Someone couldn't help but eat a lunchbox while watching Finn fight, a few more got envious and ate their share. A lot of these were Class E essence food…and it kind of attracted a new set of mobs.

"Eh…what a hassle," Hudson, eater #1, muttered while he shielded himself, shoving the rest of the meat wrap in his mouth before a beast could get to it.

Nom

Fortunately, it was just an awakened-level beast and was taken care of without a problem. Sadly, with the few awakened beasts were also a handful of toughened-level monsters, so they had to group together to deal with them again.

Although a decent fighter could kill a monster or two alone, that would take time, so most people always opted to team up and just divide the cores accordingly.

Of course, this required a certain level of trust, or at least a contract, which was also why mercenaries didn't like this arrangement as much as adventurers did, because betrayals were much more common among their circle.

The fight went on, and Herbie glared at his brother while kicking down a monster that had almost bitten his leg.

"This is your fault!" he yelled, annoyed, though to be fair, he was more jealous because the other was able to eat. He was just about to open his own lunchbox when the damned monsters came!

That said, Finn had decidedly avoided packing anything more than E-class, so one could only imagine how much worse it would've been if he had packed a D-class meal, which was actually his standard product inside the inn.

Well, that wasn't Finn's concern right now, as he was busy fighting monsters here and there. It was just that someone from the Lian Adventurer team nearby blinked when they saw him use yet another skill.

"Is that feather step? Isn't that an assassin skill?"

"Huh? Another one?"

Before they could dwell on that, a monster appeared right behind Finn. Worse, it was a toughened monster!

"Watch out!" they yelled, afraid that Finn was too tired now to avoid it. Especially when the toughened monster was lunging at full speed.

Leiah, who was perched on one of the branches and shooting monsters as needed, quickly turned to help him out. However, the pole of his weapon caught the monster's bite, and he was barely even pushed back.

"How…"

An awakened person should've been completely thrown back, or at least imbalanced, by an attack like that.

It would not be as shocking if Finn were a bulky guy with strength designed to match monsters, or at least close to it, but Finn was quite lean.

"I think it's a skill…" Victor said, pushing down another monster while his teammate stabbed at it. As a tank, he was most familiar with defense skills. Rather, it was a defense skill that reflected the attack to some degree.

The price was also very beautiful.

The others groaned. "Another one?"

Marcus blinked, tilting his head in genuine confusion.

"How many skills can a person have again?"

…

They watched as Finn used several skills in succession, and repeatedly as soon as the cooldown was over. One time, he would use the heat arc to damage a monster's eye, then he'd use the Feather Step to dextrously avoid the recoil.

He'd even climb up over one of the monsters, letting them attack each other, and then he'd finish them both off by a combination of [Sticky Soil] and [Blade of Fire].

One had to know that most people would have to focus on a monster of a similar level to deal with them, and even then, that would take a while. If they had the barrier, sure, it was possible to deal with two or three at a time, but doing so outside it would be too risky!

Was this the difference of having many skills? But how much mana could he have?

How could they know that Finn had so many buffs, passives, and regeneration bonuses from discovering new dishes?

As time went on, they realized that Finn was actually getting better at using the skills! Before, he could only kill one at a time; now, he could get two sometimes!

His use of his skills had improved, his attacks became cleaner, and only then did they realize these battles were for Finn to master his skills.

As soon as the number of monsters waned, people started surrounding Finn and barraging him with questions.

"Your skill use is improving visibly! How long have you had them?"

"Why do you have so many skills?"

"My master gave me a few scrolls," he said. "I used them all already though," he answered vaguely while wiping his sweat.

He couldn't help but look at the others, who had just cleared out their own carcasses and were clearing up their loot. "Why? Is it so unusual?"

"Well, skills take time to learn, and good skill scrolls are somewhat rare and expensive."

Skill scrolls were not easy to make. First, there was a special alchemic parchment needed, and the master who would 'transfer' knowledge had to have enough understanding and mana to do so. It was said that stamina and HP would also be affected and, for a time, the regeneration of all stats would be slower too.

Marcus, after finishing his enemy, wrapped his burly arms around his friend. "Your master is very kind. Is he still looking for an apprentice?"

Finn chuckled. "I'm not sure about that. I'm simply appreciating his inheritance now," he said. "Even if I don't know when he'll return, I can at least confidently say I can survive."

"I have a lot of things to learn and improve on," he mumbled humbly. "So I really appreciate y'all taking me along like this."

Victor patted his other shoulder. "And you're doing really great," he said. "It's inspiring us to do more."

Otherwise, they had a vague feeling that he'd catch up with them very soon.

"Yeah, Finn! Don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing really well!"

Amazingly well.

And it was abnormal.

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