Chapter 60. Return to the City. Part Two

POV: Rem

"You know, you shouldn't talk about your skills so casually, not even to close teammates," Rem said.

"Hey, don't say it like that!" Sherial objected. "Are you still mad because I asked Alisar about his new skill? I did it just to test him. And you know that after that I invited him into our team. You can't really expect anything bad from someone that naive, so stop being mad at me and tell me what skill you got," she said.

From her expression, it was obvious she was really, really curious.

Rem still decided to tell her about her new skill. After all, they were teammates and close friends, and Rem didn't have any real secrets from Sherial. Besides, since Sherial had already told her about her own new skill, it would be fair for Rem to answer in kind.

And considering Sherial's personality, she wouldn't back off until Rem told her what skill she had received.

"My new skill is called 'Golem Variatio'," Rem said. "It works together with my special skill 'Golem Summon.' Now I can summon not only standard golems, but specialized ones as well. However, since the skill is only Rank 1 right now, I can create only one type of modification. At the moment, it's golems specialized in speed, in addition to the standard ones."

Rem looked at Sherial, but Sherial only stared back at her in silence.

"Hey, why did you go quiet?" Rem asked, surprised by her reaction.

"And that's it?" Sherial asked.

"Yeah," Rem answered. "I had a choice of skills, and I picked this one."

"And you really need it?" Sherial said with a slight disappointment. "I thought... it would be something truly cool."

"Hey," Rem frowned, "that skill was the best out of everything the system offered me."

"Seriously?" Sherial said, surprised. "Then what boring skills did you get offered?"

She smirked and added:

"Me? The system offered me only cool and excellent options."

Rem's uncertainty about whether she'd chosen correctly only grew stronger. She had doubted from the beginning, but now, after Sherial's words, that feeling became even stronger.

In truth, there had been two skills that immediately caught her attention. The first was the one she had ultimately chosen: "Golem Variatio." The second was a skill called "Legion."

Judging by the description, the skill "Legion" allowed her to store summoned golems in a special space. In other words, she wouldn't just be summoning golems—she could accumulate them, forming her own army. She hadn't seen any limitations in the description, but considering the name itself, it most likely involved a large number.

If she understood correctly, that skill could have solved one of the main weaknesses of her summoning. Even the strongest Rank 5 golems vanished forty-eight hours after being summoned. And "Legion" could potentially bypass that limitation—while the golems were inside the skill's space, their lifespan might not tick down at all. Otherwise, that skill would make no sense.

Of course, even now Rem could summon a small army, especially if she used mana potions. But it was all temporary. "Legion" would have given her permanence.

And yet she had chosen "Golem Variatio."

Why—she herself didn't fully understand. Maybe intuition. Maybe a desire for flexibility and future growth. But right now, Rem couldn't shake the thought that she might have missed a massive chance to obtain a truly powerful skill.

"Hey, don't get gloomy, Rem, I was just joking," Sherial said. "You got a great skill. And considering it's only Rank 1 right now, who knows what happens later? At higher ranks you might be able to summon, say, fire golems or ice golems. Can you imagine how effective they'd be against different monsters?"

Sherial was right. That was exactly why Rem had chosen "Golem Variatio." Her golems lacked specialization—they were too identical. For example, against small but fast and nimble monsters, such golems often ended up almost useless.

"Hey, stop frowning, I told you I was joking," Sherial added and suddenly hugged Rem. "Calm down, girl, I'm with you. Don't regret anything. You made the right choice."

"Hey, get off!" Rem shoved Sherial away.

Sherial fell onto her back and immediately started laughing.

"Alright, alright, sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Enough talking. It's time to sleep," Rem said strictly.

"You're right, it's already late. Time to sleep," Sherial agreed and lay down on her bedroll in the tent.

Rem lay down too, turning her back to Sherial. A faint smile appeared on her lips.

Yes, Sherial really knew how to lift her mood.

Regretting her choice now made no sense. The skill "Legion" was too unknown to her. She knew too little about it. Maybe the limitations on how many golems could be stored were too strict—ten, twenty, maybe even a hundred. In that case, the skill wouldn't have been all that useful for her.

Since she didn't know what the skill Legion would actually provide, thinking about it was pointless. And even if she kept thinking, it still wouldn't change anything.

--

POV: Alisar

Four days passed. We were still moving through the forest. Very slowly. Yes, much faster than an ordinary person, but still—we could have gone much faster. Still, I'm not complaining. I'm used to it.

And besides... two beauties were walking in front of me. Two girls. So, in theory, I had absolutely nothing to complain about.

But the longer I stayed in this situation, the more I started noticing my own circumstances. How I looked. What I was wearing. And because of that, I started feeling awkward.

My clothes were torn in many places. And considering how dirty I was... Yes, I washed my face, but it still didn't really help. I was embarrassed. Very. So I wanted to reach the city as soon as possible: buy proper clothes and wash myself properly. Buy soap. Or shampoo—if that even exists here. Though it has to, right?

Yeah. As soon as we get back to the city, I'll definitely build a huge bathroom in the training room.With a large supply of water. And I'll prepare at least ten sets of clothes while I'm at it.

And I'm not walking behind them because I want to look at the girls walking ahead. No. Well no, of course not.

The real reason is much simpler: I just want to show up in their line of sight as little as possible. I'm embarrassed. That's why I want to reach the city as quickly as possible.

During our next rest, I decided to teleport into the training room and experiment a bit with my new skill.

Yeah, actually, I hadn't teleported there for four days. I could have been training and progressing toward completing the training room's quest, but considering there's not that much water there, and I get drinking water and the ability to wash up from Rem... basically, I just don't want to stink when I come back out.

Training there makes you sweat a lot, and coming back out dirty and smelly is... not a great idea. Alright, I'm getting distracted.

So. Experiment.

Rem had already confirmed that the Rank 1 health potion I upgraded using my new skill really became a Rank 2 health potion. But for me, that's basically useless. I need to figure out what else I can upgrade.

Hm... what if I try upgrading a Rank 2 health potion to Rank 3? Though, considering my new skill is only Rank 1, that probably won't work.

So... where's my Rank 2 potion? Ah, whatever. I'll just make a new one.

I created a new Rank 2 health potion.

Alright, let's try upgrading it.

Nothing happened.

Hm. I'll try again. Maybe it will work.

Oh.

Something happened.

A system window opened in front of me.

[Warning!

Upgrade cost: 1,000,000 mana.

Base cost to upgrade an item

from Rank 2 to Rank 3: 100,000 mana.

Additional penalty for attempting to upgrade an item

above the skill's rank: 900,000 mana.

Upgrade impossible.

Insufficient mana.]

Whoa... what is this? Such a detailed explanation. Before, if something didn't work, it just didn't work—end of story. But now the system explains exactly why it failed. Strange. Did something change? I don't know.

So... if I believe this message, I actually can upgrade a Rank 2 potion to Rank 3. I just don't have the mana, obviously. And the penalty is tenfold. Instead of one hundred thousand, it requires a whole million, because the skill "Ascensio" isn't Rank 2 yet.

Isn't that penalty too big? Though... no. It's still much better than if I couldn't upgrade items above the rank of the skill "Ascensio" at all.

Alright, what else can I upgrade?

Oh... my sword.

It's magical too.

Hm. Then why not try upgrading it?

I took the sword in my hand and activated my skill.

[Warning!

Attempting to upgrade item.

Base upgrade cost (Rank 5 → Rank 6):1,000,000,000 mana

Upgrade cost: 10,000,000,000,000 mana.

Additional penalty for attempting to upgrade an item above the skill's rank: 9,999,000,000,000 mana.

Insufficient mana.

Upgrade impossible.]