Upgrades

I was resting in the back of the carriage as it trundled along under Luna's direction. Don't worry; I am not in the dog house, no pun intended. Luna had laughed as I explained the circumstances around my promise to Arlington. She pointed out that the circumstance sounded just like something I would do. I am glad she was amused and not angered. I was a blessed man indeed.

Lying on my back, I pulled open in front of me the HUD. I brought up the character panel. Quite a few changes had occurred.

Name: John

Gender: Male

Race: Human (Greater)

Age: 20

Class: Adventurer, Magebreaker

Level: 13

EXP: 9,820/13,000

AP: 212

Stats

HP: 520/520

MP: 440/440

Strength: 22

Agility: 20

Stamina: 26

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 20 (+5)

Charisma: 20 (+4)

Skills

Passive

Lead Belly (Natural, Greater): Anything ingested by the skill holder with poisonous or toxic effects will have those effects rendered neutral and can be digested for their positive benefits.

Divine Presence (Natural, Mid): During interactions with mortals, the skill holder has +4 to their Charisma towards either Persuasion or Intimidation attempts. The holder earns Ability Points and Experience when performing deeds that align with their morality. The holder and party members get 500% more Ability Points from levelling up, gain experience at an increased rate and can spend Ability Points to increase Stat Points directly.

The Beheld Eyes (Natural, Greater): The skill holder has integrated the Primer with their souls, giving them the Primer's ability to investigate and report the character sheet for any creature in visual range. The skill holder can also adjust what is shown to other investigatory skills of equal or lower prowess. The eyes cannot be damaged.

Magical Comprehension (Natural, Mid): The skill holder has become proficient at the comprehension and manipulation of the arcane. The holder can cast all but the toughest of verbally powered incantation. The holder can silently cast Level 1 and 2 spells and can shorten Level 3 spells.

Gauntlet Mastery (Level 5): The skill holder is a master in handling, using, and maintaining Gauntlets as a weapon.

Magic Vision (Level 5): The skill holder can always see mana in the air, helping detect incoming attacks, hidden traps and wards, illusions, the presence of mana wielders nearby, etc. This ability is part of the holder's normal vision, and they can adjust who finely they are using their natural vision or their magic vision. Important events will be brought to the holder's attention automatically.

Combat Engineering (Level 5): The skill holder is a master of the battlefield. The holder can get information on all aspects of the battlefield within 100m. The holder and allies of the holder within 100m can communicate via telepathy.

Active

Dispell (Level 5): The skill holder injects raw mana from their body into an item in up to a 15m range, disrupting up to all the wards in range, or any spells that are being channelled or cast.

Ground Smash (Level 5): The skill holder slams their weapon(s) into the ground, causing a wave of arcane magical damage, followed by the earth displaced by the Smash to hit into those in a 5M radius around the point of impact. Can cause targets to be launched upwards if the force is greater than their weight combined with their resistances.

Elemental Fist (Level 5): The skill holder can channel basic elemental attacks through their gauntlets. Discharging at contact range or being cast a small distance at reduced strength. Current elements acquired: Water, Electricity, Fire, Air, Earth, Light, Darkness.

Hardened Skin (Aura) (Level 5): The skill holder can alter their skin's hardness and durability so that it can withstand most physical and magical strikes. The skin also allows impact forces to be dispersed across the total surface area instead of just the point of impact. While active, the skill holder's skin has the consistency and texture of Titanium while still being flexible.

Detection Ward (Level 5): The skill holder can place up to 100 small undetectable wards that alert the user, even through sleep, if a being with hostile intent or sentient thought passes within up to 100 meters. The wards are invisible to any except the caster and can survive indefinitely and be up to 5000km from the caster.

Alchemy (Level 5): The skill holder is an unparalleled master of the alchemical arts. They can synthesize any potion after a single glance at a formula. The holder can envision and create new recipes with excellent proficiency. This skill also gives Botany (Level 5) to the holder.

Botany (Level 5): The skill holder is an unparalleled master of botanical science. They can plant, grow, harvest, cross-breed and diagnose all plant-like organisms. They can also communicate with sentient plant creatures telepathically when in vision range.

I now had access to a broader range of abilities, and I had plenty of AP stocked up to invest in new skills. One of the more exciting things I had discovered about my System was getting lots of new entries in the skill catalogue by reading about crafting abilities, martial techniques, inherent magical abilities and other skills.

I tried out building things such as the leather case that I gave Arl the potions in. The reason behind this seemingly newfound hobby was that I was experimenting to see if, through self-taught study, I would be able to pick up a new Level 1 ability as I had with Alchemy. I had produced some decent products using my skills from my previous life, yet I had not received the skill in my list. This also went for Luna's Cooking abilities.

While pondering this, I brought up Luna's status from my Party Member tab of my HUD.

Name: Luna

Gender: Female

Race: Canus

Age: 18

Class: Spellslinger

Level: 8

EXP: 3,800/8,000

AP: 78

Stats

HP: 240/240

MP: 2000/200

Strength: 14

Agility: 18

Stamina: 14

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 14

Charisma: 13

Skills

Passive

Slave Marked (Owner: John): The slave is branded with a magically imbued tattoo, forcing them to be utterly loyal to their current owner, John.

Spell Rod Mastery (Level 5): The skill holder is a master in handling, using, and maintaining Spell Rods. The skill Holder can wield in either or both hands.

Geospatial Positioning Sense (Natural, Greater): The skill holder has an inherent understanding of their position relative to gravity at all times. This inherent sense of location and orientation allows the holder to utilize traversal skills that would potentially discombobulate an average humanoid's inner ear.

Active

Scatter Volley (Level 4): The skill holder sweeps their arm(s) in a 45-90 degree lateral rotation firing off shots that can hit up to 32 targets.

Blind Faith (Level 4): The skill holder can rely on their non-vision senses to track enemies in their immediate vicinity with as great of accuracy as their vision.

Overcharge Shot (Level 3): The skill holder can focus a large volume of mana into their spell rod, allowing them to fire a super-concentrated Arcane or Elemental blast.

Dimensional Step (Level 3): The skill holder can use their innate understanding of spatial magic to instantaneously tear small wormholes into existence and travel short distances of up to 10m.

I wanted to investigate this lack of newfound abilities from self-study. I pulled up my skill catalogue and used the search function to find the Fabrication Skill. To my surprise, the skill had a 50% off sticker on the label, and the cost for level 1 showed as 0AP. I added the skill and levelled it up to the maximum of level 5.

I now had the entry for Fabrication under my skill list.

Fabrication (Level 5): The skill holder is a uniquely gifted artisan, able to naturally mild most materials into the design they are holding in their mind's eye. The skill holder can combine this skill with other fabrication skills to manufacture a wide range of specialized products.

Welp, that is going to be incredibly handy to have going forward! Grabbing a few materials out of my storage, I activated my new ability. Within a minute, I had finished crafting a set of throwing darts with different poultices contained inside that would inject into whatever was struck by the dart.

I then flipped over to Luna's catalogue, where an even greater surprise met me. Her Cooking ability only cost 3 AP to reach level 5. Thinking about it, this was hardly surprising, considering her current level of culinary skill.

Breaking out of the trance I had found myself in, I no longer felt the cart in motion. I gazed through the slot to the driver's seat to find the pitch-black sky. I could hear a crackle of a fire and spotted Luna moving around on my minimap. I opened the side door of the carriage and spotted Luna finishing up our dinner. She walked over to the carriage where I was now sitting in the doorway. Handing me my plates of roast duck and salad, she kissed my forehead gently. "I have some tasty dessert after, too."

"This has been a great journey so far, and I am so lucky to have you with me," I responded. Luna blushed at my praise before skipping back over to grab her own plate of food.