CH 31

Chapter 31 - Skills

With the new Beastmen as my residents, this grassy territory has become a bustling place. A village of about 100 people in total. It could easily be called a village. The only problem was that each of us didn’t have a house.

Two days have passed since we returned to the territory. Sirius has been working tirelessly since morning, leading the Beastmen in hunting and building houses.

I stepped outside with Sareha and watched as the houses were being built. A wooden pillar was built in the center and beams extended radially from the ceiling. The ceiling was made of monster’s tendons. There was no shortage of monsters around here, including Rock Birds and Orcs. In fact, we were the ones causing trouble.

The walls were covered with a thin wooden frame and then covered with a piece of Dragonfish leather.

Although it bears the name of a dragon, this creature was not a dragon. It was a large fish-shaped monster that often lived in the rivers around here. If you weren’t careful, you could be swallowed whole, so be careful.

“It’s amazing, nii-sama.”

“I guess so. Houses are made by people.”

Sirius was giving precise instructions on construction, dismantling monsters, and keeping an eye on the surroundings.  He seemed to be used to it, so I left it to him.

“Let’s do what we have to do. Sareha, let’s go to the dungeon entrance.”

“Yes, nii-sama. I will accompany you.”

I descended the earthen stairs and went to the monument room. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this room. I was merely there to sell potions, but I didn’t think that souvenirs turned out to be residents.

I walked with Sareha through the slightly dimly lit room. There was a stone monument in the center of the room, and a staircase leading to a dungeon behind it.

“Wah!”

Sareha clung to my arm.

“What’s wrong, what’s happening?”

“Uh, well, there’s a skull …… hanging on the wall.”

Oh, no. I forgot to put away the skull Will. I might as well make a memorial service for him. He was the one who supported me when I first came to this meadow.

“That is …… I’m sorry if it startled you.”

“No, I was surprised. But as expected of my brother…… You’re not scared of such thing”

Sareha, still clinging to my arm, looked up at me. His eyes were shining like the stars in the night sky.

“Nii-sama said that you could die in the dungeon. That’s a manifestation of your determination to always be on the battlefield, always thinking about death…… That’s what you want to tell me, isn’t it?”

“…… Yes. You know exactly what I mean.”

He interpreted it favorably. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll just say so. Will will be happy to have a role. Maybe.

“We’re not going into the dungeon right now. We’ll start tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Is that so? I can do it right now though.”

Until now I’ve been diving into a dungeon called the Trials of the Beginning.  But now that I’ve conquered it, I could try other dungeons. So let’s find out which one was best for us and then we would go there.

Sareha nodded, and I touched the stone monument to open the status check screen.

On the night of my return to the territory, I caught a goblin in the area and dove into the dungeon with him as a follower. After a lot of experimentation, I found out that both the goblin and I could come back to life even if we died.

However, if I died first, we were forced to leave the dungeon even if the goblin was still alive. The main challenger must be alive. This seemed to be a prerequisite for the dungeon.

“Sareha, have you ever seen your status?”

“Yes, once. Though…… I am weak. I’ve heard that my unique skill is called Mana Constitution.”

“I was weak at first too, so don’t worry about it. By the way, what is a Mana Constitution?”

“I have an abnormally high MP (mana point), which is the source of my magic power. I don’t really remember the number, but…”

“Wow, that’s great. If it wasn’t for this dungeon, it would be more useful than my skills.”

I switched the screen of the monument. But I couldn’t see Sareha’s status. From the side, Sareha looked at me with interest.

<Challenger Henry Boesheit, follower confirmed. Do you wish to register?>

A voice echoed in my brain. This is the voice of the stone monument.

“Please. His name is Sareha Boesheit. He’s my brother.”

“……”

<Sareha Boesheit has been set as a follower. In consideration of the peculiarity of the previous individual Henry, the initialization of individual Sareha‘s status is being tested.>

“Hey! Don’t do something without our permission!”

The stone monument tried to initialize Sareha’s status by itself. It seemed that the monument was still holding on to the fact that I failed to initialize it before.

Since Sareha hasn’t done anything in particular to increase his status, it won’t affect him if it is initialized. But I felt bad.

< Status Initialization – Fatal Failure>

<Retry – Status Initialization – Fatal Failure – Added Time Limit>

<Retry – Status Initialization – Fatal Failure – Attempt Aborted Due To Excessive Time.>

Idiot. It looks like it failed again.

But I don’t know the reason. I touched the stone monument and went to the status check screen.

Sareha Boesheit

Accumulated deaths: 00000

HP 13 MP 6814 Attack 2 Defense 3 Magic 25 Agility 2

Special Skills: Mana Constitution (Unique), Maintain Status (Shared)

“6814. What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s about right. How much MP does nii-sama have?”

“That’s you …”

It’s true that I only had 10 MP. But there was no shame in that. I was a vanguard warrior type. I didn’t use magic or anything like that.

“Huh! Why does Sareha have Maintain Status!? It’s my unique skill!”

I was distracted by the amount of MP, but there was something even stranger. Why does Sareha have Maintain status, which was my skill? And what was with the (Shared)?

“That’s strange, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

I put my small brain to work to figure out why. If it’s called “Shared,” there must have been something to it.

“Shared or…… shared, shared means shared. Shared skills. Is it because we are brothers? If so, I should be able to use Sareha‘s skills too. Then why?” (TLN: MC said a different word in Japanese for shared)

I shook my memory back to the point where I picked Sareha up in the dungeon. I carried him on my back, we talked about the dungeon, and then, I believe…

“Oh! That’s it, it’s because you sucked my blood!”

My blood must have entered his body at that time.

But skills were not something that can be passed on to others. It was something you were either born with or learned through constant effort. Giving blood was usually useless.

Just to be sure, I touched the stone monument and checked my status as well. If I didn’t lose it in my status, then I was really sharing a skill with Sareha.

Henry Boesheit

Accumulated deaths: 00012

HP 283 (+13) MP 10 Attack 156 (+28) Defense 168 (+4) Magic 1 Agility 33 (+2)

Special Skill: Maintain Status (Unique)

“I knew it. It’s not gone.”

Maintain Status has not disappeared.

And thanks to the undead from Ace, my status is improving a bit. I guess it’s because I’ve killed hundreds of Skeletons, Trolls, Ogres, Orcs, Goblin Shamans, Gryphons, and more. I feel like I’ve slaughtered more than an average adventurer would in a lifetime.

“Would your skills be of any help to me, nii-sama?”

“Ah, my concerns have been answered. Now, all we have to do is dive into the dungeon.”

Sareha smiled like a bloomed flower.

We would touch the stone monument and choose the next dungeon to go to. Sareha had mentioned earlier that he hadn’t learned any magic. If that was the case, I wanted to have him learn magic before heading to the dungeon. Sareha’s status was not suitable for melee combat.

“Let’s use the remaining DP to get a spellbook.”

I touched the stone monument and selected the spellbook from the reward screen, and the spellbook immediately fell from the air. I dusted off the spellbook that had fallen to the ground and handed it to Sareha.

“I know it’s difficult, but try reading it. I’ll be heading to the dungeon tomorrow, but if you still want to come, you can just hide behind me.”

“No, I’ll try to remember at least one. I’ll do my best!”

“Take it easy. Sleep properly at night.”

Sareha clutched the magic book to his chest. If you looked closely, you could see the name of the author inscribed on the cover of the book. Le Cain.