Chapter 5

Today, I updated up to Chapter 5.

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005 - Skill Acquisition

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After returning home, Jun talked to Grandma Char about CHSC.

The reason was that not only could he raise his stats by consuming CHSC, but he could also learn skills, and he thought he might get some advice.

“I’m not sure which skills to acquire.”

“I see. First, let me see what skills you can acquire and your current status.”

“Sure.”

The status board was visible only to him, but he could show it to others at will. He could hide parts he didn’t want to show, but Jun showed everything.

【CHSC Consumption 100】

- Dagger Skill: Triple Attack - Active Skill - MP Cost 2 - Single Target - 2.5x normal attack damage when equipped with a dagger - Activation Time 0.5 seconds - Cooldown 15 seconds

- Sword Skill: Slash - Active Skill - MP Cost 2 - Single Target - 1.5x normal attack damage when equipped with a sword - Activation Time 1 second - Cooldown 15 seconds

- Spear Skill: Double Thrust - Active Skill - MP Cost 2 - Single Target - 1.8x normal attack damage when equipped with a spear - Activation Time 2 seconds - Cooldown 25 seconds

- Battle Axe Skill: Great Spin - Active Skill - MP Cost 2 - 2-meter radius - 2.5x normal attack damage when equipped with a battle axe - Activation Time 4 seconds - Cooldown 35 seconds

【CHSC Consumption 120】

- Body Enhancement Lv1 - Passive Skill - Increases strength, stamina, and agility by 10%

- Hearing Enhancement Lv1 - Passive Skill - Enhances hearing

- Smell Enhancement Lv1 - Passive Skill - Enhances sense of smell

- Weakness Detection - Active Skill - MP Cost 5 - Reveals the weakness of a single enemy - Activation Time 5 seconds - Cooldown 3 minutes

【CHSC Consumption 150】

- Fire Magic: Fire - Active Skill - MP Cost 3 - Attack Power 35 - Single Target - Activation Time 3 seconds - Cooldown 20 seconds

- Water Magic: Aqua - Active Skill - MP Cost 2 - Attack Power 25 - Single Target - Activation Time 2 seconds - Cooldown 15 seconds

- Wind Magic: Air Cutter - Active Skill - MP Cost 3 - Attack Power 30 - Single Target - Activation Time 2 seconds - Cooldown 10 seconds

- Earth Magic: Rock Bullet - Active Skill - MP Cost 3 - Defense Power 35 - Single Target - Activation Time 3 seconds - Cooldown 25 seconds

- Healing Magic: Healing - Active Skill - MP Cost 3 - Restores 30 HP - Single Target - Activation Time 1.5 seconds - Cooldown 15 seconds

● Status

【Job】Efficiency Chef

【Level】2

【Experience】6/20

【HP】10/10

【MP】5/5

【Strength】9

【Stamina】8

【Intelligence】10

【Resistance】8

【Dexterity】10

【Agility】22

【Skill】Chain Score

【CHSC】550

【Status】Wanderer

【Rewards/Punishments】

“You need to decide on a direction first.”

While looking at the available skills and Jun’s status, Grandma Char muttered.

“Do you want to go the physical route like a swordsman or the magical route like a mage? Considering your skills, I think the magic route with more area-of-effect attacks would be better.”

Wanting both is a luxury. If you don’t decide on a direction, acquiring skills might be a waste.

Feeling that magic would be more versatile as Grandma Char suggested, Jun considered acquiring magic skills.

However, the currently available magic skills were not powerful enough to earn chains.

“Currently, only low-level magic is available. If it were mid-level or high-level, it would have area-of-effect attacks and a longer range.”

Low-level magic is not useful for chains.

For example, the Fire spell can only be used once every 20 seconds after attacking a single target, and it takes 3 seconds to activate. The inability to respond quickly is a drawback.

However, magic is not necessary for hunting Big Mosquitoes. You just need to catch them with a net and crush them.

“But it’s painful not knowing if mid-level magic can be acquired.”

Mid-level magic, with its area-of-effect attacks, would be useful for earning chains.

However, can mid-level magic be acquired? If so, what are the conditions? Without knowing this, it’s difficult to commit to magic.

“In the case of magic, you need to increase your MP and Intelligence.”

“Right. Also, increasing Dexterity is good.”

“Dexterity?”

“Controlling magic, i.e., hitting the target, is better with higher Dexterity.”

“I see.”

“For example, when using a sword, you need HP, Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Dexterity for accuracy, right?”

“That’s right. Jun is smart.”

“By the way, what does Resistance affect?”

“Resistance is like defense against skills. However, physical attacks are defended by Stamina, so it’s resistance to non-physical skills like magic. Mages have high Resistance, so it’s good to increase it if you use magic.”

The Great Spin skill with a battle axe is a physical attack that rotates the axe around you.

However, the Slash skill with a sword is a slashing attack, not a physical attack.

In other words, the higher your Stamina, the less damage you take from Great Spin, and the higher your Resistance, the less damage you take from Slash.

“So, I want to go the magic route.”

“Hmm, can I ask why?”

“The number of stats to increase. For the physical route, you need HP, Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Dexterity. For the magic route, you need MP, Intelligence, Resistance, and Dexterity. It’s simply fewer stats to increase.”

“I see, it’s like concentrating your capital.”

“Huh?”

“Was that too difficult? In simple terms, since CHSC is not infinite, you need to limit the stats you increase to use it effectively. However, you can’t completely ignore Strength and Stamina. You never know what might happen, so increase them gradually.”

“Understood. I will.”

The conditions for acquiring mid-level magic are still unknown.

It might not be possible, but I’ll believe it is and make some assumptions.

- Acquiring low-level magic will allow you to acquire mid-level magic.

- Increasing stats related to magic, such as MP and Intelligence, will allow you to acquire mid-level magic.

- Leveling up will allow you to acquire mid-level magic.

There might be other conditions.

If one doesn’t work, move to the next. You have to test them one by one.

Fortunately, hunting Big Mosquitoes doesn’t require skills.

“So, which magic will you acquire?”

“Yes, I’ll go with the Wind Magic: Air Cutter.”

“Hmm, not Fire: Fire?”

“Fire has high power, but the cooldown is long.”

“Even so, I don’t think it’s useful for chains.”

“I want to be able to use it in emergencies, so a shorter cooldown is better.”

“Safety over chains. That’s important. It’s the secret to a long life.”

Consuming 150 CHSC, Jun acquired Air Cutter. At this point, no mid-level wind magic appeared.

He then consumed 100 CHSC to increase his MP by 30 points, and another 100 CHSC to increase his Intelligence by 10 points.

After checking, no mid-level magic appeared.

With 200 CHSC remaining, he could still increase his stats, but it wasn’t necessary for hunting mosquitoes.

However, using all his CHSC would leave him with no flexibility if something happened, so he decided not to use it all.

Thinking he needed to work hard to earn more CHSC tomorrow, Jun went outside the house. He went outside to use Air Cutter.

He had never used magic before and wanted to try it. He was excited like a child.

With his current MP of 35 points, he could use Air Cutter 11 times.

He immediately aimed at a tree in the forest and activated Air Cutter.

“Air Cutter!”

After a slight delay, an invisible blade flew and hit the tree, leaving a sharp mark like a sword cut.

“Great!”

The cooldown is 10 seconds. He needed to memorize this to use it in emergencies. Initially, he counted to 10 in his head.

“Air Cutter!”

The tree was cut with a hiss. Activation time was 2 seconds.

Considering this, he counted to 8 in his head and tried to activate Air Cutter again.

“Air Cutter!”

“………”

This time, it didn’t activate. There were two possible reasons:

- He counted to 8 in his head too quickly.

- He needed to wait 10 seconds before using the skill again.

He needed to count exactly 8 seconds, but without a watch, it was difficult for Jun.

“Use this.”

“Really, is it okay!?”

Grandma Char, who had been watching Jun’s magic, lent him a pocket watch. It was a silver, intricately crafted pocket watch.

“Don’t break it.”

“Sure, thank you.”

He activated Air Cutter again and measured exactly 8 seconds with the pocket watch before reactivating it. The tree was cut.

This meant that the 2-second activation time was included in the 10-second cooldown.

He needed to count to 8 accurately in his head. Such a subtle skill would be useful in emergencies.

He couldn’t count accurately 11 times, so after his MP ran out, he practiced counting in his head while holding the pocket watch.

“It’s time for dinner.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for not helping.”

“It’s not a big deal, don’t worry.”

Jun was deeply moved by Grandma Char’s kindness.