Chapter 48: Hidden Arts

The next morning, I woke up at 6 AM… mainly because I couldn't sleep the entire night. I was eager to get out of bed.

The reason for this was that Hina-nee slept in the same room as me. And since there was only one bed… we ended up sleeping together last night. I protested and offered to book another room since I just received a lot of money, but she had insisted on staying with me. As a result, I remained awake the whole night. How was I supposed to sleep with her there?

On the contrary, Hina-nee seemed to sleep just fine. Better than fine, in fact. She used me as a body pillow, wrapping her body around me. That didn't help me calm down whatsoever, especially since she was barely wearing anything. Luckily, I taught her about the Crafting system and she just happened to have the materials to craft some undergarments, so she wasn't completely naked. Almost, though.

Anyway… I was sleepy, but I've stayed up entire nights before. No big deal.

After gently prying Hina-nee's arms off of me as to not wake her, I slipped out of bed and equipped the Corruptor armor set I received from the Vault of Corruption. I had wanted to get that black armor set in that store I browsed before, but now that I had this Corruptor set, there was no need for that.

"Mm… Kaze…kun?" Hina-nee murmured quietly, slowly waking up.

"Ah… I woke you after all," I said apologetically.

"No, don't worry about it… mmnh."

Saying this, she stretched a bit before yawning cutely. I headed into the bathroom to wash my face with some cold water. Toothbrushes didn't exist in this world, but mouthwash did for some reason, so I just used that. I then took a shower to fully wash away my drowsiness. Then, as Hina-nee did the same soon after, I headed out first to buy some proper clothes, pants, plus shoes for her at a nearby store - a simple female black outfit with black ankle boots, nothing much. Tianyin didn't offer all that much variety, being a small city. I would've certainly liked to get her something a lot better though.

When I returned, she was done, so we left our room together after she slipped on the clothes I got her gratefully and happily.

"So, Kaze-kun, how's the food of this world?" she asked eagerly as we walked in search of a good restaurant to eat breakfast. Unfortunately, the inn didn't provide food.

"Well, it's… not bad? It's pretty similar to our old world's cuisine, but there are some… iffy dishes."

She made a confused expression, and I chuckled. "You'll see."

I led her to the same restaurant I had eaten at before and the same waitress greeted me once again. For some reason, it was always her. She handed us menus and quickly retreated.

"Go on, take a look," I said with a wry smile.

Hina-nee did as told and began flipping through the menu. "Chiken…? Sickleboar stew… and what the heck is this? Lissard steak?"

I shrugged. "I've only had the curry chiken before - and it really does taste like chicken."

"Hm… in that case, I'll go with the lissard steak."

I blinked. "You sure?"

Hina-nee smiled. "Yep! But of course… you're eating it with me."

My eyes widened. "Uh, actually, I think I'll pas-"

"Waitress!" Hina-nee beckoned the girl over. "Can we get two servings of lissard steak?"

"No problem!" the waitress said, jotting down everything on her notepad. "Is that all?"

"Er-" I tried interrupting, but Hina-nee left me no leeway.

"Yep, that's all."

"Perfect. Your food will be ready in roughly ten minutes."

With that, the waitress walked away, leaving behind a very happy Hina-nee and a very depressed me.

"Hina-nee… really?"

"Heehee, it's always good to try new things, y'know? Who knows? It may not be that bad!"

*****

"Hack… ah, that was horrible," I coughed, face contorting in disgust.

"Well, well… at least now we know for sure that lissard steak isn't that good," Hina-nee laughed awkwardly.

I shook my head and opened up my system, taking out several gold coins out of my inventory to use as payment. I then switched to the 'Skills' tab to see what other skills I should obtain using my 10 AP.

"What are you looking at, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked curiously, switching her seat from across from me to beside me.

"Skills," I replied. "Wait, Hina-nee, what level are you right now?"

"I'm Level 10, why?"

I blinked. "Just from killing sickleboars?"

She began laughing to hide her embarrassment. "Ah, well… I got a bit carried away, you see… and before I knew it, I'd killed a bunch."

"Oh, yeah, that's always been a habit of yours when it comes to fighting," I chuckled. "So? Did you use the SP and AP you got yet, or no?"

She shook her head. "I don't really know what stats to spend it on, you see… and I haven't decided what class I want to be yet, regarding skills."

"Well, just answer me this then. Would you rather fight on the frontlines or provide support from the backlines?"

"Hm… if I had to say, frontline would be best. Sitting back and providing support just isn't my type of thing."

"Huh, okay. Are you a speed-type fighter or strength-type fighter?"

"Both, but more so speed," she replied without any hesitation. "I excel at being fast and striking my opponents where they are weak, but I also have confidence in my ability to just brute force things."

I nodded in understanding. "In that case… the Assassin class probably suits you best."

"Assassin, huh…"

"Yeah. As for the stats you should level up, I'd say AGI, STR, and DEX are your best bets."

She nodded happily. "Got it! Assassin it is!"

I then turned back to my own screen and began browsing the skills I could get while Hina-nee busied herself with leveling up her stats and whatnot.

I first selected 'Vanishing Clouds', the skill that had saved my ass countless times already. I saw that it was connected to another skill - a 'better' version of it, as a matter of fact. I clicked on the skill to see what it was.

[Name: Vanishing Steps]

[Category: Assassin]

[Type: Active]

[Description: For a set period of time, you gain greatly increased agility, speed, and the power of invisibility. You are also granted the ability to move through any and all objects except living beings. For this reason, you will be rendered practically untargetable unless the enemy uses their own body to attack you. Duration: 10 seconds.]

[Cooldown: 24 hours]

My eyes widened as I saw the cooldown. A full day? Wasn't that kind of excessive? I get that this skill was pretty overpowered, but…

Still, this was one hell of a skill to have. 10 seconds of invisibility and untargetability was more than enough to take an enemy down. It could also allow you to escape especially sticky situations thanks to the increased agility and speed boost it gives you. Overall, 'Vanishing Steps' was an incredibly versatile and useful skill. I decided to unlock it for 2 AP. Besides, according to A.R.X.A., my INT stat had to do with active skill cooldowns. In other words, I could potentially reduce this cooldown of 24 hours.

It seemed that this skill was a slightly higher-tier skill, since it cost 2 AP instead of 1. Still, it was worth it. I kept browsing with 8 AP remaining, this time setting my sights on some other skill paths. Then, I found something I really wanted.

[Name: Way of the Mage]

[Category: Mage]

[Type: Passive]

[Description: Passively increase your MAG and DEX stats by 3 each.]

After some exploring, I noticed that there were eight paths that branched off from this skill, each representing an element of hidden arts. They were:

Pyromancy - fire-related hidden arts.

Hydromancy - water-related hidden arts.

Aeromancy - air-related hidden arts.

Geomancy - earth-related hidden arts.

Biomancy - life-related hidden arts.

Cryomancy - ice-related hidden arts.

Luxomancy - light/lightning-related hidden arts.

Umbromancy - shadow/death-related hidden arts.

In addition to these, however, I noticed that after you learned all the hidden arts of any element path, you could access two more paths that were connected to the final arts of the eight basic elements:

Astromancy - space-related hidden arts.

Chronomancy - time-related hidden arts.

And finally, after mastering either one of those two advanced elements, there was one final hidden art you could learn. I clicked on the hexagon for it and read what it was.

[Name: Chaos Bloom]

[Category: Mage (Chaosmancy)]

[Type: Active]

[Description: ???]

[Cooldown: ???]

Chaosmancy… the hidden art element above all the rest.

I sat, stumped. Which element path should I start with? Pyromancy - fire - seemed highly destructive and useful, but Hydromancy (water) sounded pretty versatile as well.

In the end, I settled with learning one hidden art from each of the eight basic element paths. I had exactly 7 AP remaining after getting 'Way of the Mage', so I was regrettably one AP short. As a result, I learned a hidden art from every basic element except Biomancy which were 'life' related hidden-arts. It just didn't seem all that appealing to me - I looked at the first art, saw that it was just a healing spell, and didn't look further. This element path was probably for Supports.

Conclusion - I finally knew how to cast hidden arts now. The moment I obtained my first hidden art, a pop-up hologram appeared in front of me, explaining what hidden arts were, how my MAG stat affected them, and so on. It was all information I already knew, so I just dismissed it after skimming through the text. The only thing noteworthy was that skills in the Mage category - in other words, hidden arts, since those were the only 'skills' in this path - had an additional attribute to them: cast time.

To cast a hidden art, you had to chant its element, tier, and name out loud, then wait for the cast time to finish before it would actually fire. This was the fatal weakness of Mages - cast times were pretty short at first, but as you began using more advanced and powerful arts, the cast times also became longer. There were certain artifacts and items that could shorten cast times, but this was still the glaring weakness of this class, according to the holographic pop-up. During the cast time, you were vulnerable, after all.

All in all, I acquired seven hidden arts:

[Name: Pyrosphere]

[Category: Mage (Basic Pyromancy)]

[Type: Active]

[Description: Launch a moderately-sized ball of fire at target location that explodes on impact.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Aquabomb]

[Category: Mage (Basic Hydromancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Launch a moderately-sized bomb of high-pressure water at target location. The bomb will explode on its own after a given amount of time, but the caster can also control the explosion time.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Aeroblade]

[Category: Mage (Basic Aeromancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Throw a rapidly-spinning disc of highly-pressurized and concentrated wind in target direction. The disc will attempt to slice through anything it comes into contact with, and will disperse on its own after five seconds.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Geotorrent]

[Category: Mage (Basic Geomancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Cause a large stalagmite to erupt out of the earth at target location. Depending on the target location, the material, strength, and sharpness of this attack may vary.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Cryoskewer]

[Category: Mage (Basic Cryomancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Launch a narrow skewer of ice in target direction. The skewer will attempt to pierce through anything it comes into contact with. Even if this attack does not end up being fatal, if the ice manages to melt inside the target's body, it will slow them. Especially useful against Apodous-type Magic Beasts.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Luxostrike]

[Category: Mage (Basic Luxomancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Unleash a fast-traveling crescent-shaped projectile of light energy at target location. Explodes upon contact.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

-

[Name: Umbrostrike]

[Category: Mage (Basic Umbromancy)

[Type: Active]

[Description: Unleash a fast-traveling crescent-shaped projectile of shadow energy at target location. Explodes upon contact.]

[Cooldown: 10 seconds]

[Cast time: 2 seconds]

Having spent all of my AP, I exited my System.