LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 36: Preferential Treatment 2
The list of skills that Maria saw in the skill window was a little over the top.
Every available skill that a priestess could learn was listed in the system window, whether or not Maria had fulfilled the level or skill rank requirement, it was all listed there for her to see...and purchase if she chose to do so.
"Hmmm...That's one long list..."
[Priestess Class Skills
1. [Cure]
2. [Heal]
3. [Barrier]
4. [Magic Barrier]
5. [Hi-Cure]
6. [Revive]
7. [Meditate]
8. [Haste]
9. [Slow]
10. [Full-Cure]
11. [Hi-Revive]
12. [Restoration Aura]
13. [Rejuvenate]
14. ...
15. ...
...
...
...
30. ...
Dark Priestess Class Skills
1. [Dark Ray]
2. [Enfeeble]
3. [Drain]
4. [Curse]
5. [Mana Drain]
6. [Dark Flare]
7. [Unholy]
]
There were 30 Priestess class skills altogether. Most of them were just upgrades from the lower ranked skills, so in order for someone to learn them, they needed to have a sufficient proficiency level and rank on the lower ranked skills.
However there were only 7 Dark Priestess Class skills for Maria to choose from.
"Hmm... I could learn them all...as long as I have the money to buy them, right?"
"Yes, Lady Envoy," Hella replied to her mumbling.
"Eh? Oh, thank you Hella."
"It's my pleasure."
Maria tapped on the [Barrier] skill and took a look at its details.
[Barrier Lv.1 (0/100)
Rank: C
Conjures a barrier that can withstand 100+(INT x0.5) DMG
MP Cost: 100 MP
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Cost: 50 Silver Coins
Level Requirement: Lv.15]
"Oh! It's only 50 Silver!"
Maria then tapped on [Cure] and saw its price. It was only a measly 1 Silver coin and it was the same for the [Heal] skill as well. Maria then clicked on the [Hi-Cure] skill and looked at its description.
[Hi-Cure Lv.1 (0/1000)
Rank: B
Cure the target by 30% of their HP and regenerates 3% of their HP every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
MP Cost: 1000+(INT x 0.1) MP
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Cost: 50 Gold Coins
Level Requirement: Lv.40
Skill Rank Requirement: C-Rank Cure Lv. 10]
"I guess beginners can only get these two skills at first...let's buy all the base skills. Once I've leveled them up, I'll come again and buy the rest~"
Maria made up her mind and began purchasing all the low ranked skills. She bought [Barrier], [Magic Barrier], [Meditate], [Haste], and [Slow] since there were no skill rank requirements for them, this meant that the skills were the base skills that needed to be upgraded.
[Barrier] and [Magic Barrier] both cost 50 silvers while [Meditate], [Haste], and [Slow] each costs 1 Gold Coin. Since Maria had a pretty decent fortune she didn't hesitate at all. The total cost was only 4 Gold Coins so it was pretty cheap in Maria's opinion.
Once she got the skill books from Hella, she immediately learned [Barrier] and [Magic Barrier]. As for the other 3, Maria still wasn't high enough level to learn them. [Meditate]'s level requirement was Lv. 20, while [Haste] and [Slow] was Lv. 25 and 30 respectively. It wasn't long until Maria could get to that level so she decided to buy them beforehand, this way she didn't need to come back to the Temple to buy it.
She experienced it for herself, the long back and forth trip from the city to the plains and vice-versa. She loathed doing that again. Although Maria enjoyed flying, it was still exhausting to constantly be flapping her wings while in the air.
Maria put away the 3 class skills and then turned her attention to the Dark Priestess exclusive skills. Apparently, she could just buy all of them on the spot since for some reason; they were all 'cheap'.
There were only 7 Skills and they each costs 20 gold coins. The total amount was 140 gold and Maria had enough to buy all of them so she just did.
They didn't have any skill rank requirements only level requirements, but the level requirements were pretty demanding.
[Dark Ray Lv.1 (0/2500)
Rank: A
Fires a deadly beam of black energy at the target, reaping away 10+(INT x 0.001)% of the target's HP with a 10% chance to inflict [Blind].
MP Cost: 2000+(INT x 0.01) MP
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Cost: 20 Gold Coins
Level Requirement: Lv. 35]
The first skill on the list, [Dark Ray], had a level requirement of 35. After that the level requirements leaped up 10 levels higher for each subsequent skill. The MP cost of each skill was also sky-high and the required proficiency points to level them up were also very high.
However, the DMG and effects of the skills were amazing. Every skill of the Dark Priestess Class was a damage dealing skill that had an additional status ailment effect.
Maria smiled brightly when she saw all the skill now in her possession once she had bought all 7 of them. Now all she needed to do was level herself up and learn the skills. Best of all...
"Almost all of them are Magic-related too! Hihihi~ looks like I'll be able to use magic soon~"
Now that she could use magic in the near future without the need to get [Magic Comprehension], she needed to do something about the [Earth Shock] skill that her party entrusted to her.
"Hmmm...What to do...Ah, who cares, more magic the better right? I'll just go get [Magic Comprehension] and learn [Earth Shock] as well~"
Lilah had gotten used to hearing her master mumble on occasions when she was deeply in thought. Hella was still waiting in front of Maria so the little fairy thought it'd be best to snap her master awake from her self-reflection.
"Master, Miss Hella is still here."
"!"
Hella smiled when Maria's attention was brought back to her, she opened her mouth and asked, "Lady Envoy, will that be all?"
"Yes, yes! That's all~ Oh! I still have a question, however!"
"Yes?"
"Where are the Library and the Magic Tower?"
"The Library and Magic Tower...Hmm...Lady Envoy, are you perhaps trying to learn [Linguistics], [Book Keeping], [Magic Comprehension], and [Magic Deduction] by any chance?"
Maria was surprised at the question. She did hear the 2 lifestyle skills she wanted to learn so she just nodded in agreement.
"I see, well let me take you there. Those old fogies will probably give you a hard time if you went alone. I'll drop you off and have a word with them."
"Thanks, Miss Hella~"
"Anything for you, Lady Envoy," Hella bowed respectfully to the girl.
"Y-you don't need to do that, Miss Hella..."
"Ahaha~ please don't mind me, Lady Envoy."
"O-okay..."
Hella immediately went back towards the crowd of players and loudly dismissed them. This earned a lot of complaints, but Hella didn't even bat an eye towards the players before making her way back to Maria.
"Shall we go now, Lady Envoy?"
"Y-yes..."
Hella walked past Maria and the girl followed after her. Maria turned her head back and couldn't help but cast an apologetic look at the abandoned players.
*****
When the players saw Maria and Hella both exiting from the Temple, they couldn't help but discuss among themselves.
"High Priestess Hella just said she was going to do something important...could that girl have triggered a quest?"
"Did you even hear what they were talking about earlier? It was more like High Priestess Hella was the one going on a quest FOR the girl!"
"Jeez...now we have to wait for the High Priestess to come back before we can learn our class skills...just what the heck's up with the Fallen Angel girl? She comes in and acts like she owns the place and Hella doesn't even scold her, but instead she butters up to her!"
"..."
Away from the group of complaining players, a party of 4 female players and 2 male players were gathered together looking at the receding back of Maria and Hella.
"That girl...she's the one from the Promo Vid, right?" A purple haired succubus girl asked.
"Yeah, she's definitely the one, but how come she's getting treated like royalty while in-game? Is she a GM?" Another girl asked.
"No way, there are no GM accounts in Unitale. She's just another player like us."
"A LUCKY player, just like you Lilith~" A large, bulky demon said. It was one of the two male players in the party. Judging by his equipment, he was a Knight-class player.
The purple haired succubus who was called Lilith only snorted in response. "I was just lucky to get the Sorceress Class...but I think that girl also has a unique hidden class as well...it's probably got something to do with the priestess class."
"Just like how you're Sorceress class is related to the mage class?"
"...yeah, over at the Magic Tower, I'm treated like some sort of esteemed guest, but that girl...her treatment here at the temple is even better than mine while I'm at the mage HQ..."
Her words made everyone in the party even more curious about the Fallen Angel player. Lilith even had thoughts of befriending the girl if given the chance. However, thinking back to the PK video that was posted on the forums that featured that very same Fallen Angel player, Lilith thought that it might be hard to try and approach her.
She didn't want to get attacked for no reason. Lilith also noticed the blood red name that Maria had sported above her avatar and this testified to the fact that she had been out PKing.
"Haaahhh, whatever... Felice, we'll get the class skills some other time...or we can just buy it from the auction house, is that alright with you?" Lilith asked the only priestess class player in their party.
The priestess girl in their party only looked at the doorway of the temple and furrowed her brows, she was a little annoyed since she and her party had been waiting for a long time. It was almost their turn, but Hella suddenly went to serve Maria and then she disappeared alongside Maria to who-knows-where.
"Yeah, sure...still this kinda sucks..." Felice said in an annoyed tone.
"Leave it. The NPCs here are obviously much more different than all the other VRMMOs we've played before..."
"Yeah..."
"Let's go over to the Library, we still have to turn in the quest and get the [Linguistics] skill."
The party of players immediately head out of the temple and went in the direction of the city's library. Their encounter with Maria was going to come much sooner than they had expected.