[MISSION COMPLETE: Save the Dungeon]

[Objective Accomplished: All Rituals Eradicated.]

[Total Reward: Permanent +24 to All Stats | +12 Skill Points | Morphogen Accumulated: +80 | Special Prize: Granted for Complete Ritual Eradication: An extra rare organ choice upon next evolution. +1 Technique Recipe. +1 Skill Fusion Token.]

I kept this particular screen open, grinning as I eyed it and took another hearty bite of monster meat right off the bone. One of those apes fancied itself a tough nut, but look at it now—resting snugly in my belly. Good riddance.

Meanwhile, my mana veins patched themselves up nicely. I’d dismantled four rituals in a row—yes, all four—by waltzing the monsters right into them. They were rather close together, so it was an easy job. Well, theoretically easy. The reality of baiting a few stage-fours with nothing but myself as bait? Far from simple. Luckily, I had just the skillset for the art of sneak and sprint.

Taking another generous bite, I peered out from the bushes where I’d nestled. The ritual site lay empty once more. Elves, crafty buggers, always kept contingencies. A teleportation ring, not your average getaway trick either, but one that transported everything in range—organic or not. It might’ve even been influenced by the mage’s mind, but that was just speculation. Point is, they always managed to slip away, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

Oh, and they had proper barriers to keep the monsters at bay, even herded them with some skill. Sharp operators, this lot. They knew when to leg it, and despite the monsters’ best attempts at a slaughter, the Elves saved their skins.

I even took a shot with my lightning at the mage who seemed to be leading the pack, barking orders beside the obelisk. Thought if I could rattle him enough, he’d fumble with the ring and leave them all to perish. No such luck. His shield held firm, and they vanished before I could savour the moment.

Glancing around, I realised the mission was officially a bust. The monsters fell back to their old ways; some were making a break for it, likely after their spoils. That is, until one of those stage-four apes decided to square off against a serpentine creature, sparking utter chaos. I slipped past unnoticed—until a stage 3 ape set its sights on me. Well, I won in the end. His loss, my supper. Now all that was left was the taste of victory as I gnawed these bones.

With my stamina restored and my wounds knitting up, I figured it was high time to make myself scarce.

The din of monsters clawing each other to shreds behind me was rather insistent, but I paid it no mind, focusing on Air Sense. My head throbbed, the result of having pushed myself through a litany of spells and overloaded runes. But I pressed on, another Dash carrying me between bushes, avoiding anything Air Sense flagged. I kept my eyes peeled, lenses shifting to take in every last detail, hues brightening everything for a better look. It was almost second nature by now.

And soon enough, I stumbled upon my own claw marks, leading me right to my little nook. The badger was still there, and judging by her little pile of rat monsters, she’d kept herself occupied. She perked up as I entered, giving a little chirp—a welcome, I reckoned. The way I understood monsters was more… instinct than language, a kind of feeling, if you will. I patted her with a word of thanks and then collapsed beside her.

Oh, Thalador, what a day. Even as exhaustion took me, I couldn’t shake the grin on my face. Still, despite my success, one niggling worry kept gnawing at me: divination. I’d been the one who’d whipped the hordes into a frenzy, the one who’d disrupted those rituals—and in doing so, I’d no doubt left some sort of mark, ripe for any divination hounds to sniff out.

I hadn’t the faintest idea how divination worked, of course. It was one of those oh-so-secretive paths, rarely spoken of, even rarer to tread, and mastering it was practically unheard of. I didn’t even know what sort of affinities could conjure up such magic.

Caution, then. Yes, caution was in order. At least I’d managed to throw them off my scent a bit—unintentionally. Every time I cast a spell, I had to call out its name to fire it off. It’s just what everyone does in the beginning; after enough practice, you learn to pull that trigger silently. But I was nowhere near that level, so I shouted when the adrenaline kicked in. It might just serve as a smokescreen, though—monsters aren’t exactly known for spellcasting, let alone in human tongue. If anyone tried to divine what happened, I could only hope they’d be left scratching their heads.

Anyway, I really ought to have a word with Lotte. But before drifting off to the land of dreams, I cast a quick glance at the screen. Might as well cash in those rewards while I was still awake. And, oh-ho, there were new goodies I hadn’t the foggiest about.

Each of my stats had leapt by 24. Every. Single. One. That was like twelve levels’ worth of gold-ranked stat points. I was lethal before, but now? Positively lethal-plus. Though I hadn’t the faintest if every monster snagged the same rewards; I was the one who smacked the obelisk and put a proper end to the ritual. Surely that was worth something extra. I shook my head—well, if all the monsters did get boosted, then good for them. But right now, my head was throbbing too much to give a toss.

Right then, on to the new loot. My gaze fixed on the technique recipe and the skill fusion token. It mentioned that Techniques were fusions of skills, so maybe this token was a must-have. With all the skills I’d piled up, I was certain I should’ve unlocked some kind of Technique by now. Yes, it all fit together.

Now, time to focus on that recipe.

[Utilize 1 Technique Recipe to initiate search for optimal learnable techniques? Confirm: Y/N]

Yes. Seemed simple enough.

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[Recommended Technique: Phantom Dragon Dance]

* Requirements: 2x Tier III Attacking Skills, 1x Tier II Stealth Skill, 1x Tier II Dodge Skill, >4 Attacking Skills, Strength >50, Intelligence >60,

* Resources Required: 1x Skill Fusion Token, 6x Skill Points.

Caution:

• Techniques result in fusion of multiple skills. Original effects of fused skills are retained and amplified according to the technique’s nature. All fused skills will progress only as the technique advances.

• Each technique advancement adds new effects to each skill in alignment with the technique’s nature. Natural progression of individual skills is disabled upon fusion.

Current Target Skills:

* Echo Claw Swipe, Spectral Crunch, Shadow Blur, Rapid Recovery Dash, Tail Whip, Crush Claw

Effect (Tier I: Phantom Dragon Dance):

User enters a phantom-like state, making visual tracking difficult and enhancing perception of incoming attacks. Stance persists and intensifies during movement. Consumes stamina while in stance.

* Distortion Aura: Generates a distortion field, creating a flickering, blurred effect. User can nearly vanish while stationary, blending into surroundings.

* Phase Dash: Enables phasing through small obstacles, walls, or debris, facilitating evasive movement around opponents.

* Unpredictable Strikes: Attacking skills cause body parts to shimmer intermittently, disorienting opponents and obscuring strike timing.

Added Skill Effects:

• Echo Claw Swipe: Echo effect gains chance to bypass non-magical defenses.

• Spectral Crunch: Follow-up crunch has chance to bypass non-magical defenses.

• Shadow Blur: Conceals user’s heat signature.

• Rapid Recovery Dash: Cooldown further reduced by 50%.

• Tail Whip: Option to consume stamina for increased damage output.

• Crush Claw: Option to consume stamina for increased damage output.

[Tier I Effect: Distortion Aura radiates within a limited area around the user.]

I just stared at it, jaw hanging open before I caught myself. What in Thalador’s beard did I just read? It looked like a path technique, but instead of pulling from mana, this one would draw on stamina.

Now, Lotte was already teaching me the Lightning Serpent technique for the path, but this… Knowing the system, the knowledge would be beamed straight into my head. A full-blown path technique, stamina-based? My brain scrambled to process it all, though admittedly it was starting to short-circuit. I gave my head a shake.

Powerful, no doubt. First, a recipe, then a fusion token, and it would cost six skill points on top of that—all while using my most powerful skills as its core. But as I squinted at the description, I realised that although it called for two Tier-3 attacking skills, it seemed to be building on Shadow Blur as the base. Might be some hidden requirement lurking there.

I did what I always did—stopped gawking and started analyzing. The caution part caught my attention. So, it said that while this would merge my skills and pile on new effects as the technique advanced, I’d lose the usual flexibility in upgrading those individual skills. Still, I’d retain the core knowledge of the skills, effects included, and could use them outside of the stance, too.

But the downside? Once fused, I’d forfeit my usual freedom in tweaking these skills’ progressions. And that… didn’t sit well with me. Sure, it was powerful, but there was something irksome about sacrificing that flexibility.

While I stewed over it, my badger friend helpfully piled in two more rats and a bird. Efficient little hunter—she must’ve had some skill upgrades of her own. I gave her a pat, splitting the spoils. I munched on the rats, gaining one morphogen from a few bites, while she lounged contentedly near my stomach. Cozy little companion; I was starting to get fond of her.

But my focus stayed glued to the screen. The headache intensified with every thought. Ugh. I dismissed it for now. Maybe a chat with Lotte would clear up the finer points on these techniques.

First things first, though. I had some skill points to spend. If I wanted that technique eventually, and it would retain the skills’ effects at the moment of fusion, I ought to level up Crush Claw and Tail Whip before merging.

I pulled up my stat screen.

Name: Jade

Level: 6

Species: Voracious Manaweaver (Draconis) (III)

Abilities: Mana Devourer

Attributes:

* Strength: 51

* Durability: 68

* Intelligence: 76

* Will: 63

* Mana Points: 32/52

* Stamina Points: 43/93

Species Skills:

* Echo Claw Swipe: Level 2 (III)

* Tail Whip: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Roar: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Scale Harden: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Shadow Blur: Level 6 (II)

* Spectral Crunch: Level 2 (III)

* Rapid Recovery Dash: Level 4 (II)

* Flight: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Deep Breathing: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Breath of Shadows: Level 3 (II)

* Climb: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Crush Claw: Level 5 (I) (+)

* Flamethrower: Level 4 (I)

* Advanced Mana Manipulation: Level 3 (II)

* Core Stabilization: Level 4 (I)

Exclusive Skills:

* Transformation: Level 1 (I)

* Lightning Affinity: Level 2 (I)

Mutations:

* Eyes - Focusing Lenses, Peripheral Optimization (III): +0

* Claws - Claw Flexibility, Razor-Edge Claws (III): +0

* Scales - Colour Adaptation, Shock-Absorbent Scales (III): +0

* Wings - Hollow Bones (II): +0

* Legs - Joint Flexibility (II): +0

* Fire Gland - Mana Reservoir, Mana Conservation (III): +0

* Macro-Trophic Sac - Stamina Surge Reservoir, Toxicity Neutralizer (III): +0

* Mana Conduit Vasculature - Micro-Mana Control (II): +4

Resources:

* Skill Points: 13

* Morphogens: 90

And another thing—what in Thalador’s name was going on with my stamina points? I couldn’t make heads or tails of what actually increased them. My brain did a whole acrobatic routine through the headache, trying to work it out based on my physical stats, but I came up empty. No pattern at all. Bizarre.

I shook it off. Priorities, right? I had a few things to check off before crashing. First up, those skill upgrades. And damn, Flamethrower was just a hair’s breadth from hitting level 5—I knew I was close. After skills, I needed to take a look at advancing the Mana Conduit Vasculature mutation.

No time to waste. I dove right in.