Chapter 6: Positive Feedback Loop (3)

It was tough at the end but..

"I fucking did it?" Lyn took a step back and realized the absurdity of his efforts.

['Beginner's Construct' skill has increased in power! New 'Split' ability available.]

[Congratulations on reaching Level 3!]

[Your total energy limit has grown!]

[Stat points accumulated: [10]!]

Lyn felt a sharp pain in his hand, but he ignored it as he did his other wounds from the Queen. The level up bonus should have gotten rid of any pain, however this slipped his mind.

Total energy limit?  Is that like an increase in power, or output? Without getting the chance to complete his thouhgt on his upgraded for a moment, Lyn was interrupted by his team's congratulations.

"Thats our teammate for you, huh?" Ren said approaching Lyn, after taking her mace from the floating hand.

"Lets get the loot!" Sunny said excitedly.

"Did the mutant loot finally get to his head, haha?" Lyn scoffed jokingly but in his mind he thought That's my kill! Since when did the golden retriever become a crow because of a few shiny bugs?

He couldn't be angry at him though, it wasn't like he stopped to look at the loot pool like Sunny and Ren had.

"So what are we leaving with?" he asked curiously, not wanting to be left out.

While Sunny focused on the Milliant Queen, Ren reccounted the goods.

"We've got four pouches of the small pearls, three [Mutant Milliant's Grand Pearls], two for poison, flame, and sound spells. A [Siren's Token] lucky enough, then whatever drops from the Queen. Sunny? Updates?"

"Let's see one [M. Queen's Great Pearl]. It came with a defense buff, and.. an [Aura Bead]?" Sunny had never seen the deep red bead drop before, so the new item excited the crow dearly.

But Ren made sure to bring him back down to Earth.

"Let Lyn have his drops, dude." 

"Khm. Yeah, here Lyn. You've earned them." he said, a little embarassed, but recovering smoothly.

At least someone here has some sense, Lyn thought even though he was just as happy to get something you don't see often.

Although I expected a special pearl becuase of it's mutant status, what's this bead about?

[Aura Bead] Similar to the natural upgrade of Mana to Arcane Energy, the use of an Aura Bead unlocks different steps for the awakened, depending on which stage you use it at. It's an abnormal increase in destructive power and physical ability.

Just like how monsters use it then..

"Isn't this just like starting with a unique ability? What a fucking cheat item." Lyn spat, wondering what he could have done with this when he was effectively a citizen.

"Even if you got a cheat item what would you do with it? Just absorb the enemy harder?" Ren poked at Lyn's sore mind.

This mindreading bitch? I'll take you on! Really, I will! 

(He won't.)

Sunny reminded the group, "No selling anything until a while after probation, it would be stupid to dig ourselves into a hole."

Packing up the trio escaped the dungeon before the grace period ended and the furious bugs returned on a warpath.

. . .

At his Library, Lyn went up to his room while Ren cooked and Sunny helped.

"[Beginner's Construct]."

Let's see what split does shall we. '[Split]'.

The cube Lyn formed in his hand subconciously split along a grid like pattern. 27 smaller cubes began floating in a circle around his hand.

"A 3x3 cube? Then how does it work with the tear?"

Instead of splitting along a grid, the tear began to form into needles of varying sizes. Insinctually, Lyn felt the density of the split constructs were obviously lower, but he could move them quicker when he focused on them one at a time. 

It seems like I'll need mental training to use all these needles at once...

"Hehehehe...." Happy with his new technique, Lyn moved  on to his stats.

- - -

[Due to certain restrictions your stats have been reset to Level 1]

[Stat points accumulated: [10]!]

STR: 8

DEX: 6

INT: ?3

WIS: 4?

VIT: ???

END: 12

"So a passive increase as well?" 

Level 3 was the threshold for this system and all it's features to be unlocked. Including a passive growth based on your performace between levels, Stat Accumulation was possible for extra growth. 

The agreed on strat is to put your points into the stats you don't use first. In my case, that's.. only Endurance? I did avoid taking damage a lot when I fought...

Lyn didn't bother skewing his stats, like many who claimed to be specialists did and divided the 10 into raising STR and DEX to 10, then left the rest to vitality. Idiots won't know what to do when an item requires more Dex, haha. Recalling an event he watched live, the second hand embarassment of a warrior celebrity struggling made the unusually sadistic warrior giggled.

You are reading story I Absorbed The Calamity at novel35.com

Lyn also thought it was odd how the system was set up however, it also meant another thing for him.

I can learn [Domain] now! 

Although Lyn had other skills he could swap out with [Mana Burst] and [Domain]'s future slot, the combined power of Life Force energy and [Mana Burst] was never seen before. A scholar at heart, Lyn started immediately.

"Usually, using a technique like that is a death sentence for Life Force, but if it's me..?" Confident that Life Force wouldn't drain him and content with not ever using it in a battle, Lyn tried expanding his mana to cover his room.

Woom woom~

A low pitched alternating hum filled the room. Anyone who saw a Life Force user doing such a thing would be driven crazy, but something was off.

"It's... difficult" As if it was trapped inside his body, Lyn's mana would barely spread even when he put all his effort into it.

But the hum is so loud?  Lyn couldn't understand what he was doing wrong, so as anyone would, he went to internet for help.

"It's truly a simple skill. Imagine if you were a flame, not just covering, but consuming a room."

Trying again.. but to no avail, Lyn finally gave up.

Who would ever believe I did such a thing anyway... Trying to reason his way out of disappointment, Lyn moved back into the idea of swapping out his skills.

. . . 

With the angel's restriction I can only hold three at a time, until I hit Level 5 and get a new skill slot.

Usually, the fifth skill slot would not be filled so early in a warrior's growth but in Lyn's case the supply of skills he had could not fit the demand.

"In any case, let's see what we have.."

                                                                                        Deep Sleep [Debuff]

Target and release apply [Deep Sleep] debuff. Area of effect around every target.

Just like the Calamity, a powerful one.. I'll take that first.

[Removing [Mana Burst]...]

                                                                                                    Blink Chain

Move a short distance instantly. Move back along your teleportation path as well. Requires constant energy output to maintain path.

A movement skill, I'll take this as well unless the next seems more important.

                                                                                        Energy Manipulation [Buff] 

Your (target's) energy becomes denser. The power of attacks increase, but the speed decreases. Requires constant energy output.

No time limit, just focus.. not bad but I'd like a movement skill as well...

And so Lyn's two new skill were decided.

Sniff Sniff~

Also, dinner was ready!

. . .

"[Blink Chain]?" Sunny inquired

"It's not much different that [Blink], I can just go backwards if need be. Ah, it requires focus though." Lyn didn't like the sound of that, prefering to focus on the fight at hand. Sunny agreed with his sentiment too.

"It's not much of an upgrade either. If you need to go backwards, just [Blink] backwards. That'll take time to do efficiently but it's better than losing focus on the monster." 

As of now Lyn was not adpet enough with the skill to fit the focus condition of the skill without actually giving it his full focus, so he disregarded the skill until he was sure he could use it in a real fight.

"You shouldn't go around using that debuff without us around either." Ren advised. The mass majority of people didn't have the mental strength to move on from a devastaing event as easily as warriors. Even some warriors themselves lost loved ones in that fight, so to avoid resurfacing trauma Lyn would keep that skill in his back pocket.

. . .

Snap! Zip!

Lyn practiced blinking through his now empty library, while holding a split tear and a dense cube.

It's efficient but... it's so boooring.

Lyn really wanted to go to sleep but he still had research to do on his dungeon drops. In addition he learned he could actually improve himself without leveling up.

[Your total energy limit has grown!]

Another thing to research..

Lyn hadn't heard of anyone improving themselves outside of level ups, even when the method he was using was so obvious.

"It's not like no one trains, so what's with this system?"

Shortly after getting that notification, Lyn noticed a quirk he hadn't seen before.

My hand glows when I focus on a skill?

His left hand that he used to cast magic had started glowing whenever he had to focus to use a skill. 

"It doesn't seem to do when I use reactive skills though?"

There was no real reason to worry about it yet, but the development cause by unknown forces worried the warrior surrounded by new variables.

. . .