Weapon Skills sorted and none of his other already engraved Skills likely to slot, Toren returned to the ‘unlocked’ Skill list. The scholar-type, merchant, and crafting ones he ignored, narrowing his consideration to mainly the combat and survival ones he had noted on his first scan through the list.

Of the newly available Skills, one jumped out as an obvious [Berserker] Skill: [Focus Rage].

He was a little skeptical that the bronze-rarity Skill would be worth devoting a Profession Skill slot to but quickly changed his mind after trying to get a feel from the Mirror shard for what the Skill would do. Rather than enhancing his strength or the impact of his weapon strikes like he expected, the skill was more about designating a target and purposing his emotions to help him resist distractions or mental manipulation. In a way, it was a mental-stability Skill.

With a berserking-type Profession and the types of Abilities he was likely to be offered, having a way to keep himself focused and rational was sure to be important, maybe critically so. Abilities offered as a result of having such a Skill could have good potential as well. From [Taunt] and mind-control resistance to improved attacks against the ‘focused’ opponent, Toren could envision a lot of useful possibilities.

It wasn’t all positives, though. Depending on how [Focus Rage] worked in practice, he could see the Skill causing him to become prone to tunnel vision during combat—a sure way to get killed. But… if he took the Skill together with either the bronze-rarity [Combat Awareness] or gold-rarity [Danger Sensing], maybe the risk could possibly be mitigated.

The more he thought about it, there were advantages to having both of the new ‘awareness’ Skills. With his current plan to stead and live in an exceedingly dangerous jungle, [Danger Sensing] could help him with not just surviving combat with the dangerous beasts and criminals but poisoning and other dangers from the toxic jungle environment. And [Combat Awareness] would be vital for the fighting style used by the “Berserker Weapon Arts” which focused more on attacking than defense and staying out of reach. Skill in [Combat Awareness] could let him attack in ways that dodge incoming threats or at least avoid fatal injury.

Before deciding, Toren queried the shard about [Harness Emotions] which from its name seemed similar to [Focus Rage]. From the impression granted, [Harness Emotions] was self-focused instead of target-focused, using the strength of the experienced emotions to endure pain and surpass limits. The Skill applying to all emotions gave it flexibility—heck if the Skill could ‘harness’ fear, it might even make the [Courage] Skill redundant—but unlike with [Focus Rage], there was no sense of protecting against Abilities and magic that affected the mind.

Overall, [Harness Emotions] did feel synergistic with [Burning Blood] in a similar way to [Severe Injury Recovery], and that it might have a fair chance to eventually merge with [Focus Rage] and unify into a Skill that could master the use of emotion toward both internal and external purpose, but it also felt… less important to his immediate survival.

Deciding to try [Focus Rage] first, Toren added that and both [Danger Sensing] and [Combat Awareness].

Memories and new knowledge washed over him, and he slotted two of the three when the prompts to make them Profession Skills appeared. Surprisingly, [Danger Sensing] didn’t slot as a Profession Skill.

The new knowledge was joined by a sense of mental strain that suggested engraving two gold and three bronze Skills had pushed him near the limit of what was safe for his new Profession and current level.

With the disappointment from [Danger Sensing] not becoming a Profession Skill, he briefly considered removing it, but there was a good chance that the Skill might later merge with [Combat Awareness] given enough effort, and together, the two Skills had the potential to replace the [Threat Awareness] Ability he had lost when sacrificing his [Hunter] Profession to the Mirror. Rather, he was certain they would eventually be a significant upgrade if he survived long enough. Heck, with that and an empowered attack Ability, he’d be a fair way back to restoring the lost capabilities of his previous Profession, even if admittedly, it would take years to rank-up any such Abilities gained by his new Profession.

The strain gradually faded enough that Toren became optimistic that adding one more would probably be doable if it was low-rarity.

Making one last pass through the list, there were two options he could see being helpful enough to be worth the risk, [Intimidate] and [Physical Conditioning], both at iron-rarity.

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Of the two, [Physical Conditioning] was another Skill that he could add later. It would take time for its benefits to show, whereas being perceived as less desirable to attack could have immediate survival benefits. The [Intimidate] Skill was also well-known to increase the chances of getting aura-type Abilities offered.

Toren decided to risk it. Better to have the Skill slotted in case a sudden XP windfall pushed him to level 5.

The strain immediately returned, feeling more like an indescribable soreness spread over his entire being. His worry spiked as a growing sense of danger began to accompany the memories gradually being engraved into his core. Had he estimated wrong?

The answer came when the process completed without his core cracking or his soul giving out. With a breath of relief, Toren reviewed the results of his choices.

Name: Toren of Theravos

Race: Human

Age: 20

Profession 1: Level 1 Burningblood Berserker (1100/2000)

Status: Injured (Broken collarbone: mending), Mild soulstrain

Mana: 1/14

Strength: 16

Constitution: 12

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 12

Wisdom: 12

Intellect: 8

Will Power: 17

Perception 14

Appearance: 8

Charisma: 8

Luck: 10

Attribute Upgrade Points: 0

Traits:

Sacrificial Guardian

Abilities:

Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

Slow Bleeding (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

Ability Upgrade Points: 0

Profession Skills:

Pain Tolerance 4

+Severe Injury Recovery 2

+Berserker Knife Arts 1

+Spear 9

+Club 8

+Focus Rage 1

+Combat Awareness 2

+Intimidate 1

Skills:

Theravos Language (Speaking) 15

Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10

Religion 10

+Meditation 4

+Bone Strengthening 3

Hunting 20

Butchering 13

Archery 19

Stealth 16

Arithmetic 4

Foraging 16

Tree Felling 6

Running 12

Mana Sensing 13

+Danger Sensing 1

Wound Binding 8

There was no denying it: For a level 1, he was ridiculously impressive. Not that it would stop a determined tier 2 from ending him, but he should be able to give most low-rarity tier 1 opponents and monsters a good fight, and he would only get stronger as he gained experience integrating his new Skills and Abilities into a cohesive fighting style.

Accepting that he had done the best he could for now, Toren turned his full attention back to efficiently mending the break in his collarbone, his new Skills helping him better cope with the itching and increasing the effectiveness of the mana expended.

[Meditation] has increased to 5.

[Severe Injury Recovery] has increased to 3.

Marked by the beat of his heart, the time passed, and eventually the itching began to recede in intensity even without reducing the flow of mana, suggesting that the mending—or at least the rejoining—was drawing to completion, but his mana was running dry faster than the itching was receding. With success being so tangibly close and desperately hoping to finish enough to be able to safely use his arm, Toren put even more of his will into focusing [Burning Blood]‘s effect on just the break and nowhere else, and as the last of his stored mana trickled to nothing, he was rewarded with an unexpected and long-sought message from his shard of the Mirror.

Congratulations! Through your actions, the [Internal Mana Manipulation] skill has been unlocked. Do you wish to engrave this skill into your core?

Not a Profession Skill, Toren half-heartedly groused. Even though his Profession was all about manipulating mana within his body.

But the momentary grumbling couldn’t weigh down the elation brought by the long-sought achievement, even if he would have to wait to engrave the bronze-rarity Skill. From helping raise the proficiency of his existing Abilities to netting better future Abilities, mana-manipulation Skills were a huge boon. The Skill books at the orphanage even extolled the use of mana manipulation to give direction to Skill and Ability evolutions.

The warmth of Horevi at his back, Toren savored the moment before tentatively rolling his shoulder. Only a warning twinge joined the manageable ache.

It was time to buy the remaining needed supplies and face the new future he had purchased for himself.

Toren’s ebullient mood was short-lived.

Opening his eyes brought into view a most unwelcome development.

To say the silent figure looming before him with arms crossed was casting a shadow onto his brighter-looking day wasn’t quite right, considering Toren was the one blocking the window’s light and casting a shadow onto the feet of the determined hatter—a hatter that didn’t seem disposed to moving.