[Perception] powered by black mana isn't that special, or at least it’s not at my skill level. I'm not as good at using that skill as I am at using [Focus], so black mana makes it, well, more perceptive. I still prefer my eye trait, but it's not terrible and could be used to improve my scans.
I might even be able to locate Tacita right now and quite easily at that, but it's kind of hard to control. I died three times before I got any actual results.
The second skill I’ve decided to test is [Resonance], mostly for the bits that used to be [Oscillation] rather than [Disruption].
[Resonance] powered by black mana easily tears through the trees and rocks in front of me, it covers quite a large area as well. It's like using highly concentrated, high-frequency kinetic energy but it feels sharper.
Knowing I can't die, I can afford to be less careful, intending to learn even from the way my body gets damaged. I died twice before getting the result I wanted from the skill.
I also try to use [Resonance] with a burst of black mana to send a massive disrupting wave, as big as I can make it, and after examining it I'm almost sure it hit everyone within the common area. It’s almost like a wide range EMP for mana.
With that one pulse, the black mana I used for the skill is gone. It took up a lot of it, but the area is huge so I’m satisfied.
So what if it scared a few people and messed up the web the others from Hell and the Hard difficulty people have been constructing over the common area? It’s a price I'm willing to pay.
Next, I decide not to test it on more skills. The event is still a bit off, but I need to get there with my mana topped out.
For the last test with black mana, I create a big amount and send it through my body, in a manner similar to my Reinforcement and body strengthening. And I observe it the entire time, without activating my healing passive even as my body takes damage, my bones and muscles strengthened by mana while it puts them through an immense amount of strain at the same time.
I move that mana to certain parts, like to my feet or arms, and attempt independently strengthening them. Then I manipulate mana to create a black dagger before reabsorbing it.
Each of these attempts would be extremely dangerous given that a single spike can tear my organs and mind apart, but here I'm not that worried.
Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!
[Mana Manipulation]
[Mana Manipulation - lvl 0 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 38]
Huh? What?
Confused, I ignore the black mana for a moment and check my status and the skill is there.
I’ve reacquired one of my original skills.
Didn't the system say it would be extremely difficult to get the skill back? And I was already getting used to training without it, and why the heck is it so high level? The other skills I’ve gained are mostly in the single digits.
Is it because I had it before, and more importantly, does that mean I can use [Mana Manipulation] in another skill combination? Is that even allowed? If so then maybe, in the future when I use it for another skill combination, I can get it back again.
This is a total scam!
It's still surprising, but I can’t complain. It must mean that I have a great talent when it comes to mana, right? Hehe.
I notice that my body is starting to take too much damage, and overjoyed over the new skill, I send kinetic energy into my brain and blow off my head. I die again, my body returning to its normal state.
From testing, I know that if I had waited any longer the system would have restored me to my wounded state even if I wasn’t dead. I'm still not sure what the exact time limit is, but it's something that can be found out with a bit of testing.
After "reviving", the first thing I see is Tacita squatting in front of me and looking at me in a way that I can’t quite describe. Is it amazement? Admiration? Did she stalk me and see me testing the black mana and dying?
She lifts her pointer finger close to her temple and makes a circular movement while looking at me.
Oh, come on! Everyone normal would do that! You can't die here, so it's not a problem to destroy your body a few times.
“I'm normal. That was entirely reasonable,” I protest.
She blinks a few times and then gestures at the ground where she quickly draws something with her finger.
(¬_¬)
“I'm normal.”
She wipes it off and pats my shoulder once before drawing again.
(ಠ_ಠ)
“Did you come here just to make fun of me?”
Tacita shakes her head.
“Do you want something from me?”
A short nod.
“What is it?”
(>^_^)> ☆･ﾟ*･｡ﾟ
There is NO WAY she is more normal than me.
“Explosion?”
She nods excitedly a few times but then gestures to indicate that I’ve missed something.
“Do you want me to cause an explosion?”
Tacita shakes her head.
“Did you find me because of an explosion?”
She shakes her head again.
Hmm, this is a fun game so I plop on the ground opposite of her and think.
“Did you maybe feel my disrupting wave?”
(＾▽＾)
Carefully, she touches her shirt which I now realize is black.
Oh.
“You want to see my black orb?”
(＾▽＾)
“What do I get in exchange?” I ask.
To my surprise, she thinks about it for a while, and seriously at that. Then she pulls out a small brooch in the shape of a leaf and puts it on the ground.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Examining it, I learn that it's an epic item with two uses left. Each of these uses increases dexterity by 200 points for 10 seconds. It's the first time I’ve seen an item like this and can’t help but think about how scary someone like Tacita would be with something like this.
I wonder how she deals with the attribute imbalance I'm sure she’s experiencing. Without enough Constitution, each of her quick movements likely threatens to tear her apart. Is it some trait? Epic passives? Active skills? There are plenty of options.
The item is nice, but I would rather try to build a good relationship with her. That would be much more valuable.
“I was joking, I’ll show you for free. Just don't attack me or my group without a good reason.”
Tacita looks at me and then seems to be thinking about it for a while.
A minute passes like that.
Then she looks at me again, into my eyes and I return her gaze. She smiles gently and gestures with her hand.
Maybe.
"That's enough."
She takes the brooch and gestures at me impatiently.
I reach out and compress mana into a smaller orb that quickly turns black, as I am already used to the process. She watches it all with fascination like an excited little girl finding a new toy.
Her hands move in sign language, but she quickly remembers I do not understand and then points at the orb while looking at me with a question.
“Yes, you can.”
Tacita nods quickly and a barrier forms on her skin as she reaches her finger towards the black mana orb. It starts absorbing her mana the moment it enters her range.
At this point, I know showing her this will help her understand my black orb a bit better and maybe even learn how to counter it.
But I also know she realizes that, and yet I'm still showing it to her. That much should help her form a better image of me. After all, I’m the guy who showed her his secret weapon even though he didn't have to. Obviously, just that won't turn her into a friend or anything, but just a little bit, just a first step is enough, and to me, Tacita looks like someone worth keeping close. Well, maybe not too close.
I lean against the tree with my back and observe her as she continues to examine the orb. She changes her barrier, she tries to move her hand so quickly I can't even track it, probably trying to figure out if she can stop the orb from absorbing her mana by moving quickly enough.
She pokes it with a mana-coated dagger as well.
It's like she is a curious cat playing with a new toy.
In the end, she seems to be satisfied and stands up. Looking at me, she shows a thumbs-up.
The heck.
Then after waving her hand, she runs away at a speed that would probably look like teleportation to someone with worse senses.
----------------------------------------
I head back to our house when a notification informs me that all the weapons I put into the shop have been sold. After the system takes its cut, I get 1200 shards. Plenty more than I was asking.
Something seems to be amiss here. Why would they sell for so much? Looking at the price, people from Normal and Hard should be the only ones buying them, but with what they bought them for they could've gotten items from the system shop instead.
Very suspicious.
When I reach the house, Channeler is there as well. Unlike before, he is wearing much nicer clothes and he is slightly tidied up which makes him even more handsome.
Again, the hell. It should be illegal for a man to look like that.
“Noname! I trained using the stone you gave me. It's amazing! Someone from Hard even tried to steal it from me.”
Oh boy. “Did he get it?”
“Nope! Sset saw it and zapped him and the group who was trying to help him.” He moves closer and continues in a whisper. “Sset is scary. A few of the guys from Hard difficulty cried and begged her to stop, but she was like: ‘Channeler is with Group 4.’ So goddamn cool, I tell you!”
Oh nice, now even Tess is spreading Group 4's name to other participants. But I'm curious about where she’s going with this.
“Good, if someone bothers you just tell us. It should be easy enough to deal with them.”
“Will do, boss! By the way, did you hear about that creep selling rare items?”
Huh, creep? I know multiple people registered as sellers and I even saw some rare items in the tournament shop, but who could have caught enough interest by now for anyone to be talking about them?
“Anything interesting?” I ask.
“Yup! He made a few rare items and was selling them at a ridiculously low price! I'm friends with some of the guys from Normal difficulty and they’ve already started talking about it. They say his weapons are being sold at the price of a low rare item with the performance of a mid rare! Apparently, not many people have realized their value yet.”
Heh, what a loser, getting scammed already.
Channeler continues, “The items are ugly as hell and sometimes they’re hard to hold and the shape’s all wrong.”
Wait a moment.
He laughs shortly, “The guys complained a lot about them being ugly, but the performance and effects are amazing for such a high grade so they’ve been selling like hotcakes. I even heard some were trading them in for other, more valuable items with crafters from Hard difficulty who wanted to examine them."
Please no.
Channeler explodes into laughter, “But best of all is the guy's name. Everyone calls him Tent Creep who apparently wants to… well, you know… Anyway, if you see any tent you better avoid it.”
T-That's not it!
I try to correct him, “Isn't his name 'Fuck You Intent Bitch'? I think I saw it.”
Channeler just shrugs, “What even is “intent”? Anyway, they don't care. Since the name has caught on, they’re likely to keep using it,” he smirks. “Obviously no one will make fun of him to his face. It would be dumb to make fun of someone with that level of skill!”
“Yes, that would be really stupid.”
“Maybe you could buy some of his stuff, creep or not.”
“Yes, maybe. Hehe, such a stupid name.”
“Right? I have to go to Soph. Gareth and others are getting annoyed by the web she is setting up around the common area. It interferes with, and has apparently been taking over, parts of their own web. They’ve already sent Brainiac to talk to her, but apparently, he’s just been messing around with the other members of your group.”
Group 4 indeed, everyone seems to like stirring trouble.
“Sure, I think she is in the workshop with her sister, you can check there.”
“Thanks, I’ll see you later, boss!”
As he leaves, I watch him for a bit longer. It’s nice that his behavior in regards to me hasn’t changed much after the end of the 1st event, unlike some of the others.
When I enter the house, I find Tess alone in the smaller living room with all the furniture floating in the air.
“Tent Creep!” she shouts by way of greeting.
“Oh, come on.” In quick succession, I shoot a few mana orbs at her, and she destroys them with her lightning.
“If you want, I can find out who started it, and you can have a talk with the guy. But that would reveal your secret identity as Tent Creep, and they would laugh behind your back. Or you can keep it secret.”
“Let's keep it a secret.”
“Sure! By the way, flying is much harder than you make it look. Other than you, Kim, and I, I’ve only seen two guys flying briefly. Maybe there are a few more, but they are all terrible in comparison to you.”
That improves my mood, and I know she said it on purpose. Such a cheeky blonde.
“They just don't practice enough. I wanted to ask you something.” I move closer and sit in the armchair that starts floating with me on it under the influence of her skill. “You went pretty hard on group 4 during the 1st event, is there a reason for that?”
Tess attacked me the moment she saw me, and then again. I also heard she poked at the others and defeated Min-Jae. It's weird to me, considering she was the one who wanted to create this atmosphere of camaraderie, yet instead of grouping up during the event she went off alone, even attacked a few of the members of our group.
Slowly, the items float back to the floor along with Tess, who ends up on the couch opposite me.
“I attacked you because I thought it would be fun and I knew you wouldn’t mind.” When she looks at me, I nod and after a short smile, she continues, “I poked the others to remind them that it's not just you who’s stronger than them in Group 4. I want them to know I'm here as well and they should not forget that.”
“Want to be their mom?”
“Actually, that might not be so inaccurate.” A plate with snacks floats over to me, and I grab one before it floats to Tess who takes some as well. “I want us to be friends, but at the same time, I took on the role of leader for the most part so I need to remind them once in a while. As for Kim, I defeated him because he’s getting cocky, Nathaniel. I saw how harshly he was treating some guys from the Hard difficulty. It was getting awfully close to bullying.”
“Just that?”
“Of course, that alone wouldn't be enough, it's just that since he got his new eye, he’s been getting more and more confident. Kim is still young and he doesn't know what to do with it, so he takes joy in lording his strength over others. But lately, he’s been pushing it.”
“I could look into it,” I offer. Having Min-Jae act cocky and overconfident could cause him some trouble in the future, so I could help with that.
“That would be great, just please don’t be too cruel. I will talk with him too so you can do it later.”
“Sure. That’s fine.” I gesture and head back out.