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Energy Eater - Chapter 109 - Skill Combination
🕑 Added 2025-04-26 05:35:55 +0000 UTCI got to level 19, one level away from the max of tier 1, one level away from being able to start looking into ways to reach tier 2. There were some requirements that I skipped thanks to the quick tier one evolution skill. This also gave me three extra attribute points to distribute, and I chose to put them all into mind, leaving me with 15 mind. I still had yet to understand what that attribute actually did. But I wanted to figure out. My Energy didn't grow but luckily, the Memory did, by a single point, but it was still better than nothing.
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Cassandra Ydorf - Level 19 - Saturated
Titles: Enduring Heart
Tier 1 - Formless Monk
Mind 15 - Body - 15
Memory - 11 Energy - 0/14 (5 Reserved)
Skills - 10/11
Energy Storage - Passive - 1 Energy
Memory Bank - Passive - 1 Energy
Body Regeneration - Active - 1 Energy/ 10 minutes
Compression - Active - 1 Energy/ 8 uses
Firestarter - Active - 1 Energy
Frozen Resolve - active - 1 Energy
Formless Series - Passive
Formless Lunge - Active - 2 Energy
Formless Swipe - Active - 1 Energy/ 5 uses
Formless Shell - Active - 1 Energy
Mind of Possibility - Available
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Now I could see the mistakes of my ways. There were way too many active skills for me to use and I was going to take some time to fix that.
'Sys, is there a limit on how many memory points I have?'
[User currently has 11 memory points, one of which is empty, allowing user to acquire a new skill.]
'No, that's not what I'm talking about. I mean, if there is a limit on how many memory slots I could ever have. Maybe something limited by the tier or something.'
[Memory does not have any limitation of the sort. However, the class chosen by user will influence how many memory slots will be available to user.]
'So in theory, there is no limit? I can have a billion memory slots?'
[That is correct. However System is unable to inform user how long it would take to reach 1 billion memory slots, as user stated. System will need to spend some time calculating the possible scenario and the required tier for it to happen. This would require a certain amount of computation power. Would you like for System to perform said calculations?"]
'No, that was just an expression. I don't need to actually get that far. I don't think I even would know what to do with so many skills. It was more out of curiosity than anything that I was asking."''
[Acknowledged,] the System replied.
Aside from that, I also gained three more skills. But before actually showing the skill, the System felt the need to add one more thing.
[User, keep in mind that as user levels up, the amount of skills that will be offered will be reduced. However, the rule of at least one skill every five levels will still be present. That is a rule that will never change, no matter user's tier or level. Even user's class will be unable to affect this rule. System is informing user of this situation due to the fact that only one of the skills user acquired came from leveling up. The other two skills came from hunting specific monsters that had related skills. Those skills have taken form thanks to the accumulation of information given to the relevant particles from individual monsters.]
'Okay. Thanks for letting me know, but could you just show me the skills? I'm starting to get anxious here.' I replied while tying some of the coyote's corpses to a large piece of wood I had changed sizes to be sturdier.
[Acknowledged] the System replied and three blue windows appeared in front of my eyes.
The first was the one I was assuming to be something the System created thanks to my class.
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Formless Change - Adept - Passive
Those who walk a formless path are always able to move unimpeded no matter their weapon or stance.
Gives user increased control over one's body as changes happen to movements or weight.
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Hearing the description of that skill, it very much felt like a no-brainer. It would basically allow me to use my staff even more effectively than I was already using. While there was no changing weight when I wielded it, I had to keep constantly shifting my stance due to the size of the weapon. If I was going to keep having {Compression} as one of my main forms of fighting, I absolutely would need this type of skill.
The next was something I wasn't really expecting.
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Pack Tactics - Aspirant - Passive
Fighting as one is a fundamental skill learned by all those who hunt in a group.
Increase the ability of party members to hear user's commands during battle. In addition, if multiple users have this skill and are attacking the same target, the damage dealt is increased. The larger the amount of users with this skill attacking the same target, the greater its effects.
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By itself, it wasn't going to do much. It only made it so that any order given to someone in the same party as me would be more likely to be heard. A way to not have to worry too much about communication. But it wasn't a guarantee. It only said it increased the ability of party members to hear commands, not that they would be heard with 100% certainty or something.
But the skill could shine if more people were to take it, as the passive effect which required multiple people in the same party having the skill. This would make it so that anytime we were attacking the same target, our strikes would hurt more. I had no idea how the particles were able to do something like that, but I wasn't going to question its powers. Maybe it had something to do with the ability to make the particles resonate with each other. But that was the only guess I could come up with.
The next skill was something a bit more familiar.
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Sight Of Dread - Active - Aspirant
Cost: 1 Energy
You become the embodiment of fear itself. All those who gaze upon you are terrified of your presence.
While the skill is active, any creature looking towards user will instinctively feel intense fear. The bigger the difference in attributes between user and creatures, the more intense the fear will become.
Duration: 10 minutes
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This felt very much like what the Dreadwing used and, to a lesser degree, the coyotes. While I wasn't really sure if I wanted to be this scary creature, it was always nice to have options. Part of me wanted that skill, but I also wasn't entirely sure it was worth it. I was honestly more interested in the {Pack Tactics} one. But at the same time, making people fear me when they started having weird ideas could be really helpful.
In the end, I decided to take all three skills. Once I opened my {Memory Bank}, I noticed something else that was a bit odd. There were three skills that, in theory, should not be there. The first was {Formless Nodus Swipe}. It was a swipe skill like the one I gained from the Emperor Flathead. But since I was now changing how they behaved, I couldn't understand why it was there instead of being added to the basic skill itself.
Posing that question to the System came with a surprisingly simple yet annoying answer.
[Skills that are in the {Memory Bank} cannot be adapted while inside the {Memory Bank}. If user wishes to change how a skill behaves, user must first take it out of {Memory Bank}.]
Since I had an empty slot, I asked the System to take {Formless Nodus Swipe} out.
System acknowledged my request and started to take out the skill. It would need some time and I would have to figure out what to do with the other skills since I wouldn't have a chance to copy all of them. After all, the System had said that you couldn't hold on to new skills indefinitely. You could only do so for a few hours and it would take a few hours to retrieve one of the skills that I had stored.
But, there was a bit of luck on my side as the System started to restore the skill and came up with another notification.
{Memory Bank} has been improved. The required space for skills has been optimized. Current {Memory Bank} now can store up to seven different skills.
That was a massive improvement. I gained not one but two slots in one go, which meant I could place {Pack Tactics} and {Sight Of Dread} in {Memory Bank} while I waited for the {Formless Change} to become part of my future skills.
Michael and Astrid were also dealing with some stuff related to skills and because of that, we decided to, after gathering the dead coyotes, stay near the cave for a few moments so we could rest. After all, we spent a good 5 hours running around the ruined city. The day still was young, but that didn't mean we were not tired from all the exertion, especially the fight against the coyotes. That really took a lot out of us.
In the end, over the course of an hour, we ate one of the larger coyotes and rested, all the while discussing our skills. Michael jumped from level 1 to level 8, which was by no means a small increase, but at the same time, considering how much Astrid and I leveled up, the Frosted Lumberjack also having gained three levels, I couldn't help but feel like he was a bit slow to gain power.
Sure, he was moving at a staggering speed. But he was also gaining about half of all the particles that the three of us were acquiring. Even then, Astrid and I were only able to level up three times, and we were saturated. That should mean it took a lot more for us to level up. Yet, he only leveled up eight times. I figured he should be at least three times faster than us. But that didn't seem to be the case. Or maybe the reason was his arrows. Fighting at a long distance could be causing a good chunk of particles to perish before they could attach themselves to him.
Then again, that complaint was really not warranted as the man was already moving so fast that his own self from a few days ago wouldn't recognize everything he could do now. But it didn't come without its cost. Even if his levels were moving fast, his skills were not really following along.
At least he also gained the {Pack Tactics} skill which we were considering taking or at least keeping in our memory banks so we could swap it for situations that could require it. And aside from that, he took one other skill. It was called {Splintering Shot}. It basically allowed him to take some sort of improvised ammo and fire with his bow. During the flight, the projectile would break, becoming more numerous while reducing their individual strength. The power reduction wasn't insignificant, but the results would still be more powerful than the single arrow by itself. That is, if all new projectiles hit the same target. And according to the Improvised Archer, he could even combine this with {Scavenger's Volley}. Using both together would essentially create an area where everything was getting hurt really quickly.
On the flip side, Astrid gained three new skills. Her setup was almost exactly like mine. First {Sight Of Dread} and then {Pack Tactics}, the coyote skill we got, and that really made sense. After all, we were fighting a pack of creatures that had that skill and we killed a lot of them. There were almost 20 corpses just in this area. That's not even taking into account the ones we left behind while we were chasing the coyotes.
But the last skill was something called {Will Of The Land}. It was very complex and very unique, so much so that the Frosted Lumberjack decided to share it with us instead of just talking about it.
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Will Of The Land - Adept - Passive
Reserved Cost: 1 Energy
The Frosted Lumberjack is able to not just gain power from their weapon activities but also from the land itself. The respect you have for nature is rewarded in turn.
Allows user to gain certain benefits depending on the terrain surrounding them.
Mountains: increased endurance.
Forest: Increased strength of axe-based skills.
Lake: Increased regeneration.
Snow: Increase in attributes.
Ice: Increased power on cold based skills.
This skill only functions if user has been at one point a Frosted Lumberjack.
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That requirement really stung because the skill, by itself, seemed amazing. Especially once Astrid confirmed that the effects could overlap. Meaning that if you were in a forest by a lake, you'd get both benefits. As if that wasn't enough, Astrid's System also confirmed that once the Frosted Lumberjack traveled through other areas and other regions, the skill would add the biomes and give her a new benefit once it was able to analyze the surroundings.
At least I didn't feel upset for long since as we finished our hour long break, {Formless Nodus Swipe} was added back to my main skill pool. The moment that happened, the System spoke up with something very interesting.
[User, System has analyzed the skill {Formless Notice Swipe} and confirmed that it is similar enough to allow the skill to be combined. Would user wish to add Notice to the list of modifiers for the {Formless Swipe} skill?]
I didn't even have to think and just said yes, accepting the change. And when I did, it showed me the new skill.
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Formless Swipe - Active - Adept
1 Energy
Number of uses available: 0/5
Flathead Emperor: An attack fit for an emperor to push all those on its path away and make sure they will never be a problem again. Increase the power of a swiping motion by channeling the claws of a giant crustacean.
Nodus: Using the image created by Nodus Secundus, the Formless Monk performs a move that mirrors the tail of a dragon. Delivers a powerful blow utilizing all the remaining number of uses when the attack is made in a swiping motion.
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Now I could also use the {Formless Swipe: Nodus} version, which spent all the remaining uses for a more powerful attack, which meant that essentially my skill was the same. Essentially, I was combining the two skills into one while maintaining both of their effects. That sounded amazing and I couldn't wait to see what would happen with {Formless Steps Of Prey} and {Formless Glacier Steps} since both were in theory also the same general type of skill.
I had to swap a few things around, deciding to put {Frozen Resolve} on {Memory Bank} as well, since the Nodus Swipe had freed up a slot, but I decided not to mess with the step skills right away. Instead, I added {Sight Of Dread} to my skill set first.
Once we reached the village, and we were going to sleep in for the night, I was going to ask the System to perform the whole dance of adding different skills back to my main skill pool and checking if there was any possible combination. There was no need for me to lock a skill slot right now considering we might still end up fighting something, even if right now the plan was just to go back to the village.
There was one more thing I wanted to do. After getting back up, I turned to my companions.
"So, I know that we are done, but how about we go check that dead Eater? I really want to figure out if it is really gone or still alive somehow."
Astrid quickly nodded, accepting my suggestion, or at least following it. It seemed like my curious side was starting to rub off on her. Michael hesitated a bit, but eventually accepted the suggestion, too. He might not be as interested in trying to figure out what's going on with Eater as the rest of us were, but he was still curious enough to follow along. Or, he just didn't want to be left out of this small expedition, since it was very likely that even if he said no, Astrid and I would go either way.
