Skills were fundamentally different from Functions, Traits, and Class skills because they strictly required mana to operate.
Functions and Traits were tied directly to a Host’s system, operating automatically or passively without consuming external energy.
Anyone with a functional mana pool could learn and equip a Skill, regardless of whether they possessed a system or what type of class they had awakened.
This core distinction was one of the primary reasons Oscar never agreed with the Slayers’ black-and-white definition of dividing Hosts purely based on their system functions.
A Host with a so-called Villainous system function did not have to rely on dark system quests to grow stronger.
They could simply choose to equip standard combat skills, clear dungeons normally, and fight using universal magic.
Skills dropped directly from the corpses of slain monsters. In many cases, high-tier skills provided combat output that far surpassed basic system traits or initial class functions.
However, the higher a Host’s level was, the more mana these skills required, as their overall power scaled directly with the Host’s level.
There were certain level thresholds where a person simply could not use a skill even once unless the Host had invested heavily in their INT attribute.
Most importantly, high-tier Skill Cards were almost impossible to purchase with standard currency. Money could buy high-end equipment, weapons, and monster materials, but Skill Cards were rarely put up for public auction.
Whenever a guild or major faction obtained a Skill Card, they immediately bound it to one of their core elites.
Oscar had not expected to be lucky enough to obtain a Skill Card from the Central Plaza outbreak.
That too, a rare quality one!
To use a Skill Card, a Host merely needed to smear a drop of their blood onto the surface of the card to establish a soul contract.
Standing across the table, the director of the Baidu Host Association could not completely hide the envy in his eyes as he stared at the glowing rectangular object in Oscar’s hands.
Initially, the director had planned to buy the Skill Card from the young man. He knew from Oscar’s official file that the boy was an orphan living in a poor district who desperately needed money.
The director had intended to offer an extravagant sum of credits, a price that would seem life-changing to a poor teenager, in order to secure the card for his own son.
However, after Vance Miller’s unexpected appearance, the director completely abandoned that greedy idea. Vance was a high-level elite from central headquarters.
If a young boy managed to draw the personal attention of someone from that background, provoking him for a short-term gain was pure suicide.
Instead of trying to scheme against the boy, the director quickly shifted his strategy toward building a favorable relationship.
"I don’t think I need to explain how to bind a Skill Card," the director said smoothly, maintaining a polite and respectful tone.
"If I may offer some advice, you should bind it right here in this room. It will be dangerous if you step outside with an unbound card. Who knows if news of this drop has already leaked to others?"
Since he could not obtain the card for himself, currying favor with a talented young man was the best alternative.
A marksman who could solo a wave of Ferals at Level 20 would inevitably reach high positions in the future.
"Then I will thank you for the consideration, Director," Oscar said, bowing his head slightly.
The director nodded with a warm smile and stepped out of the side room, closing the heavy door behind him to give Oscar complete privacy.
Once the room was quiet, Oscar raised his right hand and touched the glowing surface of the card. A translucent blue system screen immediately expanded in front of his eyes.
[Skill: Expansion Shot (Rare)]
Type: Active Skill
Mana Requirement: 200 Mana
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Description: Imbues a loaded projectile with unstable spatial force upon firing. As the projectile travels through the air, its mass and volume expand exponentially based on the distance traversed.
Effect: Increases the projectile’s physical size and volume by 50% for every 1 meter of distance traveled. Trajectory momentum and velocity remain unaffected during expansion.
"Damn..." Oscar’s mouth opened slightly as he finished reading the system text.
The mana requirement of 200 Mana per shot was extremely high for a low-level Host.
A normal Level 20 marksman would run out of energy after using it just once or twice.
However, Oscar possessed a high Intelligence stat of 52, giving him a total Mana pool of 520. He could easily afford the cost.
And the effect itself was simply absurd.
If he fired a standard crossbow bolt at a target 10 meters away, the bolt would grow five times its original size before impact.
If he fired at a distant target from 50 meters away using his Aimbot trait, the projectile would expand into a massive, siege-level physical weapon capable of crushing entire structures.
It was an overwhelmingly overpowered ability, but that made sense given its classification.
Just like weapons and armor, skills were categorized into explicit quality ranks: Ordinary, Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary.
Most low-level Hosts spent their entire lives using Common skills.
A Rare skill was something that even Two-Star or Three-Star Hosts in major city guilds would fight fiercely to acquire.
No wonder the director had urged him to bind it immediately before leaving the building.
Oscar’s impression of the director improved considerably. Unknowingly, the director had raised his standing in Oscar’s eyes to much higher levels.
Which in turn would massively help the man in the future.
Oscar did not hesitate any longer. He pulled a small combat knife from his belt, pricked the tip of his thumb, and pressed a single drop of red blood directly onto the center of the glowing card.
Bzzt!
The moment his blood touched the surface, the rectangular card shattered into dozens of brilliant, light-blue fragments.
The floating motes of light circled around his hand before sinking directly into his skin, flowing through his veins and merging with his core mana circuit.
[You have successfully bound the Rare Skill ’Expansion Shot’.]
[Skill added to active skill list.]
[Current Mana Pool: 520 / 520]
A warm sensation washed through Oscar’s arms as the technical knowledge of how to channel his mana into his crossbow bolts settled permanently into his mind.
He let out a long breath, a quiet feeling of satisfaction rising in his chest.
With nearly twenty-nine million credits in his bank account and a Rare combat skill bound to his soul, his overall combat potential had taken a massive leap forward.
Meanwhile, inside an opulent high-rise penthouse located in the central district of the capital, a deeply dark atmosphere filled the area.
The vast room was decorated with expensive marble floors and silk curtains, but the ground was covered in fresh, gruesome carnage.
Dozens of half-naked bodies, both men and women, lay scattered across the polished floor in pools of dark blood.
None of them showed any signs of breathing.
In the center of the room, sitting lazily on a high-backed velvet armchair, was a woman wearing a dense dark veil that completely concealed her face.
A gentle breeze passed through the open balcony doors, causing the edge of her black veil to flutter slightly.
Beneath the translucent fabric, her deep red lips curled up into a cold, amused smile.
"Interesting..." her voice sounded soft, like silk, yet carried an underlying chill that froze the air. "Someone in a small provincial city actually managed to trigger the hidden conditions and obtain that Rare drop..."
A subtle ripple appeared in the air behind her chair. A tall man wearing a dark tactical suit materialized out of thin air, kneeling on one knee before her.
"Young Miss, we should act quickly," the man reported in a low, respectful voice. "I can send a team to Baidu immediately to retrieve the card before the person binds with the skill."
"No need," the veiled woman said plainly, her tone indifferent. "Since he managed to clear the requirements and claim the drop, he has fate with it."
After all, she knew better than anyone what specific conditions were required for that particular Feral monster to drop a Rare Skill Card.
The sheer speed, absolute accuracy, and absurd damage output needed to trigger that system drop were things that even she could never achieve at lower levels.
"But Young Miss..." the man hesitated, stepping forward. "That skill was originally intended for our department’s secondary reserve--"
Shoo.
Before the man could finish his sentence, the veiled woman gently raised a single finger.
The man’s body instantly froze in place. A silent, crimson light enveloped his frame, and without a single sound of pain or struggle, his entire body slowly disintegrated into fine gray ash, scattering across the marble floor like burning sheets of paper.
The veiled woman rested her chin against her hand, staring lazily out the window at the distant city skyline.
"Annoying..." she muttered softly under her breath.