S-Rank Skills

"Okay, next."

Elliot cast another S-Rank skill. A thin barrier pulsed out from inside of him, spreading out through me and past the confines of the walls. I couldn't see exactly where it ended, but the radius appeared to be quite large. The whole room was filled with a heavy, thick energy. It felt like sitting underwater.

"Alright, dismiss it."

Elliot sighed and dismissed the skill. The barrier shattered, returning the space to normal. Well, that should be all of them. To my knowledge, he only possessed four S-Rank skills. As I'd been doing since I'd arrived at his home, I walked up next to him and collected the spell signature.

"Well, that should be that, then. Thanks for the help,"

I put out a thumbs up as I expressed my gratitude. These four skills would be of great assistance to me. Elliot wasn't a combatant; instead, his abilities were largely support-based. Still, they would be quite useful.

"I still can't believe it… you can really copy other people's skills. You know, if you'd done this before, everything would be different now. We all would've given you as many skills as you wanted,"

He said, sighing, placing his hands on his hips. He was unsurprisingly supportive. His skills really matched his nature. It had been a bit risky to expose my ability to copy skills to him, but I knew what he was like. He was a loyal guy to the people he trusted. Considering how we'd just spent the last day making amends and talking about life, I could assume he still felt camaraderie for me.

Plus, The Oracle already knew. If she felt the need to disseminate it to her party, she would. However, Elliot would almost certainly keep my secret. Ultimately, I was becoming strong enough to protect myself, so soon enough, I wouldn't have to be as discreet about the nature of my ability.

I had discovered something new about my skill cards. They seemed to be inherently reading my will somehow. I'd expected that the people who had seen the cards floating around me would assume they were connected to a skill of some kind; however, now, I realized that they simply hadn't been visible at all. 

Elliot didn't see them, after all. I supposed that they'd understood I wanted to keep them a secret to some degree, and executed some innate function to remove themselves from sight. This was an unexpected boon.

I intended to have Elliot cast his S-Rank skills a few more times so I could make some more copies. The cards, after all, did not produce a spell signature upon casting skills from them. However, that plan was interrupted. The emblem etched into Eliot's uniform started to glow brightly and emit a humming noise.

"Ah, duty calls. You can feel free to stay here as long as you like while you're in town. It's way too big for me alone, anyway,"

He said hurriedly, brushing some dust off his jacket.

"See you later!"

And with that, Elliot disappeared, presumably having teleported to whatever rendezvous point was established by Hye-Rin's party. I leaned against a wall behind me, tilting my head back and sighing deeply. It had been a wild day.

Reconnecting with an old friend was one thing. It had already taken a lot out of me, as I'd been pretty disconnected from virtually every social circle I could imagine for years now. My social skills had certainly diminished. Still, it turned out that it was pretty nice to talk to someone who not only had common ground with me, but was also more than willing to lead the conversation.

After eating, we'd ended up heading back to his mansion at the eastern side of the Sanctuary's barrier. It was incredibly lavish, befitting his title as one of humanity's rankers. We'd mostly discussed common topics; however, I had inevitably led the conversation to my newfound strength. Elliot was skeptical at first, but after displaying a portion of my power, namely some B-Rank skills, he was not only convinced but quite enthusiastic to share his skills with me.

He must have felt that it was, in a way, a recompense for having to watch me struggle and toil for years to obtain even a smidge of power while he and the others could simply dominate whatever came into their path.

While I didn't appreciate pity, it would be hard for me to turn down S-Rank skills, particularly from someone with such goodwill towards me. As such, I'd ended up with four new S-Rank skills. Each of them was quite impressive, and followed a similar theme.

The first was the skill I was most excited to experiment with. His so-called "Severed Space" skill. It allowed him to transfer himself into what he described as 'another world', an endless field of yellow wheat, where his recovery speed would become incredibly fast. Not only that, but he could also transport inanimate objects with him, functioning as a massive storage space. 

As I understood it, there was virtually no limit to what he could hold in there. It was quite a skill. The next was a high-powered defensive skill, aptly called "Bunker". Casting the skill would create a cube-shaped barrier which was effectively severed from the outside world, and could comfortably hold around fifteen people. While it was immensely expensive to use, even for Elliot, it was also fabulously durable.

Inside the bunker, virtually nothing could come in or out. Light, sound, air, mana- all of it was completely cut off. While the skill itself would provide light and oxygen, it was produced purely within the confines of the skill. It was even capable of completely blocking attacks from S-Rank skills.

Third was a skill called "Mass Synchronization". Frankly, I doubted this skill would be particularly useful for me for long. Soon enough, I would obtain enough power that existing within the confines of a group would be pointless for me. Still, this could be useful while I explored an A-Rank dungeon with a raid party.

The skill was simple in execution, but complex in theory. It would, to only a certain extent, link the minds of up to a thousand people, allowing them to become capable of working together perfectly. It was essentially a battlefield skill. Aside from this, it provided a minor boost to their physical strength and defense.

Finally was another interesting and particularly useful skill for me. It was a skill titled "Defender's Aura". It was the skill Elliot had last used. Using the skill would cause an aura to emit from the caster, within which skills under A-Rank would fail to activate. It was essentially a skill to cripple weaker enemies.

Ultimately it was an incredible harvest. I was tempted to rush straight into an S-Rank dungeon. However, I was aware that I was still far too weak to so much as step foot in one. However, I could certainly handle an A-Rank dungeon at this point. I wasn't particularly anxious to get into an S-Rank dungeon right away, anyway. After all, my primary goal for the time being would be to train myself in using my mana bomb.

Whether I was in an S-Rank dungeon or a D-Rank one, my progress would be relatively unaffected. As such, I resolved myself to head into an A-Rank dungeon next. While A-Rank skills wouldn't be particularly useful, I still felt inclined to collect some. It was better than nothing, and besides, I wasn't sure there would be any reliable way for me to collect S-Rank skills useful in combat until I took the plunge into an S-Rank dungeon. 

It wasn't like there was really anyone else who possibly still held goodwill to me who was an S-Rank hunter that I knew of, and I'd already collected all of Elliot's highest ranking skills. I'd definitely have to pester him for any A-Rank skills he possessed later, though.

However, first, I needed to rest. I wandered around his mansion, which- by the way- he was right about; it was far too large for him to occupy himself. It felt more like a compound than a house. Fortunately I was eventually able to find a bedroom, though, which I settled myself into, laying into the deep mattress and falling into a deep sleep.

The next day came quickly. I felt unusually well-rested after waking up; maybe it was the fact that I'd been hiding out in cheap hotels, with incomparably worse sleeping arrangements than this random bedroom in Elliot's mega-mansion. It felt good, though. I took a quick shower and prepared myself to leave for an A-Rank dungeon, stopping my mana batteries as they finished filling up and getting my clothes on. 

I left the property and, before heading to the dungeon, stopped for some breakfast first. I decided on the small cafe he'd brought me to earlier. I felt a little bad for them for being unknowingly taken advantage of by my naive friend, but it was also just a great spot. I devoured some bubur ayam, a common local breakfast. Feeling full and well-slept, I set out for the train station.