The next eight days passed by in arduous training. I spent every day in the training field with Bella. As she trained the various bullet skills that I had given her, I sat on the floor, practicing my own skills. Since there were proper training dummies, I even deployed my clones to train, letting them attack relentlessly.
At the same time, I was practicing the new shadow manipulation skill that I had made for Diane, and I could only assume that she was off doing the same elsewhere. Because we were all busy with our own training, we didn’t see her much, aside from when we all came together for meals.
During this little more than a week, I managed to get four of my skills to evolve. First, and most significantly, my constant training of the shadow manipulation skill allowed me to evolve Dark Intent-X. Now, along with my three other projection skills, I had far more options in battle.
My other three skills all evolved almost simultaneously, the three cloning skills. I was quite pleased with the evolution, and they all progressed along similar paths. Fire Clone and Water Clone both turned into Fire General and Water General respectively, while Ki Clone turned into Ki Clone-X. This was because I had used a book to demote that skill back when I started training it.
The evolution allowed the skill to now summon a general instead of a normal clone. This general could, itself, summon up to three clones. However, the difference between the fully evolved version really began to shine here. For the water and fire generals, their lesser summons were incapable of using any of my skills. This was… a problem, because their base stats were based on my own.
In other words, the lesser summons of the fire and water generals were stuck at level one, and there was no conceivable way to strengthen them. At best, the generals could use skills to buff the lesser summons. However, for Ki Clone-X, the lesser summons could still freely activate my Martial skills, just as they could with the basic Ki Clone.
While I was somewhat annoyed at the weaker summons of the first two skills, I could understand why it was created the way it was. After all, how many people are really going to be using these skills with the base stats of a level one? Aside from me, I highly doubted anyone else would even have the chance.
As I was thinking about that, another gunshot rang in my ear. I had grown numb to the noise, hearing thousands of shots a day. At this point, Bella had long since finished training her rifle, and was using a pair of pistols that Diane had purchased for her, if for no other reason than the higher fire rate.
However, just as I was getting ready to cast my next skill to continue my training, I noticed that the gunshots had subsided. I paused for a moment, anticipating that Bella might just need to reload. However, I waited several seconds, and no more shots rang out. Bella had fired those guns so many times that she could reload her magazines with barely a pause in her fire rate.
Looking over at her, I saw the excited look on her face that indicated that she had finished another of her own skills. “Which one’s next?” I asked, catching her attention.
“Huh? Oh, no! That was the last one! I just finished Spark Bullet.” When she said that, I blinked in surprise.
“So, you’re done, done?” I asked, slowly rising to my feet as she emphatically nodded.
“That’s right. I was just about to try the evolution. However, a ‘grand fusion’ prompt appeared, so I wasn’t sure what to do.” She explained, though her face held unmistakable excitement.
“Grand fusion…?” I hesitated, having never heard the term before. “Does it offer an explanation?”
Bella shook her head. “It just lists the compatible skills. Both my Pistol Proficiency, Rifle Proficiency, and all of the bullet skills you gave me.”
“In that case, a grand fusion is probably a fusion of ten or more skills.” I assumed as much, anyways, given that I had no such prompt when fusing five skills for Duke of All Trades-X. “You should go ahead and fuse them. At the very least, this seems like what you were hoping for, anyways.”
Bella quickly nodded, taking a deep breath before pressing the button. Her eyes lit up, widening as she read the text. “They turned into something called Chaos Firearms Expertise.” She looked down at the pistol in her hand, and aimed it at the training target.
When she pulled the trigger, a black energy bullet shot out, impacting the target. Lightning crackled along the wooden dummy as she fired another shot, this one leaving a burst of flame on impact.
“Does it just let you fire all of the different types of bullets you learned?” I asked, arching a brow as I watched the demonstration.
“Not… quite? I don’t choose what type of bullet I fire or anything. According to the skill description, the bullets have random status effects. And, if they hit something with a distinct elemental weakness, they will deal damage as if that element.”
“That’s… a powerful skill.” I widened my eyes as I listened to her explanation. It was completely worth having her combine all of those skills together if that was the result. Although she couldn’t control what effect her bullets would have, that might change over time. Just the fact that she could target an elemental weakness was already a great benefit.
After saying that, I quickly sent a message to Diane, letting her know that Bella’s training was over, and just in time too. “We should get ready to move out. We’ll be heading east once we finish our preparations.”
“East? But there’s nothing that way, is there?” Bella blinked, before her eyes widened in realization. “The Summer Solstice! Is that already here?”
I chuckled, nodding my head. “I was thinking that we might end up missing it this year.” Today was the eighteenth of June, and the solstice was on the twentieth. “Nuoda’s a tailor, so you should be able to get something made from her.”
Bella quickly nodded her head, putting her pistols back in her inventory and running out of the training field. As I turned to follow her, I was stopped by Kelly, who had a knowing look on her face. “That elf girl’s like you, isn’t she?” She asked, jerking her head in the direction that Bella had left.
I hesitated briefly, before offering a small nod. There was no point in hiding it from Kelly, as she wouldn’t have asked this question if she wasn’t already certain. “Out of curiosity, how’d you spot it?”
“That transformation skill’s a real kicker.” Kelly laughed. “But she isn’t keeping track of her ‘log in’ time, and keeps going over before manually dimming her brand. Also, there’s no personality change between herself and her ‘player’. Nothing in her stance or her expression changes like it would for a normal Chosen when their player logs out.”
“But, she’s able to level, isn’t she?” Kelly followed up, and I kept my mouth shut. Still, Kelly already knew as soon as she asked. “She couldn’t exactly travel together with the two of you if her power was locked like a normal Fallen. There are only a few traits that would let her level up in her circumstances.”
After saying that, Kelly stepped aside, letting me pass. “Keep an eye on her. Most Fallen would commit unspeakable atrocities to get that trait.”
I let out a brief sigh of relief, before turning my head to regard Kelly. “You’re not interested in it?” I asked, but she shook her head.
“My teacher taught me a long time ago not to rely on traits. That’s why I never bothered to get a new one after I lost mine. I’d rather spend my time mastering my skills. Though, admittedly, even I’m tempted by the prospect of being able to level up again. Just not enough to rob someone else of their own future.”
After she said that, she moved back to her spot on the floor, crossing her arms in meditation. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but ask. “Are you actually training your skills like that? Or is it just a passive skill you’re training right now?”
Kelly grinned, cracking one eye open. “It’s Simulation Training, a skill you can unlock after getting five fully evolved grandmaster skills. Lets you train skills while meditating in a virtual environment. Makes it handy when you can’t always find an opponent worth fighting, and don’t want to destroy the terrain. Now you get lost, I’ve gotta get back to training.”
My eyes widened in surprise when I heard about this training method. Though, the requirements to unlock it were far from easy. Still, I knew that I would get there some day, so I gave her a polite bow before turning to leave.
Outside the training hall, I found Diane waiting for me, nodding her head. “Bella told me about her skill fusion. Also, Hammerhead finished studying the mimic materials the other day, and came up with a product.”
After saying that, she turned her head to lead the way. Over the past week, Hammerhead had already arrived, and immediately set to work on learning the ins and outs of the mimic materials that we regularly harvested from the Shrine of Greed. Or rather, that Kelly was currently harvesting, as she agreed to do the daily harvest as an excuse to stretch her legs.
It seemed that Diane had let Hammerhead know that we were coming, as the brown-haired dwarf was already waiting for us upon our arrival, a friendly smile on his face. “Hey, squirt! Finally stopped by to check the goods?” He asked, his hand frozen as he lifted it to wave, a dozen black daggers pierced into the wall around him.
Diane quite literally glared daggers at him, but he simply laughed. He knew how to push her buttons, but also knew that she wouldn’t do more than threaten him like this unless he really went too far. “Hammerhead? You have a new product?” I asked, clearing my throat.
“Ah, Drake, right? The king of this whole place!” Hammerhead turned to face me as the black daggers dissolved behind him. “You’re still wearing the blood leather set I made you? That was months ago!”
I simply shrugged, shaking my head. “I haven’t gotten the chance to upgrade. Things have been busy.”
“In that case, you’ll be interested in the new product I’ve got this time.” He said with a knowing grin, pulling… something out of his inventory. It looks like a throbbing, gory meatball lined with teeth, tongues, and eyes.
Diane’s eye twitched as she looked at the item. “Not hungry.” She said simply, earning a deep, rumbling chuckle from the dwarf.
“Yeah, you might not be! But, this little fellow sure is.” He said with a grin, retrieving a sword from his inventory and holding it against the pulsating mass of gore. The mass squirmed, latching onto the sword. In only a moment, it had expanded and surrounded the entire weapon, writhing before settling into a solid shape. Although it was still a hideous mass of flesh, teeth, and eyes, it now had the shape of a sword. And, a moment later, transformed into what looked like the very sword that he had first ‘fed’ it.
Diane’s eye twitched wider. “You cracked the formula for the growth items?” She asked, and Hammerhead shrugged.
“That’s one way to say it. Honestly, these things are a royal pain to work with. It’s not blacksmithing, or carpentry, or any other normal crafting skill to make them. Instead, it’s like a weird amalgam of everything, taking bits and pieces from every craft.” He admitted in a grumbling tone. “There’s even cooking involved.”
“Anyways. This here’s a Mimic Embryo. Or it was, before I fed it the sword. They’re basically a cross between an item and a monster. Once you feed them some piece of equipment, they’ll settle into that form. For instance, this is now permanently a Mimic Sword.”
“The downside of this mimic equipment is that it gets only a small fraction of the stats from equipment it consumes after the initial transformation. It won’t inherit any of the enchantments, either, and the innate characteristics can only be used while it’s in that form. However, it can slowly grow over time. You just need to keep feeding it.”
“In addition, because it’s a half-living item, it’s capable of healing itself if damaged, as long as it’s not completely destroyed.” As he said that, he pulled out several more mimic embryos to place on the counter. “If you use them on a piece of high level gear that you get in a dungeon, and then feed them the matching piece from your armor, you can directly upgrade your gear while keeping the same look and innate characteristics.”
I nodded my head thoughtfully. “How much do they cost?” I asked, looking at the lumps of flesh.
“The system appraised them at ten gold each. That’s the price that I plan to sell them for to residents of the kingdom. Outsiders can fork out a pretty penny if they want a cosmetic growth item.” He said with a wide grin.
