The argument was interrupted by a loud beeping noise coming from the only remaining part of the mapping beacon, the rectangular base. Written on the screen in large letters were the words “scanning complete”.
Taking advantage of the momentary gap in their conversation, Song walked up between them, pushing them apart.
“Are you guys going to waste all day with this stupid argument, or are we finally going to get out of here?”
Angela turned away with a small “Hmph”, muttering under her breath about “Idiots who read too many comic books,” before walking towards Seth and me. I quickly walked over to the mapping beacon, pulled out a small hard drive, and plugged it into the beacon.
After a few seconds, I pulled it out, and all the data was safely stored on a physical backup, which I put into one of my pockets. I also put the original beacon base in my bag as well, just to make sure that if there was an accident, I wouldn’t lose the data.
“Alright, that should be everything. We can leave now.”
Eli clapped his hands together. “Perfect! Now we can finally leave the rift, and we can get you to the association, so they can get you back to your planet!”
He seemed to look at something on his wrist before taking off in a brisk walk.
“We don't have all day, especially after this detour, so we should try to get back as soon as possible.”
We started to follow him, the wooded path making me have to constantly keep an eye on the ground so that I wouldn’t trip on one of the many roots that dotted the floor. At least while we were walking, I had time for more questions.
“What are these skill things you guys keep talking about? I’m assuming you're not talking about how good you are at certain things.”
Song seemed to light up, a slight fervour spreading across her face.
“Oh! I can answer that! Skills are the manifestations of mana within your body that have been crystallized into a form that is usable by humans!”
“Mana?” I replied, slightly confused, “Isn’t that the thing that wizards use in some of those old fantasy games?”
“Well… Sorta… but, people often use it to refer to the energy released after the portal incident in 2020. It’s much easier than trying to call it by its scientific name.”
“Anyways, back to Skills… you still haven’t answered my question.”
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“Oh! Sorry about that. I tend to get a bit excited when the subject comes up.” She brought her hand up to her mouth and lightly coughed. “Skills allow humans to perform feats beyond what should be normally possible, such as my Healing magic.”
She held out her palm, and a small, shimmering light appeared above it. It sparkled like a miniature star, radiating warmth and comfort.
“This is an example of a general skill. It lets me use any branch of healing magic, from mending superficial wounds to larger injuries, as long as I have Mana.”
She closed her hand, extinguishing the light. “On the other hand, we have specialist skills that trade versatility for efficiency and power. For example, if you had a fireball skill, it would likely be a stronger fireball than someone who just had fire magic. Although the most power and efficiency come from having both at the same time.”
“So general skills are like a toolkit, while a specialist skill is like having the perfect tool for the situation,” I summarized.
“Exactly”
I paused for a second. “How many skills can people even have?”
“Well, it depends. We each have a limit on how much mana our bodies can handle that naturally increases over time, and as we clear rifts and slay monsters. Most adults can hold around 10 units, while active hunters can handle up to 50.
“Even the most basic skills take around 1 unit of capacity. I’ve heard of people who have managed to crystallize skills that require 20 units, which is probably reaching the absolute limit for skills.”
“You’ve mentioned crystallizing a few times before. What exactly is it?”
“Crystalizing is the process where, after doing something enough times, ambient mana or mana from monsters or rifts seeps into your body and forms special pathways, creating a skill from the action. For example, I learned from a different mage how to filter mana into healing-aligned elements, which eventually gave me the healing magic skill!”
I had one more question. “How do you even know what skills you have?”
“You can view them through the status screen. It can allow you to de-crystallize skills and view what is close to crystallizing! You should get yours soon!”
“Soon?”
Eli turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth. “You should warn her about the acclimation period!”
“Acclimation period?” I asked.
“Well…there have been records of people immigrating to Earth from other worlds. Rifts only open when there are no more monsters within. If, for some reason, there were people in the area that the rift grabbed, they get brought along. Many of them encountered Hunter teams and have since immigrated to Earth.
Additionally, after they leave the rift, the mana currently present on Earth infuses them, causing them to awaken the System.”
“And since I'm not from your Earth…” I started,
“You will likely undergo the same process.” She finished.
“What even is the System?” It felt right to emphasize it, as if it were a proper name that should be capitalized.
“No one is really sure what exactly it is, but it was developed a month after the portal incident as a way to prevent our world from being overrun. All we know is that it, like the portals that opened the rifts, was developed by a now-defunct company that was known as Teltech.
