New Skill

I was surprised by the sudden movement, and I lost my balance. At the same time, a warm feeling spread within my body.

My one eye that the phoenix entered was blinded, and I couldn't see anything except for a white color.

Soon, the other eye also started to get blinded by the white color.

It was weird; it didn't hurt at all. Instead, it was very gentle, and I felt that it filled me with a sense of calmness.

"Don't worry, it's part of the process". Alderon said it with a gentle tone.

And as the brightness faded away, I could finally see again.

But the world that used to be ordinary, drab, and predictable was gone.

Now it was ablaze with colors I couldn't understand. It was like someone put a yellow filter in my eyes.

And Alderon, who used to look normal,

I was now surrounded by a fiery red aura that was pulsating as if it were alive.

I blinked hard, rubbing my eyes with my hand.

The colors didn't fade; if anything, it felt like the aura around Alderoon got more intense.

Is this his life force?

But before I could look around,

"What you see and feel right now is the technique that made me one of the strongest". Alderon said it with a sense of pride as he interrupted my thoughts.

"You probably see a bright color around me, which is completely normal.

The bright color signifies mana; the more mana, the brighter the color.".

So the fiery red color I see is the amount of mana he has?

So I can see the mana of other people now, but was that really it? Is this all the technique he gave me?

"Close your eyes and try to focus on the color." He said.

And as I closed my eyes, I noticed that the color didn't fade away. I could see the fiery red color float around in front of me even though I had my eyes closed.

"This is what I meant by seeing without seeing". He explained as he floated behind me.

But somehow, even though he was behind me, I could still see the red aura, even though my eyes were looking at the other direction.

It was like I could see everything from all angles, as if I had a 360-degree view of everything. Except the only thing I could see was the red color around all the darkness.

"It might not look that amazing, but this is only the beginning". He said.

The red floating color soon stopped in front of me, and as I opened my eyes, I saw him right in front of me.

"Even when you close your eyes, you know exactly where I am". He said as he made a small smile.

"It doesn't matter if they try to hide their presence or mana; you will still be able to see them.

Other people have to spread their mana outside the body to scan them, but with this technique, that is not necessary". He said this as he pointed at his eyes.

"This is only possible because of the phoenix that resides within your eyes".

It truly was an amazing technique. Now I could see everything in a 360-degree view, but there was something that was bugging me a little.

When I closed my eyes, it was true that I could see the color. But that was the only thing that was visible.

Their sword or physical body was not visible at all, which meant that I couldn't fight in the dark or when I closed my eyes.

Which made the advantage of this way less, compared to if their whole physical body was visible.

"But it's not that strong if I can't see what they are doing. Even if I close my eyes, I still won't be able to see their sword". I said I was a little disappointed.

He tilted his head.

"Didn't you hear what I said? I told you this was only the beginning; obviously, the stronger you get, the more benefits this technique will give you".

That's right, it's a technique that keeps evolving as I get stronger. At some point, their whole body might be visible.

But how do I train this technique to make it stronger?

"How do I evolve the technique then?" I asked, confused.

"Just like how you became a rank 2 knight, it's exactly the same process. The higher your rank, the stronger you will get".

He still thinks that I am a rank-two knight in this world. But there wasn't anything like that on my status window; instead, it only showcased the level.

"How do you become a higher-ranking knight?"

He looked confused by my sudden question.

"Like how you became a rank 2 knight. You spread your mana around your body, slowly strengthening yourself. Obviously, this depends on talent, as you can't strengthen yourself indefinitely". He explained while gesturing with his hands.

I see, so in his world, they become stronger differently. They strengthen themselves with mana until they probably break through and get a higher rank.

Which increases their strength multiple times. It was like those cultivation novels.

But I didn't have to do that at all. The only way for me to get stronger was by killing monsters and leveling up.

By leveling up, it increased my stats, and that's why I had the strength of a rank 2 knight in his world.

He probably assumed that I used the techniques of his world to get stronger. And it seemed like there was a bottleneck depending on one's talent.

But with the system I have, there was no bottleneck. I could level up as many times as I wanted to, as long as there were enough monsters.

But I wasn't the only one who had the level-up mechanic. All the other players that spawned at the field could also level up, which meant that they also didn't have any bottlenecks.

"How long does it take to become a rank 2 knight?".

Alderon scratched his head as he tried to think.

"Around a year for normal people, I guess. Well, for me, it only took a month". He said it after thinking for a while.

It took me around 6 months to become a rank 2 knight, which was a little faster than the average knight in his world.

This was only accounting for the fact that I technically experienced that amount of time.

But when we took regression into account, it was completely different. The 6–7 months that I experienced didn't really pass.

It was still technically the first day for me. I was still on the day that I had been summoned into the tower.

Technically, the time it took me to become as strong as a rank 2 knight was one day.

One day! This guy, who was one of the strongest people in the world, took around a month to get as strong as a rank 2 knight.

But for me, since it was still the first day and the previous day was me being an ordinary person,

The time it took to become a rank 2 knight was one day.

As I thought of this fact, I took a deep breath.

This was terrifying, because who made this broken system?

You would definitely have to be very strong to make a system like this.

As I looked at Alderon, I had one thought:

'The one that made that system was definitely stronger than him'.

This didn't mean that Alderon was weak; no, it was just the one that made the system too strong.

And the person in front of me was not the real Alderon. The real Alderon was probably out there somewhere.

Who knew how strong the real Alderon was? The technique he gave was definitely strong, since it made him one of the strongest people in his world.

As I thought of the technique, it made me question something.

'Does it count as a skill?'.

I don't know if it counted as a skill since he called it a technique.

And as I looked at the status window,

[Name::Taeho Kim] [Level: 14]

[Age: 21]

[Stats]

Endurance: 64.4 (46)

Agility: 64.4 (46)

Strength: 64.4 (46)

Magic: 0 +

Mana: 25 +

[Stat points: 13]

[Skills] 

Perfect Clear [X]

- Swordsmanship[C] 

Trap Detection [F]

- Bowmanship[F]

- Daggermanship[F]

- Wolf Dash [C]

- Regeneration[C]

- Mental Resistance [B]

- Pain resistance [D]

- Universe Eyes [SSS] (sealed)

At the bottom of my status window was a new skill called 'Universe Eyes'. But there was something else that shocked me.

Its rank was completely different compared to all the others. The rank of this skill was 'SSS'.