The cube Lyn formed in his hand split along a grid like pattern without much effort. Twenty-seven smaller cubes began floating in a circular plane around his hand.
"A 3x3 cube? Then how does it work with the tear?"
Instead of splitting along a grid, the tear began to form into needles of varying sizes. Instinctually, Lyn felt the density of the split constructs were obviously lower, but he could move them quicker when he focused on them as a ground.
‘It seems like I'll need mental training to use all these needles at once…’
Understanding his new technique, Lyn moved on to his stats.
- - -
[Due to certain restrictions your stats have been reset to Level 1]
STR: Increased by 1
DEX: Increased by 4
INT: Increased by 5
WIS: Increased by 2
VIT: ???
END: No change
‘Didn’t I gain 10 stats due to my achievements earlier?’ The system would reasses a hunter's abilities everytime they chose to Level up.
Level 3 was seen as the threshold for this system and all its features to be unlocked. Including passive growth based on your performance between levels, Stat Accumulation was possible for extra growth while receiving formal training.
The agreed path is to take your test at the Association Branch and gain an achievement before moving on to Level 3. Lyn didn't bother deviating from any predetermined paths just yet.
Lyn thought it was odd how the system was set up, however with time he would get used to it’s intricacies. For him this also meant another thing.
‘I can learn [Domain] now!’
Although Lyn had other skills he could swap out with [Mana Burst] and [Domain]'s future slot, the combined power of Life Force energy and [Mana Burst] was never seen before. A scholar at heart, Lyn started immediately.
"Usually, using a technique like that is a death sentence for Life Force, but if it's me..?" Confident that Life Force wouldn't drain him and content with not ever using it in a battle, Lyn tried expanding his mana to cover his room.
Woom woom~
A low pitched alternating hum filled the room. Anyone who saw a Life Force user doing such a thing would only assume they were throwing their life away all too soon, but something was off.
"It's... difficult" As if it was trapped inside his body, Lyn's life force increase would barely show even when he put all his effort into it.
But the hum is so loud? Lyn couldn't understand what he was doing wrong, so as anyone would, he went to internet for help.
"It's truly a simple skill. Imagine if you were a flame, not just covering, but consuming a room."
Trying again.. but to no avail, Lyn finally gave up.
Who would ever believe I did such a thing anyway... Trying to reason his way out of disappointment, Lyn moved back into the idea of swapping out his skills.
. . .
With the angel's restriction I can only hold three at a time, until I hit Level 5 and get a new skill slot.
Usually, the fifth skill slot would not be filled so early in a warrior's growth but in Lyn's case the supply of skills he had could not fit the demand.
"In any case, let's see what we have.."
Deep Sleep [Debuff]
Target and release apply [Deep Sleep] debuff. Area of effect around every target.
Just like the Calamity, a powerful one.. I'll take that first.
[Removing [Mana Burst]...]
Blink Chain
Move a short distance instantly. Move back along your teleportation path as well. Requires constant energy output to maintain path.
A movement skill, I'll take this as well unless the next seems more important.
Energy Manipulation [Buff]
Your (target's) energy becomes denser. The power of attacks increase, but the speed decreases. Requires constant energy output.
No time limit, just focus.. not bad but I'd like a movement skill as well...
And so Lyn's two new skill were decided.
Sniff Sniff~
Also, dinner was ready!
. . .
"[Blink Chain]?" Sunny inquired
"It's not much different that [Blink], I can just go backwards if need be. Ah, it requires focus though." Lyn didn't like the sound of that, prefering to focus on the fight at hand. Sunny agreed with his sentiment too.
"It's not much of an upgrade either. If you need to go backwards, just [Blink] backwards. That'll take time to do efficiently but it's better than losing focus on the monster."
As of now Lyn was not adpet enough with the skill to fit the focus condition of the skill without actually giving it his full focus, so he disregarded the skill until he was sure he could use it in a real fight.
"You shouldn't go around using that debuff without us around either." Ren advised. The mass majority of people didn't have the mental strength to move on from a devastaing event as easily as warriors. Even some warriors themselves lost loved ones in that fight, so to avoid resurfacing trauma Lyn would keep that skill in his back pocket.
. . .
Snap! Zip!
Lyn practiced blinking through his now empty library, while holding a split tear and a dense cube.
It's efficient but... it's so boooring.
Lyn really wanted to go to sleep but he still had research to do on his dungeon drops. In addition he learned he could actually improve himself without leveling up.
[Your total energy limit has grown!]
Another thing to research..
Lyn hadn't heard of anyone improving themselves outside of level ups, even when the method he was using was so obvious.
"It's not like no one trains, so what's with this system?"
Shortly after getting that notification, Lyn noticed a quirk he hadn't seen before.
My hand glows when I focus on a skill?
His left hand that he used to cast magic had started glowing whenever he had to focus to use a skill.
"It doesn't seem to do when I use reactive skills though?"
There was no real reason to worry about it yet, but the development cause by unknown forces worried the warrior surrounded by new variables.
. . .
TFTC
There's a new chapter out now! Thanks for reading ^-^