If Lucas wished to, he could choose to evolve [Perseverance] into a Class Skill. He'd already done just that with a number of his former General Skills, and he'd largely found each one to be better for their evolution. However, it was just slightly different now. This was his last available Class Skill slot. If he prompted the evolution to go through, he wouldn't be able to fill the slot with something else--so if he at some point created or otherwise received a better Class Skill, he would have to completely forget [Perseverance] to slot it.

Lucas was already satisfied with the Skill's effects as it was. During his consecutive spars with Eugene, things had gotten slightly easier as he continued to persevere and doubtlessly as the Skill leveled, though he didn't pay the necessary amount of attention to his status as the spars went on to completely validate that assumption. But could the evolution be better?

Basically, the question Lucas needed answered was whether an evolved General Skill could compare in quality to a brand new Class Skill.

"Well?" Eugene interrupted his thoughts. "Don't keep me waiting--how many?"

"Oh! Sorry, got distracted. Hold on, and let me count," Lucas replied before turning back to the rest of his notifications.

[*ding [Aspirant of the Storm] has reached level 32-36! You have 110 free stats!]

[*ding [Accelerant Frame] has reached level 14-26!]

[*ding [Rapid Regeneration] has reached level 20-22!]

...

[*ding [Reflexes] has reached level 2-17!]

Yeah, ok. That's a lot to go through. Let's just open up my full status.

[Lucas]

[Free Stats: 110]

[HP: 391/480]

[MP: 20/720]

[STR: 31]

[DEX: 50]

[VIT: 48]

[WIS: 72]

[INT: 70]

[Class: Aspirant of the Storm]

[Level: 36]

[Skills:

* [Accelerant Frame: 26]

* [Rapid Regeneration: 22]

* [Arclight Renewal: 31]

* [Tempest Fighting: 36]

* [Storm Core: 36]

* [Shock: 20]

* [Overcharge: 15]

* [Quick Step: 20]

* [Hyper Processing: 24]

*

[General Skills:

* [Identify: 13]

* [Keen Mind: 31]

* [Perseverance: 10]

* [Vigilance: 25]

* [Stealth: 14]

* [Cooking: 22]

* [Hygiene: 2]

* [Learning: 36]

* [Reflexes: 17]

* [----------]

"A lot," Lucas told him. "The answer is a lot."

"Yeah," Eugene nodded and opened the door before stepping out. "That's kind of to be expected. Not many kids your age can keep up with that intense training. I have no doubt that it gave you a lot of levels."

"I still need a lot more, though," Lucas said. "I'm only level 36 and I still have a Skill at level 2."

Eugene looked over his shoulder at Lucas as they walked down the hall and stared at him strangely.

"What?"

"...You mean you're level 36, and you only have one Skill that hasn't been raised relatively high?" He turned back to watch where he was going, but continued to glance back at Lucas with that strange expression. "And your unlock was, what, two months ago?"

Lucas thought about it, then nodded. "About that long."

Eugene stopped and fully faced him, place his hands on Lucas's shoulders. "Lucas. That is absurdly fast," he spoke evenly. "Kids your age don't usually level that quickly, but then again, you aren't like most kids your age."

"How fast did you level after your unlock?" Lucas deflected the conversation from himself.

"Haha, not nearly as fast," Eugene chuckled and patted one of Lucas's shoulders before continuing down the hall. "I actually spent a lot of time sitting at level 10, trying to decide on what I wanted to do with my life."

Lucas furrowed his brow. As they were talking, the two of them made it through the rest of the guards' base and Eugene waved to the [Mage] that was sorting through things in the opening hall, the same one that had helped Lucas and his mom find the training room earlier in the day. Outside, it was already well past sunset. They would be having an abnormally late dinner.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"You mean you didn't always want to be a guard?" Lucas asked.

"Nope," Eugene immediately answered. "I considered becoming a [Hunter] as well, and a [Smith] of some sort. My dad worked in the mines for a really long time, and he kind of pushed me toward that last one. But in the end, becoming a [Warrior] under Commander Iltani was most appealing."

Lucas nodded. "Makes sense."

They walked on in silence for a while, and Lucas wrapped his arms around himself to ward off a bit of the night's chill as he thought over a number of things.

"Eugene?"

"What's up?"

Lucas contemplated it a moment longer before asking, "Is it better to evolve a General Skill into a Class Skill, or wait till something original is available to fill the slot?"

"What Skill is this?" The man glanced back at him.

"[Perseverance]. It's already pretty good, so I'm not sure I want to evolve it and lose out on something else that might show up."

"Don't worry about that," Eugene shook his head. "If you already like the Skill, then evolve it. There's no telling if something better than what you get will ever show up, and evolutions pretty much always give you something better than the original."

"That simple?"

"That simple," he nodded and they fell back into silence.

I guess that's right. There really is no telling if I'll get something better.

Lucas selected [Y], and the evolution went through.

...

[*ding General Skill [Perseverance] has become Class Skill [Adaptation]! Level is set to 1!]

[Adaptation: perseverance without change inevitably leads to the fall. While under assault or excessive strain from an external source, gain +10% resistance for every minute of continued exposure up to a maximum of 50%. Resistance resets by the same increment every minute after exposure ends.]

Lucas burst out into laughter. He just couldn't help it. There, in the middle of the path where he had been closely following behind Eugene even as he looked through his status, he broke out into uninhibited guffaws.

"Shit, it didn't evolve well, did it?" Eugene drew close and hovered over Lucas as he tried to figure out what to do.

He'd clearly taken Lucas's sudden outburst the wrong way, as if Lucas had lost it upon getting a bad result--but those weren't hysterical laughs of frustration or anything of that sort. Lucas fought down his urge to jump, laugh and spin in celebration.

"No, no," Lucas swallowed. A grin broke out on his face. "It's good! Really!"

"Are you sure?" Eugene held his hands up in a sort of placating gesture.

Lucas nodded and read his new Skill's description out for the man.

"Ok, yeah, that's definitely worthy of laughter," Eugene displayed his own grin and shook his head. "It's a huge improvement from the General Skill--I highly suggest you hold onto that one. If you can get it to evolve a couple more times..."

Yeah, it went without saying that Lucas would not be switching out [Adaptation] for anything else that came along. Even if he received one that allowed him to fly on a lightning bolt, traveling from far off places faster than he could ever hope to on foot, it wouldn't be worth the trade. There was the question of how far the System could take Skills, but [Adaptation] had the potential to make him completely unbeatable in a fight given enough time. It was that good.

"Come on," Eugene waved for him and started jogging in the direction they'd been going, "let's go tell your mother."

"Ok!" Lucas hurried after him.

The two of them made quick progress toward Lucas's house, and his excitement to share his new Skill with his mother only grew as they drew closer. It was late enough that most people were at home, eating or preparing their evening meal. There really weren't the many people around that he and Eugene had to be careful not to run into on the paths. However, when they was only around a quarter of the distance to his house left, they themselves were nearly trampled by another guard coming from the opposite direction, moving at what Lucas could only theorize was their top speed.

Lucas saw he woman blasting toward them, [Vigilance] and [Hyper Processing] allowing him to track her but the rest of his stats and Skills were insufficient to allow him to act on that perception. She would have gone right through him if not for Eugene reacting fast enough to pull Lucas to the side and out of the way.

"Hey!" Eugene yelled after her. "Slow down, you fucking idiot! You're gonna kill someone!"

The woman managed to swallow her momentum a ways down the path and turn to face them for a moment. It was then that Lucas noticed the blood splatters covering her leathers and hands. "I'm sorry, it's an emergency! Heavy injuries in my patrol and I need to report to the Commander!" She yelled back to them and immediately turned back around and took off, not wasting a moment to hear Eugene's response.

"I need to get to the clinic, that's probably where she came from," Lucas pushed Eugene's arm away and started moving again, this time nearly at a sprint. He would've used his augmentation and movement Skills as well, but he had a feeling he would soon be needing all the MP he could get. It also hadn't yet had enough time to fully regenerate.

"Hold on, I can get you there faster," Eugene scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder. It wasn't the most dignified of positions, but this wasn't the time for that and sure enough, Eugene proceeded to blitz down the paths faster than even the other guard had been going. Lucas was jostled around more than a little, and the trip only served to emphasize his soreness from the sparring, but once again, that didn't matter right now.

He delivered Lucas to the clinic a fistful of seconds later, it felt like. Lucas set aside his disorientation as he himself was set down, and quickly headed inside to behold a chaotic mess. The front room of his house, what amounted to the entirety of the clinic, was packed full of a patrol of guards. Three sat in the back on the floor near the door that led deeper into the house, and it was unclear whether or not they were conscious. It was clear, however, that they were in worse shape than the woman that had nearly trampled him. Two were muddy and bloody, with their gear appearing torn, and the third had two crude arrows sticking out of his thigh.

There was another guard pacing around, and though he was a mess as well, he didn't appear to have any open wounds. Lucas only spared that man a moment's glance before taking in the very same thing that held the guard's attention. Laid out on the reclining chair reserved for patients was a fifth guard, another woman, and she looked to definitively be in the worst shape of them all. Multiple arrows stuck out of her body, concentrated on her center mass but a couple having landed in areas not covered by her leathers. Lucas's mother hovered over this woman, working at quickly removing the arrows before she could properly make use of her healing magic.

"Lucas, I've got this one--see to the three against the wall!" Mary commanded of him mere moments after he came through the door and took everything in.

"Yes, ma'am!" Lucas was slightly startled by her advanced display of perception, but he trusted her words and did as she said, carefully but quickly navigating around the room and to the other guard pin-cushioned with arrows. This was no time to question.

Lucas snapped in the man's face and roused his focus. He was conscious and responsive, so he hadn't experienced much blood loss yet, as much as the prodigious amount that covered him and the bit that pooled below him might suggest otherwise. He moved on to inspecting the obvious wounds on the man's thigh as he asked a question.

"If you have the strength, please tell me how you received these wounds. Any information might help me as your [Healer]."

Lucas wasn't fully expecting a response, and less so a coherent one, but after a moment in which the man wet his lips and worked his throat into order, he gave a soft answer.

"...goblins..."