[Skill: Perception]
[Rarity: Common]
[Adept-tier requirement: High-level distinction between perceived objects. Completed.]
[Congratulations! You have upgraded Common-tier Perception to Adept-tier Lifesight!]
Horus raised an eyebrow. He hadn't heard of this skill, even through his extensive education. He wasn't even sure if getting it was a good sign.
Most of his siblings got [Dynamic Vision], a skill that improved their perception of attacks mid-battle and had sub-skills well studied by Twilight warriors. Why he would get a skill not directly connected to battles was strange.
I hope I don't regret this.
He moved on to upgrading his swordsmanship skill.
[Spend 10 Skill Shards to upgrade Basic Swordsmanship to an Adept-tier skill?]
[Checking the skill requirement?]
[This action is not possible. This skill is a placeholder for any new mana types you copy or get from other classes.]
He had expected that, but it just made him more interested. Did this mean if he observed any swordsmanship and understood it, he could gain the mana type and use skills from that class?
That meant anything below the Master-tier was pretty meaningless. Basic swordsmanship sub-skills included strengthened thrusts and attacks that were enhanced after you attacked a certain number of times.
Adept swordsmanship had chain attacks and special stances based on what weapon you had and fighting style.
Elite Swordsmanship had elemental imbuements and special attacks based on stances.
All of these he could do with Twilight Swordsmanship. Unless there was a particularly interesting stance or effect he liked.
Master Swordsmanship had special attacks that could strike two times with one blow, or release ranged attacks like [Crescent Slash].
They would be worth learning every time. Actually, there was one he knew rather well…
Sighing, he turned back to his status. He still had twenty Skill Shards left; he was saving ten for Twilight Swordsmanship, but he still wanted one more skill at Adept-tier.
[Tolerance] was all that was left, unless [Reflexes] could level up right now… wishful thinking aside, he couldn't see it reaching level 20 anytime soon. After all, he fought almost seven battles now just for it to reach level 19.
Unless he faced an enemy significantly faster than him and prevailed. Winning in such a way that the system would give him a unique skill upgrade like [Lifesight].
Hesitantly, he put his shards into [Tolerance]. The skill was unpredictable in what you could get, but most times it would be resistances to specific types of damage or faster healing skills.
[Skill: Tolerance]
[Rarity: Common]
[Adept-tier requirement: Full acclimatization to one type of pain. Completed.]
[Congratulations! You have upgraded Common-tier Tolerance to Adept-tier Twin Scar!]
Horus nodded with a satisfied expression. He actually knew this skill. It was useful against mainly stronger enemies, and he wouldn't normally be one to purposely take damage, but he could see it working.
[Twin Scar] allows you to share 50% of damage taken with your opponent with equal severity. He even heard of sub-skills that allowed you to reduce the damage you have taken and impart it on your opponent.
He would have liked something that made his attacks stronger the more he was injured, but this was okay too.
June had been silently applying the salve and massaging his arm this whole time, despite him saying it was enough. Her eyes traced the lines of his biceps as she pressed the skin.
"We should leave," Horus interrupted awkwardly.
June let go of him and shot to her feet, laughing nervously. "Yeah. So what's the plan? Can we still use the route from your map?"
Rolling open Shiv's map made him grimace, but he ignored his anger, focusing on the multiple tunnels weaving in and out of large caves. This place was a crossroads between different paths.
"We can follow that tunnel," he pointed left. "It should take us to the exit, but we still have to pass several caves with high chances of at least ten Firespitters."
"Why me…" June said, shivering. "Did your skill upgrades give you anything cool?"
He explained the upgrades to [Twin Scar] and [Lifesight]. He still had a lot to learn using the skill, but he could already feel the benefits of it.
"I can hear a lot farther than before. I can hear your heart from this close, and I know a sub-skill for using mana to extend my senses briefly. As for [Tolerance], the heat of this place got a whole lot more bearable."
June stared blankly, sweat covering her smooth, pale skin. "Must be nice. [Lifesight] sounds like you can see life signals, maybe if someone is alive or not."
Horus closed his eyes and focused on his mana for a second. He tried different flows, targeting his eyes, arms, and other body parts. Then he moved the mana in different patterns as he tested whether he could activate a sub-skill for [Lifesight].
Maybe he had to add a somatic gesture or emotion. He tried a couple of things while June stared at him. He cracked an eye open to see her smirking at him.
"Don't let me stop you," she mused.
"Move around, while my eyes are closed. I want to try and sense where you are."
June saluted him dramatically and began tiptoeing around. She was louder than she thought, so he plugged his ears with his fingers and focused briefly.
The fear of something approaching them while he was so vulnerable grew as he cut himself off from the world. He fed that emotion. Next, he tried to reach out to June, trying to feel her with this new sense.
Then he focused his mana at one point in his forehead, and following instinct, projected the mana and feeling forward in a wave.
He sensed nothing in this direction, so he turned around and did it again. And then again in another direction. The range of the sub-skill was far, but it was limited by direction.
Finally he reached June. She was standing right behind him for some reason. He felt so distinctly how her energy felt; it was rhythmic and alluring. He reached out and touched her face.
"Freaky," June said. Her voice moved with her life energy, brushing against his ears and mind playfully.
He moved on to using more mana in the skill to check how far he could extend the range. Things without life gave distinct images. It was like seeing a grainy, black-and-white spectral image of the world in his mind.
At a certain point, too much mana made the sub-skill fail, but that was a skill issue. As he grew in proficiency and levels, it would hold more and more mana.
During one of his tests, he suddenly froze. June had been dancing around him, fingers brushing his body occasionally. He was glad to see her shed her fear so quickly, but something was wrong.
There was someone else in this place other than them.
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A/N: Hey, give me one powerstone to mark attendance. So i know who's with me :)