Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 3

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3:

It’s kind of interesting trying to reconcile a turn-based game system when it becomes your reality.Hit percentages, evasion chances, being knocked out instead of dead, and so on. Then again, this world itself was a construct based on a child’s wish, so a lot of it can be handwaved away with the excuse that it’s magic. The death thing was actually the Judge’s Law Field keeping any defeated person in suspended animation, and he would revive them after the battle was over using his Judge powers.

But seriously, when it came to live combat, everything just happened at once. The fastest moved first while the others tried to keep up. Another thing was that we didn’t have a commander who decided every move our members made. So sometimes our battles didn’t go as planned. We were forced to flee, and come back to try a second time.

Thankfully, such events were rare, and became even rarer as Clan Nutsy grew more experienced with better members. Instructing our fighters on what to do was a bit like the Gambits of FF12; it took a bit of work to achieve properly, but paid off greatly when it did.

“Okay, I’m ready!” 

The Beastmaster acknowledged my call with a nod, and signaled for the monster to use its attack on me.

[Blue Magic: Bad Breath Learned!]

The Malboro released a noxious cloud of gas from its giant mouth. It engulfed me, and took effect almost instantly. For a dizzying amount of time, I didn’t know where I was, whether I saw anything, or was even awake.

Luckily, a burst of white energy washed over me and cleared all those negative statuses, courtesy of the White Mage in our group. Glancing around, I saw that the Malboro was already defeated by the other members.

“Did it work?” Marche called, sparing only a glance away from the monster he was facing.

“Yeah!”

The boy quickly sidestepped its attempt to hit him with its tentacles, took a moment to settle back into a proper stance, and finished it off with a heavy slash.

With no more enemies, the Judge called the battle in our favor.

“Good job, everyone!” Marche helped us collect the rest of the spoils. As he passed by me, he spoke in a low tone so no one else would overhear, “I want to talk to you later.”

I nodded, then realized he wasn’t looking in my direction, so I knocked on the ground with the sheath of my saber instead. He’s more forceful now. That was a statement, rather than a question.

Ever since I gained the skills to allow me to hold more skills than I should, I had been gathering a lot of them and sending them over to Sano, though the only skill I requested back in exchange was an [AP Gain Up], which helped me master the skills from the weapons faster. One of the biggest contributors to this increase in gathering rate was changing my job class to Blue Mage. Its Learning ability was no longer limited due to Sano’s skill, so I just had to tank abilities from any opponent to learn them. It saved me the hassle of having to retry when I missed.

In terms of story progression, after I achieved the [Steal: Weapon] skill, I had told Marche about how there were crystals hidden around the kingdom that were related to its secret. Montblanc then recalled how he heard a theory about how the appearance of some crazily strong monsters were linked to such crystals, though there wasn’t any information on where they could be found.

Shortly after, the clan encountered Marche’s friend Ritz, who was part of a clan named The Cheetahs. They were in a spot of trouble that saw Marche jump in to help them out, but the conversation between the two friends made it clear that the girl wasn’t interested in returning to the world they came from. Even when Marche tried to present me as someone who knew the truth, the redhead maintained her stance; she would not help him in his efforts to go back, though she wouldn’t stand in his way either. Seeing that her mind was made up, Marche had no choice but to depart disappointed.

He seemed to realize that the people he knew back in St. Ivalice would be happier here, with their dreams realized, and the clan floundered for a while before Montblanc managed to get his spirits back up. We started to engage in a few clan wars, which provided me with a lot of stuff to grab.

Then we received a mission to investigate the twisted water flow at the Ulei River, and Marche ended up wandering into a hidden space where one of the Totema crystals was. We fought against Famfrit and defeated it, before the crystal shattered and we were returned to the real world, with the Totema ability now available for the moogles in our clan.

Marche told me later that he saw an image of his friend Mewt when the crystal broke, and that he realized that the crystals were the key to keeping the world in its current state. I confirmed it, and asked if he was going to make me leave the clan now that he knew the truth.

He decided not to.

The palace began to enact stricter laws across the land after that incident, which was how we encountered Ezel Berbier, a nu mou who managed to come up with a way to nullify laws. After saving him from some customers unhappy with his prices, Judgemaster Cid came to try and apprehend him with an Advanced Law that was only available to Judges, but Ezel just nullified it and escaped. I was able to stop Marche from calling out to Cid, by pointing out how it didn’t look like he remembered the life he had before.

We later found Ezel at the pub, where he led us to his shop and offered us his wares. Ezel was a cheeky guy who just liked to rebel against laws, but he had the smarts to back up his talk. Unfortunately, the guys we had fought were right about how expensive his prices were, though he accepted exchanges of law and antilaw cards instead.

Shortly after that, Marche found another crystal, this Totema representing the nu mou, at Roda Volcano. He broke that as well, receiving another vision of Mewt, only this time the other boy was asking him why Marche was trying to destroy his world.

I didn’t really care either way, since I was mostly focused on gathering skills and sending them off to Sano.

I found Marche sitting in a quiet corner of the pub later. “What’s the matter you wished to discuss?” I asked him.

“Can you tell me if breaking all the crystals really does send us back to our world?” The blonde asked me directly.

“They do help, but they aren’t the only pillars responsible for holding this world up,” I answered.

“What other pillars are there?”

“Marche, you’ve been living in this place for a while now,” I countered with a question of my own, “What do you think made it in the first place?”

“...it’s Mewt, isn’t it?” The boy asked softly.

“He’s one of them. There’s another being that’s responsible for fulfilling his wish, and if you really want to go back, you need to beat that one.”

“Who is it?”

“Get stronger, Marche.” I got up and prepared to leave. “If you continue on your path, you’ll find out eventually.”

He didn’t try to stop me from leaving, but I could feel his stare on my back as I left the building.

It was a bit awkward to come back moments later accompanied by Montblanc, who brought news of a new crystal.

“Look, kupo!” The moogle placed the mission document in front of Marche, who was smirking at me. “This one mentions a search for a giant emerald crystal in Salika Keep. Maybe one of the crystals you’re looking for is there, kupo!”

“Is it?” Our clan leader asked me directly.

“It’s not, actually. But there are people from the palace that will be there.”

“It’s not?” Montblanc wilted slightly. “Should we pass it up then, kupo?”

Marche considered it for a bit, before standing up. “Let’s do it. If there are people from the palace there, maybe I can get them to let me talk to Mewt!”

My gaze turned to Montblanc, who looked back at me. “Well, if they’re from the palace, they should have lots of stuff available, right?”

“You never change, kupo,” The moogle said dryly.

With the mission accepted, Clan Nutsy set out for Salikawood. Sure enough, we encountered Babus, who introduced himself personal mage to His Highness, Prince Mewt. The nu mou was surveying the land at Mewt’s request, since the kid felt the crystals breaking and not wanting the remainder to meet the same fate. He talked about how Mewt sensed someone who meant him ill, and asked Marche if he knew anything.

“I don’t mean him any ill at all!” Marche protested.

I facepalmed, then looked at the others. “Get ready for battle, people.”

They nodded, and began to fan out.

“It must be you of whom His Highness spoke! Get him!” Babus ordered.

“I just want to go back to my own world!” Despite his words, Marche prepared for battle rather than submitting.

The ensuing fight was tough, with the uphill terrain against us. But with a white and a red mage helping to sustain our side, especially Marche, who was their main target, we managed to earn ourselves a victory. The others helped to debuff Babus’s party members, while buffing me to get me in close enough to steal more items. Babus definitely took note of me when I managed to snatch not just his Lotus Mace, but his Mirage Vest and Aegis Shield as well. Marche dealt the finishing blow that left the mage slumped down.

“Grr, caught me off my guard, you did. I’ll be back!” He glared at Marche. “Whatever the reason, the prince wants you dealt with. You cause him pain, and that is real enough for me!”

Marche just stared back silently, a conflicted expression on his face.

Babus met that stare squarely on. “Now I know what you look like, there’ll be no escape!”

He glowed, and vanished in a teleport.

“No escape, except for his, huh?” I quipped. “So, what will you do next, Marche?”

“Even if Mewt tries to stop me… I have to do this,” He said determinedly.

But why though? I wondered briefly.

…

“That is the end of my report, Your Majesty.” The nu mou mage knelt before the queen on her throne.

“I see. Thank you for letting me know, Babus. I will have the bounty issued on this person right away.”

“...” Babus remained in his kneeling position.

“Is there anything else?” Queen Remedi asked archly.

“Some of the troops that were with me had their equipment stolen.”

“That is something allowed, unless the laws on that day forbid it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, but that wasn’t all. Some of them said they felt like their abilities were stolen as well. They are currently training to regain those abilities.”

“That’s…” Queen Remedi straightened up. “Those troops of yours, they are not humes or moogles, are they?”

“No, Your Majesty, they are bangaas and nu mous.”

“That is certainly not normal… Do you have a suspicion as to who the culprit is?”

“It was a hume Blue Mage, I believe. He was in the company of the person I mentioned in my report.”

“Alright. I will have the Judgemaster investigate this matter further as well. You may leave, Babus.”

This time, Babus rose from his kneeling position and left the room.

Queen Remedi rested her head pensively on one hand. There had been another of those feelings where something felt like it slipped out of the world, and she suspected that this new incident was related to that. It might not be as crucial to maintaining the world as the crystals were, but letting it repeat unchecked would likely lead to the same result.

She would not… could not let that happen.

…

“I’m impressed.”

“You don’t sound impressed.”

“No, I really am. You’ve collected quite a number of skills, and in such a short time too.” Sano took off his glasses and wiped them with a cleaning cloth.

Another reminder that the time I’m spending in this world barely counts as a blink for him. “I’m still lacking the skills from the stronger job classes though.”

“That’s fine. See if you can get me some more copies of the basic ones while you’re at it.” Sano put his glasses back on. “Actually, it’s a good thing you called at this time.”

“...why is that?” I asked, having a growing bad feeling.

“I recently received an order to craft a large number of skills for a customer, so I’m going to be away from the shop for a while. And that means,” His tone grew pointed, “Unless you wish to stay in there for several decades until I come back, you only have about…”

He pulled the analysis skill out from me to inspect the data it collected, then sent it back.

“Ten months to do what you want there.”

“Ten months… that’s definitely not enough to get everything.”

“It happens,” The god shrugged, “Perhaps you can return to this world in the future, or at least a different version of it.”

“Alright. If that’s the case, then I’m going to need more skills to help me along.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

I told him, expecting to be let down, but the fears I had were unfounded. Sano just nodded and told me that he would send the skills over as soon as he was done making them.

Ten months sounded like a good amount of time, especially if we were just rushing for the end, but in that case I would miss out on a lot of the good stuff. Eventually, I decided to just grab whatever I could, while pushing for the clan to go for some of the rarer stuff.

When I talked to Marche later, I told him that his strength was good enough to handle the next part by himself for a bit. While he headed for Nargai Cave, where another crystal and Totema was located, I took over dispatch duties, and focused on missions that would raise the clan skills. 

I also kept my ear to the ground, and wasn’t surprised when the palace put out a bounty on Marche of Clan Nutsy, with a pretty good description of his face. The amount offered was quite good, and I had to warn some of our members to be careful about people asking questions. There was also a rumor going around about an expert skill thief who could target races other than humes and moogles, but since I was relying on Blue Mage Learning, I doubted that I would get revealed so easily.

While we were waiting for Marche and Montblanc to come back, I made sure to keep up the training of those members who weren’t involved in anything.

“[Ice Sword]!” The Gladiator drew his blade back, and swung at me with a length of crackling blue energy.

I blocked it with the Ice Shield, which nullified the damage. “Good! Keep it up!”

[Spellblade Tech: Ice Sword Learned!]

“Hey, Rick!” Another clan member called from the entrance of the training area we were in.

The Gladiator paused, then stepped back. 

“What’s up?” I asked the one who had interrupted us.

“Got a moogle here asking to see Montblanc. Says he’s his brother.”

“Hmm, okay. I’ll talk to him.” I looked at my sparring partner. “Go take a break, and tell everyone to get ready for a mission.”

“Yes sir.” The bangaa saluted and walked off.

“You really think we’re going to have another mission?” The clan member asked as he led me to the waiting room.

So far, my predictions about this kind of thing had been right on, and they had created a reputation for me among the clan members.

“Yes. This one should be an especially dangerous one.”

“Alright, I’ll spread the word.”

Sure enough, the moogle in the Gadgeteer outfit introduced himself as Nono. He was starting to explain why he was here, when Marche and Montblanc returned. Another introduction for Marche’s sake later, we got to the purpose of Nono’s arrival. He built an airship, only to have it stolen from him, and requested our help in getting it back. The problem with that was where the culprits were hiding.

Jagds were zones excluded from Laws and the power of Judges, but without the Judges, anyone who died there remained dead. Despite that, Marche was determined to go ahead with it, so Nono provided us with the location of Jagd Dorsa.

He later confided in me that he had met and defeated the Totema Adrammalech, breaking another crystal. That left two more to go.

Before we left for Jagd Dorsa, I went to receive the skills I had asked Sano for.

[Lucky Thief]
[Increases the chance of stealing. May occasionally steal two targets instead of one.]
[Steal: Inventory]
[Steal an item in the target’s inventory.]

The benefits of the first one were obvious, while the second one would make it easier for me to get some of the hidden items that their holders only equipped when they lost the first.

With our strength, the bandits in the Jagd were defeated, and Nono’s airship was retrieved. I took the opportunity to ask him more about how it worked, and managed to persuade him into sharing a copy of the plans he used to construct them. 

Airships relied on magic for buoyancy, so it probably only worked in worlds with magic, but I thought that having the technology to make such things would be interesting to have on hand.

Time continued to pass, taking me ever closer to the end of my time in Ivalice; Marche grew a bit discouraged at finding out that his friends were determined to stay in this world instead of going back, but persisted forward in his own path nonetheless. 

Perhaps that was how he ended up convincing Cid to let him continue in his quest to destroy the crystals. The man now remembered his former life, and chose to step aside because of it.

We had a bit of trouble with Clan Doned, led by Marche’s brother, who had the healthy body he always wanted in this world. The kid probably realized from the palace’s bounty that Marche was trying to return to his world, and figured out that his method would end it for everyone else as well. Since I was prepared for his tricks, Doned’s attempt to flee the first time failed, when I caught and subdued him with the Paladin’s [Subdue].

Unfortunately, Marche’s Talk-no-Jutsu didn’t work.

“I won’t let you destroy this world!” Doned yelled at him.

“But don’t you see? This world… it’s not real!”

“It’s real to me!”

After a bit of back and forth, I finally stepped in. “Marche, you aren’t convincing him like this.”

“Then what do you think I should do?”

“Spend some time apart, kupo,” Montblanc suggested. “I’ve quarreled with Nono before, but we always made up after taking a bit of a break, kupo.”

Marche stared at us, then looked down at the defiant Doned. Finally, he made his decision.

“Rick, let him go.”

I released the youth, who just glared at his brother. “I won’t stop.”

“I won’t either.” 

Marche watched his brother’s back as he ran off, conflicting emotions on his face. He was obviously questioning if it was okay to proceed like this.

However, that wasn’t the end of the troubles facing Clan Nutsy, as we encountered Llednar Twem while exploring the Delia Dunes area. As if on cue, our group ended up being sucked into another dimensional seam, where the last crystal was. Cid even showed up to administrate the fight, and introduced the strange youth as his replacement in the palace’s court.

“That’s just Mewt’s name backwards,” I pointed out.

Marche blinked. “Hey, you’re right.” 

“That’s right,” Cid confirmed, “Llednar is the manifestation of Mewt’s violent side.”

“It makes no difference. You cannot be allowed to proceed any further.”

It only took two tries before our clan leader realized why Llednar was so confident.

“None of us can deal any damage!”

“Then we just have to try other options!” I circled around to get behind the red-clad youth. “Yoink!”

In a stroke of luck, I managed to nab not only his sword SaveTheQueen, but his Maximillian armor as well.

Llednar glared at me. “So it is you who’s the one responsible for all the strange thefts… You too will face your rightful punishment!”

Ah, I’m gonna die. I froze as he began to charge up his Omega one-hit kill skill.

Thankfully, Cid stepped in at that moment, using a Red Card to send Llednar to jail, saving all our lives. 

Marche went on to break the last crystal, only to realize that the world didn’t revert back. Just as he was wondering why, Queen Remedi showed up, revealing that as long as Mewt wanted it, the world itself would continue. She then expelled us from that dimensional space, leaving Marche questioning himself once again.

Once again, Montblanc and I took over the reins while he recovered. However, I found out that the reveal of my presence to Llednar had consequences; the Law against Stealing started to appear more often, and there was a second bounty on me as well. Thankfully, I had foreseen this ahead of time, and stocked up on a bunch of Anti-law cards.

I could feel the time limit fast approaching, but without Marche making the stand on his own, I doubted I could continue the plot. Thankfully, with encouragement from the other clan members, he regained his determination to continue. The obvious next step was to confront Mewt directly, which was easier said than done with the guards in the palace. Fortunately, there was an event known as Audience Day, where having a good gift would enable a member of the public to get an audience with the royal family.

We encountered Doned a few more times, the annoying kid sending other clans at us, but even when he broke the Materite that Marche planned to use for Audience Day. It was amazing that Marche managed to keep his cool despite that, but I chalked that down to us having different priorities. He was growing as a person through all his experiences, and I saw no point in interfering with that.

Despite the damage Doned caused, Marche managed to get a gift ready. I did warn him about a trap, and he made the appropriate preparations. Sure enough, the audience turned out to be a trap, but we broke through it, and Marche was able to meet Mewt in the throne room.

While the rest of the clan members held off the guards, I peeked in to see Babus confront Mewt as well, only for the boy to accuse the nu mou of betraying him too. When Llednar showed up again, Babus fled to call for Cid, leaving Marche to try and survive against the strange youth. 

Now’s my chance! I broke away from the group and slipped into the throne room. “Marche! I’m here to help!”

“It makes no difference,” Llednar sneered, “You will fall before my blade. [Omega]!”

I used the Paladin’s skill to cover Marche, taking the hit for him. Despite my defenses, it was still an instant KO. Luckily, I had learned [Auto-Life] for this, allowing me to get back up with my gamble paying off.

[Omega Learned!]

“What did you do?” Llednar looked at me suspiciously.

“Auto revive, bitch!”

“You said a bad word!” Marche gasped.

“Such filthy language.”

The two of them stared at me, resulting in an awkward silence. Cid appeared right then, which snapped us out of our confusion. Llednar chose to retreat after that. 

With Mewt’s location unknown, Marche’s plan was currently on hold. The older man told us he would look out for Mewt, while the growing boy decided that he would confront Ritz and Doned, to persuade them to his point of view.

“I think… I can talk to Doned now,” Marche admitted, looking at me.

“That’s good then.”

“By the way,” Cid interrupted, “While I’m fine with Marche’s intentions, your actions on the other hand, have gotten too notorious to ignore.”

I had a bit of difficulty believing my ears. “Seriously? Why me and not Ezel?”

“Ezel’s Anti-laws make him too difficult to apprehend, but you aren’t Ezel.” Cid pulled out a red card from his pocket. “Any last words?”

Seeing no other option, I turned to Marche. “Don’t worry about me, do what you need to do.”

He looked at me searchingly, then nodded. “Alright.”

There was a sharp whistling sound, then everything went black.

[Judge Ability: Red Card Learned!]

…

Despite Marche’s words, when he found out where the Royal Valley of Ambervale was located, he went back to Sprohm to try and get Rick out to help him, only to find that the other hume had vanished from prison, leaving only a note saying that he was leaving the clan. 

Left with questions, Marche continued onwards, confronting Ritz at Siena Gorge when she tried to stop him, only to be defeated and having no choice but to let him through. Ritz was left behind, thinking about her own difficulty in facing herself.

“White hair is the most beautiful gift of the spirits!” The viera Shara told Ritz.

“White hair is… beautiful?”

“I agree, you know.”

The two of them spun to see who had interrupted. Rick stood there, hands in his pockets as he casually approached.

“Wait, aren’t you one of Marche’s clan members?”

“You look good with red hair,” He said instead of answering the question, “But I think you might look better with white, right?” 

Shara blinked at being addressed suddenly, but she nodded. “Yes, I think it might be as beautiful as new-fallen snow.”

“...Thank you, Shara.” Ritz smiled, then looked at Rick. “Thank you too. I think I can go home now.”

“Good, then you don’t mind if I do this, right?”

Before either of them could react, he swiped their powerful equipment and ran away, leaving weaker ones behind him as he fled.

“...are you serious?” Ritz asked dumbfoundedly.

Much later, in another world after a young boy’s quest to go home succeeded, there was his younger brother sitting in a wheelchair by a fountain. 

“There you are.”

Doned looked up, frowning slightly as he recognized the man approaching him. “May I help you?”

“I just came to return a favor for your brother.”

“Marche?”

The man didn’t reply, but pulled a small glowing box out from nowhere. 

“Is that… magic?” Doned couldn’t believe he was seeing it despite being back in the real world.

“Here.” Before the boy could react, the man pushed the box into his chest. “Enjoy having a healthy body.”

“Wait, what did you- Ooof!” Doned tried to reach out to stop the man from leaving, only to shoot upright and fall over onto the ground. “Wait… my legs? I can move them…?”

Some people nearby came to help him up, but the man who interacted with the young boy was nowhere to be found afterwards. When he told his brother about it, Marche just shrugged and said that the man definitely owed him for all the items he took from the clan.

…

“Well, you’ve certainly outdid yourself,” Sano told me when I met him in his office later. “All those skills for me to work with, along with the weapons that taught some of them.”

“So how much did I earn in DP?” I asked.

“Hmm… about this much.”

I scanned through the breakdown list. “That’s quite a lot. So now I can buy skills from you, right?”

“Yes, you can.” Sano nodded. “But not right now, because I have a big task to see to first, remember?”

“Oh right,” I vaguely recalled him mentioning that in one of our previous meetings. “Was it really that recent for you?”

“Yes, it was. Anyway, now that you’re back, you’re on the clock again, so make sure to prepare for it.”

“Yes, sir…” I covered a yawn. “May I go now?”

“Go ahead. I’ll see next week.”

Despite how tired I felt, I couldn’t help smiling as I headed for a room I haven’t seen in over a year. This whole experience had given me ideas, and I was looking forward to realizing them.

Afterword: That’s one world cleared! There will be others coming next, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more interesting results due to the crossovers!