For one second, the world around Atlas lit up in overwhelming light as glowing threads appeared on the plateau covering every color in the rainbow and even more that went beyond the visible spectrum. The light shone so bright that it burned into Atlas’s retina, and he covered his eyes with a scream. As he tried rubbing the pain away, his head pounded, and his stomach turned. Even after the pain faded, the nausea didn’t disappear.
He looked at his status sheet and saw what he thought was the problem: His mana was only at 15 out of its original 140. 125 MP in a second! What the hell? He read through the rest of his status to figure out why, and his eyes landed on a new entry in his skill section.
THREADSIGHT (LEGENDARY): FATE AND KARMA ARE EVER-CHANGING, AND TO GAZE UPON THEM IS TO GAZE UPON THE WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE SYSTEM. THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN WHICH THEY IMPACT THE UNIVERSE AND MANY MORE WAYS TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF THEIR EFFECTS, THOUGH FEW AND FAR BETWEEN ARE THOSE THAT DO SO UNPUNISHED. YOU HAVE EARNED SUCH A GLIMPSE AT THE THREADS OF CONNECTION WHERE THE TWO FORCES INTERTWINE WITH EACH OTHER AND THE PHYSICAL REALM. TO ENDURE SUCH FORCES, YOUR EYES HAVE BEEN MAGICALLY CHANGED AND WILL CONTINUE TO BENEFIT AS YOU GROW, THOUGH THE EXACT EFFECTS REMAIN TO BE SEEN. HOWEVER, SUCH A POWER DOES NOT COME WITHOUT A COST, AND YOU MUST EARN THE RIGHT TO WIELD THE FULL POWER OF THE THREADS OF CONNECTION.
EFFECTS (F-RANK): GAZE UPON THE THREADS OF CONNECTION THAT AFFECT SENTIENT BEINGS AND GAIN GLIMPSES OF TRUTH
COST: 25 MP/SECOND x ACTIVATED LEVEL
LEVEL 1:
LEVEL 2:
LEVEL 3:
LEVEL 4:
LEVEL 5: FATED OMNISCIENCE: TARGETS ALL DESIRED TARGETS IN SIGHT; ALL PAST AND PRESENT KARMIC THREADS RELEVANT TO CURRENT DESIRES AND WEAKNESSES OF E-RANK ENEMIES AND BELOW BECOME VISIBLE
Atlas stared at the notification, stupefied. 125 mana per second?! That alone told him he had stumbled across an incredible skill, but combined with the name “Fated Omniscience,” he could only imagine how powerful the skill was. Sure, most of the skill levels had requirements, but that just meant the skill had to be that much more powerful. The only real downside came in the mana cost, but he hoped that getting stats as he leveled up would resolve the problem. Overall, he couldn’t be happier with his choice of ability, and he hadn’t even gotten to experience the aspect that increased his comprehension speed for concepts.
After he had taken some more time to look over his new ability, Atlas turned to his final order of business before he could go back to Earth and the Esper Foundation. His skill selection. If the rewards from his achievements and quest were anything to go by, this would be a doozy. With that in mind, he pulled up the final notification window and began reading.
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INTEGRATION SCENARIO COMPLETED: INTEGRATION SUCCESSFUL: NOW INITIATING MULTIVERSE VANGUARD SKILL SELECTION, INCLUDING 2 SYSTEM APPROVED BASIC-GRADE AND 1 COMMON-GRADE SKILL
SKILL SELECTION AVAILABLE: BASIC (2); COMMON (1); RARE (1); EPIC (1); MENTAL RESISTANCE (1); KARMIC MANIPULATION (1)
Atlas was surprised to learn that the system gave him skills just for being integrated, not to mention his rewards for his performance in the scenario. He just hoped there weren’t so many possibilities that he wouldn’t be able to decide. Either way, it was time to decide, and he wasn’t going to be delayed any further. With that in mind, he decided to start from the bottom once again. As he opened the basic screen, he noticed that the options were thankfully fairly limited.
SYSTEM INTEGRATION SELECTION- BASIC (2):
OPTION 1: WEAPONS HANDLING (PASSIVE)- GAIN A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO HANDLE AND WIELD ALL BASIC WEAPONS
OPTION 2: BASIC STEALTH (PASSIVE)- GRANTS A PASSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF PROPER MOVEMENT AND BODY CONTROL FOR PEAK PRE-INTEGRATION STEALTH CAPABILITIES
OPTION 3: BASIC MANA MANIPULATION (PASSIVE)- ALLOWS FOR SYSTEM-ASSISTED MANIPULATION OF INTERNAL MANA SUPPLY
OPTION 4: STORAGE (ACTIVE)- OPEN A ONE CUBIC METER SPACE TO STORE OBJECTS; NO LIVING BEINGS; TIME MOVES REGULARLY; COST: PASSIVE STORAGE- FIVE MP PER DAY/ OPEN PORTAL- 10 MP+ 1 MP/SEC
OPTION 5: VIEW (ACTIVE)- VIEW NAME, RACE, AND LEVEL OF TARGET ENTITY OR OBJECT; COST: 10 MP/USE
These… kinda suck. As harsh as it might be to think, Atlas certainly wasn’t impressed by the options the basic selection had granted him, especially when compared to the crazy abilities he’d been offered. Still, that made the process a fair bit easier. He eliminated Storage right away as it was a far worse version of his Inventory ability even without the mana cost.
That left him with four options, and Atlas already knew that he would be taking Weapons Handling. His complete inexperience using a weapon had almost killed him when fighting Verian, and he needed to fix that fast. At least, that’s what he hoped would happen.
He forced himself to hold off selecting Basic Mana Manipulation when he read the description again. “System-assisted, huh?” He muttered to himself. That implied that he could learn to do it on his own, and it meant he could eliminate Mana Manipulation, which left him to choose between Basic Stealth and View.
Logically, he knew that View would be the better option, especially with the effect of his The Eyes that See the Threads ability, but he held off. He had a common, rare, and epic selection left, and he imagined this wouldn’t be the last Identify-type ability he’d see. Plus, the upgrade from his ability would be worth more the longer he waited, he reasoned. With that thought, he selected Basic Stealth.
It definitely wasn’t because he wanted to sneak up and play pranks on people and go places he wasn’t supposed to… No, absolutely not.
As soon as Atlas selected his second basic skill, he felt a sharp sting stab into his brain at the same time as information on proper weapon-wielding posture, silent footstep movements, and all manner of weapon-wielding and sneaking tidbits. Immediately, Atlas straightened up and widened his stance into a far sturdier position than before.
“Well that was surprisingly cool,” Atlas said, impressed at how much of a change the basic skills made. He turned his eyes to the common section. “But now it’s time for the fun choices to begin,” he added as he rubbed his hands together.