"What do you think?" Cipher asked after passing on the skill.

"It's perfect," Dante responded. "Now I'm invincible," he said, flexing his muscles.

"That's..." Cipher began, but then decided not to bother.

He turned to Ryker and Selene, who were now looking at him with pitiful expressions.

"What?" he asked, but they remained silent.

"You also want me to teach you skills?" he asked.

The two nodded.

Cipher sighed. He had planned to teach them skills once they had reached a certain level of trust, but he had unknowingly given it to Maya and Dante. Since it was already done, he decided to just go along with it. Even though he didn't know them well, he felt they were all trustworthy people. If he kept waiting for the right moment, where would he draw the line?

"Alright, I'll teach you guys too," Cipher said.

He extended his hand to Ryker. "I'll start with you," he said as he held his hand. "As a magic swordsman, you seem to be lacking quite a bit in the magic department," he said. "I don't understand magic much myself, so I can't teach you much. But I can teach you Mana Manipulation just like Maya, and you can figure the rest out yourself," Cipher said, and Ryker nodded.

"Alright, just feel my mana..." Cipher guided him through the learning process for Mana Manipulation just like he had done with Maya. The only difference was that it took a little longer this time.

Ten minutes later, Ryker's body let out a slight golden glow and he opened his eyes. "I learned it," he said in excitement.

He learned it quite fast, Cipher thought. Although it wasn't as fast as Maya, ten minutes was still extremely fast. About five times faster than he had taken back then.

"~Do I really have poor talent?" Cipher asked.

[You just realized?] the Heavenly Demon spoke.

"-_-"

[There is no need to feel so down. Although your talent is only third-rate, your companions have quite the talent. Dante has medium talent, Ryker has high-level talent, Selene has superior talent, and that Maya girl is even more impressive with sacred-level talent. If I still had my body, I wouldn't mind taking her as my disciple,] the Heavenly Demon said.

"That far?" Cipher asked.

[Of course. Sacred-level talent is rare even in the Jianghu,] the Heavenly Demon said.

"How is it compared to you?" Cipher asked.

[Although sacred-level talent is great, it's still just the peak of the lower realms. Even the Seven Heavenly Swords under the Heavenly Demon have divine-level talent. To be a candidate for the head of the Heavenly Demonic Cult position, you need at least heavenly-level talent,] the Heavenly Demon said.

Cipher thought it sounded really impressive. Still, he refused to believe he was untalented. The Heavenly Demon was just bad at teaching. If she had taught him well like he did with his teammates, it wouldn't have taken him so long to learn the Mana Manipulation skill.

…

Cipher held Selene's hand. He wondered what skill to give to Selene. For her, Mana Manipulation probably wouldn't work. After some thought, he decided to give her Battle Instinct. As a fighter, this would work best for her. It would also raise her combat ability by quite a bit and might even guarantee her victory in the tournament.

He selected the ability and forked it before exporting it. As he did this, he felt his heart bleeding. He had three Fork cards and now he just had one. Meaning he couldn't upgrade Mana Recovery like he wanted. Well, he supposed it was fine as it would all be worth it in the end.

As for the cards, he just needed to be lucky.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Selene's expression brightened. "This is extremely useful. Thank you. I won't let you down," she said.

She then looked at her hand, and then at her other teammates who were happily checking out their abilities. She wore a suspicious expression. "That's strange. I definitely didn't learn this," she thought.

Although she felt Cipher's mana go into her and he told her to focus on it to learn the ability, she didn't learn anything through that. It was just like a smokescreen and the ability just appeared. She was even more sure of this after reading the description. It was an ability unrelated to mana circulation, so why would she need to circulate mana to learn it?

She glanced at Cipher. "He can grant people skills," she thought.

Noticing her gaze, Cipher smiled at her nervously. He wondered what was up with her all of a sudden. Did she realize something? Selene was always quick, so he wouldn't be surprised if she noticed something strange with his skill teaching method.

At that time, Maya spoke. "Brother Cipher, I learned a new skill," she said, pulling on his clothes.

"You did?" he asked.

"That's right. I used Mana Manipulation just like you told me to. After recreating the other skills, I wondered if I could create new skills," she said. "I want to help Brother Cipher and the team, so I really wanted a useful ability. After trying really hard, I finally managed to create it," she said.

Why was she making it sound so easy, Cipher wondered. It was the same thing with the unique skill - she just wanted it so hard that she got it. Was she really a genius, or did she have some cheat, Cipher thought.

"What ability did you learn?" he asked with a smile.

"It'd be faster if I just showed you," she said, stepping forward.

She extended her magic staff forward.

Dark, blue, and purple lights sprouted from the tip, swirling outward like serpents. They twisted through the air, intertwining and accelerating as they moved forward. The three streams of light converged at a point ahead, merging into a sphere of crackling energy.

Then it detonated.

The explosion was catastrophic. A blinding flash consumed everything in front of them, followed by a deafening roar that shook the ground beneath their feet. Dust and debris erupted into the air, chunks of earth and rock flying in all directions. The shockwave rippled outward, flattening everything in its path.

When the dust finally began to settle, the landscape had been completely transformed. Where there had once been solid ground, there was now a massive crater - a gaping hole that seemed to extend infinitely into the earth, its edges jagged and smoking.

Maya turned to look at her teammates, her staff still raised. "That was quite strong. Thankfully, I put up a barrier at the last second," she said with a smile.

Only to notice the frozen expressions of her companions.

She scratched her cheek sheepishly. "I might've overdone it a little."

…

A/N: Vote, what's better? DPS Maya, or Support Maya

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