CH 012: Chosen Path
He was captivated, mesmerized, freaking enchanted by that beautiful and jiggly ass. But he calmed himself down. He didn't want Natasha to think of him as a weirdo. At least like this, he could look without a problem. After taking off everything, she changed into something more comfortable before sitting on the bed.
"Alright, we should take a look at your Status Screen and decide what your Sacred Skill should be."
"(Alright. Status Screen open.)" After calming down, he nodded and opened his Status Screen. In the holographic screen, in his Skills section, right under his Racial Skills and above the hidden Original Skills, there was something new.
[1st Sacred Skill: {Please Select a Type of Skill} (SS: Lv 10)]
"There. When that text shows up, it means you can pick a new Sacred Skill. Try to focus on it."
[1st Sacred Skill: Offensive, Defensive, Ability, Elemental, Stat Amplification, Auxiliary]
"The names make it pretty obvious, so I won't explain much. Just know that there are a lot of Skills in each category, and you can't choose a specific one. It's random. Also, let me explain Ability. Basically, it gives you a Skill that is related but not specific to your Job, is convenient and useful instead of having a high damage most of the time.
For example, one of my Sacred Skills is an Ability. It allows me to move inside of the shadows and darkness, like teleportation. There are also Ability Skills that make someone intangible or just outright teleportation. Some turn out somewhat offensive as well. Like causing an earthquake or causing spikes to come out of the ground. You get it?"
"(More or less.)"
"Alright. Also, Elemental Skills either give you an element if you don't have one, or give you a Skill that either strengthens your element or gives a Skill to make use of your element. For example, for you, it could give a Skill that lets you create a fire tornado or something. So which one do you want to choose?"
"(Hmm... what do you think?)"
"I think you can choose any path. Dragons are very strong beings with a lot of brute force, an extremely hard hide and scales, dangerous control over strong elements, and literally the ones with the highest Stats in the world. But in my opinion, I think you should pick an aggressive path. But that's just my opinion, since I myself like the aggressive path. You should honestly pick one yourself, since whichever you choose, will still give a powerful Skill because of your Class. Also, don't rush. This is important, so take your time to make up your mind."
"(Hmm...)" He hummed thoughtfully. This was hard to decide. Natasha was right, no matter which path he decided to go, he'd definitely be strong in it. But it was hard to decide which path he wanted to take.
Offensive: damage dealer
Defensive: tank
Ability: depends
Elemental: AOE-type damage dealer
Stat Amplification: self strengthener
Auxiliary: party helper
Now, he needed to decide which one he would take.
"By the way, it is possible to choose Skills of multiple categories as you Level up. Like having an Offensive 1st Scared Skill and Defensive 2nd Sacred Skill. But I wouldn't recommend doing that. Going a pure path and mastering it is better than being a jack of all trades, master of none. But in the end, it's up to you to decide."
"(No, specializing in one path is better.)"
"Alright then. You think about it and tell me when you decide. I'll give you my thoughts then. For now, I'll lay down and relax a bit. You take your time."
"(Alright.)"
To be honest, he didn't like being the tank. Not only did he always like to deal damage instead, but he also didn't like pain. So why would he take the role of someone who needed to take damage? Defensive was a no.
Ability was good, but wasn't appealing to him. It basically gave a random Skill that was either life saving or something else. As good as it was, it didn't appeal to him. Ability was a no.
Auxiliary didn't suit him. Just like Defensive, he liked to deal damage instead. Being the delicate one who needed protection didn't suit him. Auxiliary was a no.
What was left was Offensive, Elemental and Stat Amplification. These were the only ones that suited him.
Offensive was in the name. Damage dealers had to pick this, he figured. But he wasn't impatient. Offensive Skills most of the time were most useful in 1v1. So he, who needed to kill and hunt in large numbers, didn't find it suitable.
Elemental and Stat Amplification sounded the best for him. Specifically Stat Amplification. Elemental was nice, and it sounded the best since he could hunt a large number because of it being the AOE-type damage dealer. But Stat Amplification had an otherworldly use for him. Why?
His absorbed Stats.
The Stats he could absorb, combined with Stat Amplification, was just cheating. Elemental was nice, but this was just killing everything with pure force and strength. After all, as they always say, tricks are useless against absolute strength.
Natasha had said that the higher the Rank/Class, the stronger the Sacred Skill and its effects. So for him, an SS-Class Dragon, with Stat Amplification, even if you just considered a 100% increase, his current Personal Stats could go from 960 to 1,920. That wasn't a small number. But what mattered was his absorbed Stats. How high were his absorbed Stats?
More than 16,000.
Just a 100% increase would make that 32,000. And that was a number he gained from a single day in this world. One that wasn't even spent with the intent to grind. Imagine the number he could achieve after grinding for some time.
So, yeah, he definitely wanted Stat Amplification more. But even so, he still wasn't impatient. There was this feeling, this intuition that made him think there was something more. And Slathilia always trusted his gut feeling. Finally, he decided to take a look at his Status Screen. Better check everything before deciding. But just as he reached the section of absorbed Stats, he saw some changes.
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(Abyss Incarnate Spirituality Stats: Monsters)
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G-Class Lv: 88
Stats: 264
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F-Class Lv: 518
Stats: 3,108
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E-Class Lv: 648
Stats: 12,960
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(Abyss Incarnate Spirituality Original & Sacred Skills)
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Unlimited Growth (Overrank)
Devouring (Overrank)
Ingestion (Overrank)
Consumption (Overrank)
Mana Core Absorption (Overrank)
Sacred Skill Absorption (Overrank)
Sacred Skill Converter (Overrank)
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G: Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance x0
F: Abyss Incarnate's Irritation x12
E: Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure x15
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Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance (G: Lv 10)
Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance (G: Lv 20)
Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance (G: Lv 40)
Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance (G: Lv 60)
Abyss Incarnate's Annoyance (G: Lv 80)
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Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 10)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 20)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 40)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 60)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 80)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 100)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 200)
Abyss Incarnate's Irritation (F: Lv 400)
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Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 10)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 20)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 40)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 60)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 80)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 100)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 200)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 400)
Abyss Incarnate's Displeasure (E: Lv 600)
============
'Whoa whoa whoa... what the fuck happened here...?' He asked, confused by the changes in his Status Screen. 'Abyss Incarnate? Well... I don't know why it changed but... whatever, I guess. It sounds cool, so I'll roll with it. Hmm... did the Status Screen identify these as something completely different from my Dragon Physiology? All the Skills related to devouring and such got transferred to this new section. And... what the fuck are these new Skills? No freaking way, right...? These can't all be... Sacred Skills?!'
[Devourer's Annoyance (G): AOE-type Skill where the Stats and Skills of all allies/enemies in a 100m radius is increased/decreased by 10%/5%.
Devourer's Irritation (F): AOE-type Skill where the Stats and Skills of all allies/enemies in a 1km radius is increased/decreased by 50%/10%.
Devourer's Displeasure (E): AOE-type Skill where the Stats and Skills of all allies/enemies in a 10km radius is increased/decreased by 100%/15%.]
Looking at his Status Screen, he was completely speechless. Shocked beyond belief. He knew entirely how broken his ability to take other people's Stats and even get four times their amount was. But he didn't expect his "Abyss Incarnate" Skills to be this broken.
He had thought the absorbed Levels were just for show. Apparently it could give him Sacred Skills each Sacred Level. He already had 9 E-Class Sacred Skills, 8 F-Class Sacred Skills and 5 G-Class Sacred Skills. And not just that, even though they were all the same, all of them were AOE-type Stat Amplification Sacred Skills that could also weaken enemies. That was beyond broken. Cheating was underestimating it.
'Wait, hold the hell up! What are these extra ones above the Sacred Skills?!' His eyes went wide, before landing on two extra Skills he hadn't seen before.
[Sacred Skill Absorption (Overrank): allows Slathilia to absorb the Sacred Rings and Sacred Skills of those he has killed.
Sacred Skill Converter (Overrank): changes the absorbed Sacred Skills to one of Abyss Incarnate's Sacred Skills depending on their Rank/Class.]
'S-so these ones are what I absorbed from whatever I killed today? I-isn't this just too... messed up?' He was shocked, shook, shooketh, absolutely bamboozled. But he wasn't upset. In fact, he was so happy he could jump up and down and just dance around. But his shock prevented that from happening.
This was all too messed up. His Sacred Skills were just a big, fat "fuck you" to whoever stood against him. Forget about strengthening him, what the hell was with that weakening of enemies? It would be fine if there was one of those Sacred Skills. But Slathilia had not one, not two, but 49 of those Sacred Skills in total.
Forgetting about rendering the enemies completely useless and powerful, he could make it so they owed some to zero. What was going to happen when he activated all of them and their Stats dropped below 0? That was something he was honestly curious about. But it wasn't like that was the only broken thing about those Sacred Skills though. That strengthening function was hella messed up too.
10%/5% x (5) = 50%/25%
50%/10% x (12+8) = 1,000%/200%
100%/15% x (15+9) = 2,400%/360%
Apologies, but what the fuck?
Even though Slathilia thought of it as too much, he was still happy. He could literally multiply his Stats by 11 times from the F-Class Sacred Skills and 25 times from the E-Class Sacred Skills. 31 times in total.
960 x 31 = 29,760
16,000 x 31 = 496,000
Anybody who knew about this would lose it. Knowing that, Slathilia made up his mind once again to keep this a secret at all costs. Until he was truly strong enough, he couldn't risk anybody finding out about his Abyss Incarnate Skills.
But nonetheless, he was happy and excited. This all just meant he could get even stronger in the future. A lot stronger. Also, since his Abyss Incarnate Spirituality Sacred Skills were Stat Amplification Sacred Skills, that meant he could choose Elemental Sacred Skills for his Dragon Physiology Sacred Skills.
Sure, picking Stat Amplification Sacred Skills would be very good as well, since his Class would give a lot stronger Sacred Skill. But having tricks along with absolute strength was also really good too. The Sacred Skills of Abyss Incarnate were infinite, so better make good use of those 10 Sacred Skills for Dragon Physiology. Also, the Skills and Sacred Skills could be amplified as well, so the Sacred Skill of the highest rank getting amplified would be very, very terrifying.
"(Alright, I've decided.)"
"Oh? You did? So what path are you going to take?"
"(Elemental Sacred Skill.)"