Gem nods, “So how do I cast it?”

  Crystal, “Well, you wait here and I go grab a Skill Book. We could spend hours training you to pick it up the hard way, but I’m not some backwards idiot like the others would claim. The system has assured us that using a skill book for basic skills like this has no negative effect on the eventual power of said skill. Also, the system provides them for free.”

  Gem, “If the system provides them, why do you have to go get it? Can’t the system just pop one into your hand?”

  Crystal shrugs, “Something about protecting against potential abuse. Now wait a second.” Then she walks over to an empty cabinet, closes the cabinet doors, and when she opens them back up, there is a book.

  “Okay, here it is. Just open the book, you’ll know what to do”, And Crystal hands the book over.

  Gem turns the book over a couple times to get a look at it. For a Skill Book, it was quite boring. The book had a simple blank cover with the spell name embossed on the spine in black. With a shrug, they open the book, only to find that the pages aren’t pages, but two solid blocks.

  {

  Learn Wind Blade (Yes/No)

  }

  Gem rolls their eyes and selects “Yes”.

  *Ding*

  System, ‘Skill Wind Blade acquired.’

  And to Gem’s disappointment, no special effects happen. They just suddenly know the basics of the skill. “Wait, why didn’t I get a notification about the control skill?”

  Crystal, “Not going to ask about how boring Skill Books are?”

  Gem gives her a deadpan look and flicks their ear, “Is that a fly buzzing around?”

  Crystal places her hand over her chest, “Oh, you wound me! Anyway, the system doesn’t interrupt you during important situations. You know, no alerts in the middle of a stealth mission or while fighting. You can get a summary later, though sadly you’re limited to visuals. A lot of people have complained about it, but the whole ‘blue screens being visible to everyone’ is sort of a central design of the system.”

  Gem nods, “I can live with that. Now you may tell me about the boring Skill Books.”

  Crystal makes a sour face, “What if I don’t–

  “Oh, who am I kidding? Anyway, not all skill books are that boring. In fact, they’re more of the exception than the rule. Making things visual wasn’t only for blue screens. These basic Skill Books are boring because they’re such a known quantity. Wind Blade, Water Blast, Earth Bullet, and Fire Dart are the basic elemental spells.

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  “There are also some non-aligned basic spells if you’re boring and want to buff instead of blast. You can look them up yourself if you care too. Then beginner healing magic, which is all divine magic, or in other words, magic except you get your Mana and Spells from something many magnitudes stronger than you.

  “Once you get past the beginner Skill Books, though? Illusions out the wazoo! Want to learn Fireball? Tiny fireballs will fly out of the book and circle you, diving into your head one by one as the information gets imparted onto you. Also, this isn’t a Sunday morning magical girl anime so you don’t get invincibility frames while it happens.

  “Don’t try to use a skill book if you aren’t in a safe place. The book isn’t used up until the entire process is complete and will drop to the ground if you die. Don’t go and get ganked because you decided to use one out in the open.”

  Gem nodded, “There you go! Now, do I get my newb gear or do I have to wait through another info dump?”

  Crystal snorts, “You asked for it! Anyway, yeah, you get your gear now. I noticed the shorts, is that your preferred? We also have cargo skirts and a bunch of other pocket heavy nonsense.”

  Gem’s eyes go wide, “Oooh! Cargo skirt? Skirt go spinny?”

  Crystal shrugs, “Ehh? This isn’t a non-com skirt. We’re talking leather plates and metal mesh. There isn’t anything stopping you besides your own weakness. Oh, and as long as you keep your pockets empty of anything too heavy. Which you know, kind of defeats the purpose of it being a cargo skirt.”

  Gem sighs, “Meh, I guess for combat I’m probably better off wearing shorts or honestly? Pants, but I can only be so practical. I’ll get a nice skirt for my down time.”

  Crystal nods, “Practical is the enemy of fashion.”

  After that, they head back into the building, and over to another room packed full of gear. Crystal glances around before putting together a decent selection of gear. Then tosses a blue screen at Gem with the list of equipment, not including stuff like rations.

  {

  Backpack 1D

  Armored jacket 1D

  Armored cargo shorts 1D

  [Random] magic ring 1D+

  Scroll of Recall (City of a Thousand Fountains) [30 days] ★S+

  }

  Crystal points at the ring, “The system hides the type until you wear it for the first time. The only guarantee is that the ring won’t be cursed. Also, don’t expect stuff to be identified magically when you get it, you’ll have to magically identify items yourself.

  Gem nods, “Yeah, yeah, no putting random magical loot on while in a cursed tomb. Or anywhere, really. Now let me see that ring.”

  Crystal grabs it out of the backpack she is still putting mundane consumables into and tosses it over.

  Gem lets the ring slap into their chest and slap their hand over it.

  Crystal pouts, “Not even going to attempt to catch it?”

  Gem pauses as they’re about to put it on, “I caught. Didn’t fall on the floor, did it?” And they slides the ring home on their right thumb, the ring expanding in size from smaller than their pinky to exactly the right size. Once seated properly on their thumb, a screen pops up.

  {

  Ring of the Frog [3/3] 1D+

  }

  Gem frowns, “Well, that’s descriptive.”

  Crystal looks over, “Oh, that’s a common enough one. For a charge, it gives you a decent boost to a single jump. Oh, and since it doesn’t mention the recharge rate, they’ll come back in full every dawn.”

  Gem, “So why doesn’t it say that?”

  Crystal shrugs, “You’d need to take that up with the system. Remember, I only said it would reveal the type. You’ll have to get the ring properly identified to get the description. Oh, and take a second look at the ring now that you’ve revealed the type.”

  Heyo! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider reviewing the story! It would really help it gain traction. Also, as an incentive, if we hit 500 follows I’ll release a bonus chapter!

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