A New Skill

After Levi logged in, he returned to see Aiden crouched down beside the altar with Glint nowhere in sight. Levi felt a bit sorry for having to make him wait for this long

The echo from his footsteps as he approached the altar forced Aiden awake.

"Warrior Levi, you have returned" he exclaimed with his usual carefree tone as he sprung up to his feet.

"Where did the mage go?" Levi asked as he approached the chest on the altar.

"He left a while ago, luckily the seal didn't break" Aiden gestured to the beast still resting within the magic circle.

[ He has probably gone in search of his next victims, tricksters like Glint are always on the hunt for thrill ]

"And the Sapphire stone?" Levi asked

"The mage said it should be in the box, I figured it'd be best if I waited for you to return before doing anything" Aiden timidly replied. Now that Levi had returned he went back to his pretense, carefully hiding his true nature.

Well, it didn't matter where the mage went as long as the stone was still there. Levi opened the chest to reveal the small bright white stone among others.

"We've found it! we can end the drought" Aiden exclaimed excitedly, standing closely beside Levi.

The player Appraisal function activated as Levi reached for the Sapphire stone.

____

White Sapphire stone

Special grade item: A stone with pure energy capable of dispelling dark magic and demonic corruption. It can only be used once.

––––

"It can only be used once?" Levi read out loud.

If the stone could only be used once, he would have to choose between lifting his father's curse or saving the Lowlands.

[Did I forget to mention that? After it has been used the stone loses its pureness and can no longer be used]

That means he had to sacrifice one for the other. 

Although he started this quest to restore his father's mana he couldn't sacrifice the life of many for just that alone, especially when he had experienced the effects of the drought firsthand.

Thinking back he couldn't even remember the last time it rained in Lowdan. All these years the villagers had been surviving on reservoirs and streams that had now dried up, all this because of a curse.

"Who the hell is even placing all these curses? '' Levi cried in frustration.

He heaved out a heavy sigh, "maybe we could try searching for another one?"

[Special items like this are very hard to find, we would have to travel deeper, into the darkest parts of the Badlands. Into areas where no man has ever seen]

There was no way he could do that, especially not as weak as he is right now. Levi had no other choice, his father would just have to be satisfied with his current skill level, at least he could still make Mid-grade items once in a while.

[That doesn't mean there is no other way…]

"Other way?" Levi questioned 

[I wouldn't say it's any safer, but If it works you can make use of the item as much as you want… would you like that?]

"How? Of course I would, what do I have to do?" Levi excitedly replied, enough to startle Aiden who had since been watching him mumble to himself. 

He had figured out that this warrior wasn't normal even by the standards of warriors, so all he could do was observe in silence.

[You don't have to do anything, I just have to use the digital signature of the stone you acquired as a cryptographic key to edit my codes.

There are cryptographic keys like this hidden within the game in the form of items that when you acquire permit you to alter certain things if only you have the required tools to identify these keys and edit the codes… in your case, an AI that has access to the game's source code since we share the same general server]

Levi was a little confused "I thought you said you couldn't do that anymore, something about hiding your existence from the game?"

[ And that is why it's still risky, but I don't think anything is going to happen because I'll only be altering my codes and not yours plus you've already acquired permission through the key. It would only affect you as I am your sprite. Sprites are very special because they are items that serve as familiars]

During this interaction, Levi realized that there was still a lot he didn't know about the game. If he wanted to use Blue efficiently he would have to learn more about 'Eternalblue', the super AI used in the creation of Aetheria, and also 'Active Vision' the company that created the game.

He needed to learn the laws that govern the foundation of this world, but for now, he had to focus on the matter at hand "Okay Blue, do what you have to do"

[With pleasure…]

[PERMISSION GRANTED TO MERGE ITEM WITH SPRITE INTERFACE ]

…..

[ALTERING SPRITE CODE]

…..

[MERGE SUCCESSFUL. NEW SKILL CREATED: ITEM MERGE]

After Levi heard the final message, the Sapphire stone vanished from his hand causing his sprite to shine bright for a few seconds.

"Wh- what just happened?" Aiden stuttered, but Levi was too far in his thoughts to hear.

This time, the Merge skill wasn't generated, it was created making Levi understand that it was new to the system.

____

New properties Acquired from White Sapphire stone 

Skill: Curse dispersion(4th grade)

-Active-

*Allows you to disperse dark curse energy cast upon others. It would also work for cursed items and places.

Skill: Dark energy Resistance(3rd grade)

-passive-

*Prevents you from being affected by most forms of dark magic like corruption and curses.

–––––

The item properties had turned into skills for Levi. He had gained two new skills and one of them was the 4th-grade skill to dispel curses. 

There were five different skill grades a warrior could get with 1st-grade being the lowest and 5th-grade the highest. Some skills have the potential to grow but most of the time the skill grade remains the same.

A 4th-grade skill was rare to come by, especially for a low-level player like Levi, but with his new skill that could turn items into skills he got one so easily. 

At that moment he could only see the limitless potential of the Merge skill. He could gain special effects and skills that were far above his level.

He was eager to try out more of his new skill so he needed more items to Merge with. He looked into the chest to find a dagger emitting a dark energy