You have gained the skill water bullet (Uncommon+)- Generate a bullet of water of variable size from ether to strike your enemies from range. Destructive capability increases with skill level. Damage dealt will slow the regeneration and movement speed of the target dependent on the constitution attribute.

Cost: Variable

Arthur grinned when he read the skill's description. Whilst it looked quite simple, there was one key facet of it that Arthur was delighted to find. It said 'generate.'

All this time, Arthur's magic had been cast using natural bodies of water or shadows that had already been present in the surroundings. He had started to worry about what he would do if there were no useful sources in his vicinity in future battles. His magic would practically be useless. But all that had been solved with the latest skill he had learnt.

Now he would be able to conjure water from thin air to use against his foes. Arthur was just about to try out the skill when he stopped himself. He had no idea how much ether the new spell would take with his lacklustre control of the energy source and he still had to use his regeneration skill for the upcoming battle against Shade.

Arthur quickly checked his status to see if he had lucked out and gained some more intelligence from the monster core though no such good news excited him. There was however a single change that had taken place in his status.

Arthur Ward Level 60

Unallocated stat points :168

Strength-120(100)

Vitality-400*

Endurance-460

Constitution-260(200)

Agility-118

Intelligence-323

Willpower-250

Charisma -95

Perception-92

Health- 7730/8000 (880(400)/hour)

Ether- 2910/3230(323/hour)

Endurance- 4580/4600(460/minute)

He had gained 60 willpower from the kingfisher which put the attribute at a nice round number of 250. Hopefully, it would make handling his large ether reserves much easier. God knows he had enough problems trying to get the energy to do what he wanted these days.

He still had his 168 unassigned stat points from all his levels, as well as the 10 he'd been gifted for his system teacher I achievement. Maybe saving them for a rainy day wasn't the best of ideas, but Arthur liked the idea of a little insurance. It did make him wonder what iteration of the achievement Alyssia had gotten when she joined the system. Her ether usage was quite literally otherworldly. Other dimensional? I don't know if that's a real word.

Arthur smiled at the fact that his main problem was his entirely too-large stores of ether. He was sure many would give a limb to have a burden like his as he was certain that most suffered from a lack of magical resources instead of from an abundance of it as he did. Still, the fact that he now had more control was a cause for celebration, and Arthur decided to celebrate by cooking up something nice for the first time in a while.

The American government, for all their vast resources, produced the most terrible food.

~Selena Williams~

It had only been a little over two days since Selena had seen Arthur and yet the young healer almost seemed like a different person to her. He appeared exactly the same and after identifying him, she saw that he hadn’t gained a level. So just what about him is so different, she questioned herself. When it was her turn to receive some healing affinity ether from Arthur's Regeneration skill she realised what it was.

The young man seemed so much more at ease with himself, no longer possessing that same world-weary look he always used to have in his eyes. He actually smiled at her when he took her hands in his own, the slight movements of his lips completely transforming his face. Shit, he doesn't look half-bad, she thought distractedly before berating herself for being such a weirdo. Arthur was six if not seven years her junior and only the highly tense situation caused her thoughts to meander in such an odd direction.

After all, her nervous state was understandable. She would be the scout of the main team that had been created to deal with Shade, leaving her in one of the most vulnerable positions. She was also the lowest level member on the squad, despite the extreme power levelling program the government had put her through the past two days, not to mention all the expensive off-world elixirs that'd been pumped into her.

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At level 109, she was satisfied, if not happy with the rare class she had unlocked upon crossing the century boundary, though she would have no doubt acquired a far better one, perhaps elite if she had taken the time to level at a slower pace. There was no use crying over spilt milk however as there was nothing she could do to change her class now.

Besides, hastening her growth to better be able to deal with the monster known as Shade was as noble a cause as any and she was happy with her choice. Her wandering thoughts were interrupted when she felt a stream of ether enter her body from her hands that were linked with Arthurs.

It was warm and soothing akin to the feeling of taking a piping hot shower and the pleasurable experience was over far too soon in her opinion. When she looked at her stats to see the effect of Arthur's regeneration skill, she let out a gasp of surprise.

Stored healing ether:160/160

Effective regeneration rates for self: 819 HP

With eyes wide with shock, she looked first at her four team members and then back at Arthur, failing to accept the truth before her. Wait, did he really just give out 4000 points of health like it was nothing? He’s only level 60 for Christ’s sake! Is his healing skill an epic rarity? Legendary? she wondered in amazement.

At almost double that level, she had barely surpassed the ether milestone required to output such outrageous effects herself after unlocking her class and it was literally impossible for someone, at level 60 to have that much ether.

Unless he’s not human, of course, Selena thought morbidly. She quickly dismissed those thoughts as if it wouldn't even matter if that was the case, Arthur had never done anything to earn her distrust yet, and she doubted he would any time soon. Instead, it would be much better to focus her attention on the upcoming battle against Shade.

It would no doubt be the greatest challenge she had ever faced and she knew that she’d need to keep her wits about her if she wanted to come back in one piece. Though Selina was no doubt a good woman, she was not too keen on the whole prospect of self-sacrifice and dying for her country.

She still had a lot of life left to live and Tamo would no doubt go and get himself killed if she wasn’t there to reign in his crazy tendencies. Maybe I can get Arthur to become friends with him. He should be able to take care of the idiot, she thought to herself. Selena sighed tiredly. Why did her life have to be so complicated? Well, it was her fault, she guessed. She seemed to pick up responsibilities like they were stray cats or something.

Selena looked down at her wristwatch. It read 10.34 pm, exactly 12 hours before she’d have to fight for her life. It had been decided that the best course of action would be to wait till sunrise tomorrow to tackle the Shadow mage, in the hopes that the light of early morn would eliminate the advantages Shade would possess in darkness. She hoped that the battle plan they had come up with would be enough to deal with that monster, but something told her that they were still far from ready.

The highest level individual on their team was only at 123 because powerful monsters were so scarce on Earth after it had just evolved. It would probably take a decade or two before anyone would be able to cross the level 250 mark using only the natural resources of the planet and not off-world items as they had. By sacrificing their future potential, they'd gained the power to do what needed to be done.

That was the main reason why a group of individuals like the silver rose possessed such a great problem. With the usage of unstructured, forbidden rituals, they had rapidly outpaced the rest of humanity with their growth in power. Only real monsters like Kazi Alukai and that frozen princess she had heard about could hope to deal with them.

The only problem was that no such individual existed on American soil. Well, maybe I'm wrong, Selena thought wryly as she looked at Arthur. Still, at least for now, the American government were on their own and Selena knew that Arthur would never listen to their demands that he power level to better assist them in the future battles against the Silver rose.

We’ve already fucked up enough with the shit-fest that ensued when we tried to get the dimensional traveller, Selena thought to herself. It would be the height of folly to antagonise the only powerful individual that wanted to work with them and she had said as much when her direct superior had started discussing how best to strong-arm Arthur along for their plans.

She had instead offered the counter-proposal. Why don’t we just ask him to come along? No force. No threats. Just a request for assistance.

Selena smirked when she recalled the incredulous looks that her colleagues had given her. It seemed that they couldn’t fathom how something so simple would ever work. After all, no sane person would ever agree to go on such a dangerous mission when asked to do so. Thankfully, Selena was certain that Arthur had at least a few screws loose in his head and she was certain that he’d at least consider their requests. Not that it'd be necessary.

She'd gotten wind that the Murker siblings were visiting. Whatever they'd end up offering was far better than anything the American government could fork over. She'd heard plenty of rumours regarding the pair, the only confirmed one that they were a tier two planet's initial foothold into Earthen territory.

The fruits of evolution the American government had received had been a point of contention amongst all who knew about them. Everyone wanted to get their hands on one of the few items that would allow them to evolve sooner and it had been decided that if Arthur's assistance could be secured for the fight against the shadow mage a fruit would be offered in recompense on top of whatever the siblings offered.

After all, the presence of a great healer during the mission would lower their risks of failure greatly and everyone would feel more at ease knowing that an injury would not spell death even if it seemed fatal. A single rare item was worth the well-being of their attack squad as some of America's greatest fighters were a part of it.

That was without mentioning the number of resources and items that had been spent making them all stronger, and the government didn’t want to see their investments find their way to an early grave. Selena looked up to see Bryan talking to Arthur, his hands animatedly moving to emphasise what he was saying. Arthur looked like he was incredibly intrigued, his posture straighter than usual and his eyes fixed on Bryan. Selena smiled. It seemed like they’d be bringing their own monster to the party.