"10000 gold coins, are you in?"
"Isn't that too expensive?"
"Brother, this skill I'm selling was compatible to your 3 skills combo, if I were you, I would not hesitate to buy it quickly."
"Still, that's over my budget..."
"Skill... Skill... Skill... we are selling passive skills."
"Everyone, we are dropping the price of the skill hands of red dragon, for 1 bar of gold."
"The legendary skill, just 1 bar gold?! I will buy! I will buy! I will buy! I wi---"
"2 bars of gold!"
"Don't raise the price, idiot!"
"3 bars of gold, no 10 bars of gold!"
"50 bars of gold!"
On the busiest street in town, various stalls attract customers. The place stopped for a moment when someone shouted the final price of two skills.
A fat noble standing proudly as he grins from ear to ear.
The people scattered, giving him a way to get the skill they were fighting over.
None of them wanted to bid anymore; they knew that if the noble began rising up the price, they would use any power to obtain the skill they were eager to get.
"The lege---"
"1, for the hands of the red dragon."
"Wha---"
"You didn't hear me? 1 stella I said."
'That fat is done.'
"Kid, are you buying or not?"
In a world where everything is skill, nobles and commoners are fighting for it. Even though it wasn't compatible with their power, they could sell to those who needed it the most at twice the price.
A human body can use a skill without using mana. They just need to obtain it by killing the monsters. If luck is on their side, the monsters will not just become food, but also will drop a skill to the person who killed them.
And there is always the shortest way, buy the skill from the person with a large amount of money.
With a blessing common to humans, they can swap or pass down their skill to another person; however, there is a risk of passing down the skill. Once they gain a certain skill and pass it to another person, they can no longer possess it for the rest of their life.
Despite the risk, a lot of them are still selling instead of swapping. Swapping means they will exchange a skill; it wasn't selecting whether this is powerful or weak. They are trying to trade, hence swapping is the most common way to obtain more skills.
And there is also another way, very common to the monsters, a ball of crystal skill. This is a ball crystal that can be found inside the monster's dead body. Just like the name, it has skill.
With this, you can sell without facing the risk of passing down the skill.
But those drops are rare to the lower class of monsters; higher-class and stronger monsters have a high chance. They have them in their bodies, but you must have at least 15 skills in your set to face them.
The skills are divided into two types: 2 combo skills and 10 combo skills, and when those combo skills are activated, a final skill will end the enemy's life.
The way it works is very simple. Such as I was looking for.
Currently, I have 3 combo skills, but one is missing, and the skill I want was in my sight.
'Illusion of night.'
To complete it, I need a skill flash, dazzling light, and the missing one, pitch black sight.
Illusion of the night can put the target into the night mode; it is not limited to a person; it can affect an entire town in a minute, which is a powerful skill, but first, I must use the two skills and mix the last missing piece skill, so the final skill will activate.
"Kid!"
"Old man, 10,000 gold coins are too much for this, just this common skill. It wasn't that rare."
"If you don't want, get out to my stall. You are scaring my customer, shoo!" The old man angrily waved his hands back as I became a beggar.
"Stingy..." I just decided to leave and went to the inn I'm staying at. Passing the fat noble who was already bursting with anger.
He continued bidding until the old man won.
100 Stella, the final price of hands red of dragons, was in a crystal ball of skill, or known as Zeisha. The legend says that if you complete the part red dragon skills, you can summon the actual red dragon, and he will be your eternal protector.
Dragons are deities in this world; they can order all living things in the entire forest to invade any land they want to destroy, and they are powerful beings.
"Still, 100 Stella, huh? Who is this old man?"
There are 3 most well-known currencies, copper, silver, and gold coins.
1 bar of copper had a value of 1,000 copper coins, 1 bar of silver had a value of 10,000, and 1 bar of gold had a value to 20,000 gold coins. And the one, 1 Stella was 100,000 gold coins, it looks like a diamond but with a more refined color and look, the most expensive currency.
The bar wasn't that big, it was enough to fill your palms.
And the living status in this world wasn't that hard. With 1 silver coin, I can stay for a week with food in the inn. Anyone can live normally without exhausting their entire life; one meal is 1 copper, and sometimes it will cover the entire day.
Still, it will not stop someone from falling into gambling and beggars exist in every town. The cost of food might be low, but the reality is still the same.
They gain skills to busy themselves, feel the life of having money.
"Mr. Fara, welcome back." A cute girl of the age of 13 welcomed my arrival at the door, holding a plate.
"Good morning, Alia. You seem happy. Is there something you want from your mother, and you want me to ask her so you can get it?"
"Ehehe, you know me, Mr. Fara. But not today, I just saw you looking seriously at Zeisha, even though you don't have that much money to buy that."
"Sigh... when did you learn that... Look, your customers are asking for your help."
"Ehehehe."
The cost of living is low, but when it comes to skill, it will just be a dream.
The lowest price of a common skill was 1 bar of gold.
I was lucky earlier that the price was half but I couldn't get the skill. If I exchanged the silver coin, it was still not enough.
"Here, some water." Alia put a cup of water on the wooden table as I sat in a chair, my head resting on it.
Thinking about the next job so I can stay longer in this inn. The only place that was not charging double the typical inn price, luck is still on my side for ending up in this place.
"1 quest can pay me 20 silver coins."
"If you work for weeks, you can stay here for a year. 100 silver coins can be exchanged to 1 gold coin."
"You are here, master."
"I kept telling you don't call me master... So what is your order?"
"Like the usual, rice and curry."
"Coming..."
The night arrived, and outside, the place became noisy; people began appearing as there was always a festival happening.
Lights began floating in the sky as the small arena in the middle was full of people. The entertainment is when everyone wants to participate.
Just fight in 1 match, anyone can earn 1 gold coin, but as always, there is a risk. You win, you get skill with money, but sometimes life pays.
People betting on who would win until the final match, they lost and won either by just watching.
"Fara-san?"
"It's already late, Alia."
"Ehehehe, I can't sleep. My mother always tells me not to get involved in our customers' problems. But I want to know more about you, you have been here for half a year." Alia sat across from me, offering a cup of cold water.
"I didn't know if you were a child or an adult... Alia, how many skills do you have?"
"Hm... I have create water, create ice, ice sword... 16?"
"And you are still young, and yet you have a bunch of skills."
"How about you, Mr. Fara?"
"Just 2."
"And you are already 18. Ehehehe, I didn't know you were already uncle, Mr. Fara."
I place my hands, rubbing my heart as she squeezed it tightly, and it became harder to breathe, seeing her innocent smile. She doesn't mean yet I feel the pain.
"You are really..."
"Alia!"
"Fine, mother!" Alia quickly runs towards her mother before she faces her wrath, while I just lean my back, raising my head up and staring at the ceiling.
"2 skills, huh?"
I live in a remote village, far from this town. A full of monsters lurking in every forest, their terrifying groan can be heard every night. Despite their presence, the remote village I live in remained peaceful until the demon found the village and started killing everyone for fun.
"Here, it's on the house."
"Why am I the one who stays alive. A lot of them have decent skills and a strong will to live."
"After you finish your dessert, go to your room and sleep." The master just dropped a grilled sweet potato and left.
"Her way of cheering me up, huh? Thanks, master." I gulped the sweet potato instantly at the same time drank the water.
A place where I can sleep like a log, the paradise room.
Walk fast so I can rest my back. Today was a merciless day, gathering potion herbs in the pack of wolves is such a life and death mission.
"This is..." The time my back felt the softness my eyes shut, falling asleep quickly.
This scream, shouting as the fight occurs. It didn't stop my body to resting until the morning arrived.
As always, Alia's mother, the master of the inn, has prepared the food.
"I need to make more money." Eat the food fast and leave, going straight to the guild.
Arriving at the guild in a short time someone suddenly appeared behind my back.
"Fara, I heard you pissed yourself yesterday quest."
"Comrade your news is off, I didn't shit myself but left some trail of it."
"Ahahaha." An old-looking tough guy tapped my back strongly as he laughed hard. "That's what I like about you, ahahaha. Then goodbye to your work, ahahaha," he added and left.
"He got 20 gold coins in yesterday's fight. He is truly strong."
"Yeah, and only 3 fights he participated in. Klono is really strong."
"And I heard he was only using a 2 skill combo, and the enemy was already down."
"Which one?"
"The one he always uses to kill the monsters."
As the man, Klono, left, they began murmuring about him, envious to his power.
'Dash and Slash, the skill of Klono which becomes Hell Death. A remarkable 2 skill combo, powerful and brutal.'
"If he hits the target, he will become paralyzed and feel agonizing pain for an hour. If you didn't surrender you will die in pain, right, Fara?"
"Good morning, guild master."
"Still I amaze you know a lot of skill."
"For someone like me who couldn't get my desired skill, learning skills is such a great help. With this, I can counter them and retreat if I need to."
Watching Klono leaving, the guild master, an elf, suddenly uttered. He called me to follow him to his office to talk privately.
"So why am I here?" Sat on a soft chair, across me the guild master, Larrios staring straight into my eyes.
"The hands of the red dragon, have you heard this?"
"Yeah, yesterday. I heard it caused a commotion, and it reached 100 Stella, so why am I here?"
Larrios clicked his finger once, and his secretary entered the room with two zeisha on her palms, and she carefully placed them on the table.
"What do you think?"
"I see so you called me here... Let me see... On the right side was fake, the red light of it wasn't red enough and pure compared to the red dragon. While this one can be mistaken for its real, but it won't fool my eyes. Larrios, this is not the hand of a red dragon but just a piece of his scale."
"This is a disaster... Sigh..."
"So you are the one who spent 100 Stella? I didn't know you had that much money."
"It's not me but... How am I going to explain this to him?"