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Energy Eater - Chapter 161 - Clash of Nature
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 03:49:50 +0000 UTCAs soon as I read this skill, I knew I had to call Proxy to understand what exactly it could do. Although, I was already almost positive that I was going to take it. After all, a powerful attacking skill was something that I was really looking for. Something that was on par with Riley's {Thousand-Loom Dominion} or Astrid's {Frosted Swarm}, or even her {Emerging Glacier}. Just a very big attack that could finish off a fight. But I still wanted to know what this actually was instead of just taking the skill without even testing it first. I didn't use Energy or {Mind of Possibility} during the fight so I could call Proxy without having to worry about anything.
The holographic version of myself was conjured by the System in the middle of this room. I was the only one who could see Proxy, and that's kind of how I liked it. The reflection was too accurate of how I actually looked. She took a couple steps forward and brandished my staff, letting it rest by her side and making it stand up. She pointed at the bottom, showing how there was some water pooling around the staff. This was a version of the elemental skill with the water-based {As I Flow So Does The Current} that I had seen and used before.
Proxy pointed to the other end of the staff, where the entire metal piece was glowing hot. This was how my skill interacted with {Firestarter} now. Or at least through this weapon. She then grabbed the staff and pointed it in my direction. The water was still dripping from the end closer to me while the glowing metal was behind.
That glow started to shift slowly, moving through the entirety of the staff until it reached the very same point where the water was being created. Once it did, I could sense a strange barrier of particles separating the two elements. Although separating them might not be the best way to describe it. It was as if the particles were doing their best to keep the two elements apart.
Proxy did a jabbing motion with the staff in my direction and the barrier collapsed, letting the fire and water connect. There was a large explosion of vapor that, while holographic, was still aggressive enough to make me fear for my life. I jumped to the side to avoid the blow and watched as the fake version of this treehouse was obliterated by the blast. Now, only half of it still remained, the other half completely destroyed by the explosion. Sure, this house wasn't particularly sturdy. And even without any skills, it wouldn't take me that long to break down one of the walls. But knowing that I could have an ability to completely destroy it in one single move was very exciting.
I got back to my sitting position just as I noticed Riley. They looked at me with worried expressions, but I just gave a thumbs up and continued to watch Proxy. She returned to that initial stance with the staff by her side. It seemed the presentation wasn't over. Next, she showed the two elements that she was using. Water on one side of the staff, and, oddly enough, grass on the other. Although the way that it presented itself was very different. Instead of a vine or some leaves, the wood around my staff, or Proxy's staff, grew a few sharp-edged spikes that went around the metal that Michael had placed on the weapon.
Proxy started an upward swing using the end of the staff with the spikes to attack. During the motion, the spikes started to grow almost as if they were long claws, all pointing upward in the same direction that the invisible target was located. Near the apex of the swing, the wooden spikes started to release high-pressure water that cut open the ceiling as if it was made of butter. Unlike the first attack, this one felt much more targeted. Sure, it was only a few specific areas that had been destroyed, but those areas had clean cuts.
There was only one more attack that Proxy showed. This one using fire and earth. She went for a wide swing, and a large amount of glowing red embers trailed behind the attack. But those embers continued to burn even after she finished with her swing. Anything that touched it was quickly turned into a piece of ash due to the intensity of the heat. It was very likely that the only reason for such a strong effect was the fact that this house was not very sturdy. One couldn't really argue with the results.
I wondered if Proxy was going to show any other combinations. After all, I did have some skills that could be considered from other elements. But they were all on {Memory Bank}, meaning that Proxy only had access to the ones directly on my memory list. Still, it was pretty clear this was a skill that could have very different forms as long as I had multiple elements to work with. I just wasn't entirely sure what would be considered an element.
The real problem was picking which skill I was going to lose. Or so I thought. When it came down to looking at my options, there was really only one skill that I was willing to part with in order to get this one. It seemed that the {Elemental Imbuement} interacted nicely with it. Maybe even allowing me to do some combination of all three elements I stored or even more in the future.
{Formless Series} and {Formless Change} were two skills I was not going to remove. I needed those to get the formless skills, and they were still very powerful even if I was just using {Formless Swipe} most of the time. {Firestarter} was the one that allowed me to use fire, so no. {As I Flow So Does The Current} was also a no-go. This skill made me so much more powerful that it wasn't even funny. {Compression}, another skill that I used way too much to allow it to be gone.
{Body Regeneration} was not even an option. Something that kept me alive was more important than being able to kill an enemy. {Memory Bank} was also not an option since without it I would lose all the other skills that I already had saved. And then, {Room For Growth}. I had just moved other skills in favor of it.
The only two real options I had were to either get rid of {Nature's Favor}, which was a passive skill that benefited me just by being in a certain environment, or {Formless Lunge}. A skill that, while I used a lot, it always felt a bit awkward to use. It wasn't very versatile, and if my target changed its position while I was using it, it was always tricky to make sure I could still hit the mark. This caused the skill to lose some of its power.
One way or another, this felt like something better. This new skill, {Elemental Imbuement}, felt like a better version of a finishing move, which was what {Formless Lunge} was aiming at. So I decided to lose that one skill. I let it stay at {Memory Bank}. After all, almost all slots there were already full. And when actually thinking about it, none of the skills felt less important than {Formless Lunge}.
Once I finished checking my skills, I made sure to double-check what Astrid and Riley got to see if they had gotten anything special. Neither one of the two had gotten a class-based skill, and from the Chimera Spiders they also didn't get anything. But both of them managed to get a different skill from the dungeon core. While getting one of the skills I also got each.
It was something called Lasting Nutrition. This basically meant that they would need less food to survive and it would be easier to convert food into energy, although according to them this wouldn't affect the progression to the next level. The System instead would be using a specific process to break down any food they consumed to help boost up their Energy reserves specifically. That sounded very strange, but Riley advised me against asking the System about it. They didn't say why, just that it wasn't worth it.
Still, I couldn't help myself and asked.
I reached out to Astrid's shoulder just so she could pass me along the information of the skill and my System could give me a proper explanation.
'So, System, why would Energy be easier to make than particles? Based on the skill that Riley and Astrid have?'
[It is a misconception that Energy and particles are interchangeable, when in truth Energy acts as a dynamic substrate that enables particle-state activation, while particles themselves are stabilized quantum constructs generated through a process of matter-diasynthesis in which raw Energy is funneled into entangled redistributions across sub-Planck field gradients, cohered through Zion-quark interference lattices, and stabilized by Bolson-Higgs resonance harmonics into persistent meta-structures far more complex than the Energy that birthed them. While certain skills can augment the accumulation of Energy flux, the synthesis of particles is further constrained by entanglement bandwidth limits, resonance coherence thresholds, and System-regulated quantum phase alignm-]
"Stop! That's enough, thank you, System," I spoke up. My head was already throbbing just by hearing all that. When I opened my eyes, Riley was snickering, likely aware of what the System just told me.
It didn't take long for Rex and Michael to arrive at this house, clearly still bothered by our conversation, making a point not to answer any questions I had. But he was more than happy to reply to Riley when they asked about the skills he gained. Skills that the three of us had already gotten from the dungeon core and from the witch. To my surprise, I was the only one who actually got something from the Chimera Spiders. Then again, it was something related to the Formless series, so it made sense.
From the dungeon core, there were only three skills. {Room For Growth}, which only Astrid and I got, and we were the only ones who wanted to take it for now. The sunlight recovery one, and the nutrient absorption skill. From the witch, we all got the same three skills, with some of us only getting one of them. And with one exception, I was the only one who got a class-based skill. Rex being this exception. But unfortunately, it was a skill that could only work well for the Rodenti. It was something called Stone Reconstruction. Basically, a way for him to create connected structures or objects using his stone-shaping skills in order to make something better.
In the end, there wasn't much to do related to sharing skills, and we all decided to go to bed. Michael, being true to his word, took the first watch together with a few of the Rodenti who lived here. Thankfully, nothing happened, and morning came without any incident. Riley was the one who woke us up some time after sunrise. We all quickly gathered our belongings and left. Rex was still unable to walk properly, and even with constant use of {Body Regeneration}, the stump wasn't in a state that allowed him to put any weight on it just yet.
To fix that, Astrid fashioned what could only be described as a saddle for her neck. That way, she could take our Rodenti companion on her back. This time, we took longer to start leaving since the Rodenti had a chance to actually prepare. They took most of their belongings, even bringing down parts of the treehouses to make sleds. It was quite wild to see how resourceful they were, even if that was supposed to be a human thing. Still, once everyone was ready, we all headed to the exit of the forest.
Our destination was the city where most of those Rodenti came from. A place halfway between us and the desert. Unfortunately, just as we started to move, we saw something approaching. The humans from the village, being led by Camila.
#### Author's Note ####
Nature Clash, this time I'm giving the MC an attack skill early on!
