There was a lot of information and Lucas checked the skill descriptions again. All of the three Skills have the potential to be useful in my current situation. It seems choosing is not going to be easy. This is not the place to make further analysis.

He started walking with long strides toward the exit of the dungeon. After going out, he returned to his base and sat down inside. Lucas pondered and decided to compile a mental list of the strengths and weaknesses of the three skills in order to make an objective choice.

The Avatar does not offer direct offensive options, but the description says it is material entity capable of physical combat. I can arm it with one or two makeshift spears and engage the monsters two on one. It also indirectly increases my safety since it can be used as a meat shield or to slow down and interfere with enemies while I escape.

Because it can use skills, its future potential seems very good. It will be able to probably double my overall capabilities. But the downsides of the Avatar are big too. With the bonus of the boon I have 6 Skill Slots now and it is going to take 5 of them. Obviously getting more Skill Slots is possible, but it may be very hard. The Mana cost is big and I will not be able to sustain it for long with my current capacity. If I don’t invest heavily in Mana its initial usefulness may be somewhat limited. It is also very slow to activate unless I spend even more outrageous quantities of Mana. That means I will have to summon it before a fight and it will be useless if I am ambushed without it being activated.

Lucas was done with the Light Avatar and focused on the Blood Bolt Skill.

It is potentially the strongest offensive Skill of the three and the only one which will give me ranged attack. The Mana cost is bearable and the special effect of blood consumption can be of great help in that regard.

The biggest downside is the activation time. Three and half seconds is lot of time and I may not be able to use it in melee combat at all. That is going to severely impair its utility for my current situation. There is no great use for its range in the dungeon or the forests outside of the gorge.

There are additional uncertainties too. Unlike the other two Skills the Blood Bolt requires something called Mana Focus and I have no idea what that is. The Skill also has a governing attribute, which I don’t seem to possess. That may cause it to be less effective or even unusable for all I know. The spider monsters seem to have blood, but I cannot be sure that is really blood and if the bonus damage will apply to them.

Lucas turned his attention to the last Skill.

It is probably the safest option. The fast activation speed makes it practical for unexpected situations. It is going to be effective in close combat and I will be able to sustain it much longer than the Light Avatar. Even if the effect of the Skill is not strong, it is still going to be better than nothing and unlike the previous two, there are no obvious downsides. I guess losing my weapon or it breaking can be considered a drawback of the Skill, but that seems unlikely.

He considered the results of his analysis and decided to exclude the Blood Bolt, because choosing it seemed a lot more risky than the other two Skills.

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The next decision was a lot more difficult. The Avatar was still a big gamble, but it was the only one of the three, which provided some kind of defensive options and that alone made it very tempting.

He was already able to kill the spider monsters and reasoned that the Avatar would be better for further exploration of the dungeon. On the other hand if he managed to leave the gorge, the swordsmanship Skill would be superior in certain situations.

Lucas though for several more minutes and in the end decided that the potential and the immediate benefits of the Avatar are worth the increased risk.

You have unlocked the [Neryan Light Avatar] Skill.

After the Skill was unlocked, the option to learn it appeared in his profile and he immediately gave mental agreement.

You have learned the [Neryan Light Avatar] Skill.

New awareness appeared in his mind. It was like suddenly having an additional limb. Lucas was eager to test the Skill and went outside.

The moment he activated the Avatar, he vaguely sensed a peculiar kind of energy everywhere in his body, which seemed to be diminishing. Is this Mana? I can feel it now because of the Skill usage?

The activation process required part of his attention, but he was still able to move and do other things. This may fail if I am distracted due to intense fighting or for some other reason. Training to perform it successfully in every situation should be a priority, however it is going to be difficult because of the high Mana cost of the Skill.

Six seconds passed and a glowing, white humanoid appeared next to him. It had the same height and very similar body structure to him, but was clearly not made of normal flesh, didn’t have a distinct face and looked more like some kind of golem than a human. The Skill still needed part of his attention, but it was less than during the activation.

The only sense it was able to convey was of touch, but it still made him a little disoriented. Lucas spend several seconds to get used to the new sensations and then found he is able to make it move with his thoughts.

After several attempts he successfully made it walk without stumbling and then started testing other things. As far as he could tell its speed and physical strength were very close if not identical to his own. If it scales completely with my own attributes its future potential will be even greater than I thought.

Next he made it punch the rock wall of the gorge with full force. After several consecutive punches the hand of the Avatar was visibly damaged and white liquid started dripping from it. So it does have the equivalent of blood. Its toughness should be comparable to a human. Lucas was able to vaguely perceive the injuries of the Avatar, but there was no pain.

He continued to test its capabilities, but soon his Mana was drained to zero and the Avatar disappeared. My gamble seems to have paid off. The skill is definitely going to be useful in my current situation and it has big potential.

Lucas brought his attention back to his gains from the [Minor Boon]. The Avatar is very costly and I should definitely increase my Mana. He decided to put one point in the [Mana] attribute to test how big the increase is going to be and then proceed based on the results.

Next he started making a second makeshift spear while waiting for his Mana to regenerate enough for more tests and exercises with the Avatar. When it refiled to 6/10 he went to the cliff at the exit of the gorge and stood near the stream.

Then he summoned the Avatar and made it jump into the pool below the waterfall. There was a big splash of water and it was obscured from his sight, but through his connection Lucas perceived that it seemed unharmed.

So leaving that way is indeed feasible. But now I do have food, water and shelter and this location is pretty safe. The exotic blueberries will be enough for two or three weeks. During that time I should strive to make myself as strong as possible.

He went back and returned to the task of creating a second spear.