Level Up! x15

You have severely upgraded your skill Weapon Mastery (A), into Battle Trance (SS)!

You have leveled up your skill Ultimate Debuff (Z) to level 2!

You have leveled up your skill Reaper’s Senses (SS) to level 7!

You have leveled up your skill Endless Strength (SS) to level 7!

You have leveled up your skill Blitz (S) to level 8!

You have leveled up your skill Damage Resistance (A) to level 9!

You have leveled up your skill Toughen (B) to level 10!

Toughen (B) has become Harden (A)

You have leveled up your skill Harden (A) to level 2!

You have gained the skill, Venom shot (S)!

Venom shot has been absorbed into Ultimate Debuff (Z)!

You have leveled up your skill Ultimate Debuff (Z) to level 3!

Atlas watched with growing surprise as the notifications flashed by.

He had gotten two upgraded skills? Battle Trance made sense, but he didn’t understand how he had worked Toughen enough to upgrade it. Was it from being battered by the snake in the middle of the fight? It would make sense.

He at first had been annoyed at losing Venom Shot to Ultimate Debuff but he eventually realized one more level on his most powerful skill was probably worth it. He felt like he was wasting the potential of a lot of his skills, but he didn’t know how to make it better. He just had too many skills to focus on in battle so he relied on the ones he used the most. He still wasn't used to Elemental Affinity, and that bugged him.

He needed to start training his skills like he had in the tutorial, his newer skills were stagnanting and it was showing. If he had used his skills more effectively, he might have come away from this fight without a single wound.

Atlas heaved himself off of the ground, wincing in pain as his ribs screamed at him. Atlas couldn’t know for sure, but he was reasonably certain that he had broken at least one of his ribs and possibly his shoulder. That snake had hit him hard.

He dragged himself back to the town hall and collapsed into his bed. He wanted to do nothing more than sleep right now.

***

Atlas yawned, easing out of bed. His ribs still felt like they were burning up, but the pain was far better than it had been before. It was nice to see that he healed faster, though he didn’t know what stat exactly helped with that, it was most likely either endurance or constitution. His other stats were more geared towards battle and magic, as opposed to constitutions defense and endurances stamina.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Atlas hauled himself outside and over to the wall, even in his battered shape, there were still quite a few skills he could practice, namely his most complex one - Elemental Affinity.

He saw a lot of potential with this skill, but he didn’t understand how it worked. Even its skill description was vague.

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.)

Atlas sighed while staring at the screen hovering before his eyes. It literally told him to play around with the skill, but how?

As Atlas thought more on the predicament he had found himself in, he decided to try asking the system. “Hey system? How do I ‘play around’ with this skill?”

“Hmm? Oh, now he wants help. He ignores us for so long just to remember we exist when it's convenient.”

“What? I talked to you literally yesterday though?” Atlas was flabbergasted, didn’t the system say it was annoyed with his endless requests? Where did this attitude come from?

“You do realize how valuable being able to talk to the system personally at any time is right? You're treating it like a nifty tool whenever you're stuck on some random subject that's giving you a little trouble. Did you even try to use Elemental Affinity before asking for help? No, you didn’t, and it makes me so-”

The system suddenly stopped, and a monotone voice boomed through the Grove.

The System of Knowledge was getting annoyed at player -Atlas Channing- for reasons that should not concern an entity of its power and stature. As recompense for this undignified behavior, Atlas will be given a tip to help him unlock a small fragment of his potential and the system of knowledge has been rebuked. For the next day it shall talk through proxy to prevent any lingering emotions from affecting the players growth.

You have gained a tip! Please read carefully.

Z-grade is the grade where skills can combine with other skills briefly to multiply both abilities, but they are not permanently combined, allowing for other combinations to be used. Z-grade skills can only be combined with skills of a lower grade or level.

Atlas watched in utter confusion as the screens flitted by, telling him that the system had been rebuked by the - grand system? He didn't actually know what to call it. All he knew was that it was strong enough to rebuke the system of knowledge, which meant it was strong.

His eyes zeroed in on the tip, it was interesting, to say the least. It was telling him that he could briefly make entire new skills? How did that work?

His mind raced with the possibilities. He brought up Ultimate Debuff, looking for any indication of the power it hid.

Ultimate Debuff (Z): You inflict a multitude of random debuffs to a strike. Some have a lower chance of triggering but are stronger overall (Rare debuffs) (Maximum of 5 debuffs per strike) The debuffs that can be given are: Stun, poison, bleed, curse (Rare), blind, weaken, slow, confuse (Rare), burn, freeze, dispel, blight, glitch (Rare), nullify (Rare), shine, fear, root, silence (Rare) corruption, vulnerability, and doom (Super Rare). Each instance of Ultimate debuff costs 50 mana.

Atlas frowned, thinking. It specified strike, did that mean that if he used two skills that affected his weapon at the same time, they would combine.

He stared into the sky, still terribly confused, the system had said a tip to unlocking his potential, how did this help at all? It gave him more questions than anything else.

Trying to get inspiration, he used Ultimate Debuff, the roiling black power reminded him of something, but it took him a moment to realize what. He glanced at his skills, humming to himself and trying to see what Ultimate Debuff reminded him of, then it struck him. Death Mist! It had the same roiling consistency as Ultimate Debuff did.

Atlas jolted, wincing before opening his hand and releasing Death Mist into the air. He watched as it floated lazily around him, coating him in the cold embrace of death. He shivered, opening his other hand and pushing Ultimate Debuff into it. There was a click in his mind and the Death Mist changed.

You have successfully made a temporary skill! Ruinous Mist! To use this skill, you must be able to activate Ultimate Debuff (Z) and Death Mist(SS). You can have up to three temporary skills at one time, and you can change them with a brief moment of concentration. It IS possible to change your temporary skills mid battle, but it can be highly disadvantageous and dangerous, so if you do so be careful.

Atlas watched in awe as the mist became more deadly, he felt very uncomfortable being next to it, as though he was standing next to a dangerous beast. He watched sparks go off and fire rage inside the mist. A more apt name would be chaos mist, he thought, but he understood why it was named ruinous mist equally as much. He would not want to be caught in that.

Atlas grinned to himself, and started experimenting.