Skills - These are abilities or passive abilities that you as an individual have access to. These can be both learned and taken through the monster skill
Absorption. There are an almost infinite amount of skills that can be learned, and many can only be gained through the use of other methods such as evolving. Skills come in four types. Utility, Offensive, Defensive, and Unique.
Utility skills are abilities that help an individual through a variety of different uses and are normally the most flexible with their uses, especially when it comes to out of combat. Things like venom, spider webs, and a high lung capacity are examples of utility skills. More often than not utility skills are species specific skills that require the Absorption ability to learn. Most passive abilities are utility skills.
Offensive skills are ones that are almost entirely destructive or used for combat. Abilities such as fire magic, weaponry skills, and a large amount of stealth abilities fall under this category. These skills are mostly learned by the monsters that prefer combat over all else as a form of leveling up.
Defensive skills make it easier to survive most situations. Toughened skin, shield tactics, and an infinite amount of survival skills end up here. There are a few exceptions to this rule though. Abilities like "Escape" and "Grow Armored Scales" fall under utility.
Finally, Unique skills are specific skills to individuals. These are mostly abilities gained through Ranking Up or by meeting specific criteria. It is almost impossible to predict when or how someone will receive a unique skill, or if they'll ever even get one. Mystery shrouds this topic and even now many do not know how to acquire these.
Skill Ranks - When a certain skill becomes powerful enough or mastered enough, it has the possibility of becoming the next letter rank. This scale goes from the lowest, E-Rank, up to the highest, S-Rank. Most monsters never reach S-Rank in any skill as they normally don't evolve far enough for their body to use it. Thus, S-Rank in anything is almost unheard of. It would be considered in a territory that could easily wipe out an entire city. Rumors exist that higher ranks are possible, but that would be Godhood territory. The only ability to not have a rank is Absorption.
Absorption - Taking skills from other creatures through devouring them is common practice in this world for monster. It may sound simple, but it is a very selective process. Since only 6 skills can be taken per Rank Up it's important to watch what you take. The average Goblin will simply take whatever skills they can get as soon as possible, but the more successful ones tend to wait on it. While the ones who wait on which skills to take are normally the successful ones, there is an equal amount who are unsuccessful and simply die because they didn't have any skills to use for the situation at hand. While the ones who just take whatever skills they can get their hands on don't get very powerful, at least they can survive some situations.
When a creature is devoured a series of options is available. They will have the choice of which abilities to steal for themselves, but they won't know what they are. This is why the ability to foresee and predict abilities is important. All abilities that are stolen begin as E-Rank.
Common Examples 1. Goblin Sei eats a Horned Rabbit. She decides to absorb an ability. The Horned Rabbit had the following abilities...
Goblin Sei gains the ability... Escape. 2. Goblin Sei eats an Armored Dog. She decides to absorb an ability. The Armored Dog had the following abilities...
- [???] - Defensive Skill
- [???] - Offensive Skill
Goblin Sei gains the ability... Intimidation. Uncommon Examples 1. Goblin Sei eats a Horned Rabbit
Variant. She decides to absorb an ability. The Horned Rabbit Variant has the following abilities...
- [Escape] - The ability to flee and get to a safe location much more efficiently. D-Rank
- [???] - Offensive Skill
Because Sei already absorbed and learned what ability Escape was, she'll always know which creatures have it after eating them. This Horned Rabbit is rarer than normal though so she wants to take its other ability.
Goblin Sei gains the ability . .. Camouflage.