Atlas awoke to a most unpleasant message.
Your watchtower has found an enemy presence! Wave starts in 00:01:12
00:01:11
00:01:10
Atlas cursed, scrambling out of bed and launching out of the building in a few short seconds. Seconds were all he had before he would be harrassed by the mysterious 1st wave.
He rushed into the Armory and grabbed a greatsword before rushing back out, he figured that a weapon was better than his bare fists, and he wasn’t willing to use a spear again, as it hadn’t been the most useful weapon he had ever fought with.
Straightening his already impeccable clothing, Atlas reached the wall, lightly hopping and balancing precariously on the spiked tops. The wall was not very large, only about 10 feet or so, but at least it was something.
Atlas eyed the dwindling timer.
00:00:10
00:00:09
00:00:08
Atlas steeled himself, eyes flaring red as he slowly turned his head, watching the forest carefully. The treeline was a good 20 feet away from any wall, but it would still be far to easy for monsters to sneak up to the wall and potentially break through or hop over. There was not a gate in the palisade, as Atlas did not need one, but if anything that was a detriment. A gate might be more likely to be attacked as opposed to a solid wood wall.
00:00:02
00:00:01
Wave 1 starts… Now!
The forest exploded in a cacophony of sound and light.
An entire army of slimes charged out of the treeline, gunning straight for the walls. There were anywhere from fire slimes to what Atlas could only assume were light slimes, shedding of such a bright light that it hurt his eyes whenever he looked at them, and Reaper’s Senses didn’t help.
They all had one thing in common.
(Type) Slime
T2 Lvl 0
They were all the same level as him.
Atlas grinned. That could be changed.
He sprang from the wall, activating all of his skills. His eyes burned a deep red as gray mist swirled around him. Atlas’s body bulked slightly as Endless Strength gave him strength, Toughen made his skin turn into a fortress of health, and Blitz gave him the explosive speed to rocket directly into the center of the slimes, swinging his greatsword filled with his new strongest skill, Ultimate Debuff.
It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that the slimes were as soft as butter against his unending power and strength. If he didn’t kill a monster outright, it would be inflicted with a debuff that killed it soon after. The power of the debuff seemed to scale off of his intelligence stat, which was also monstrously high.
As Atlas fought, his vision was flooded with notifications.
Level Up! x9
Atlas quickly cut off the notifications and shoved them out of the way, feeling power flood through his body as he continued to turn the slimes into a juicy paste. Most of the notifications seemed to be skill level ups. As Atlas fought, he tried to develop a new ability, focusing on every movement of the greatsword and trying to maximize its efficiency.
He started to use Fade Away to travel throughout the battlefield quicker, stopping the slimes from reaching the wall. He had no doubt that if they could touch it, it would break down in a matter of seconds. He would rather not let all of his hard work burn into the ground.
After a few more utterly exhilarating minutes of fighting, Atlas managed to create a new skill for his greatsword while also whittling down all of the ranks of slimes. Every once in a while he would use Consume and attempt to steal a skill from their corpses- which were more puddles of goo than anything else.
While his attempts went mostly unsuccessful, that didn’t mean they were completely unsuccessful. He gained at least one skill from every different type of slime, of which there were seven.
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You have created the skill, Great Weapon Mastery (D)!
You have gained the skill, Fire Manipulation (B)!
You have gained the skill, Water Manipulation (B)!
You have gained the skill, Earth Manipulation (B)!
You have gained the skill, Air Resistance (C)!
You have gained the skill, Light Manipulation (B)!
You have gained the skill, Dark Manipulation (B)!
You have gained the skill, Water Resistance (C)!
You have gained the skill, Fire Resistance (C)!
Level Up! x4
You have gained the skill, Dark Resistance (C)!
Skills with Synergy have been found! Would you like to combine the skills: Float (S), Fire Manipulation (B), Water Manipulation (B), Earth Manipulation (B), Light Manipulation (B), and Dark Manipulation (B)? y/n
(System tip: Skills with Synergy are far more likely to become a powerful skill, and have little to no chance of failing. Chance of failing increases with the amount of skills being combined.)
Atlas wasn’t using Float at the moment, so he saw no reason not to. Bisecting another slime- this one made of molten fire, he selected yes.
Combining…
LUCKY BONUS!
Energy Manipulation (SS) has instead become Elemental Affinity (SSS)!
Atlas felt an explosion of power ripple throughout his body and he cried out in both pain and pleasure. Soon it faded away and Atlas’s face split into a wild grin. “Oh… You guys are so dead.” He told the slimes, who had continued to charge him, unknowing of the new power that Atlas had unlocked, leaving him with perfect test subjects for his new skill.
Ultimate Debuff was a very powerful skill, of that, there was no doubt. But it seemed to thrive in one on one situations, where his enemy was powerful enough to survive multiple of Atlas’s ferocious attacks, which left it lacking in large scale fights.. He had a feeling that Elemental Affinity was different.
He pulled up its description briefly to understand exactly what it could do and how he could utilize it.
Elemental Affinity (SSS): You can control all elements within a 500 foot radius centered on you. You can combine elements in different ways to create different effects. This ability is innately powered and hard to explain. Play around with the different powers to fully understand what you can do. Costs mana. (differs depending on effect.)
Short, but sweet. Atlas tugged on the ground and spikes shot out from under all of the slimes, killing all but the earth slimes and some stragglers instantly. Atlas grabbed them with what he could only describe as the wind and sent them careening into the sky.
They didn’t survive the drop.
You have cleared the first wave! Second wave starts in 1 minute!
Atlas used Consume to grab the final few resistance and combined them all together.
Combining…
Skill gained! Damage Resistance (A)
It wasn’t a lucky bonus, but it was a good skill for his growing arsenal. As he finished consuming all of the goo lying around for some levels in his resist skill, a system notification rocked him just as he neared his wall.
Second wave starts… now!
A flood of goblins flooded out of the forest, and Atlas Blitz-ed back to the armory and switched the greatsword out for a spear before jumping into the fray. He was going to see if he could develop a bunch of weapon skills and try to combine them. He assumed they would have high synergy with each other.
***
You have cleared the second wave! Third wave starts in 1 hour
Atlas lay, panting heavily. He hadn’t expected this to be so tiring, but he had the feeling that some of his stronger skills required magic, which tired him out faster. He couldn’t be sure, because he didn’t have any spells, which somehow made him understand how much magic he could hold. It was hard for him to understand how exactly, but it was the best guess he could come up with.
He glanced briefly at the list of new skills that awaited him. This really was a perfect farming ground for him.
Level up! x7
You have gained the skill Spear Mastery (D)!
You have gained the skill Bow Mastery (D)!
You have gained the skill Light Weapon Mastery (D)!
You have gained the skill Axe Mastery (D)!
You have gained the skill Staff Mastery (D)!
Atlas watched as skill levels flashed past his eyes, most of them related to his new weapon skills, but a couple in some of his other skills.
He was focused on other things.
Skills with Synergy have been found! Would you like to combine the skills: Hand to Hand Combat (B), Great Weapon Mastery (D), Spear Mastery (D), Bow Mastery (D), Light Weapon Mastery (D), Axe Mastery (D), Staff Mastery (D)? y/n
Yes.
Combining…
Skills: Hand to Hand Combat (B), Great Weapon Mastery (D), Spear Mastery (D), Bow Mastery (D), Light Weapon Mastery (D), Axe Mastery (D), Staff Mastery (D) have combined…
New skill created: Weapon Mastery (A)! You have basic proficiency with all weapons, even if you have never used the weapon in question. It is far easier to get better at wielding a weapon with this skill.
(System tip: You get two more free combinations. You were supposed to be warned earlier, but you combined faster than other people.)
Title gained: Synthesiser! Once per week you can ask which of your skills have perfect synergy.
Atlas sighed, and fell flat on his face onto the ground. He groaned into the ground. This was getting stupid. He would do something, grow far stronger, then the system would either show him a barrier that he hadn’t known about or placed a barrier on him. Sometimes it didn’t even feel like he was making any progress or getting any stronger.
Well, at least he had a new title and skill for it.
He pulled up his new status sheet.
Atlas Channing
Tier: 2
Level: 20
Class: Reaper
Subclass: Absorber
Titles: Moonwalker, Skiller, Lucky, Boss Slayer, Strong Soul, Legend of the Tutorial, Sythesiser
Skills: Ultimate Debuff (Z), Elemental Affinity, Death Mist (SS), Consume (SS), Reaper’s Senses (SS), Endless Strength (SS), Blitz (S), Fade Away (A), Weapon Mastery (A), Damage Resistance (A), Toughen (B), Crafting (B), Herbalism (D),
Spells: None
Talent: Z
Potential: Z
Stats:
Endurance: 369
Constitution: 369
Strength: 449
Dexterity: 449
Wisdom: 399
Intelligence: 399
Free points: 20
Atlas raised his eyebrows in surprise, how had his stats raised so high? He racked his brain for a clue. His stats should be much lower so why?
Then it struck him, his upgraded class! It added an extra point per level, which meant that he had gained something like 20 extra points.
He divided his free points between all his stats but put an extra into endurance and constitution.
Stats:
Endurance: 373
Constitution: 373
Strength: 452
Dexterity: 452
Wisdom: 402
Intelligence: 402
Free points: 0
Atlas nodded, satisfied. His stats were all around 400.
Now, he really needed to get ready for the next wave.