21 Skill Marke

Looking at the message with shining eyes, Ensen quickly shouted "System I did it!" like a toddler learning to walk.

A blue box quickly emerged in front of Ensen's eyes, seemingly rushing to debate him.

[You merely acquired the plot of land. You do not yet have a schoolhouse to operate out of.] It wrote with a seemingly condescending attitude.

"That's not true, you said I had to have a school building on the plot of land. And there's a building there!" Ensen refuted quickly, not willing to compromise on this matter.

The words on the blue box quickly faded and were replaced with a new set of words.

[That building is in no shape to be used as a school, please build or fix the existing school.] The system replied stubbornly.

"Don't be like that system, do you want me to pull up the mission?" Ensen said in an accusing tone.

The system remained silent this time, not willing to show the mission.

"That's unfair! I'm going on strike," he said as he sat back down on the couch, folding his arms in an angry fashion and just sitting there staring daggers at the spot next to the tv hoping that was where the system was watching from. He also wore an annoyed face to try to guilt the system.

He remained this way for the next few minutes, holding his pose and not adjusting in the slightest. After even a few more minutes right when Ensen was thinking about giving up, the mission appeared before him.

[Starter Mission: Prove your Worth]

[You are not allowed full access to the system and catalogs until you meet the most basic requirement, having the property and local rights to a private academy. A location and building for your private academy are essential for starting your new dream. You are required to purchase both land and own a school building on said land. The school may already have been constructed or you can build it yourself.]

[Rewards]

[5 Ep (Education Points)]

[Access to all categories]

Quickly scanning the message to ensure the system hadn't changed anything, Ensen smiled in satisfaction as he unfolded his arms and began speaking once again.

"See? It just says I need to own a school building. There are no standards mentioned, so I already completed all conditions." Ensen said in a tone similar to when he taught his students.

The mission blue box suddenly burst into flames before slowly melting away. The system was obviously angry now, but Ensen did not give in.

Noticing the scare tactic not working, the system responded slowly.

[No fair, that's not what I meant. I meant you needed to have a fully functional building.]

"Then you should have said that," Ensen said out loud as he manically laughed in his head.

The system went silent for the next few minutes. Assuming that the system was ignoring him, Ensen sat down on the couch and returned to being angry on the couch and staring daggers at the same spot as before. He sat there like a statue, barely even moving his muscles. He had been so still that his body had started to become a little sore from not moving his muscles more than in an inch.

Deciding to remain on strike until the system had done something. He redoubled his dedication and was preparing to sit there for even longer as a blue box suddenly flashed in front of his face.

[Mission Complete: Prove your Worth]

[Rewards]

[Three EP][Access to all categories]

Noticing his victory over the system, he finally allowed his body to move freely and stood up to stretch his muscles while looking at his accomplishment. With a broad smile, he looked at the reward section but was a little confused.

"System, there were five education points, not three. Don't be a sore loser," he said in a harsh tone, not wanting his education points reward to be cut by 40%.

After a slight pause from the system, the blue box faded away with a new one taking its place. It said only one word that immediately made Ensen smile in relief.

[Fine]

Following the message was a notification.

[You have been awarded two education points.]

Happy with his progress so far, Ensen pulled up the system to see how many education points he had now.

[Ensen Fuentes]

[Education Points: 18]

[Academy Rank: Null]

[Age: 27]

[Math average: C]

[Science average: F-]

[English average: F-]

[Foreign language average: F-]

[Sports average: F-]

[Teaching average: D+]

[administration average: D-]

[Other]

[Skill Market]

[Product Market]

[Auction House]

Noticing his education points had nearly doubled since when he first started, he turned his gaze towards the subject averages. While most of them remained the exact same, the Teaching average turned from D to a D+ which was most likely due to his studying of the various teaching styles music teachers used.

Realizing he had unlocked the shops, he turned his attention to the first shop, the Skill market.

Gently tapping on the text, his vision suddenly went black and his body fell back onto the couch with no resistance.

A few moments later Ensen opened his eyes and what he saw was confusing to say the least.

Rubbing his eyes thinking he was having a dream, he soon came to the conclusion the system had taken him here.

Analyzing his surroundings, he noticed both the ground and the sky was entirely white with no distinct features. It seemed like the world was two pieces of paper stacked on top of each other.

Looking around for a little bit, Ensen became confused for two reasons. Foremost, this place was extremely disorienting to him, and second, there was nothing here.

'Why did the system take me here?' Ensen thought to himself.

A box appeared before him to answer his questions.

[Welcome to the Skill generation and acquisition dimension. In order to use the dimension, think of a skill you wish to acquire, and I, the Supreme Academy System will perform the rest of the process.]

"Wait, so any skill?" Ensen said with a half excited and half teasing smile on.

[As long as a previous human has acquired the skill before, it will be available for the user to get as long as the necessary amount of education points is used.]

"So I can only get skills other people have had before?" He said slightly disappointed in its limitations.

[It is not impossible to get skills never owned by a human before, but it is incredibly expensive.]

Nodding in understanding, Ensen began thinking of a random skill to test how it worked.

Suddenly an odd sight appeared before his eyes, a black silhouette in the shape of a human with a large hat on was using their feet in a fashion that seemingly caused them to glide backward.

[Learn Moonwalk (C) for five education points?]

Trying to ignore the strange sight in front of him, he turned his attention to the message that appeared before him. Specifically the cost of the skill.

"Why is the skill the same price for learning as the piano skill I acquired earlier?" Ensen asked confused.

[The textbook already has the intent and understanding of the writer infused into the book. But since there is no similar object with Moonwalking the system must analyze humanity until it finds a human with the skill. After that, it extracts the intent directly from the source.]

"Oh…that's unexpected. They don't get harmed do they?" He asked, unwilling to injure a human for his selfish desires.

[People affected by skill extraction are left with a minor headache, but that is all.]

Sighing in relief, Ensen turned his attention elsewhere.

'So I really can learn any skill in here.' Ensen thought to himself in wonder but still wanted to do one more test.

Thinking about wanting to upgrade all of his administration sub-skills to C grade, a new black silhouette emerged from the void, sitting at a completely black desk grading pure white papers.

It was certainly an odd contrast.

[Learn Administration (C) for 200 education points?]

Nearly screaming in shock from the amount, Ensen thought back to all the work he had done to get a measly eight education points.

Quickly deciding to lower his standards, he changed his thinking to lower the grade to D.

[Learn Administration (D) for 20 education points?]

'That's…more manageable at the very least.' Ensen thought grumpily.

"Hey, system, why is Administration C grade so expensive?" He said out of desperation.

[C grade skills are the standard for all careers for you to be competent and know what you are doing enough. This is what the vast majority of the officially recognized skills are ranked. D grade skills and under are obviously more plentiful, but are not recognized because of their shallow understanding.]

Ignoring what seemed to be a passive-aggressive attitude from the system, he decided he should check out the other two shops before coming to a decision on what to do next.

Beforehand, he envisioned a piano skill at the C grade. This was the skill that was in the textbook. He simply wanted to compare the costs and see if finding old textbooks and such were worth it.

A black silhouette appeared from the void like always, this time slowly playing on a black piano that appeared with him.

[Learn Pianist (C) for 50 education points?]

'50 education points?' Ensen nearly screamed in his mind, happy that he found the textbook. It would lead to a much faster establishment for his private Academy now.

Satisfied with what he had found out about the Skill Market, he pulled up the status menu once again and tapped on the Product Market.