Edge decided to start with leap, eager to try out his first mobility skill.

After taking a long look around to make sure that nothing of note had arrived while he was busy, he sent his intentions into his core and activated his new power. He felt his reactor flicker to life, burning magicytes from his reservoir.

Skill-Eater filtered the flow of mana through the skill, and then sent magic surging into his legs. It filled them with a rush of power, combined with an irresistible urge to bring his knees together and press both feet into the ground. When Edge was in position, the mana was consumed to create an explosive release of power.

He went flying straight up, sailing higher than he’d been expecting. After rising ten feet into the air, he realized that he might have a problem, since the skill offered no assistance on the landing. At fifteen feet, he was really starting to get worried. Fortunately, he came to a stop another foot and a half later.

He hung weightless for the barest fraction of a moment, then Edge found himself falling. Don’t panic, this isn’t that bad. Just try to land cleanly enough that you don’t break your ankles. You can’t afford to waste the mana it would take to heal them.

He braced himself as the ground came rushing up to meet him, then hit the dirt hard half a heartbeat later. The impact sent pain lancing into his joints. Luckily, his bones held firm, although he had some bruises that regeneration took care of a few seconds later. The points of durability he obtained were already making a difference.

This skill is neat, but I need to be careful until I can take it to rank-three and can control how much mana I put into each jump. Skills didn’t have a fixed cost anymore once they hit rank-three. Instead, their output could be fine-tuned. You could burn more mana for extra power or reduce the flow as needed.

Experienced skill-wielders could use this feature to change up the behavior of their powers on the fly, making the most of their abilities while keeping their enemies off balance. The rank-one choice might solve the problem too.

With leap out of the way, it was time to try out his second new skill. He was intensely curious to watch double strike at work, since it was the first power he could use on any part of his body. But he wanted to see what it could do with a weapon even more. Edge raised his knife and walked over to the tree, then willed the skill to activate.

To his delight, the magic gathered around his weapon, exactly where he had been visualizing. The blade in his hand vibrated and began to blur. It looked like his eyes were unfocused, or he’d had a few too many shots at the bar. Two copies of the knife were overlaid on top of one another, slightly offset.

After the initial expenditure, the skill didn’t cost more mana to maintain. Although Edge had the sense that the effect would dissipate if he didn’t strike soon, wasting the energy he’d spent. Before that could happen, he lashed out with the knife, drawing the blade along the bark. As he’d been hoping, a pair of scars were left in its wake instead of just one.

That was awesome. The skill straight up doubled the effectiveness of my attack. I think I’m really going to enjoy this one, even if it’s a bit of a mana hog. Edge broke into a beaming grin, thrilled by his gains for the day. Both new skills were incredibly useful, and double strike would let him dish out some amazing combos, especially when he used it with [Overdrive].

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He entertained a brief fantasy of combining elemental blade, slash, and double strike while leaping into range. Then he turned his attention to the task at hand, harvesting what he could from the jobo and returning to town before something unpleasant found him.

Edge had never skinned or dressed a kill before, but he had studied the process and simulated it during his pre-run training. Even still, having the cooling carcass beneath his fingertips was another matter completely.

There was no way that he could carry the whole jobo back. He didn’t need to worry about removing the guts this time, just separating the limbs and head. Thus, his first goal was to cut the creature into manageable pieces. Then he would attempt to skin the torso and try not to mess up the hide in the process.

Following that train of thought, he looked down at the gouges he had carved into the beast’s body. At the frost-rimed gashes running alongside the cleaner cuts of the knife. Maybe it’s a bit too late for that last one. I’ll do my best, just for practice. The meat and talons should still be worth something.

Using Trapper’s knife, he began figuring out how to take the body apart, trying not to think about the blood and doing his best to ignore the visceral scent. I need to isolate the joints of its hips and shoulders, and the one where the base of the tail connects to the spine.

After placing the blade against the areas in question, he inserted the tip and drew the knife around. Edge cut through skin and muscle, fat and tendon, until he was all the way down at the space where two bones came together.

Since he wasn’t sure how else to separate them, he burned some mana to slash at the joints. With that much power behind it, the blade was sharp enough to cut bone. Each limb took two or three slices to sever, followed by some vigorous pulling. But in the end, he had all five removed. The head was trickier and even more disgusting to detach, although it came free after a bit more effort.

I’m lucky that this blade is so good, and I had some mana left at the end of the fight. When he was done, he picked up the pieces by the intact ends, and hung them out to bleed on a branch of the tree. Then did the same with the head by using the crook where a heavy branch forked.

While everything was draining, becoming lighter in the process, he moved on to his last objective. Over the next fifteen minutes, Edge tried his best to remove the beast’s hide.

He cut straight down the center of its chest, then pulled the skin free from the muscle beneath. It was gross, and he tore the hide in multiple places. But with a bit of effort, he was able to work it free. He thought that it was a decent first try without being trained, thanks to the incredible sharpness of the blade he’d been given.

He scraped the inside with a flat rock, then rolled up the skin and put it in his sack. By now, the jobo’s limbs had stopped bleeding. Edge took them down and added them to the bag, then went back to retrieve the head.

After taking a last look around to make sure no predators were nearby, he swung the sack over his shoulder, whoofing at the heft. It was heavy, even with his new and improved body, but he thought he could manage for a few miles.

He could feel the limbs inside bouncing with every step he took. It was weird, but he had to get used to it sooner or later. Carrying game was part of hunting after all. Maybe I should buy a cart when I have some credits to spare. If I take it with me on my hunts, I can increase my profits from every kill, especially after I get some hands-on training in skinning and butchery.

On his way back to Puppet Town, he pulled up his Guide, thrilled to learn that the fight had been enough to cycle-up his core.

You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle-up your core. Your new cycle is [2].

You have three attribute points awaiting allocation.

By conditioning your body, your durability has increased by 1.

The battle had shown him how important it was to land a big hit early on, and he planned to move on to more dangerous prey before long.

After a moment of contemplation, he decided to put all three points into amplification this time. He already had enough generation that his reservoir refilled in less than a day. While he would always want more fuel in his tank, it could wait until he had a bit more oomph to his attacks.

He sat down, enjoying the sensation of the conduits connecting his skills to his reactor growing denser and more complex. Then Edge picked up his sack and continued on his way.