Chapter 344 - Skills and Deals Kai strode among the rows of bookshelves, slowing his steps just enough to avoid the glares from the wandering librarians. The numbers on the plaques indicated he should be in the correct section. His gaze darted over the students around the tables and into the enclosed reading rooms beyond. Even the smell of old paper and soft lights couldn’t settle his urgency—he couldn’t be late. Finally, Kai spotted the figure he had been looking for. Valela sat at a small table cornered between two shelves, appearing the exact opposite of him: calm, collected, with a handle on her academic career. She was reading a book, her lips slightly parted, murmuring to herself. The library enchantments turned her words into a background buzz. “Sorry, I’m late,” Kai spoke upon crossing the runes beneath the floorboards. He purposefully slowed to not seem too frazzled as he took a seat. “Did you wait long?” “I didn’t.” Valela closed the thick tome. “You’re on time. I arrived early.” Her face scrunched up as she studied him. "Have you not slept? I know how great it feels to increase your attributes, but a higher Constitution isn’t a substitute for rest.” “I’m fine. I had stuff to do to stay ahead of my courses. It’ll get easier once I pass the first weeks,” Kai said as casually as he could, though his words couldn’t erase the dark circles under his eyes. “I’ll catch up on sleep next weekend.” Seeing her frown deepen, she remembered he had said the same thing last week. “I won’t tell you to take things easier,” she said. “Raelion won’t wait for anyone during the first year. But you can ask for help.” “You arehelping,” Kai motioned to the textbooks and papers he was taking out of his bag. “We’re here to pick up my new skills.” “And to work on our status plans,” she raised a hand, leaning toward the bag beside her chair to grab a pink leather notebook with a happy octopus on the cover. “I’ve a list of points to discuss with you. I’d like to get your perspective.” Kai smiled as she intently leafed through the notes, knowing it was for his sake. “I won’t say my ideas are worthless, but how much can I contribute? Two weeks ago, I had no idea people studied status planning. You’re way ahead of me.” “That’s…” Valela pursed her lips. “It’s not a competition. What’s wrong if I help a little more now? I’ve passed most basic courses in the first semester. I can help you prepare for the exams.” “But you don’t need to.” Since he had escaped from the Sanctuary, she had helped him several times—he couldn’t keep caving in and relying on her. “I can handle the classes.” Kai forced more conviction into his tone. “I knew it’d be harder enrolling during the Winter Intake.” Many warned him, though he had underestimated how much. “You have your other courses to worry about. I don’t want to take more of your time.” “You aren’t taking anything, I'm offering,” Valela countered with a stubborn look. “Let me at least lend you my notes. That costs me nothing. Lys said they’re the best she has seen. Even if she exaggerates, she has stopped accepting them from anyone else, so they must be good.” Great, I’m in the same boat as Lys now..l Kai chewed the inside of his cheek. His mind raced to search for a reason to refuse without finding any—except his pride. Could he really afford to refuse? Even if he managed, his results wouldn’t be as good. “Okay, thank you. I’ll find a way to repay you.” You win some, you lose some. Valela let slip a pleased smile before smoothing her expression. “You’re making this a bigger deal than it is. Many students get tutoring. And remember, we signed a contract in Higharbor. I’m officially sponsoring you, and I haven’t provided a lot.” “That was an excuse…” He lowered his tone. “To build my identity, and how I met you. It was also about Alchemy, which I’ve not done much.” “It was a contract of general intent.” Valela waved off his objections with a hand. “You’ve already proven a worthwhile investment by enrolling in Raelion.” She raised her chin and flipped through her notes as if reviewing a business plan. “I plan to get my money’s worth.” Despite knowing she was playing it up as a distraction, Kai couldn't help chuckling at her act. “Are you now?” He raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Of course,” she said—deadpan serious. “You can help me practice mana exercises. We’ll have more practical classes after the spring trials. And this is only in the short term. Proper sponsors know they’ll recoup the costs over years and decades.” She glanced at him and shut her pink notebook in one hand. “I’m looking to gain several times my investment.” Kai stood back, his face a mask of theatrical shock, his arms raised defensively. “Damn, such cutthroat terms. I knew I should have read the small print before signing." He couldn’t curb his playful smirk. “I should probably take advantage of my sponsor before I’m ruthlessly exploited.” Their contract wasn’t nearly detailed enough to guarantee any returns, but she had a point about looking at the long term. Reaching Yellow at their age, they could easily live for a couple of centuries. If he wanted to repay any favor, he’d better focus on growing stronger and graduating from the academy. Hmm… was I being the stubborn one? They bantered a little longer about exploited talents and evil plans. Valela cracked up halfway through and took a minute to stop laughing. “We should…. get started,” she said. “You need to choose your skills. I assume you made a list. ” “I did.” Kai reached into his bag for the papers of pros and cons he spent the night compiling. “I focused on paired skill paths since I plan to free two slots.” Synergistic abilities could influence each other's evolutions, though they’d also level slower if they overlapped too much. Valela nodded. “That’s a good idea. I would have suggested the same. Can I see the skills you’re considering?” Her gaze followed him as he slowly took out more written sheets. “How many do you have?” “Uhm…” Kai rubbed his neck before surrendering the papers. “I narrowed it down to sixteen pairs last night… but some skills repeat in different combinations. So, there are only twenty-four unique skills, really.” Her eyebrows rose as she read. “Yes, you’ve been very… thorough with your pros and cons,” she took out an enchanted pen. “Mhmm… we should cut Eidetic Memory, Cognitive Leap, Script Savant and…” “Wait!” Kai took a moment to react as she started crossing names off his painstakingly drafted list. “Those are some of the best ones.” He vainly reached over the tables to stop her. Valela leaned out of his reach as she sharply drew line after line. “Those are only good if you learn the Yellow variants. You noted that yourself. It’s already hard to get Orange study and memorization skills. I’ve never heard of someone getting them first at Yellow without long experience and supporting abilities.” “Hard doesn’t mean impossible.” Kai abandoned his attempts to get the paper. His writing would still be legible beneath a single line. “I only selected Yellow skills when the books clearly explained how to get them.” “And did they not list the other requirements? Or the time they’ll take?” “I… uh, most said practice and experience were the most important factors.” Valela stopped her ruthless cuts to meet his gaze. “Mat, I know how it feels seeing the endless shelves of skill tomes in the library. It’s the same for every commoner who enrolls at Realion, and even some patricians. They’re overwhelmed by the skills available and the potential benefits. So, they reach for too much and are still trying to acquire the perfect skill set when they fail their first year. “I’m not saying you can’t learn them. If anyone I know can defy expectations, that’s you. But it’s also a matter of how long it’ll take. In the best case, these Yellow skills will require months to learn at a minimum. Some people take years, and others never get them. Can you afford to wait that long?” Kai opened his mouth but didn’t speak. He couldn’t afford to wait weeks, let alone months. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵 She's right. Perfect’s the enemy of good. A slightly less ideal pick beat failing to pass the basic courses. He threw a mournful look at his dream list. At least getting them at Orange would give him more control over their evolutions. “Keep cutting. And thank you.” The words came out with a resigned sigh. “Happy to help,” Valela smiled, brandishing her pen like the Grim Reaper. “We should cut Perfect Recall and Arcane Cognition. Insight skills are too unreliable to get. Also, Peerless Learner and…” The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Kai winced at each name. “You don’t have to read them out loud.” “Maybe not, but it’s so fun seeing the face you make.” Her straight expression only lasted a few seconds before she giggled. “I— I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. It’s just… you look exactly like Hobbes when he’s grumpy.” “I don’t.” Kai crossed his arms and looked away—stoic and silent. He took a fresh paper to redraw the list. “How many did you manage to cut anyway?” “Almost done. We have…” She checked the four sheets. “…eight pairs of skill paths that you should be able to learn in a week or two. Though I’m not familiar with all of them.” “No, that’s already very helpful.” They discussed the remaining options. None was easy to cut. He couldn’t delay choosing, but he also didn’t want to rush into a bad decision that would accompany him for years—if not a lifetime. He definitely wanted a memory skill in the first slot. Quick Recall or Memory Lock were the more typical options, whereas Focused Reading was a more niche approach. It would enable him to consume books more quickly and remember anything he read, though it would be less helpful during lectures. There isn’t anything I really hate. Despite their pros and cons, he could make any of them work. It’d probably matter more how fast he could level them. A higher skill could bridge its downsides, especially once he reached the first specializations. That doesn’t really help me decide… Kai shifted his attention to the second half of the pair—learning skills. A good synergy could make two weaker abilities stronger than the individual parts; the issue was that every pair already sounded great on paper. Any suboptimal couple had already been discarded. Relying on books without personal experience, neither he nor Valela could say if any skills were significantly better than the others. His eyes run over the six remaining options. Diligent Student was a common choice. What it lacked in power, it made up for in width, covering every aspect of academy life. On the downside, it would lose a lot of value when he left Raelion, rendering it a temporary skill unless he discovered a useful evolution. That’s years down the line. And it has good synergy with four memory skills… He couldn’t remove it from the short list and moved on to Quick Learner—another popular skill to pick up new subjects. It wouldn’t be the strongest till the lv50 specialization, but it had some neat evolutions at Yellow that would turn it into a meta ability, applying it to make other skills level faster. Alternatively, he could select a mental skill for his second slot, such as Keen Concentration, Mental Fortitude or Quiet Resolve. Instead of directly enhancing his learning ability, they would help him stay focused on tasks and ignore distractions—be it casting spells in battle or following a boring lecture. They were an unorthodox choice for a student, but they could accompany him long after he graduated. Kai scrubbed a hand through his hair, staring down at the remaining five pairs on the paper. “I don’t know… Should I look at how many slots they take at Green?” He murmured, shaking his head. “No, I don’t even know what evolution I’ll pick at Yellow, or if I’ll keep them that long…” After wracking their brains, Valela had returned to reading her book while he deliberated. Her mouth curved with a hint of amusement that still maintained plausible deniability. “If you’re happy with any of them. You could just pick one.” “You mean, leave it up to chance?” His strangled voice perfectly showed his opinion on the matter. There must be a better option among them. He just couldn’t see it yet. “I just have to decide. Uhm… which one do you have? How have you not told me?” Skills were a personal matter, but they had long gotten over sharing snippets. “That’s because I’m not a good example. I picked up Reading and Learning when I was six years old. Still at Red. Even without perfect evolutions, I get most of their utility from their level.” “Hmm, you’re just making me more curious.” Kai peered at her, trying to imagine how she had looked at that age. Cute and uptight. They’d first met a couple years later. “C’mon, I’ll show one of my skills for each of yours. I’ll even let you pick.” “Alright, one of yours for each of mine. If you really want to know.” She closed her book and grabbed a piece of paper with a small smile, using her arm to block his view as she wrote. And wrote. It took a minute before she turned the sheet toward him, showing way more information than he had expected. “That’s all of them.” Kai looked up at her, stating the obvious. This time, he didn’t need to feign his surprise. That was a lot of information to share with someone. It’s quite the lineup. Valela blushed slightly before firmly holding his gaze. “You said you’d show me one of yours for each of mine. Now, you have all of them.” He really should have phrased it better. Not that he would complain. “What about your grade and profession?" “They aren’t a secret for anyone close to me.” She chewed her lip. “Like, Nalia and Lou already know. Lys too. She pestered to share it among us. But you don’t have to tell me anything unless you want to,” she hurriedly added. “No, a deal is a deal. It’s only fair.” Kai glanced over his shoulder for any librarians. He used a mix of Fire and Water to burn the paper without smoke and stored the ashes in his ring. “Give me a moment.” A thought made his status hang in the air. He checked on his latest levels. Using Shadow Magic to ensure Valela didn’t peek as he wrote, he folded the paper before passing it over the table. Her nervousness faded, and her eyes widened as she went over the list. That was so worth it. Kai etched in his mind every line of her parted lips—it was important to start working on his memory skills. “So, what do you think?” He asked, leafing through the sheets of pros and cons on learning abilities to hide his interest. “They’re quite… impressive.” Her brows knitted together. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a profession with Favored in the name, or a skill called Hallow—” “Not here,” He glanced at the quiet library. He didn’t trust the academy wards enough to discuss his status out loud. “We can talk about it another time. I still need to switch two of those skills.” He waved the sheets in his hand. “Did you get any other ideas for a memory skill?” Velala absently nodded. “Yes, I…” Her gaze focused as she returned the folded paper with his general skills. “You could ask a professor for advice. They know more than we, and they’re used to answering these kinds of questions.” “Uhm… that’s actually a great idea!” Kai took out a pocket watch to check the hour. If he remembered correctly, one of Professor Thornwyn’s lectures would end in ten minutes. “Do you mind if I leave first. I want to catch Jolene before her next lesson.” “Wait!” Valela whispered. “What about your professions? And who’s Jolene?” “Just the professor. Sorry, I really gotta hurry. We can talk next time.” Kai smiled as he grabbed his things and stood up. “Thank you again for the help. I’ll catch you up later.”