Volume 3 Chapter 150: The Limited Skill Era

The restaurant had gradually returned to normal after Rio revealed the truth about the reset.

The shock that had initially overwhelmed Sayanaki had not disappeared entirely, but she had stopped bombarding Rio and Ryota with questions. Instead, she had become unusually quiet, absorbing everything she had learned and trying to fit it into her understanding of Evermount.

Rio could see the change in her expression.

Sayanaki had always been quick to adapt. She might be surprised, suspicious, or even overwhelmed by something unexpected, but she rarely stayed frozen for long. Once the initial shock passed, her mind immediately began looking for possibilities.

That was one of the things Rio had always liked about her.

Sayanaki didn't simply react.

She adapted.

She thought.

She looked for opportunities.

And now, with one of the largest updates in Evermount's early history approaching, there was more than enough for her to think about.

Rio unlocked her phone and placed it flat against the table.

Several notes were already open.

The screen displayed carefully organized information gathered from fifteen years of her original life: skills, systems, future events, guild developments, locations, market changes, hidden quests, balance adjustments, and countless other details that would eventually become common knowledge to the players of Evermount.

For Rio, however, these weren't rumors or predictions.

They were memories.

Ryota leaned forward, immediately interested.

Sayanaki did the same.

Rio looked between the two of them.

"Alright."

Her tone became noticeably more serious.

"Let's talk about the update."

The atmosphere changed almost instantly.

Only moments earlier, the three of them had been joking about Ryota's ridiculous first meeting with Rio and Sayanaki had been happily teasing him.

Now, the subject had shifted back to Evermount.

And for the three of them, that meant they were no longer discussing an ordinary game update.

They were discussing the future.

Rio tapped the screen.

"This update is one of the biggest updates in Evermount's history."

Ryota raised an eyebrow.

"That big?"

"Very."

Rio nodded.

"It doesn't just add new content. It changes how the game itself is played."

Sayanaki rested her chin against one hand.

"What changes?"

Rio took a slow breath before turning the phone slightly so both of them could see the information.

"The first major change is the skill system."

She paused deliberately.

"Starting with this patch, every player will have a maximum of eight active skill slots."

Silence settled over the table.

Ryota blinked.

"Eight?"

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

"Only eight?"

Rio nodded.

"Eight."

Ryota frowned.

"Wait. Eight total?"

"Eight limited skill slots," Rio clarified. "There are some exceptions."

She looked toward Ryota.

"Unique skills aren't counted."

Ryota's expression immediately changed.

Rio continued.

"My Chronos Eye isn't counted toward the eight."

Ryota nodded slowly.

"And my Scalular Impact isn't counted either."

"Correct."

Rio tapped the screen.

"Unique skills exist in their own category. The system treats them differently from ordinary active skills, so they aren't included in the eight-slot limitation."

Ryota relaxed slightly.

"That's good."

Rio gave him a pointed look.

"Don't get comfortable."

Ryota immediately became suspicious.

"What?"

Rio scrolled down.

"Skills like my Moonlight Melody are counted."

Ryota's eyes widened.

"And Radiance Cascade?"

"Also counted."

Ryota stared at her.

"So the skills we've been using normally..."

"Are going into the eight."

"That's going to hurt."

"Yes."

Sayanaki had remained quiet throughout the exchange, but Rio could already see her thinking about the implications.

Then Rio turned toward her.

"And unfortunately..."

Sayanaki immediately became suspicious.

"What?"

Rio's expression remained completely serious.

"Item skills count too."

Sayanaki froze.

"...What?"

"Your Pendant of Imitation."

Rio pointed toward her.

"The ability to create your clones counts as one of the eight slots."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

"Wait. Even that stupid little pendant?"

"Yes."

Sayanaki's expression immediately soured.

"And Fenrir's Fang?"

Rio nodded.

"The ability that summons your two wolves is also counted."

Sayanaki stared toward the restaurant window as though she were personally offended by the developers.

"Stupid devs."

Ryota tried not to laugh.

Sayanaki turned back toward Rio.

"That's..."

She shook her head.

"That's terrible."

Rio gave a small nod.

"It is restrictive, but that's the point. The update forces players to actually make choices."

Ryota leaned back and began counting on his fingers.

"So basically, we can't just collect skills forever and use everything whenever we want."

"Exactly."

"Every player has to decide which eight are actually worth keeping."

"Exactly."

Sayanaki's expression became thoughtful.

"That changes builds completely."

"It does."

Rio smiled faintly.

"And that's exactly what the developers wanted."

Ryota frowned.

"Why?"

Rio leaned back slightly.

"Competitive play."

Both of them looked at her.

Rio glanced toward the restaurant window.

"Evermount is becoming too popular. You've both noticed it."

Sayanaki nodded.

"Of course."

"The social media numbers have been growing," Rio continued. "More content creators started playing. Streamers, influencers, competitive players. Even major companies started investing more heavily in guilds."

Ryota nodded slowly.

Rio continued.

"The developers realized Evermount was no longer just a VRMMO people played casually."

Her eyes returned to the two of them.

"It was becoming a competitive game."

"The PvP arenas were becoming increasingly popular, and players were starting to optimize their builds specifically for competitive combat. That created a problem."

Sayanaki's eyes sharpened.

"So they wanted to balance the classes."

"Exactly."

Rio nodded.

"They wanted to make the game more even, especially between different classes."

Ryota suddenly frowned.

"Wait."

He leaned closer.

"Which class was the biggest problem?"

Rio looked directly at him.

"The Tamers."

Ryota blinked.

"The Tamers?"

Rio nodded.

"Yes."

Ryota looked confused.

"I thought the strongest classes right now were..."

He paused.

"Actually, I barely see any Tamer players."

Rio smiled.

"That's understandable."

"We haven't encountered many."

"The only notable Tamer we've personally encountered is Ayame."

She paused.

"And she was part of Eternity Lions."

Sayanaki nodded.

"So why are Tamers considered the strongest?"

Rio leaned forward.

"Because you haven't seen what they become in PvP."

Ryota listened carefully.

"Before this update, Tamers could exploit one major mechanic."

"Mana potions."

Rio tapped her finger lightly against the table as she explained.

"A Tamer could summon multiple creatures, use a mana potion, summon more, use another potion, and continue doing it as long as they had enough resources."

Ryota's expression slowly changed.

Rio continued.

"Imagine a one-versus-one arena match. One player against one Tamer."

She raised one hand.

"The Tamer summons four creatures."

Ryota nodded.

"Suddenly, the fight isn't one-versus-one anymore."

"It's one-versus-five."

"Exactly."

Rio lowered her hand.

"Now imagine you spend most of your resources defeating those four summons. Your health drops. Your mana drops. Your skills go on cooldown. You've exhausted yourself simply dealing with the creatures."

She paused.

"Then the Tamer drinks another mana potion..."

Ryota's eyes widened slightly.

"...and summons them again."

"Oh."

Sayanaki nodded.

"That would be horrible."

"It gets worse."

Rio's faint smile disappeared.

"Imagine that in a competitive arena. No outside interference. No environmental escape. No other players. Just you and the Tamer."

She leaned forward.

"What's stopping the Tamer from taming every creature they encounter and bringing an entire army into what is supposed to be a one-versus-one match?"

Ryota stared at her.

"Nothing."

"Exactly."

"And that's only the problem with summoning."

Rio's expression became more serious.

"What happens if those summons have their own skills?"

Ryota's eyes widened.

"...Then you're not fighting one Tamer."

Rio raised another finger.

"You're fighting the Tamer..."

She paused.

"...and an entire collection of additional skill users."

Sayanaki slowly nodded.

"That would make the class absurd in PvP."

"It was."

Rio nodded.

"That's why this update heavily nerfs the Tamer class."

She tapped her phone again.

"Under the new system, summoning a creature consumes one of the Tamer's eight limited skill slots."

Ryota immediately understood.

"So they can't summon an unlimited army anymore."

"Correct."

"And if the summon has a skill?"

Rio nodded.

"That costs another slot."

Ryota stared at the screen.

"So a Tamer could have four summons."

"Correct."

"That already consumes four slots."

"Correct."

"And if each summon has one usable skill..."

"Four more."

Rio smiled.

"Exactly."

Ryota leaned back.

"That's all eight."

"And suddenly the Tamer has no room for anything else."

Sayanaki nodded.

"So the update doesn't make Tamers useless."

"No."

Rio shook her head.

"It forces them to specialize."

She looked between them.

"Instead of collecting every creature they can find, Tamers will have to decide which creatures and abilities are actually worth bringing into battle."

Ryota nodded.

"That makes sense."

Sayanaki remained quiet.

Her gaze was still fixed on the phone.

Rio noticed.

"You understand."

Sayanaki slowly smiled.

"Yeah."

Then she looked directly at Rio.

"But..."

Rio raised an eyebrow.

Sayanaki's smile widened.

"You've got that expression."

"What expression?"

"The one you get when you know something everyone else doesn't."

Ryota immediately nodded.

"She definitely has that expression."

Rio sighed.

"You two are annoying."

Sayanaki laughed.

"So you know something else."

Rio didn't deny it.

Instead, she tapped another section of her notes.

"The eight-skill limit affects active skills."

Sayanaki waited.

Rio smiled.

"But passive skills..."

She paused.

"...are completely different."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

Ryota leaned forward.

"What?"

"Passive skills don't count toward the eight."

Silence.

Both of them stared at Rio.

Sayanaki's eyes became noticeably brighter.

"You're serious."

"Completely."

"So passive skills bypass the limit?"

"Yes."

Ryota slowly smiled.

"That's huge."

"It is."

Rio nodded.

"And almost nobody will realize how important that is at first."

She leaned back.

"It will take the community approximately one real-world month to figure it out."

Sayanaki blinked.

"One month?"

"Approximately."

Rio glanced at her notes.

"That's roughly four months inside Evermount."

Ryota nodded slowly.

"And once people realize?"

Rio's smile became slightly mischievous.

"Passive skill prices will explode."

"How high?"

"At least two hundred copper coins for the minimum."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

"Two hundred?"

"Minimum."

Ryota laughed quietly.

"So you've already bought them."

Rio smiled.

"Of course."

Sayanaki stared at her.

"How many?"

"Enough."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the answer you're getting."

Ryota laughed.

Rio continued.

"I bought several passive skills for us before maintenance started."

She looked toward both of them.

"I'll give them to you once the maintenance ends."

Sayanaki leaned back.

"So we're already ahead."

"Yes."

Ryota grinned.

"That's one advantage of having someone from fifteen years in the future."

Sayanaki glanced toward Rio with an amused smile.

Rio simply nodded.

"Exactly."

She moved to the next section of her notes.

"But that's not the only major change."

Sayanaki's attention immediately returned to the phone.

"What else?"

Rio smiled.

"There are two new features."

She turned the phone around again.

"Skill Synchronization."

Then she tapped the next entry.

"Skill Union."

Sayanaki's expression immediately became interested.

"Those sound important."

"They are."

Rio tapped the first entry.

"Skill Synchronization allows players to combine skills from their eight limited slots."

Ryota frowned.

"Combine?"

"Yes."

Rio nodded.

"For example, suppose I have Moonlight Melody and Butterfly Dance equipped."

Sayanaki listened carefully.

"I can synchronize those two skills."

Ryota leaned forward.

"And what happens?"

"A new attack is created from the properties of both skills."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

"So you combine their effects?"

"Exactly."

Rio continued.

"But there is a cost."

"Mana."

"The new skill costs the combined mana requirements of the skills used."

Ryota nodded.

"And the cooldown?"

Rio smiled.

"Normally, both skills would have their own individual cooldowns. But when they're synchronized..."

She paused.

"The resulting skill has twice the normal cooldown."

Ryota nodded slowly.

"Strong."

"Expensive."

"Exactly."

Sayanaki's expression became increasingly interested.

"So it's a trade-off."

Rio nodded.

"You gain a more complex attack by combining the properties of multiple skills, but you pay more mana and have to wait longer before using the resulting skill again."

Sayanaki leaned closer.

"Can you combine more than two?"

Rio smiled.

"Yes."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

"How many?"

"There isn't a simple two-skill limit."

Rio scrolled through her notes.

"You can create more complex combinations. However, the more skills you synchronize, the greater the mana cost becomes, the longer the cooldown becomes, and the more complicated the resulting skill becomes."

Ryota nodded.

"So there is a point where combining too many skills becomes inefficient."

"Exactly."

Sayanaki smiled.

"I like that."

Rio glanced at her.

"Why?"

"Because it adds another layer to the game."

Sayanaki folded her arms.

"Players aren't just choosing which skills to equip anymore. They're choosing which skills can actually work together."

Rio smiled.

"That's exactly what makes the system interesting."

Then she raised another finger.

"There is another restriction."

Sayanaki waited.

"You can't combine skills from different classes."

Ryota frowned.

"Even if you've learned them?"

"Even then."

Rio shook her head.

"A sword skill cannot be synchronized with a shield skill. A ranged skill can't be synchronized with a sword skill. The system checks class compatibility before allowing the combination."

Sayanaki nodded.

"So it has to remain within the same class."

"Correct."

"And another thing."

Rio tapped the screen.

"Not every skill can synchronize with every other skill."

Sayanaki's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"Rarity."

Rio answered immediately.

"The rarer a skill is, the fewer skills it can synchronize with."

Ryota frowned.

"That's backwards."

"It sounds that way."

Rio smiled.

"But it's intentional."

She continued.

"Take Moonlight Melody. Moonlight Melody is a Mythic-class skill. Because of its rarity and power, it has fewer compatible skills."

Sayanaki nodded slowly.

"And Butterfly Dance?"

"Common."

"So it has more options."

"Exactly."

Sayanaki thought about it for several seconds.

"A common skill can potentially combine with many things, while a Mythic skill has fewer compatible combinations."

"Yes."

Rio nodded.

"It prevents high-rarity skills from simply becoming compatible with everything."

Ryota smiled.

"So even having the strongest skill doesn't automatically mean you get the best combinations."

"Correct."

"Interesting."

Sayanaki looked genuinely excited now.

"It's basically another layer of strategy."

Rio smiled.

"That's why I like this update."

She moved to the second feature.

"Skill Union."

Ryota immediately leaned forward.

"What's the difference?"

Rio took a moment to explain.

"Skill Union is similar to Skill Synchronization, but there's one major difference."

She tapped the screen.

"Synchronization is temporary."

"Union is permanent."

Sayanaki's eyes widened.

Rio continued.

"Let's use the same example. Moonlight Melody and Butterfly Dance."

"If I synchronize them, I create a temporary combined skill. I can use that combination when I want, and once the synchronized effect ends, the original skills remain available."

Ryota nodded.

"That makes sense."

"Skill Union changes that."

Rio's voice became more deliberate.

"If I permanently combine Moonlight Melody and Butterfly Dance through Skill Union, they become a completely new skill."

She pointed toward the eight-slot section of the screen.

"And I can place that new skill into one of my eight limited slots."

Sayanaki immediately understood.

"So instead of having to synchronize the two every time..."

"You simply equip the finished skill."

"Exactly."

Ryota frowned.

"That sounds incredibly useful."

"It is."

"But there's a price."

Rio's expression became serious.

"Once you've created the Union skill, the original skills become unavailable while that Union skill occupies the slot."

Sayanaki's eyes narrowed.

"So if you combine Moonlight Melody and Butterfly Dance..."

"You can't use Moonlight Melody or Butterfly Dance individually."

"Correct."

"Not unless..."

Rio raised one finger.

"...you remove the Union skill from your eight limited skill slots."

Sayanaki nodded slowly.

"So you're sacrificing flexibility."

Rio smiled.

"Exactly."

She leaned back.

"Think of Skill Union as a pre-made Skill Synchronization."

Ryota nodded.

"You build the combination once."

"Then equip it like a normal skill."

"Exactly."

"But you lose access to the original skills while it's equipped."

Sayanaki smiled.

"So Skill Synchronization gives flexibility."

"And Skill Union gives convenience."

"That's a good way to put it."

Rio nodded.

"Synchronization is better when you want to experiment, adapt, or create temporary combinations during specific situations. Union is better when you've already found a combination you know you want to keep."

Ryota crossed his arms.

"And both systems are restricted by class."

"Correct."

"And rarity affects synchronization compatibility."

"Correct."

"And the eight-slot limit still applies."

"Exactly."

Sayanaki sat back in her chair.

For several seconds, she didn't speak.

She looked at the phone.

Then at Rio.

Then at Ryota.

Finally, she smiled.

"Okay."

Rio raised an eyebrow.

"Okay?"

Sayanaki nodded.

"I understand why you called this one of the biggest updates."

Ryota laughed.

"Yeah."

He looked toward the restaurant window.

"Evermount is about to become a completely different game."

Rio nodded.

"That's exactly what happened."

She looked down at her notes.

"In my original timeline, this update changed everything."

Her voice became quieter.

"Builds changed. PvP changed. Guild strategies changed. Skill markets changed. Class rankings changed."

She paused.

"Even the way players thought about their characters changed."

Sayanaki smiled.

"And this time..."

She looked toward Rio.

"We know what's coming."

Rio nodded.

"Yes."

Ryota leaned back.

"And we've already prepared."

Rio smiled.

"Exactly."

She closed the notes on her phone.

"For everyone else..."

She looked at both of them.

"Patch 0.3 will feel like the beginning of a new era."

Her gaze settled on Sayanaki.

"For us..."

Then she looked toward Ryota.

"It's an opportunity."

The three remained silent for a moment.

Then Sayanaki's grin returned.

"So..."

She leaned forward.

"What are we doing first?"

Rio smiled.

Her eyes carried the confidence of someone who had already lived through the future once.

"That's the next part of the meeting."

She reopened her notes.

"And trust me."

A faint smile appeared on her face.

"You'll want to hear it."

The three of them leaned closer around the table.

Outside, the city continued moving as it always had. Cars passed along the streets, pedestrians walked beneath the evening lights, and restaurants throughout the city continued serving customers who had no idea what was happening in a small corner of one particular establishment.

The world remained completely unaware of what was about to happen inside Evermount.

But Rio knew.

The update would soon go live.

Millions of players would log in expecting new content, new features, and perhaps a few balance adjustments.

Instead, they would discover that the foundation of Evermount's combat system had changed.

The eight-skill limit would force players to rethink their builds.

Tamers would have to abandon the endless-summon strategies that had made them so oppressive in competitive combat.

Passive skills would suddenly become extraordinarily valuable.

Skill Synchronization would create new possibilities that players had never considered before.

And Skill Union would allow those combinations to become permanent parts of a player's build at the cost of flexibility.

For everyone else, the new system would be something they had to discover.

For Rio, it was something she had already experienced.

She had watched the confusion.

She had seen the mistakes.

She had witnessed the strategies that succeeded and the strategies that failed.

She had watched entire guilds rebuild their players around the new system.

And this time, she wouldn't have to learn those lessons the hard way.

Rio looked down at the notes on her phone.

Fifteen years of knowledge were condensed into hundreds of pages of information.

Locations she had once spent months searching for.

Skills she had once discovered through trial and error.

Players whose names had once meant nothing.

Guilds whose rise and fall she had witnessed.

Future events that had once surprised her.

Now, all of it was written down.

And she had already begun preparing.

Rio closed her phone.

A small smile appeared on her face.

The future had given her fifteen years of knowledge.

Now she intended to use every second of it.

And as Patch 0.3 approached, the era of blindly discovering Evermount's future was coming to an end.

The Eight-Skill Era was about to begin.