Sofia was currently in Beligenus’ office, she had had her doubts about the old Dragon accepting to receive her like this, but it seemed the Headmaster was usually agreeable with lending a helping hand to his teachers through his tremendous knowledge.
“Teacher Eternam said you were the most likely to know what this exclamation mark was about short of asking an Archangel directly.”
The headmaster stroked his long white beard, as he slowly read through the system window.
[Evasion] : While moving out of the way of attacks or projectiles, gain a temporary bonus of 100% (skill level) movement and reaction speed.
Available Evolutions for [Evasion] Lv.100 (All levels will be lost) :
* [Evasion II] : While under attack, gain 140% (100% + (skill level *40); max 300) movement and reaction speed as well as half as much thinking speed.
* [Smear] : Gain 249% (Class level) movement and reaction speed.
* (!) [Bending Steps] : Projectiles and attacks move out of your way. Walk forth.
“A peculiar indicator indeed. Scribes would usually provide some insights on such warnings, it is curious that it does not. I believe I understand what this may signify, but I will need to have a look at your other skills if you seek a definitive answer.”
Sofia tilted her head, “Are you certain you want to see? There is some stuff in there that even you cannot unsee.”
Beligenus narrowed his eyes. “It takes more than mere words to scare old lizards and wizards alike. I happen to be both. That being said, I seek not to offend a certain rabbit, so forget about sharing anything; let me simply impart some knowledge and let you decide on the best course of action for yourself. This will cost you a class credit.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that he knows about Erredis. The Great Sage, uh. “That would be my honor, teacher.”
The headmaster turned around. His hands behind his back, he contemplated the view over Exalta and his Academy.
Measuring each word, he explained, “Classless spells, as categorized by the system, are most often the rawest of body and soul enhancement magics. Figure yourself as a large tree. The system’s class skills are your branches. Grow a branch, cut it, grow a new one, it rarely matters. Sometimes a branch becomes too large and important to cut without endangering the trunk, it is a core branch, the system will lock them. The classless skills are different.”
“Are classless skills the roots?”
“No. Classless skills are not the root nor the leaves. Classless skills are carvings, new channels inside the trunk. They allow mana, the sap, to flow in new ways. Unlike a branch, if you forget them, they will clog and scar. You can always claw away at the scar tissue to reopen the old channel, but it will undoubtedly cause some damage. Permanent damage.”
“That explains why classless skills have a long cooldown before you can learn them again after discarding them…” So then my [Sprint] skill is actually a bit damaged? Its mana pathways are, at least?
“In the case of what the system so innocently labels ‘skill evolutions’, it closes some channels and digs new ones aplenty to enhance the skill as much as it possibly can. This takes a huge amount of space in the trunk.”
Oh. And I have A LOT of classless skills. And one is already evolved.
Sofia waited for the next part but there was none.
“My trunk is already full?” she tried. That would be unexpected and very bad news…
“Full? No, not at all.” Beligenus turned around, closing an eye, he observed Sofia. “You are perhaps around halfway there? Many of your core branches are tightly interlocking, clogging the estate of your trunk, but there is a lot of space yet. The issue, I am confident, lies elsewhere. In the overlaps.”
“I had ‘overlapping skills’ before, the system made me forget one to learn the other.”
“I assume that was cutting a core branch to replace it. You cannot cut away the channels.”
“So I cannot learn that skill because it overlaps with another one? Or does it mean the mana will have to be split between the two, giving diminishing returns?”
“Two wrong answers. What happens is, you will have to fight to combine all the overlaps into a new whole. Either you make it, or you don’t. Very high risk, but if the combination is good and you succeed, very high reward. Either way, there is absolutely no coming back once it is done.”
Evolved classless skills take up a lot of space, I’m willing to bet [Way of the fool] is the issue then. So I’m risking losing both [Evasion] and [Way of the fool] if this fails? I’m getting cold feet already. [Bending Steps] wasn’t even my first choice in the first place…
“Do you believe I should take the risk? How likely am I to combine them correctly?”
“Worth the risk? Impossible for me to tell. Only your scribe knows. How much do you trust them? Giving you the option certainly wasn’t unintentional, I can confirm as much. There is no likelihood of success or guidance toward it which I am able to give beyond that. Once you take the skill, you will know what to do, and it will be up to you. Hmm. It will take a few days, you may be excused from your teacher duties during this time if you wish to proceed with it. I recommend doing it in the safety of your room,” Beligenus explained before turning back to look at the city through the window again.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Thank you very much for your time and advice,” Sofia bowed as she thanked him, and turned to leave, but before opening the door, she turned back, “Sorry to keep bothering you, but would you happen to know what exactly the ProudWalls have against me? No one has been able to provide a clear answer yet…”
No answer. Sofia turned again, grabbing the handle to open the door. Right then Beligenus’ voice came from behind, “Your ID is dirty, you should dust it.”
Sofia turned around to thank the headmaster again, only to realize she was now in her own room, holding the handle of her bathroom door.
“What?”
If I didn’t know who he is I would think I’m hallucinating right now.
I guess he just teleported me here. That was completely seamless.
Pareth jumped out of the storage ring now that they were out of the headmaster’s office. He rarely stayed in the storage now unless Sofia needed to go unnoticed or to enter narrow spaces he wouldn’t fit in.
“So what do you think? It’s a bit compelling isn’t it?”
[Smear] is a straight and safe upgrade. Clearly my first choice. It more than doubles the bonus from evasion and completely removes the prerequisite of needing to be actively avoiding attacks.
[Evasion II] while initially not as impressive eventually becomes slightly better thanks to the bonus to thinking speed. That being said, [Smear]’s bonuses scales up to the class level while [Evasion II] stops at 300% bonus speed and 150% bonus thinking speed.
So perhaps at a very high level, they average out to being about equal.
But [Bending Steps] is just weird. It gives very little detail, and seems to be the opposite of what [Evasion] was meant to do. You no longer evade, attacks evade you…
“I would never pick that.”
But then, the exclamation mark. The possibility of something greater. Basically this is a free fusion ticket. The whole is likely to be better than the parts, and it will most likely free up a skill slot, which is big.
Also, ‘Projectiles and attacks move out of your way; Walk forth’ really gives off the same feeling as ‘The Fool always stumbles but never falls’. The kind of reality bending rule that somehow works out, defying all logic.
Sofia stared at both her skills.
[Evasion] : While moving out of the way of attacks or projectiles, gain a temporary bonus of 100% (skill level) movement and reaction speed.
[Way of the Fool] : Analytical thinking is 80% (1*Skill level + 50) more efficient when used for personal gains. The Fool always stumbles but never falls. Gain extra experience from performing kills with trickery and deceit.
To risk losing those…
Actually, it’s fine. I can always take that weird [Crystalized] skill to supplement the loss in thinking speed. Losing Evasion is bad but today’s duel proved I have other decent ways to defend myself. I’ll just have to get another classless movement skill to replace it even if it’s worse.
I can afford the risk.
I’d ask Saria and Alith but there’s a hundred percent chance that they both tell me to risk the fusion, isn’t there?
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Sofia went through her class the next day as usual, sadly Erian was still not there. She warned the students that there would be no more classes this week.
On her way back, she stopped by Astelia’s room to tell her what she was doing, so that at least someone else would know, after which she put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on her door and locked herself in.
Sitting on her bed, she looked at Pareth. “This is going to be fine, right? Can’t be worse than Sorrow’s ritual. I know you’ll be there to help if something goes wrong so it doesn’t feel as bad. Let’s do this!”
Your passive [Evasion] Lv.100 has evolved to [Bending Steps] Lv.1
Changes were instantaneous, Sofia felt something go very wrong inside of her. And she was hit by a strange, newfound clarity; as if she had opened her eyes to the mana of her classless skills for the first time.
WARNING! COLLIDING MANA PATHWAYS
Forceful fusion of the skills [Bending Steps], [Way of the Fool], [Fast reading] and [Sprint], now ongoing, please guide your mana while your scribe shields your core
Estimated scribe lifetime: 81 hours. Please conclude the fusion or delete all the colliding skills before then.
[Sprint] and [Fast reading] too?! And a fucking deadline?! This is so much worse than I expected!!!!
Sofia quickly switched gears to try and salvage the situation. ‘Guide your mana’ wasn’t much of an indication as to what to do, but it was a start.
Focusing on her inner mana pathways, she could vividly feel points of tension, they emanated dull pain which resonated through her body and soul. In these points, mana was going berserk. The pathways connected in weird ways leading in streams of mana colliding or crossing each other. Other pathways were dried up, there was not a drop of mana to be found anywhere in them, and Sofia could feel them starting to crumble. There were thousands of such issues all over the place in the space where the four skills crossed.
For a bit, Sofia was fascinated by the newfound ability to view her inner mana pathways so clearly when she could normally only feel the class skills this well. A whole new part of the workings of her mana had opened to her, and yet she couldn’t waste a single second. The more she dawdled, the more new issues cropped up as the colliding skills created a chain reaction of clustered or dried pathways.
One by one, she painstakingly fixed all the conflicts, cutting the flow of mana, making sure there was no clogging, sometimes carving new paths herself with precise mana bursts and discarding others like miners would collapse a dangerous tunnel to seal it off.
A full seventy-six hours later, with sore muscles, sweaty brows, and only a measly two hundred and fifty minutes left on the clock, Sofia resolved the final conflict. She thanked her luck for the processing pills she had gotten from the gachapon boxes without which there was no universe in which she could have ever come close to accomplishing that in so little time.
All colliding pathways have been fixed, fusion successful. Congratulations!
Relief coursed through her body and mind, along with a clear feeling of heightened awareness.
Sofia instinctively opened up her status.
[Bending Steps], [Sprint], [Way of the fool] and [fast reading]
were all gone, and with them two of her classless skill slots, leaving her with only seven. That was a bitter surprise considering the amount of risk and effort getting there had required. Yet, Sofia smiled ear to ear as she read the name of her new skill.
Sir Scribe, you spoil me.
♢ [Dreams Of a Demon which Gods Envy - March of the Envoy] ♢
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