Reluctant Heroes Part 4

Myst twisted and conjured a firebolt when Brian screamed incoherently and collapsed. He tossed the ball of fire at the moving splotch of darkness that was slightly darker than the rest of the poorly lit section of the hallway. He scowled as his fireball briefly illuminated a lap dog sized rat that was already rushing back into the area the flickering sconces didn't illuminate.

"Fuck!" Brian screamed as he clutched at his shredded achilles tendon, shocked that something had managed to tear straight through his boot.

Myst felt his heart skip when several dozen pairs of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness between one breath and the next. "Shit!" he shouted, using his Monster Orb skill on one set of eyes and trusting that Alice could at least scare them away.

Alice opened fire on the glowing red eyes, pulling the trigger as fast as she could, hoping to scare them off or at least kill enough of them so they didn't get overwhelmed.

Sarah tagged a pair of rats with a firebolt as they jumped for Brian's neck then jumped forward and kicked the burning rats away from her companion.

Myst tossed a ball of fire at the fleeing rats then used his Monster Orb skill on the dying rat that Sarah had set on fire, creating another skill orb. He used both skill orbs then quickly used his skill again, creating another skill orb. "Could have been worse."

Alice shot the mostly dead rat as it started crawling for the darkness.

"Fuck you!" Brian snapped as he clamped his hands around his injury, trying to stop or at least slow the bleeding. "Damn thing got through my boot!"

Myst walked over and touched Brian's shoulder with his free hand and used his Healing Touch spell. "Better?"

"No…" Brian trailed off as he realized the pain was gone and that his achilles tendon was perfectly fine. "You should have mentioned you had a healing spell."

"I was sort of hoping we wouldn't need it," Myst replied as he looked at the skill orb. "Dark Sight and it's uncommon, that's almost worth dealing with the damned rats." He used the orb and grinned as the shadows in the room went from being dark places that could hide monsters to being mere shadows, revealing a hole in the wall near the ground that had most likely let the rats in.

Sarah helped Brian to his feet. "How long will it take to skin the rats?" she asked, speaking a bit louder than normal because the bits of napkin she'd stuffed in her ears weren't quite enough to keep Alice's shots from being painfully loud.

"Ten seconds a rat," Myst replied as he grabbed his knife off his belt and went to work on the nearest rat, letting his skill guide his hands through what was probably the fastest skinning job in history that didn't involve some type of explosive.

Brian scowled as he looked at the empty sconce that had allowed the rats to get the drop on them. "We should have brought a torch or something."

"Or a flashlight," Sarah agreed as she kept watch on the shadows.

Myst finished skinning the rat and grinned when he realized his skinning skill automatically cured the leather and wrapped the rat meat in wax paper. "Huh, that's a bit more game-like than I was expecting."

"Just a bit. Do you think you'll have enough leather to make us some decent armor?" Brian asked hopefully.

"No idea," Myst replied as he put the small roll of leather in his pack and stood up. "Any idea what we should do with the rat meat?"

"Find someone with a dog?" Sarah asked. "Do you think anyone picked up an inventory skill?"

"It's worth checking," Alice said as she turned to look at Myst. "Can you teach the Dark Sight ability before you skin the rest of them?"

"Sure, give me a second," Myst replied as he brought up his Teaching menu and looked over his new skills.

Dark Sight: [Un]

Effect: Passive: [Dark Sight], [Light Sensitivity]

Allows you to see in darkness out to your normal range of vision but makes bright light more annoying.

Rat Bite: Lv 1 [Un]

Effect: [Low Damage][Bite][[Armor Penetrating][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]]

Stealth: Lv 1

Target: [Self]

Effect: Activates [Stealth][50%+[SkillLv]X5%]

"It comes with Light Sensitivity, do you still want it?" Myst asked as he created a Dark Sight orb and stuck it in his bag.

Brian shivered as he thought about the rats pouring out of the darkness. "Yeah, I'd rather be able to see the rats."

"We can always turn them into skill orbs before we leave," Sarah pointed out.

"Point," Myst admitted as he quickly taught everyone the Dark Sight skill then went back to skinning the rats.

"Do we want to call it a day or continue looking for trouble?" Alice asked as she glanced around the formerly dark room, wanting to be sure nothing snuck up on them again.

Brian shook his head. "We got some leather and we found a couple skill orbs, we probably have enough to hire a wagon or at least buy passage to the next town. We might as well head back and sell the orbs before the shop closes."

"Not to mention, I'm getting a bit of a headache from Alice's gun," Sarah admitted.

"Sorry," Alice offered.

"Nothing a bit of healing won't fix," Sarah said as she looked at the rat teeth Myst salvaged from the second rat. "Any idea what you can use rat teeth for?"

"I'm guessing crafting," Myst replied as he finished the third rat, grinning when he noticed the second roll of leather was glowing a faint blue color. "Nice."

Brian grinned when he noticed the glowing leather. "Do you think you can make magic boots?"

"Not a clue," Myst admitted as he put the leather in his pack. "I'll probably have to talk to a cobbler to get some basic patterns, I'll see what I can come up with once we get back."

"How much do you think you'll get for the skills?" Brian asked, hoping it was enough to get everyone to the next town and make sure they didn't starve to death.

Myst grinned as he walked over to the next rat and started skinning it. "Probably 10 gold for both of the Acid Resistance orbs and at least a couple of dozen for the Dark Sight orb. With any luck, we'll be able to pick up some interesting skills that should make hunting monsters easier."

0o0o0

"How many Luck skills do you have?" the skill merchant muttered under his breath as he examined the Dark Sight skill orb that Myst had set on the counter. "I'll give you twenty gold for it."

"And ten for the Acid Resistance orbs?" Myst asked as he glanced over the tags of the questionable skill orbs.

"Seven or ten in store credit," the shopkeeper offered.

"Store credit is fine," Myst replied as he pointed at one of the orbs in the 'reject' cabinet. "I'll take the Goblin Engineering, Leaky Reserves, Inefficient Enchanting, Bone Jewelry, Fool's Tattooist, Rock Toss and Bumbling Alchemy orbs."

'Not a bad idea if you have a large enough reserve but you'll be burning through mana potions like crazy and you'll probably poison yourself using the Bumbling Alchemy skill,' the shopkeeper mused as he added everything up, setting everything on the table, seeing no point in warning the guy that he was wasting his gold. "That leaves you with eighteen gold, anything else?"

"Do you have any skills for identifying creatures or their weaknesses?" Myst asked.

"Beginner's Monster Scan," the man suggested as he reached under the counter and grabbed a skill orb from the shelf. "You'll only be able to scan weak monsters but you might get something better with enough practice."

"How much?" Myst asked.

"Three gold, most people don't generally sell the skill and this one is level three," the man explained.

"Add it to the collection," Myst said, trying not to think about how much he could sell gold coins for back home. "That should do it," he said as he started using the skill orbs.

"Best of luck," the man offered as he counted out fifteen gold coins from one of his smaller lockboxes.

"Thank you." Myst finished using the skill orbs, grabbed his gold and left the shop with a grin, eager to play with his new skills. 'Okay, let's see if it was worth it.' He brought his new skills up and nearly walked into a guy in armor when he noticed all of the interesting new qualities he'd get to play with. 'One man's trash is another man's treasure,' he mused as he stepped around the man in armor and continued on his way back towards the inn.

Goblin Engineering: Lv 1

Effect: Allows use of [Engineering][Limited][Goblin] Menu. Decrease[Crafting Time][Engineering][[SkillLv]X3%]

Leaky Reserves:

Effect: Passive: [1][Mana Drain], Increase [Mana Pool][[SkillLv]x20%]

Inefficient Enchanting: Lv 1

Effect: Allows use of [Enchanting][Material][Mana][Cost]X5 Menu.

Bone Jewelry: Lv 2

Effect: Allows use of [Jewelry][Limited][Material][Bone] Menu. Decrease[Crafting Time][Jewelry][[SkillLv]X5%]

Fool's Tattooist: Lv 1

Effect: Allows use of [Tattoo] Menu. Decrease[Success Rate]-30%

Rock Toss: Lv 2

Effect: Passive: Increase [Accuracy][[SkillLv]X5%] and [Damage][[SkillLv]X5%] with [Thrown][Rocks]

Bumbling Alchemy: Lv 2

Effect: Allows use of [Alchemy] Menu. Decrease[Success Rate]-10%. Product[Alchemy][Unstable][100% - [SkillLv]%]

Beginner's Monster Scan: Lv 3

Target: [Low Level Monster]

Use Time: [5][Seconds]

Effect: Allows Identification. See target's [Status List][40% + [SkillLv]x5%], See target's [Skill List][10% + [SkillLv]x5%], See target's [Attribute List][[SkillLv]x5%], See target's [Disposition][20% + [Skill Lv]x5%]

'Damn, Leaky Reserves is just asking to be abused to hell and back and Monster Scan is going to need some tweaks but at least I should be able to get some basic information once I tweak the target so I can use it on everyone.'

Myst opened his enchanting menu and looked at his available one option. 'Sharp blade, slight increase in damage for more mana than I have.' He glanced at the toggles and sliding bars that would let him increase the amount of mana he used for a stronger effect. 'Blank spots, I'll probably get more toggles and options when I find more enchants.'

'I can see why no one bothered leveling the skill, five times the mana is painful,' he mused as he looked through his options, not noticing the two hidden thugs or even the fact that he was walking past a dark alley. Not that paying attention would have helped given his complete lack of perception based skills and their high stealth skills.

"Shit!" Myst cursed as a hand grabbed him and pulled him into the alley.

"Give us your gold," one of the thugs ordered menacingly as he pointed a knife at Myst.

"And your valuables or else," the thug that had a hold of his arm said smugly.

Myst briefly considered trying to hit the twenty something man holding him and making a run for it before deciding that they might have skills that would complete things and fifteen gold wasn't worth his life. "Sure, no need for violence, I don't have much," he said as he mentally brought up his skill manipulation ability and selected his less impressive Teaching skill that he hadn't scrapped and his Monster Skill Theft ability. He swapped the [Low Level Monster] quality with the [Other] quality and hit the button, causing him to wince in pain.

Skill Theft: Lv 1 [VR]

Target: [Other] [Skill]

Effect: [Creates] [Skill Orb] of target, [Erases] target.

Teaching: Lv 1

Targets: [Low Level Monster] [Person] and [Personal Skill]

Casting Time: [Hour]

Effect: [[SkillLv]X5%] chance to [Teach] target [Personal Skill] to target.

The thug with the knife sneered as he waved the knife back and forth. "You're lying, we saw you leave the skill shop which means you have coin or skills, we want everything and maybe we won't kill you."

"Just cut you up a bit for lying," the thug holding Myst's arm said.

Myst sighed as he realized he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of things and that they weren't just people down on their luck that needed some help. "Not much, guy's a bastard and I was buying skills but you're welcome to them," he explained as he used his Skill Theft skill on the thug with the knife, creating a Level 5 Knife Proficiency skill orb and depriving the thug of his hard won knife skills.

"What the fuck!" the thug shouted when he saw the notification that he'd just lost a skill.

Myst used the skill a second time, creating a level 7 Pickpocket Skill Orb then tossed it at the man's face a split second before he lunged forward and kicked the man in the nuts. He dropped the skill orbs as he let the other thug pull him back, going with the motion and causing the thug to lose his balance.

Myst stomped on the man's foot then reached up and grabbed him by the neck when he let go of his arm and slammed his head against the wall as hard as he could. He continued bashing the back of the man's head against the brick wall as he used his new skill to systematically remove the man's various skills, dropping each skill orb so he'd have a free hand for the next.

Myst dropped the unconscious man when saw a notice that said he had no more skills to steal then dashed over and slammed his fist into the thug that was trying to get up, dropping him unconscious. 'Fuck!' he cursed mentally for letting himself get distracted enough to find himself in his current situation then glanced at the entrance to the alley to make sure no one was paying more attention than they should be.

He quickly grabbed the various orbs that he'd dropped on the ground and stuck them in his pack, trying not to think about all of the ways the fight could have gone horribly wrong. 'Stop thinking about the place as a nice safe MMO, it's nasty and hellish and you're going to get yourself killed if you don't start taking things seriously.'

"Screw it," Myst grumbled as he worked on stealing the man's skills, dropping the orbs in his pack as he didn't really want to accidently pick up a skill he couldn't deal with or that caused the city or country to want him dead and he didn't want to spend the time to read each one.

He finished stealing the man's skills then created a copy of his Skill Theft skill. He quickly pulled up his skill manipulation menu and selected his Skill Theft skill and his broken Teaching skill and swapped [Skill] with [Person] then hit the button. He staggered and hit the wall, using it to keep himself 'standing' as the world spun and twisted.

Erase Person: [R]

Target: [Other] [Person]

Effect: [Creates] [Skill Orb] of target, [Erases] target.

Invalid Skill 01:

Targets: [Low Level Monster] [Skill] and [Personal Skill]

Casting Time: [Hour]

Effect: [[SkillLv]X5%] chance to [Teach] target [Personal Skill] to target.

"Fuck!" Myst cursed as he tried to blink the spots out of his vision and get the world to stop spinning. 'Fuck it, worry about it later,' he scolded himself and used the skill orb to get his Skill Theft Skill back. 'They're not children, they made their choices and they were going to kill you or take everything and let you starve to death or worse.'

"Screw it," Myst grumbled as he pushed himself off the less than clean wall and walked over to the unconscious thugs, still feeling a bit unsteady. He quickly stole their belts, belt pouches and jewelry, stashing them in his pack. He briefly considered leaving them before realizing that they'd tell someone about losing their skills which would cause the nobles to hunt him to the end of the world for the chance to get such a valuable skill, especially if they realized or even suspected that he wasn't just erasing skills.

"Sorry," he muttered as he focused on his new skill and used it on the thug that had threatened him with a knife, causing him to flicker like a bad special effect for several seconds before vanishing along with his clothes. Myst frowned when he realized he hadn't gotten a skill orb. 'So much for turning people into random skills,' he mused as he used his skill on the other thug, causing the thug to flicker and vanish after several seconds.

He sighed as he pulled his attention off the ground where the thugs had been sprawled then glanced around the alley again to make sure he hadn't missed any skill orbs. 'Screw it, they made their own choice,' he told himself as he walked out of the alley and headed towards the inn.

0o0o0

"At least the bed is comfortable," Myst muttered as he stared at the ceiling of the corner room that he'd rented for the night, trying and failing to not think about the thugs he'd killed. He knew he should feel worse about killing the thugs but looking at their collection of skills had basically put the nails in the coffin for any sympathy he might have felt, people that had devolved those particular skills weren't nice or they  He glanced over the collection of rogue type skills he'd picked up as he tried to figure out where to start modifying his skills to be more effective and useful.

Backstab: Lv 4

Requires: [Stealth]

Effect: Passive: Increase [Damage][[SkillLv]/2] with [Knives] from [Behind].

Brawling: Lv 3

Effect: Passive: Increase [Accuracy][[SkillLv]X5%] and [Damage][[SkillLv]X10%] with [Unarmed Strike]

Climbing: Lv 2

Effect: Passive Increase climbing speed by [SkillLv] and chance by [[SkillLv]X5%]

Improvised Weapon: Lv 2

Effect: Passive Increase [Damage][[SkillLv]X10%] with [Improvised weapon], decreases [Durability Loss] by [SkillLv]

Intimidate: Lv 5

Target: [Person]

Effect: Inflict [Fear][SkillLv]X4% on target.

Knife Proficiency: Lv 5

Effect: Passive: Increase [Accuracy][[SkillLv]X5%] and [Damage][[SkillLv]X10%] with [Knives]

Lock Picking: Lv 5

Target: [Lock]

Range: [Touch]

Use Time: [1][Minute]-[[SkillLv]x3[Seconds]

Requires: [Thieves Tools]

Effect: Unlocks one [Lock][10 + [SkillLv]X5%]

Pickpocket: Lv 7

Target: [Person][Coins] or [Person][Item]

Range: [Touch]

Effect: [[10% + SkillLv]X5%] chance to [Steal][Coins] from target, [[SkillLv]X5%] chance to [Steal][Item]

Failure chance depends on item, skill, stealth and target's perception.

Perception: Lv 9

Effect: Passive Increase [Perception][SkillLv]X3%

Makes it easier to see through Stealth effects.

Poison Blade: Lv 6

Target: [Poison][Blade]

Range: [Touch]

Effect: Apply target [Poison] to target [Blade] increase [Damage] of target [Poison] by [[SkillLv]X7%]

Poison Making: Lv 4

Effect: Allows use of [Alchemy][Limited][Poison] Menu. Product[Alchemy][Poison] is [SkillLv]X2%] more effective. Decrease[Crafting Time][Alchemy][[SkillLv]X5%]

Running: Lv 5

Effect: Passive Increase [Running] speed by [[SkillLv]X10%]

Stealth: Lv 9

Target: [Self]

Effect: Activates [Stealth][45%+[SkillLv]X5%]

Wealth Scan: Lv 6

Target: [Other]

Use Time: [5][Seconds]

Effect: See target's [Coin Value][20% + [SkillLv]x5%]

Myst brought up his Dark Sight skill and looked the skill over as he scanned through his list of skills for something he could replace the [Light Sensitivity] negative quality with. He paused as he noticed his Rat Bite skill had [[Armor Penetrating][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]] which seemed perfect. 'That could work, Eyes of God or something.'

He quickly made skill orbs of the two skills then swapped the [Light Sensitivity] with the [[Armor Penetrating][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]] quality and hit the button.

Invalid Dark Sight: [Un]

Effect: Passive: [Dark Sight], [[Armor Penetrating][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]]

Allows you to see in darkness out to your normal range of vision.

Vision Bite: Lv 1

Effect: [Low Damage][Bite][Light Sensitivity]

Bite that does low damage and causes Light Sensitivity none of the time.

'Okay, I obviously need a percentage chance next to the Light Sensitivity and Armor Penetration doesn't seem to work unless it's connected to an attack.' He swapped his [Light Sensitivity] and [Armor Penetrating] qualities and hit the button.

Invalid Dark Sight:

Effect: Passive: [Dark Sight], [[Light Sensitivity][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]]

Allows you to see in darkness out to your normal range of vision, [Light Sensitivity] gets worse as you level.

Bite: Lv 1

Effect: [Low Damage][Bite][Armor Penetrating]

Bite that does low damage.

'Which means I need the percentage chance linked to that,' Myst mused as he created a skill orb of his Invalid Dark Sight skill. He swapped the [[Light Sensitivity][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]] for the [Armor Penetrating] quality and grinned as he looked at his resulting Bite skill.

Light Blind Bite: Lv 1 [Un]

Effect: [Low Damage][Bite][[Light Sensitivity][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]]

Bite that does low damage but inflicts Light Sensitivity for zero seconds a most of the time.

'Okay, I could fix this but I'm not going to bite anyone right now.' He used his Invalid Dark Sight orb then made a skill orb of this Ninja Lord Meditation ability. He pulled up his Ninja Lord Meditation and his Invalid Dark Sight skills and swapped [Light Sensitivity] for [Mana Regeneration] and hit the button.

Eldritch Dark Sight: [Un]

Effect: Passive: [Dark Sight], [[Mana Regeneration][50%+[Skill Lv]X10%]]

Allows you to see in the dark out to your normal range and grants a small amount of mana regeneration.

Light Blindness: Lv 1 [R]

Target: [Self]

Requires: [Stealth]

Effect: Activates [100][Light Sensitivity]

'Hmm, probably shouldn't actually try Stealth right now,' he mused as he swapped the [50%+[Skill Lv]X10%] for the [100] and hit the button, twitching as he saw ethereal cracks appear in the air for a brief second as background noise stopped for a heartbeat.

Eldritch Dark Sight: Lv 1 [VR]

Effect: Passive: [Dark Sight], [[Mana Regeneration][100]]

Allows you to see in the dark out to your normal range and grants 100 points of mana regeneration a second.

Cursed Stealth:

Target: [Self]

Requires: [Stealth]

Effect: Activates [50%+[Skill Lv]X10%][Light Sensitivity]

More than half the time in stealth you'll have trouble with light sensitivity.

Myst pulled his attention off the spaces where he'd seen reality fracture and looked at his new skill, surprised that it actually worked. 'Damn, that should cover my Leaky Reserves skill and then some. Near useless skill other than the percentage chance is the best I've seen which means it's time to break the world!' he mused gleefully as he created a skill orb for his Cursed Stealth skill.

He scrolled down, selected his Poison Making skill and read the details.

Poison Making: Lv 4

Effect: Allows use of [Alchemy][Limited][Poison] Menu. Product[Alchemy][Poison] is [SkillLv]X2%] more effective. Decrease[Crafting Time][Alchemy][[SkillLv]X5%]

'If I can get rid of the [Limited] quality, I can probably use that for something impressive.' He quickly created two skill orbs and set them next to him on the bed. He brought his two Alchemy skills up then swapped the [Poison] quality in his Poison Making skill for the [Alchemy] quality in his Bumbling Alchemy skill.

Poison Making: Lv 4 [Un]

Effect: Allows use of [Alchemy][Limited][Poison] Menu. Product[Alchemy][Alchemy] is [SkillLv]X2%] more effective. Decrease[Crafting Time][Alchemy][[SkillLv]X5%]

Allows creation of Poison, all alchemy products are slightly more effective, can still only make poisons.

He created a skill orb for his Glassblowing skill then swapped [Glassblowing] for the [Limited] quality and hit the button.

Alchemy and Glass Crafting Lv 2 [Un]

Effect: Allows use of [Alchemy][Glassblowing][Poison] Menu. Product[Alchemy][Alchemy] is [SkillLv]X2%] more effective. Decrease[Crafting Time][Alchemy][[SkillLv]X5%]

Allows creation of Alchemy Products and Glassware, Alchemy Products are slightly more effective and quicker to finish than they should be.

Invalid 02: Lv 1

Effect: Allows use of [Limited] Menu. Decrease[Crafting Time][Glassblowing][[SkillLv]X2%]

Myst focused on his Invalid skill and frowned as a crafting window appeared without any patterns or any toggles. 'Yeah, that's nearly useless.' He closed the broken crafting window then brought both skills up and swapped the second [Alchemy] quality in the Product section with [Glassblowing] from his broken skill, hit the button and glanced at the description for his new skill. 'Allows creation of Alchemy Products and Glassware, Alchemy and Glassblowing Products are slightly more effective and Alchemy Products are quicker to finish than they should be.'

He brought up his new crafting window and looked at the tabs. 'At least I still have all of my recipes, not that it matters considering I barely have any. There's no way the thug got to level four with one basic poison which means the skill orbs don't contain recipes.'

He grinned as he swapped the [SkillLv]X2%] quality from his new skill for the [50%+[Skill Lv]X10%] quality from his Cursed Stealth skill then hit the button. He laughed as the world shook, figuring he was on the right path. 'I'm going to be making a bunch of broken skill orbs, I should probably figure out a decent use for them.'

He brought up his Herbalism skill and looked at the qualities. 'I needed to fix it anyway.' He created an Herbalism skill orb on the off chance he screwed something up then made a Cleaning skill orb and swapped the [Minute] quality for the [10 seconds] quality and hit the button. He twitched slightly as it felt like he'd spun around once despite the fact that he was sitting.

He glanced at the Use Time on his new skill. "One second, it must have gotten simplified. At least it hasn't eaten anything important yet.' He created another Harvesting skill orb then created a Create Monster Skill Orb. 'Okay, let's see what happens.' He pushed the button and shivered as the room seemed to twist and stay twisted for two seconds, almost distracting him from his new skill.

Dust Harvesting: Lv 1 [VR]

Target: [Skill Orb]

Use Time: [1][Second]

Requires: [Cutting Tool]

Effect: Allows Identification, [Extracts][Material] from target. [[SkillLv]X.01%] chance of receiving rare quality [Material]

Invalid 03:

Target: [Low Level Monster] [Skill]

Effect: [Creates] [Plant] of Target, [Cleans] target]

He used his skill to turn his Invalid 03 skill into a skill orb then concentrated on the orb and grinned when a popup appeared over the orb listing some of the details of the skill he'd get if he used the orb. "Nice, that's worth it right there.'

He concentrated and used his skill to harvest the near useless skill orb and frowned as he realized he didn't have a cutting tool on him. He reached over and grabbed his knife off the nightstand and tried the skill again, a touch surprised when the skill worked and a small cloth bag of what felt like sand or salt appeared in place of the orb. "That's probably better than tossing them in the gutter for people to find."

'Okay, let's see if I can get something rare out of this,' he mused as he used his Cursed Stealth skill orb. 'Okay, I should probably go with the 50% plus 10% per level for the time reduction and the skill times twenty percent for the effectiveness as that can probably go past 100%. Then again, I should probably start by increasing the chance of getting rare dust.'

He brought up his Cursed Stealth Skill and his Dust Harvest ability and [[SkillLv]X.01%] quality with the [50%+[Skill Lv]X10%] and hit the button. He lurched as everything felt like he'd been tossed on a tilt a whirl for a couple of minutes.

Dust Harvesting: Lv 1 [VR]

Target: [Skill Orb]

Use Time: [1][Second]

Requires: [Cutting Tool]

Effect: Allows Identification, [Extracts][Material] from target. [50%+[Skill Lv]X10%] chance of receiving rare quality [Material]

He turned the broken Cursed Skill into a skill orb then harvested it, grinning when he got a small bag of dust and a glowing crystal. He set the two bags of dust or sand on the nightstand along with the crystal then went to work overhauling and tweaking his skills with a manic grin on his face.