When jake woke up the next day he felt a bunch of newfound energy running through his body, As jake immediately realized what this meant he opened his system messages. And after a bunch of killed creature messages and a whole bunch of Xp he saw a few messages appear that both surprised him and made him smile.
Required threshold reached..
Leveled up to level 4…
Required threshold reached..
Leveled up to level 5…
Requirements met..
User is now eligible to pick out a new skill..
Opening skill list…
In front of jakes eyes a familiar list of skills appeared. This time though there were both less options but also a-lot more new options. Clearly indicating that the skills available to him would change. But he also saw some old skills return, meaning he would also still have some old options every time he could pick out a new skill.
After scrolling through his new list of 21 options he quickly found three skills that he would pick between.
* vehicle creation
At the cost of mana this skill allows the user to create vehicles. As the skill level rises the selection of vehicles that may be summoned will grow and performance of vehicles may be enhanced. *further information can be seen on acquisition*
* Hack
In exchange for a suitable price in mana, the user can tap into any system and depending on the skill level and user level, the user may even destroy or block out certain parts. *further information can be seen on acquisition*
* Program
In exchange for a suitable price in mana the user is able to create systems or add parts to any system. The level of systems or additions that can be made are dependent on both the skill level and user level. *further information can be seen on acquisition*
* Wired will
In exchange for a suitable price in mana the user is able to wire their will into either biological or mechanical circuity. Allowing the user to either control or disable functions. *further information can be seen on acquisition*
These four skills spoke to Jake the most. He was having a hard time deciding, and after a while he decided to just start reasoning what would be the benefits of every skill and then pick the one that gave him the most benefits in his current situation.
Starting off with vehicle creation, one of the skills that had re-appeared from his first skill.
Now it would allow him to create vehicles in return for a price in mana. At the moment he didn’t really have any direct need for this though, since he could have his drones carry him around. The main reason why the skill spoke to him was the vehicles he might get at later levels. Such as space ships or just extremely strong combat vehicles. Imagine if he got some type of futuristic air carrier filled with even more futuristic combat vehicles.
That could be a major boon. At the initial levels though, the skill wouldn’t give him much use. So taking this skill would become more of a long term investment than anything. Then again if the skill gave him a more comfortable or safe way to explore this evolving earth then that would be a pretty great purchase.
After all, an option for moving around would give him assurance. Right now he was basically tied down to this forest since everything he had invested and done was stuck here. With the exception of his drones that he would be able to take with him.
Then again if construction leveled up and reached a level of tech where he could just create a moving base, then he wouldn’t have any need for vehicles again. Which would make the skill useless until later levels again.
Eventually he just noted the skill down as more of a long term investment skill. No great immediate returns but great use and potential at later levels.
Moving on to the second skill Hack. Now this skill was a-lot more interesting to Jake. As it would allow him to access ANY system for a suitable mana price. And if his skill level was high enough to match the system, then he could even destroy or block parts of ANY system.
The ANY part speaking the most to him. Since currently earth had been integrated into the multiverse and its “System” So what if Hack could give him access to information in the system and even allow deletion of certain parts when he got strong enough?
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Even if he was just able to access limited parts of the system for information. This would still give him a major advantage since knowing how the system worked meant he could exploit any potential loopholes or get strong quick mechanisms.
Not to mention that with the evolving earth, many new mysteries and potentially useful things he didn’t know about yet could be popping up. And getting access to such information would again, give him a major advantage.
So this skill, if it really did allow him access to the multiversal system, would give him a great source of information. And as he had read many times in books. Information was power. Plus if he could block others' information on him via the system that would give him another layer of security.
But even though information was power, the skill sounded very aggressive. And even if he did have the information. He had always been a very chaotic person, so he wouldn’t become some super mastermind with the information he had. It would be more of a convenience than a real power enhancement for him. Because even though the skill was clearly extremely powerful and useful. It just didn’t suit him, so even if he got it he wouldn’t be able to use it to its full potential.
Then again he was quite fond of the idea of being able to remove parts of the system that didn’t suit him. As he had been sad about the system giving out rewards for killing fellow humans. With this skill he might eventually be able to get rid of that.
But again, Jake was no hero, and he wouldn’t get the skill just for such a reason. Maybe if he had the luxury to get skills that wouldn’t benefit him as much as some others did, he would eventually get it. But for now he didn’t feel that attracted to this skill nor did he have the luxury at these initial stages to get a skill that he couldn’t make full use of.
So he moved on to look at the next skill.
Now Program was much like Hack in the term but it was different in the way that instead of destroying,infiltrating and blocking, it was more about creating and adding to it. This part alone made him feel more attracted to the skill than he had been towards Hack.
And since Program too would allow him to add things to ANY system. He could already see himself adding new rules or mechanisms that could benefit him into the universal system. Like what if he just created a rule that any enemies that got within 100 meters of him wouldn’t be able to use any skills. Now he imagined the Program skill would need to be a very high level to be able to do this. Not to mention the mana he would need to make such a strong addition to the system. But he would eventually be able to do it.
Setting aside overpowered and just plain unfair rules, he would probably also be able to add simpler things to the system. Like if any unknown sentient organism came within 100 meters of him, the system would give him a notification about it. Or that when he said a certain keyword he would get the class,level or affinity of any living being he was currently looking at.
He already started smiling about all the possible uses being able to add new rules to the universal system would enable him to do. Not to mention he would be able to add things to the programming of his drones or even make new programs entirely. He could start making an Ai eventually or do some protocol systems for defenses in his base.
This skill would give him so much generic benefits and it would stay useful no matter how strong his skills would get. Since even after all the technology would get so advanced there would be no need for additions of his own. He could still make additions to the universal system! And that alone gave it as much worth as the Hack skill had.
So he already crossed away the Hack skill from his list. Since just between those two Program would be more useful to him. Since unlike Hack he could make use of the full potential Program would give him.
Now on to the last skill he would consider. Wired will, now this was more of a combat skill than anything. It would give him direct control of an opponent in battle or allow him to disable certain bodily functions of his opponent. Imagine if he was up alone against a group of raiders with his drones unable to do anything. If he could then use this skill on some raiders in the group to turn them against each other it would sow chaos and allow him to kill off the rest.
Or if he just made all of the raiders unable to see anything. It could also be used to directly disable any technology nearby, maybe even give him direct control of his drones instead of just being able to order them.
Overall a very useful skill, mostly suited for combat. And even though it was an amazing skill, Jake still felt like he had no current need for it. After all he had no enemies strong enough to find him or defeat all his drones. And compared to the creative and security benefits Program would give him. This skill just felt like a second priority.
If he got the chance again though he would definitely pick up this skill in the future. Now that he had made up his mind he chose Program as his new skill.
skill chosen…
Adding extra information to chosen skill..
Now then, since he had finished picking out his skill it was time to take a look at his level 5 status. Plus he was kind of excited to just see his skill sitting in his status, it would just give him that satisfying feeling of finally getting that new thing you wanted and actually having it in your hands. Wasting no further time he opened up his status screen.
Name: Jake miller
Age: 23
Class: Technomancer
Level: 5
Mana: 1600/1600
XP: 233/4800
?̶̫͍͙̬̜͛̿?̵̡̩͖̩͍̓?̷̨̠͎͇͑̕͜ - Locked
Skills:
Create drone lv2
Construction lv1
Program lv 1
Weapon creation lv1
Traits:
Builder ll
He whisted at seeing his new Xp requirement to level up. Honestly he was kind of amazed he had went from end level 3 to level 5 in one night. He had to have gained at least 2400 Xp in one night to go up from level 4 to 5. Clearly expanding to three clearing hunting grounds was the right decision.
Honestly now he was just even more excited to also get all the mana stones all his kills would gave gotten him later.
Turning towards his mana he quickly calculated how much mana he would regenerate per hour. 1600 divided by 5 was 320, so he would regenerate 320MP per hour. Which compared to his 20Mp an hour just a week ago seemed like such a big advancement.
Then again he also recognized the earlier stages of growth would be the fastest for him, since if his Xp requirements kept doubling he would soon start needing Xp in the millions.
Grimacing a bit at that thought, he quickly moved on to happier things. He ordered his worker drones to start bringing over those mana stones. And while he waited he decided to just get onto working on his automatic drone exclusive door with the mana he currently had and the leftover mana stones he had from yesterday. Since it was getting both bothersome and very tiring to keep opening and closing his flush door just for drones to enter or exit his base.
He entered build mode and got to work, he decided to add a little receiver mechanism into another secret flush door that he had made 10 meters up in the wall. It would then be able to detect their signature signals the drones were sending out to him. And if it detected such a signal within 1 meter of the new flush drone door. T
he door would automatically open to let the drones exit and enter. Then he made a little passageway to connect the drone door to the rest of his base. And after he had checked everything worked as intended he started the building process.
Now then it was time to both check out how to use his new skill. And to get started on finding some new source of food for him and the girl who he didn’t even know the name of yet.