Skills.

Champions have their abilities evaluated and register one of them as their skill.

There is one prerequisite for this.

They are all techniques that require mana.

Which means that someone like me, unable to manipulate mana, cannot possess a skill.

This was the reason I had no choice but to live as a ‘Blank’ for three years.

There were two solutions to this problem.

Either awaken to mana.

Or forcibly implant a mana circuit.

“Finally…”

A skill book belonging to the latter category was the only way for a non-ability user like me to use a skill.

Of course, forcibly implanting a mana circuit meant I couldn’t manipulate mana for anything other than the designated skill, but even this was more than I could have ever asked for.

How much I had struggled to save up 100 gold.

It felt like all that effort was finally paying off.

Hans had told me that a 1-star skill book allowed you to choose one from three random skills.

Ding-

With a trembling heart, I used the purchased skill book.

Starting from the streets, obtaining champion qualifications, and now learning a skill.

Unlike the losers who had given up early on.

I was moving forward, slowly but surely.

This skill book would determine the course of my life as a champion!

Upon using the skill book, three options appeared before me.

<Crushing Strike (★)>

– Mana 60

– Deals 60 physical damage to a target and stuns them for 1 second.

<Last Greeting (★)>

– Mana 80

– Sprays black mist on the farthest enemy dealing 50 magic damage. The hit target takes 20% additional damage for 3 seconds.

<Solid Exoskeleton (★)>

– Mana 70

– Obtains a shield absorbing damage for 8 seconds. The shield is applied at 40% of maximum health.

As expected of 1-star skills, they were all intuitive abilities.

I carefully read the skill descriptions.

This was a crucial moment that would determine the direction of my champion life.

I read through every single letter meticulously, not missing a thing.

And then, I boldly eliminated one option.

The option I excluded was ‘Last Greeting.’

The reason was simple.

A skill with a conditional effect targeting the ‘farthest enemy’?

I had never met a player capable of utilizing such a mechanic.

Champion qualifications had their own tiers, and for a barely scraping by shieldbearer like me, the Bronze battlefield was the limit.

Thanks to that, the battlefields I participated in were filled with…

Players who were an embarrassment to call fellow civilized beings.

Players roaming around with decorations on their heads instead of brains.

They were fools so stupid that if I were a player, I was confident I wouldn’t lose a single round.

The majority were idiots who had nothing going for them except a lot of money.

Of course, I wouldn’t dare spew such profanity in front of them.

‘Player.’

It took a whopping 500 gold just to obtain this simple title.

In this world, a player’s tier was an absolute caste system.

It was only natural that the qualification to rise to the upper class was expensive.

Perhaps it was greed stemming from human instinct to inherit power?

Even the rookie players were precious children of noble families.

‘I can see hope.’

Still, my situation was better than before.

I would go from a ‘Blank’ with no skills to a champion who could at least function as a person.

If I learned a skill and met a decent player, I might be able to stay in the battlefield for many rounds.

The fastest way would be to promote to a 2-Cost champion, but…

That was difficult right now, so I should focus on what I could do.

What was important to me right now was choosing the skill in front of me.

‘Let’s go with this.’

It was a conclusion reached after much deliberation. Back on Earth, I once said during an interview at a tournament.

“Building a strong composition requires luck, but getting to that point requires skill.”

It was my personal philosophy that I always kept in mind while playing this game.

Of course, as if to prove it wasn’t a luck-based trash game, I finished that tournament in second place.

Still, I had never been pushed out of the top 4 in the main stage.

That much showed how important early game build-up was for defending the baseline.

<Solid Exoskeleton (★)>

– Mana 70

– Obtains a shield absorbing damage for 8 seconds. The shield is applied at 40% of maximum health.

‘Solid Exoskeleton’ would play a major role in that process.

Actually, looking only at the skill effects, Crushing Strike had higher value.

However, I considered my shieldbearer synergy.

Shieldbearer (2): Blocks 10 damage from all attacks.

Shieldbearer, one of the easiest classes to acquire. It wasn’t an outstanding synergy.

But if I added Solid Exoskeleton, which granted a shield equal to 40% of health upon use, I could proudly say my survivability was the best among 1-Cost champions.

Yes. Survivability.

That was the reason I didn’t choose ‘Crushing Strike.’

You have to live longer to earn more money!

What good was winning a round if I died in the process?

Surviving to participate in the next round had a higher probability of earning money than leaving my body to the uncertainty of re-employment after death.

You had to desperately fight for even one more round to earn even one more gold.

And you never know.

The threat to survival was the same outside the battlefield.

You needed at least one self-defense skill to survive without dying a lonely death anywhere you went.

If you asked if I had done anything to incur grudges anywhere.

It would be difficult to answer easily.

[Acquired Skill: Solid Exoskeleton (★).]

[Saving Mana Circuit.]

As I selected the skill, the device implanted in my wrist glowed brightly.

A tickling sensation spread inside my body.

Learning a skill had significant meaning not only in the battlefield but also in reality.

Saving a mana circuit.

The implication it carried was extraordinary.

Shhhh-

As I slowly opened my eyes, a new world unfolded before me.

“Ah- So this is mana.”

They said the world looks blue when you first awaken to mana.

‘I don’t see anything blue.’

Was it a metaphorical expression?

Well, it was true that my future had become brighter, so there was no need to nitpick an innocent sentence.

I immediately tried using the skill.

<<Solid Exoskeleton>>

Squelch-!

It felt like something was being drained heavily from within my body.

The unfamiliar sensation instantly compounded my fatigue.

If I had to describe it, would it be the feeling of pulling a night shift and the relief personnel not showing up on time?

Using mana for the first time felt exhausting yet unpleasant.

Vwoomm-

As I used the skill, a transparent film wrapped around my body.

It felt like wearing an invisible layer of clothing.

Thud- thud-!

When I tapped myself with my hand, the impact heading towards my body was nullified as if blocked by something.

A fully satisfactory ability.

‘Two times at most, I suppose.’

Thanks to the circuit, I could use the skill easily, but I didn’t think I could use it many times.

Still, it was a novel experience.

Three years since arriving in this world.

As a 1-Cost champion and shieldbearer, I had used a skill for the first time.

‘Have I finally taken my first step?’

The battlefield was always terrifying.

I didn’t actually die, but the pain was real.

But now, the anticipation of trying out a new skill was greater.

***

Jingle- jingle-

“Huh? You’re here again. Here for business?”

It was my first time visiting the guild twice in a single day, so Hans looked at me with curious eyes.

“Yes. I’d like to update my champion information, please.”

Ssilryuk-

I tried to speak casually as if it were no big deal, but I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from slowly rising.

“Oh! Looks like you learned a skill. Congratulations.”

I tried not to show it, but Hans rejoiced as if it were his own accomplishment.

Hans was the guy who taught me how to handle a shield when I was alienated even in the shieldbearer Guild.

He wasn’t a master, but I could call him a teacher.

Since I was someone who only played games in my room, I had quite a hard time handling a shield for the first time.

He was a guy I was grateful to for helping me until the end.

Hans went into the office and brought out a round, smooth sphere.

Then, he placed the crystal orb in front of me.

“You’ve done this before, right? Now we’ll measure your champion rank.”

“Of course.”

The method to measure a champion’s rank was simple.

The cost that indicated a champion’s rank meant ‘Mana Efficiency.’

What we were doing now was an affinity test, measuring how much mana from the crystal orb you could move.

It was one of the highly accurate methods.

Champions who couldn’t exceed the baseline of ’20’ were all classified as 1-cost.

How efficiently one used the same mana determined a champion’s rank.

Since mana also affected overall physical abilities, it was natural that higher mana efficiency meant being stronger even within the same rank.

The last time I took the test was the day I passed the shieldbearer test and obtained my qualification.

“Alright, starting now. Concentrate!”

My mana efficiency measured that day was 0.

It was a natural figure considering I couldn’t feel mana.

‘This time is different!’

I made a firm resolve to focus on the test.

“When do we start? I’m ready!”

One minute passed like that.

“… …”

[0]

Motionless.

The number the crystal orb indicated remained unchanged at 0.

“Hmm… I wonder how you even got your champion qualification.”

Hans’s genuine concern felt more shameful than the figure of 0 indicated by the crystal orb.

“…Does this kind of case exist?”

“Well… using a mana circuit but not feeling mana at all? It’s like knowing how to breathe but not knowing how to take a breath? Isn’t that fascinating?”

“… …”

It seemed there had never been a case like mine.

Hans’s gaze changed to pity.

“Tsk tsk- I’ll keep it a secret. It’s not a good thing, so what if you get dragged to the Magic Tower and become a test subject?”

I could roughly guess the reason.

Fish living in water are born with gills. Because they have to breathe somehow even underwater.

However, animals living on land breathe with lungs, so they cannot breathe underwater.

It is physically impossible.

Because they were born that way.

It was the same for me.

Born and raised in a place without mana, I couldn’t feel mana.

I was designed that way from the beginning.

“Then… can I never escape being a 1-cost?”

“Right? You need to get at least a 20 on the affinity test. Well, what can you do. You’ll have to find another job.”

It had been almost 3 years since I reincarnated in this world.

Going through life on the streets. Obtaining shieldbearer qualifications. Getting a skill and walking a rosy path—my growth diary.

Ended here.

Mana Efficiency 0.

1-Cost Champion.

Because this was my limit.

Ding-

<Lee Shin (★) – 1G>

– Shieldbearer

– Health 200/200

– Skill: <Solid Exoskeleton (★)>

– Obtains a shield absorbing damage for 8 seconds. The shield is applied at 40% of maximum health.

Regardless of my feelings, the champion’s information was newly updated.

I had finally become a proper 1-Cost champion, not a ‘Blank’, but…

“If you’ve checked everything, sign here.”

I wasn’t happy at all.

‘It’s over? Really?’

I finished the confirmation process, and all my business at the guild was done for the day.

But I couldn’t easily leave the guild as if I still had business left.

Because even I didn’t know what I would think if left alone.

Tsk- tsk-

Hans looked at me with pitiful eyes.

I was just one of the countless champions he had seen pass by, but I was one of the guys he personally taught how to hold a shield.

Being an affectionate dwarf, he couldn’t just leave me alone.

“Then how about this?”

Clack-

Hans snapped his wrist while holding a transparent glass.

A day like today was exactly the kind of day that called for a drink.