Scouted

Short lady, with a feisty attitude.

Burgundy hair that is tied into a neat ponytail, with bangs on her forehead.

Round-rimmed glasses, simple make-up, tidy knee-length skirt and white long sleeves with black heels.

Holding her notebook, and a pen, with her shoulder bag completes the trope.

Ash Delik.

The scout of the HR department of Solar Glass Guild.

There are only a month left before the anniversary of Project: Zerø.

In this one month, guilds had an unwritten rule of introducing their talents for that year, also known as the Rookie Galore.

This Rookie Galore happens as every one of the guilds will pass their rookie's video of being good in the game, and hoping it will be added to the game's promotional video that will be released one week before the anniversary.

Arriving at the Legar City's training grounds, she saw four people there that were already watching the trainings.

It can be seen that they are bored out of their minds, and there are no good players around.

"You're late, Ash. We almost eaten half of the foods."

With the peels and other remnants of the food on the ground, the guy ate loudly and threw the foods behind him, hitting the ushers of the place.

He also spit the seeds on his front, and splashed wine everywhere.

If Zypher can see this room, he can identify the rude man sitting.

Pietro, the right hand man of the second son of Baltinoir Family, Corin.

After the fight in the city, Carla decided to focus her forces on the other cities of Acias.

Beside him is a man with silver hair, blue eyes, and a sword on his back. He is a bit short, but the sword made him look bigger.

Flipping the pages of her notebook, Ash found a name that caught her eye before.

André Vilt, Knight of Eldas.

Eldas is where Carla is right now, thus, it will be a very difficult task for Carla to get another talent like André.

Now, Corin's power will take over, and Cynthia will be pushed out of the equation.

The two other guilds are another small guilds: Meteo Light and Insekto Guilds.

They are just speaking by themselves, and not giving any attention to Pietro. When Ash came, they greeted her and made her sit on their table.

"Ash, you're a pretty woman, don't mingle yourself with insects. Come here beside me."

Ash didn't give heed, but focused on the training grounds.

"HEY--"

GASP!!

Loud gasps can be heard from the stadium below. The other viewers can't stop themselves from looking towards the said battle.

Marissa versus Cadet 2117.

The show began after 2117 picked up his pole once more.

Ash, who was focused on the battle, saw the moves made that were too good to be true, but was executed by a new player.

Is he a smurf player, or a genius?

The next question is, if he is a smurf, who was he, and why did he choose to be a smurf.

And if he is a genius, why did he appear now?

A moment later, the deciding moment happened.

The spear that "arrived late".

It was the moment that in the Project: Zerø history, many guilds contacted their headquarters for a certain player to be scouted and raked in their lines.

Seeing this, Pietro couldn't help but beam with joy.

He got two talents in his hands, and now, hif Corin became the next family head, he can do what he wants.

For example, harassing Carla without repercussions and humiliating her. This time, his mind went wild with imaginations, and proclaimed that he is the best.

But the other guilds from the other rooms thought otherwise.

This level of play must be a smurf player, and they have to get him at all cost, no matter his affiliation in his main account.

This is basically a pie, no, a cake from the sky, but it is still an understatement.

The smaller guilds were baffled how the other guilds were reacting, and with this, one guild can not help but ask.

The answer he got was something ridiculous that he also called the upper managers for some of their resources to be offered.

"Double Strike, Illusion Magic, or Force Distribution whatnot, the strike was proven effective, and those moves are just made by Gold Ranks. The mastery is also high, and if you carefully look at it, only Platinum and Diamond Players are the only ones who can do it."

That was what the scouts were thinking.

Executing a move that arrives late.

But, that was not the end.

This is the third day of this batch's training. Meaning, they can see the other skills of the said player.

But, 2117 seemed pissed off after the battle with Marissa. He seems to be conflicted, but then, he entered the Shooting Training.

It is a duel between guns and projectiles, against the Marksman of Legar, Noumis.

The battle was not long, because 2117 was aghressive from the start. Bullets rained, and if he was reloading, he changes his weapon to a crossbow.

Reloading while firing the crossbows is not difficult, but fighting in the short range is impossible. Shooting while the enemy is preparing to shoot is nasty, and in the whole fight, Noumis didn't even pulled the trigger once.

He even tried when 2117 was reloading, but the arrow shocked him, making him dodge it, and the next rain of fire arrived.

He also uses his body to hit Noumis' hands from time to time, and creates gaps for him to fire.

In the end, it was a complete victory.

The next battle was the most unexpected one. Magic.

He is a genius is short range, mid range, long range and even in magic?

That was proven when the missiles appeared again and again, like the player has no mana bar that can be spent.

In truth, Zypher knew the trick to Mana Bullet.

Sacrificing the strength, he cancels the skill in the right moment, cutting the mana depends on how long he "charged" it.

Mana Bullet forms inside a second, but it is possible for him to cast three missiles in a second but the power is cut to third.

Yet, it was enough to destroy the trainer completely. He fought back, but his bullet was dodged again and again.

In return of his one bullet, three bullets hit him. Thus, he lost completely.

The other three trainings were also as special, and 2117 completely won the hearts of the guilds, Ash included.

The genius who appeared.

By the time he won in the Magic Training, being a smurf was removed from every guild's mind.

No other player has the ability close to what he did.

He is a complete genius of the game.

After all the trainings, Ash decided to do one last thing, and that is to call the higher ups, no, the main guild that holds the Scouting Department.

"Hello, Donna, this is Ash speaking."

- - - - -

Six Special Skills.

But all the basic and Normal skills were now gone. Though his efforts was in vain, the skills he got are more than enough for the replacement of the lost skills..(?)

[Special Pole Skill: Heavenly Cudgel.]

[Transcendent Sun Wukong's weapon, turned to a skill. You can elongate or retract a pole-type weapon by the amount of level you have by feet.]

...but it is still useless.

[Special String Skill: Weaponize.]

[Makes a weapon behave like a string.]

...it is still useless.

[Special Magic Skill: Magic Barrage.]

[Fires a Magic Bullet depending on how many Mana Stat points you have.]

...is still useless.

[Special Blade Skill: Floating Blades.]

[Makes a weapon float, and the numbers go up everytime the player's level increases by 10.]

...still useless.

[Special Martial Arts Skill: Drunk or Brawl?]

[Gain a 1% chance to be intoxicated by alcohol or be a barbarian every time you fight.]

...useless.

[Special Shooting Skill: Fast Snipe.]

[If the player is further from you, deals more damage and fires additional bullet for every 10 increase on the Dexterity Stat.]

...a bit useful :)

Zypher sighed as he looked at the skill.

All of them has some activation conditions, or stats to be met.

"Mod, can these skills be changed?"

[Yes, but the price is big.]

"That's fine, as long as--"

{And you don't get to choose what effects you can get after.}

"What?"

(In short, it is like a rolling a die from 1 to 6, and with only one good answer.)

"What if I roll the die 6 times?"

In short, upgrading one skill, ability, or weapon gets more expensive, and the chances only gets worse.

In short, it is not one out of 6, but 1 and the other 46,655 are duds.

"Is it same for Edit or Upgrade?"

Edit hurriedly said, stuttering.

(Yes, we can upgrade or edit it on how you want it, but it is exponentially more expensive. Just think of how much you will spend by relying on luck.)

Zypher sulked after he heard it.

He wants to be rich, but getting there is not easy. He will spend some time, or money if it needs.

"Can I just quit the game?"

"No." A stranger's voice appeared behind him.

But for Zypher, this voice is familiar. Almost too familiar that he was urged by his body to hug her.

The Eyes of Caelestia, All-Seeing, Ash Delik.

But to Zypher, she is a comrade-in-arms, a partner, a sister and the person he is closest to.

The brain can't work unless the eyes sees it. This is the way the two of them work together. And the brain tells the whole body what to do.

But sometimes, what the eyes sees, are not true. That's why she was called All-Seeing because of her Scout Legendary Hidden Skill: Information.

The skill triggers when the other party is wary or have negative emotions towards the user, and if the user touched the target after the said negative emotion occuring.

The skill cannot be negated as long as the two triggers.

This shows the plans, the information and schemes of other people. And there are two ways that Ash uses it.

Negotiation and Assassination.

One uses words to induce hate and handshake as a medium, and the other uses a blade to strike fear and anger and holding them after they died.

But, this is a dangerous skill as if the user cannot control it, a large sum of information will flood to their brains.

Zypher then went back to his senses and pulled out a smile.

"A handshake isn't necessary, Miss Ash." He said as he stepped back.

"What?" With that, Ash pulled her two blades, but Zypher held out his hand, stopping her.

"You may kill me, but you can't harm me. I'm level 1, and no exp can't be taken away from me. But for you..."

Zypher, whose hands were holding out, grabbed the blade fast and aimed it at Ash.

"You saw how I play, and scouted me. Your reputation, and the chance to recruit me will fall."

Ash squinted her eyes as she tightened the grip on her blade.

"Are you done using the talk-no-jutsu?" Ash asked.

"Huh? I'm not using any skil-"

"How did you know?"

"How did I what?"

"Know my skill."

"A hunch."

"I must kill you."

"No, you can use me."

"How?"

"Keep your friends close but..."

"Keep my enemies closer."

After that, Zypher decided to lower the blad and throw it aside.

"Don't worry, if I am an enemy, I won't even let you approach me. I'll just tell your skill to the other guilds."

With that, Ash sheathed of the blade.

"So what is your goal?" She said as she picked up the blade that Zypher threw.

Zypher was stunned for a bit, and blushed hard.

"Hey, lower your skirt first!"

Yes, the sheaths are on her thighs, looking like parts of a cycling shorts.

"It's not my fault that you are a pervert."

"Who's the pervert here? You just pulled your blades under your skirt!"

"Lower your voice, damnit! Everyone that hears you will think of something inappropriate."

"Oops!" Zypher hurriedly covered his mouth as Ash giggled away.

The best duo of Caelestia is now here.