After staring intently at the dark, contaminated sky—the last place left to search—Liam looked away and opened his system. His expression grew focused, ready to improve some of his abilities before continuing.
[ENTITY DEVOURING SYSTEM]
Host: LiamAge: 15 years
[SKILLS]
[OBSERVATION] [LVL 1]
[MEMORY PROTECTION] [LVL MAX]
[PSYCHIC SENSITIVITY] [LVL 1]
[TELEPATHY] [LVL 1]
[DREAM DOMINION] [LVL 1]
[ABNORMAL RESISTANCE] [LVL 1]
[MINOR IMMORTALITY] [LVL 1]
[FAITH] [LVL 1]
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 5]
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 2]
[NIGHT VISION] [LVL 9]
[COORDINATION] [LVL 9]
[SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION] [LVL 2]
[SYSTEM SYNCHRONIZATION 47%]
[MISSIONS]
[GUIDE]
[SKILL FRAGMENTS] [5]
[EXCESS SKILLS]
[NIGHT VISION] [LVL 1] x58
[COORDINATION] [LVL 1] x44
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 1] x1
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 1] x3
Liam slightly raised his eyebrows as he took in the full status. His eyes shone when he noticed his first skill at level 5 and several others at high levels. For a brief moment, a clear sense of excitement crossed his face as he saw so many accumulated upgrades—and, above all, so many skills available to be destroyed and converted into fragments.
But along with the excitement came doubt. He frowned slightly as he analyzed the numbers. He wasn't convinced that having Night Vision at level 9 was truly useful. The difference between level 1 and level 9 didn't seem significant enough compared to investing those levels into something more effective for direct combat.
As he examined the level 9 skills more closely, he realized something important. He now understood exactly how many level 1 skills were required to increase each level. Every level doubled. If reaching level 9 required 256 level 1 skills, then level 10 would require 512, and so on for every subsequent level.
That realization made his expression turn serious. At high levels, upgrading skills would become extremely difficult. And if it wasn't the same skill, he would have to rely on skill fragments, knowing that every 10 fragments equaled one level 1 skill. In practical terms, raising a skill to level 9 using fragments would be equivalent to spending 512 level 1 skills.
Liam could only hope to find another place like this in the future… or something even better, where he could level up skills with such ease.
Setting that thought aside, he selected Coordination level 9 and chose the option to destroy it. When he confirmed the choice, a new option appeared—one he hadn't seen the last time he destroyed a level 1 skill.
[DESTROY ONLY 8 LEVELS][DESTROY ENTIRE SKILL]
A wide grin instantly spread across Liam's face. This meant he could destroy only part of a skill, lowering its level and reusing those fragments on something more important.
Without hesitation, he selected Destroy Entire Skill. In the next instant, Coordination vanished from his status, and almost immediately, the fragment counter changed.
[OBTAINED 1280 SKILL FRAGMENTS]
Without wasting time, Liam selected Night Vision, ready to lower its level.
[DESTROY ONLY 8 LEVELS][DESTROY ENTIRE SKILL]
This time, he chose to destroy only 8 levels. To his surprise, a third option appeared.
[CHOOSE HOW MANY LEVELS TO DESTROY]
Liam selected the option and watched as multiple possibilities unfolded, allowing him to choose exactly how far he wanted to reduce the skill. This would give him much greater flexibility in the future if he ever needed to keep a skill at a specific level.
Without delay, he chose to destroy 8 levels. In the next instant, Night Vision dropped to level 1.
[OBTAINED 640 SKILL FRAGMENTS]
After that, Liam repeated the process with the remaining excess Coordination and Night Vision level 1 skills. The system responded immediately.
[OBTAINED 510 SKILL FRAGMENTS]
With all those fragments accumulated, Liam straightened slightly. Now he was ready to upgrade his skills. He looked once more at his full status, examining it carefully as he decided which abilities to raise and how much to invest in each.
[ENTITY DEVOURING SYSTEM]
Host: LiamAge: 15 years
[SKILLS]
[OBSERVATION] [LVL 1]
[MEMORY PROTECTION] [LVL MAX]
[PSYCHIC SENSITIVITY] [LVL 1]
[TELEPATHY] [LVL 1]
[DREAM DOMINION] [LVL 1]
[ABNORMAL RESISTANCE] [LVL 1]
[MINOR IMMORTALITY] [LVL 1]
[FAITH] [LVL 1]
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 5]
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 2]
[NIGHT VISION] [LVL 1]
[SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION] [LVL 2]
[SYSTEM SYNCHRONIZATION 47%]
[MISSIONS]
[GUIDE]
[SKILL FRAGMENTS] [2435]
[EXCESS SKILLS]
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 1] x1
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 1] x3
At first, Liam considered upgrading Supernatural Resilient Body, Supernatural Regeneration, and Supernatural Physical Strength, along with Minor Immortality and Abnormal Resistance.
But after thinking it through, he gently shook his head. He knew those abilities could still be upgraded easily if he found identical copies in the other dimension. It would be better to spend fragments on skills that would be much harder to obtain in large quantities.
After several seconds of careful analysis, Liam finally made his decision. He closed his eyes slightly, took a deep breath, and began distributing the fragments with care. In the end, he chose to upgrade only Minor Immortality and Abnormal Resistance, preparing himself for whatever they might encounter in the other dimension.
He prioritized raising Minor Immortality further, pouring a large number of fragments into it until it reached level 8, while Abnormal Resistance was left at level 6. His objective was clear: survive, no matter what stood in front of him.
[ENTITY DEVOURING SYSTEM]
Host: LiamAge: 15 years
[SKILLS]
OBSERVATION [LVL 1]
MEMORY PROTECTION [LVL MAX]
PSYCHIC SENSITIVITY [LVL 1]
TELEPATHY [LVL 1]
DREAM DOMINION [LVL 1]
[ABNORMAL RESISTANCE] [LVL 6]
[MINOR IMMORTALITY] [LVL 8]
[FAITH] [LVL 1]
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 5]
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 2]
[NIGHT VISION] [LVL 1]
[SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION] [LVL 2]
[SYSTEM SYNCHRONIZATION 47%]
[MISSIONS]
[GUIDE]
[SKILL FRAGMENTS] [855]
[EXCESS SKILLS]
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 1] x1
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 1] x3
Seeing the final numbers, Liam remained still for a moment. He had 855 skill fragments left over, but he decided to save them. There was no point in spending them immediately when his true goal was to raise Minor Immortality even further in the future. His survival was the absolute priority.
He decided to leave Abnormal Resistance at level 6 for now. The next levels were too expensive compared to their immediate benefit, and at that level it was already extremely useful for any confrontation that might arise.
With his decisions made, Liam relaxed his shoulders slightly and decided to review the changes brought by the level-ups. Without hesitation, he selected the skills one by one, carefully reading each description.
[ABNORMAL RESISTANCE] [LVL 6]: You can ignore damage and move as if you had not been injured. Broken tendons, muscles, bones, and ligaments do not affect you—you can move as if you had suffered no damage at all.
Liam lightly clenched his fingers as he read this. Now, no matter how badly his body was damaged, he could continue moving as if nothing had happened. Even with shattered bones or torn muscles, his body would obey without fail.
[MINOR IMMORTALITY] [LVL 8]: You can only die if your head is completely destroyed.
A faint smile appeared on his face. The old weakness was gone. Decapitation was no longer enough. To kill him now, his head would have to be completely destroyed.
Liam reflected for a moment. Most likely, the only way to kill him would be to reduce his head to ashes—or erase it entirely from existence. The thought sent a cold, yet comforting, sensation through him.
[SUPERNATURAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH] [LVL 5]: Can easily break walls, floors, and cars. (+200%)
Liam slowly nodded. His strength was now 200% greater than at level 1, definitively confirming his theory: each level increased physical strength by 50%.
[SUPERNATURAL RESILIENT BODY] [LVL 2]: Damage from weapons such as pistols, rifles, and similar firearms is largely ineffective. Only fire and heavy weapons can truly harm you. (+50%)
[SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION] [LVL 2]: Can regenerate from gunshot wounds and reattach lost body parts. (+50%)
Liam calmly analyzed both abilities. Everything suggested that regeneration improved in the same way as strength, likely increasing speed and efficiency with each level.
Finally, he lifted his gaze from the system and focused on the synchronization percentage. It had increased significantly after almost completely clearing the Upside Down. There was no new update yet, but Liam suspected something important would happen upon reaching 50%.
He also noticed something else: the synchronization rate had slowed considerably, even after killing several hundred monsters in this dimension.
Liam had no choice but to accept it. He slowly exhaled, letting the thought settle, and forced himself to move forward. He would have to keep pushing and continue hunting monsters to raise synchronization in the future. After all, the world he now lived in was full of opportunities like this. Someday, he was certain, he would find another place filled with supernatural beings or monsters that would allow him to raise synchronization quickly.
"Come on, Carrie. It's time to see if we can find the entrance to the other dimension in the sky," Liam said, straightening his back and lifting his gaze, mentally prepared to search for the entrance and kill anything they encountered on the other side.
"Yeah, let's go. I've already recovered from exploring this place," Carrie replied, yawning widely and covering her mouth with one hand. She had been asleep, leaning against him, while Liam made all his upgrades. About thirty minutes had passed.
Liam glanced at her and scratched the back of his neck with a hint of guilt. "Sorry. I won't take that long next time."
"It's fine. I enjoyed the nap on your shoulder anyway," Carrie said with a small smile, tilting her head slightly. "Besides, I needed that rest. I feel completely recovered now."
Liam nodded with a gentle smile, feeling some of the tension fade. "Let's go."
"Mmm," Carrie replied softly, nodding as well. Without warning, she lifted them both with her telekinesis. Their bodies rose rapidly, slicing through the air as they ascended at high speed, leaving dense clouds behind and passing through thunderclaps that grew closer and louder the higher they went.
Without breaking her concentration, Carrie extended her power and formed a small, translucent telekinetic barrier around both of them—an invisible bubble—as a precaution to prevent any lightning from striking them.
After about a minute of continuous ascent, the clouds vanished completely. Before them appeared what looked like a scarred ceiling—a massive solid expanse crossed by irregular cracks that glowed with an unsettling red light, exactly like the scars left by portals leading to the Upside Down. Just by seeing that pulsating glow, they both knew that by widening any one of those scars, they could enter the other dimension.
"Do it," Liam said seriously, fixing his gaze on one of the larger cracks.
"Yes," Carrie replied, slightly closing her eyes as she extended both hands forward. She began using her telekinesis to force and widen one of the scars. Space slowly twisted, emitting a brighter glow, until the opening reached the size of a double door—large enough for both of them to enter comfortably.
Together, they passed through without resistance, crossing the threshold and appearing in a completely new world.
Everything around them resembled an arid desert, with rocks of various sizes floating in the distance, suspended in the air as if gravity barely existed. The sky was a grayish-yellow tone with muted red hues, covered by a thick haze that enveloped everything. There was no visible sun, yet a diffuse, endless light illuminated the place, as if it were trapped in an eternal sunset. Thunder constantly struck different parts of that world, booming loudly and making the ground beneath their feet tremble.
That was the sight that greeted Liam and Carrie as they crossed into this dimension.
"Welcome to my world," a deep, heavy voice said behind them, resonating through the air as if it came from the environment itself.
They reacted instantly. Liam tensed his body, and Carrie spun in the air, turning them both around to face the owner of the voice.
Before them stood a tall, slender humanoid figure with pale, grayish skin, rough and cracked in texture. Black and red veins ran across his entire body, some of them seeming to emerge from him rather than enter, pulsing with unnatural energy. Every step he took toward them radiated absolute confidence, as if he knew the place belonged entirely to him. His whole body looked corrupted, yet at the same time stable—dominant.
Vecna.
That was the first thing that came to Liam's mind when he saw him.
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AUTOR NOTE: Thank you, we reached the top 100, here's the chapter, we're almost at the top 50.
Here's a short explanation of the skill levels in case it wasn't clear in the chapter.
Level 1 = 1 Skill lvl 1
Level 2 = 2 Skill lvl 1
Level 3 = 4 Skill lvl 1
Level 4 = 8 Skill lvl 1
Level 5 = 16 Skill lvl 1
Level 6 = 32 Skill lvl 1
Level 7 = 64 Skill lvl 1
Level 8 = 128 Skill lvl 1
Level 9 = 256 Skill lvl 1
Level 10 = 512 Skill lvl 1
And so for each level, double is needed.
And the skill fragments: each destroyed skill gives 5, and to level up a skill to level 1 you need 10. From there you will also need double the previous amount per level.