Chapter 32: A New Skill
--Chapter 32--
Title>> A New Skill
The server announcement still flashed on Xavier’s interface.
It would have been just another hurdle for him to overcome if his name wasn’t part of it.
Flashing like a grand banner, it could tell everybody in Server 1 where to look, where he was last seen and possibly where he was going next.
[SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT– SERVER 1]
[Hollowgate: Medium Difficulty — Cleared]
[Record time set: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes]
[Party leader: Timothee]
[Boss last hit claim: Hunter X]
Xavier read through the announcement and couldn’t help but look at the sky.
Then back at the announcement.
"Timothee..." he sighed inwardly.
The boy had agreed to their deal and held up his end of the bargain till the very end.
But when he thought about it, Xavier couldn’t blame him for being excited and letting the announcement through.
Xavier himself had allowed the system to announce his bloodline acquisition before.
So when the leader of a party of Level 4s and 5s cleared a Level 10 dungeon and flaunted their achievement proudly.
It wasn’t so bad and honestly, if Xavier was being honest, Timothee was quite impressive.
He honestly wouldn’t mind teaming up with the boy again.
However, there was also the fact that his name and location were now open to any ambitious player with a bloodline.
Talking about ambitious players.
Xavier quickly opened the server chats to see if he could now access more features and maybe interact with others.
Just as expected, the announcement had stirred up a whirlwind of opinions.
Some were wankers and a few others were just haters.
But it made no difference to Xavier. He read through first, hoping to find another message from Vagabond X.
[SunYuhan234]: 1 hour and 47 minutes?? Someone explain how that’s possible. And what’s with this guy and 47?
[Tragic_Killer]: hollowgate medium aint even hard lmao useless record.
[Winner_of_Rule34]: it’s hunter x tho. same guy that got the first bloodline. And yeah, he definitely has a fetish for 47. Sad it isn’t 34😉
[RoadRager10]: bro is speedrunning Arillion while we’re all trying not to die out here.
[Silly..Sailor]: genuinely impressive or genuinely suspicious but fuck, how do we log out already.
[Just_another_simp]: I’m going to break that record by tomorrow. Who’s with me?
[CrazyBandit]: good luck finding a party that fast, simp.
[JOHNwick501]: hunter x is either the best player alive or he’s with that bastard that spoke from the sky.
[Dex]: He is the best...Period🔐💗
Xavier read through the chats again as he walked forward.
Though he couldn’t care less about their opinions.
He knew half of them would try to replicate the run and most wouldn’t even get past the Sentinel pair. Even if they somehow managed to clear the dungeon, the first-hit rewards were already gone, making the whole effort little more than a waste of time.
Xavier was about to close the chat when even more messages appeared.
His eyes skimmed through some of them, mostly debates about the dungeon having better rewards at Hard difficulty.
’Sure...’ Xavier thought as he closed the chat.
But just after he did, a cursor blinked at the bottom of the feed.
A familiar name appeared.
[... Vagabond X typing...]: "Found..Y–"
***
With the chat closed and no possibility of reaching either Grace or V.
Xavier took the silence of the route towards Stockholm as an opportunity to think and sort out a few things.
He couldn’t help but think about his sister. It had been hours in here and yet there was no world announcement attached to her name.
Maybe he was overestimating her, she might still be adjusting to walking again.
"She’s walking again," Xavier mumbled to himself, stopping for a moment.
The very thought of it made his heart pound faster.
It made his need to find her even more urgent.
But no matter how urgent it was, one reality remained. He needed a suitable build and he needed to survive the world event before he could even think about escaping this server.
In short... he needed to stay ahead of the curve at all times.
Unless...!
Maybe she was deliberately keeping quiet and invisible. Building without drawing attention, moving through the early game the way she had always watched him do it. With patience and intent.
After all, she’d watched him for years. She knew the right classes, builds, loopholes and every trick he’d abused over the years.
No matter how he thought about it, she couldn’t have been helpless or even struggling.
She would be fine.
At least, that’s what he wanted to believe.
He only hoped the announcements had reached her server. Nothing else in this world would have given him more comfort.
A small smile tugged at his lips as his memory flashed back to the last time he saw Grace walk.
***
Xavier reached Stockholm without a fuss.
At this point in the early game, one thing was certain. He needed that bloodline class unlocked as soon as possible.
Pulling the Dread Cloak closer, its effects kicked in as he moved through the gates.
The village was even more depleted than before.
There were more NPCs than players now.
The few players that remained were either too confused by everything that had happened, or buried in the server chats, searching for useful information on where to go or what to do.
He kept moving, making his way into the Merchant Hall and directly towards the Haggling Machine: Felice.
The NPC stood behind the counter.
His chubby, round face was as unmistakable as his greasy fingers and shiny bald head.
Standing before the NPC, Xavier expected the usual cutscene and introduction before the eventual recognition.
Instead, the bald trader looked at him with an expression Xavier could only interpret as recognition.
"Hunter X," he said. "Twice in one day."
’Yeah... This is definitely not how I remember this.’
With Felice’s eyes fixed on him, Xavier simply shrugged and went with it.
"I need two skills. Quick."
"I see... I see..." Felice spread his hands apart. "Whatever you like."
A blue interface appeared and the grid unfolded before him.
Xavier didn’t even bother with the more recognisable skills like Mana Blade and Mana Shield. Instead, his gaze settled on Appraisal.
The skill was as attractive as ever. The description was clean. It revealed item properties, entity information and hidden qualities.
As always, it was consistently useful no matter how you looked at it. It was one of his targets, and he’d relied on it across previous playthroughs.
Then he looked at the price.
Two thousand Copper Coins.
’Damn... this game is greedier than real life.’
Xavier’s eyes twitched in annoyance.
"Let’s see if I can get both."
His gaze dropped to the skill sitting at the very top of his priority list.
Alchemy...
[Name: Alchemy]
[Type: General Skill (Upgradable)]
[Description: Allows the synthesis of consumables, compounds and reagents from compatible materials.]
[Requirement: 10+ Intelligence]
[Effects: +4 Intelligence when active.]
[Higher understanding reveals additional material properties.]
[Price: 2000 Copper Coins]
With how valuable the skill was to his plans and knowing he could find a substitute for Appraisal, Xavier didn’t overthink it. He looked to the right of the grid and clicked Buy.
Ding!
[You have bought an Alchemy Skill Book.]
The small blue book appeared in his palm before dissolving into motes of blue light that flowed into his body.
It wasn’t like Mana Bullet, which had settled naturally into his mana pathways.
This felt different.
It was as though the skill was reading him. Cross-referencing him against something.
Ding!
Another notification appeared.
It definitely wasn’t what Xavier expected.
[The Player’s prior knowledge has been detected.]
[Applied Medical Science]
[Compound Interaction Theory--Advanced]
[Organic Material Classification-- Intermediate]
[The skill initializes above baseline.]
[Alchemy has leveled up!]
[Alchemy: Level 1 → Level 2]
[The game acknowledges what you already know.]
Xavier stared at the last line of the notification.
It was beyond foreign.
Honestly... throughout his years of playing Arillion Online before it became... whatever this was...
He had never seen anything like it. Since God knows how long.
’How long was it again?’ Xavier thought.
Two years.
Yeah... two years of medical school. Two years of believing he would live a life away from the controllers and screens his parents and sister loved so much.
For a while, a life of his own design had seemed possible.
Until the accident.
The accident that nearly took everything from him and made staying in school impossible.
And now, all the knowledge he had long accepted as nothing more than part of his past...
Arillion disagreed.
’Wait... is it like this for everyone else too?’
The game wasn’t like before anymore. It didn’t build characters.
It’d taken real people with real experiences and placed them inside itself. Then it analysed what they already knew. Their knowledge, training and their experiences.
"This is just crazy..." Xavier muttered, a little louder than he intended.
"Anything else?" Felice asked.
The question snapped Xavier out of his thoughts.
"No," Xavier replied.
He closed the grid and headed for the door, giving a small wave without looking back.
"Thank you, Felice."
"Safe travels, Hunter X."
***
Xavier got out of Stockholm Village without a fuss. Still unable to fully unsee what he had just seen.
At this point in the early game, one thing was certain. He needed that bloodline class unlocked as soon as possible.
His mind was already set on a few easy targets. He flexed his fingers, and even now he could still feel the chilling sensation left in his palms by absorbing the Chains of the Bounded skill stone.
The B-rank skill would definitely come in handy in future fights.
Arriving at the edge of the forest, Xavier pulled up the map. He was trying to chart a route through the unclaimed territories he knew of.
But as always, the Wanderer’s Compass pointed everywhere except where he wanted to go.
Xavier noted it and decided to head north anyway.
Walking through the forest, Xavier glanced at the familiar path.
The road leading to Hollowgate was visible to his right, already quieter than it had been just a few hours earlier.
His eyelids narrowed instinctively as something metallic caught the light and flashed into his eyes.
It lasted barely half a second.
The next half second changed everything.
Xavier’s eyes widened.
Bang!
–End of Chapter–