kscans

Chapter 30 - Shadow of the Unseen, Traps, an Arms Race, and a Discovery

Lately, Yuri has been absorbed in creating traps. The reason is, needless to say, he's hoping that by setting his own traps and then discovering them, a trap-finding skill will emerge. Well, since it's just practice, he figured there was no need to be so honest as to set them outside the village, so he's been setting them up inside. Since there are no villagers other than Yuri, it's not like he's bothering anyone. In that respect, it's quite carefree.

That said, it wouldn't count as seeing through a trap if he just placed it in the middle of a path, so of course he needs to set them with some care. In essence, he's in a state of collecting data to train his Appraisal for trap specifications, but since Yuri has a serious and meticulous side to him, the structure of his traps and their placement have gradually become more elaborate. In short, only his skills as a trapper have been improving, despite having absolutely no results. As if in response, his ability to discover traps has also improved...

《You have acquired the skill [Trapper]. Please check your status screen.》

Yuri struck a victory pose at the notification of acquiring a new skill, but he was then bewildered by the next notification.

《New skill [Trapper] has been integrated into [Rural Life Guide]. Please check your status screen.》

"Huh?"

....

After a brief freeze, a rebooted Yuri checked his Rural Life Guide and...

"Is this a pull-down menu? There's no way I would have known about this..."

It seemed, and thinking back, there had been hints, that Rural Life Guide was a type of integrated skill. Various useful skills were included under its umbrella. Now that he noticed.
The Trapper skill that was just reported was certainly among them, but Yuri's eyes were glued to a different spot.

There, the words Pharmacology (Basic), Alchemy (Basic), and Smithing (Basic) were lined up. However...

"Pharmacology (Basic) is one thing, but Alchemy (Basic) and Smithing (Basic) are grayed out. What does this mean?"

He looked for an explanation and read that the grayed-out ones were skills that had not been unlocked. It was only then that Yuri realized.

"Come to think of it, there have been times when, after I've completed a process by hand, the work has proceeded strangely smoothly from the next time on. Was that..."

He guessed that that was what 'a skill being unlocked' meant. Once a process was in that state, it seemed he could substitute it not only with manual labor but also with magic.

"The reason Pharmacology (Basic) is unlocked is probably because of that potion-making session the other day."

Come to think of it, his work had become strangely smooth partway through that time as well. Thanks to that, he had ended up creating a large amount of potions.

As Yuri idly looked at what other skills there were, his eyes stopped on one skill.

"Anti-Monster Tactics? What's this?"

When you don't know something, you just look it up. When he read the description, it seemed that this was also an integrated skill. It seemed to have compiled the countermeasures for various magical beasts. Because the number of magical beast types was large, and the countermeasures were not limited to just one, it was inevitably treated as an integrated skill. When he opened a few of the pull-down menus, he saw that the methods he remembered hunting with were treated as unlocked. That much he could understand, but the problem was...

"The methods, or rather, the knowledge, I could have read it beforehand, couldn't I? If I had known that, I wouldn't have had to hesitate or worry so much..."

Yuri collapsed in disappointment.

－－－－－－－－－－

Name: Yuri Sarai [Isarai Yuuri]
Race: Human (Otherworlder)
Gender: Male
Age: Seven

Magic Power: 170
Vitality: 91
Strength: 33
Defense: 22
Agility: 20
Dexterity: 22
Intelligence: 45

Skills: [Life Magic], [Language (Mastery)], [Appraisal (Lv6)], [Storage (Lv3)], [Perception (Lv6)], [Stealth (Lv6)], [Water Magic (Lv4)], [Earth Magic (Lv4)], [Light Magic (Lv3)], [Dark Magic (Lv3)], [Fire Magic (Lv2)], [Wind Magic (Lv2)], [Wood Magic (Lv2)], [Investigation (Lv1)], [Trapper (Lv1)] → Integrated into [Rural Life Guide]

Unique Skills: [Status Board], [Rural Life Guide]

Protection: God's Expectations