Training and a Bargain

A hollow forest, overtaken by silk moth and spiders with no visible leaves anywhere in sight.

A single figure could be seen standing under a tree covered in white web,one of his hands raised slightly in front of his chest and the other hanging to the side with a small scroll in hand.

He stands there, eye closed, waiting for something or rather someone until he hears the familiar sound of slithering he has waited for quite sometime.

The figure waited as he heard the sounds get closer and closer until they were right beneath him and suddenly they stopped. Hearing the silence again, Argus couldn't help but chuckle as he felt the ground beneath him shake and leapt away.

The next second, the ground splits opens as many sword like legs shred the tree where he was before as a spider like being slithers out of the hole just made.

The spider looked like a grey haired spider and a walking cactus at the same time from all the thorn like white hairs standing on their ends, ready to pierce anything that dare approach it but Argus didn't mind.

This was a inhabitant of the forest he was in, A grey thorn spider or as others would call it a living cactus. It's been three weeks since he came, three weeks that were spent by him getting used to the forest as he trained under a guide given to him by Grevois.

Right now he stood on a tree branch, looking down at spider below and watched as it raised it's fore legs in a guard and couldn't help but inwardly laugh.

"The same old pattern again, I should go ask for some other training spot when i have the time." He mumbles to himself while tossing a small knife at the spider as he activated his skill.

---------------------------------------------------

Short explanation- Skills in this novel aren't the exp and level based but rather class and proficiency based, they work on a merge and divide mechanism where you can merge a skill when you gain full mastery of it.

There are also four types of skills- First that are obtained through practice or training, Second that comes along with a class change, Third that are gained by some sort of outside method like a item or a contract with some being and lastly fourth ones called varients that are like modified sub-versions of a skill that are gained either along with the skill or unlocked after max proficiency.

----------------------------------------------------

'Judge's gaze' , Golden marks appear around argus's eyes as his pupils shrink and turn yellow while slowly releasing a golden flame. His view of the world changes in a instant as he no longer watched it with colours but in a shade of black and white like sketch.

He again looked down at the spider below who was preparing for leap and saw it as nothing but a small black mass that indicates a being that has a soul.

Gazing at it, Argus smiled as a living soul meant a being that he could use his skills as a judge on and so he tossed the scroll in the air and it transformed into a golden double ended war hammer with a shaft of red.

Catching the hammer, he leapt before the spider could, spinning his weapon like a wheel as it came crashing down on the spider crushing one of it's legs and making it recoil in pain.

Argus however did not stop as he turned the hammer again using the recoil from the impact bashed it into the spider's side and without a second to lose he leapt, following the spider as it flew to side and crushed it's head to the ground before following up with a barrage of swings and completely pounded the spider until all of it's legs were a bloody paste.

"Phew *wipes his forehead* I am getting better at finishing this suckers, I guess the gaze really does it's wonders."

The skill 'Judge's gaze ' is a sort of mix between a sight skill and a focus detector, it was the first skill Argus gained when he gained the judge secondary class.

"What are you waiting for then? Just get this down and do something else with your life." A voice entered Argus's mind.

" Why so serious partner? I get that you didn't want this but I am open to negotiations am I not?"

This voice belonged to the judge's core or more precisely the spirit that recides in it, it had a complex name that stretches to the skies so Argus call it by shortened version, Eclipse.

" You talk as if you will just return me back if asked you to, just get this done and don't talk to me."

" Cold hearted as always. But i guess I will get this done anyway. Judgement."

'Judgement'. As soon as Argus activates the skill, the spider corpse was covered in a veil of light and disintegrated into a small orb of white colour following which he heard a sound that said " 12 JP added."

This was a Soldified soul orb, a basic item for any class and a sort of currency that was widely used across the world of Quara.

Grabbing the soul, Argus no longer waited and returned the hammer back to it's scroll form and left for his hideout inside the forest.

On his way, he encounters a bunch of other spider but they were barely coming to his knees and were so weak that he couldn't even make them into soul orbs, so he let them live as chasing them across the forest would be a drag and not worth his time.

Argus walked for a few minutes until finally arriving at his destination, A giant cave with makeshift torches hanging from the walls. This was his hideout, a place where he didn't have to worry about the spider breaking through the roof or the floor while slept.

He went in, walking in small strides while humming a tone to himself and soon reached his room which was actually just a small clearing with a bonfire in between and a sleeping bag to the side.

Sitting down, he tossed the orb into a pile of hundreds of orbs he had already collected when he first cleared the cave. He streched his body, brought out a small book from the side and begins reading as he tries to pass the time until he felt sleepy.

This was the guide Grevois gave him, 'A judge's guide to basics ' a book written by non other than his stupid adoptive father about what skills he had gained as a judge during his life.

Having no other source for passing time, Argus read through pages one by one until he reached the final page and notices something that garnered his attention.

"Hey eclipse, This says you can remove attributes for a cost of some JP, tell me about it."

"You sure you want to? Attributes are hard to obtain you know. But since this is my job I guess I will give you a quick run down."

These were the word Argus heard before his mind was dragged inside the ethereal judge's core where was greeted with a golden hall with many Pedestals placed around.

"You have gained 232 JP. I guess you have earned the basic privilege of the core." The voice of eclipse came as it flew closer to Argus as a mechanical sphere with a screen as a face.

It floated closer to one of the pedestal and activated it and the hall changes into a small room with words written on the walls.

"Removal, Synthesis, hints.. storage? What is all this supposed to mean?" Argus asked, his gaze shifting around the room as this was his first time here.

"This is the attribute chamber, a place where you can even convert your attributes as long as you have enough JP."

A bunch of knowledge was Suddenly drilled into Argus's brain that was completely explained all of the room's features. As the information flooded into his brain, he couldn't help but gasp at the absurdity of what he was hearing.

" Remove Other worlder from my attributes, no nego-" Argus ordered only to be interrupted.

"But that's a rare one, I suggest you store it Instead", eclipse moved to the attribute menu of argus begin expanding it.

The menu on the wall soon expended to some sort of tree that showed all the other attributes that the Other worlder had and it was shocking amount of over a dozen.

"Look at this, Do you seriously want to waste this attribute when it got so much potential?" Eclipse questioned, it's professionalism was top notch and it sounded like a personal manager which made even Argus who hated the attribute to his bone hesitate for a moment.

"But it stops me from getting other classes, I have to remove it if I want some good class.", Argus tried to reason only to be met with a disappointed face on eclipse's screen.

" Why don't you just store it until you gain some other attributes? Maybe you can synthesis this with something and get some better attribute instead."

" That.. why are you so obsessed with this one?" Argus asked to the spirit only to see it turn around and bring a giant panel out from the floor.

He then watches as a list appears on the panel before going way down until it a new row appears between others with the words 'other worder' written on it.

Eclipse then turned to Argus again and said " This is a new addition to my database, meaning this attribute has not been added by my creator or witnessed by any of the former hosts.. How about a bargain?"

"A bargain?"

" Yes a bargain.You help me collect the data on this attribute and I might give you a chance to become a proper host of the core."

Argus feel into deep thought, to collect the data on the attribute meant he would have to change to one of it's classes and that meant having a sort of permanent nerf until he upgraded it into a stronger class but a chance to actually gain the spirit's approval was not something he could gamble on.

He thought and thought until after several minutes of contempting, he finally reached a answer.

" I agree. But I need full cooperation if you want me to do this."

" Consider it done host. I maybe a prideful spirit but a promise is a line i won't cross."

And thus, Eclipse and Argus both fell into a sort of research session where they spent the JP they had to figure out all the possibilities hidden behind the cursed attribute of 'Other worlder'.