

He had always wanted a normal life, away from the politics and violence back in his former world, but for the first time, he was glad that he hadn’t gotten it.

If not, he wouldn’t have had to use numerous weapons, which now turned out to be so useful. Receiving awakening in so many weapons was nothing to scoff at, especially with him having a true weapon like that.

He just couldn’t wait. But with the contest being so soon, he wouldn’t be able to master it before then, so he wouldn’t be able to use it properly during the event.

He brought his gaze to the body of the dead beast before piercing the dagger into a part of its chest and putting his hand in.

After a few seconds, he pulled it out, now holding a green orb with a dull glow. It had thin lines running around it, and he could sense mana emanating from it.

This was an E-rank mana core. In total, he now had seven, with the remaining being F-rank cores.

He had gotten them from some magical virac spiders, which were a pain in the neck.

He was curious to try out the mana drain, but he decided to use it on the F-rank cores first, as this was the only E-rank core he had, making it precious.

Deciding to try something else, it only took a thought for the mana core to disappear into his inventory.

It was convenient that his system was easy to use, with everything requiring just a thought. He had many things he wanted to test out, but he decided to rest and save them for later.

After some time, he stood up and headed toward the mansion, unaware that he was being watched—the lips of a figure curving into a grin.