[Skill: Phantom Troupe's Curse]
"I've never heard of this skill before." Akira looked at the skill book that had just flown out of the furnace.
He usually knew at least some information about most skills, but this was the first time he had ever seen this one.
"Why wasn't this introduced in the closed beta?! If I'd known, I would've waited for the official release!"
A lot of things in the beta had been incomplete.
After thinking for a moment, he chose to learn it anyway.
After all, it looked like a powerful skill. Something synthesized from so many abilities had to be top-tier at the very least.
[Phantom Troupe's Curse (No Level)]
A flood of memories poured into his mind.
After a long while, Akira opened his eyes.
"This skill…"
In a certain sense, it was quite powerful.
Each time he used it, a spider tattoo would appear on his body. According to the number on the tattoo, he would gain all the abilities of the corresponding Phantom Troupe member.
And it wasn't limited to a single use. As long as his chakra held out, he could even activate it thirteen times in a row, gaining the abilities of the entire Phantom Troupe.
But those abilities didn't really boost him much anymore. He already had plenty of abilities himself, and the useful ones had already become his own skills.
Why keep relying on the Troupe's abilities?
Hisoka's abilities were included too. If he obtained Hisoka's number, he would gain both Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise.
Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist had disappeared in the synthesis, leaving no trace.
"…Still, this could be used to build a faction." Akira fell into thought.
The curse mark could be used not only on himself, but also on others. For a ninja, wasn't that basically granting a bloodline limit?
And when used on others, he only needed to spend chakra once. After that, as long as the recipient kept supplying energy, the effect could be maintained indefinitely.
"It's kind of like Kakashi's Sharingan."
But the spider curse clearly consumed far less chakra. Even a genin could afford it.
"A faction…" Akira rubbed his chin.
He had never really cared about building one. Subordinates killing people wouldn't give him experience, so why bother?
Then again, with this ability, he could form a faction and have them capture ninjas for him to kill.
…That could actually work.
(Innocent ninja: Thanks a lot for that.)
He closed the furnace, and the cauldron vanished from sight.
There were still two remaining features. He immediately opened the sub-class interface.
There wasn't much to consider here.
The list of professions was far larger than the main classes:
Herbalist, Miner, Tailor, Doctor, Blacksmith, Jeweler, Scientist…
Every trade imaginable was there.
The way to gain experience was similar to main classes—performing tasks related to the profession. Herbalists gained experience based on the rarity of herbs they gathered, miners on the ores they refined, and so on.
Professions like tailor, blacksmith, jeweler, or scientist required completing actual creations to gain experience, and each project took far too long.
Akira dismissed them all.
In the end, he chose Doctor. He was already skilled in medical ninjutsu—there was no reason to waste that.
And in the future, when facing enemies, he could beat them half to death for the first batch of experience, heal them for a second batch, then kill them for a third batch plus drops.
One target, three profits.
[Skill obtained: Diagnosis, Treatment]
[Medical ninjutsu detected. Diagnosis and Treatment have been merged into Medical Ninjutsu]
[Medical Ninjutsu increased by one level]
[Medical Ninjutsu (Lv4) EXP (0/4000) Trait: None]
A large amount of knowledge about medical ninjutsu appeared in Akira's mind. He looked at the skill with satisfaction.
If only his other skills could learn from Medical Ninjutsu—leveling itself up without needing experience.
Unlike the others, which stubbornly refused to level unless he spent experience.
Finally, his gaze moved to the Awakening Skill.
[Hunter Awakening Skill (Please input required conditions; awakening will be completed automatically)]
In the game, there had been a skill database. By entering keywords, players could lock onto a corresponding awakening ability.
But now that he was in another world, the original database probably didn't exist anymore.
So did that mean the awakening ability would truly be generated based on his keywords?
Akira thought carefully.
If that was the case… what did he need?
"First, I need some kind of barrier—to prevent enemies from escaping."
The sudden retreat of the Iwa-nin earlier had cost him valuable drops. It had genuinely hurt.
Weren't battlefields supposed to be places where people fought to the death? Why were they running away?
"Second… I need to increase my overall strength."
Akira sank into thought.
His combat style was already taking shape—long-range sniping, and he wasn't weak in close combat either.
What he lacked was a reliable mid-range fighting method, though that could be solved by farming more skills.
"Then I'll just enhance everything."
He entered several keywords:
[Confinement, Barrier, Overall Enhancement, Increased Recovery]
[Awakening skill in progress…]
[In progress…]
[Please raise Nen Ability to Level 5]
Akira: "…"
What could he do? Not every skill was as cooperative as Medical Ninjutsu.
[Nen Ability (Lv3) EXP (0/20000) Trait: None]
[Nen Ability (Lv4) EXP (0/40000) Trait: None]
[Nen Ability (Lv5) EXP (0/80000) Trait: None]
A huge amount of Nen knowledge appeared in his mind.
At level 4, he learned advanced applications of Ten and Ren—En and Ken.
At level 5, he learned Ko, the advanced application combining Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, and Gyo.
Two levels, two new advanced techniques.
Then he looked at his experience pool:
[Experience Pool: 5080]
Sixty thousand experience, gone just like that.
More than a hundred thousand had dropped straight to five thousand. If he wanted to max Nen Ability, it would probably take over a million experience.
Akira felt a headache coming on. Considering the experience needed for skills and leveling, he felt like even farming the entire ninja world might not be enough to reach max level.
He looked at the system notification.
[Awakening skill in progress]
[Awakening successful]
[Nen Awakening Skill: Game Dungeon]
A flood of memories poured into his mind again.
"…Another massive chakra drain," Akira muttered, rubbing his temples.
Using it once required three thousand chakra. Increasing the chakra investment could expand its range.
"Where am I supposed to get extra chakra to put into this? I only have a bit over three thousand total."
As his level increased, his chakra pool had grown—but so had the chakra costs of his skills.
Day who-knows-how-many of wanting to become a Jinchūriki.
[Hunter-exclusive awakening successful. Chakra limit increased by 1,000. Chakra growth per level increased]
[Name: I'm Xiao Ming]
[Class: Hunter]
[Sub-class: Doctor]
[Level: Lv36 (0/25,500)]
[Chakra/Nen: 3600 / 3110 +1000 +500]
[Experience Pool: 5080]
"…Heh." Akira let out a dry, humorless laugh.
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