Assimilate All Talents

Leaving the Rondine's mansion, Sol and Thorwyn made their way out of the residential district with over 9000 gold and a legendary item. The surprise stop in their trip was extremely profitable, even Thorwyn got something out of it with the Storm Champion's Embrace. The Raijin's excitement was visible as Thorwyn spoke of his battle with Bob. "Arf! (Did you see how I dodged that fire blast! It was too slow!)" Sol nodded with a smile. "I did, you got much better at using your law technique. You also learned a lot of new skills right?" "Hyun? (New skills? I don't think so?)" "Huh? You didn't get any messages from the system that you learned a new skill? I saw that you formed new tethers…" That was strange. If Thorwyn had learned new abilities, they should have appeared on his skill page. Even if they were unregistered, they would have shown up as question marks, which someone with level 1 permissions like Sol could name. "Arf! Awroo? (Some weird words appeared in front of me during the fight, but they were distracting so I ignored them! Were those skills?)" "Do… you not know what the system is?" Thorwyn shook his head, only first hearing about this. 'I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner…' Sol mentally cursed himself. This was a complete oversight on his part. Since the system was common knowledge, he had simply assumed that Thorwyn understood the basics. But clearly, that wasn't the case. "…This is going to take a while to explain." The majority of the trip back consisted of Sol giving Thorwyn a crash course on the system and how to use it. Though initially confused, the Raijin was a quick learner. But when Sol taught him how to open his status page, something unexpected happened. "Hyuu? (I opened it and I got another message? It says automatic allocation of attributes is disabled. What does that mean?) "Automatic allocation? I think I've heard of that before…" He sifted through his memories, using [Mental Scrying] to recall an old text he had read in the Adventurer's Guild library. The system was designed to be accessible to all beings, but if someone was unable or unaware of how to use it, the system would automatically distribute their attributes upon leveling up. This function applied to everyone, even the privileged races, though it was rarely seen because most individuals received at least some education about the system before their leveling ceremony. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. It was more common among monsters and beasts, who typically lacked formal knowledge about the system. Sol explained this to Thorwyn, who listened attentively before asking a single, straightforward question. "Awroo? (Then what should I spend my attribute point on?)" "Hmm, do you mind if I take a look at your status?" Sol had yet to see Thorwyn's status because he didn't have a reason to do so till now. Through tethers he could tell he didn't have many skills and that was all he really needed to know, but to give advice on attribute distribution he needed to see a bit more. Thorwyn nodded, letting Sol use [Analysis] on him. Name: Thorwyn Race: Raijin Talents: [Lightning King], [Thunder Born], [Flash Hunter] Level: 60 HP: 2800 MP: 1950 Str: 60 (+220) Vit: 60 (+220) Agi: 95 (+370) Int: 40 (+110) Wis: 45 (+150) Talent Skills: [Descent of White Lightning] Lv 1, [Volt Absorb] Lv 1 Passive Skills: [Lightning Resistance] Lv 6, [Enhanced Regeneration] Lv 7, [Blurring Agility] Lv 2 Active Skills: [Discharge] Lv 5, [Lightning Sprint] Lv 4, [Lightning Claw] Lv 3 'If not for his law technique, I don't think he could even qualify as a B-Ranker.' Sol thought as he looked over his status page. "Hyuu! (Impressive, Right? I got three new skills during that fight!)" Thorwyn said with haughtiness in his tone. "You still have some ways to go..." Sol didn't have the heart to tell him the truth, but he knew now he should definitely separate some time to train him properly. Though he couldn't guide him in regards to using his law technique there were plenty of normal skills he could teach or at least show him so Thorwyn can learn and replicate them. Instead he explained how to distribute his attributes now that he had to do so manually. While he was mostly focused on agility, Sol explained the importance of not dumping all his points on one attribute as it would imbalance his body. Afterwards, Sol answered any other questions Thorwyn had regarding the system. Most were minor things like how to read a skills description and how to gain new skills but there was one question that stood out amongst them. "Hyun? (Whats the system for?)" Sol blinked at the unexpected question. "What do you mean?" Thorwyn huffed before elaborating. "Arf. (From what you said, the system didn't exist before, right?)" Sol nodded. "Yeah." He had read in the book about Orna's history that the system appeared by the end of the war against the Outer Gods. Before then there was no such thing as the system. "Awroo? (Then how did people gain skills and law techniques before that?)" "That's… a very good question. I guess they didn't need it before." He had met people like Torben who predated the system and had heard of powerful individuals as well, but he never thought too deeply about it. But now that he was it simply didn't make sense. But if people could develop their abilities before it existed, then wasn't the system just… an overlay? A framework placed over something that had already been possible? 'Could it be for talent and talent skills? Is it possible to level up without the system too?' Sol wondered to himself but if he assumed that those were also possible without the system there was only one question he truly had. 'Is there another purpose to the system?' Sol exhaled, pushing the question out of his mind for now. It sucked not knowing the answers to an ever growing pile of questions and all he could do was push forward. "I'm… not sure." He finally admitted. Thorwyn made a thoughtful noise, his tail flicking behind him. "Arf. (Hmmm. Weird.)" With no way to answer the question, the two continued through the city, eventually arriving at a familiar inn with a sign of a bed with a broken leg, The Rusty Bed Inn.