CHAPTER 106: Skill Circuits.

----------------------------------------

The Atlans were worried, looking at the unmoving Akor under my Tier suppression, thinking that something happened to him.

I used to telepathically communicate with them and let them know that Akor was going through a rare opportunity and not to do anything that would disturb him.

Time continued to pass, and I failed to find any clue to artificially simulate the 'state of enlightenment by going through Akor's condition.

Learning I can't do anything regarding that, I didn't bother with it anymore and continued maintaining the Tier-suppression.

I couldn't help but wonder which higher element of water would his mastery evolve into if he succeeds in finding his True Essence.

Each element, like Fire, Water, Earth, Wind etc., could evolve into a respective higher element depending on one's True Essence.

To find ones own True Essence, one had to resolve the regrets and negative experiences that were holding one back and find their core belief and the path one wants to take in the future.

Once one finds their True Essence, a new property will be added to their respective mastery element, making it a higher element.

Nearly 30 minutes passed since Akor entered the state of enlightenment, and I started to feel mental exhaustion from the continuous usage of Tier-suppression.

Just when I was wondering how long he would take, there was a sudden change in the water surrounding Akor.

The water turned hot, with bubbles being produced at a high rate. Soon, a layer of water formed over Akor's body, but it looked different from the surrounding water.

MJ's voice chimed in my mind, "Master, His water element seems to have a volatile property added to it, forming a higher aquatic element. According to the System records, it would even be ranked in the top among the higher aquatic elements because the property that's embedded in water element was of opposing nature to his element, which makes his higher aquatic element quite strong compared to other properties."

Right after MJ's words ended, Akor opened his eyes, and his emerald eyes had a gleam of light red colour in them. Even his mindset seemed different from his previous attitude.

He appeared calmer and looked at me while still in the kneeling position. Soon, Akor covered himself with his new higher aquatic element and stood up, resisting my Tier-suppression with slight difficulty.

I was surprised that higher elemental mastery could be used in such a way to overcome Tier-suppression.

However, I didn't bother to guard myself against Akor because even with a higher element, his fighting prowess could maximum raise to a Tier-3 Mid-Phase life form while being at Tier-2 High-Phase, and that wasn't enough to breach the defence of .

Atlans were taken aback by the sudden change of water around Akor and the change in his composure.

Akor looked right at my eyes and said word by word before fainting, "Liege, I...stood...up."

The pressure from being under my Tier-suppression for 30 minutes straight and the mental consumption from using his higher aquatic element for the first time exhausted Akor way till all his Spirit Energy was emptied.

I couldn't help but admire his sheer will and determination. I decided to let him follow me. Once I groom him, he would be helpful to me in the future. After all, I need quite some manpower for what I have planned for the future.

The sight of unconscious Akor caused the Atlans to eye me with fear, thinking that I did something to him.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I had to calm them all, saying that he was just exhausted and needed to recover Spirit Energy to wake up. Only after that did the commotions settle down.

After that, I looked at the Sea Lord, Aton, "There is something else that I want to exchange with you and your fellow Atlans. This time, I won't be asking for any of your possessions but to share knowledge regarding Skill Circuits of all the aquatic skills you all managed to develop till now."

As for the 'Skill Circuits' I asked about, it was a concept that will play a crucial role in the heritage and development of an intelligent species after the assimilation with the System.

A 'Skill Circuit' is the basis of any skill. There are two ways they could be formed. The first and the easiest way was to obtain a skill from the system as a reward for killing monsters.

That way, when one merges with a skill, the 'Skill Circuit' of that merged Skill will be imprinted in one's consciousness along with all the knowledge of that Skill.

To use this Skill, one just had to send Spirit Energy into that 'Skill Circuit' to get the outcome of that said Skill.

The second way was to form a 'Skill Circuit' to create one's own Skill.

If I take for example, I could create the outcome of that Skill using the Grade-9 Wind Innate Talent, but manifesting the Wind Clones would take a lot of time and concentration to make it.

However, directly expending Spirit Energy into the Skill Circuit of a Skill would give an almost instantaneous outcome.

Creating a skill of one's own is similar to researching something with time and effort. Once the System recognises the entire process as a skill, the Skill Circuit of that said Skill will be imprinted in one's consciousness.

The Sea Lord was quite wise to realise this in the first three days of the Trial Program and take advantage of the fact that all Atlans has an Innate Water Talent.

He divided them into groups of two and had them research on different applications of .

A group worked on creating Defence type Water Skills, another group worked on Attack type ones, and another focussed on sensory type Water Skills and such.

That way, when each group was able to create a Skill, they would share the knowledge of creating their Skill with the other groups.

Using this idea, they created various categories of aquatic skills and shared them with each other. And since each of them had sensory type Aquatic skills, Akor and Ah'na were able to sense my presence when I just entered the Aquatic trial zone.

After that, the Sea Lord and the other Atlans demonstrated the way of creating different types of Aquatic skills, and I had MJ record the entire process so that in the future, I could use it as a resource to Water Innate Talent users from Earth.

The whole process took over three hours, and I had less than half an hour before the cooldown of mode ends. So, I quickly finished the exchange by giving them several Grade-2 Spirit Crystals and basic blueprints on using them as an advanced power source.

After that, I prepared to leave that trial zone with Akor, who regained his consciousness an hour earlier.

I invited him to my Party so that he couldn't harm me even if he wanted to. Even though I allowed Akor to follow me, I didn't trust him with my life and made precautions just in case.

Just as we were about to leave, the female Atlan, Ah'na stepped forward and uttered, mustering up all her courage, "Sir Jay, is the only thing that's protecting us from the monsters, especially the group of Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that were released today.

Without the 'Monster Camouflage Buff', the chances of being discovered by those Tier-3 monsters is high. If one or two of those monsters attack us, we could handle the situation, but it's hard to survive if they attack us in groups.

Could we please exchange something else other than ?"

I couldn't help but admire her courage, where even their Sea Lord didn't dare to ask me that.

Seeing me look at her in silence, she bit her lips anxiously.

I then asked her, "When was the last time you all consumed a drop of the golden nectar from this Grail?"

She didn't expect I would ask something like that, but she replied quickly, "Tha…that's just a few minutes before Day-7 began. But, the buff effect will wear off once Day-7 ends."

"Then there won't be any problem. As for the monsters, you all don't need to mind them.

The only thing you all have to worry about is to hunt as many monsters as possible today because, by the time Day-8 starts, there won't be any monsters left alive in your trial zone."

Even though they were puzzled hearing my statement, none of them retorted as they wondered how I would do that.

But what they don't know was that I will have MJ's integrated monsters to hunt all the monsters in the other trial zones when all Alpha Chosen return to their respective planets on the Day-7 rest period.

Even though it was an 18 hour long rest period, it was 72 hours long in the Trial World because the time in here flows four times slower than the rest of the galaxy.

Before leaving, I turned around at the Atlans and said, "Let me give you all a piece of advice. Don't just train underwater and learn how to increase your combat capabilities outside of water rich environment as that would be helpful to you all in the upcoming Tournament."

----------------------------------------