When Rakna pressed ‘yes’ to receive the rewards that had been put on hold, by force of habit, he had been prepared to feel the pain that usually accompanied a new tail. But the reality of his new body was once again shoved at him.
“Uh… I just feel like a needle poked my skin,” he muttered as he blinked at the five tails on his back waving to his will. It was quite peculiar to know that they too were made of the same organic and powered material. “I guess the pain simulation works fine… And again…” He sighed as the sounds of notification borderline harassed him again.
Before he got to them though, two other things occurred. Other than his tail, he also felt a stinging discomfort in the middle of his back as well as a widespread ticklish sensation that happened to trace his magic circuit network.
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You have killed the Host, Fang Exios!
Their Balance of 19 592 200 Talys will be transferred to you by ownership right.
---
You have completed the Hit Task, ID #12f8wz7x. The Pavilion has been informed.
Original Bounty: 5 000 000 Talys (Estimated Danger Rating: Rank D)
Bounty After Assessment of Danger: 50 000 000 Talys. (Corrected Danger Rating: Rank B)
---
The precise amount of 69 592 200 Talys will be directly transferred to your Bank Account.
---
You have slain a foe 79 levels above yours!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
+1 Skill Point (Held: 3)
+5 Free Points (Held: 175.6)
+0.4 to STR, SPD, & INT.
Requirement for level up updated.
Current progress: 480/1 111
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You have reached Level 100!
The Experience required to level up has now increased by 10%.
Your Magic Circuit Pathways have widened! Your Spell Cooldowns have been reduced!
Tier 10 Spells do not possess cooldowns anymore.
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“I already understand why this is a big milestone with just this. I did think that cooldowns on my spells were a bit too restrictive,” he commented and turned to the other windows, which he read in a second with his augmented acuity.
❮ ◈ ❯
Core Genome Updated: Five Tails Unlocked. Next Tail: Lv.101/Lv.200
Number of Skills Affected: 2
Number of New Skills Attuned: 1
- Shape-Shift: Wolf (speed +79% -> +82%), Werewolf (All attributes +59% -> +62%)
- Shadow Step has mutated into the Ascended Skill, Night Step!
- You have gained the Skill, Tail Clone.
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Night Step resonates with Flash Step!
You have gained a new Skill, Night Flash.
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Night Flash resonates with Walking Star!
You have gained a new Skill, Star Flash!
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2nd Factor Genome Updated: Four Wings Unlocked. Next Wings: Lv.101/Lv.500
Number of Skills Affected: 2
Number of New Skills Attuned: 1
- Luquila’s Wings: Max Flying Speed Doubled. Mana Flight Cost Tripled.
- Lesser Regeneration has been upgraded to Standard Regeneration (Integrated by Materia).
- You have gained the Nirvana Skill, Wings of Spatial Collapse.
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3rd Factor Genome Updated: Three Layers Unlocked. Next Layer: Lv. 101/Lv.200
Currently Accessible Layers: Antanasia, Onera, Enkata.
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You have reached Level 100! Your First Path Quest is now issued!
Select your Path on your Status to see the details.
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As you have reached Level 100, you are now eligible to choose a Sub-Path!
Select Sub-Path on your status to display the list.
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❮ ◈ ❯
“…” Rakna had the urge to bang his head on the wall. “This is headache-inducing… although it seems I can’t have those anymore,” he muttered and suddenly felt a small prick in his head because of his Eye taking it as an order. That made him even sadder. “Ouch,” he deadpanned.
“{And you still have your Emperor Privileges to go through,}” Fray said helpfully. “{But I recognize your plea. It is rather awkward to sort through a growing status. Sometimes it is hard to organize them in your head and I have met many Hosts in the past who ultimately died or got injured even though they had skills capable of avoiding the danger in the first place.}”
“Yeah, the more it goes, the harder it will be. I think Eye of Symphony can help me with it now, but it’s surprisingly difficult to properly put into practice the abilities you possess,” Rakna calmly said as he swiped his finger to scroll through the new skills he had gotten.
“{Indeed. You might want to look into Skill Synthesis to reduce that obscene list.}”
“Skill Synthesis?”
[It is the process of combining two different skills to make a new one,] Alexa explained. [You have seen it several times already. It can happen naturally when skills have a very high affinity, but the regular idea of Skill Synthesis is a manual process that has varied results; which can now and then end in failures. All Hosts generally try their hands at it at some point.]
“I see. So, it’s the same thing as Ireful Descent or this one here, Star Flash, right?” He said as he eyed the new skill. Night Step and Flash Step had combined with Walking Star; a recent passive skill of his that accelerated the process of turning his body into energy when reinforcing.
[Affirmative.]
“So, how do you do it then?”
[Use a Terminal to access the Synthesis. You can input up to 10 Skills to fuse at the same time and the servers will perform the rest and change your status accordingly.]
“A Terminal, huh? There was something like that in my new privileges, wasn’t it?”
[Yes. You own a Personal Terminal now. It is one that you can access at any time. You could do so right now if you wanted to. You do not need to go to the Pavilion anymore. Opening it is as easy as opening your status.]
“Good to know. But as I said, I’ll check it out before going to sleep. More importantly… this requires more attention at the moment,” he uttered whilst staring at the skills he had gotten.
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- Star Flash (Lv. Max ⋆): A high-tier Fast Movement Skill born from the combination of Night Step, Flash Step, and Walking Star. Upon activation, the user’s body will crumble into star energy and fizzle away only to reappear at its destination.
This skill operates considerably faster than Flash Step and is significantly harder to counter or detect. Additionally, for one second after the activation of the skill, the user’s attack will be boosted with Star Energy equivalent to 20% of their base attack statistic.
Furthermore, this skill can be triggered alternatively if the user concentrates the star energy around their body. For five seconds afterward, the user will have their agility increase by 200% for the cost of 50 MP. Cooldown: 5 Min.
Singular Step Cost: 2 MP per meter.
Maximum Distance per Step: 500 meters. Casting Time: 0.2s
Air Step Cost: None. This ability is fueled by the ambient Star Energy. Just enough to create a stable platform to stand anywhere the user desires.
Note: Some of the capabilities of the ‘ingredient skills’ have been lost in the combination.
---
- Tail Clone: A skill possessed by about a quarter of the members of the Nine-Tailed Clan. A user with several tails, and whose power is partly contained inside of them, can shed them to create clones of themselves capable of sharing memories and even physical changes.
However, when separating yourself from one or more tails, your attributes will be reduced proportionately. For instance, if you possess five tails, shedding one will take away a fifth of your attributes, which the clone will inherit.
Moreover, certain abilities, depending on their nature, will either become unusable by any of them or will be substantially weakened. Finally, every clone will share the same mana pool.
Max Cloning Duration: 12 Hours. If the clones do not return to their original self in time, or if they are killed, they will become lifeless husks until they are retrieved. Be wary as you will not be able to regrow your tails if they are taken away from you.
Cost: None.
Cooldown: 12 Hours Per Tail.
Note: Item effects are of course not replicated by the clones.
Additional Note: This is a Max Excelled Skill.
---
- Wings of Spatial Collapse: This is a fabled ability possessed by Royal Luquilas. The Luquilas’ wings were said to naturally hold and gather spatial power inside of them, which made them stronger than any other flying creatures.
This Nirvana Skill is one of the two abilities derived from it. Wings of Spatial Collapse allows the user to teleport to any place they have been to before. There is no limitation when it comes to distances but if the user wants to traverse through Worlds or Dimensions, they would require to be at a very high level or possess something capable of breaking through dimensional boundaries. Caution is advised.
To use this skill, wrap yourself with your wings and channel the spatial power around you whilst thinking of the destination. The ingrained spell inside the wings will trace it back through the space-time layer and bring you to it.
Cost: 1 000 MP.
Casting Time: 5 Seconds. Can be interrupted.
Cooldown: 5 Hours.
Note: You cannot bring more than one person with your current number of wings and level.
---
Enkata
The Darkness of Depths is the Third Layer of Enthymio. It allows the user to swap their body with the energies of the Dark Dimension and turn into a Shadow Specter.
When using Enkata, the user’s body will turn into fleeting shadows. In that state, movement speed is akin to the wind blowing and the user is immune to melee attacks. To be exact, no physical interaction is possible with your Specter in the Real Dimension.
As a Specter of Enkata, you can also merge into shadows or cover the surrounding areas in darkness by expanding in size like a gas. Whilst incorporeal, you can bend, stretch, shrink in any way you want. You also have access to a marginal shadow control.
Note: You can be hurt by magic as a Specter. Beware of Shadow or Darkness Mages as they will be able to control you to some extent if you are not strong enough.
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“Hm, [Star Flash,]” Rakna suddenly intoned and his body turned into a bunch of small stars that rapidly faded out of existence before reappearing on the other side of the Gravity Room to reform the therian’s body. “Not bad,” he commented whilst clenching his fist. “I certainly felt the surge in power for a second. I did lose the after-image ability of Flash Step that I gained when I evolved it into an Ascended Skill but it’s not too bad of a loss.”
“{It is quite an advanced movement skill,}” Fray commented rather casually. “{Considering it was synthesized with Star Energy… it is probably unique to you as well.}”
“Nice… I suppose,” Rakna said and thought about the two other skills. He looked over his shoulder and with a slight arching of his back, two pairs of beautiful black wings with silver and red accents to the feathers emerged. “Wings of Spatial Collapse…” He hummed thoughtfully. “It is a support-type Nirvana Skill. But incredible nonetheless. They say dimensional boundaries… Does that mean I could potentially teleport through Plateaus if I use Rift Shuttle in tandem?”
“{I would even go farther,}” Fray retorted. “{You could probably escape the System entirely with those if you try enough.}”
Rakna’s eyes widened at the realization but he knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to perform that kind of teleportation any time soon. “I’ll have to consult Higure about this… But I can assume that when I get my six wings, as well as better control over Rift Shuttle, I could do it.”
“{Indeed… you could escape and return to Earth. From there, your uncle should be able to detect you immediately. Well, if the System doesn’t notice what you are doing, that is}”
“Well, if it comes to it, Eva should be able to help,” Rakna commented and then skimmed over the two other abilities. Tail Clone was definitely an amazing skill to have. If he understood it correctly, he could basically multiply the speed of his training by the number of his tails. That was invaluable. But it was rather unpracticable and risky to use during fights due to its weaknesses.
“As for Enkata… it seems useful to trail, assassinate, infiltrate places without mirrors, and take an enemy by surprise by phasing through them. It’s a bit circumstantial but I can imagine my clones, for example, using it to follow others by merging with their shadows.”
“{As usual, your ideas are nothing but sunshine,}” Fray joked.
Rakna snorted and took a second look at his wings. His eyes’ realistic camouflage was turned off for a brief moment and some of the feathers became silver. “Hm, as expected, this nano-material, if I can call it like that, also transformed my wings. I can think of a few things I could do with that…”
[Rakna.]
“Yes?” He responded curiously as he retracted his wings back inside his body.
[I would like to bring something to your attention.]
The therian’s mouth twitched the instant he heard those words. “I’m having a déjà vu…”
[Yes… I’m afraid it is as such,] Alexa stated with a somewhat pitying but amused tone.
“Oh no.”
[I recommend you use Eye of Symphony to check into… recent events, if you will]
Rakna snarled and he mentally opened a TV screen in his vision. His expression twitched severely and he didn’t even notice how his eyes and hair turned red; it was so intuitive to trigger Obsidian Blood now that he did it unconsciously.
Then, he growled as he watched the images of a cloudy sky being split by a star fall, a black hole descending, and him lying unconscious on the roof of a building with his eye gouged out.
He breathed in and rubbed his face. “I hate the fucking news...”