After a few moments of confusion, Clayton finally snapped out of his shock and was filled with hope.
He vaguely remembered that many protagonists in isekai novels had their own cheat abilities.
Could what he saw earlier be his cheat ability?
Excited, he quickly fired his water gun again, hoping the digital text would reappear. But the text he was hoping for didn't show up.
Now Clayton was completely baffled. Had he just imagined it? Or did he actually see those words?
He tried firing a few more times, but the screen remained blank. His hope of becoming strong quickly through a cheat seemed to vanish instantly.
As he sank into disappointment, that annoying buzzing sound returned. A small grasshopper appeared.
With a frustrated look, Clayton raised two fingers toward the bug. Each finger shot a stream of water.
Snap!
Snap!
The grasshopper died instantly, its body torn to shreds.
Clayton felt slightly relieved, as if the murky air in his lungs had finally been released.
But then, his eyes lit up with joy. Two lines of foreign yet familiar text appeared before him:
[Water Gun Skill +1]
[Water Gun Skill +1]
He was now certain it hadn't been a hallucination—the text was real!
He began to understand how the system worked. Just like in a game, a person had to complete an action to gain experience points (EXP).
By "complete," it didn't mean meaningless repetition—it meant doing something correctly and effectively. For example, in order for the Water Gun skill to gain EXP, the shot had to hit its target.
Clayton became excited. His wild hopes might not be so far-fetched after all.
After calming down, he tried to interact with the digital text. Instantly, information flooded his mind:
Name: Clayton Fisherman
Age: 16 years old
Rank: False Mage
Skills:
Farming (Lv 1) (0/100): (Observation), (Farmer's Intuition)
Water Gun (Lv 1) (3/100): (Density), (Viscosity)
Holy Skeleton (Lv 1) (0/100): (Rune), (Sharing)
Apparently, Clayton had unintentionally brought a game item from his previous world—an item he had worked hard to obtain in the game: [Divine Experience Bar].
Although it was just an add-on item resembling a normal EXP bar, this one had extraordinary properties. Any skill linked to this bar could level up without limit. Additionally, every time a skill broke through a major level threshold, it unlocked two bonus entries.
The item was considered buggy because even the most useless skills could become divine-level if trained through this bar. No wonder so many players had pulled all-nighters just to get it.
Clayton let out a bitter smile, remembering how he had stayed awake for days just to earn that item—maybe that's why he ended up dead and transported to this world of swords and magic.
Though a bit melancholic, he didn't dwell on the past. No one would remember him in his old world. He had lived alone. Maybe only his selfish capitalist boss would notice he was gone—since his project, already overdue, was never submitted.
Thinking about it made him chuckle.
Clayton pushed away thoughts of his meaningless past and began studying his Divine Experience Bar.
He discovered that the bar was automatically linked to three random skills his body could use.
The first skill was Farming, with two entries:
Observation: Allows Clayton to recognize various aspects of an object—such as its function, age, behavior, and physical traits. As if he had a vast database supporting his analysis. But due to the low level, the information was still limited.
Farmer's Intuition: Similar to Observation, but specifically focused on agriculture. Clayton could sense whether a plant was sick, lacking or overloaded with nutrients, infested by pests, and so on—purely through intuition.
The second skill was Water Gun, with two entries:
Density: Allows manipulation of the water's magical density. Increasing the water's mass could amplify the impact of attacks through added force and pressure. This entry was highly versatile.
Viscosity: Enables manipulation of water thickness. Opens the possibility of creating weapons or shields using non-Newtonian fluids, once hailed as the future of armor materials in his original world.
The third skill was Holy Skeleton, with two entries:
Rune: Grants advantages in identifying, crafting, and manipulating magical runes—likely related to the summoning arrays used to call skeletal warriors.
Sharing: Allows Clayton to share one of his skills with his summoned skeleton. This way, the skeleton could help with tasks like farming without needing to learn the skill itself.
Clayton was thrilled. A sudden inspiration struck him.
He formed an unusual hand sign and chanted an incantation. A silver-white magic circle appeared, and from within it, a small skeleton with shiny, clean bones emerged.
The tiny skeleton looked at Clayton with innocent curiosity, like a well-behaved child.
Though not surprised—having seen it in the body's memories—Clayton still felt a little touched by how adorable the creature was in person.
But he quickly set those feelings aside. There were experiments to run.
Clayton tried using Sharing to give the Holy Skeleton skill to the skeleton itself. His goal: have the skeleton summon another skeleton, creating an endless army.
The attempt failed. It was a clever idea, but reality didn't support it.
So, he changed strategies. This time, he gave the skeleton the Farming skill. He watched carefully—and was relieved when both Observation and Farmer's Intuition were transferred along with it.
The skeleton's eyes glowed blue, now appearing livelier, almost spiritual.
Clayton told it to begin working. Though stiff and clumsy, the skeleton performed fairly well for a "beginner farmer."
He nodded in satisfaction, then gathered the remains of the grasshoppers he had killed earlier.
As noon approached, Clayton took a break and summoned one more skeleton warrior. This time, he gave it the Water Gun skill.
Just like that, he spent the rest of the day working the field until evening.
In one corner, a pile of grasshoppers had formed. Clayton gathered them and went inside the house. With the help of Observation and Farmer's Intuition, he began carefully cleaning the insects.
These were zero-star demon grasshoppers—common pests that carried faint magical traces. Good as a tonic for false mages like him, but dangerous and poisonous to humans. Usually, they were fed to livestock with strong immunity, which kept their price low.
But with his skills, Clayton had a chance to make better use of them.
After gaining confidence, he searched around and found a twitching rat trap. He fed the rat a cleaned grasshopper and locked it up, ensuring the safety of his meal.
Thirty minutes passed. The rat was fine. Clayton breathed a sigh of relief.
He began frying the grasshoppers until they turned crispy, his eyes sparkling.
When he bit into one, he was satisfied. It tasted savory like shrimp, and a faint warmth spread in his belly—a sign that his body was absorbing a bit of the residual magic.
He didn't forget to give one to Dingo, the dog.
Dingo wagged his tail as he ate it happily.
After that, Clayton began setting the table.
But just as he was about to enjoy his meal—knock knock knock!—a sudden knock echoed through the house.
Clayton's face soured. He had a bad feeling.
Could those people be back again, already scheming about his house?