Farsight [Uncommon]
Focus your eyes beyond what is natural and find your prey no matter how far they run.
The first skill was surprisingly bad. Sure he guessed being able to see further would be useful but that was already getting improved by his higher-than-average perception. But at the same time, Kal couldn’t just disregard the skill outright. The question was, what could he learn from this specific skill?
He didn’t think that it would require mana so implementing it into his core would be easy enough. The skill likely used stamina to affect his physical eyes somehow. Temporarily affecting his body like that would be useful knowledge, it may even help him better understand how Wrath Incarnate worked or possibly ways he could improve it in the future.
Kal could take the guidance and simply use the new free slot for another custom skill. What he would use it for, however, he wasn’t sure. The next option immediately appealed to him.
Conjure Weapon [Rare]
Condense your mana into a physical weapon of your choice. Weapons conjured this way are of equivalent quality to an Uncommon rarity weapon. Duration and cost of the conjuration scales with Will.
Kal almost picked the skill the moment he finished reading its description. It would not only solve his current lack of weapons problem but it would also teach him how to conjure physical objects in general.
Right now the best he could do was a flame of wrath, which was basically just expelling wrath as it normally was. It took even less effort than a regular fireball skill would take if Kal’s suspicion was correct.
It might even be able to give him enough new knowledge to conjure himself some armor. He had his cloak now but he could it wouldn’t put up much of a fight against any of the demons he had come across so far.
Kal moved on to the next entry not really expecting something that would stop him from choosing Conjure Weapon, “Damn it.”
Mental Fortress [Rare]
Conjure a fortress of mana around your mind greatly increasing your resistance to all kinds of mental effects with an external origin. Strength of the fortress scales with Will and Intellect.
Damn it. He had to get offered something like this. It was clear that whatever the original purpose of the symbol on the back of his neck was, it was now a weakness that he couldn’t just ignore.
His will was strong enough this time to resist the shadow’s manipulations this time but would that always be true? Unlikely. The shadow had been at a higher level than Kal and clearly focused in that direction, but who knew what he could come across in the next wave? What if another more powerful seeker was allowed entry?
Could he figure out how to make a mental fortress on his own? He wasn’t sure. It was obviously possible and he suspected it would be mostly involving will and intellect judging by the skill’s description.
That’s when Kal noticed a glaring problem with the whole skill as it was now. It used mana, which meant he would need to replace it with wrath. That was obviously not ideal. Odds are that he would likely be affected by his wrath flowing through the fortress, which would likely be similar to when he activated Wrath Incarnate or when he was leaking wrath from his faulty skills.
That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The apathy of his other state could be useful if some emotional manipulation managed to make it through. It could also help with managing his nightmares, assuming the cost to keep it active wasn’t too high.
Having to consider dropping Conjure Weapon annoyed Kal to no end but he had to seriously think about reducing any risk he could. He could make do with the serpent fang if he had to, it wasn’t ideal but nothing in this bloody place.
But then again the moment he broke the fang he would be essentially weaponless for gods know how long. Kal brought himself around to another question, which would he most likely be able to figure out himself?
Mental Fortress he already had a partial bead on. He figured he could use what he had learned from Wrathful Regeneration’s guide construct and try to make it instead form a protective layer around his brain.
He would have to be careful about what exactly it was supposed to prevent from coming and going from the area otherwise he might accidentally starve his brain of blood and kill himself.
On the other hand, fumbling around in the attempt to create a Conjure Weapon was probably safer. At least then he had no risk of crushing his own brain or anything like that.
Kal hadn’t actually checked to see if any of his recent tinkering with his skills had made them efficient enough to get another slot so he read his class description again.
Slayer of Fate [Epic] [Anomalous]
Something deep within you cries out for blood but through force of will you remain in control. You are a Slayer of Fate, though your power may stem from darker sources you do not lust for the kill but see it as a necessity despite your inner ferocity to break the chains that bind. Wade through your enemies as a bulwark of death, your will unyielding, your might indomitable. The Slayer of Fate is not bound by the archetypes of the lesser classes. Forge your own path through the blood of your enemies and stand apart from all as a paragon of man, your potential as vast as your will. Level benefits: +5 Strength, Endurance, Will, +2 Vitality, +6 Free points.
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Anomalous: Your path is of your own making. From this point forward you will no longer be offered a skill selection every 10 levels, instead, you will be offered guidance in the creation of one of three skills that you have witnessed used, have sufficient knowledge of, or are judged to be predisposed to based on previously forged skills. Whether the inquired skill is forged is up to you. Additionally, your self-forged core allows such skills to be forged to a rarity up to the rarity of your Soul Forge skill. The amount of skills possible to incorporate into one’s core is dependent on the quality of your core and the efficiency of the skill created.
Future Class Evolutions: All future evolutions will be directly associated with the quality of the newly forged core and the skill incorporated at that time.
Skill Capacity: 6/8
Apparently, his tinkering had indeed paid off. With the additional slot he got when reaching level forty he should have only had seven but something had done had increased it by an additional slot. He wasn’t sure why it actually increased the cap though, did it mean that he might actually have ten total capacity but his skills were less efficient than they should be, lowering the cap?
It would have been nice to see it as a percentage instead but he would have to add that to the pile of things he would do later. For now, his choice had been made for him. Kal was at least relatively confident he might be able to figure out how to conjure a weapon, or at least something useful.
So he would go the safe route and get system guidance on how not to accidentally destroy his own brain.
Kal mentally chose Mental Fortress and waited for the onslaught to arrive. Even though he was ready for it this time the feeling of sudden displacement was horribly disorientating. It was like his sight was torn away from him as his body fell limply but something else followed slowly behind.
The overwhelming pressure as before returned with an oppressive strength, bearing down on Kal’s mind as he slowly became more aware of himself and his surroundings. Cascading lights assaulted him but all of it was indistinct and felt as if just trying to peer beyond his confinement would tear him apart.
But Kal didn’t care, the sense of knowledge and power just beyond reach only encouraged him to resist the indomitable weight. This time however there were minor differences. To what Kal felt. He wasn’t sure what made it possible to feel these slight changes, whether it was his perception or intellect it didn’t matter.
This time Kal could tell he was moving along a single thread out of billions, no trillions of threads on an endless sea. He tried to inspect the thread he sped upon across the infinite tapestry but either the weight crushing his mind on the mind-altering complexity of the thread continued to shatter his concentration over and over again.
But Kal didn’t cease, his will fighting with the savagery of his birthright crashed against the encroaching wall of confinement. Somehow the purpose of the pressure assaulting his mind came to him from some deep part of his mind, almost like a distant memory. The knowledge Kal was about to be given was forbidden. Even though the system was giving him this guidance it would not do so for free.
Kal would face this challenge every single time and if he ever faltered, it would be his end.
The desperate battle of will raged on as Kal’s mind grew more clouded. His mental faculties had worsened as more and more of his mental energy was poured into holding off the unending pressure. Finally, a sudden stabbing pain lanced through Kal’s mind and it was as if his mind caught fire.
He cried out as the agony of his mind grew to a new height while a quiet voice whispered from far beyond, another wall fractured, like the last time a spherical construct appeared before. It was of a quality far beyond anything he could achieve right now but as he looked upon it the very sight of it inspired greatness as he felt his mind accelerate with a rush of untapped knowledge.
Now witness the mind forger.
The tapestry warped and changed as he fell into a world of perfect order and control. Minimalist cities of gray stone spread across a world of perfect union. The people all dressed in the same gray as their cities worked their assigned jobs in silence.
Not a word was spoken across the silent world. Billions worked without emotion. Deaths were dealt with efficiently and the installed apathy left no room for grief.
K-32b hammered a bolt into the complex mechanism that was fed to him from further up the conveyor belt as he had done for years. K-32a and K-32c stood to either side of him doing the same.
They were both new additions to this factory. Each replaces the last two workers of the same IDs.
Notifications appeared before their eyes, telling them to rotate to the next station. K-32b had received a non-standard notification one hundred and thirty days ago, but his mind’s eye rolled off of it whenever it came to mind.
K-32a, b, and c walking along the assigned route to their next shift. The path was as it always was, gray and the only signs of life were the footprints worn into the stone after decades of workers changing shifts.
*clang*
*clang*
K-32b looked up just in time to see a wrench bounce off a catwalk above him and slam into his forehead. The world disappeared into a sea of darkness, but in the distance something called to him. A beautiful sphere of light shone in the world of darkness, he reached for it and it came-
K-32b gasped and sat up, scanning the room around him. He was in one of the dumping grounds, he yelled out as the sight made his heart speed up. Bodies of fallen workers surrounded him, and dozens of rats chewed at bodies only feet away. Unknown feelings began to overwhelm him.
“What is this?” he panted, his breathing uneven and heavy.
He couldn’t help but cry out as he got to his feet and ran towards the doorway leading to the street outside, “What is wrong with me!?”
His head throbbed with each step and his limbs burned as muscles never used before were activated as he ran. He reached the door and pulled it open, throwing himself through it into the street.
A sudden warmth took K-32b by surprise, it was like he had drawn too close to the furnaces but much less so. It was pleasant and calming. He stood back up ignoring the workers walking past him in perfect union and looked up into the sky, perhaps for the first time.
His eyes fell upon things he could barely understand, the sky was different, not at all like the streets of Sector K. What was it called? Color? And what were those soft-looking things?
It was beautiful.
The notification that had remained unread appeared before him. Its color shone with beauty, unlike anything he had witnessed before. He wanted to see more. He wanted everyone to know what he felt. And they would.