MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1475: Myriad Prodigies: Loophole

”Iʼve already obtained the skill?” asked Ataraxia to himself, the frown on his face deepening the more he thought about it.

Though, at some point, that frown disappeared without a trace, being replaced with a look of understanding as he came to a realization.

”…To think it would be like that.”

As these words left his mouth, he glanced at Valyr, who looked back at him with the same look he had.

At that moment, he understood that there were a few more downsides to him having two identities than he initially thought.

”I thought the only limitation I had was the fact that Iʼd have to spend a long time in this identity before being able to swap over to the other identity for a short duration,” murmured Ataraxia to himself.

”However, thanks to the tournament, weʼve found out that thereʼs actually a workaround to overcome that limitation, which is [Soul Split],” continued Valyr, to which Ataraxia nodded in agreement.

”But to think that our skill lists are actually shared,” said the latter after that, causing the two to ponder over it for a bit.

Just as his words implied, the reason why Ataraxia couldnʼt learn the same skill his original identity did was the fact that the two of them were sharing the same skill list in a way.

Of course, such a statement was easy to prove, especially with the fact that the system itself told Ataraxia outright that he already had the skill…

…Even though it was Valyr that learned the skill first.

Naturally, with that discovery being made, the two soon had a related question pop up in their mind.

If the two of them shared the same skill list, then how were they able to obtain the same skills on both identities in the first place?

Although Valyr and Ataraxia treaded different paths on the road to power, the two of them still shared a few skills here and there.

A good example of that would be [Analysis] and [Limit Break], with both of them benefiting immensely from the fact that they had access to it at all times.

”What do you think is the reason?” Valyr looked back at Ataraxia as he asked, his expression slightly pensive. ”Do you think the system took pity on us and gave us the ability to learn some skills on both identities?”

”Itʼs possible…” murmured Ataraxia in response, the gears in his mind still continuing to turn. ”However, itʼs also possible that thereʼs a different reason why the two of us could learn the same skill.”

After saying those words, the young man sat on the ground and closed his eyes for a bit, focusing all of his senses inward as he contemplated greatly over the question.

Seeing as the stealth skill was pretty much necessary if they wanted to increase their chances of succeeding in the request Lunarossa gave them, Valyr decided to ponder over it as well, closing his eyes for a bit as he narrowed down the possibilities in his head.

”…I think I got it.”

Fortunately, not even after a couple minutes since Valyr also decided to ponder over it, Ataraxia came up with a plausible answer towards the situation.

Feeling Ataraxia stare at him, Valyr opened his eyes and stared in return, only for the former to send a certain thought to the latter not long after.

Going over this thought, the young man looked back at Ataraxia with a slightly odd expression, immediately feeling that the thought the latter had in mind was absurd.

Though, at the same time, he instinctively felt that this same thought was the reason why the two could share the same skills on both identities.

Ding!

Spending a bit of his unused XP and a Common grade Skill Key, Valyr went ahead and upgraded the skill to its Uncommon form, [Art of Mundanity].

After briefly checking out what parts of the skill had improved thanks to the evolution, he then looked back at Ataraxia, his gaze pretty much telling the latter what he wanted to find out.

Faintly nodding in return, Ataraxia went ahead and grabbed his copy of the skill book once more, taking a bit of time to calm himself down.

Once he felt like he had his emotions under control once more, he then infused a bit of his own mana into the skill book, intently watching the book accept it strand by strand.

Whoosh!

As if a massive wall of sorts had been removed, the skill book eventually disappeared from Ataraxiaʼs hands, causing him to quiver in excitement as he confirmed it with his notification screen.

Ding!

[You have obtained the passive skill ʼArt of Not Standing Outʼ.]

”…Holy shit,” said Valyr, also feeling a bit of excitement after Ataraxiaʼs hypothesis was proven to be true. ”Is that the reason why we didnʼt receive that notification back then? Is it all because the rarities of our skills were different?”

”Seems to be the case,” replied Ataraxia with a slight smile on his face, showing no hesitation in upgrading the skill to its maximum level.

Ding!

Testing out the effects of the maxed-out skill for a short while, another question soon popped up in Ataraxiaʼs mind, looking at Valyr with a hint of curiosity and expectation.

”Now that I think about it… what would happen if I try to evolve the same skill to the same rarity as your copy?”

Just before Valyr could say something about the question, Ataraxia went ahead and used some XP and a Skill Key to try and evolve his copy of the skill to Uncommon rarity.

Ding!

[You have already obtained the skill.]

”…Huh.” Seeing that the same notification popped up even in the case of evolving skills, a peculiar expression briefly appeared on both of their faces as they tried to wrap their heads around their findings.

”In short, the two of us can obtain the same skill under the condition that one of us has a higher-rarity version of it,” said Valyr, to which Ataraxia nodded in agreement.

”Of course, depending on what kind of skill it is, we have to discuss on who would benefit more from a higher-rarity version of the skill,” the latter continued, prompting the former to nod in response.

With the mystery behind their skills now solved, Valyr and Ataraxia went ahead and pushed their stealth skills to the highest level they could go.

With Valyr being at the peak of Rank 4, he was able to push his stealth skill to the peak of Rare grade without much issue, transforming the previous [Art of Mundanity] into the [Art of Seamless Mundanity].

As for Ataraxia, he was only able to upgrade his copy of the skill just a few levels shy of the peak of Uncommon grade, partly due to him still being at the peak of Rank 3.

Mostly, it was because he didnʼt have enough XP to push it to the max level.

”…Now that I think about it, we both obtained a nobility rank of Imperial Baron from Lunarossa, yet the system didnʼt inform us that only one of us could have the title.”

Just as both of them had pretty much done all their preparations to fulfill Lunarossaʼs request, a thought popped up in Valyrʼs mind.

”Do you think itʼs because I had a lower nobility rank? Or is it because the system considers titles differently from skills?”

Listening to the words that left Valyrʼs mouth, Ataraxia pondered over the question for a bit.

Then, without hesitation, he replied.

”…Letʼs save that for later.”