After closing the notification screen that popped up in his mind, Valyr went ahead and commanded the system to show him the description of his newly obtained skill, which appeared on a screen before him a few seconds later.
Ding!
————
[Intermediate Combat Mastery] (Level 1/20)
Rarity: Uncommon
A skill only obtained by those who have a thorough understanding of combat. Those who own this skill could be said to be elite amongst skilled fighters, their feats known by everyone throughout the battlefield.
This skill increases all damage dealt by 5.5%, as well as the user’s Attack stat by 2.2%.
————
Nodding in satisfaction at the effects of the skill, Valyr closed the screen before him, only to be greeted by the sight of Riekan with his eyes closed as he muttered out a series of incomprehensible words.
Whoosh!
Seconds later, a faint wind started to circulate around Riekan’s body, which gradually grew into a strong breeze, prompting Valyr to distance himself from him as he wondered what the former was doing. Fortunately, by the point the wind surrounding Riekan had reached the might of a small storm, all of it swiftly disappeared in an instant as Riekan opened his eyes.
“Realm of Enlightenment, heed my call.” Muttering out these words, Riekan soon extended his hands out as he made a few gestures with them while releasing mana at the same time.
Within seconds, a large white magic circle appeared before Riekan, to which he infused more mana into as a black dot appeared at the center of the magic circle. Gradually, this black dot grew larger, eventually allowing Valyr to realize that the black dot at the center was, in fact, a rift to another space.
Plop.
Around a minute later, an item fell out of the rift, landing on one of Riekan’s extended palms. Looking at the item that had appeared, Riekan lightly nodded in satisfaction before making a few gestures with his remaining free hand, quickly dispersing the rift and magic circle he had created.
Whoosh!
Just as Valyr wondered why Riekan decided to do everything he had witnessed earlier all of a sudden, the latter’s eyes shifted towards the now slightly distant Valyr, beckoning him to come closer to him. Noticing the faint excitement contained in Riekan’s eyes as he said those words, Valyr lightly nodded as he sat down where he previously sat, waiting for Riekan to give him the item he was planning to give.
“While I was pondering over what skill to give you after thinking that the skill on the pedestal wouldn’t suit your needs, I also thought about what type of item to give you, specifically what type of equipment,” Riekan said, extending out one of his hands towards Valyr soon after to reveal the item he had gotten from the rift.
“I thought about giving you a new spear, but then noticed that you had already formed a connection with the spear on your back.”
“I also thought about giving you new armor, but then I checked your class and found out that you had the ability to craft them yourself.”
“In the end, I’ve decided to just give you an accessory.” As Riekan said this, Valyr’s attention was focused on the item on top of the former’s extended palm, being a seemingly common-looking necklace.
However, beneath that mundane facade gave him a feeling that the necklace could allow him to peer through the world, which he could not help but find a bit odd. Nevertheless, as he knew he would find the reason for this feeling sometime later, he placed the thought at the back of his head for now as he continued to listen to Riekan.
𝒐𝑽𝐿xt.𝑐𝑜𝚖
“Though this necklace looks incredibly normal, it actually contains the ability to aid you in unlocking any Basic level advancement from the Technology Tree you haven’t unlocked, or upgrade any Basic level advancement you’ve already unlocked without the need for Technology Points.” At the very moment Riekan said those words, Valyr’s eyes looked like they could pop out of his eye sockets at any moment from the sheer unexpectedness of the necklace’s ability.
From what Valyr knew in his previous life, items that had the ability to upgrade or unlock advancements without the need for Technology Points were only in the form of consumables. On the other hand, the closest ability a piece of equipment had to what Riekan mentioned that he could remember was the ability to reduce the cost to unlock or upgrade an advancement to a certain degree.
In contrast, the ability to unlock or upgrade advancements without any cost was truly absurd!
Of course, the fact that the necklace was only limited to Basic level advancements somewhat made the ability less imposing as before. Nevertheless, with the fact that Valyr hadn’t unlocked all Basic level advancements yet, this necklace would allow him to save hundreds, if not thousands of Technology Points.
Unfortunately, there was a catch to the ability which Riekan had yet to mention.
“However, just before you consider using the necklace’s ability over and over again, it can only be used once a week,” Riekan said to him, quickly dampening the excitement Valyr felt towards getting the necklace, only for it to be further dampened with the former’s next statement.
“Aside from that, the advancement it unlocks or upgrades is completely random. However, for unlocks, it’ll choose among the advancements that you could unlock through natural progression. Also, it won’t unlock an advancement you haven’t met the prerequisites for yet, so the necklace won’t randomly unlock a Basic level advancement that could only be unlocked further down the line.”
At this point, Valyr could not help but let out a light sigh, all of the excitement he had from receiving the necklace now extinguished. Nevertheless, he knew how useful the necklace still was even with those limitations, so he kept his complaints to himself.
Fortunately for him, Riekan was not done explaining the necklace yet, his next words rekindling a bit of the excitement Valyr had lost from the earlier statements.
“Well, aside from the necklace’s ability, there’s the fact that there’s still untapped potential inside the necklace. For the meantime, it’s well-suited to your current level.”
“But when you reach a higher level someday, the necklace will lead you to where I am, allowing me to upgrade it to its full potential.” As he said this, Riekan could not help but lightly smile. “Don’t you think this necklace is great?”
“Just from the ability alone, it is.” Valyr nodded in response, prompting a light chuckle to escape Riekan’s mouth. “What is it called, though?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Riekan grinned. “As I am known as the Enlightened One, then it should only be right to call this necklace…”
“The Necklace of Enlightenment.”