System slaps Ke’an across the face while still holding firm to his coat. The stinging sensation isn’t what caused the few seconds of silence from Ke’an, after all the slap is negligible in terms of damage and he barely felt it anyway. No, instead the monetary quite is brought about with what the assault meant. Never before has System even attempted to harm him so he feels almost betrayed and shocked.
Ke’an says as he attempts to shake her grip on his coat. “He is getting closer to the temple as we speak. I know what the powers are, we should just continue.”
System moves her grip from the coat to the collar of his shirt as her eyes sharpen. “Listen, I don’t care what you think you know about your powers. Look at your Skill Tree or we are dead.”
Ke’an is surprised at the glare System is giving him and the fire behind her eyes. He relents in the wake of System's insistence. Realizing that he had been acting far too reckless with his new abilities. He opens his skill menu and sees that it has changed due to the addition of more abilities. The menu is divided into four skill trees named after the first skill in each tree. An icon which represents each skill is present on each tree.
“Okay, let go of me. I am doing it.” Ke’an says.
System obviously still upset, lets him go with a slight push. She only put enough force into it to cause him to quickly step back.
“Good, I don’t know why you were being so stubborn about this.” Systems says with an annoyed tick to her words. “Now that I have reached level eleven I also have several skills. We will strategize our next attack based off of what we have.”
Ke’an sees all of his most familiar skills which he has been using up until now; Deicide, Regicide and Genocide. The last time he looked at his skill menu Usurper became its own skill tree as well serving as its own path to power. These skills are the first ones of each skill tree and are the name of the skill trees themselves. Golden roots weave out of the main three icons stretching downward connecting to other newer icons.
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Skill: Usurper 30.20%
Skill type: Special ability
Cooldown: none
Magic cost: High
Effect: Behold the power that stole from God. Take the ability, knowledge, and magic of those around you. This magic will kill the target if successfully cast. Can be used on the recently deceased. This magic can be resisted by conscious beings. Once cast successfully gain one ability from the target.
Transcendent: Consolidate new powers into your skills tree automatically. Reduce magic cost to none.
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This skill is the one that evolved from a skill he already possessed; he concludes that since he already knew how to use the skill it remained created its own skill tree. He decides he will ask System about it at a more appropriate time. He moves on to the next skill which is connected to Deicide by one of the roots.
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Skill: Cuirass of the Ice Demon 0.00%
Skill type: Summon
Cooldown: 1 hours
Magic cost: medium cost per second
Effect: Summon armor made from ice infused with the casters magic.
Transcendent: Spikes grow from the armor that causes [Stone Flesh] retaliatory damage on attackers.
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Seeing the description of the attack he is instantly reminded of the heavily armored greater snow wraith centipede. This must have been the ability he obtained from that creature. He also saw that this ability has something he has never seen before. He focuses on the words Stone Flesh and a pop-up window appears with an explanation.
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Stone Flesh
[Stackable] [Affliction]
Cause paralysis on target for a short time. If instance(s) of stone flesh stack on target become debilitating or are not cleansed, the afflicted area will become stone.
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Ke’an remembered something similar happening to anyone that came into contact with any of the spikes on the centipede. Although he remembered the name of the affliction being something different. He shrugs and files his question about the ability away as something else he will have to ask System about later. His eyes look over the Regicide branch but sees that there are no additional skills in this tree. He thought it was a shame since Regicide is his most powerful skill by far so he hoped that another powerful skill would have manifested from it. He looks at Genocide having forgotten what the skill does.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
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Skill: Genocide 52.24%
Skill Type: Passive
Cooldown: 12 hours
Magic cost: None
Effect: Enemies have two choices: bow or die. You and your selected allies will have slightly increased physical, magical and spiritual damage when outnumbered.
Transcendent Effect: Every enemy killed will add stacking damage effects to your attacks regardless if outnumbered or not. Genocide will also take effect if a single enemy is over 10 levels higher than you.
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Ke’an instinctively knows when this skill activates although he doesn’t have to activate it himself so he never worries if the skill is on or not. The white ghostly flames are due to this skill being active otherwise the inferno in the forest powering Ke’an and Systems magic would be normal in coloration. Ke’an notices for the first time the small Genocide icon in the very corner of his vision with a x2. He assumes it means the skill is active because Azeraath is over ten levels higher than him. The 2x, Ke’an surmises, is because he and System killed the Greater Snow Wraith Cloak. The only problem is this skill does not say how much it increases his strength and he didn’t feel any more powerful.
Ke’an turns his attention to the roots of this skill tree which have two additional skills. He looks at the first icon, it is an ape of some sort pounding its chest and roaring at the top of its lungs. The icon looks eerily similar to the apelike wraith only without the extra arm.
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Skill: Rage of the Yeti 0.00%
Skill type: Self-enchantment
Cooldown: 3 hours
Magic cost: Medium cost per second
Effect: Lose yourself to your rage and let it fuel your warriors spirit. Grants yourself the strength of the Greater Ice Yeti. Become immune to pain, fear, mind control and effects that would otherwise incapacitate. Increase strength, health regeneration and vitality stats x10. Decrease intelligence, dexterity and magic regeneration by 65%.
Transcendent: Summon spears of ice that can be used as projectiles.
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This skill is the first one Ke’an has seen with a drawback. Obviously the skill came from the ape greater snow wraith and it has its advantages in a drawn out fight. Becoming ten times physically stronger and the ability to heal at an even faster rate would help but such a drastic loss in magic and intelligence would essentially lobotomize him everytime he used the skill. He files this one away as a last resort or last stand skill that he would only use if all other options were spent.
Ke’an looks at the last icon on the page under the Genocide tree. The icon is of a man cloaked in mist and obscured by his surroundings. It looks similar but also very different to Azeraath when he first appeared. After reading the description Ke’an felt assured in his assumptions as to the nature of the skill.
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Skill: Veil of Winter 0.00%
Skill type: Self-enchantment
Cooldown: none
Magic cost: high cost per second
Effect: Summon a cloak of frozen mist around yourself which will obscure your form and cause moderate frost damage and an instance of [Slow] to hostiles that come into contact with the mist. Hostiles that are immune to frost damage will receive magic disruption damage at a reduced rate.
Transcendent: Veil of Winter will become a physical cloak of ice and frozen mist offering minimal protection against projectile damage. Cloak phase shifts between ice and mist to prevent disruptions to mobility.
Slow
[Non-Stackable] [Debuff]
Slows attack speed, reaction speed and movement speed of target.
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After looking over the skills Ke’an can see why System is angry. Each of them offer some versatility in a fight especially against an opponent as powerful as Azeraath. Ke’an also found that while he could feel the powers within himself before looking at the descriptions, only after viewing the icons did they really feel like they were part of him. It is an odd sensation that runs through him as if a jolt of new energy now courses through him.
“It looks like you finally get it don’t you?” System says matter of factly as she places her hand on her hip. “You have to see the icon of the skills at least once for them to become available.”
“Why is that?” Ke’an questions as he opens and closes his hand feeling the magic inside himself.
“It’s a precaution of the tutorial. Kind of like a licensing agreement before downloading a file…” She looks at Ke’an even more confused at her description.” She sighs and scratches her head and continues under her breath. “Of all the worlds it had to be the one without computers.”
“A licensing agreement?” Ke’an questions. “Download?”
“Nevermind all that.” System says while waving away the question. She clears her throat then continues. “The tutorial wants to make sure you read the description before using a skill to ensure you know what it is and you don’t kill yourself with them. For most worlds, including this one, skills don’t normally function with menus and windows so it helps you get accustomed.”
Ke’an promptly nods and goes over his skill with her. She in turn directs him to open his party menu. He did so with a thought and looked at the new window. He could see his face with his name, level, class and title. Beside the information is a shoulder up image of him in his current outfit. He mentally scrolls down and sees System’s information although he can only see her name and level. A split second later a second popup appears in his vision.
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System Lock has granted you access to see her account information. Would you like to view this information? Yes/No
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