Chapter 24: Chapter 23: Presence of The Night

Without any hesitation, Jack opened the system’s Nightblade skill tree.

The Nightblade faction node branched into three.

The first branch presented him with three skills.

Presence of The Night (Herald, Active, Physical Damage, Single Target – Self)

Description:  Hide your breath in utmost silence, your movement in the passing shadows, as you yourself become the darkness of the eerie night.

Current Level: 0.

Next Level: 1.

Mana cost: minimum mana per second.

Cooldown: 0s.

Effects:

Make yourself less visible, remove your presence in any dark area and become lighter and stronger. The effectiveness will decrease significantly if the requisite environment is not met.

Highly effective when being still. Moving will increase the mana cost.

+10% Agility.

+10% Damage strike from shadow.

*Less effective under the presence of any light source. The buff will still be applied but suffer a penalty of up to 90%.

Jack pondered a bit on the ability. It was the reason why he hadn’t been able to sense or see the dark figure during the vision. It had been right there, in front of him, but still in the shadow, undetectable. For all the advantages and potential applications of this skill, its critical weakness was a fair tradeoff.

Then, there were the other two supporting skills.

Shadow Eyes (Herald, Passive, Physical Damage, Supportive Skill – Presence of The Night)

Description: Enhance your senses for a single deathly strike.

Current Level: 0.

Next Level: 1.

Mana cost: minimum mana per second.

Cooldown: 0s.

Effects:

Become effective during Presence of The Night.

Grant clearer vision in the dark.

Grant the ability to detect weak points of the enemies. 

+15% Accuracy.

+10% Critical Damage.

*Decrease the possibility of detecting weak points when the target is of a higher level or rank.

 

Niemis’ Blessing (Herald, Active, Multiple Targets)

Description: Let the Nightblade God guide your way.

Current Level: 0.

Next Level: 1.

Mana cost: Low mana per second.

Cooldown: 0s.

Effects:

Can cast on multiple Nightblades. Each target will require more mana.

+5% Agility.

+5% Strength.

+5% Spirit.

*Work regardless of environment.

*Does not stack with other Niemis’ blessing or other faction’s blessing.

*Higher Rankers will require a larger amount of mana to maintain the buff.

 

The first branch was all about maximizing the strength of the Nightblade. The focus on assassination required the skills and physique of its practitioner to be agile, enduring, and swift. It wouldn’t make much sense if these skills were too mana-consuming, for troubles would arise if one found oneself depleted of mana during a job. The nonexistence cooldowns also guaranteed the swiftest of actions.

And what about Niemis? Nightblade’s God? So do other factions have gods of their own? Jack quickly ignored the questions that he felt wouldn’t help him with anything.

The next branch gave him a mobility skill.

 

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Shadow Dance (Herald, Active, Single Target - Self)

Description: Unpredictable move, unpredictable death.

Current Level: 0.

Next Level: 1.

Mana cost: Low mana per use.

Duration: 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 15 seconds.

Effects:

Cover yourself in dark smoke and dash around with tremendous granted speed.

+100% speed.

Jack rubbed his chin. This must have been the skill the dark figure had used to advance on him and deliver the dagger blow. Based on the description, the skill would enhance his speed, though he doubted it would surpass the speed of his own eyes, for they had been able to keep up with the dark shadow when it had dashed forward. Moreover, this wasn’t the skill that the figure had used to travel between the shadow of the trees and bushes. It had been something beyond the ability of a Herald, something that resembled more of a teleportation.

Black Flame (Herald, Active, Magical Damage, Multiple Target – Objects)

Description: The inextinguishable flame of the night created by Niemis. 

Current Level: 0.

Next Level: 1.

Mana cost: Medium mana per use.

Duration: Undefined.

Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Effects:

Create a black flame on your weapon, which can be cast on many weapons at will. More mana is required.

The flame can be extinguished by the will of the user. Otherwise, it will burn through the night and can only be dampened by the daylight sun.

Deal continuous damage to any target that it caught on.

*Less effective against higher level and rank.

Niemis again, Jack thought.

It seemed that this god was most likely the creator of the Nightblade faction. If he, or she, was granted godhood, could it be that they were still alive? The legendary Immortal rankers? If not, then what explains their disappearance from existence, or is it that they still exist among their followers? Jack quickly found himself wandering aimlessly again and decided to cut it right there.

Jack looked into the skill that had been presented to him. It seemed likely that the system would initiate a process similar to that of the Legacy Orb to provide him with the necessary knowledge and muscle memory. For now, his mind had almost reached its limit from absorbing all that information. He put the orb into his Corvus chest and proceeded to do some meditation. 

He started to reassemble his mind and memory the way he had always done in his previous life. All the Herald-rank acquired knowledge still wandering in his head began to be consolidated in a small corner pocket in his brain. Now, he could access them every time he would like to.

After all of that, Jack was in need of some rest, but the excitement overflowing within prevented him. He wanted to dig deeper, or more precisely, to actually perform one of the skills before the restart of the system or the awakening ceremony. Closing his eyes and thinking, knowledge-wise, he only wished to be able to learn more about Presence of The Night. He understood that even though it was only a beginner's skill, the information quantity relating to this one was enormous, especially when it came from a Divine. The notes, assessments, and improvements provided by that man were abundant. After all, without a solid foundation, one would only bring disaster upon oneself when entering the domain of higher rank.

Concluding that he had had enough, Jack blocked the flow of his thinking. With his current understanding, he was just barely scratching the surface, but he reckoned that was enough for some small application, much like a martial artist who couldn’t straight away perform a set of moves, but getting his stance right is within reach.

He jumped down from his bed, stretching his stiffened body and muscles after all of that sitting. The room was covered in darkness, and Jack couldn’t ask for a more favorable condition.

Standing still and closing his eyes, Jack repeatedly channeled his mana as well as utilized the distinctive energy flow of the night. To put it simply, Presence of The Night gave the user a cloak of invisibility. Mana was manipulated to create a transparent wall that would make one’s perception consider the appearance of the user oblivious and unnoteworthy. That was also why it required more mana, though not by that much when used moving.

Another basis of this skill was to hide one’s presence, from breaths to aura. This would be Jack’s first training focus. Besides the utilization of mana, the disappearance of oneself also relied on the natural characteristics of the environment. Darkness in this world had a strange obscuring property by itself. Though vague it was, with the assistance of Nightblade’s mana manipulation method, one could synchronize this property and his skills to more efficiently blend into the night.

Jack took a deep breath and relaxed his body as the Divine had taught him in the Legacy Orb’s vision. A bizarre flow of power ran down his arms and legs, giving him the feeling he had grasped the basis of Presence of The Night. He continued to manipulate his mana, reaching for the veil of the night as if he had done it so many times before.

Jack entered a miraculous state. He felt himself lighter; his feet, though still not moving, felt a tingling sensation as if it was walking in the air. He tried to listen to his breathing and heartbeats but surprisingly found them undetectable. Without the actual movement of his nose and lungs, Jack would have panicked, thinking he was suffocating himself.

For now, he couldn’t maintain this state for long, only a few seconds. Though the mana consumption was minimal and Jack still had enough to keep it going, the manipulation method was putting immense pressure on his veins and body, blocking the flow of thought Jack was processing.

While attempting to readjust his breathing, the room door burst open, hitting the wall hard and startled Jack. Edward rushed in, looking around the room, and gave a sigh of relief seeing his master remain unharmed.

Edward looked at Jack, both worryingly and peculiarly.

“Did you just disappear, master!”

“Did I?” Jack asked back, smiling.

“You’ve learned to hide your aura?”

Jack nodded.

“How?”

Jack frowned. Edward was testing his master’s limit again.

Perhaps unable to see Jack’s displeasure facial reaction, Edward continued.

“The aura of a normal person is vague and weak. It’s easy to hide it, but please maintain your presence in my detection range, master. It’s for your own safety.”

“You can go now, Edward. I know how to take care of myself.”

Edward tried to say something back but decided to just bow his head and leave.

Edward didn’t understand that Jack had really appreciated his protection but found the constant supervision irritating. It wasn’t the childish resistance of a rebellious kid but rather the cautiousness of protecting his own private secrets. Edward had to know that if he could sense Jack’s presence, others could also.