While reading a litrpg novel i was kind of bummed that the starting skill the person awakened with was random. So I tried imagining what it would be like if instead the first skill you awaken is determined by how you kill your first monster. (And to unlock or upgrade skills after that would be much more difficult) So with the setting of a modern world where portals appear with monsters inside them, what do you think would most people do to awaken their skills? Once people have a general idea of how to awaken most skills, what skill would most people aim for? What skill combinations would become mainstream? I started making a list of skills and their requirements and upgrade conditions. It was much more tiring than i expected but I wanted to know if there was anything that didn't make sense or some interesting or obvious ideas I hadn't thought of yet. Spoiler: Skill list Swordsmanship: killing a normal monster with a sword (all weapon based skills have similar requirements) / killing 100 monsters with a sword Improves sword speed, sharpness, and durability. Adds a small increase in range. (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level monsters for higher skill level/ kill 100 defense type monsters to gain antidefense / kill 100 speed types for fast blade/ kill 100 enemies each after one second of drawing the sword for quickdraw/ kill 100 monsters just with the increased range of the sword for sword projection )* *If you kill your first monster with the upgrade condition you start with the upgraded skill Fire Magic: kill an enemy by burning them to death / burn 100 enemies to death Fire magic allows the control and amplification of fire, but doesn't grant the ability to create fire (I imagined you would start by using technology until crafting magic tools to use as weapons) (Upgrade: burn 100 higher level monsters to death for higher skill level/ suffocate 100 monsters from fires for air burning/ kill 100 monsters with the shockwave from a fire for explosion/ burn 100 fire resistant monsters to gain penetrative fire) Earth Magic: kill an enemy with a rock or stone/ kill 100 enemies with rocks Earth magic increases the impact and speed of thrown rocks, as well as the ability to reshape rocks nearby (upgrade: kill 100 higher level enemies for higher skill level/kill 100 enemies with sharpened stones for earth spike/ block 100 attacks with a raised wall for earth wall/ bury 10 enemies alive for earth grave/ kill 50 enemies by slamming them against the ground for earth reinforcement) Gravity Magic: kill an enemy by dropping a weight on them (no added acceleration) or by dropping the enemy/ Kill 100 enemies either by dropping an object or the enemy Gravity magic can increase gravitational attraction in an area nearby or increase the mass of a target object or person (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level enemies with gravity magic for higher skill level/ completely crush an enemy 100 times for black hole/ kill an enemy by slamming them against the ceiling 100 times for reverse gravity/ Exercise 100 hours under the effects of increased gravity for gravity body) Wind Magic: kill an enemy with a blast of wind/ kill 100 enemies with a blast of wind Wind magic allows for the control air and amplification of wind impacts (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level enemies for higher skill level/ cut 100 enemies with wind to gain wind blade/ kill 100 enemies with shockwave from fist to gain 100 steps fist/ suffocate 100 enemies to gain vacuum bubble/ stay in the air for 100 minutes to gain glide / glide for 100 hours to gain flight) Space Magic: kill an enemy with space (crushing the enemy against the portal entrance counts) /kill 100 enemies with space Space magic lets you seperate or connect space to create space barriers or one way portals (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level enemies for higher skill level/ cut 100 enemies with space for space sever/ hold an object for 100 hours in an enclosed space barrier to gain inventory/ hold a terrarium in the inventory for 100 hours to learn pocket dimension (size of pocket dimension is determined by amount of oxygen produced by plants in inventory)/ block 100 attacks to learn space barrier/ pass through 100 connected spaces to learn how to make portals) Marksmanship: kill a monster with a shooting weapon/ kill 100 monsters with a shooting weapon Improves projectile speed and damage, and gives slight control of attack trajectory (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level monsters for higher skill level/ kill 100 monsters by altering the trajectory of your attacks for Homing shot/ kill 100 monsters unawares for Silent shot/ kill two monsters in one shot 50 times for Penetrative shot/ kill 100 monsters in a row without missing a shot for Hunters Mark/ kill 100 monsters with one shot each for Critical shot) Barehanded Fighting : kill a monster barehanded/ kill 100 monsters barehanded Improves damage from fists and hardness of hands (Upgrade: kill 100 monsters of higher level to raise skill level/ kill 100 defensive monsters for Destruction strike/ kill 100 monsters by slamming them against the ground for Slam Grab ) Bite: kill a monster by biting them to death/ kill 100 enemies with your teeth Bite increases the bite strength and range (a skill mostly for monsters or animals) (Upgrade: kill 100 higher level monsters with your bites for higher skill level/ kill 100 enemies with the increased bite range without using your real teeth for bite projection/ swallow what you bite off 100 times for devour/ kill 100 defense type monsters with your bite for crushing bite) Vampirism: kill a monster by sucking their blood/ kill 100 monsters by sucking their blood Vampirism improves blood sucking and regenerate health with blood (a skill for monsters or animals or bugs) (Upgrade: kill 100 monsters of higher level for higher skill level/ suck blood 100 times without killing the target for painless drain/ drain all the blood of 100 enemies for complete drain)
Most people might awaken hunter skills of making traps because without skills that is the easiest way to kill monsters. Maybe somebody will try to use a nuke to get a fission skill? Try catching the monster to get taming skill, thunder magic with shock, poison or curse magic by killing with poison, beat and bandage monster for healing magic? kill monster with your dog's help to get summoning magic? sneak attack for assassin skill? There are too many I can keep writing if I keep thinking.
Why does this remind me of The Second Coming Of Gluttony? Also, don't forget. If you want these skills then you'll have to fulfill the related conditions. It's like you're in a trial and by convenience, a sword/gasoline+lighter/weights/sharp stones etc are just present within arm's reach. Doesn't make sense. Also, wouldn't bite and vampirism be derivative skills of each other? Because in order to drink blood, you'd have to bite and if you bite, you will inevitably drink blood. I personally think that it's a matter of the plot making sense, not letting the mc just get good skills because of plot armour or whatever you call it. Even if there are tools as stated above present around the mc, would he even have time to learn how to use them? And for kills like lighting them on fire, would it be considered trap skill or flame skill?
I figured some skills were possible to gain simultaneously, like bite and vampirism. So if you killed someone with a fire trap i suppose you would get both trap skill and fire magic For taming i figured if you commanded a pet to attack and kill that would work. For healing i figured since it wasn't related to killing you could only slog through the "do 100 X" in this case treat an injury caused by a monster. Though i suppose treating monsters and befriending them could also lead to taming + healing. Using nukes would probably be only possible for very few people but could give a powerful skill. Shock and poison would work like fire magic. As for curse i was thinking something like "if you strongly believe that you caused the monster's death (without directly or indirectly trying to kill it)" you gain the curse skill
How easy is it to truly believe you were the cause of something's death when something else killed it?
But if lots of people are attacking it together and they're not in a party/team, then? Oh wait. I forgot things like announcements exist.
it depends on the type of monsters that come using nukes is a bad idea in general unless people are fine with the collateral damage and fallout, and a person cant fire a nuke by themselves tbh most people probably military would be the first to awaken skills for using a gun or other arms
It has to be about curses, so helping to kill the monster wouldn't go towards the curse skill. I was thinking you would be doing voodoo or just praying for something bad to happen to the monster, and then by some coincidence (if the other person/monster listens to what you say then that goes to a command type skill and not curses) the monster dies in a way that makes you believe your curse came true. Otherwise it would be a different skill Definitely at first that would happen. But i was more curious about how things would develop once things are under control and information is spread. Assuming that most monsters are only behind portals and can't get out. How would people go about killing their first monster to get the most useful/powerful skill? And no collateral damage if the nuke goes off inside the portal. But it does make it confusing on how to assign skills if many people are involved with the bomb. Does it go to the one or more people who set the bomb in location? Does some or most contribution go to one who set the timer? If it's launched does it go only to the one who pulled the trigger? (Any orders to fire would only grant command type skills unfortunately). I don't know how nuclear bombs are made but would the one or more people involved in building it get the skill for killing as well as making the bomb? Crafters would get insane skills over time if that were the case
I think mechanics/alchemists would be more apt for nuclear bomb production. And if they do make one, maybe get a skill like thermal conductivity or smth. Don't forget, professions will still exist. Otherwise, you'd have four-dimensionals existing everywhere. For the kill, if it is remote detonated, the guy who pushed the button would do it. For other conditions like dropping it off a plane or smth, if there's more than one person involved, they get weakened skills than if only one person does it. How weak it will be can depend on the contribution.
I can imagine a brutal male MC awakening the space skill. Or a nimble female MC tricking the monster into a fall wakening the gravity skill. I'd be the sidekick with swordsmanship or earth magic at best -_-. In rpg's I always picked tank cause I could just stand there and wave my sword around most of the time without too much strategy. Healer is the most stressful to me. As for ideas... I like the sorting hat way. It judges your attributes, but also takes into account your own wishes and suggests classes to you to pick. Then you can branch off depending on quests, materials, experience, weapon/magic mastery and so on. With multiple chances to change your mind and switch, for a price. I just don't like restrictions.