As soon as I opened my eyes, things felt different. Colors were brighter, the feeling of the stone beneath my skin was sharper, and. Looking at the blanket, I could see each strand that was woven together to form the piece of warm cloth. The light of the was bouncing around the cave, and it was easy to follow the path the rays of late afternoon sunshine that illuminated my temporary ho. My muscles felt stronger, even stronger than when I got the System, even more powerful than when I killed the mountain lion. Right now, nothing should be able to defeat .
“So this is Tier 1?” there was a smile on my face that refused to go away.
[User has been asleep for approximately 93 minutes. Advancent to Tier 1 has not started.]
“Oh,” and that made the smile vanish, “Sorry. I was just excited, I guess.”
[User has nothing to apologize. Excitent is understandable.]
“Yeah. Right. I’ll leave you to it then. I just don’t know what to do with my ti,” slumming back to the bed I did my best not to think about the threads in the blanket, or the light bouncing around the cave. I could always see those things, why did I think they were any different? Even without anyone listening to my thoughts, if there was, I might die out of sheer embarrassnt.
[System is currently waiting for Advancent to receive enough Energy. There is no function that is currently occupying System.]
“Does that an you are also bored?” It was funny to imagine the System just twiddling its thumbs while waiting for the energy to convert to the advancent. Kind of like watching paint dry.
[System is incapable of feeling boredom. System is simply idle.]
“Ok, ok. Let’s figure out sothing to do then,” the first thing that ca to mind was double checking the leather outside, but even that would only take so ti. Maybe I could go back to my training routine? It felt odd to do that without the new skills, since they were supposed to help , but it was the only thing that ca to mind. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be leaning too much on skills. I barely got the system and was already acting like I couldn’t do anything without its help. Yeah, practicing sounded like a good call.
Despite having co to terms with that decision, it was hard not to feel anxious. I did my best, and spent a while ditating and practicing the ‘martial arts’ that I created, completely oblivious to the ti that passed.
“Sys, how about now? Are you ready to start the advancent?”
[Advancent has been ready for 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 15 seconds.]
“Why didn’t you tell !”
[User showed no signs of being sleepy. In order for advancent to proceed user must be sleeping.]
“Then I’m going to bed!” lying down once more, every fiber of my body wanted to sleep. But without being tired, and having just woken up, it was a hard thing to do. To make matters worse, the thoughts didn’t stop.
First, why was I acting like this now? Did getting to tier 1 reverted into a teenager? It was stupid, so what if I was excited or anxious? The bottom line was that even after advancing, there was no guarantee of surviving here. Sure, for now I still had food and water, but praying for rain in order to fill a jar with maybe a week’s worth of water wasn’t sustainable. As a matter of fact, in two days, there would be nothing left.
Maybe this was part of the reason why I was acting this way. It wasn’t just the excitent of getting new skills and a class, but a solution to the constant creeping fear that was the driving force in the back of my every move. For another hour, those thoughts continued. Plans related to getting more water, hunting, trying to leave through the top of the mountain, or search for a tunnel that ended on the other side. Countless ideas passed by in a flash, and no sleep ca. It wasn’t like I was thinking out loud or moving. During that entire ti, my body was perfectly still and my eyes closed.
Frustrated, without even knowing how much ti passed between lying down and giving up, I sat back up.
“Sys, I can’t sleep. Is there sothing you can do about that?”
[System is unable to put user to sleep unless user has a skill that allows user to do so.]
“Ok… then I don’t know what to do. I’m super curious about what is like to be tier 1 and the new skills. Knowing what they do is one thing, seeing them in action is another. But it’s not like you can give a preview,” I let out a long sigh that echoed in the cave, making stop and look towards the forest below. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be enough to attract anything. Sure, I was moving with the assumption that the Eater was still there and it wouldn’t be able to co here. But I had no idea why that happened, and what if that was just a temporary thing? Then I was fucked.
While distracted by those thoughts, the System gave a reply, [System is able to show a preview of skills.]
“Wait. What? Why did you never told that?”
[System was unaware of the possibility. In fact, without the skill {Mind of Possibility} such function would not be available. Only when user made an inquiry about skill previews, System was able to identify the possibility of said function.]
“I guess that makes sense. It still sounds weird. Like, you can’t know if you can do sothing unless I ask about it?”
[System is a tool for personal improvent. If user is unaware of a particular use for System, so is System. Once an inquiry about said use is made, System is able to identify if function is within System’s capabilities.]
“But what about the cost? Do I need to activate {Mind of Possibility}? I thought it was still charging.”
[Using {Mind of Possibility} for a skill preview has a different cost than activating the skill by itself. The cost is equal to 1 Energy per skill. This Energy can be both from the skill {Mind of Possibility} and from user herself.]
“Oh. Ok. Can you show how Burst of Strength would look like? Spend my own energy, let’s not touch {Mind of Possibility}. Actually, hang on. Why are those skills different? Like, when I ntion {Mind of Possibility},” I paused and let out another sigh, but this one more ta not to echo, “Fuck , we said that na five tis in two sentences. Anyway, that skill sounds different from saying Burst of Strength.”
[Human exclusive skill is present on user’s System, and can be activated at any point. Because of that, when user, or System ntions the skill by na, there is a reaction from the SP inside user’s body as a way to prepare for activation. Burst of Strength does not exist in System the sa way. It is currently on a unusable state and there are no particles actively waiting the command for the skill to be activated. Hence, the skill does not garner the sa reaction.]
“In a way, that’s kind of nice. I will always know when I’m talking about a skill I do have. Anyway, can you show the Preview for Burst of Strength, Formless Boar Charge, and Formless Steps of Prey? Or you can’t do the new skills? Since I have three Energy now, I was going to take advantage of that.”
[System is able to show the preview of skills of the class chosen during advancent. When user begins the transition to tier 2, System will also be able to show the preview for all skills of all classes, as long as user has the required Energy to spend.]
[System will start with the preview for Burst of Strength.]
Another appeared in front of , but it wasn’t completely real. ‘My’ body was almost translucent and had a very faint blue tint over everything. The holo-… Not-? Holo-Clone? Echo? Those all suck. Proxy? Sure, let’s call her Proxy.
Proxy walked towards the side of the cave, directly in front of , but facing away, and punched the wall with everything she had. The blow did barely anything, just hurting her hand. There was a tiny crack in one of the rocks, but that was it. Then she prepared another strike. But Proxy was different now. Sothing was moving through her body. A red energy attaching itself to every muscle and emanating around her as she turned and punched the wall once more. This ti, there was an impression of her fist in the cave. It was shallow, and only two fingers were clearly visible, but it was there. But there was also a bluish-red mark, which quickly beca clear to be coming from Proxy’s hand. It seed like the blow was enough for her to hurt herself.
But Proxy wasn’t done. The red energy covered her muscles again, but this ti, it didn’t emanate. Instead, it stayed inside the arm. With a mighty punch, a crack appeared around the point of impact. What was left wasn’t just an impression of her hand, but also a small crater on the side of the wall. It was just a palm wide, but the power behind sothing that was able to do that on a cave wall should be massive.
Unfortunately, my excitent was quickly killed the mont I looked at Proxy’s arm. The hand that she used to punch the wall was limp and deford. As if every single bone inside it had turned into dust and now sagged on the tip of her fingers. In just a few monts, the weight beca too much, and the skin ripped open as the arm started bleeding profusely.
“What the fuck?”
[User witnessed two uses of the skill. Burst of Strength can perform a pair of tasks, first, increase user’s physical strength and cover limbs in reinforced SP to protect user’s body from damage that could be caused by the sudden increase in power. Second, it can enhance the muscles, and only them. Doing so allows the skill to perform better, but it also removes any protection provided by the SP. By default, the skill will reduce its effectiveness to protect user. User must make a conscious decision of removing the protection for the second effect to be activated.]
Hearing the explanation helped a lot. If I need to carry sothing heavy, sure it was fine to remove the protection, but during a fight, even with it, I might have problems. After all, the human body was already able to use much more strength than anyone believe to be possible. The only reason we don’t do it is because we would hurt ourselves. Removing that limiter only happens in monts of life and death. Adding that to a skill that makes stronger is terrifying.
“That light… The skill does that?”
[No. The skills do not generate light. The light is just a representation of what the SP will be doing as user activates the skill.]
[Next, the skill Formless Boar Charge.]
Proxy vanished and appeared close to the entrance of the cave. For a mont, I was worried that she would attract too much attention, but I quickly realized that I was the only one seeing her. There was no sound coming from her movents. The other got into a stance while holding my staff, she was leaning a bit forward, lowering her center of gravity. Proxy scrapped the floor with one foot and a light brown energy gathered in her legs, but part of it continued flowing to the chest, forming a thin image of a boar. With a jolt, Proxy started running, her feet stomping heavily on the cave as she charged without hesitation towards the wall by my side. The faster she moved, the more vibrant the energy inside her beca, turning almost in that vibrant reddish brown of old pottery.
A fraction of a second before she was going to slam against the rocks, the energy surrounding her legs jumped out, forming a thick layer that covered the front of her body. Once the impact occurred, there was nothing on the wall behind , but Proxy took a few steps back without a problem.
Proxy walked to the middle of the cave and started the charge again. The sa thing happened, but there wasn’t enough ti for the energy to beco that vibrant reddish brown.
“So, this one makes the barrier when it’s about to hit?”
[Correct. There is no secondary effect. The charge must also be made mostly in a straight line. Small deviations are possible, the longer the charge, the stronger the effect becos up to a certain point.]
“And Proxy showed it as its peak, right?”
[Inquiry, who is Proxy?]
“Oh, sorry. Proxy is how I’m calling the virtual you created. Since she’s not ,” saying that out loud made realize how insane that was. I bla the kids. They are the ones who constantly kept asking the nas of every single stuffed animal, or drawing I ever made. Since when doing that beca a habit?
[Acknowledged. Proxy was unable to show the maximum speed and power of a charge. There is not enough data available to do so.]
“We can test things out later,” I shrugged and waited Sys to show the last skill. Honestly, it was the one I was the most curious about. Despite all my internal bravado, killing the Eater was my plan B. Plan A was to get away from it and make sure never to et sothing like that ever again. And a skill that helped evade attacks, that’s all I needed. As long as I didn’t fight back, the chance to escape existed.
[Lastly, the skill Formless Steps of Prey.]
Proxy appeared in the center of the cave, a green energy swirling around her feet and hands. She hopped a couple of tis in place and suddenly jumped to the side. Using a single leg, she jumped back on the opposite direction, sohow keeping part of the montum. Proxy jumped again, moving away from , to the middle of the cave with a twirl, yet, she sohow arrived at the entrance, moving much farther than I expected considering her movents.
“What is going on?”
[The skill allows Proxy's muscles to apply more force than one would expect while watching her movents. There is a limitation on how much the movents can be hidden, however anyone who uses body language, or reflexes to attack, can be confused by the effect of the skill.]
“Ok, got it. I’m definitively getting that one.”
That only made more excited about classing up, but sothing caught my attention, there was a noise coming from outside. Carefully, I walked over to the entrance in ti to hear trees being pushed at a rapid speed. From the tree line, a deer appeared running like its life depended on it. Just a few ters [feet] behind it, the Eater chased its prey, but it suddenly stopped, its tentacles trying to reach the animal.
I felt the blood draining from my face. In my mind, I asked, hoping I was wrong, ‘Sys. Can you show that line you made? The one that showed where the Eater stopped moving?’
The Eater was clearly standing over the line. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it wasn’t even a question. That monster was closer than it ever was before. Maybe the line just changed, and in front of the cave, it was always able to get closer. But if not, it ant the Eater was slowly being able to approach . Whatever was allowing to sleep in the cave without a worry was getting weaker, and I had no way of knowing how long it would take for it to vanish completely.
My initial plan was to spend a couple of days practicing the new skills, but it looked like I wouldn’t have that chance. It was better to wake up at tier 1 and leave this place.
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