Chapter 21: 20. One Against the Crowd

Besides [Dismantle], the two other class skills sound interesting, I thought. The past class skills have been upgraded too!

I decided to check the descriptions for my class skills, both the new and the old ones.

 

 

 

The new [Dismantle] skill seems much better than the one that I had in my past life, I thought. The other two skills seem powerful, but the warnings are worrisome.

I went back to the area in which I left the corpses of the trolls that I killed earlier. One of the corpses lacked the majority of its head, whereas the other lacked its head and a portion of its upper chest.

I used [Dismantle] on each of them, hoping to get some valuable things. Trolls could drop many useful things, but it wasn’t easy to find these creatures in my past life. Nobles monopolized most dungeons that spawned them.

[Host gains [Troll’s Blood Essence]!] [Host gains [Troll’s Mana Essence]!]

 

[Host gains [Troll’s Blood Essence] x2!] [Host gains [Troll’s Mana Essence]!]

 

The skill was much better than its (Common) counterpart, as the dizziness was much lighter and it could give me more than a single item at a time. The essences were in small vials, just like the slimes’ essences. I picked them up and examined their descriptions.

[Troll’s Blood Essence]	(Uncommon)
Trolls are sturdy creatures with great regenerative powers. Their blood was a highly sought-after commodity, which caused their extinction on many planets. -Raw consumption of this essence gives the user a permanent increase in VIT (+1)

 

[Troll’s Mana Essence]

(Common)

Trolls were known as masters of magic, but the decrease in their numbers was the primary cause of their fall. They turned back to their primitive ways and neglected the teachings of their elders. While their skills are a mere shadow of what they once were, their legacy still stands. Their bloodline will always be proof of their latent talents. -Raw consumption of this essence gives the user a permanent increase in MAG (+1)

 

These items had beneficial effects, but I decided to store them for now as they could be used to produce more efficient potions.

My next goal was to test the [Plasmic Torch] skill. I put my crown, cape, and staff inside my bag of holding, before hiding it under some rocks. I sprinted in a certain direction, to avoid damaging my stuff accidentally.

“[Plasmic Torch]!” I shouted.

Suddenly, I could no longer feel my limbs or any of my body parts for the matter. My vision didn’t change despite lacking eyes, and I could move in all directions when I wanted to. I tried to fly upward at an increasing pace, but I still didn’t manage to hit the limit of my speed after flying for a couple of minutes. I went back to the ground to switch my skill off, but some weird thoughts popped up inside my head.

This skill is better than I thought, it makes me superior to my regular body in all ways, I thought. Why would I want to become a human again?

The thoughts were faint, but they horrified me after I considered their implications; this wasn’t something that I would usually think about. I could still control myself at this point, so I turned my skill off after reaching the ground. I went back to pick up my bag of holding and equipped my items once more.

This skill was a double-edged sword; giving supreme powers at the price of my sanity. I couldn’t test the third skill yet due to its passive nature, but I knew that its effects would be revealed in the right circumstances.

As for the skills that I had from my last class, most of them became more efficient. The mana costs decreased a bit and so did the cooldowns. The only substantial improvement was in the [Flame-N-Go] class skill, as it could burn other targets made of flesh while using ambient mana as a resource.

This is game-changing! I thought. I’ll no longer have to worry about fueling the fires as long as they’re burning creatures with meat and bones!

After I got a rough idea about my new skills and possible strategies to make use of them, I concentrated on my improved body.

I raised my hands in front of my face and tried to move my fingers as slowly as I could.

This might take a while to get used to, I thought. My hand-eye coordination is much better now.

I walked around the area to find some water, only stopping in front of a shallow puddle. My face was more handsome than ever and its features became more even. I could also tell that I got taller and that my muscles became more toned.

“Status Menu,” I said. I wanted to see my current stats and allocate the free points that I kept aside for a while.

Host: Jason Stubbs	HP 300/300 (1 HP/560 seconds)
Class: Living Crematorium	Mana 1600/1600 (5.13 mana/1 second)
Level 25: 61165/301000	Stat Points: 44
STR: 15 You are reading story System Dilemma at novel35.com	VIT: 50
DEX: 15	AGI: 17
MAG: 164 (+30)	END:195 (+10)
Class Skills:	General Skills:
[Flame-n-Go]: Level 10	[Zoom]: Level 2
[It’s fine!]: Level 9	[Shut-Down]: Level 1
[Burn That Invader!]: Level 6	[Light Steps]: Level 10
[Kill Them Before They Spread!]: Level 5	[Shadow Assimilation]: Level 4
[Dismantle]: Level 1
[Plasmic Torch]: Level 1
[Flawed State of Being]: Level 1

 

Indeed, my physical stats didn’t change despite the improvement in the control of my body. Now that my new class gave me four extra free stat points, I could afford to increase an important stat that I neglected; VIT.

The increased HP would be indispensable against the upcoming foes, I thought. Some serious threats could endanger me here, unlike in the first phase’s dungeons.

I allocated forty stat points to the VIT stat, bringing my max HP to five hundred. I wasn’t satisfied with my current HP yet, but I dismissed my status screen as I lacked the means to increase it further.

I sighed; a feeling of unease overcame me as I remembered the rumors that I’d heard about this area’s boss. It was a strong (Uncommon) monster, sharing many of the traits of a certain mythical creature; the Hydra. It had seven heads, each proficient in a certain type of magic. It could unleash strong physical attacks, using its tails and heads as whips. Its regeneration was near instantaneous which made killing it a daunting task for many adventurers outside the tutorial.

Yet, many people managed to defeat it inside the tutorial! I thought.

Aside from the dangerous [Boss] that I’m looking forward to fighting, I had many other things crowded inside my head. The most notable were thoughts about the system admin and those mysterious hooded figures.

I tried to contact the admin as I did before my fight in the second phase, but I didn’t get any kind of response. I screamed at him and even insulted him repeatedly hoping for a response.

I am pretty sure that I look insane right now, I thought. A loner wearing nothing but a cape and a crown, holding a staff and trying to scream at imaginary entities in the middle of a forest.

I had no idea about the other figures’ identities, or whether I could contact them or not.

Seeing that there was nothing to be done about these mysteries, I gave up for now and resumed my journey in the forest. I walked at a brisk pace but made sure to get a good look at my surroundings.

The scenery was as mesmerizing as the rumors said, even though I didn’t believe them at first. The trees had rich colors and provided a lot of shade, which contrasted with the sun's rays that managed to pass through the thick leaves from above. Many water puddles reflected the rays that fell on them, which illuminated the trees and created strange shapes on their barks.

I occasionally found some of the snakes that I defeated earlier. I left them alone because I had an important task to achieve; I was looking for an adult [Troll]. I increased my pace further and searched.

After following some footsteps that seemed recent, I found a suitable target.

[Troll] (Uncommon)

Level: 48

 

Great, I thought. It’s an adult this time, so it should be able to help me execute my plan.

After staring at my target, I found it oddly familiar. As if I studied it intensively, I knew its strengths, but more importantly, its flaws as well.

So, this is the effect of the third Class Skill that I obtained today, I thought. I am also feeling a strong urge to ‘correct’ the errors in this creature’s body, by ending its life.

At a glance, I could tell that this abomination had a weak left leg that had been wounded before. I sneaked up using my [Shadow Assimilation] skill till I was close enough to my target.

“[Burn That Invader]!” I shouted while pointing the index finger of my right hand at its right knee. The attack had a radius of five millimeters, while its temperature was six hundred Kelvin. It only cost me two hundred thirty mana at this point, due to the improvements from increasing the level of the skill and evolving my class.

The beam struck true, and the monster howled loudly. I teleported to another shadow as my opponent rushed to the area from which the attack came. It wasn’t able to move properly and whimpered with each step.

I could’ve burned the creature already, but I didn’t as my goal wasn’t to kill it. Like many monsters that lived in packs, adult Trolls could use a racial skill called [Cry]. Its range was several kilometers wide, and each creature that heard the cries of their comrade would rush to help him.

I kept myself hidden and attacked its limbs one at a time using my single-targeted class skill. After I destroyed both of its shoulders, it seemed desperate and started screaming.

All according to the plan, I thought. If you can’t find your prey, give it a reason to search for you.

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