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Energy Eater - Chapter 60 - New power
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 04:56:35 +0000 UTCBefore checking the skill I gained after eating the bear’s leg, I decided to check my level. This ended up being a big one. My spare point went to Mind, but I also got one extra Memory slot and an extra point of Energy, finally reaching ten. That was something I had set as my goal. I wanted all of my attributes to be at least at ten points. Even if I couldn’t directly control Memory and Energy. But it seemed like Memory was going to be the thing that took longer to get there. Since I was just 3 levels away from having 10 Mind.
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Cassandra Ydorf - Level 6
Titles: Enduring Heart
Tier 1 - Formless Monk
Mind 7 - Body 10
Memory 8 - Energy 5/10 (5 Reserved)
Skills 7/8
Energy Storage - Passive - 1 Energy
Memory Bank - Passive - 1 Energy
Predatory Sense - Passive - 1 Energy
Ice-Veined Strength - Passive - 2 Energy
Body Regeneration - Active - 1 Energy/10 minutes
Compression - Active - 1 Energy/5 uses
Formless Series - Passive
Mind of Possibility - Unavailable
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Leveling up also gave me one new skill, and it was part of the Formless series.
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Formless Glacier Step - Active - Fledgling
Cost: 1 Energy
Harness the unyielding force of an ice-bound cave, your steps freezing the ground beneath you. The chill lingers, hindering enemies for up to a minute and leaving an icy path in your wake.
Each step you take freezes the ground in a 2-meter radius. The frost harms those who touch it and slows their movements.
Duration: 10 seconds
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It was a straightforward skill. I would freeze the ground, and anyone who touched it would get hurt. Still, there were a couple of things I wanted to confirm.
'Sys, about the skill Formless Glacier Step. Would it harm me too? And the duration, is it talking about the time my footsteps freeze the ground, or how long the ground will remain frozen?'
[User would not be directly harmed by the frozen ground created by the skill Formless Glacier Step. However, user would still be susceptible to injury due to the cold created by the frozen ground. In other words, the SP present on the frozen ground would not target user, but the cold itself could still be harmful. The duration refers to the time user is able to freeze the ground while walking. The ground will stay frozen for as long as environmental conditions allow, but the extra damage caused by the skill will only be present if user is nearby. Once user left the vicinity of the frozen ground, that effect will be gone as the SP will spread to the environment.]
'Got it. It doesn’t sound bad, but I’m not sure if I like the idea of creating something that could harm my allies. Especially now. And it’s not like I’m going to make red ice or something for Astrid to see where she can step without being hurt by my skill. Right?'
[That is correct.]
'Ok. And it still feels strange to think that the SP I create will be just left behind. Isn't there a way to get it back?'
[SP utilized for skills cannot be retrieved as the particles are consumed in order to maintain the effect.]
'Consumed? Wouldn't they just be out of my body?'
[That is correct. Consuming the particles is an expression to help user understand what happens to them. When using a skill, user converts Energy into SP, and then said particles receive orders to become part of the skill. The process is not reversible, meaning that once the skill is over, the SP will be considered 'wild'. As in, it has no owner. Said SP must first find a new owner and convert into their SP before returning to user.]
'But why? Wouldn't it be easier to just come back to me?'
[After using a skill user's last command was for the particles to leave user's body. Although that has a function attached to it, it doesn't change the fact that user rejected the particles. That rejection is now part of their configuration and can only be forgotten after the particles go through a transformation guided by a new user, even if said new user does not have complete access to System.]
'It feels weird to think I'm rejecting the particles every time I use a skill.'
[User is not rejecting the particles. System took the liberty to create an analogy to explain the reason why the SP is unable to return to user. If user prefers, System can explain how the configuration matrix's nuanced phenomenological response to the emission protocol generates a systemic incompatibility requiring strategic exogenous intervention for resolution.]
I blinked slowly, needing to read that last sentence a few times to understand. Even then, I wasn't entirely sure what that all meant, 'I'm good. Thank you.'
Before confirming or rejecting the skill, I checked the other one—the skill I gained from the meat of the bear’s leg.
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Glacial Rend - Active - Fledgling
Cost: 1 Energy
You are able to turn a weapon or an appendage into a bear’s icy talons, slashing the ground with frosted claws. The strike sends frozen fissures forward, tearing into enemies with sharp shards of ice and reducing their speed.
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I had been asking for a more powerful attack skill, and it seemed like I had just gotten one. This was exactly the kind of power that could turn the tide of battle. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to recover enough Energy to activate {Mind of Possibility}, so calling Proxy out was not an option. The lack of memory slots, even with {Memory Bank}, was also becoming an issue. If I wanted to keep both skills and still have room to swap out others I had stored away, I would need to drop one of my current skills.
Being honest, there was only one that came to mind. Everything else was either too useful or had too much potential. If I got rid of {Quick Tier 1 Evolution} and found myself in another situation where I needed to save someone like Astrid, that would make things much harder. Or at least it would take much longer. {Formless Nodus Swipe} was a great attack, as long as I wasn’t in a tight space like these tunnels, and {Formless Steps of Prey} was too good of an evasive tool to lose. That only left {Formless Boar Charge}, but the reality was I had never really used that skill. It felt like a bit of a waste to drop it without even testing it properly.
'Sys, weren’t my skills supposed to grow? I mean, you said that skills could improve with time. Since I’m using {Memory Bank} all the time, why hasn’t it increased the amount of skills I can keep there?'
[In order to improve a skill, user must acquire an ample knowledge of the skill, gain experience with its use, and discover a way to improve its function. This discovery can happen with the help of related skills acquired through leveling up or through the consumption of SP. Additionally, the discovery can occur if user is able to reorganize the way particles act when using said skill on a fundamental level.]
'What? I thought I could make the skills stronger just by using them. Why didn’t you ever explain that to me?'
[User inquired if it was possible to make skills stronger. However, user never requested a full explanation of the process.]
I rolled my eyes. There were times when the System really knew how to be obnoxious. But at the same time, it made sense. Having a skill that could grow on its own without me doing anything aside from using it would be too much like a video game. Hearing the explanation made things feel more logical. To improve a skill, I had to figure out a way to make it more effective. And, like the System said at first, practice would help. The more I used the skill, the more I would understand its flaws. The only problem was I had no idea how to teach the particles a better way for the skills to work.
Hell, I had no idea how to do anything with the particles.
That might be something I had to look into.
"Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. Replace {Formless Boar Charge} with {Formless Glacier Step} in {Memory Bank}. And give me {Glacial Rend}."
[Acknowledged.]
As the System made the changes, I did my best to focus on the particles inside me. Every time I used {Memory Bank}, for anything really, I never felt a thing. It wasn’t like {Compression}, where I could feel the particles leaving my body and covering my target. But despite my best efforts, there was still nothing. No sensation, no feeling, no sound. Absolutely nothing happened when the System performed the swap.
Maybe my approach was wrong. As the name suggested, {Memory Bank} was about memory. That meant the effects might be more in my brain than in my body. Instead of trying to sense something physically, I decided to focus on the memories of the skills.
Astrid was still quiet, focused on something I couldn’t see. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. Picking a class was a big decision. I had no idea how long it had taken me to make mine. After making sure {Predatory Sense} wasn’t giving me any warnings, I closed my eyes and started to think about the skills stored in {Memory Bank}.
I could remember their names just fine, but the specifics were harder to recall. Quickly opening the descriptions of the actual skills, I took a look at them and closed the notification window while repeating their details in my mind. That didn’t work either. It didn’t feel like the skills were connected to what I was doing in any way. Instead, it felt more like preparing for a class, like memorizing material for a test.
I tried another approach. This time, I thought not just about the skill and its description but also about how it felt to use it. I focused on the way the particles moved in my body, guided by the commands of the skill. Specifically {Formless Steps of Prey}. How it made my body lighter in a way, my movements quicker and showed my muscles better ways to move. After a couple of minutes, something changed. I felt an itch in a tiny spot just above my left ear, but much deeper inside my brain, oscillating faintly.
Unfortunately, the moment I lost focus on what the skill was supposed to do, the feeling stopped completely. I tried the same process a few more times, but every time my mind shifted away from the skill to the sensation, it would disappear. After a few minutes, I grew too tired to keep going.
When I opened my eyes, Astrid was preparing more meat for us. This time, it was a piece from the bear that didn’t have the frozen claw. Maybe it would give me a new skill too, but even if it did, I wasn’t sure I would take it.
"Did you get everything? About your next class, I mean."
Astrid nodded. "Need sleep."
"Yeah. You need to sleep to complete the process. Do you have enough memory slots for the skills?"
"No."
"After you finish classing up, you can get rid of {Quick Tier 1 Evolution}. It won’t do anything anymore. Unless you want to keep it to give to someone else later on. If you want, I can also share {Memory Bank} with you. It lets you store other skills inside it. You can’t use the skills in the bank, but you can swap them with the ones you have available. The only problem is that you always need at least one empty slot in {Memory Bank} to make the swap. Otherwise, you’ll lose a skill. If that sounds like something you want, let me know."
Astrid paused for a moment to consider my offer. "I want it."
I tapped her shoulder and told the System to start copying {Memory Bank} to the future Frosted Lumberjack. "It should take about an hour for you to get it. There are some restrictions with how much time it takes for a skill to go into the memory bank and then come out, but I’m sure you can figure that out with your System."
"And you?" Astrid turned to me.
"And me what?"
"Want my skills?"
"Well, Chop is not really my style. I don’t even have a weapon to use it with, and something tells me a staff won’t work. Two of your skills need the Frosted Axe, so those are a no, too. You did have one, Cold Endurance, I think. Can you ask your System if anyone could get that skill?"
Astrid paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes. But weaker."
"Weaker how?"
"Loses one effect."
"Right, it had something about making the axe sharper, didn’t it?" I asked.
Astrid nodded.
"Yeah, I don’t know if it’s worth it then. The skill gives resistance to cold damage, but the dungeon removes that resistance anyway. Sure, it doesn’t cost any Energy to maintain and makes it so I would be less tired when fighting, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I might get more use out of one of my other skills."
"Which are?"
"My other skills? Well…" We continued talking about our skills. I shared with her all the ones I could remember, the ones I almost got, and the ones I could swap out right now. Unfortunately, Astrid didn’t remember all the skills she could have gotten, only that one increased resistance to cold, and another made it harder for her to get lost. Both sounded useful, but I agreed with her decision to take Chop instead.
Some time later, Astrid went to sleep. We were still splitting shifts to rest, and she would need time to finalize her advancement to Tier 1. Once that was done, we would head out again. Maybe we could find a way out of this dungeon. If not, there were plenty of monsters around to help us level up.
