Vincent sat cross-legged in front of his gardens. His forehead was drenched in sweat, matting his hair to his skin. His fist were clenched, forehead wrinkled in effort. He grunted and twitched. He seemed to shudder when..

"Aaaagh FUCK!" He roared, collapsing in a heap. His new perk, against all odds, may have made skills level faster but it didn't make new ones easier to develop or any less destructive to the body. Apparently evolving a skill was roughly the equivalent of receiving a new skill as far as strain and effort go but it was much simpler in terms of complexity due to already having a skill with a specific shape to work with. Vincent was beginning to think he had gone too far in evolving this particular skill…

It felt like his entire body was going to explode. Unfortunately it wasn't a quick pain. He had been enduring intense agony for roughly six days with no rest. Every time he thought he was done for his companion did its job and blasted him with rejuvenating blood.

Not only was his blood extremely useful as a catalyst in smithing, alchemy and.. weirdly.. cooking.. but it also served as an emergency first aid all thanks to his sanguine toxicity. At the cost of a few HP, approximately 100 points, he could heal someone for 500. Not a bad ratio at all really. It didn't deal near as much damage as a toxin. Nevertheless because of the healing ratio and several other factors such as his rejuvenation perk, his companion could heal him several times over despite having only half of his over 8000 health pool.

At this stage it wouldn't have been a good idea to let the skill snap back into its original shape because the backlash would be.. unpleasant. So despite the dire circumstances they pushed onward. Both of them were well beyond their limits and beginning to reach stress inducing levels of low health when it happened. In an explosion of energy the skill had finally evolved.

Congratulations! Warning.. error..

Congratulations! Your skill: Complete tranquility (Epic) has successfully evolved into Complete tranquility (Legendary)!

Skill: complete tranquility (Legendary)

Extremely rare, evolved variation of the skill: Complete tranquility (epic) While using complete tranquility all regenerations are tripled. Intelligence is doubled. Solutions to problems come more easily. You begin to glimpse a deeper understanding of the system and your place within the Nexus. Due to the 'Legendary' rarity all effects of the skill receive a moderate boost per skill level. Receives a large boost from intelligence. Grants the perk Somatic expression. (Active ability)

Somatic expression. You express your thoughts and emotions in unique ways within the Nexus. Few other's souls burn with such passion. You understand that one must train their mind in tandem with their body and hence have achieved a synchronization that takes most lifetimes to master. The flow of your energy becomes much more efficient. All skills and stats benefit from one another a moderate amount. Intelligence gains the regenerative effects of your vitality stat and vice versa.

Vincent cackled. This was exactly what he needed. For his health and mana energies to essentially intertwine and amplify each other. It had been a difficult, grueling process.. But it had all the expected benefits and then some. His blue and red energies mixed and then separated over and over in a spiral pattern with the green of his stamina outlining them. It kind of looked like a DNA helix.. With each rotation they grew ever so slightly denser and more complex.. He would have celebrated but something felt.. off.

He felt a terrible pressure and sickness. He thought maybe he was just feeling unwell from his health being so low for so long but after downing a few small potions he knew that wasn't it. Another good indicator something was terribly wrong was when his companion fell to its knees and began convulsing.

"Well shit.. that doesn't look good. Hey little buddy. What's wrong?" He called. He took a step forward before doubling over in an agony unlike any other he had felt.

Warning… soulspace evolving... Excess Nectar detected! Please consult your nearest Tavern Own..

Error.. system interference detected.

Warning.. please die.

Vincent's eyes widened. He had time to mutter, "what in the fuck.." Before searing white pain ripped through his body and mind. But it felt deeper than that. It was hard to describe. Especially since all of his senses were eradicated by the pain. Essentially it felt like his very existence was being unraveled because.. well.. it was.

He screamed in unadulterated agony. He was sure that if someone offered him a form of release at the price of everything from his body to his soul he would pay it. At some point he had apparently crawled over to his companion and grabbed its writhing hand. The two of them clutched one another tightly as spasms of pain wracked their bodies.

Vincent's subconscious tried to make sense of it all. The pain was so intense he couldn't even black out or go into shock. His mind was on the verge of collapsing permanently. He was faintly aware on some contradictorily unaware level that some type of energy was currently filling him and to a lesser extent his companion. It was a disgusting, thick, goopy black substance in a cloud of gray gelatin. It was his new skill but it seemed to take residence in some deeper part of him, beyond what he could understand. He had never seen anything like it but it really didn't matter. He couldn't take this anymore.

And then just a few agonizing minutes after it had come it disappeared. "Gah!" The two lay panting and gasping. Blood had poured from every orifice of Vincent's body and in a strange plant-like way that involved cytoplasm, the same had happened to his companion.

He decided at that moment never to try and forcefully evolve a skill again. It was clear the system wasn't a fan. From now on he would just evolve them the natural way.. probably. After several minutes he sat up and checked his system window, frowning as he did so.

His health and mana were completely full. As if the whole ordeal had never even happened. That was good he supposed, however he noticed something that left him increasingly worried. Under his list of trials the very first one, Somatic expression was grayed out. How had he not noticed that the name of the trial was the very same perk he had just unlocked? Was he the interference that the system referred to? Was it because he diverged so heavily from his intended evolutionary path? Or because he had forcefully taken the reward without completing the trial..

He wasn't sure but as the system pulsed with a new message he narrowed his eyes, thinking of the implications of what he now read.

Congratulations! Skill: System interference achieved!

System interference (???) Lvl.??

This skill is an abomination brought unto the Nexus by a Heretic with unrivaled potential. Tread carefully as many will seek to end your existence on your path to the truth.

What had he done? A heretic? Was he now an enemy to the entirety of the entity known as the system? Was it aware of what he had done and would now send monsters with unparalleled power to destroy him? His heartbeat quickened with anxiety. In any case he truly did not like the energy he saw in the shape of his new skill.

Normally skills were vibrant, warm and beautiful. They flowed peacefully and with purpose. They interacted and amplified each other within himself.. But this new energy was black and grey. It seemed heavy and dead. It was chaotic and destabilizing. He couldn't combine its flow with any other type of energy; they strongly rejected one another, like magnets at opposite ends.

One thing that had occurred to him though was that before obtaining this.. system interference.. every new skill and skill level was beginning to have a worrisome effect.. He began to feel overstuffed so to speak. Gildarts's theory was that beings without a class were not meant to house so many skills, but he was not knowledgeable in the mystic arts according to.. himself. A Soul and the subsequent Soulspace in which it existed were rather malleable and with no real shape or structure to support it before obtaining a class. Vincent's was likely stretched beyond it's limits before due to the sheer number of random skills eith ever increasingrarities. Maybe this new skill helped him with that in some unforeseen way…

If all of this didn't make him nervous enough, the fact that it had no level or rarity itself struck a strange cord within him. Hell as far as he could tell the system hadn't explained what exactly it did at all. Or maybe that was the whole point.. he scratched his head. How do you use a skill that the system didn't even recognize as having existed at all? He shook his head, which he decided, he was way in-over.

He wasn't going to tell Gildarts about this. For all that he trusted the man, who seemed as honest and dumb as they come, he knew things weren't always as they seemed. He was still a resident of the Nexus. For all Vincent knew, there were some higher authorities the man answered to that spoke directly with the system or some shit. He really didn't want to become anybody's guinea pig.

He began trying to activate and mix his new skills in various ways when he had an epiphany. System interference didn't produce visual effects like he was used to because the energy 'flows' were chaotic and incomprehensible acting more like a gaseous cloud than the usually steady streams he was used to. Beyond that it wasn't a new energy being created as he usually witnessed with skills. Instead the energies of System Interference acted upon the energies that already existed in the Nexus itself. It slowly sucked energy out of the environment around him. Like an Anti-energy…

He looked again at the grayed out trial labeled Somatic expression. He concentrated. It was faint but even the blue window had its own flow of complex energy. He focused on the trial and activated his new skill. Using every ounce of knowledge he had, and letting his instincts guide him, he began to impose his will on the system more easily than he ever had before.

At its core, the system shaped reality itself so in theory if one could learn to alter the flows of the system they could shape reality… heh.. maybe he was on the path of becoming some kind of God..

After a few more intense seconds of concentration the gross energy seeped forth from his hands and into the grayed out trial causing it to crack before shattering like glass. The remnant energy floated in front of him for a few moments before it was absorbed into the grey mess that was system Interference which then returned to his body.

What all of this did, he had no clue. In terms of numbers there were no differences in his stats and the energy of the window became indistinguishable once it mixed with his own. Until he had a better handle on all of this he decided not to use this ability too much.

If he wanted to he could probably destroy the very shape of his skills or even others'. The result of doing so however… was anybody's guess. He also theorized that the same way he could use that grey, pulsating energy to destroy the energy from his skills, so too could he unravel system based constructs but the system would probably be pretty upset about that.

He spent the next few hours tinkering with the system but being sure not to alter anything too much..

Scheduled meeting spot

The following day Vincent and Gildarts met roughly four miles from the entrance to the jungle. The two agreed never to meet close to one another's homes and always took turns picking random areas of the jungle with a few sections off limits so neither would be privy to the others exact location.

It was unfortunate they lived in such a world where these type of precautions were necessary but they both agreed they were far from comfortable with one another yet and left it at that. Nobody yet knew of the two's adventurers together but they were becoming more and more frequent. Whereas at first they only met every week or even every other week they often met three times a week now.

While they may not have fully trusted one another, neither could deny the benefits of hunting with the other. Vincent got to grind skills against an opponents on a whole different tier than his own. Meanwhile Gildarts also benefited greatly in his own way. In order to be effective in any way against quicker more agile opponents, he studied Vincent's movements and began to accumulate more efficient actions into his own skill set.

Essentially Vincent's raw power rose and Gildarts's technique improved.

Gildarts scratched his rear absent-mindedly. "So.. why are we here again?" He asked, seemingly rather bored. Vincent for his part was currently finishing up with an intense meditation. The reason for doing so was simple. He had a working theory that two skills of similar level and function would be much easier to fuse than two skills with entirely different properties.

It just so happened that he had the perfect candidates to test this theory in the form of Fireball and Ice Bolt which were each sitting just on the cusp of lvl 50. He was sure that immediately upon leveling the two he would be able to create a more powerful combination technique if he fused their energies together while they evolved.

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"Umm well.. essentially I just need you to sit there and be a target dummy.. Try and block my attacks and-" Gildarts cut him off midway through. "HA! I shall not block, I shall merely withstand your attacks! Both as a show of strength for myself and to show you how outclassed you truly are." Vincent waited several seconds for the tick mark on his head to fade while he dreamed of unleashing a flurry of unwavering strikes on the fellow before him.

"Ok… withstand my attacks until I can level them up. It shouldn't take long. I'm on the edge." He explained. "Normally I would want an enemy that's going to fight back because being in danger tends to heighten my emotions leading to a rapid increase in skill levels, however these aren't exactly those kinds of skills." He said getting into a stance and focusing his breath.

He held his hands out in front of him, palms facing Gildarts and slightly bent his knees, feet parallel to his shoulders. "For this.. I need clarity, focus… And raw damage output." He narrowed his eyes in concentration. A moment later he pulled back his arms before thrusting both hands toward the waiting Gildarts. A fireball roughly the size of a basketball and a speeding ball of ice of half the size but twice the density shot from his outstretched appendages.

Gildsrts narrowed his eyes before flexing his muscles and setting his feet in the ground. He let both techniques collide with his steel chest, laughing at the complete lack of effect. Vincent wasn't finished there however, and he took a deep breath before firing two more, one of each. He fired again, then again, then again. The frequency of his repeated attacks began to increase until he was rapidly firing off with no pause between attacks..

*Huff* Whoosh *huff* whoosh *huff*

After nearly thirty seconds of firing off the blasts, a strange resonance began to occur. There were sparks of electricity beginning to arc between each attack with growing frequency and intensity. The attacks seemed to grow closer and closer together. Gildarts narrowed his eyes further and considered whether or not he would actually need to raise his arms in defense. 'If the kid's attack keep growing in intensity at this pace.. truly his potential is monstrous..' He thought.

Vincent's two attacks were now mere centimeters apart each time they were fired. The cohesion of the two skills combined with their opposing elements caused them to spiral wildly getting ever so closer and closer to one another until finally…

Congratulations! Your skill: Fireball has increased to 50!

Your skill Ice bolt has increased to 50!

Synergy detected!.. error.. recalculating

Synchronizing…

Congratulations! Your skills Fireball and Icebolt have fused to become the skill: Comet (Epic) Skill level has been set to 10!

Comet (Epic) An icy projectile enclosed in flame. The union of these two unstable, contradicting energies could only have been accomplished by one possessing amazing skill and dedication. Due to the 'Epic' rarity the speed and strength of this attack gain a considerable boost per skill level. Receives a small bonus from intelligence. (Acfive skill) (consumes 100 mana)

As the two attacks successfully merged he charged up and fired off one more, using both hands. He honestly just wanted to see the results. He wasn't disappointed. It may have only been level ten now but the density of the Ice bolt combined with the velocity and energy of the Fireball meant it was roughly twice as powerful as both of the attacks combined before. Clearly the total was greater than the sum of its parts here.

"Yahoo!" He yelled pumping his fist in the air in joy. He was interrupted from his raving as Gildarts approached and said, "yes, yes even I must admit that was quite impressive. Your attacks were pathetic before but once they had combined they were only slightly pathetic. But as I said I didn't even need to raise my guard!" He beamed proudly, with both smoking and frosty portions littering his armor. Leave it to Gil to suck the wind out of the sails of a new skill creation..

Vincent leveled a glare at the towering giant and with exasperation began again, "Alright. I think I need to focus more on my combat abilities. I only really have a few offensive and defensive sword and shield skills and they often take huge amounts of mana or stamina. I want you to fight me."

Gildarts stared stone faced for several seconds. Vincent thought for sure he was about to laugh at him and rave on about how he wasn't even worthy of the right to challenge one so mighty as himself... Which is exactly what he did. After several moments of audacious laughter Gildarts finally regained enough composure to speak.

"Ahh that was a good one. Imagine someone as puny as you fighting me." He barked, wiping away a tear. Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't mean it to be a real fight. I mean like training."

Gildarts snorted. "You are a fool. Every fight is a real fight. When you challenge an Orc, no matter the circumstances it is customary you give it your all. To do anything less is an insult to us. And so shall we do the same to you." Vincent slowly nodded, "Ok, if it's your culture I guess that's fair. I can respect that. But that leaves the question of what exactly to do for training. Everything from one side of the country to the other still tears me to pieces."

Gildarts appeared to be deep in thought. After several minutes of intense silence the Orc finally spoke. "I know of a place.. there exists an Orc there who does not live by our ways. He is an outcast. Most do not associate with him because of what his ilk did while he was still a member of the royal family."

Vincent's curiosity peaked and the questions flowed before he could stop them, "Was what he did really so bad?.. No one in any of the tribes would take him? Even the nomads?"

Gildarts shook his head. "He did what any honorable man would do. He chose to defy the king to protect his only son. But even so.. Orc must obey Orc law. It is only because his intentions were so noble and his accomplishments so great that the Orc King lets him live now. The king owes him a great debt.. and chooses to pay a great deal of respect as well."

Vincent shook his head. It didn't make any sense to him but he supposed he didn't know the full story and in any case it wasn't his place to judge them for their ways. He was far from a saint. And his people… "Alright so how do we find this guy?" Gildarts for his part seemed almost hesitant to answer.

"I will take you to him. We are.. acquaintances. But he will require you to perform a test, the origins of which are for him to discern. I cannot assist you with any task that is given." As Gildarts finished his explanation Vincent crossed his arms.

"It's just as well. I level faster when I put my life on the line rather than taking the easy way out. Anyways.. Here lately it seems like it's been harder and harder to create new skills. It's as if the more skills I have the less room there is for others. So.. the ones I do have I need to get up to snuff."

Vincent wished he knew exactly where his skill levels placed him as far as the hierarchy of power was concerned. Unfortunately, Gildarts adamantly refused to reveal most of his skills or their level. The only thing he would say is that they were 'far beyond your own puny skill levels'. Originally Vincent had thought the level cap for most skills was 100 and while that held true for many, there were just as many with infinite growth potential.

As far as Vincent knew there was a level cap for some skills only because they reached the end of their evolutionary path and simply couldn't become any better but even most skills with a level cap could be improved indefinitely in one way or another, whether that was by learning how to better incorporate the skills into your fighting style or by virtue of becoming more experienced with them.

"Very well. Come." Gildarts beckoned, bounding away at a speed that cheetahs could only dream of achieving. Vincent wasted no time following suit.

As they traveled Vincent became keenly aware that Gildarts was pulling ahead. slowly, but without a doubt he was putting distance between the two. He didn't know if the gargantuan was simply testing him or if he was being a purposeful pain in the ass but he was positive he knew what he was doing.

"Hey chief! How's about slowing down a little?!" He called, receiving a split second backward glance in response. Then, the giant began to move even faster. "Oh come on why are you doing this.. Alright then let's go! Improved dash!" He yelled out, just as Gildarts was beginning to reach the outer range of his sight (mostly due to all the damn trees.) Vincent vanished, reappearing less than a cars length away but then rapidly began losing ground to the behemoth once more.

With each massive stomp the giant rocketed forward at ever increasing speeds, leaving a massive slipstream of wind and foliage in his wake.

It was no matter… Vincent had plenty of mana to spare. Anytime the green man began to pull ahead he would close the distance with a dash. 'What could this deranged man be thinking?' Vincent couldn't help but wonder. As he ran he couldn't help but notice a small boost in his momentum each time he dashed. He typically never used this skill this many times in a row so he supposed he never really noticed before.

Each time he dashed the subsequent attempt would have.. well.. he really couldn't explain it. It seemed that if he timed the activation of his skill just right it would add a small increase to his overall speed. Like some left over inertia from his previous jumps was amplifying his kinetic energy.

Congratulations! Skill: Absolute timing (rare) achieved!

Absolute timing (rare) By precisely timing your actions and skills, the inertia of each subsequent action you take feeds into the next. Due to the 'Rare' rarity gain a small increase to kinetic force with each action in a sequence until the user comes to a complete rest or disperses momentum. (Passive skill)

'Well I'll be damned..' He thought. It wasn't just in his head. He really had been speeding up. And his theory about his momentum from previous jumps wasn't far off. The system was just too easy to abuse sometimes.

Suddenly he realized that in his celebration he lost track of the green giant he had been chasing. He dashed forward one last time and.. his stomach dropped as he looked down and noticed the ground beneath him ran out thirty feet ago. The entire jungle seemed to stop in an unnaturally straight line of trees and a few meters of jutting cliffside.

There was roughly ten feet of precipice and then a sheer drop off ending in a large open plain before giving way to a forest that seemed much less dense and ominous than the jungle. It seemed like the kind of woods a family might privately own and use for camping. He was about a hundred feet up from the ground by his estimation. He placed a hand on his chin as he remained momentarily suspended in the air. He probably could have simply dashed his way back to the precipice of the cliff and he almost did, save for the fact that he caught a glimpse of Gildarts disappearing into the tree line far below him.

The madman had jumped off the cliff and kept running expecting Vincent to follow suit. Vincent shook his head and crossed his arms, frowning as he began to fall. Taking his time, the man carefully considered his options. He was just about to dash away to a safer height when he felt it.. as he accelerated toward the grassy plains below.. he felt.. wait.. "Am I about to get a flying skill!?!" He yelled in child-like excitement.

Not a chance.

Congratulations! Skill: Tuck n roll (Uncommon) achieved!

Tuck n roll (Uncommon) Allows the user to contort themselves in a way that greatly reduces impacts from falls. Due to the 'uncommon' rarity gain a miniscule bonus to fall damage reduction per skill level.

Honestly that was just a damn dirty trick because that meant in order to level this one.. he was going to have to let gravity have its way with him. He knew he would survive but he also knew the impact was going to be jarring to say the least. He braced himself, watching as the level of his new skill slowly ticked upward during his near thirty second fall. He seriously was beginning to wonder what was wrong with himself.

He landed with a gargantuan crash throwing up grass and clouds of dirt everywhere. By some divine miracle he managed to land on an enormous patch of overgrown grass that cushioned the blow somewhat. It wasn't much but his insane luck coupled with his ridiculously large list of skills caused him to lose only about 25 percent of his metaphorical initial HP bar, overall.

He was sure if he had landed on a rock and cracked his head he'd be in pretty rough shape. As it was his astronomical luck had paid off.. in more ways than one.

Congratulations! Skill: Lucky break (Rare) achieved!

You always seem to be in the right place at the right time! Unique skill that does not level. Your actions steer fate in your direction ever so slightly. You are more likely to experience favorable outcomes in all scenarios!

'That was.. convenient. "Why is the system being so generous with it's skills?.." He mused out loud. A contemplative expression wormed its way into his features. "I don't feel like these were even real skills before I got them.. am I somehow creating new skills to suit my needs without even forcing my energy to mutate?" He decided that he really didn't have time for this line of thought right now as he had lost track of Gildarts yet again due to his negligence. "I need to focus.." He growled.

This was the first time he had ever been outside the jungle.. he felt like he was free.. He dashed twice, breaking through a shady tree line and getting him out of the blistering sun that had badgered him since he unintentionally ejected himself from the jungle.

'Damn.. where'd that big green idiot go..' He wondered. There were some beats here and there but they were relatively complacent and much weaker than the jungle inhabitants on average. Therefore it wasn't terribly hard to feel a faint trace of dense energy in the air that was obviously uncommon for this area. If he could just sense which way it led…

Congratulations! Skill: Advanced tracking of the lone wolf (Uncommon) achieved!

Advanced tracking of the lone wolf (Uncommon) Allows the user to track a target by both their physical footprint and their energy flow. Due to the 'Uncommon' rarity, use gains an insignificant bonus to tracking ability per skill level. Agility and Intelligence provide a miniscule bonus to this skill.

'Did I.. win the lottery? No wait I don't play.. but something is going on here with all these skills." He said absently. Be that as it may he got extremely lucky with that last one.. which may have been a result of the one before that or his unique composition. It was a conundrum. Either way his new abilities allowed him to track down the Orc he couldn't find before in a few short minutes.

Congratulations! Skill: Advanced tracking of the lone wolf (Uncommon) has increased to level 3!

The Orc in question was standing cross armed before a small lake with a cave on the other side. Vincent, huffing and pulling brambles from his hair fixed him with a glare. "Hey what the hell was that all about?"

The Orc snorted. "I did not ask you to follow me. In fact I tried to lose you and I thought I did. That is what happened. Do you concur?" He asked. Vincent raised an eyebrow but at this point he was getting used to the otherworldly man acting strange. He nodded in affirmation.

"Say it." The Orc insisted. Vincent frowned much more heavily this time, slightly taken aback by the urgency in his comrade's tone." "Yeah.. that is exactly what happened. Now you explain to me why." He countered. This time it was Gildarts's turn to nod in agreement.

"Forgive me for my dubious behavior.. you see as I said before you are too weak to associate with Orc kind…" Vincent's eyes widened as the cogs of his mind spun and he began to put the pieces together. "You couldn't be seen with me so you had to make it seem like you tried to lose me and I followed you, unbeknownst to you, and on my own accord."

Seemingly satisfied with one another's stance on the subject the two began to make their way toward the mouth of the cave with Vincent taking a quick look at his stats, skills and perks.

Strength: 70

Endurance: 99

Vitality: 175

Intelligence: 50

Perception: 57

Agility: 60

Skills:

Dodge. (Common) lvl 55

Smithing (Common) lvl 55

Farming (Common) lvl 56

Cooking (Common) lvl 55

Sword and shield (Common) lvl 57

Sneak (Uncommon) lvl 58

Alchemy (Uncommon) lvl 52

Acid resistance (Uncommon) lvl 55

Fire resistance (Uncommon);lvl 55

Ice resistance (Uncommon) lvl 55

Hardened skin. (Uncommon) lvl 50

Reinforced bones. (Uncommon) lvl 50

Geographic inclination. (Uncommon) lvl 45

Tuck n roll (Uncommon) lvl 7

Advanced tracking of the lone wolf (Uncommon) lvl 3

Planta/Plante (Rare) lvl 52

Courage (Rare) lvl 44

Enhanced toughness. (Rare) lvl 45

rejuvenation. (Rare) lvl 41

Extract (Rare) lvl 40

Refine (Rare) lvl 40

Combine (Rare) lvl 40

Berserker rage. (Rare) lvl 55

Telekinesis. (Rare) lvl 47

Aerodynamics (rare) lvl 27

Absolute timing (Rare) lvl 4

Sixth sense (Rare) lvl 51

Lucky break (Rare) lvl Max

Ecology (Epic) lvl 49

Unyielding guard (Epic) lvl 39

Unwavering strike (Epic) lvl 39

Advanced communications. (Epic) Lvl Max.

Improved dash (Epic) lvl 49

Comet (Epic) lvl 10

Complete tranquility (Legendary) lvl 37

Unparalleled physical fitness (Legendary) lvl 30

Bleeding heart (Legendary) lvl 30

Perks:

Will to survive II +2% vitality

Smithing +3 strength and agility

Limit breaker + 20 endurance +5 strength

Camouflage. Harder to detect +5 Agility.

Connoisseur. Cooking, crafting, alchemy knowledge. +5 Intelligence and Perception.

Ecologist. Ecology. +25 perception.

Fortitude II Grants the user a permanent + 10 in strength and agility

marquis of science. Grants +10 intelligence

Transmutation grants knowledge of the atomic structure of all things +5 intelligence

Gourmet chef. boost from food. +10 Vitality

Honor. to live by the way of the sword and shield is to live by one's honor. Whenever facing an enemy one on one, gain a 25% increase in attack and defense. Receive greatly reduced damage from sneak attacks. +10 strength +5 agility

Sanguine toxicity. Lifebringer plus toxic affinity. Toxic blood. Heals allies. Used as a catalyst in most crafts. +20 vitality +10 endurance

Second wind. Restores the user's health and stamina once per battle.

Lone wolf. Gain +10% to all stats when not in a party or fighting with allies. +5 to all stats

A wailing significance demands to be felt. With the phrase 'feel my pain. Bleeding heart!' User shares half of all damage received with the target. +100 vitality. +25 endurance

Unparalleled physical fitness. Grants 1 point to strength, endurance and agility per level. Grants 2 points per level to vitality.

Against all odds.Your determination and skill has allowed you to best an opponent far beyond your capabilities. The system recognizes your accomplishments and rewards those who work hard to achieve the impossible. Skills level up +25% faster. Gain +50% experience. All stats increased by +10

Somatic expression. You express your thoughts and emotions in unique ways within the Nexus. Few other's souls burn with such passion. You understand that one must train their mind in tandem with their body and hence have achieved a synchronization that takes most lifetimes to master. The flow of your energy becomes much more efficient. All skills and stats benefit from one another a moderate amount. Intelligence gains the regenerative effects of your vitality stat and vice versa.

System interference (???) Lvl.??...

Overall he felt like he was doing a really good job of keeping his stats and skills well-balanced, besides maybe his Vitality..

Looking at system interference, the ability still gave him an uneasy feeling. Both because of the nature of the skill and the complete lack of information provided by the system but for better or worse.. his strength had been slowly increasing ever since he'd gotten it.

Seemingly without meaning to, he'd begun absorbing ambient energy from the system and manually tweaking his skills and even the system window to better suit his needs. He even managed to increase a few of his stats here and there. His Hardened skin, Reinforced bones, Enhanced toughness and Unparalleled physical fitness were literally warping his physical body to make him denser and more sturdy overall. He was pretty sure he'd even grown 'bigger' and gained an inch of height..

Decidedly satisfied with his progress Vincent's face twisted into a confident smirk as he followed Gildarts quickly into the dark cave.

Chapter 15 end