Three fingers.
Two fingers.
One…
“Heeello, my little Aquamarines!” I cheered as I leapt into view. “It’s me! Aoto Nana! Your favorite tier three individual!”
JamieWasTaken3:hell yeaaaaa
Jeofffff: niceeeee
KaiEbikoOfficial: yaaaaay
I began walking while keeping John to my right, trying to imitate a ‘walk and talk’ vlog.
“That’s right! I am tier three now! For those who missed it, go back and watch the Limit Break. Although, be warned… It was extreme.” I shuddered. “Took me a whole week to recover from it... But whatever! We aren’t here to talk about that nightmare of a trial gauntlet today! We’re here to finally talk about the rewards we got from it!”
Jeofffff: sweet loooot
trelipideliberitation: finally!
I frowned, made John come very close to me, and muttered darkly, “They better be worth it…”
“But, anyway!” I sent John an arm’s length away again. “First things first, we actually got two physical items! Look at this!”
I whipped out the ticket I’d gotten. It had black background and white text reading ‘200%!’ and when I Appraised it…
Ultra Combo expansion ticket
A system consumable that increases your total Ether, Intra, and Tempor reserves and regeneration by 200% when consumed.
It had taken a lot of willpower not to use it during my rest week, but I’d wanted to save it for right now.
JamieWasTaken3:wtf thats op
“Whoa! Right? That really is quite something, but hold your horses! The system actually told me this would be the reward. See, it said that completing the Limit Break boosted all my Ether and stuff by 200%. It just didn’t say that it would be in the form of a ticket. But, you know, it kinda makes you wonder. If there were other people around, could you trade these tickets? Could you hoard these overpowered tickets by buying them off people who just finished their Limit Break?”
KaiEbikoOfficial:that feels like cheating
“It does, doesn’t it?” I hummed thoughtfully.
“Well, not that I think a lot of people would give their ticket away for any price. I mean, seriously. The things you have to go through to get this…”
…
“Anywho! Let’s use it!”
Consume 1x Ultra Combo expansion ticket?
Y/N
“Yes plea– Oh, shit!”
It hit me immediately.
A massive amount of energy spread through my body – reminding me of using the refined life ooze for the first time – as my senses sharpened and my mind felt clearer than ever.
KaiEbikoOfficial:nana?!
All of that overwhelmed me enough to stumble and forced me to lean on a tree.
“Ooooh god… Okay… Okay. I’m okay, chat! No problem! Just didn’t expect it to be that intense!”
JamieWasTaken3:classic nana
JamieWasTaken3: pushing the big red button
JamieWasTaken3: no hesitation
I ignored the person whose goading at the beginning kickstarted my reckless streak and focused on my body.
A few moments later, I straightened up again as I clenched and unclenched my fists and focused on my muscles that felt different from a moment ago.
“...Chat. I feel incredible right now.”
I kept clenching and unclenching my fist as I stared at it in awe.
Then, going with a random impulse, I turned around, and threw a punch at a nearby tree.
It hurt.
“Ack!”
I flapped my hand to ease the pain and looked at the fist-shaped depression in the tree’s bark.
“Yeah, I guess I’m not that strong, but still superhuman levels of strength, eh?”
Made me just a tad more worried about slowly losing my humanity again, but I shook that thought off.
JamieWasTaken3: another nana classic
“Shut it, Jamie! It’s all your fault anyway!” I harumphed.
“That aside… I bet I could win in a fistfight with Echo now. Oh, I bet I could wreck the demon guy with all this Ether and Intra… Actually, this explains how he never seemed to run out of either in our fights…”
I also wouldn’t need to hold back as much with using Rend and my water gun anymore. And I could probably resist mental attacks much better now.
“So! That’s the basic stat increase. Pretty cool, but not exactly exciting, you know? It’s just numbers going up, more or less.”
Jeofffff: hey I like numbers going up
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the other item that had dropped next to me when I’d finished the Limit Break.
“The other thing I got was this…”
A white demon horn, suspiciously similar to the ones the demon guy had. Moreoever…
Demon horn
A horn from a demon.
This is a memory memento.
“A memory memento it says… So, what exactly is a memory memento? Well, dunno! But we do have some clues. The keen eyed among you might have noticed that we unlocked these so called ‘Memory Temples’ after the Limit Break, so these two are probably somehow related. The running theory is that this is how I’ll get that demon’s racial skill… and probably turn half demon.” I frowned. “Not sure how I feel about that last part… Maybe I won’t use it then...? I need to think about it.”
KaiEbikoOfficial:probably bad idea
KaiEbikoOfficial: you don’t wanna be half demon on earth
“Yeah… I bet that would turn a lot of heads, huh…?”
I paused.
“Also… I hadn’t mentioned it earlier, but I tried channeling some Ether and Intra into this, and while Ether doesn’t do anything, channeling Intra… sort of… Uh, how do I say this? Basically, the horn draws me in a specific direction when I fill it with my Intra. Like a compass, but directly in my mind, I guess?”
Jeofffff:arrow pointing to objective
I chuckled.
“Point is, I guess I know where to go next. Could be a trap, of course – stupid Fate Weaver – but it’s the best lead I have… Well, there’s also the incausal rifts I unlocked, but I have no clue how to even find one, so… Yeah. Even if I decide not to become half demon, I’ll still at least check out the place where this thing is pulling me.”
I put the horn back into my pocket.
“Anyway, that’s that. Next up, we have our new title!”
Muted Nightmare:
You faced unspeakable horrors in the darkness, you trudged through mind-eroding silence of the mist, and you conquered both.
Awarded for completing your first Limit Break.
The quieter you are, the more potent your Intra-based skills become.
The less visible you are, the more potent your Ether-based skills become.
If your presence is known, but not your location, your Tempor-based skills become more potent.
“It’s… Yeah. This title was directly inspired by my Limit Break and, uhh… The ‘mind-eroding’ part kiiinda explains some things, doesn’t it...?” I shook my head. “Anyway! Not important! Let’s look at the effects instead! It kinda makes me into an assassin-type, I guess? Don’t know how to feel about that… Still, it doesn’t say any exact numbers, so I have no idea how powerful it really is, but I figure that since this is a reward from the Limit Break, it ought to be strong, right? Well, if not, I guess I gotta wait a month to switch to something else since I’d already swapped to it…”
I had yet to test it in a fight, but it didn’t seem to do much with nobody else around. I guess technically you couldn’t say that I was quiet and unseen when there were no enemies to see or hear me…? Kinda lame, to be honest.
“Well, we’ll test that later. Now onto all the new sub-systems I unlocked!”
I opened up an informational window I’d found during my little break.
Object Crystallization
Convert a magical item into a skill crystal, which can be used to upgrade tier 3 skills and above. Maximum of three upgrades per skill are allowed.
This cannot be reverted in any way.
“Now this is awesome! I finally have an excuse to hoard even more stuff! Nobody can say I’m hoarding too much!”
JamieWasTaken3: ohno
JamieWasTaken3: its feeding ur adiction
Jeofffff: oshit
Jeofffff: you can do so much with that
“That’s right, I can fuse items into my skills! I wonder how it even works? What if I fuse my flask of ooze into Fire Breath or something? Would I breathe out ooze? Hah! Well, unfortunately, it only works on tier three skills and above, which I have none of… And even worse, I had only unlocked one tier three skill after the Limit Break!”
I stomped on the ground, crossed my arms, and jutted out my lower lip.
“Hmph…! Well, at least the one I did unlock looks pretty interesting. See here?”
Tier 3:
Ingenuity of the Humans (20SP)
Ingenuity of the Humans
Passively boosts all non-human skills. Boost gets stronger the more skill points you have spent on human skills.
“I guess this skill means that getting that racial skill will also give me access to other demon skills, huh? Otherwise it would kinda suck. Still, ouch,that SP cost! I’m probably gonna hold off on this before I get demon skills – if I get those. It’s not really worth it just for tier one phoenix skills… Anywho, other than this one, I have no tier three skills! What a ripoff!”
I threw up my hands and huffed.
A pause.
“But! That’s where the next thing comes in! Or, I guess, two things! Take a look at this!”
Skill Fusion
Fuse two skills of the same tier to produce a skill of a higher tier. The skill point cost and the resulting skill depend on what skills you are fusing.
You cannot create a skill of a tier higher than you currently have access to.
Skill Specialization
Raise a skill’s tier by specializing it in a specific direction. You can only pick one of the choices. The skill point cost depends on the specialization you pick.
You cannot create a skill of a tier higher than you currently have access to.
“That’s right! I can now freely upgrade my skills! Well… ‘freely’, meaning that I don’t need specific upgrades the system gives me. It still costs skill points though.”
I gave John a grin.
Jeofffff:rubs hands
Jeofffff:sooooo many options
“But wait! There’s more! Look at this message, chat!”
I quickly found the right freezeframe from through Stream History via a bookmark I’d left there and pointed at it.
You can now purchase duplicates of fully upgraded skills for half the price!
“Heck yeah! You know what this means, chat? It’s time for mad science! We can mix and match different skills! And then buy copies and mix them differently! So many options! So… few skill points…” I deflated with a groan.
I looked directly at the camera.
“I hate you, Fate Weaver. This system is such a tease.” I shook my head. “Well! We still got a lot from completing the Limit Break, though. A full fifty of them! Should be enough for some experimentation, at least!”
I sat down under a nearby tree with a good view of the city dungeon.
“Before experimenting though, I should get some upgrades I know will be good, eh? Let’s start with…”
Fuse [Armsmaster] and [Soul Strike] for 13 skill points?
Compatibility: High
Y/N
“Oof… Pretty expensive… And yes, chat. I thought about specializing both skills instead, but honestly? Even with two new skill slots, I have a feeling like we’re gonna run out of space again very quickly. And I use these two skills all the time anyway, so I want to have a skill slot permanently dedicated to them. Also, it says high compatibility, so it ought to be good, right? Yeah, let’s do it! Confirm!”
It took a few seconds as my clothes self stiffened, my gun self mentally groaned, and my axe self itched, but eventually, the feeling subsided and I was left with…
‘Supreme Soul Sculptor’ skill unlocked!
“There we go! Let’s see!”
Supreme Soul Sculptor
Up to three items become your soulbound masterpieces, that you can keep upgrading and adding to indefinitely. One embodies Ether and stores excess of it, a second one does so for Intra, and the last one does so for Tempor. You may strike directly at other living beings’ souls with any of your masterpieces or your own body.
Object Crystallization cannot be used on this skill. Instead, your masterpieces act as your crystallized objects.
Aspect: Gift of the Weeping Phoenix
Aspect: Dragon Blaster
Aspect: Demon Queen’s Abyssal Cleaver
I frowned.
“Okaaay… So far… It’s literally just a combination of the two skills? And I can’t even use the crystallization thing? What the heck? Did I get ripped off?”
I also quickly checked my innate skills and all the ones from my Soulbound items were gone.
Thinking I’d messed up, I tried creating water from my clothes and–
My eyes went wide as streams of water shot out and snaked around me, perfectly following my will.
“Oooh!”
If using the cloak’s water-creating feature before this compared to lifting a weight, it was like tossing a beach ball into the air now.
“Okay! I got it, chat! They are all more integrated with me…! Or something!”
With a flex of my will, my axe self appeared behind me, twirled in the air, crackled with electricity, lit on black fire, and then vanished again.
Even though it had always felt like a part of me from the moment I’d soulbound it, it had still been like using a tool whenever I’d brought it out. But now? Now, it truly and fully felt like moving my own body.
“Nice! This is better than I thought! Okay, thirteen skill points? Worth it! And it cleared up a skill slot, just in case our experiments get a bit too wild!”
I giggled, already imagining what else I could merge into my three ‘masterpieces’ to make them stronger.
Later though.
“Alright! Next!”
Rend:
Use a moderate amount of Intra to momentarily shock the target's mind.
“Okay, so for this one… I want to specialize it. Sure, I could probably fuse it with Analysis since they are both Intra-based skills, but no! I think it’s better if I specialize Rend to be better at defense. Because honestly? I’m getting tired of having my brain scrambled by everything and everyone… So! How does this work? Um…”
I thought really hard about specializing Rend.
It… both worked and didn’t work.
You need to fully upgrade a skill in order to specialize it.
I blinked.
“What? Oh… I still didn’t get Brain Fog. Eh, sure.”
Purchase the [Rend] skill upgrade [Brain Fog] for 4 skill points?
Y/N
‘Brain Fog’ skill upgrade unlocked!
“Okay! Let’s try again!”
Once again, I used my psychic powers to tell the system I wanted to upgrade Rend.
This time, a different message answered me.
Specializing [Rend]
Please choose your specialization.
“There we go! Now… Uhhh… Choose from what? Where are my options…? Or do I just… choose anything?”
The system didn’t answer.
I huffed.
“Okay, then I want a defensive specialization!”
Generating a specialization, please wait…
“...Huh. Okay, then?”
I sat back and waited for a bit.
It didn’t take long.
Available specializations for [Rend]:
Puppet Strings (18 SP)
Roll another specialization?
Costs: 10 Fate Weaver coin (Silver)
Y/N
I tilted my head.
“Huh… Wait, it uses the coins to reroll? Weird… Well, let’s look at what this does…”
Puppet Strings
Use Intra to momentarily shock or cloud the target's mind. You can direct the affected targets to attack someone or something else instead of you.
JamieWasTaken3:
holy shit u can puppet pplJeofffff: thats fucking good
FouxMoux: I dont like this one.........
“...That’s kinda insidious, isn’t it? Literally mind control… I mean… It technically makes it a defensive skill, but… Uh… It’s half offensive half defensive, I guess? Hmm… I don’t think that’s what I was looking for… And it’s really expensive.”
I eyed the reroll option, then shrugged and took out some Fate Weaver coins.
“Reroll, please!”
Ten silver coins vanished from my hand, turning into mist and quickly dispersing.
Specializing [Rend]
Please choose your specialization.
“Defensive!”
Once again, it took a minute but eventually, another specialization greeted me.
Available specializations for [Rend]:
Puppet Strings (18 SP)
Web of Lies (23SP)
Roll another specialization?
Costs: 10 Fate Weaver coin (Silver)
Y/N
“Oh, they accumulate? So I can keep rolling and then decide to get one of the older ones? Nice! Let’s see what this one is about...”
Web of Lies
Use Intra to momentarily shock or cloud the target's mind. You can also use Intra to create an aura around you that disrupts any Intra-based skills and senses.
“Oooh! Now that’s better, isn’t it? It even disrupts senses! Can it make me invisible? That sounds really good… especially with my new title! Yeah, I like this one! But should I pick it? It’s even more expensive than the previous one…”
JamieWasTaken3:ooooooo
JamieWasTaken3:get this one
JamieWasTaken3:it’s perfect
Jeofffff:naaaa keep rolling
KaiEbikoOfficial:I like the second one!
After mulling over it for a moment, I decided to do one more reroll, just to try something.
“Reroll!”
Specializing [Rend]
Please choose your specialization.
“Purely defensive!”
A moment later, I got my result.
Available specializations for [Rend]:
Puppet Strings (18 SP)
Web of Lies (23SP)
Indomitable Will (14SP)
Indomitable Will
Use Intra to momentarily shock or cloud the target's mind. Intra-based attacks used against you are only one fifth as effective.
I blinked.
“Huh. Well, I did ask for a purely defensive one. Still, is that… what, eighty percent damage reduction, basically? Not bad! And it’s even cheaper than the others! Hmm…”
Really good to be honest but also extremely basic.
Jeofffff:good but boring
FouxMoux:just take the web!
FouxMoux:dont throw away more money!
“Yeah, that’s what I think too. Should I keep rerolling…? No, you’re right guys. I can’t keep gambling away my life savings!”
I stood up, put my hands on my hips, and proudly announced, “Web of Lies it is!”
‘Web of Lies’ skill unlocked!
“Heck yeah! And chat! We’re not done yet!” I rubbed my hands together. “Because for this skill, I can use the crystallization thing! Time to make something awesome!”