Assimilate All Talents

The Commander himself led Sol to the vault that was heavily guarded. Four elite soldiers guarded the main entrance while four more were stationed in the vicinity as they vigilantly watched the area. As Xander neared the soldiers, they all saluted and made way for him as he approached the vault.

The entrance of the vault itself was two black metallic doors covered in blue lines and drawings. Sol didn’t know what they meant, but he correctly identified them as runes. With the amount of runes etched onto the door, it was clearly done by an advanced engraver. Once near the door, Xander took out a small metal orb and pressed it against the door, and as if reacting to its presence, the doors slowly opened.

Xander turned back as he beckoned Sol, "Come in."

"Woah…"

The vault was a rather large room with pedestals and wall mounts presenting all sorts of items, from weapons and armors to odd objects that served a niche purpose. Sol was overwhelmed at the many options available to him.

Seeing how stumped he was, Xander spoke, "Take a look around. There are descriptions written on the plaques so you know what they do. Take your time, but don’t make me wait too long."

Not wanting to waste the Commander’s time, Sol immediately left to find the best two items that would suit his needs. He also didn’t have to read from the plaques as he could use [Analysis] to quickly learn of its details.

There were slightly under 100 items to choose from, so to speed the process up, Sol decided to ignore the defensive items and armors.

’I already have insane durability, so I currently don’t need anything like that.’

Eventually, Sol narrowed down his selection to four items, two weapons, and two items.

Pollen Bow

Unique

Attack: 150-200

Durability: 1250/1250

Skills:

[Mana Arrow] Lv 8, [Pollen Cloud] Lv 8, [Grappling Vines] Lv EX

[Mana Arrow] Lv 8: Create an arrow from the user’s mana. Mana Efficiency: 80%.

[Pollen Cloud] Lv 8: Launch a flower arrow that bursts into a pollen cloud. When inhaled, it will cause poison, nausea, confusion. User is immune to its effects. Mana Cost: 150. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

[Grappling Vines] Lv EX: Shoot an arrow of twisting vines that wraps around the target, immobilizing them. Strength and duration of roots are proportional to mana used.

Lavamancy Staff

Unique

Attack: 40-60

Durability: 1100/1100

Skills:

[Increased Mana Regeneration] Lv 8, [Fire Amplification] Lv 8, [Eruption] Lv 4

[Fire Amplification] Lv 8: Increase power of fire spells and abilities by 160%.

[Eruption] Lv 4: An engraved spell. Create a split in the earth where lava will erupt from, scorching everything within 20 meters. Requires [Intermediate Fire Magic] or [Intermediate Earth Magic]. Mana Cost: 250.

Spatial Ring

Unique

Skills:

[Pocket Space] Lv 8, [Time Dilation] Lv 5

[Pocket Space] Lv 8: The ring is connected to an 8x8x8 meter pocket space to store items for safekeeping. Creator has placed restrictions to not allow living organisms inside with the exception of plants.

[Time Dilation] Lv 5: Time within [Pocket Space] can move 5 times slower or faster.

Immunizing Belt

Unique

Skills:

[Poison Resistance] Lv 8, [Status Cleanse] Lv 4

[Poison Resistance] Lv 8: Increases resistance and recovery to poison.

[Status Cleanse] Lv 4: Cleanse the user from one current ailment. Cooldown: 12 hours.

After scouring through the entire vault, Sol found these items to be the most useful to the current him.

The Pollen Bow was an option because Sol had a wide variety of skills but couldn’t use some of them without the right weapon. There were hammers, axes, and spears as well, but with his sword covering his melee fights, he needed a ranged option for when he can’t use magic or cannot cast. It also had the interesting skill of [Pollen Cloud], which can poison a group of enemies, making them easier to defeat.

On the other hand, instead of spreading out his variety, he could go about improving his strongest magic, which was fire magic. The Lavamancy Staff would drastically increase the power of his fire spells and give him access to another powerful spell. While he wasn’t sure if [Increased Mana Regeneration] would further increase his regeneration overall, the staff would drastically increase his magical might.

The Spatial Ring was chosen as a quality of life item making his life easier. It allowed him to store a lot, and he wouldn’t have to carry his backpack around anymore. It also could accelerate or decelerate the time flow inside the space, but he personally had no use for that. Sol could see it being useful for preserving food or accelerating plant growth, but he has no need for that.

Immunizing Belt was also something he chose that had a niche use. The only reason he was now considering it is because of his recent experience with Diana. Although he understood why she drugged him and the severity of the matter he did not enjoy it. If anything it taught him a lesson to be more wary of others and with this item he will have a way to counter poison and status afflictions should it ever happen again.

After weighing the pros and cons, Sol decided on taking the Pollen Bow and Immunizing Belt. While the Lavamancy Staff could increase his power of fire spells, he didn’t only have access to fire magic. Fire magic may be his strongest magic right now, but that’s only because he hadn’t learned any intermediate spells for the other elements. As Sol siphoned from other spellcasters that would change, even yesterday he learned a fair amount of new spells from siphoning the bodies of the dead soldiers and adventurers. If he ever did get a staff it would be one that enhanced all types of magic, not just one.

The belt was picked over the ring because he still has no need for such a big space. While useful, his backpack with the basic spatial expansion fulfilled all his needs for now. If he ever wanted a ring in the future Sol believed he could make enough money to buy the one eventually. The belt catered to his needs better as it could save him if he was poisoned or afflicted with status effects as currently even with his high defense he had no way to counter such things.

Sol grabbed the bow and belt and brought them to Xander who was waiting by the entrance. Although Sol searched through the entire vault, thanks to using [Analysis], it only took him 10 minutes to decide.

"Commander, these are the items I will select for my reward."

Xander looked at the belt and already knowing what every item in this vault does he simply nodded his head. When he saw the bow the man was confused.

"A bow?"

Realizing his blunder, Sol didn’t know what to say. It completely escaped his mind that he was portraying himself as a swordsman with access to water magic. Sol tried to quickly make up an excuse.

"This is… for a friend."

"A friend you say?"

"Yes, she has always wanted to be an archer but her first talent didn’t help her in that aspect. Hopefully with this bow and unlocking her next talent she will be able to pursue that."

The first excuse that came to Sol’s mind was Annabel. She said she had always wanted to an archer but her talent did not develop in her favor. Thinking back on it now, Sol felt like an idiot for never knowing. He always thought he was unlucky for never gaining a talent when people like her gained talents in things they never wanted.

"I see, she is very lucky to have a friend like you."

Sol shook his head.

"No sir, I’m the lucky one."