Extract from the -{ Tome of the ‘Forgotten One’ }- Divine scripture of the Church of the ‘Forgotten One’.
"As the stars dim in the false dawn, know that the true path lies in the unyielding embrace of darkness, where clarity of purpose shines undimmed by the deceit of the counterfeit glow." (The False Light 2:6)
................................................................................................
[ Skill: ‘Eyes of Odin’ (sealed)
Active ability:
* The user can see a short description of anything they focus on. ( 3 charges ) ( skill cooldown 12 hours )
Passive ability:
* The user has gained a 'Memory Palace' where all the knowledge and experiences the user learns throughout life are stored. Currently, it can only allow the user to re-experience the stored events. ]
[ Skill has been downgraded and partially sealed ]
‘Another ***** level skill’, Asher wondered what exactly was this level that the system was not showing him.
He was however completely sure that it was a high level from bits and pieces he placed together. What that meant he had no idea, logically a higher level skill must mean that it would have higher utilization. He had read the skill description of both one of them was useful for combat as well as support on the other hand the other seemed to be focused on support and growth about further details he was clueless.
Once again Asher was troubled, how would he even use these skills? He decided to experiment with the ‘Eyes of Odin’ skill as it had more uses.
Asher held his knife in front of him and focused on it. He imagined a short description of it appearing in front of him.
Suddenly he felt a subtle movement within his body as if something flowed inside of him.
[ Knife ( Uncommon ): A basic steel alloy knife. It has been created using heat from fire crystals and dust of magical iron giving it more sharpness and durability, beyond what a weapon made of common materials can reach.
Current status: Slightly dull from overuse, need resharpening ]
'Amazing'
That was all he could say at this moment. He could think of endless uses of this skill, he could even become a master appraiser back on earth.
Asher had a hunch that the system compensated for the required pneuma, since he was not awakened. In this case, it made sense why the limitations on the skill were so high.
He checked his skill status.
[ Skill: ‘Eyes of Odin’ (sealed)
Active ability:
* The user can see a short description of anything they focus on. ( 2/3 charges ) ( skill cooldown- 11 hours 59 minutes )
Passive ability:
* The user has gained a 'Memory Palace' where all the knowledge and experiences the user learns throughout life are stored. Currently, it can only allow the user to re-experience the stored events. ]
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
One of the charges was used up and the skill cooldown clock had also started. The resemblance to video games made him feel a bit weird but he put it aside, such mysteries… he was not in a position to explore them, yet.
Asher once again resumed his journey now armed with new skills. Climbing the mountains was a difficult task for him now that he was tired from all the running and fighting yet he pulled through and climbed along the mountainside.
It was already dark and raining. The rain was getting bad and the strain on Asher's body was accumulating. He moved around to look for shelter, stumbling upon a cave, slowly moving towards the entrance he took a peek inside before quickly backing away and hiding by the entrance.
Inside the cave was a bear-looking beast. Asher's mind blanked a bit he hoped that the beast was not an awakened one. Once he settled his heart down and was sure that the beast had not detected him he once again peaked inside this time he used his newly gained skill.
[ Earthhide bear (tier 1): The Earthhide Bear is a massive and formidable beast native to mountainous regions. Its fur is interwoven with rocky plates, providing exceptional defense against physical attacks. Known for its raw power and defensive capabilities, the Earthhide Bear uses its natural environment to its advantage, often ambushing unsuspecting prey. Despite its fearsome appearance and strength, it has notable vulnerabilities to fire and swift opponents.
Current status: This beast is newly Awakened and heavily injured from a previous fight where it lost a lot of its protective earth hide. It is in a pneuma-depleted and weakened state using sleep to recover ]
Since it was dark Asher could not see the state of the beast properly, however he trusted the system this much by now. The beast was heavily injured from a recent fight and was recovering deep in sleep. Asher felt adrenaline course through his blood as thoughts of using this opportunity to slay the awakened beast appeared in his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the passive ability of ‘The Heart of Chronos’.
As he let the thoughts of taking on the beast course through his mind he did not feel any adverse reaction from the passive ability however on the flip side he could not feel any positive indication either.
This much was enough of a push for him. He decided to take the awakened beast on. He could use this chance to slay the beast as the prospect of finding another safe spot in the harsh rain and his condition seemed bleak. Today his limits would be tested once again.
Steeling his resolve after looking at the worsening weather he made a plan before slowly moving towards the beast. As he entered deep into the cave, he bent down to gather a fist full of dry earth in his empty hand. Just as he was within attacking distance the nose of the sleeping beast seemed to twitch. Asher felt his heart drop, he knew the beast had smelled his bloody wounds.
Activating the active ability of the skill ‘The Heart of Chronos’, he jumped at the beast, his knife already equipped in his hand ready for action.
As the Earthhide bear woke up, it saw a knife moving towards its left eye. The beast moved its head to protect its eye however all this was useless. The active ability of Asher’s skill made it so he could see transparent projections of the movements the beast was to make in the future a second or two ahead. This allowed him to steer his knife precisely to where its eyes would be in advance making his attack impossible to dodge.
As the dagger plunged into the beast's eye He quickly followed this attack by pushing the fistful of dirt he was holding into the beast's other eye before retreating to the cave entrance.
The beast started frenzying about in a blinding rage, roaring and clawing all around itself it even clawed the wall leaving deep marks on it. Asher kept his distance as he observed the raging beast's movements. He kept his eyes on the transparent projections actively avoiding the beast's claws ahead of time, allowing him to dodge them all with complete accuracy. It took him a few seconds to get used to the skill completely once he was ready he started looking for openings to attack the beast.
Even though he saw a few chances to attack, they all had flaws. The whole abdomen of the beast was covered in rocky scales so he could not attack it. He knew the knife would not even go past the stone, even if he tried with full strength.
The armor on its back and head was lost in the previous battle. Asher quickly noted all the places where the armor was not present and formulated a plan of action. The beast was slowly regaining vision in its remaining eye and Asher was losing effective duration of the skill rapidly so he quickly sprung into action.
Asher went past the bear, to the dead end of the cave using the moment the beast attacked on the opposite side blindly. Quickly turning around he accurately slashed the beast's Achilles tendon before he went back deeper into the cave. The beast roared and cried out in pain even more. Now it had become limp in one foot, it could not place weight on it like it did, to lift its body high up and stand on its rear legs. As it tried to come deeper into the cave to attack him it stumbled and fell on its face due to moving too quickly without proper foot placement and getting accustomed to its injury.
Seeing all this through his skill ahead of time, Asher took the moment to dash towards the beast he gave the angry bear a deep cut on its neck as he moved past it back towards the entrance of the cave leaving the closed end of the cave. The beast started to bleed profusely, it was getting tired from rampaging, and slowly it sat on the ground. It had now regained its vision somewhat.
Asher noticed that the beast would attack using its long claws mostly, it would lift its body on its rear legs and attack with its claws putting its whole body weight in it. If he got caught in even one of its claw attacks, he was sure it would spell the end for him. Taking another handful of dirt he moved towards the beast again.
The beast glared at Asher with one eye as he approached and growled menacingly at the threat. As soon as he started to dash, the beast used one eye to predict his trajectory and attacked with its jaws.
Asher didn't dare to use his knife to defend against the biting head-on as the beast could crush his skull with one bigger bite than Asher's whole face, he instead threw the dirt in his hand forward. The bear remembered how it went blind from the dirt before, and instinctively closing its jaws and eye midway it pulled back its neck. It changed its method of attack and stretched out its claw to attack.
Asher calculated all these movements ahead of time using the skill and prepared all this deliberately.
The beast was blind in its left eye and had lost function of its left foot due to his previous attack, he had created this situation himself so that the beast would use its left claw due to only having the right foot to use counterbalance, making its attack predictable. The trajectory of this attack was even more visible due to his active skill.
Asher dashed through the floating dirt to its left. The beast, blind on that side couldn’t defend as he plunged the dagger deep into its neck.