Special Talent

This mine tunnel was quite spacious, probably wide enough for a van to pass through easily, with a rock wall on one side and a simple fence on the other, behind which was a bottomless pit.

In the center of the road, there was also a railway track for mining carts.

When the first Skeleton Crawler charged over, its claw directly tore through the railway sleepers, then it leaped high, pouncing straight towards Caelan.

“Such a good track, why ruin it…,” Caelan muttered, flipping open his compendium.

Iron Head reappeared before him, spreading his arms and embracing the Skeleton Crawler.

Skull then appeared beside them, his bone club smashing down, directly knocking off the Skeleton Crawler’s head.

“W-what kind of magic is this? Where did it come from?” Violet watched dumbfounded, and before he could react, he felt a tremor under his feet.

Then he saw Stone make a huge leap, directly jumping over his head, its two front claws each pinning down a Skeleton Crawler that was about to pounce.

Another one that tried to pounce was hit by a fireball mid-air, exploding with a “bang” that blew off half its body, and it fell to the ground.

Caelan estimated his magic power, then unhesitatingly opened a new page, aiming at the Skeleton Crawler held by Iron Head.

The Skeleton Crawler still tried to struggle, but how could it contend against the Stone troll’s more than 120 points of strength? Its body was continuously decomposed by runes and absorbed into the compendium.

For such resisting monsters, the recording speed was much slower than imagined.

The remaining two Skeleton Crawlers behind were completely unfazed, clattering and crawling up the wall, intending to jump down from above.

Stone directly picked up the two Skeleton Crawlers in his hands, one by one, and smashed down those that had just climbed onto the ceiling.

The one held by Iron Head had also been successfully recorded, but the Stone troll still stood there foolishly.

With their reaction speed, it might take a while for them to realize that the object they were holding was gone.

But it didn't matter; even if Iron Head didn't move, Caelan had a way.

“Stone, charge!”

“Awooo!”

Stone back-jumped to Iron Head’s side, swung his body, and fiercely lashed Iron Head’s back with his tail.

The Stone troll immediately transformed into a ball, rolling forward and crushing everything in its path.

The Skeleton Crawler that Caelan had previously blown half its body off with a fireball was crushed again, most of its remaining bones shattered, meaning it was completely incapacitated.

As for the other four, they were completely smashed into a pile, and Iron Head then spread his arms, pressing down on them entirely.

The scattered bones moved underneath him, but none could break free.

Seeing this pile of bones indistinguishable from one another, Caelan directly recorded them all onto one page.

“Skeleton Crawler”

“Race: Undead”

“Level: 12”

“Strength: 63”

“Agility: 81”

“Stamina: 89”

“Durability: 133”

“Magic Power: 0”

“Talents: Undead, Soul Eater, Immunity, Intimidation”

…

“Skeleton Crawler Swarm”

“Race: Undead”

“Level: 18”

“Strength: 71”

“Agility: 78”

“Stamina: 92”

“Durability: 121”

“Magic Power: 0”

“Talents: Swarm, Undead, Soul Eater, Immunity”

…

“…Hmm?” Caelan noticed that the Skeleton Crawler he recorded individually had a talent called 【Intimidation】, but the other four did not.

He also recorded the one that was crushed and still on the ground, and it also did not possess the 【Intimidation】 talent.

“Could it be that even for the same monsters, different individuals not only have different attributes but also some differences in talents?”

Caelan then looked through his other monsters, but there weren't many to compare, only the Skeleton Soldiers he had initially recorded, each on a separate page.

If different individual monsters also had some differences in talents, then did that mean capturing monsters was also a form of gacha—

If he wanted to cultivate them, he would have to specifically capture those with special talents?

“It seems I need more monsters to test this out…”

At the same time, he also noticed that although all groups of the same monsters were recorded on one page, the Goblins gained an additional talent called 【Teamwork】, the Chocobos had 【Colonial】, and the Skeleton Crawlers had 【Swarm】.

“【Teamwork: Goblins act in groups and cooperate with each other.】”

“【Colonial: Chocobos live together.】”

“【Swarm: Skeleton Crawlers gather together.】”

The descriptions indeed had some differences.

Did this mean that even though they all acted collectively, their level of cooperation varied?

At least from what Caelan had seen, Goblins clearly understood cooperation better than Skeleton Crawlers.

Did this indicate that some monsters were suitable for being recorded on the same page to gain cooperative talents, while others were suitable for individual recording to draw special talents?

Just as Caelan was thinking, he suddenly noticed that Stone beside him was not in a normal state.

It was crouching on all fours, baring its teeth, looking fiercely in the direction of the deep pit.

And from behind, Violet’s stammering voice came: “C-Caelan, look quickly…”

Caelan had a bad premonition.

He turned his head in Stone’s direction and saw—

A giant Dragon Skull emerging from the deep pit below, with eerie blue flames flickering in its empty eye sockets.

And its body was still hidden in the darkness below.

This was a Bone Dragon.

“…Shit.”