We walked through Citizen Boulevard, one of the main streets of Prestige’s inner city. However, the atmosphere didn’t feel as relaxed as before. A heavy and awkward silence blanketed us. Poke, poke. Jain nudged me.

“What did you do?”

She asked as she peeked at Boss, who wore a grave expression. I helplessly shrugged since I had no clue.

“I’m not sure.”

“Did you do something wrong?”

“It’s only been 30 minutes since we met.”

“Right.”

Jain rubbed her chin in thought. Then she suddenly widened her eyes.

“Ah, is it that time?”

“That time?”

Was it some sort of anniversary? Perhaps I could learn about Boss’ past.

“You know, that time of the month.”

“Oh, cough.”

I shook away the silly thought and focused on the task at hand. We quickly reached the professor’s mansion. Boss tagged along despite remaining silent.

[Lv.6 Professor’s Mansion]

“We’re here.”

An imposing mansion stood amidst Prestige’s darkness. It looked like a medieval castle and shone with a silvery blue light.

“…”

“Mmm, so this is the place? How do you want to go about it?”

I stared at Jain without answering. I had no clue how to rob a house, much less a mansion of this scale. Even if I did, I couldn’t compare to the professionals in front of me.

“Why are you staring?”

Jain tilted her head as she met my gaze.

***

It only took 15 minutes to occupy the professor’s mansion. First, Cheok Jungyeong caused a scene outside to distract the guards. Meanwhile, Jain and I walked through the front door with the help of her disguises.

However, it would be difficult to suppress the [Lv.4 Professor’s Soldiers] with just the two of us. My gun would reveal our presence and Jain didn’t have a weapon. That’s where Boss came in. She joined us in her shadow form and quickly subdued 6 soldiers. It wasn’t that easy since she had to use 6 magic power potions. Each soldier had at least 1 basic skill and posed quite a threat.

“Uup, uuup—!”

Like that, we arrived at the professor’s private study. Boss’ shadow promptly tied up the [Lv.6 Professor] who was reading a book inside. For the record, a high level didn’t necessarily correspond to greater strength. The professor only had a high level thanks to his intelligence.

“Uuup! Uuuuup!”

“Stay quiet.”

“Kek.”

The professor struggled until Jain pressed a few pressure points and he briefly shook before fainting. Now, the study finally became quiet. I looked around the room, which seemed larger than most auditoriums. Even at a glance, the study contained at least 10,000 books.

“People are dying in the streets and this guy built a castle of books. Humans will be the same no matter their world, eh?”

Jain muttered as she nudged the unconscious professor with her foot.

“So, Hajin, what are we looking for?”

“Look for skill books.”

“Skill books?”

“Yes.”

Officially, they were called skill acquisition books. Like in MMORPGs, you could instantly learn a new skill with them. Of course, improving an acquired skill still required individual effort.

“What’s a skill book?” Jain asked, staring into the air.

“Ah, okay. I got it. Thanks.”

The system must’ve explained it to her as she nodded.

“…”

However, unlike Jain who looked excited, Boss continued to silently stare at me.

“You should try it too, Boss.”

“Try what?”

Her response sounded like a grumbled complaint.

“Ask the system about skill books.”

“…”

Boss curtly mumbled, “What’s a skill book?”

Then she stared into the air like Jain.

“Aha.”

“Next…”

I clapped my hands to gather their attention now that they knew about skill books.

“We shouldn’t stay for too long. Let’s search for the next 20 minutes.”

In the original story, the professor used skill books as bargaining chips for players to do his bidding. I planned to take as many as I could and sell them in the auction house. Of course, at proper prices.

“You should recognize them since they stand out from regular books.”

“Okay.”

We rummaged through the study. Drrk— drrk— The sound of moving books filled the room.

“Hajin, I think I found one.”

Soon, Jain held up a book.

“Oh? Let me see.”

“Here.”

I caught the book and checked its information.

[Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Law of Thinking] [Average – Low] Lv.0 Efficiency – Will increase the speed of your arithmetic operations. Lv.0 Intelligence – Will increase the speed of your calculations.

“Just keep it in your inventory.”

“Right? I didn’t think it was good either. You can have it.”

“No, I don’t really… ah, okay, I’ll take it.”

I could give it to Henry and Kiri. Unlike players, NPCs couldn’t instantly learn skills. However, they could still acquire them, so I placed the skill book in my inventory. Then I continued looking for more.

“Hajin, I found another one.”

“Where?”

As expected of someone nicknamed PhantomThief, she could easily find hidden treasures.

“Here.”

I checked the skill book’s information.

[Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Charge] [Average – Intermediate] Lv.0 Limit Break – Will charge forward with your strength doubled. Lv.0 Flexibility – Will move quickly for an instant. Maximum range: 100 m.

A simple, yet useful skill. It suited someone like Cheok Jungyeong with high physical stats.

“Looks like we can give this to Cheok Jungyeong.”

“I agree. I’ll sell it to him for 1000 TP.”

“Does he have any money?”

“Yeah, he has a lot. He’s only been hunting the past few days.”

I felt a sudden gaze while we carried on our friendly conversation. I glanced to the side and saw Boss glaring at us with a somewhat dissatisfied expression. However, she quickly went back to looking for skill books after we made eye contact.

We found a total of 21 skill books after 20 minutes of searching, including [Glass Barrier], [Sand Manipulation], [Monster Taming], [Elemental Reinforcement], and [Snatch]. However, we couldn’t find what I wanted. I stomped and wondered if we had to go back.

“Newbie.”

Boss approached me. Her mood still seemed down as she handed me a skill book.

[Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Permanent Materialization] [Rare – High] Lv.0 Limit Break – Will permanently materialize a formless existence.

“Oh!”

My eyes shot open. I finally found what I came for. It only had one effect, but that made it easier to level up.

“This is the one I wanted. Thanks, Boss. I’ll use it well.”

“I never said I’d give it to you.”

Boss put out her hand, clearly asking for it back.

“Come on, I’ll make you good equipment later.”

“Good equipment?”

“Yes, of course.”

Before Boss could say anything else, I placed it inside my inventory. Boss looked at me suspiciously before turning back.

“Now let’s hurry. The city’s vigilantes should be charging in any second.”

“Okay. By the way, how much is everything we looted?”

I briefly calculated it in my head out of curiosity. We stole 25 skill books in total and would have to wait 2 weeks for the [stolen good] property to disappear before selling them in the auction house, but in total…

“We should be able to earn at least 50000 TP once players start making money.”

“Wow.”

Jain happily smiled. Suddenly…

— In here!

— Get them!

A thunderous roar rang from outside. I could see 10 guards running over with my thousand-mile eyes peering through the wall. However, we had already prepared an escape route. Boss escaped using shadow pool, instantly transforming herself into liquid. Jain and I disguised as the professor’s soldiers, who we subdued on our way here. Jain thoughtfully made some injuries to our bodies. Then I immediately broke the window.

“Intruders! Release the professor!”

I pointed to the shattered window as soon as they barged in. “T-They escaped through the window!”

“W-What?”

“Are you two okay? Your injuries…”

The guards had terrifying levels with the lowest at Lv.8 and their leader at Lv.11.

“We’re fine, so please catch them! They kidnapped the professor!”

“What?”

The guards immediately jumped out the window after listening to Jain. Then we leisurely walked out and met with Boss at a predetermined spot. Cheok Jungyeong also waited for us, looking sleepy.

“You’re back.”

“Cheok Jungyeong, do you want to buy this?” Jain asked as she handed him the skill book.

“What’s this?”

“A skill book. It’s perfect for you.”

“Skill book?”

Cheok Jungyeong stared at it curiously. A smile emerged on his face as he read the system message.

“Oh, how much is it?”

“2000 TP.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Cheok Jungyeong and Jain began to negotiate as I sneaked away.

“Newbie.”

However, Boss roughly grabbed my wrist and looked into my eyes with a serious expression. It seemed like she would eat me.

“Y-Yes?”

“Where are you going?”

“Ah, I’m going to buy something. I’ll be back soon.”

I needed to do something before learning [Permanent Materialization]. Thankfully, it shouldn’t take long since it only required TP.

“What are you buying?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“…”

Boss clenched her teeth, making her jawline more pronounced.

“You have lots of secrets.”

“Yes? What do you…”

“…”

Without replying, Boss walked past me towards Cheok Jungyeong and Jain.

“Boss?”

“Don’t talk to me.”

Her mood seemed quite terrible today, so I should make her something delicious later. Still, I had something to do and headed towards Medea’s temple.

[Lv.7 Temple of Medea]

The temple wasn’t far. As its name suggested, visitors had to be polite and respectful here. Naturally, I took off my mask and hood. Kiik—

[Lv.4 Medea’s Priest]

A priest warmly smiled at me as I opened the door.

“Welcome.”

“Ah, yes. I came to buy an item.”

“Our temple sells the following.”

The priest snapped his fingers and a hologram popped up in front of me. I picked out 3 items from the list.

[Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Synthesis] [Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Extraction] [Lv.0 Basic Skill Consolidation Scroll]

[Lv.0 Extraction] and [Lv.0 Synthesis] were rather useless by themselves. However, these skills suited me the best after looking through my settings book hundreds of times.

“I’ll take these 3.”

“That’ll be a total of 15000 TP.”

The Temple of Medea was famous for being expensive. Honestly, buying skill books here was a waste. However, the Book of Truth had told me the following:

[Lv.0 Synthesis and Lv.0 Extraction may only be bought at the Temple of Medea.]

I didn’t have a choice since I couldn’t create them myself.

“Here, 15000 TP.”

I handed the priest fifteen 1000 TP banknotes. He took the money with a bright smile and gave me the 2 skill books and a scroll.

“Thank you for your purchase. Ah, would you like to become a member of our temple? If you do…”

“No, it’s fine.”

As I said before, the Temple of Medea was quite expensive. I wanted to burn it into the ground rather than join. I declined and quickly left. Then I moved to my waiting room to begin my work.

“Ah, this place has sunlight.”

It felt like a welcomed change after having no sun in Prestige. I sat at the edge of my bed and took out the skill books.

[Basic Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.0 Synthesis] [Would you like to learn the Basic Skill – Lv.0 Synthesis?] [Warning! Learning a skill will use up a skill slot. Once used, a skill slot cannot be recovered.] [Warning! Synthesis is a half-skill that can only be leveled up with scrolls!]

“Thank you for worrying about me, but I already know.”

I went ahead and learned it.

[You have acquired the Basic Skill – Lv.0 Synthesis. You may learn 2 more skills.]

[Basic Skill – Lv.0 Synthesis] Lv.0 Limitation – You may synthesize Lv.-1 or lower items.

Lv.-1 or lower made it seem like a trash skill that couldn’t be used. However, I took out the consolidation scroll to level it up.

[Lv.0 Basic Skill Consolidation Scroll has upgraded your synthesis skill.] [Lv.1 Synthesis] Lv.1 Limitation – You may synthesize Lv.0 or lower items.

“There.”

Using synthesis, I combined the 2 remaining skill books, [Lv.0 Extraction] and [Lv.0 Permanent Materialization].

[You have used Lv.1 Synthesis!] [Warning! The chances of successfully synthesizing a skill are extremely low. Would you like to proceed anyway?]

“Yes.”

Playing with probability meant little to me.

[Synthesizing!] [What will be the result? Dudududududu…]

“I didn’t know you could be so lively.”

[… Extrapolating results.] [Synthesis successful!] [With great luck, the 2 items have successfully fused!] [You have obtained a new skill, Normal Skill Acquisition Scroll – Lv.0 Extraction and Permanent Materialization.]

Unsurprisingly, the synthesis succeeded.

“Huu.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I went through all this trouble for a reason.

[Extraction and Permanent Materialization]

Extraction pulled out the essence of an existence and materialization provided it a form while permanence made it last forever.

I secretly planned to use this skill for one simple and obvious reason: to materialize my strongest weapon, stigma’s magic power.