Chapter 2: The City and My First Skills
Kaito Sakuragi walked down a dirt path, the forest behind him quiet now. In his arms, the small fox-like creature Fenrir, he decided to call it snuggled comfortably.
Next stop: a town. Somewhere I can maybe get food… and maybe a quiet spot to test my new powers.
The first thing Kaito noticed as he approached the gates of Eldoria City was the chatter of adventurers boasting about their exploits. He sighed. Amateurs. This is going to be… interesting.
At the city gates, a pair of guards stopped him.
"Halt! What's your business in Eldoria?"
Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Just passing through."
One guard squinted. "You don't look like much… what class are you?"
"Apprentice Sage… but with a second class, Battle Strategist," Kaito replied casually.
The guard snorted. "A weak mage and some tactical nerd nonsense? Move along."
Kaito tilted his head. "If you insist."
He muttered something under his breath and activated his first skill:
Skill Unlocked: Arcane Insight
Allows the user to instantly analyze any magical or combat ability, revealing weaknesses, resistances, and optimal counters.
Instantly, the guards' stances, armor, and magical resistance numbers appeared floating before his eyes. Kaito smirked. 67% chance they can block a low-level fire spell… okay, perfect.
He cast a tiny fireball, intentionally small just to scare them. It hovered in the air, perfectly shaped, then exploded in a harmless puff of smoke, leaving both guards wide-eyed.
"Wha… how did ?" one stammered.
Kaito smiled. "Nothing personal. Just… practice."
The guards stepped aside, completely intimidated. Wordlessly, Kaito walked in, Fenrir trotting beside him.
In the market, Kaito's dual-class abilities began revealing their real potential:
Skill Unlocked: Elemental Mastery (Fire/Water/Earth/Air/Light/Dark)
Can summon elemental attacks instantly and combine them strategically.
Skill Unlocked: Tactical Multiplication
All spells and attacks are amplified based on optimal strategy calculations. Damage, effect, and precision are doubled or tripled automatically.
Skill Unlocked: Familiar Bond: Fenrir
Fenrir's abilities scale with Kaito's growth. Can now act independently in combat or scouting.
He casually demonstrated by tossing a small ice spike, perfectly piercing a ripe watermelon at a market stall without harming anything else. The crowd gasped.
"Wha he didn't even touch it and it split in half!"
Kaito smirked, hiding a little chuckle. I could get used to this.
Later, a commotion erupted near the city fountain: a Level 5 Goblin Squad had appeared, likely hunting adventurers for loot. Normally, adventurers would panic, scream, or run. Not Kaito.
He activated Skill: Reality Perception. Streams of magical energy revealed the goblins' exact positions, attack patterns, and weaknesses.
"Alright, Fenrir… ready?"
Fenrir's ears twitched. Ready.
Kaito raised his hands. Fire, water, earth, air all combined with perfect timing and positioning. The goblins were incapacitated before they even realized what was happening. One was pinned under a sudden wall of stone, another frozen mid-leap, while the leader cowered as Kaito conjured a harmless but terrifying illusion of a massive dragon.
The townspeople stared in awe. "Who… who is he?"
Kaito patted Fenrir. "Looks like I've made an entrance. Let's hope this keeps things… entertaining."
As the sun set, the city whispered his name. Apprentice Sage? Battle Strategist? The new strongest mage in Eldoria?
And in his system menu, a message appeared:
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
New Skills Available for Learning:
Advanced Elemental Fusion
Strategic Command
Multi-Target Arcane Barrage
Reality Manipulation (Rank: Beginner)
Kaito grinned. Oh, we're just getting started.