"So, you mean to tell me, that skills are uncommon?" I said after finishing a mouthful.
After the testing, we were sent off to the cafeteria. They said they wanted us to have some food before we moved into our dorms. On the way there Hekiria wound up complaining about how hard it was to gain skills. When I questioned her, she started explaining to me how skills actually aren't all that common.
"Yeah," she responded, "I mean, sure, you're likely to get at least three or four skills by the time you're an adult, and that can go up to ten or so if you're dedicated to your craft, but gaining abilities as full fledged skills is actually kind of hard. There's no hard and fast requirements as far as anyone can tell, so most stay as sub-skills for your entire life."
Deondre continued. "Unique skills are a bit different though. In most, a unique skill would be one you're born with. I think Hekiria's barrier would be an example?"
He looked to Hekiria for conformation. When she nodded, he continued. "Most people are born with a single unique skill. It's actually more rare to have none than it is to have two. But still, having two is really fortunate, and three is exceptional. Any more and you're probably a legend waiting to happen if you use them right."
Hekiria picked up right as Deondre left off. I was starting to wonder if they had practiced this or something.
"Unique skills can be gained, but it would take something truly extraordinary for that to happen. The one exception is if you have a specific attack you consider your finishing technique. A kind of sure kill move showcasing your absolute mastery over your style of combat."
My eyes widened as I realized what she was talking about. "An ultimate attack..."
Hekira nodded. "Something like that."
Deondre leaned forward, clearly excited. "That's awesome! I never knew that!"
Hekiria chuckled and responded, "Yeah, that part's only relevant to fighters, so it's not as common knowledge as the rest. I only know about it because my family has a book on it in our library. That said though, it's special among unique skills in that it can be replaced. If you find a technique you believe is better, then that one will become your new ultimate attack, and the old one will become a regular combat skill. On top of that, there's one more thing. It needs to have a name."
I raised an eyebrow. "Well yeah. The system can't very well display it without a name, now can it?"
That made Hekiria pause for a second. "...That would explain it..." Then she shook her head and continued. "But no. What I meant was... what I was trying to say is that you need to have named the technique before the system will recognize it. And I'm inclined to believe that what you said is the reason why. It always seemed kind of arbitrary to me, but that would make sense."1To display words, the system needs words to display. Must be such an earth-shattering revalation.
Before we could respond, an instructor came and told us it was time to head to the dorms. Hekira returned her empty plate, while Deondre and I quickly scarfed down what we could before following her to the waiting instructor. Once everyone was gathered the instructor headed off to the dorms.
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The dorms were two tall buildings separated by a courtyard with a fountain in the middle. Boys dorm on the left, girls on the right. There were two walkways spanning the divide around halfway up the building, presumably for ease of access.
Another instructor had joined the first as we were moving, and once we got to the dorms, the male instructor took the boys over to the left building, while the girls followed the female instructor over to the right.
The building had 5 floors, with a common area at the center of each. The third floor seemed to be one big common area, with all sorts of facilities. It also had the two pathways leading to the boys dorm on either end. The instructor made it clear that while the third floor of each building is available to everyone, girls can't go above or below that in the boys building, and vice-versa.
Apparently, the first two floors are for the first years, and the last two floors are for the second years. Once we were introduced to all the facilities, we were assigned our dorms, and sent to go get settled in.
I was so hooked on this novel originally due to its unique concept of the protagonist being as strong as a literal baby. However, I'm very much put off by the monthly updates and unreliable narrator because omitting information is cool wacky and very edgy. Pretty disappointed.
I do apologize about the updates. I'd really like to write more, but school is mean. And brains are dumb. That's why I made sure to put a disclaimer in the description. Still, I'm gonna see if I can get these done more often. (I say as though that hasn't been the goal all along.)