The night went smoothly, and Ethan checked into his own room after chatting with the others for an hour or so.
To describe the house, it was more like a mansion than a house.
It had two floors.
The ground floor contained the common hall, kitchen, and a storage room where they kept their supplies.
Of course, it was empty now, since they had to purchase the supplies themselves.
On the first floor, there were twelve rooms, six on each side.
The girls took the rooms on the right, and the boys took the rooms on the left.
As for the housemates, in Ethan's opinion, some of them were very nice, while others didn't seem to want to engage with anyone, like Marcus Rivers, the Gladiator.
The ones he found easy to talk to were Mikhail Fedorov, Shiro Ishikawa, the twins Sasha and Tasha, and Celia Romirus.
It wasn't that the others were unwilling to talk.
They just didn't talk much.
They still participated in conversations for the sake of being housemates and classmates.
Even then, the Gladiator wasn't very involved.
Ethan especially found the twins and Shiro Ishikawa the easiest to talk to.
The next day, Ethan woke up early in the morning, just a few minutes before the sunlight began to greet the land.
He went through his usual routine, doing some stretching and basic body workouts for about half an hour in his room before taking a cold bath.
After that, he went along with the others gathered before Instructor Shawn.
"Do you guys know the reason why I asked you not to level up until I say so?" Sir Shawn asked.
"It's related to skills, right? Awakeners can unlock three skill slots every ten levels, and at the same time, can only obtain three skills per ten levels. So I'm guessing you have plans for us to obtain skills?" Mikhail Fedorov guessed.
"Yes, that's right. If you don't fill your skill slots before reaching level 11, they will remain empty unless you acquire skills through special means," Sir Shawn nodded.
"An Awakener's greatest strength lies in their skills. The more skills you possess, the more powerful you can become. And having many skills, regardless of their nature or effects, is always beneficial. But the problem is that acquiring skills is extremely difficult," Sir Shawn continued.
"For every ten levels, you must completely fill your slots, because once you break through to the next tier, three more slots will be unlocked. At that point, it will become even harder to fill your skill slots. That's why, no matter how difficult it is, you shouldn't level up until all your current slots are filled."
"Regardless of the skill type or nature, you should obtain whatever you can as long as it fills your skill slots." Sir Shawn paused for a couple of seconds before continuing.
"There are several ways to acquire skills. One of them is that every fifth level grants you a chance to draw a skill using the Wheel of Skills card. However, that method is unreliable, since it depends purely on luck." Sir Shawn looked at Ethan. "Did any of you obtain a skill when you reached Level 5?"
Ethan alone raised his hand while the others looked at him enviously.
"See, you all possess powerful professions, but that doesn't mean you can easily acquire skills; it depends solely on luck," Sir Shawn said, shaking his head.
"You already failed to acquire a skill when you reached level 5, which is why it's essential that you stop leveling up for now and focus on filling your skill slots—that is where your attention should be."
In Sir Shawn's opinion, each of his students should try to obtain skills that resonate strongly with their profession or skills that can bring out their full potential.
Take Raiya's profession, the Winter Caller, as an example.
Her profession revolves around skills linked to the elements of winter, such as ice and wind, so she should aim to acquire skills that enhance these elements.
The best method for her would be to awaken profession-specific skills, because such skills naturally maximize the effectiveness of her winter caller profession.
However, there are not many reliable ways to acquire profession-specific skills aside from triggering the Wheels of Skills Card every five levels.
"But depending solely on chance would be a waste of time. You should never rely only on the skill draw at every fifth level. Instead, focus on skills that have the highest probability of being acquired."
Sir Shawn then began explaining about the dungeons controlled by the university, which reward skills as long as their conditions are cleared.
Most of the dungeons that appeared around the world are being managed by universities.
This is one of the main reasons why everyone strives to enter these institutions, as students gain access to these dungeons as part of their training.
Some of these dungeons rewarded very generously, from equipment to skills, but Instructor Shawn only wanted them to focus on skills; equipment could come later.
He gave them the names of the dungeons they should try clearing before sending them on their way.
These dungeons were not meant for leveling up but for acquiring skills.
However, that did not mean a single clear would guarantee the skill they were after; they would have to clear them again and again until they finally acquired one.
As always, Ethan was last, but this time Sir Shawn also made Shiro stay behind, as he had other plans for the two of them.
"You two are summoners. Summoners are unique compared to other professions because, unlike others, you can learn the skills of any summoner—regardless of their specific summoner type—as long as their nature matches yours," Sir Shawn explained.
"You mean I can learn Shiro's skills?" Ethan asked.
"Not exactly," Sir Shawn corrected. "Only summoner-type skills. You can learn skills of the same nature—for instance, skills that involve calling forth an entity. Those fall within your range, but there are still limits."
Skills of the same nature can be learned by awakeners, provided their profession has affinity with that type of skill.
Take the professions Dragon Summoner and Spirit Summoner, for example.
Both involve summoning entities.
A Dragon Summoner possesses skills that allow them to summon all kinds of dragons, while a Spirit Summoner possesses skills that allow them to summon various spirits. In the end, however, their natures are different.
A Dragon Summoner can only summon dragons, regardless of their kind, and a Spirit Summoner can only summon spirits, regardless of their kind.
But here is the interesting aspect.
The range of creatures a Summoner can call forth is incredibly vast, as long as they fall within the affinity of the summoning skill being used.
For example, consider Dragon Summons and Spirit Summons. There exist special beings of similar natures, such as Dragon Spirits and Spirit Dragons.
Despite their dual nature, these beings are categorized based on their core essence.
Dragon Spirits are fundamentally spirits, so they fall under the domain of Spirit Summoners.
Spirit Dragons are fundamentally dragons, so they belong to the domain of Dragon Summoners.
However, because both possess mixed affinities, being both dragon and spirit in nature, they can also be summoned through skills that match either side of that affinity.
Thus, a Spirit Summoner can use a Dragon-related summoning skill to call a Dragon Spirit.
A Dragon Summoner can use a Spirit-related summoning skill to summon a Spirit Dragon.
This interaction forms the foundation for cross-learning skills between summoner professions. As long as two summoning skills share a compatible affinity, a Summoner can learn and use skills from other summoning professions.
This is what Sir Shawn wanted Ethan and Shiro to do: learn more summoning skills and widen their range of summons.
"I have prepared some skill cards containing summoning skills for you to comprehend and add to your skill slots. But before anything else, I want to know the specifics of your summoning skill," Sir Shawn said, waving his hand.
"My summoning skill is called [Summon Undead Knight]," Ethan muttered as he activated the skill.
Just like always, a ghoulish energy shaped like a portal manifested on the ground, and from it an Undead Knight rose, wielding a black blade.
Sir Shawn nodded as if confirming something.
Then he glanced at Shiro, who activated his own summoning skill.
"Mine is called [Flame Spirit Calling]..." he said.
In the next second, a Flame Spirit Brawler materialized from a red magic circle.
---
[Active Skill: Flame Spirit Calling]
– Allows the user to summon a humanoid flame elemental spirit. The summoned spirit's class type is random.
---
"Hmm, that's good enough." Sir Shawn snapped his fingers, and in the next second a metallic, luxuriously designed box containing dozens of glowing skill cards flew from somewhere and landed in his hand.
He picked two cards, both as blank as clean paper, and handed one to Ethan and one to Shiro.
"Our ancestors, before ascending or before death, often left us the gift of skill cards," he explained.
"They used a type of card known as Comprehensive Skill Cards. These cards allowed them to imprint their own skills into them so others could later acquire those skills for themselves." He looked at both of them seriously.
"I want you two to try imprinting your own skills into these cards… Try imprinting your summoning skills," Sir Shawn instructed.
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider adding it to your library and supporting it with some Power Stones. Arigato!]