Being left at a loss for words by Damian's question, Valyr could not help but scratch his head for a bit before letting out a sigh. Gazing at the man before him, he scratched his head once more, knowing that Damian would not take no from him as an answer. "Alright, fine. I'll accept the gift."
"What kind of "gift" are you giving me anyway?" Seeing that the smile on Damian's face widened for a bit before he returned to his neutral expression, Valyr decided to ask, quoting in the air to remind the man beside him that it was a reward disguised as a gift.
Of course, Damian knew the reasoning behind Valyr's gesture, considering that he was the one who proposed the idea in the first place. With that, he went ahead and quoted in the air as well as he spoke up. "Well, the "gift" that I'm going to give you is something you would've definitely regretted declining.
"And that would be…?" At this point, Valyr's curiosity was piqued.
"I'll give you one chance to pick a skill from the contribution point shop and get it for free." As these words came out of Damian's mouth, Valyr could not help but stop in his tracks. After all, there were many skills in the shop that he wanted to buy, yet never had enough contribution points to do so.
However, Damian wasn't done yet.
"Of course, to sweeten up the deal even more, you can choose any, and I mean any, skill you want from the contribution point shop. Even the ones where you need a [Guard Leader] position is not off-limits from this. I'll give them to you for free." Finishing his words, Damian went silent, allowing Valyr to take his time to ponder over the gift he had given him.
Naturally, hearing that there was no limits to what skill he could obtain from the shop only left him speechless for far longer. Only after taking a few deep breaths did Valyr gradually snap back to reality, thinking about the amount of contribution points he currently had, as well as the position he currently had in the organization. Thankfully, it did not take long for him to come to a conclusion on what kind of skill he wanted to obtain.
But just to make sure, he decided to ask.
"Are Special Skills off-limits?" Hearing the question that came out of Valyr's mouth, Damian looked back at him and flashed a knowing smile, which made the latter quickly understood that those skills were also available for him to obtain.
After being told on his first day in the barracks that it was possible for him to obtain Special Skills in the shop as long as he had the necessary position and contribution points to buy them, the thought of getting a Special Skill from the shop had never left in his mind. In fact, it had become his plan to buy a Special Skill with his newfound position and contribution points once he returned to the barracks.
That was because, unlike normal skills, Special Skills encompassed multiple moves in one, being known by multiple names. For combat classes that relied on physical weapons, the Special Skills they had were called Combat Styles. For magic classes, Magic Styles. Even production classes were not exempt from this, with Forging Styles, Concocting Styles, and Tailoring Styles being the most common.
However, the main reason why Special Skills were highly sought after was the fact that these skills grew with the person. To be more exact, higher-level skills within the Special Skill would become available for the person to use once they had met the increasingly stringent requirements. Because of this, the skill one would unlock once they had met the most stringent requirement of their Special Skill was called an Ultimate Skill, its firepower even putting skills made for pure destruction to shame.
"They're not. In fact, I was hoping you'd ask." While a smile continued to adorn Damian's face, he responded to Valyr's question. "Anyways, let's return to the barracks first. We don't want others to know of this, after all."
Seeing that Damian seemed to be slightly mischievous at the moment, Valyr could not help but lightly chuckle before nodding, with the two soon making their way back to the barracks at higher speeds.
…
"Alright. Peruse the contribution point shop and tell me which Special Skill you want." Now that the two had returned to the barracks, Damian went ahead and allowed Valyr to choose his free skill. At the moment, the two of them were in his office.
Nodding in response, Valyr opened up the contribution point shop and headed to the section for skills, ignoring all of the skills that could be bought at the [Guard] and [Veteran Guard] rank. After that, he focused his attention on every skill that could be bought at the [Guard Captain] and [Guard Leader] rank, ignoring all of the skills which, although he could find use for with his current strength, only had one purpose.
Eventually, he had found the skill he wanted to obtain from the contribution point shop, his eyes slightly widening in surprise as he hadn't expected the skill to appear in a small place like Astarto Village. 'To think I'd find another one of my bread and butter skills in a place like this.'
'On top of that, it's the one with an upgrade path.' With that in mind, Valyr unhesitatingly told Damian of the skill he had chosen, prompting Damian to let out a chuckle as he nodded soon after.
"Good choice."
Opening up a screen before him, Damian interacted with it for a bit, pushing on certain spots before closing it. After that, he refocused his attention on Valyr. "There we go."
Ding!
[You have gained the active skill 'Serpent Spear Combat Style'.]
As a notification sound resounded in his mind, Valyr went ahead and took a look at his notification screen, a satisfied grin appearing on his face as he nodded at Damian and thanked him.
In response, Damian nodded back as his expression returned to what Valyr was familiar with. After that, he took a look at the documents on his desk and told Valyr that he was now free to do whatever he wanted. "Alright. Since I've given you my gift, you're free to go."
Nodding in response, Valyr then made his way to the door. Though, just as he was about to leave, Damian said something that prompted him to say a few words of gratitude back with a smile before finally leaving altogether.
"Once again, thank you, Valyr, for helping the village."
…
Returning to his dormitory, Valyr let out an intense and long sigh of relief as he laid down on his bed, placing the wooden spear on his back down on the floor as he retrieved the vials of blood Tristan gave him out of his pocket, placing them on a nearby table.
Closing his eyes for a couple minutes, he stood up once more, removing his uniform as he went to the bathroom and took a shower before changing into a set of clean yet loose-fitting clothes. Feeling refreshed, he lied down on the bed once more as he opened up the contribution point shop, quickly buying two skills he didn't plan to buy in the first place.
"Since I have more than enough points for it, why bother going out of my way to complete a quest and get the same skills if I could just buy it?"
Ding!
[You have gained the active skill 'Deft Hands'.]
[You have gained the active skill 'Robust Arms'.]
"Two skills down, two more to go." With two of the four other skills he needed for his Rank 1 class obtained, a satisfied smile appeared on Valyr's face as his eyes felt a bit heavy. For a while, he fought against the urge, thinking that there was a bit more he could do. But eventually, the exhaustion his body felt won out against his mind, the screen in front of him automatically closing as he soon fell into a deep sleep.
