10 Chapter 10 - Status Increase and Skills
Willow's eyes closed, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep, her body finally succumbing to the exhaustion of the day and the changes that were happening to her.
The hours passed quickly, with Willow peacefully unaware of the changes her body was experiencing throughout the night and the servants working tirelessly to prepare the estate for tomorrow.
The next morning, rays of sunlight filtered through her long white curtains, gently brushing against her eyes and face, waking her from her slumber much earlier than she would usually wake up.
Sitting up on the bed, she stretched her arms and legs, multiple bones cracking softly as she did. Her body felt refreshed, better than it had felt in years, and she was filled with energy to do things.
She could sense subtle changes, a newfound strength lingering inside her that came from selecting Natalia. Her body had also undergone minor changes—her leg muscles were more defined and trained, and her limbs felt more sturdy.
Her mind also felt much more sharp— her senses able to pick up on small details throughout the room, such as the sound of her heartbeat in her own chest.
Standing up, she got out of bed in order to fully appreciate the changes that had happened— thankfully, nothing outstanding had changed; otherwise, it would have been difficult to explain to her family.
Extending out her hand, she felt the energy within her course for a moment but settled instantly— she knew what it was and understood what she had to do.
With a thought she closed her eyes and envisioned the weapon that Natalia wore on her hand— a long, three-bladed, metallic claw that allowed her to cut apart her enemies with ease.
As she kept the image in mind, the energy within her body flowed and took shape around her hand, forming the weapon she had remembered from the game.
It was golden in color and had adjusted itself to fit her current body— and while it was still long it wasn't something that would be uncomfertable for her to use.
In fact, it felt natural to her, as if she had used it for years and been trained in it— this was naturally the instinct that came with the hero.
With another thought, the claw vanished into nothingness, allowing her to easily summon and desummon it as she pleased. The energy she used to summon it was also comparatively nothing— it would quickly refill.
Satisfied, she decided to check her new stats, and with a command, she summoned the system.
'Status.'
Instantly, the information filled her mind, and her updated stats were displayed before her.
[Name: Willow Bolbok
Age: 13
Race: Human (70%) / Vellox (30%)
Titles: Daughter of House Bolbok
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Energy: 30
Strength: 25
Durability: 10
Agility: 40
Mental: 12
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Heroes:
- Natalia
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Items: N/A
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Emblems: N/A]
Upon seeing her new stats, Willow's eyes instantly widened with shock— almost all her stats had drastically changed from how they were initially.
Her agility had increased to 40, which was more than 4 times that of a normal adult male— that in itself was understandable since agility was an Assassin's main attribute, but her other attributes had changed as well.
That was unexpected— at least to the extent they had increased.
Her strength now exceeded that of an average adult human by at least two times, if not more, since stats had odd scaling. But her defense had also increased to that of a normal adult human—even though she was a child.
Energy was also another stat that had increased, but this was most likely because almost all the skills in MLB relied on some form of energy, be it mana or fighting energy—as such, energy would increase with every hero gain.
Satisfied with her gain, she decided to check on the hero and see what it had granted her.
With a prompt, the system information for Natalia appeared— showing her the abilities she had gained from her.
Natalia had three skills and one passive, and her basic attack was just slashing with her claws— as such, the basic wasn't really important.
Her passive however was very vital for Willow's plans going forward— Assassin's Instinct.
Assassin's Instinct did multiple things, but the system explained it as follows:
[Assassin's Instinct
The User deals 15% additional damage when attacking from behind.
While in darkness, the User will conceal themselves and enter the Stealthed State if they have not taken or dealt any damage for 2 seconds. Dealing damage, being detected, or taking damage will cancel this State.
Stealthed State increases Movement Speed by 15% and enables the next Basic Attack to teleport the User behind a target, dealing a bonus of 120% for that single attack. Slowing the enemy for .5 seconds upon hitting them with this attack.]
'That's a lot better than I expected; in fact, it's great.'
Willow expected the system to edit the hero's capabilities to suit the new world— after all, this wasn't a game with bushes or turrets, and the system would understand that.
She didn't expect it to still be so good after being edited, but it aligned with her plans.
Using Stealthed State she could easily escape for her estate without being detected, after all it had to be known that while in this State she would be completely invisible to all the common senses of a person.
By being detected, the system wasn't referring to being seen— rather, it was talking about being detected through special means such as magic or otherwise.
Willow couldn't help but want to try the ability out— but her room was far too bright currently. Because it was day and her curtens were thin enough to allow light through, she didn't have any darkness in the room that would work.
As such, she would need to leave it for later.
Moving on to the three skills she had— they were a lot less complex.
[Claw Dash
The User dashes forward in a straight line, dealing an additional 40% Physical damage to enemies along the way.
If this skill hits a target, the User can use this ability again within the next 5 seconds one more time.
Cooldown: 10 Seconds.
Energy Cost: 5]
'I see. So, active skills have cooldowns and costs, just like in the game. I wonder how much the energy regeneration speed is.'
The cooldown and cost made sense— in the game, skills would cost a lot more energy, but the system scaled it to suit her. The good side was that improving herself further could lessen the cooldown and cost.
Moving on from that skill, she glanced at the second one.
[Smoke Bomb
The User casts a smoke bomb on the spot that lasts for 20 seconds. Enemies in the smoke area will be slowed by 40% meanwhile the User will increase her Attack Speed by 25%.
While in the smoke, the User is immune to attacks deemed as Basic Attacks.
Cooldown: 20 Seconds.
Energy Cost: 10]
'Very useful; I wonder what it deems as basic attacks, though.'
Willow couldn't help but think about what the system was referring to as basic attacks. While in the game, any attack that wasn't a skill was considered a basic attack, but that obviously wouldn't work in reality.
She would have to test it out later before a situation arose where it would be significant— but aside from that, it was definitely a great skill.
Lastly, she moved on to the final skill, usually referred to as the Ult in-game.
[The Hunt
The User can instantly trigger Assassin Instinct and enter the Stealthed State without the need for darkness.
This Skill can be used twice within a span of 5 seconds, with a cooldown of 2 seconds between each use.
Cooldown: 5 Minutes.
Energy Cost: 20]
'The cooldown is much longer than in-game, but I guess that's fine.'
Natalia's ultimate honestly wasn't that strong— Willow never expected it to be great from the memories she had of it. The reason it was the way it was actually boiled down to a simple explaination.
Playstyle.
The way Natalia worked in the game was by using burst damage from being in her Stealthed State to deal mass damage and kill soft enemies. She would work the same way in reality as well.
Think of it like this.
She would hide in the darkness and enter the Stealthed State, then attack an enemy. She would use her first skill to deal with rapid damage, then use her ultimate to strike twice in a row with the boost brought from Stealthed State.
That was 3 Boosted Basic Attacks along with one Skill— that was her playstyle, and it worked.
Understanding this, Willow nodded her head and closed the system in her mind— time had flowed with her looking at the system, and while it was a lot, she had to prepare herself for the day.
