Congratulations.

Skill-Eater has evolved to stage [1].

Cycles required to reach the next stage have increased from [7] to [21].

Your core has gained the following powers:

Attribute points per cycle have increased from [2] to [3].

Your core has gained a new trait.

Trait: Devourer (unique).

You may absorb an unwanted skill, freeing its slot and granting a fraction of its experience to the skill of your choice. Be advised, the return on this exchange is significantly less efficient than [Extracting] a duplicate of an existing skill.

Your ultimate ability [Extraction] has improved.

It will no longer be disabled while digesting a rare skill.

The black chains have grown stronger.

Your core has gained a new ultimate ability.

Ultimate ability: [Overdrive] (active).

Uses: 1. Cooldown period: 1 week.

[Overdrive] increases your amplification by (10 x stage) for thirty seconds. Activating skills will not cost mana during this period. You will be severely exhausted for thirty seconds after [Overdrive] is complete.

He had to go through the whole list twice before his mind was able to accept the reality of what he was seeing. Holy shit. I’ve never heard of a core that has multiple traits or ultimate abilities. Skill-Eater is even more unique than I realized.

Edge began processing everything he’d just read, trying not to think about anything else that had happened.

He was still in the middle of a fight for his life. He didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with the consequences of that shocking revelation right now. Not if he wanted to see the sunset. There would be time enough to deal with everything else if he survived the shadowreavers’ assault.

Instead, he focused on the strategic consequences of his evolution and put his encounter with Skill-Eater aside. He had been hoping for a significant upgrade, but this was more than he’d dared to dream. While he considered these incredible changes, he read the last line of text floating in front of his face.

You have two attribute points awaiting allocation.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Now that his evolution to stage-one was complete, Edge could feel his consciousness being drawn out of his core. Back to the battle that was raging between the shadowreavers and Trapper’s crew. Back to a body that was critically damaged and moments away from bleeding out.

The tactical part of his brain, the part that had been watching the feed for decades while waiting for its moment to shine, knew that he needed to take advantage of the opportunity he’d been given before it was too late. Starting with spending those points.

Given everything that he’d just read, he decided to put them both into speed. Dealing damage wasn’t going to be a problem with [Overdrive] in effect. But Edge needed to close the distance and land a hit if he was going to turn this around.

He only had thirty seconds to use Skill-Eater’s new ultimate ability, and he needed to make them count.

The moment that he made his selection, Edge’s awareness was yanked out of his central chamber. He snapped back into his skin, where less than a second had passed since his evolution had begun.

He felt his nerves and fast-twitch muscle fibers shift as they were infused with potentia from his core. He couldn’t afford to let it distract him right now. Not if he wanted to live past the next few seconds. Before he could pass out again, he sent his intentions into his core, willing Skill-Eater’s newest power to activate for the first time. Overdrive.

The word resounded within his mind like a gong, ringing on and on.

The instant that Edge issued the command, something stirred within his chest. A power that he had never felt before was revving up inside him. It reminded him of his core, but it felt completely different. Another device built by the same technology.

When it reached out to touch Skill-Eater, the feeling grew stronger. He was overcome with a sensation of an engine roaring to life, fueled by something outside of himself. Of searing power flowing into his reactor from an external source. A stream of magicytes far more concentrated than anything he’d felt before.

There was an incredible pressure building within his core. As that mysterious machine opened the throttle, pistons started to pump, and gears began to turn. It forced more and more energy into his reactor until the entire mass ignited, burning so hot that he thought his body would burst into flame.

Edge could hear the beast inside him laughing, until the heat became so intense that it seared his soul. Nuclear fusion, like the sun was burning inside his heart. The laughter and the sound of the engine blended together, until he couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

A bare second later, all that power came rushing through him. A tsunami of mana surged out of his reactor and went coursing into all six of his skills at the same time, granting them infinite energy and magnifying their strength. They were filled to bursting with that smoldering fuel. Unlimited might begging to be released.

It was disorienting and overwhelming and he nearly lost his mind. But Edge fought through the torrent of raw sensation, struggling to stay in control. He overcame the noise and heat through sheer effort of will, turning his attention to the battle ahead. I can’t waste this chance. There isn’t a moment to lose.

A savage red light was radiating from his body, his core burning so bright that he could see it straight through his chest. Awash in otherworldly might, he set his gaze upon the stage-two reaver, ready to settle the score.

Plugged into a source of bottomless mana, regeneration kicked in once more, healing Edge far faster than normal thanks to the extra amplification from [Overdrive]. It brought him back from the cusp of unconsciousness, suffusing his mind with a feral lucidity.

He could feel the sundered tissue of his torso drawing closed, sealing the holes in his lungs, and letting him breathe again. Meanwhile, the skill coaxed his marrow to create more blood, enough to get him onto his feet and back in the fight.

Edge looked up in time to watch the big reaver step over him and go streaking for Trapper. She met its charge head on, ready to fend off its claws with her sword. He had to respect her bravery. She’s drawing its attention, so that it doesn’t target her crew.

Before she could land a blow, the monster shadow stepped.

It dissolved into inky mist and glided behind the woman, all in the blink of an eye. She started to turn, but the reaver was already drawing back its shadowy claws, poised to drive them straight through her back the second that it shut off the skill. If Edge didn’t act now, the monster was going to kill Trapper, then tear her crew apart.

The shadowreaver seemed to be savoring the moment, certain that the battle was already over. However, that wasn’t quite the case.

The fiend didn’t know that Edge was back in the fight and raring to go, but it was about to find out.