Master of Myths

Back within the villa the two, having returned to their normal expressions, were once more on the topic of Subrina's research 

"Master, if you could provide me some insights into that skill you've used then perhaps I could make great progress on my blood related projects, in fact I might be able to..."

Raising a hand he stopped her from going on another hopeful rant

"What I used was a skill, not something I made on my own, naturally I cannot pass it on"

The maid tilted her head to the side, question marks seemingly hovering over her head at the statement

"Does the system prevent us from doing so?"

YuJu looked back at her with a face that questioned the seriousness of what she asked, upon recalling how new everyone was to this world however and their lack of time to think these things through he began explaining why it wasn't possible

"Well, to answer your question you should first think of you understand your own skill set first"

"My skills? I don't think they are that hard to comprehend, the dividing, isolation, and preservation skills I acquired from the Essence Extractor class are pretty straight forward in what they do, perhaps the Essence Refiner class skills are harder to use since purification seems to require great comprehension on the essence used while compressing them can lead to, well, disastrous cases, the others are as straight forward however"

"You understand their use but not the skill itself, an example would provide an easier explanation, how about you show me how you extract the steel out of this"

Taking out a dagger he presented the standing maid only for her to give a meek smile back

"I cant cut into this Master, I dont have the right tools"

He stared for a moment, recalling how others of her class used sophisticated equipment or were physically stronger allowing them such feats while she only had normal tools left at the villa before the apocalypse hit

"I see, then demonstrate it on anything you want"

Nodding she went ahead and brought a decaying peach, putting it on the small table beside him before taking out a knife and one small bottle

Taking a breath in she held it while her energy swirled within, a few moments later that energy seeped from her fingers to coat the knife now cutting at the fruit

Wherever the energy infused knife cut there seemed to be a white line, as if to show the trail taken by it's slow slice

This line however didnt remain still, dripping out of place and onto the table

Seeing this she quickly and perhaps somewhat nervously brought the container forward, coated on the same white light while allowing this liquid to drop in

After a few drops light seemed to shimmer from both the liquide and the glass, presumably the knife wedged into the fruit as well

The process wasn't over however as Subrina closed the bottle and proceeded to channel her energy through it and into the liquide, then onto the insides of the bottle

"Haaah....."

Once everything seemed right and proper the prospering woman heaved a sigh, her tension somewhat relieved

"You performance was subpar, I assume you were just nervous about someone watching you however, still it could see some improvement with a few tips"

"I would be much obliged Master"

"Let's get back to the main point though, what did you do when you were extracting this, nectar essence?"

"Its indeed a nectar essence Master and the way I achieved is by using my Divide Essence on the knife before cutting into the fruit with the nectar in mind, then-" "How?"

"...Excuse me?"

"How did you use your skill on the knife? What was the process, the logic behind it, the reason your able to achieve this when you're merely cutting at the fruit"

"I...I don't...."

Her eyes were shifting about, looking for any explanation to her ability her finding nothing of the sort throwing her into more confusion 

"Don't fret about it, the answer is simple, you don't know"

Hearing this she hung her head low, not daring to look in his eyes as she felt guilty for whatever reason going through her flustered mind

"You shouldn't be so down about it, it's normal, didn't I just tell you the skill I used cant be passed on? Its because my comprehension of it is the same as yours, I have the skill therefore I use it, whatever is going on behind the scenes is beyond me"

This both surprised Subrina and relieved her, relieved as she wasn't slacking while surprised as her Master finally didn't seem to know something, not that she thought he knew it all or anything....

"Why is this the case Master?"

She somewhat understood what was going on but went ahead and asked anyway, just to confirm her suspension, perhaps not to sound more clueless when she blabbed the assumption out too

"Because the skills didnt come from our comprehension, it came from the system, whatever it is, making it feel natural, like when you breath or think but don't know the delicious process going inside your body to achieve this simple action"

"So this is what skills are..."

As realization dawned on her he let it sink for a minute, only then did he add on

"There are some who can understand their skills however, for example those who gained their class through doing things they are good at and further increased the proficiency by training the skill rather than adding points mindlessly"

"I see....such a scary thing"

"?"

"The skills that we don't learn ourselves I mean"

"What's scary about it?"

It didn't make sense for him to be scared of not knowing how the skill worked,at most it was a waste of SP

"Well, if we don't know how to use then and the system suddenly stopped working or even blocked them off us or something wouldn't we be back to normal again?"

"..."

This was something he never thought of before, perhaps because he and everyone else on the Infidome took the system for granted

'Could the system really disappear? But it's been around far too long for that to happen, hmm, though it is possible that we can be transported to a plane without the system, then again there has to be such a plane I'm exitance to begin with'

His mind drifted trying to think of any such place, there was nothing that came to mind however as his memory drew a blank

'Nothing....'

"Master?"

"Hmm? Oh, I was lost in thought for a moment, do not get your mind about the system, it's been in existence far longer than you can imagine and would probably continue much longer after our deaths"

"Yes Master"

Easily shoving the matter out of her mind the maid then listen to his explanation on what to research on and what to avoid going in depths about, though she didn't know why he chose some of the subjects she was sure he had a plan in mind, just like he always seemed to

.....

"Hmm?"

A few hours deep into the night, during the two's prolonged lesson YuJu suddenly turned his head toward the front of the villa, eyes seemingly piercing through the walls and locking onto something

"Hmm, guests at this hour?"

His words caused Subrina to flinch and look at the door nervously, when she looked back at his calm and curious demeanor though she relaxed a little, remembering that she didn't have to deal with unknown possibly dangerous intruders on her own this time

'I can feel something making its way to us, is it friend or foe?'

Whole he couldn't see outside in the literal sense he could still feel anything in the smoke vaguely, well now he could at least

'If I can sense through the smoke like my own aura could I perhaps control it as well?'

With the creature approaching he quickly gave the idea a try, commanding the smoke to cover the entire area as he would command his aura which, much to his delight, worked without a problem

'What a nice quirk, though I can only use it near or inside the house? Either way it can be of use since no one but me and my entourage can see through...'

The thought didn't have time to be finished before the figure came upon the door after navigating through the smoke like it was his own turf

"....."

Frowning he stood up, right hand clutching a dagger as the presence of its holder thinned greatly, threatening to puff out any second now

"Run into the backyard door, take refuge near Iānus, it can cover for you even in its weekend state, the fight should t reach you but just in case something unexpected happens"

Subrina quickly nodded at the now empty air seeing the grave situation, then turned to run to the back

Knock knock

"...."

"...."