Chapter 104: New Abilities
A year later, a flash of light illuminated the "Island of Heroes." When the brilliance faded, Haze's figure appeared.
He had been teleported from a sea fortress some distance away from the island a short-range teleportation ability.
Right in front of him stood an arched bridge resembling a gateway. Crossing it would lead him inside the island, to the players' social and resting areas.
"Island of Heroes" that was the name Haze had given his game world.
Unlike Greed Island, this was an open-world game. After entering, players had to queue up; once connected online, they were transported back to the map and the battle would begin.
At one corner beneath the bridge stood a building called the "Game Lobby."
Players needed to register an account, store their data, and sign an agreement.
Haze entered the lobby and was greeted by several NPCs wearing data helmets.
"Welcome to the Island of Heroes! Please register your player information as requested."
Besides the NPCs, the hall was filled with electronic screens and advanced instruments.
The displays showed streams of data and strange symbols incomprehensible to outsiders.
A robotic arm extended toward Haze, holding a computer. On the screen appeared… the registration form.
He filled out the required fields, and suddenly, a burst of multicolored light enveloped him.
"Hello, player 001… ID: Dragon. The game manual has been added to your loot package. Please check it," said the main NPC with a few words of caution.
Immediately after, Haze appeared on a circular platform in the center of the lobby and was teleported again.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a street surrounded by buildings. The system had already assigned him a location, and the game interface complete with a minimap appeared before him.
This feeling was strange to Haze.
Because he already knew another system like this.
The island's space and capacity were limited, so players had to queue for matches… but since he was alone, that wasn't necessary.
He opened the interface, activated Training Mode, and vanished instantly.
He arrived at the smaller of two islands a separate space, a miniature version of the full map. He stood near an altar at the center fountain the respawn point. Not far away was the faction base, surrounded by walls and defensive towers.
Beyond that stretched rocky cliffs and jungle.
Next to the fountain stood another materialized NPC a shopkeeper or, rather, an equipment vendor.
This wasn't entirely his own creation, so the structure differed slightly from League of Legends from his past life, but that didn't matter. As long as the fundamentals were the same.
After all, with only these new Nen users, even with a strong team, it would be impossible to recreate the full game perfectly.
This small map served as Haze's personal training room, while the real battles between players occurred on the larger island.
No other player could enter.
In training mode, he could freely gain gold, level up, buy gear, and more.
But right now, he wasn't here to play for fun.
The faction base was simple tall walls, banners, and three defense towers. He didn't venture into the jungle, already knowing it was full of wild monsters.
To the people of this world, Three Wolfs and Frogs probably resembled Warcraft more than anything else.
He didn't have to worry about updates or patches the NPCs would handle everything.
He disabled enemy spawns from the interface; the faction war hadn't started yet. But if Haze teleported under the enemy's tower, he'd immediately be targeted.
Health and mana bars appeared above his head, but his appearance remained unchanged since he hadn't selected a hero yet. He was both player and NPC having made modifications that didn't affect the game's balance. These modifications applied only to him.
He couldn't join PvP battles only appear in training mode.
They couldn't be used in normal matches.
He was essentially testing his new "hero character" on a private server.
In his previous life, League of Legends released a new hero every year. This fit perfectly with the game's concept.
It was crucial that each new hero's skills still matched the game's core rules.
And this new hero, Haze… wouldn't go online.
Everything was ready.
After a while, several lights flashed again at the fountain someone entered the room. Players couldn't do that only NPCs.
The leader NPC stepped forward and handed him a card.
"Done."
"New hero: four active skills and one passive," the NPC explained.
"The passive is Senna's Absolution upon defeating an enemy, you absorb their Dark Mist, increasing attack range and critical chance while granting life steal.
The Q is Thresh's Infernal Curse now active; collect souls of the fallen, each granting 1 armor and 1 ability power.
The W is Soul Drain from the Desert Reaper it deals initial physical damage, and killing a target with it permanently increases its damage by 3–10 points.
The E is Sion's Soul Furnace gain 4 HP per kill.
Finally, the R is Ekko's Chronobreak, granting a second life and health regeneration."
"Given your abilities, we've slightly adjusted their power values."
"Excellent!"
Haze's face brightened when he saw the character on the card an exact replica of himself and a grin spread across his lips.
He exited the room, re-entered as a player, and used a card to select his new hero before entering again.
He chose his runes and summoner spells.
When he respawned at the fountain, he immediately noticed the difference.
He now had five new abilities or rather, five additional powers.
Everyone else had left the map, teleporting away.
Now, Haze stood alone on this small island.
Here are his new abilities, briefly explained:
Absolution: Killing an enemy increases attack range and critical chance in real life, it's like killing from afar.Infernal Curse: Absorbs souls to increase armor and magic power armor representing physical defense, magic power representing mental strength.Soul Drain: Each kill boosts the skill's damage permanently.Soul Furnace: Killing someone increases maximum health.Temporal Rupture: Allows him to rewind several seconds in time his ultimate weapon. If used upon death, it restores him to life.
Except for Temporal Rupture, all the other abilities shared one thing:
They endlessly strengthened him his power, stats, and attack efficiency kept growing.
As long as he had enough time and defeated enough enemies, he would never stop advancing.
There was no limit.
With just Absolution, after absorbing enough Dark Mist, he could attack from a thousand meters away striking before his enemies even noticed him.
Then… he had to exit training mode.
But it wasn't a normal logout.
The game had to keep running.
Then Haze unleashed his telekinesis his "Infinite Visionary's Treasure House Game" ability!
The familiar human-faced button materialized in midair.
Thanks to his past experience, Haze's development was much faster this time.
The button emitted a strange sound no longer saying "Start" or "Begin Game."
Instead, it spoke in a different tongue, signaling a new function for his evolved telekinesis:
"Loading program…"
"Reading complete. Module loading initiated…"
"Load successful. Data package copy complete…"
"Exiting game in 3… 2… 1…"
The instant the countdown ended, the human-faced button vanished.
Haze was engulfed in a beam of light and transported away.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood at the entrance to the game right before the bridge to the lobby.
The same place where he had first appeared before registering as a player.
He had done it.
(End of Chapter)
I invite you to read my new fanfic about Fullmetal Alchemist. It's 100% my own work, I hope you like it.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: Under the Law of Equivalence
https://www.webnovel.com/book/34562609200143405