Chapter 325: Skill Proficiency

I was at a loss for words, so incredulous that I couldn’t even begin to form a response.

The other party’s resolve was so unwavering that no amount of reasoning could possibly sway them.

Under that assessment, it seemed best to cut off the conversation here.

Letting out a deep sigh, I raised the white flag.

“Haah… fine. Do as you please.”

“Okay, okay. But what excuse are you going to come up with?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Enhancing someone else’s Ether Attribute ability is no ordinary skill, right? But you said you didn’t have it before—that it only appeared recently…”

She meant that people would ask how I came to acquire that skill, so it’d be better to prepare an excuse in advance.

The Protagonist of Another Novel looked like he was facing a difficult problem, but this was actually a very simple matter that didn’t require deep thought.

“I’ll just say it appeared the last time I opened my skill window after a long while.”

“Huh? Is that okay??”

“Why wouldn’t it be? There’s no rule that a skill’s trigger has to be something grandiose. It could’ve been something so trivial I overlooked it myself, or it could’ve been the result of accumulated experience.”

There was no need to string together an elaborate excuse.

I could just say I didn’t know.

Besides…

“Reysir, do you open your skill window every day to check it?”

“No.”

“Of course not. Skills don’t grow day by day, so there’s no reason to look at them daily. Most people are the same, and so am I.”

“Ah! So you can also claim you don’t know the exact time the skill appeared?”

“Exactly. I had to open my skill window during the first ‘Ether Attribute Enhancement’ lecture of this semester, so the timeframe would narrow down to sometime between then and yesterday.”

That wasn’t much of a problem either.

No one would demand a detailed list of everything I’d seen, heard, and done over the nearly two-week period.

And even if someone did, I wasn’t obligated to answer.

Judging by Reysir’s expression, he realized the issue he’d been worried about wasn’t that serious.

Now I could bring up another topic.

“Oh, and speaking of my skills, I don’t plan to reveal anything about [Encourage] or [Person Analysis]. They’re not skills that require information sharing. However…”

“However?”

“I’m worried about what might happen if [Encourage] is left unused and later its existence is exposed. So I intend to sneakily apply it right before activating [Elation] to keep others from noticing.”

I wasn’t the only one who knew about the [Encourage] skill.

Professor Radvicin and the research student seniors also knew about it.

I didn’t think they’d go around blabbing about my skills, but you never know.

‘Besides, the readers of the original work also know about this skill.’

The place where I’d discussed [Encourage] with Reysir was the Library Special Fiction Corner.

After Nas-e was remade, new readers of the original might not know about this skill yet, but those who’d been following since before the remake were a different story.

‘Even if the proficiency is still low and the numbers aren’t significant, leaving an existing buff unused would tank my reputation!’

That wasn’t the only reason I’d decided to use [Encourage] on others.

The sharp increase in the skill’s effect after I’d used [Encouragement] in the previous chapter also played a big role.

I’d thought I could build enough proficiency just by using it on myself and Yor from time to time, but that turned out not to be the case.

“Since you’ve made up your mind, why not use it on me right now?”

It wasn’t a difficult request, so I decided to do as the Protagonist of Another Novel wished.

There was no harm in confirming that [Encourage] could be activated with the keyword ‘my acquaintance’ as well.

“I’ve used it. Open your status window and check.”

“Huh? Already? So it doesn’t have conditions like [Elation] requiring a whip crack for maximum effect, or [Encouragement] needing a powerful speech?”

“Well… the fact that it can only be applied to people who are close to a certain degree is itself a condition.”

“That makes sense.”

Reysir nodded in understanding.

But right after that, his face suddenly lit up, and he stared at me with an emotional gaze.

What on earth was going on?

I was completely baffled and thrown off.

“Why are you suddenly like that…?”

“You said this skill gives a base increase of ‘3’, right? And the effect grows with intimacy?”

It seemed the increase was more than ‘3’.

But the only keyword I’d applied to him just now was ‘my acquaintance’.

I immediately opened the [Encourage] skill description window and found the reason for the Protagonist of Another Novel’s sudden change in expression.

==========

[Encourage (督勵)] – (B)

: A derivative skill reflecting the {Trait: Possessiveness}.

: Awakens the will of beings belonging to the user to enhance their abilities.

Can only be applied to targets granted a in the form of ‘my ___’.

: Effect – Increases all stats except Aether by [4] per keyword.

: Currently registered keywords

: Jormungand – ‘my familiar’, ‘my happiness’, ‘my comfort’, ‘my understanding’, ‘my salvation’, ‘my editor-nim’

: Karbaldr – ‘my possessed body’

: Mir – ‘my existence’

: Reysir – ‘my acquaintance’

==========

The keyword ‘my acquaintance’ I’d just applied to Reysir was officially registered, and the stat increase had gone from [3] to [4].

Just like with [Encouragement], the moment I used this skill on someone else, a noticeable change occurred.

It seemed there was a limit to growing a skill through simple repetitive grinding.

“My stats went up by 4…!”

“Ah, the proficiency increased, so the effect rose.”

I cut off the Protagonist of Another Novel’s ecstatic outburst and casually stated what I’d just confirmed.

He blinked in confusion.

“……Huh?”

“I said the skill proficiency increased. The base increase is now ‘4’.”

“……”

“If you don’t believe me, you can use [Eye that Perceives Truth] to check someone else’s stat window later when I use [Encourage] on them.”

“……Never mind. If you’re saying it with that much certainty, then it must be true that the proficiency really went up.”

He slumped his shoulders in clear disappointment.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I felt oddly sorry.

Still, I couldn’t apply the keyword ‘my reader-nim’ to him right now.

He’d been overjoyed just from a ‘1’ stat increase; I didn’t want to imagine how he’d react if ‘4’ more were added.

“So, about you getting a new skill… um… well… congratulations… and… you did well.”

I decided to substitute comfort with praise, which Reysir had begged for earlier.

The effect was remarkable.

Pathetically so.

“Karbaldr……!”

The Protagonist of Another Novel called out my possessed body’s name in an unnecessarily tearful voice, jumping up from his chair and spreading his arms wide.

He was the one who’d been moved, so why was he making gestures for me to hug him?

At least he wasn’t clinging to me, but I couldn’t understand it at all.

“Sit down and eat some Moyak fruit.”

“Oh, okay.”

Whether he’d forgotten the no-idle-talk order I’d given two chapters ago, or was pretending to have forgotten, Reysir sat back down, ate the Moyak fruit and Omija tea, and then launched into praise for their taste.

He also threw in compliments about my and Yor’s cooking, which made me a bit embarrassed, but…

‘If the compliments were only about me, it might’ve been different, but he also praised Yor.’

My baby dragon puffed out its chest proudly and meowed with satisfaction, so I couldn’t bring myself to tell Reysir to shut up.

But I didn’t want to listen attentively either, so I pulled out a memo pad and pen to jot down the following as a distraction.

[Perception (看破)] (A)

: A derivative skill reflecting the {Trait: Justice}.

: Allows the user to see through hidden things that are not outwardly revealed.

=========

For reference, I’d asked Yor about the Chinese characters for ‘Perception’ before Reysir came to my room and memorized them.

That way, I could leave only that word from [Eye that Perceives Truth] to make it look like a normal skill name.

I felt I didn’t need to go out of my way to find a suitable word like I did when I came up with the name [Identification].

“Oh, this is…”

“I can’t exactly reveal the grandiose name ‘Eye that Perceives Truth’, can I? And the description says that no matter how well hidden something is, it will be clearly revealed under your gaze. That could arouse excessive expectations or undue wariness.”

“As expected… Karbaldr, you’re so thoughtful and kind.”

“S-Shut up with the nonsense.”

Did kicking his shin under the table have any effect?

Instead of him jumping up and making a fuss again, the conversation continued smoothly.

“But why did you write down that it’s a derivative skill?”

“Because all the Ether Characteristic Skills I’ve acquired have that phrase, so I wrote it down just in case. It’s possible that skills acquired later, like [Eye that Perceives Truth], lack that phrase as a special case.”

“Oh!”

Even though there was nothing remarkable about my words, Reysir reacted as if impressed.

It was probably just a filler reaction.

“Well, what matters is the skill’s effect. Whether it’s a {Trait} derivative skill or not is irrelevant, so I don’t think there’s any need to reveal that phrase to others. No one’s likely to ask anyway, and it’s even less likely to become an issue if I don’t mention it. Just consider it a reference.”

“Yeah, yeah. Got it!”

I think we’ve talked enough about skills.

It was time to move on to the next topic.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you had a lot to talk to me about? And that each topic was important, I recall.”

“Ah…”

A hint of regret flickered across Reysir’s cheerful face, then his expression hardened.

As if he was sorry that the pleasant conversation topics were over and it was time to bring up uncomfortable subjects.

His expression turned from serious to downright grim.