Zyrus flipped the leather book open and looked inside. Just like any card or rpg games, various skills were listed on each page with a portrait.
A giant using a halberd, A firebird floating in the sky, A swarm of poison arrows…
He turned over dozens of pages after a glance. He didn’t have any particular weakness to begin with. And with his expertise in magic coupled with void and abyssal powers, he wasn’t lacking in offensive means either.
He had only one goal in mind with these two skill rewards: he wanted to make use of his tail!
As strong as he may have been, even Zyrus didn’t know how to fight with a tail. He couldn’t think of any other uses for his tail apart from swimming and running faster.
‘Still nothing…looks like I’ll have to create a skill,’
Just as he was getting disappointed, he found a rather interesting skill in the last pages.
On one lather page was a portrait split in two parts. On one side, a one-handed swordsman was fighting against hordes of monsters. And on the other side, a new arm emerged from his shoulder and blasted a gigantic ape.
He could gauge the second arms' power since these portraits were drawn with mana. It was like looking at the scene from a bird’s eye view.
‘While it’s not what I expected, it looks rather interesting,’
[Xisheng Arts (B-): The flesh is fleeting, but power is eternal]
[Sacrifice any part of your body to store mana and vitality. The designated part will be disabled until you release the seal]
Effects: Depends on the sacrificed part and duration.
CD: None
It was among the highest-ranked skills in the tome. It’s vague description and penalty might trouble other players, but Zyrus didn’t have such issues.
He tore apart the page without hesitation, and in the next instance, the ripped page and the entire book turned into motes of light and seeped into his head.
[Congratulations! You have learned Xisheng Arts (B-)]
A flood of information about meridian channels and mana circuits flowed into his mind. He was no stranger to mana circuits, but the former knowledge was an unexpected surprise.
Due to the lack of a suitable environment, Physical cultivation wasn’t very popular in the sanctuary. Even berserker and barbarian class players mainly relied on mana to enhance their muscles and blood vessels.
‘Let’s hope it helps me later when I read the manual,’
Zyrus once again recalled the martial artist he saw on the source of origin. The knowledge contained in that man’s source of origin should be far richer than all skills combined in the tome.
Setting aside his curiosity, he once again focused on the matters at hand. It was obvious that the Skill creation scroll was much more useful than the Skill Tome.
Of course, it only applied to someone like Zyrus who had a lot of knowledge. The skill creation scroll was useless for a new player. It was also the reason why both were ranked at the rare grade.
‘I definitely need a skill that utilizes abyss attribute,’
Zyrus thought over his skills and authorities one by one. Shackles of nihility and Malediction were great at debuffing the enemies, while Radiance was a supportive skill that'll work well with his Balaur summoner class.
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He had balanced combat skills such as Poison Breath, Arcane Lance, Master of Sojutsu, and Spear Aura. The eye of Annihilation was the most useful among his skills.
Not to mention its effects on observing the powers of origin, just the intelligence boost and enhancement in vision were top-notch abilities.
‘I guess I can work on speed, power burst, and long-range attack,’
Speed would increase his overall damage output, while power burst and long-range attack were useful in different scenarios. Although he had spatial stab which could deal the highest damage to the enemy, it wasn’t something he could use on a regular basis.
Before he started working on the new skill, Zyrus used 13 SP to raise his intelligence to 43. Having balanced stats was crucial for a steady foundation.
Under the nourishment of system’s power, A cooling sensation spread to every part of his body. The little bit of tiredness left his mind as he felt more lightheaded than ever.
‘Haah…’
Zyrus exhaled with satisfaction while lying down on the beach. He couldn’t feel the soft sand with his scales, but still, the sky was beautiful enough to calm his taut nerves.
Hours passed by as Zyrus shuffled through hundreds of ideas. It was easy for him to create a skill that fulfilled any of the three requirements.
But wouldn’t that be a waste? As long as he could think of a theory, it was only a matter of practice before the skill became complete and recognized by the sanctuary.
In the grand scheme of things, there were only two ways one can possess a truly powerful ability. You can either acquire powerful skills and slowly understand them, or you start by learning and create skills that suit you the best.
Skills were hard to come by in the first place. Thus, most players were left with the second option. Even if they somehow learned a powerful skill, they’d have to learn its principles to showcase its full power.
There’s no such thing as the strongest skill. Zyrus knew the saying all too well.
As he racked his brains to come up with a general idea, the morning sun raised its head on the horizon. Crimson light was reflected on the rolling waves, it was a mesmerizing sight to behold.
When Zyrus turned his head and looked at the vast ocean, he was struck with a sudden inspiration. An idea sparked in his head that could improve all three aspects.
‘Let’s hope it works,’
Zyrus opened the scroll in his hand with an excited face. with this rare scroll, there was a good chance that he could create the skill he had in mind.
It was a gamble, and fortunately, lady luck didn’t disappoint him.
[Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Avatar]
[Avatar (A-): Draw upon the world’s mana to execute your will.]
[You have learned to integrate yourself with the surrounding mana. The greater your fusion, the more power you can wield]
[Effects: All recovery rate +10%, further enhancements will depend on the environment and rate of fusion.]
[Warning! There is a high risk that you'll be assimilated with the world and lose your will]
“Fuck Yeah!” Zyrus cheered in joy which jolted the players awake.
Just the 10% recovery rate was incredibly useful. Although he had yet to see the exact results of the skill, he knew for a fact that Avatar was just as useful as the Eye of Annihilation.
As for the warning? He wasn’t the least bit worried about it. He was someone who dared to use the laws of void, so what was a mere fusion with world’s mana?
If his will was so weak to be assimilated, then he would’ve died the moment he created the source of origin.
“Did something good happen?”
“Haha.. it’s more than just ‘Good’, you’ll know when we go to the ocean,” Zyrus gave Ria a wide grin and told her to call the others.
Now that he was done with the skills, it was time to delegate the tasks to others.
Soon, every leader was gathered in front of the totem. No one knew when, but the bloody log was turned into a wooden sculpture of the bat.
“All right, since everyone is here, let’s get started. Please introduce yourselves to the rest,” Zyrus stood at the center and beckoned the troll and ogre leaders.
Both races were able to communicate after leveling up yesterday. It was only a matter of time before the goblins and rats gained the ability as well.
“Good…morning…I…am..Druv'…galg… Bramble….fan-”
“Strongfist.”
“…”
"..."
“Ahem! So, Mr. Druv and, uh, Mr. Strongfist will be leading their respective races,” Zyrus cut off the troll who was still going on with his name and continued,
“Humans will follow the same arrangement till I appoint someone to lead the archers, spearman, and the mages. I’ll be in charge of the 2000 monsters, rats, goblin riders, and specter scorpions, while the rest are under Ria’s direct command,”
No one had any objections with this arrangement. He discussed about how to distribute the forces and how to efficiently collect the resources.
At last, he inquired about their classes and gave some suggestions. Unfortunately, Druv and Strongfist were unable to have a proper talk with him.
One spoke too much and too slow while the other treated his words like priceless jewels. Nonetheless, they more or less understood his plans.
Only when the sun rose above their heads did the meeting end.
“Come on folks, let’s get ourselves some good lunch,”
*Rooar*
*Grrowl*
*Tweet*
Zyrus was still full of energy as he led the monsters into the forest. Everything was set into motion, and thus, it was time to conquer this island and move on to the sea!