Editing Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 1===

They borrowed one of the high elf caravan’s many simple collapsible huts to spend the night.

The next morning, Gilbezos and the goddess said goodbye to the high elves and left the reddening and somewhat chilly sugar maple forest.

“Wow…”

A blue expanse stretched out before them.

The sky wasn’t just overhead. The blue was found down below their feet, in the gaps of the land that floated without wings, and some clouds occasionally floated by. That sight was all the proof they needed that this was a different world from the surface.

“Ah! Don’t they say you your leather water bottles will burst if you take them to a Sky Territory?”

“This one is only about 1000 metora up, so it should be fine.”

They ran into some wind as soon as they left the forest. Instead of blowing in from one direction, it twisted around like a living creature. It felt like winds from different directions mixing together. Also…

“Oh, my.”

“You could at least try to hold down your skirt, Lady Seliphenia!!”

…Why did it never seem to bother her!? It was up to Gilbezos to quickly look away when the cloth billowed up in front of him. The goddess only placed a hand on her cheek.

“What an awkward altitude. Higher than this and you wouldn’t have to deal with rain and it wouldn’t have to go out of its way to avoid the larger mountains.”

Sky Territories had not been in the sky to begin with. There were originally areas of ground where power of the seven types flowed in great quantity. When a certain type, like wind or water, grew strong enough in a location, it would pull away from the surface and begin to float. They apparently gained traits similar to clouds.

“They say a lot of the sky people are tall. Does living in a high place make you tall, I wonder?”

“Isn’t most everyone tall compared to a shorty like you?”

Witches riding brooms flew by over Gilbezos’s head. In the distance, he saw a wooden container being carried by hanging it from a Hraevelgr, a bird larger than a theater. Even with a specialized tamer controlling it, it was incredible to see monsters coexisting with humans like that.

Like the goddess had said, this was only around 1000 metora up, so about the same as the summit of a small mountain. That explained why it was so chilly.

But the problem was that this wasn’t the only Sky Territory. A fair number of them were scattered around both inside and outside the kingdom.

“Where are we?” asked Gilbezos. “Which Sky Territory is this?”

“There’s a sign over there. It says this is Sunset Autumn Skyland.”

“Sunset Autumn. You mean that religious city?”

“Temple City Aeropremise. From what I’ve heard, it’s a vertical city crammed full of 700 thousand people.”

Gilbezos’s goal was to settle things with Brave Liar and keep his promise with the king.

If Brave Liar was here, this was fine, but otherwise he had to leave here eventually.

…But how could he leave a Sky Territory floating 1000 metora in the air?

“Looks like we’ll have to use one of those things after all.”

“There are a few other ways, but that would be the safest one. By a wide margin.”

He had seen them from the capital.

Ad cranes. A massive reel attached to the surface would hold a thick chain while 3-metora balloons made of animal hide were filled with lighter-than-air volcanic gas for buoyancy and a gondola hanging from the balloon would carry people and things up and down the chain.

However, there were no balloons that ran on a regular schedule for passengers. And they were generally used as entertainment for aristocrats, so they had to be chartered individually and were extremely expensive. So expensive that a nobleman who had wanted to ride one just once in his life had sold a valuable lakeside castle to pay for it.

…Could he really get back that way? If he used the Haggle skill often used by merchants, could he get the price down to something more reasonable?

“Are you going to start earning money with guild jobs again? Has that ever worked out well for you?”

“…”

“It’s so sweet how predictable you are. I should call you Guild-bezos.”

Look how…

“Look how high you- !! Ghh!?”

“Are your arms too little to lift me? Now this is a shock.”

No matter what the 18-year-old(-looking) goddess said, he needed money, so he would have to rely on the large city on this 10 kilemetora flying land.

Temple City Aeropremise.

Being on a Sky Territory must have meant limited land and they may have given up on the issue before it became a problem. The buildings in the city of white stone were all tall. Counting the windows, around ten floors appeared standard and the big temples and towers looked to be more than fifteen floors.

The city was also full of god statues.

But they weren’t all of Goddess Seliphenia.

“It is a polytheistic religion with plenty more gods to choose from. I manage the Skill Tree, so I don’t want people praying to me for their love life or safety while giving birth.”

“Huh? This doesn’t bother you?”

“Well, I am still the most popular one.”

Probably because this world revolved around skills. The gods of war, harvest, beauty, love, judgment, and destruction couldn’t complete with the goddess of the Skill Tree.

But 700 thousand people? That was a major city. Just finding the guild in such a large place would take some doing. Gilbezos spotted a familiar “INN” sign and decided to make that his base of operations while here.

This was his first time here, but the Queen Size inn still felt familiar as he checked in. This time he wasn’t surprised to find the counter manned by a woman of around 18 who had pink hair and a mysterious tail and horns.

“Enoi-”

“I am Egipusa Holysign★ …If you have any complaints, I will respond with my Sexy Panties Succubus Ninja Arts.”

So she said with a perfect smile. He was beginning to question if she really was a woman or even a human at all, but she seemed harmless enough and he decided to let her be. He got the feeling poking around here much longer would drag him into an ultra-powerful secret boss battle with no connection to the main quest!

After throwing what little luggage they had into the inn room, the goddess began stretching on the bed and made a suggestion.

“Hey, shorty. Once you accept a job at the guild, you’ll be entirely focused on that, won’t you? Based on past experience.”

“Probably, yeah?”

It was a job after all. He would give up on them if they were too unreasonable, but he generally took them seriously and wanted to show results.

“Then how about you deal with everything weighing on your mind before you enter work mode?”

That made sense, so he left the inn.

This flying land was about 10km in each direction, but it wasn’t a single piece of rock. A cluster of a few pieces of land were linked by stone bridges. The city filled one piece, but another was filled with lush greenery. This airborne Sky Territory even had a lake and caves.

Gilbezos and the goddess made their way to a deserted field to avoid causing any trouble.

Which meant they knew what they were about to do would cause trouble.

“6500 LAW. …Use it all and I can reach Rank 9. Yes, I’m finally at the top!”

Now he could part the sea, split a mountain, and plenty more besides.

It had all felt so distant before, but now it suddenly felt real.

Spending 6500 LAW at once was as big an event as paying cash for a large seafaring ship. A normal person might get nervous and freeze up. It was times like this when Gilbezos was most thankful for his special payback ability. He could try out anything he wanted.

Rank 9 was full of overpowered skills. Which one could he use to defeat Brave Liar?

…He figured his best bet was to try out any one that caught his eye and then do the payback so he could try the next one.

“What do you want to try first? Instant Hypnosis, Invisible Body, or Ultimate Pheromones? Oh, Gilbezos, you’re such a naughty boy★”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!!”

“''Yet''? You mean that future will come eventually? Something to look forward to then.”

Ahem.

“The problem is that Rank 9 includes that bright and shining option: Appraisal. O-oh, no. Gilbezos is going to appraise my chest size with those naughty boy eyes of his!”

“You could at least pretend to be embarrassed instead of sticking your chest out at me like that!!!”

Gilbezos.

Now isn’t the time to get sidetracked like this, is it?

“Anyway, I want to try out a lot of different combinations, including with Rank 9. If it doesn’t work, I just have to get the LAW back. Lady Seliphenia, open the Skill Tree if you don’t mind.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Hm? Why are you facing away from me?”

“To show off that this divine body is flexible enough to open it behind me too★”

“Can you just do it normally?”

The goddess childishly pouted her lips and waved her forearms side to side. As if washing a window. …Right in front of her chest. A gold light appeared. That was the Skill Tree.

Power Boost for Amount of MP Consumed. Appraisal. Accuracy Boost for Each Charge Up Action Taken – Max of 100%. Instant Hypnosis. Dragon Special. HP+1Billion. Modern Weapon Summoning. Zombie HP.

Rank 9 offered a lot of options. By mastering one route up the tree, such as physical power skills or disturbance skills, he would probably learn at least one, but when he could choose any one of them, it was hard to choose.

“Okay, time for a test. The first combination that comes to mind is…this, I guess?”



'''Fire Type Magic – Ultimate

:'''0 Stamina Usage

::'''Auto-Track Target During Effective Time

:::'''Power Boost for Amount of MP Consumed (Rank 9)



'''“Ki Ta Vi Wy Dey Ku Su Sa Ge Ne To Mi Ji Re Bo Vi Tsun (Appear before me, flaming tower of imminent disaster) – Cligalyne.”

Roaring crimson flames spiraled upwards where they scorched the blue sky. The massive flames were shaped by an updraft that turned them into a red tornado stretching upwards. Eventually, countless fireballs of different sizes poured down. Some rubble launched up with the wind must have been ignited. And they poured down with the intensity of fire arrows launched on a burning castle.

Simply put, this combination created a firestorm.

This wasn’t just Rank 9 at the top. The Rank 7 and 8 skills used to reach that point were useful in their own right.



'''Light Type Magic – Ultimate

:'''Strength of All Attacks Boosted When at Full HP

::'''Repeat Command

:::'''Accuracy Boost for Each Charge Up Action Taken – Max of 100% (Rank 9)



'''“Uh Ku Vi So Ta Day Me Lu Mon Fa Lu Ve Ve Ki Ki Te Ro Gi Ne To (Oh light, launch an insolent strike in the blink of an eye) – Mjorcma.”

Even the sound vanished.

Gilbezos’s shadow on the ground filled with white light before a thick beam surged diagonally up from it. It pierced a giant hole in the boulder he had targeted. A moment later, the thick beam itself came apart and scattered in all directions as countless arrowheads of light. The thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of attacks formed an explosion of pure white. The scenery was filled by deadly light.

Attack magic couldn’t harm your allies.

Without that, Gilbezos and the goddess might have been slaughtered by his own magic.

“Oops.”

Hearing the stone beneath his feet crumbling, Gilbezos finally stopped his hand. The stone crumbled away and the blue sky approached disconcertingly close to the toes of his boots. He felt bad for removing part of the Sky Territory’s limited land. And was that safe? He took a look far down below and it didn’t look like a populated area down there. He only saw an open field without even a road.

Also, while it had crumbled, could the small pieces of a Sky Territory continue to float after breaking away from the whole? He wanted to test that out, but he would have to break off more of this limited land to do so.

“That’s powerful magic, but it must be really hard to aim. Allllso, the exact same type of violence can be considered good or evil depending on its color, shape, and number. Why not give some thought to the symbolism of it next time?”

“What, like how if you slice people up with a sword of light, people will call you a righteous hero?”

The goddess must have seen this as a cue to take a break because she closed the Skill Tree, raised her arms, and stretched.

…Which was very distracting. Because of her chest!!

“Come to think of it, the high elf chief used Group Flight, right? That’s also a glorious Rank 9 skill, so couldn’t you use that now?”

“Maybe that would make it easier to reach the ground.”

“But given what it is, that might not be so easy. The high elf chief appeared to use ‘deep forest’ as a keyword for her flight, but doesn’t that mean that aspect of the skill isn’t clearly defined? If you set it up wrong, it could lead to failure.”

“Yeah, I would prefer not to miss my destination and end up flying to the other side of the continent.”

But more than that, there was another skill Gilbezos wanted to try out now that he could reach any skill he wanted.

“''I want to try the skills that Brave Liar is using.''”

“Copying him will only lead to a stalemate even if you do it perfectly. And if you don’t, you’ll lose.”

“I’m not talking about mimicking everything he did to win. But I might be able to guard against his attacks if I use the same type, right?”

The Hero would be good with a sword in addition to magic. He would be able to use that to block, deflect, and attack. Gilbezos wanted some physical skills to fight on equal footing, but he would never be able to learn enough if he just went at it without a plan. He wanted a plan specialized for use against Brave Liar.

Brave Liar’s skills list was incomplete because some came from his equipped items, but the goddess had managed to analyze a few of them.

If he remembered correctly, the list was as follows:

'''––––––

:'''Certain Death

::'''––––––

:::'''Light Type Magic – Hero Exclusive

The gaps were disconcerting, but with no hints at all, there was no use thinking about them. And of the two they did know, the goddess had already told him about the death lottery skill called Certain Death. That left only one.

Light Type Magic – Hero Exclusive.

Gilbezos sold back almost all of his skills.

He tried to learn the skills along a single path up the Skill Tree, but something lit up with a “zap!!”

…He was blocked? That had never happened before!

“Lady Seliphenia! What was that!?”

“You see the ‘hero exclusive’ label, don’t you? That means you can’t learn anything in that area.”

“That’s a thing?”

“You need to observe the Skill Tree more. There are a lot of branches like that. Like one limited to adults or a ‘no boys allowed’ one. This is another. It won’t open for you unless you grow into someone worthy of being called a hero.”

People did not grow by learning skills.

So were there cases where people had to grow to match the skills?

“Besides, hero exclusive skills are extremely powerful ones that can ''only'' be used to bring about world peace. If you try to use them to satisfy your own personal desires, you’ll get locked out, so they seem kind of pointless to me.”

“Then what about Brave Liar? Are you saying him killing the king was meant to improve the world? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

The goddess said nothing in reply.

…Terms like “the world” and “peace” were so vague it was hard to determine what the actual conditions were. Could that dark hero have found some way of bypassing the rules?