Assimilate All Talents

Chapter 178: [Impact Bubble]

’It tingles.’

As the ability was assimilated into his body, Sol felt his muscles tingle and become stronger. It didn’t take long for the process to be over, and he saw the system notification:

[Learned [Impact Bubble] Lv 2!]

[[Impact Bubble] Lv 2: Able to create a small area that stops anything that enters it. Size and strength of the bubble increase with level. Mana cost: 50.]

Once the talent skill was completely assimilated into his body and he understood how it worked in depth, he felt it was a decent skill. He decided to try it out and used the skill. In front of him, a small half-foot-wide transparent white bubble appeared. It floated completely still in the air before him.

’It’s not invisible, so people can react to it, but it appears instantly and anywhere within five feet. I can just time its usage well.’

To probe its capabilities, Sol reached out with his hand and touched it. Like touching a wall, his hand didn’t even enter the bubble. It was only until he applied more force that his hand began to slip inside. The deeper he went to the center of the bubble, the stronger the stopping force was.

Sol shivered, ’Yuck. Feels like I’m touching a slime.’

After removing his hand, Sol wanted to give it one final test. With a normal sword he picked up from one of the bandits he killed, he slashed at the bubble with all his might.

Crack.

Like glass, the bubble shattered, unable to handle the power of his swing.

’So after a certain point, it will break. I was hoping it would at least slightly slow it down.’

The shattered remains of the bubble dissipated as he put away the sword.

Sol lamented, ’I wish I could test it further, but the fighting just ended.’

He no longer heard the sounds of battle, so he assumed it had ended. It wouldn’t take long for Rex to find him, and he would rather not get caught using a skill that wouldn’t make sense for him to have.

Sol quickly buried Zayn along with the rest of the bandits. Not long after sealing the earth over him, a voice was heard behind him.

"Hey Captain! Need any help?" Rex said as he came around the corner.

"A third?!" He expected a few potions to be used throughout the fight, but a third was way beyond what was acceptable.

She didn’t deny it. "Yeah... but I got the most bandits, so it evens out, right?"

Sol turned to Duncan, "Did you tell her why that’s bad?"

He shook his head. "No, I thought it would be best if you explained it to her."

"I don’t understand what the issue is. We still have enough for the rest of the trip."

"That’s not the issue, Nataly. First of all, did you need to use that many potions? Would someone have gotten hurt if you didn’t?"

"Well, no, but it ended the fight faster."

"There are two reasons why you shouldn’t have used so many. First of all, you never know what will happen in a mission. Maybe we will encounter another problem out of our expectation like these bandits. You should already know from being an adventurer not to waste your consumables like that."

"But what’s the harm? We can always request more when we get back." She still didn’t see the problem with it as she wasn’t an adventurer anymore.

"Do you think the supplies are free?"

Nataly nodded.

Duncan felt the need to clarify for both of them. "They didn’t go over those things during training. It was mostly teamwork, situational drills, and rules. Usually, the captain would explain it to their new members."

Sol looked at him with eyes that asked, ’Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’

Duncan didn’t claim responsibility, "Don’t look at me. I had a lot on my mind when I was pulled into this squad."

Sol sighed, knowing it wasn’t right to blame him, and returned to the main subject. "Nataly, none of the things we got were free. The second reason we shouldn’t be wasteful is because they all cost merit. Besides our weekly gold salary, missions earn us merit. As a newly formed squad, we were given an amount to start with to gear us up. Because our first mission required us to travel so far, I had to forgo getting us new weapons and better armor and spent all our merits on our supplies for the trip. When we get back, we can either keep the supplies or return them and get a refund as long as they are in good condition."

Nataly’s eyes widened in surprise but quickly switched to sadness. "So we still have to worry about money... I thought knights didn’t have those issues..."

Sol chuckled. "Haha, I wish."