Assimilate All Talents

'For it to actually have a tether…'

This was the first item he had ever seen with a tether, so he was very intrigued by that fact alone. At first glance, he thought the tether belonged to [Perfected Mimicry], but it was far too thin for what he believed should at least be a law technique. After further inspection, he quickly realized that it actually belonged to [Commune with Beasts].

But even if it was only the copied skill itself that had a tether, it gave him an idea.

'Maybe I can remove it!'

Madeline had mentioned that she tried but wasn't able to remove the copied skill or replace it with another. He didn't doubt that she had used her vast wealth and resources to attempt it, but she lacked something he had, the ability to directly manipulate tethers.

Eager to test his theory, he used [Lesser Channel Control], attempting to tear the tether from the marble.

At his first tug, the marble began to shake. The orange mist inside became turbulent, wildly shifting form and bashing against the marble's interior as if in pain.

Sol immediately stopped and realized his mistake.

'It's not very durable, so directly destroying the tether will also break the marble.'

He released the tether, allowing the orange mist to settle back into its previous state, while contemplating the risks of continuing. But it didn't take long for him to come to a decision.

'It's worth the risk! I'll just have to be extra careful not to break it in the process.'

Straightening his back, he focused all his energy as he prepared for his next attempt.

...

Two hours later.

The thread flowing out of the Mimic Eye of Learning had thinned considerably. What was once a centimeter wide had shrunk to less than a millimeter. Rather than "shrunk," it would be more accurate to say it had been shaved down.

Sweat dripped down his forehead as he carefully ground his will against the tether, erasing the skill at an excruciatingly slow rate. He had stripped away almost all the information stored within it, leaving it a mere shadow of what it once was.

If someone attempted to learn the skill in its current state, it likely wouldn't even be considered a true skill by the system, and even if it was, it would be a heavily degraded version, weaker than level one.

Finally reaching the end, Sol held back from celebrating too soon and focused on shaving off the last remaining fragments.

As the last bits of the skill were erased, the tether could no longer sustain itself and began to dissipate, starting from the marble and vanishing all the way up to wherever it had originally been connected. Sol watched the disappearing tether for only a moment before turning his gaze to the marble.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The orange mist that had previously filled it was gone, replaced by a white fog.

[Mimic Eye of Learning

Legendary

Durability: 1/1

Skills:

[Perfected Mimicry] Lv 1

[[Perfected Mimicry] Lv 1: The Mimic's law technique. Copies any skill seen and when used permanently bestows it to the user. This process imbues the skill onto the user as if it were learned naturally. Cannot copy talent skills. Uses remaining equal to durability. Currently copied skill: None.]

"It's gone! Haha! I did it!"

A wave of relief washed over him as he confirmed the removal of the copied skill. Before arriving at his "shaving" technique, he had experimented with a few other methods, some of which nearly destroyed the item. But in the end, he had managed to succeed.

Inspecting the foggy white marble one last time, he gently placed it back into his spatial ring before checking the time.

'It's almost night, and she's still not back yet… Did she run into a problem?'

Amber knew the map's exact location, so it shouldn't have taken her more than an hour. But it had now been eight. He considered going out to look for her but held off. If she had truly encountered trouble, he believed she would have sent a message through his PAL.

'Well, since I have some time to spare, I might as well learn a new spell.'

With a single motion, he retrieved the Tome of the Fell Flame from his spatial ring. He had skimmed through it before but hadn't dedicated much time to actually practicing the advanced fire spells.

Flipping through the pages, he stopped on the first advanced spell recorded in the tome: [Ignition Wave].

Of the five advanced spells, this was the easiest to learn, as it was essentially an extreme version of the basic fire spell [Fire Ring]. While the spell itself barely resembled the basic version, it shared enough core principles that he believed it would be easier to grasp. If he failed to learn even this spell, it would be a sign that he needed a teacher or more practice with intermediate spells first.

After committing the spell's details to memory, he closed the book and stored it away before activating [Reinterpret] and entering the white room.

"Let's get started then."

With infinite mana and no worries about collateral damage, he began his first attempt at learning an advanced spell on his own.

...

Later that night, the inn was lively with the sounds of drinking and laughter as guests enjoyed the open stage night. Regulars and newcomers alike were taking turns performing songs, dances, and other acts for the audience.

Backstage, the door leading outside creaked open as a cloaked figure slipped inside. Once the door was shut, the figure pulled back her hood, revealing Amber.

Sol, who had been midway through practicing his spell, exited the white room and turned to greet her.

"Hey, you're back! Were you able to find the map?"

"Yes." Amber nodded, pulling a foot-long cylindrical container from beneath her cloak and handing it to him.

Sol opened it, removed the scroll inside, and spread it out on the floor. It was an extremely detailed map of the Great Forest, showing roads, major cities, and even some notes scribbled on the side, likely added by slavers back when they still invaded the forest.

"This is it! Thanks, Amber!" Sol grinned. This map would save them nearly a month of travel time.

Rolling the map back up, he stood and asked, "Did you run into any trouble? You took longer than I expected."

"Wasn't at base. Confiscated by the guild," Amber explained briefly.

Sol, who had been about to store the map, froze at the mention of the guild. "Wait, the Adventurer's Guild? You took this from them?"

She nodded. "Not theft. Took it back."

From her tone, she inferred that Sol might not be happy about her retrieving the map from the guild's inventory, but in her mind, it wasn't stealing, it was looted from her old boss and she could take it back if she wanted to. She was even being considerate to Sol and only took the map, leaving the three containers full of items also looted from the underground base.

Sol quickly reached for the cylinder case, his voice dropping to a hushed but urgent tone. "No, no, that's not the problem! The guild has measures against theft!"