It took only a few monts before I was thoroughly stumped by the possible paths my skill could take. I an, I knew that the skill was supposed to be a tier 6 and all, but did the system have to be this vague?
[Dark embodint] and [Dark overload] were sowhat straightforward at least, but I could have that the system had made illusory form deliberately obtuse. This skill evolution would, supposedly, make unkillable by physical attacks. That seed powerful, until you considered the downsides. For one, being immortal was pretty useless when you couldnt actually slap back against your aggressors. Secondly, while the skill spoke of reverting my physical body back to normal pretty quickly, nothing about healing the illusory form was ntioned.
I that form sohow got wounded, would I just be stuck like that forever? To make matters worse, any wound my illusory form accrued would also appear on my physical body, weakening my offensive capabilities. And I hadnt even considered the possible implications for my class evolution! I didnt want to beco a wraith if I could help it Until I knew more about this possible skill, I decided to leave it as a last resort.
My second option was [Dark embodint], a reliable upgrade of what I had currently. The increased healing speed would be a welco improvent, though I was left in the dark when it ca to the magnitude of this change. Apart from that, my physical power would increase and I would gain the ability to substitute parts of my body that had beco damaged, allowing to continue battling or, if the situation called for it, running.
In a way, this skill promised the exact opposite of [Illusory form]. The latter promised protection, but if you ever did get hurt, you were fucker forever. The forr, on the other hand, seed far less ambitious, but promised to keep alive and kicking, no matter what.
Finally, there was [Dark overload], which had a twofold function. For one, it could create overloaded mana on its own, instantly making it available for use in battle to boot. For another, it could then store that mana to release later, opening up so more opportunities for larger AOE skills and preventing from having to charge up after each apparition. On top of that, it maintained the previous skill effect.
There was just one downside. A major one. How was I supposed to stay below the radar if I was constantly pumping volatile mana out of my body, creating strange black clouds wherever I went? It would all but be an end to the anonymity I had enjoyed so far. Outside of Roa, at least. Was such a large sacrifice really worth it when there were other skills comparable in power available?
Eventually, I decided to inquire about my options with the dry man. I found him sitting on a log in an improvised encampnt, surrounded by his three most faithful friends.
Sir Arthur! Hello again! the first of them greeted. The paladins greeting was swiftly followed by a wet gurgle originating from Dullahan the innkeepers throat and a small wave from ash.
Have you made a choice? the dry man asked, having noticed my approach earlier.
Not quite. Im afraid that my choices are all equally tantalising and Im not sure which one to choose.
Ash groaned at hearing my shaless boast and stomped off, grumbling like a toddler.
Pay him no mind, sir Arthur! Ash only recently got his first tier 6 skill, you see. Hes a little jealous, I think.
I hid my smile with a cough before sitting where Ash had been seated earlier.
So, child. Tell us about your plight. Youve trusted us so far, might as well tell us the fruits of our own labour, no? the dry man asked.
I nodded, seeing his point. I had been rather greedy with my recent requests. Besides, I understood too little to make an inford decision.
I took a few minutes to introduce the three skills I had been offered, sharing my thoughts on them all the while. Apart from the occasion and humming and hawing, they kept quiet until I finished explaining them all.
Guuaargl. The innkeeper shared, his wise council falling on deaf ears, unfortunately. Thankfully, the undead paladin sitting next to him was kind enough to clarify.
What he ans to say, as Im sure you understand, is that illusory form is a two-edged sword, so to speak. While it improves your survivability substantially, housing your essence in a non-physical form is a big risk. If anything harms this illusory form, healing it will be quite difficult. Furthermore, at higher tiers most classers will possess abilities that deal true damage, which would ignore this skills gimmick. Then again, if you evolve it further, maybe
Throughout that explanation, I couldnt help but marvel at the innkeepers alleged ability to say so much with a single gurgle.
Despite this distraction, I had picked up enough to figure out that [Illusory form] could turn out to be quite a failure of a skill if it didnt evolve into the right skill by the next tier. But how long would it take to reach that level? Years? Decades? No, I wasnt willing to consider the skill as an option anymore.
Eventually, the dry man shared his own opinion.
I will just share with you my recomndation, child. Pick [Dark embodint]. Direct upgrades with straightforward functions allow for more diverse builds. Besides, [Dark overload] solves problems that you only have because of your low tier. Do you think higher tier classers still bother with gimmicks like overloaded mana? No, the system simplifies such things as you progress. Let the system solve your mana problems on its own with your tier 5 class advancent. That is all I have to say on the matter.
It took a mont to absorb what the dry man had shared, after which I was hit by montary panic. Overloaded mana, a gimmick? Simplify things? Were my skills about to beco obsolete? Did he an to say that my entire build was for nothing?! The panic departed as quickly as it had co, though. After all, the dry man wouldnt have phrased it the way he did if I had anything to worry about. He had only said that the system would simplify things. How, I wasnt sure But as long as my skills remained as they were, I felt I didnt need to be too worried. Losing the inherent advantage that overloaded mana held wouldnt be too devastating, as long as my skills inherent power remained.
I spent a few more minutes mulling over my options, but eventually decided to heed the dry mans advice. If the system rebalanced overloaded mana after the fifth tier, in my favour, if what the dry man implied was accurate, then there was no need to centre my newer skills around the build.
With a ntal command, [Dark embodint] clicked into place, settling on my status screen and fulfilling the last requirent I had made for myself before tiering up to tier 4. The skill evolution was instantaneous, but the change wasnt.
Over the course of about half an hour, I witnessed the changes the new skill brought. Unlike [Dark form], which had felt like a system of pipes and valves that regulated mana as it coursed through my body, [Dark embodint] felt like a cloak that had been wrapped around , woven into my flesh.
It felt like my shadow had rged with , strengthening what was already there with sothing more.
As the wind whipped up the ever present dust around , I felt every little change, every single grain as it slid past my skin. I took a few tentative steps and noticed how much lighter I felt, how fluid my motions beca without any input from my side.
Before I got to my fourth class evolution, I would have to test the limits of my new skill. Hells, my last class evolution hadnt felt as strange as this!
A still-grumbling ash was more than happy to help out with that, for better or worse. To that end, we returned to the clearing, where we decided to begin by testing my new physical strength.
I feared that I would have difficulty making a fair before-after comparison, as I hadnt exactly pushed my strength much ever since I reached level 100. Thankfully, I got a pretty fair image when running into a mountain at full sprint caused to pierce the crust and crash right through. Now that I found myself stuck in the dense stone, I had to dig myself out. Thankfully, even this wasnt a problem anymore. A casual swipe of my hand would see the stone part as if it were dense foliage instead. By squirming and clawing my way out, I quickly rerged.
The next step was to test my healing, which we decided to do by repeating a part of my previous training. Ash attacked from a distance and compared my healing speed with what he had seen before, marvelling at the difference.
That has to be at least 3 tis faster than before on the big wounds! he shouted. The smaller ones dont even take a second anymore!
It was a markable improvent, to say the least. Furthermore, Ash also noted that my improved physical strength also made more resilient, increasing my defences by the sa factor! I was still susceptible to tier 5 and 6 attacks, but average tier 4 skills wouldnt leave that much damage anymore.
Eventually, we decided to test the embodint part of the skill. Ash took off both of my arms, his eyes going wide when two pitch black limbs made of swirling black smoke rose to take their place. I flexed the new appendages, finding the feeling odd. My arms were gone, obviously, but the black cloak from before still reacted as if they were there. After so more practice, we ca to the conclusion that the dark replacent limbs were indeed just as strong and tough as the real thing. If they were destroyed, they would quickly be replaced by an identical pair, costing the sa amount of mana each ti, depending on the size of the replacent. Organs, flesh and bones could be replaced as well, but their functions couldnt be replicated by the shadow parts, unfortunately. At least [Adaptive physiology] hadnt beco obsolete. All in all, dark embodint could keep in a fight and keep alive, giving ti to heal, but it couldnt actually replace my body long term.
I would have to settle for that, for now.
I had a more pressing matter to attend to, after all. With three days left, I had just enough ti to finally advance to tier 4, as long as I passed the trial. I could only hope the trial in question wouldnt be as harsh as the last ones were
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