S8 Skill Compendium

My eyes lock onto the book before me.

"How about it? Impressive, right?"

The smug tone comes from Caita, the noblewoman known as Countess Katia.

Since the day of that鉴定's ritual, Katia has visited me repeatedly.

At first, I called her Katan, but that felt unnatural, so I was instructed to use her current name instead.

Carnatia—shortened to Katia for informal use.

Yet Katia still calls me Jun, as she always has.

Since I'm a Schrein, calling me "Shun" isn't particularly jarring, so she's decided to keep it that way.

I don't mind, but the problem is that to others, Katia and I—calling each other by nickname—appear to be quite close.

We are close, in truth—but Katia is now a girl.

That interpretation—of being close in a certain sense—does arise among some.

The foremost among them, my younger sister Sue, positions herself between me and Katia.

Every time Katia comes over, she glares with an intense expression, then inserts herself between us.

Katia responds each time with a strained, forced smile.

I aimed to be the ideal elder brother—but why has it come to this…?

"This is the noble house's comprehensive skill manual. Such detail should not be circulating among commoners."

The book contained meticulous records of all confirmed skills.

Effects, prerequisites, acquisition methods—every detail was cataloged.

It resembled a guidebook.

Incidentally, Katia's speech pattern shifts noticeably between Japanese and the vernacular of this world's human race.

Where the Japanese speech pattern was masculine, the human tongue had been drilled into a manner befitting a noblewoman—delicate, precise.

Knowing the contrast, I nearly laughed at first, but now it’s just routine.

“Amazing. With this, one could acquire any skill at will.”

“That is not entirely accurate. Time is finite. One must prioritize which skills to obtain, and use the limited time effectively.”

I flipped through pages with growing excitement.

Some skills I recognized. Others I did not.

When an unfamiliar skill showed high potential, my hand would pause instinctively.

“Jun and Suu have already acquired all basic stat skills, correct? Then they should expand those early.”

Basic stat skills were those that simply raised base attributes—Life, Mana, Strength, and similar.

Basic stat skills evolve at level ten. Effect increases by one stage, and growth modifiers are applied upon level up. We have not yet fought monsters, so we remain at level one for the foreseeable future. Acquiring skills with these growth modifiers before reaching higher levels should prove beneficial in the long term.

Our level remains one.

Level increases only through killing living beings, not limited to monsters.

We have not yet received permission to fight monsters, nor permission to leave the premises. Level advancement is therefore unlikely for the near future.

Still, stats gradually improve through growth and training.

Sudden changes occur, however, only upon level up.

" Ideally, we would evolve these skills twice, but that might be overly ambitious."

At level ten, skills evolve or unlock derivative abilities, offering various benefits.

However, the required proficiency to reach the next level increases significantly with higher levels, making it difficult to reach level ten.

"Evolution to abilities like Stalwart, Fortress, and Vedanta would substantially alter stat progression. Reaching that stage would be ideal. It's essential to achieve the preceding stage first."

"Indeed. Yet it's surprising there's no skill to increase experience gain or proficiency accumulation."

In RPGs, skills that boost experience or proficiency are commonly used as growth companions, but none exist here.

"Exactly. Did you notice something?"

"Yeah."

I reviewed all skills listed in the Skill Compendium and understood what Katia was implying.

Soo had been peeking into the Skill Compendium alongside me, but seemed unaware of it.

A look of mild confusion, and slight dissatisfaction at the fact that I and Katia were understanding each other.

"No production-type skills."

"Not only that—skills are all combat-oriented. None of the so-called non-combat skills exist at all."

Yes, despite the volume of skills compiled in a single book, there were no production-type skills whatsoever.

There were skills that could, in theory, be applied to production, but each was merely a secondary effect of combat skills.

The imbalance was striking—so many skills, yet all focused exclusively on combat.

That discrepancy was likely only noticeable because of me and Katia, both of whom had experience with games in Japan.

To someone born and raised in this world, skills would simply be considered what they are.

"Feels like a world built entirely for battle."

He flinched at the sound of his own quiet muttering.

A world where levels only rise after killing.

Skills limited to combat only.

As if the world itself actively encouraged warfare.

"This has not yet spread widely, but the Demon Army is rapidly expanding its military strength."

"That is..."

"One day, conflict may arise. Until then, we should grow as strong as possible."

He could do nothing but nod silently in response to Katia's words.