章 84: Buying New Skills!

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After having bought the three new Spell and Technique Books in exchange for 20.000 Contribution Points, Frank, accompanied by Matsuo, was led by Hinata towards another section of the storage room.

"So, what else do you require? Are you interested in any staff or magic enhancing equipment?" asked Hinata.

Frank began to think about the necessity of his equipment and considered that he was mostly fine as of now, as the equipment he possessed, which was dropped by Boss Monsters through his grinding sessions inside of Hunting Domains were quite good for his current power.

Although Frank found appealing the idea of a staff that could enhance his magic, he had just gotten a dagger and wanted to try it out first of all.

Also, by simply calculating the price of simple books, Frank imagined that staff would at least cost most of the Contribution Points he already had…

However, Frank decided to ask Hinata before deciding.

"What's the cheapest staff?" asked Frank.

"Oh, this one!" said Hinata, walking around a desk and finding a staff, singly made out of a magical metal with a silver color, which had a large Magic Crystal on its tip.

"This one Staff could be good enough for an aspiring mage like you, I can leave it to you at 70.000! It originally costs 100.000 by the way! It actually the cheapest we have," said Hinata.

"W-Wait, one hundred thousand?! And the cheapest?! I am starting to believe that the gift of the elders was not as generous anymore…" said Frank.

"Hey, it was pretty generous! Although you work so hard that you might have been able to farm enough points in a week," said Hinata.

"That's true… Well, I will just buy Spell and Technique Books for now," said Frank.

"Very well then~ If you don't get a Staff until you gather 70.000 again, come back to me, the offer will still be up!" said Hinata.

"Sure, I will consider that if at that time I still don't have a staff, thanks," said Frank.

"Ah, what a sweet a polite boy! Matsuo, you should learn more from Frank!" said Hinata.

"What? But I am very polite, grandma Hinata…" said Matsuo.

"Don't call me grandma!" roared Hinata, as she led Frank and Matsuo towards an area filled with bookshelves.

"I've heard from the Elders that you have a pretty amazing Ability, which let you instantly learn Spells and Techniques as Skills, right? Just like I have seen you do. The Elders asked me to show you these bookshelves, which have a lot of Spell and Technique Books from trades we do with other Clans through all of Japan, and even outside countries. Although they're mostly at newbie to intermediate newbie levels, and we don't have advanced forms of these Spells and Techniques. But I am fairly sure that you would not mind that. Your Ability is amazing, and you got to use it properly and have a wide array of skills for different situations," said Hinata.

"I see, so the Elders told you about me already? I guess secrets here are hard to keep. And yeah, I have been looking for some variety…" said Frank, as he began to inspect around the bookshelves, finding many interesting books, with a varied set of prizes, although they were all for newbies, some even went up to 20.000 Contribution Points, so Frank had to be careful to not buy more than his current budget in Contribution Points.

"I need some variety in my attacks. Gray Magic is pretty strong, but I believe I need other elements to be truly a versatile mage… And not only that but only walking through the mage path would be limiting my own potential…" thought Frank.

Frank was also taking into consideration Ruby and Ginseng, as he wanted to buy them some Skills that could increase their flexibility. Especially for Ginseng, which he wished to not always be inside of his hand, but become an active supporter and fighter if possible.

Ginseng possessed the natural Life Attribute Magic, a magic that can let the wielder manipulate the nature of life, it could encompass more than simply manipulating plants, but also it could be healing, or the enhancement of one's body senses and more through the infusion of life.

Meanwhile, Ruby had a lot of raw strength, she had her Biting Attack, her Fire Breath, and had the possibility of learning fire magic spells. Alongside this, her scales were as hard as armor, so she was a rather good fighter, both close combat and long-ranged… But she only went around the fire and biting, Frank wanted to give her another thing to strengthen her.

"Maybe I could buy Body Aura for both of them? It would be interesting how they develop it. Although… maybe I could teach it to them? Though they are monster, not demi-humans or humans like in Terra, Annabelle, Hilvera, and Asterion are all intelligent and possesses similar physiology to me, so teaching them Body Aura would be easier than to Ruby and Ginseng… This is why just letting them immediately learn it would be ideal…"

"Hm… Ruby is close to evolution at level 10 (or so, I assume), so she might get a few new Skills… Perhaps nothing too outstanding though. Also, her breath attack still has a rather low range, and the fire disperses around instead of concentrating in a single place… Though she might learn the Fireball Spell for larger distances, I suppose. Ginseng, unless he evolves and gets bigger, will be reduced to support, most likely healing and enhancement, with the Mana Drain as its strongest ability…" thought Frank.

As Frank thought about his two monster pets, he glanced at the Spell and Technique Books and Scrolls available, finally finding one that he desired.

"Although it seems that something to connect to Spirits isn't available around here… This one seems to be quite good," said Frank.

"Oh? Right, you got two monster pets, right? Indeed, it can prove to be pretty good," said Matsuo.

"Eh? Frank-kun is a monster tamer?!" asked Hinata.

"Kind of… I only got two monsters, for now… Ah, here is Ruby," said Frank, as Ruby's tiny head popped out of his shirt.

"Grawr!" said Ruby.

"Ah! That's… So cute!" said Hinata, as she started to pet Ruby.

The Skill that Frank had found was named 'Monster Soul Pact'. It was a Spell that let a tamer connect their soul with their tamed monsters, giving them the ability to use their abilities to a certain extent.

Although Frank kind of had somewhat of an ability to do that, it was not as good as this Spell, and he was even described by Hinata that strong Beast Tamers have multiple monsters pacts into their souls, giving them a large amount of the power of those monsters, while also being able to give theirs back to them.

Alongside this, the pact also made both monster and tamer minds match wavelengths, becoming even better at fighting together.

"I wonder if I would be able to learn Fire Magic or Life Magic if I were to do soul pacts with Ruby and Ginseng? Or even Mana Drain… No, I bet to actually get the Skills, it would need to be more advanced… But this is good enough for me already…" thought Frank.

"That book is 20.000 Contribution Points, but for you, they can be 19.000!" said Hinata.

"I will take it… And also these other ones," said Frank.

"Hm! Good choices, Frank-kun~!" said Hinata with a vixen smile.

In the end, Frank ended up buying the Monster Soul Pact Book for 19.000.

The Light Soul Martial Technique, a special technique that made the soul as bright as light to enhance a fighter's capabilities such as speed for 14.000.

The Fire Soul Martial Technique, another technique-specific of the Monk Clan descendant of Amaterasu, alongside the Light Soul Martial Technique, which made the soul burn like the flames of the sun, enhancing one's capabilities such as strength for 14.000.

The Water Torrent Palm Technique, a technique that lets the user manipulate the torrents of water to attack, which can also be produced through the use of Mana, being similar to Water Magic to an extent, for 13.000.

The Herculean Strength Technique, which lets the user momentarily enhance its strength and defenses through the manipulation of Life Energy and Mana inside one's body for 13.000.

The Poison Synthesis Spell, which is often used by Alchemists to generate poisons of various types, for 13.000.

The Flame Arrows Spell, a simple spell used for those with Fire Attribute Affinity in the Monk Clan, for 8.000.

The Ice Spears Spell, a simple spell used for those with Ice Attribute Affinity for 8.000.

And the Overseeing Light Eye Spell, another simple spell for anyone with a Light Attribute Affinity, lets the user create a small eye of light connected to one of the user's eyes, which can be used for scouting, for 9.000.

Frank had decided to not buy Skills for Ruby and Ginseng at the end, as he had considered teaching them Body Aura and other Skills he could learn through the Monster Soul Pact Skill.

After having spent 111.000 Contribution Points out of his 112.200, Frank was left with a measly 1.200 Contribution Points… but a large pile of books to learn Skills from.

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