Jaeden stared at the numbers on his display, and kept trying to make sense of the calculations, but his mind came up blank. He was more tired than he realized - too worn out to wrestle with complex math right now. He made a mental note to revisit it later, and turned his attention back to the system logs, tracking each result.
As he reviewed the data, a pattern emerged: every set of ten levels triggered a new tier of power. Each time he crossed one of those thresholds, the effects spiked, becoming more extreme. His last tier was exotic. Exotic. The term made him pause, wondering if there were even higher tiers beyond it. He couldn’t be sure, but whatever that effect had been, it had amplified his abilities just enough to overpower the demon. Or whatever that creature was.
He scanned the log entries again. The enhancement seemed potent but temporary - most of the gains were fading. But something had changed permanently. His blade, the Orichalcum Sword of Asterius, was now cursed. The Chimaera Prismata core had been fundamentally altered. Essence Drinker had absorbed some essence beyond the temporary boost.
He glanced down at it, noting the transformed metal, no longer burnished red-gold and clean. Instead, it gleamed with a dark sheen, as if the demonic essence had fused with it, lending the sword a forbidding new intensity. He sent a careful mental probe toward the blade, trying to sense the sentience within, but it remained dormant - stasis, maybe, or sleep. A demon in a sword… it wasn’t exactly a comforting thought.
He knew better than to let his guard down. Demons weren’t the type you could trust, and he’d learned the hard way that even a slight slip could cost him. Sure, the demons he’d faced before had been AI creations, not real. But the same lessons held true. And besides, there was something about this creature - something that didn’t sit right.
In the heat of battle, he’d assumed it was a demon, but now, as he checked the log’s entries, it was listed as something else entirely: an abyssal lord. What was the difference? he wondered. Maybe demons were just one type of entity, one species, and abyssal lords were something different. In any case, he decided, that was a mystery for later.
He shifted his focus back to his own stats, noting an array of boosts across his mental and spiritual attributes – including willpower, charisma, focus. These had skyrocketed during the encounter, each boosted by a base increase of 76 plus additional values borrowed from the demon’s own stats, thanks to Essence Drinker.
Apparently, the blade had weaponized the demon’s strength against it, and Jaeden had reaped the benefits. He knew the increases were only temporary - he could already feel them settling back - but beside each stat was a new number in parentheses: the potential high, a glimpse at what those stats could be.
“Whoa,” he murmured, eyes widening as he took in the insane numbers - stats in the thousands, a level of power that was hard to comprehend. No, he corrected himself, his stats hadn’t entirely reset. They’d settled back to a higher baseline than before, a permanent shift, it seemed, especially in his mental and meta attributes. Then he spotted something else in the meta tab, a new ability he hadn’t seen before: Luck of the Devil.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
The description made him pause, reading, then re-reading: “Affects any random act, any chance, any moment of uncertainty.” It was a passive trait, with no activation option, operating in the background - weaving fate into his actions, tipping fortune toward him or away from an enemy. He smirked, recalling the endless forum debates about “luck stats” in his favorite games. Was it useful? Worth investing in? Or just a glorified stat? In this world, that debate was still open. He decided he’d test it out, see if this strange gift was worth the hype. He wondered if it would pair well with Luck of the Fool.
As if answering his thoughts, a system message appeared.
Opportunist triggered.
Luck of the Fool triggered.
Skill Fusion Triggered - Luck of the Fool + Luck of the Devil
Proceed?
Yes/No?
Jaeden selected yes, and waited for the evolution to commence.
New Fusion Ability: Devil’s Gambit
Tier 4 Meta-Ability
This fusion merges the chaotic chance of Luck of the Fool with the malevolent precision of Luck of the Devil, creating an ability that makes you a magnet for wild, high-stakes fortune. Devil’s Gambit warps fate around you, heightening random outcomes to swing heavily in your favor or against your enemies, while amplifying your own instinctual risks.
Ability Effects:
* Fate’s Twist: Chance-based actions have double potency, with an increased probability to land as critical hits or execute at maximum efficacy. This effect extends to combat rolls, item drops, and skill activations. However, this power demands balance - if a critical failure occurs, its impact is similarly doubled.
* The Devil’s Hand: In life-threatening situations, your reflexes and perception heighten momentarily, allowing you a split-second foresight into incoming attacks or obstacles. This can trigger a counterattack, dodge, or preemptive strike, redirecting some of the danger back at your opponents.
* Chaotic Advantage: When you are outnumbered or significantly outclassed, Devil’s Gambit increases your odds of success with random, unexpected boons. You may find lucky item drops, extra skill uses, or brief surges in power that escalate with the level of threat.
Passive Effect: Your natural charisma and perception become unnaturally compelling to friends or foes alike, with a subtle allure that nudges events and people around you toward the chaotic. This effect manifests in negotiations, social interactions, and random encounters, often leading to favorable, though unpredictable, outcomes.
Warning: Devil’s Gambit is a double-edged ability; the heightened chance for extreme outcomes also draws increased attention from entities sensitive to chaotic energy. Use with caution.
Jaeden felt the pull of fate twist around him, the air vibrating with a barely-contained intensity as Devil’s Gambit activated, settling into his aura like a volatile flame - eager to erupt, yet poised to seize control.
As his stats slid into more stable ranges, a wave of exhaustion swept over him. The adrenaline of battle finally wore off, and he felt it in his bones - the sheer drain of it all. Glancing over at Liandra’s still form, he knew he should stay alert, but his body was betraying him, dragging him under.
At some unknown point later, the sound of movement stirred him back to consciousness. Liandra was waking, her eyes opening slowly as she stirred beside him.