I jumped onto the broken golem, ninja style. Yeah, I figured out eventually that I can jump as high as five meters in this world. Was it because I am becoming an assassin due to the constant sneaking? I'm not sure. But what I'm sure about is that the golem was still huge; even when lying down, it was around four meters tall.
And here it was, the highlight of my dungeon dive. My eyes still couldn't believe what was before me. I hadn't had this feeling with the Memory Core. Maybe it's because I nearly died a couple of times to acquire such a mystifying object? Or, like the first time I bought my own smartphone from my own salary. That's it, I worked for it, and also, it just looked too damn cool. My anime mind placed rosy cheeks on the rock while it sparkled, saying "Yamete" in a cute, playful tone.
Without any further ado, I touched it. The stone vibrated, then turned to a shifting ferrofluid, shimmering with an inner life before my very eyes. A prompt popped.
Absorb Ancient Skill Core to learn 'Force' skill tree. Yes/No
"That's it? No info whatsoever?" I thought. "What force?" I'll think it over.
I thought 'no', and from being a ferrofluid, it gracefully reverted to a crystalline rock again, spinning slowly while mystic smoke wafted from it. I tried to grab it to store it for further use, but the same pop-up showed. "What? I can't pick it up!" I tried to snatch it with my satchel, but it was the same. So this means this is a gamble, 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of scenario. 'Force' doesn't sound bad at all. Who knows, maybe I'll get Jedi-like powers, and any skill would be beneficial in my current state, lacking magic and relying solely on melee at this time. No other choice then.
"Yes," I thought, then the prompt highlighted the Yes option, and it twitched out. The purple ferrofluid began to turbulently shift, swirling faster and faster. Then it stopped, forming a perfect, miniature vortex before moving quickly towards me like a symbiote, entering my mouth out of nowhere. I felt it going down my throat, a strange, cool sensation. I tried to pull it out as fast as I could in a panic, but it just kept going in, unstoppable. I tried to vomit, but to my surprise, after being violently force-fed, I felt completely fine. Then I felt it, something tingling and shifting beneath the skin of my right arm. I pulled out my right sleeve and saw three distinct lines appear on my wrist, like a newly inked bracelet. Two lines on both sides were about three cm thin, and the line in the middle was five cm. "Ok?" I said in a confused but astonished kind of way. I wanted to have a tattoo and was saving for one where I came from, but I got it here for free. Score!
A prompt appeared, Merge complete it said. Then below it, Force integrated successfully. Then it vanished. Pros: can use force skill. Cons: Player can no longer learn elemental skills or magic. - "What!? Oh come on!" I was looking forward to having magic skills. I felt betrayed and thought that this world was working against me. The fireball scroll I just used was awesome, and now yet another letdown.
Force Equipment Pull learned: Skill type: Active Mechanics: pull any of your belongings. Anywhere as long as you can see it. Direction only to you. You can change the position of what you pull.
The moment of despair was cut short, but still in dismay. I remembered what my old coach, sleepy-eyed like sleep was not an option, with a receding hairline which he jokes: my forehead is not getting wider, it's just that my eyebrows are getting lower, hilarious as hell, Coach Mick in the call center would always say, "focus on what you can do." "Alright," I said, getting a burst of optimism from the imaginary pat on the shoulders by my old coach. I pulled out a kunai, its cold steel familiar in my hand, and I focused on the chest area of the slain Boapede as a target. I imagined I was a ninja in one of those ninja TV shows, all stealth and precision, and threw it with a confident wave of my hand. Suddenly, when the kunai left my hand, a small, intricate magic diagram flashed, glowing momentarily around the blade, and the kunai accelerated faster than I imagined. It hit the scale in no time by the handle and bounced upward, then finally hitting the ground with a distinct clatter.
Then a prompt popped up:
Force Throw learned: Skill type: Passive Description: thrown weapons become 150% faster. With Bonus: additional penetration rate of thrown weapons increases to 30%.
"Whoa!" My chest was in a frenzy, my gamer heart practically doing a victory dance of joy and excitement. I raised my hand, willed the blade towards me. It moved first, slowly dragging from the ground, then hovered before stopping. I focused harder, a grin spreading across my face, and then it flung fast, a silver blur. It was blazingly fast, like it was literally thrown back to me. I was not ready for such acceleration; I immediately covered my face as a reflex, a clumsy move. Then I felt it hit my hand, a gentle thump. I thought it stabbed me, but when I opened my eyes, I was holding it perfectly by the handle. Amazement washed over me. I repeatedly threw and pulled the kunai back and forth, a clumsy ballet of force powers, laughing heartily and smirking. It would take time to learn how to throw the kunai with precision, but to have a skill like this for the first time felt incredibly good. Though it had a huge negative setback, I now had a greater chance of survival with these awesome new skills. The thought of it made me dance an awkward version of the macarena. I can hear my joints crank like an old machine out of lubrication, but it was awesome!
"Back to gaming," I muttered, shaking my head with a grin. I went down from the giant and ambled closer to the Boapede. I remembered I can't just automatically loot the contents of what I slay, and looking at how enormous and purple blood still oozed sluggishly out of its neck, I didn't want to touch it. 'Bleh,' a visceral shiver of disgust crawled down my spine by just the thought of it.
Then I smelt it: a powerful, acrid scent of toasted or bitter almonds, like the potent smell of a yellow spotted millipede when threatened, but magnified a thousandfold. And at this size, the stench was overpowering, clinging to the very air. I felt my stomach's contents beginning to crawl back up, threatening to make an encore appearance. I quickly covered my nose with my linen shirt and controlled my breathing, forcing myself to take shallow, controlled gulps of air. My eyes became teary from the sheer pungency.
I stepped back. "No," I said, a firm shake of my head. "I can't loot that big, stinky thing. Such a waste," I thought. "Maybe I can find something valuable in its lair?" I optimistically mused, because every dungeon worthy of its name has a chest, especially when you've slain the main monster. I would rather do that than risk dying from the overwhelming stench of that thing.
I turned around, a new resolve bubbling, and went to where I saw that Boapede emerged at the broken wall behind the reception hall.
"Looting time," I said, a triumphant, albeit slightly muffled, declaration.