Chapter 17 - My Stat And Skills

"Then let me give you a recommendation, miss Eclaite."

"Are you sure Vier?"

"Of course Cabal, let's just say, I paid for the rudeness I did to Miss Eclaite. After all, I hug her without permission."

"If that's your excuse, I won't say anything."

"Then it's decided. Miss Eclaite, I'll be waiting for you tomorrow afternoon at the Adventurer's Guild. I'll accompany you when you sign up."

"Thank you, Mr. Vier. I will certainly pay for your kindness."

"No problem and you didn't need to pay me back. I mean it, you don't owe me anything. As I said earlier, I did this to pay for my rudeness. Got it?"

"... I understand."

"Good! And please, you can call me Vier. I'm not old enough to be called a mister."

And that's what he said to me. Now, should I fulfill his request? Or do I keep calling him Mr. Vier? Because he is a strong A-Rank Adventurer.

"... Don't think too much about it. Starting tomorrow, I just have to call his name directly, right?"

Splash!

I washed my face using warm water to erase unnecessary thoughts. The warm water also makes my submerged body more relaxed.

They say, taking a shower at night can make someone sick. And I think that's true. But I'm not going to get sick. That's because I take a bath in warm water.

I look down at the water surface.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

Gorgeous girl huh?

I never thought I'd be a gorgeous girl. The figure reflected in the water surface is so alien to me.

This lovely face is adorned by Amethyst-like eyes, a nose with beautiful curves, and a seductive pink lip.

Wavy waist-long hair, cute fox ears, and one bushy, fluffy tail that all three of it was golden.

This new body has beautiful long legs, a fairly large round bootie, slender hips, bountiful chest, and soft arms. This perfect body becomes more amazing because it comes with white skin without flaws.

As Giselle Gibson, I can say that this girl has a high quality. Her beauty is equal to or may exceed the beauty of all girl's band members from Kho country.

And I would not think twice to say, Eclaite is a high-class courtesan. This girl still has fresh, pink, and perfect assets thanks to the weird magic that the jerk uses. 

"It's upsetting when I know, the jerk understands how to take good care of his toys."

Even though this is so bitter and I don't want to agree with it, there's no denying that the jerk did take good care of Eclaite, the old me who hasn't got a memory of my past as Giselle Gibson. 

The jerk is jerk and madman. That's not going to change. 

He did use this body, my body now, as a guinea pig! He did play with my body until my body was damaged. Then, once he's done with all of it, he always uses potions and spells to get my body back to where it was. 

The only thing he can't fix is Eclaite mind.

Honestly, I said, before I got Giselle Gibson's memory, my mind as Eclaite is in a state of mesh. And I could say, my mind was on the verge of madness.

It's so scary when I knew, there's a high possibility that I'm going to scream hysterically and break down instantly when I see an episode or item that reminds me of the torture the jerk gave me.

I'm a nuclear bomb that's going to explode after getting a soft touch.

And... maybe... Maybe it's already happened. I might have been exploded.

I remember I was in the middle of the plaza when I got Giselle Gibson's memory. It could have been, by then, Eclaite had gone insane. Then, things that happened to her made my memory as Giselle Gibson come to the surface.

If that was what truly happens, it could explain why my memory as Giselle Gibson appears and then mixed with pieces of Eclaite's memories.

"After the two memories joined as one, I had trouble determining my true self and the true reality. This world where Eclaite was or the world Giselle come from is the real truth? Am I Eclaite or am I, Giselle Gibson?"

I'm not sure… and seeing it from the other perspective. Both worlds can be considered real. As for me, I assume I was Eclaite and Giselle.

I didn't feel any personality besides me, myself. So… I can say, me is me, right?

...

"Haa… this issue is extremely confusing."

I leaned in the bathtub and drowned my mouth. Then, I create bubbles by blowing air out to the warm water.

I'd better forget things that are hard to understand and just accept things that have already been done.

Now, I'm more curious about the Basic Statistics and skills I do have right now. I need to know my skills before I raised my level and decide on my Avatar build. Moreover, I'm curious about the unique skill that I got from Gaia Tears.

"I got a unique skill, right? [Stat Open]"

『General Information』

[ Name: Eclaite | Gender: Female ]

[ Race: One Tail Fox Beastkin ]

[ Age: 19 | Level: 3/10 ]

『Jobs』

[ Slave, Courtesan ]

『Basic Statistics』

| HP: 24/24 

| MP: 41/41

| SP: 18/32

[ STR: 9 | DEX: 8 ]

[ END: 16 | Luck: 3 ]

[ AGI: 14 ]

『Skill』

[Heart of Monster] 

[Natural Mana Circulation]

[Divine Beast Blood] 

[Upgraded Hearing]

[Upgraded Smelling] 

[Pain Resistance |Lvl 4]

[Poison Resistance |Lvl 3]

[Paralyze Resistance |Lvl 2]

[Courtesan |Lvl 5] [Cooking |Lvl 3] 

[Dance |Lvl 2] [Charm |Lvl 3]

"Thank God. I did get a Unique Skill."

The Unique Skill, Heart of Monster is written in red ink and that unique skill surprised me. 

Heart of Monster, quite an alarming name.

Putting aside the unique skill, I decided to look at the Basic Stat belonging to this body.

I can say, when compared to humans, Elves, dwarfs, or other normal races on the same level, I have twice as many Basic Stats as them. And maybe, thanks to this, I can survive after receiving all kinds of torture given by the jerk.

I'm glad to see my Basic Stat is pretty high but there is something weird... 

"Why is my race is Beastkin and not Divine Beast? Am I going to be a Divine Beast after having nine tails? Not only that, the tribe that was supposed to be Nine Tail Fox is now One Tail Fox. My Max Level is also extremely low."

Max Level that only reaches ten worries me. 

If my level could only reach ten, my desire to break away from the jerk clutch and to protect my freedom would never be real. It's going to be a nightmare I can't accept.

Seeing this Max Level made me wish I could evolve just like a monster race. That way, my Max Level and Basic Stats will increase as I evolve. 

To find out the answer to this problem, I need to level up to the maximum. With that, I'll know if I can evolve or not.

I have to defeat or rather kill monsters to get Exo and... I have a concern, can I defeat a monster? Can AFO's in-game fighting experience be useful in this world?

Yes, my in-game fighting experience is useful. Didn't I already fight with Peshrooms and manage to kill them? Didn't I manage to get level up?

I can defeat a monster!

But still, my body is stiff in battle and I'm not sure I have the courage to fight against big monsters.

"I will take a step after step to solve this problem." 

Now, it's good for me to learn all my skills. I want to understand the effect they have. 

I started by pressing Unique Skill written on my Status Screen. Thanks to what I did, another screen appeared above the Status Screen. The new screen contains an explanation of Heart of Monster.

"Let's see the greatness of this Unique Skill."

[ Heart of Monster ] [Passive]

[ + Earn statistics points after eating a whole body of monster or a certain amount (1,200 gr) of monster meat.

- After the tenth of monster meat, Basic Statistics points will not be obtained again

+ Obtain one of the monster skills (randomly) by eating their Magic Stones. Skill gained from a species of monster is one. After getting a skill, next Magic Stone will be converted into Exp for the skill obtained earlier. 

- After the tenth Magic Stone, Exp for skill will not be obtained again.

+ Able to erase the skills gained from the Magic Stones of monsters. 

+ ????? ]

I froze after reading that explanation.

This Unique Skill is not at the level of a unique skill. More precisely, it's the equivalent or above of a cheat. 

If each Unique Skill has such effects, no wonder the quest to get them is so complicated to be done. The unique skill owners can destroy the game balance of Ark Fantasy Online. And easily, they can win every world-class PvP Tournament and many other types of events.

Fuuu... This is extremely shocking. I hope the other Skills didn't have- Ehem! Let's stop pretending to be naive. 

Stuck in a situation like this, I should have said, "I hope, other skills also have amazing effects just like the Heart of Monster!"

Yup! I should have said something like that. It's about my life, my death, and my freedom. I have to hope to get Skills that make me stronger. Other than that, as a Player, there is no greater desire than wanting the Avatar they play to be the strongest Avatar.

The presence of a chance where I will get a great skill makes my fox ears twitch with gusto. Unfortunately, they do not look beautiful because wet.

Well... it's time for me to look at my other skills.

[Natural Mana Circulation][ Passive ]

[+ Mana will flow throughout the body like blood. This makes the skill owner's body will never grow old after his/her/its growth period has stopped.

+ Reduce MP usage by 50% when using Skill, Spell, or Arte.

+ Increase MP recovery speed by 50% during rest or meditation.]

—————+

[Divine Beast Blood][ Passive ]

[+ Increase the EXP (experience) obtained by 300%]

—————+

[Upgrade Hearing][ Passive ]

[+ Improves the skill owner's auditory senses by 10 times that of regular hearing. 

+ The upgraded hearing can be adjusted at will.]

—————+

[Upgrade Smelling][ Passive ]

[+ Improves the skill owner's sense of smell by 10 times that of regular senses of smell. 

+ The upgraded senses of smell can be adjusted at will.]

—————+

[Poison Resistance |Lvl 3] [ Passive ]

[+ Reduces the damage and duration of negative influences caused by different types of poison by 25%.]

—————+

[Pain Resistance |Lvl 4] [ Passive ]

[+ Reduces pain when receiving various types of physical and magical injuries by 35%.

+ This skill will not eliminate the perception of the dangers gained from various types of wounds.]

—————+

[Paralyze Resistance |Lvl 2] [ Passive ]

[+ Reduces the damage and duration of negative influences caused by different types of paralysis by 15%.]

—————+

[Courtesan |Lvl 5] [ Passive ]

[+ Increase proficiency in sexual intercourse, increase attractiveness, beautify the body, and increase SP by 10 points permanently.]

—————+

[Cooking |Lvl 3] [ Passive ]

[+ Increase cooking mastery, give an ability to appraise food ingredients, and increase DEX by 6 points permanently.]

—————+

[Dance |Lvl 2] [ Passive ]

[+ Increase dance proficiency, improve body flexibility, improve learning capacity to understand music, and increase AGI by 4 points permanently.]

—————+

[Charm |Lvl 3] [ MP -3 ]

[+ By making eye contact directly, captivate and ensnare target's mind to do anything the skill owner wants. 

+ The amount of time is needed for the target to fall into the charmed state depends on the mental endurance of the target.

+ Charmed state lasts for 1 hour.

+ Before the target falls to a charmed state and when the skill is active, 3 MP will be consumed per 5 seconds.]

The first two skills and the last one were impressive, while the other skills are so so. Two of them are Racial Skills and the rest are Normal Skills.

That's right, skill has a type. Starting from Racial Skill, Normal Skill, Advance Skill, Grand Skill, and Unique Skill. 

"Skill owner's body will never grow old after the growth period has stopped? Does that mean I'm Immortal?"

Hmm... No, I don't think so. I guess, I only have longevity. I can live for hundreds of years but at the same time, I could die at twenty if someone kills me.

Immortal is not a word for me, I'm not going to rise and come back to life after I die. 

I'm not a Phoenix.

Now, I understand all the skills I have. Thanks to it, I was able to come up with some ideas about the things I had to do.. I thought of the first step I would take when I walked out of the bathroom.