Alex returns to the Skill Hub. He finds an empty corner, makes sure no one is around, and spends 8 of his 9 stat points to use his innate ability twice, allowing him to increase all his stats by 2 with the 8 free stat points.

    Alex closes his eyes, feeling his entire body strengthening. At the same time, his mind, senses, and everything else are tingling with joy.

    After the sensation passes, Alex can’t help but feel genuinely great. "This feeling is so addicting... I feel like my whole existence is getting stronger," he thinks.

    Alex scans the skill stations and notices a few people lingering nearby. "Surely they aren’t actually spying on people?" he wonders, feeling a bit hesitant.

    "It’s the time when everyone is happy to be back alive and has their guard down. Surely the Realm forbids people from eavesdropping or somehow seeing others’ skills, right? So why do these players look like they’re trying to spy?"

    He watches as a player enters one of the cabins, only to leave less than a minute later. "Time!" Alex realizes. "When I entered and upgraded my 8 basic skills and my pistol skill, it took a long time. I had to learn those skills and then upgrade them. Judging from the short time it took that guy, he probably just upgraded a minor skill from level 0 to 1! No wonder people are hanging around to spy. If someone goes in and spends an hour, they’re probably upgrading a bunch of high-level skills. That’s a warning sign—a clue to mark that player as a potential rival or threat. It might even be a reason to keep tabs on them or try to recruit them."

    "Should I wait until the Hub is completely empty... or should I... yes!" Alex formulates a plan.

    He decides to enter a cabin, spends 1000 FC, and upgrades a basic skill. "Let’s choose Basic Eloquence for now." As he expected, the whole process takes about a minute. He leaves, sighing, and whines loudly, "I wish I could upgrade more..."

    Alex then chooses to leave the Skill Hub and the public area after upgrading only his Basic Eloquence from lvl 1 to lvl 2.

    "I don’t think this cautious behavior is really necessary, but it can’t hurt to act like an underachiever. I’ll openly upgrade my skills, but only a little at a time so no one pays too much attention to me. That way, I look like someone who’s made some progress, but nothing too outrageous. Better to stay under the radar. I already trusted Roja more than I should have, and I’m starting to regret it, even though she was probably just kidding with her jokes. If I enter the next world and other players underestimate me, I can surprise potential enemies with my abilities!"

    Alex returns to his private room and finally decides to open his two remaining chests, which he can no longer trade. "Guess you can only trade chests inside missions," he reasons.

    [Chest]

    [Large Chest]

    He starts by opening the green-quality chest, hoping his increased LUK will bring him some decent items.

    [Skillbook: Black Magic (Fire-Series)]

    [Black Magic (Fire-Series)]

    "Nice! This is what I’m talking about! I can’t believe this was just a Green chest. Too bad chests can only be traded inside the worlds and not outside, or I could make a fortune just buying chests and opening them!"

    "Damn, this skill only teaches the ‘Fire-series’ of Black Magic, but that’s already pretty good. I can’t see the details of the Fire spells yet, but if you keep leveling up this skill, you not only unlock the higher-rank spells, but you also increase their efficiency. Plus, since these spells function like in Final Fantasy 9, you can always choose to cast them on a single target or use their AoE versions. If I had a free skill point, I’d seriously consider learning this, even though my Grenade skill is kinda similar."

    Alex reflects on the value of the skill. "This will be hard to sell for a fair price and will generate a lot of attention. The requirements are typical for mages—you need a good amount of INT and MNA, and, of course, the two corresponding basic skills of those stats. But that shouldn’t be a problem for any decent mage, since these seem like pretty standard prerequisites. Any basic mage can pick this up, and if you specialize in fire spells, this skill boosts other fire spells by 10% when maxed at lvl 10. Even if you eventually outgrow the skill, it’s still worth keeping if you focus on fire magic."

    "Alright, let’s open the second one! It’s a large chest, and it’s Blue! I can’t wait to see what’s inside!"

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    "!!!!" Alex’s eyes widen in disbelief. "OH MY GOD, IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!!"

    [Skillbook: Black Magic (Fire-Blizzard-Thunder-Series)]

    [Black Magic (Fire-Blizzard-Thunder-Series)]

    Alex is stunned. This upgraded skill is a full purple-quality skill! "The effects are similar, but this is practically three skills of the former quality combined into one. With this, you can always choose the element best suited to your needs. I bet Fire would be effective against plants, Thunder would work great on underwater enemies, and Blizzard seems useful against almost anyone. With this skill, you have such a variety of tools, you could handle many different situations. But there’s no way I can sell this openly. It would draw way too much attention. Plus, I’m not even sure I could sell it here, or if anyone would want it. Learning this requires four basic skills, so if you pick it up, you’re locked in until level 5 when you get another skill slot. Is that what people should be doing? Roja said that learning too many basic skills is a trap and a bad idea... but that’s only true if you go for blue or lower-ranked skills that don’t demand much in terms of basic skills. For this skill and my gold-ranked skill, four and five basic skills are needed respectively."

    Alex weighs the pros and cons of learning the skill. "I could unlearn my Pistol Skill and pick this up, but that would make my revolver useless. And the Pistol Proficiency skill was blue! It seems like such a waste, especially since skills are far rarer and usually more expensive than other items." In the end, Alex decides to take only a small risk later on and sell the Blue-ranked [Skillbook: Black Magic (Fire-Series)], but he decides to hold onto his [Black Magic (Fire-Blizzard-Thunder-Series)]. He figures he can either use it later or trade it under better conditions. "I doubt I’ll get a fair price in the tutorial section of the Fantasy Realm. Why rush a decision now?" The one true decision Alex does make is to stick with Pistol Proficiency. Despite the limitations his [Mr. 5’s .44 Caliber 6-Shot Revolver] had in the last world, it was invaluable. "Why would I give up a skill that lets me wield such a useful killing tool?"

    Alex also notices that, surprisingly, despite being a purple-quality skill, it doesn’t require a soul crystal. "Only my innate skill and my gold-ranked skill need soul crystals! I guess I really picked up a treasure from Steiner." Alex smiles remembering the good old Steiner…

    “Time to go home I guess!” Alex says as he steps back into the real world.