Chapter 7: The unbelievable details of my skill

————————————————————

[Skills: 1. Firestorm; 2. Terrain Detection; 3. Minor Heal; 4. Iron Skin]

[Note to remember: The use of most active skills consumes an amount of mana proportional to the intensity of their usage.]

————————————————————

For a split second, I couldn't believe the words hovering in front of my eyes were true.

But I know for a fact that they were.

The opportunity to select any one of these four skills was now available to me.

They were all exceptional abilities, with one for each of the following: attack, defense, scout, and heal.

It was now up to me to decide what to take and what not, which proved to be a difficult decision because I wanted all four of them as they would all be extremely useful to me in this unknown dungeon.

And even if not all, I at least wanted two of them: healing and terrain detection.

Nonetheless, I knew I could only pick one, but I had a feeling that I couldn't go with healing, which was absurd given my condition, which couldn't even guarantee my second breath at the moment.

However, with all the experiences I had with my intuition, especially in these types of scenarios, I decided to wait and choose one before leaving this cave.

At least I now know that I didn't need the crystal ball or that creepy goddess' statue to check my status.

Speaking of status, the status panel shown by the system was an exact replica of the one I saw at the church, which now showed that I had only 20% health and 60% mana left.

Presumably, controlling a single horse took around 40% of my mana.

And if there was a reward for activating a system, then there must be a reward for other things too.

"System, are there rewards for other things?"

[Error: The system is unable to answer this question.]

Unsurprisingly, the system didn't give any useful information.

Therefore, I decided to ask about something else, which I was most worried about.

"System, can you show me information about other heroes? Any information, such as how many of them are alive, what their names are, and so on."

[Error: The system is unable to answer this question.]

As expected, the system cannot answer personal questions and was most likely only designed to carry out specific tasks and notify users about specific events.

Thankfully, with this, no one would know that I was still alive.

But still, I don't understand why anyone else didn't get this reward from the "awakening system."

Wouldn't the church be aware of this?

Or it could be that the other students already knew about the system after reading the journals and diaries left by the previous heroes, making them ineligible for this particular reward.

Anyway, there was no point in thinking about that for now.

Growl!

My stomach, which had been severely constricted, suddenly groaned to let me know it was hungry.

"Ah, I want to eat something."

Before I came here, Theresa showed up right before my mealtime at the prison, so I couldn't even get that little bit of spoiled rice to eat.

"But what can I eat right now?"

There wasn't much to even consider because the answer was a straightforward "nothing."

But hunger wasn't something that I was most concerned about at this point.

"I have to leave this place first."

So, without further ado, I turned to face the horse, who was still unconscious and was just slightly hurt where he had struck the wall on his head, but otherwise he was in somewhat good condition.

Ever since I first gained control of the horse, I had this distinct impression that I was connected to it in some way.

I didn't know how to find the right words, but to put it more simply, it felt as though there were invisible threads connecting us, defying the laws of physics with their very existence.

These threads seemed to be connecting us in a dimension apart from our own, one in which the concepts of space and time were meaningless.

It felt very unnatural, like I had a lot of extra limbs that didn't exist in this reality.

Focusing my mind once again on the horse, I tried to pull a few of these threads with my imagination and urged the horse to wake up, just like pulling a stretchable string whose other end was tied to someone.

And as soon as I pulled those fictitious threads,

Brrffrr!

The horse's body began to tremble, and while slowly opening his eyes, he exhaled deeply through his nose.

As the horse regained consciousness, I felt even more threads between us that were not there before, as if we had developed a deeper bond that wasn't there when it was unconscious.

However, unexpectedly

"Wait, what's this? Ah, my eyes."

Instinctively, I tried to grab hold of my head as my vision became a mess and my head felt dizzy, but the sudden, intense pain in my hands, eyes, and head made me clench my teeth instead.

Consequently, I quickly shut my eyes.

"What!"

However, I was shocked to find that even when I closed my eyes, I was still able to see the outside world.

A few seconds later, after calming myself down, I realized that it was the horse's vision, not mine, that was allowing me to see the outside world.

Then, as if to put my theory to the test, I slowly opened my eyes again, and this time, instead of seeing just one scene, there were two overlapping images: my current view and the one seen through the horse's eyes.

Although my vision was a mess and my head felt dizzy, it was still a pleasant surprise to find such a useful feature, as it would greatly aid me in my survival.

'Does that mean I could also use the horse's other senses?'

My only thought was to confirm the possibility of the question that had just occurred to me.

And soon I decided to use the horses' sense of smell.

Despite the fact that there were numerous threads, if I only concentrated on what I wanted, I could instantly recognize which thread referred to what.

The threads to employ for that purpose became evident when I considered what I wanted the horse to accomplish in my head.

Otherwise, they remained ambiguous as usual.

Therefore, as soon as I focused on obtaining the sense of smell, my mind automatically began pulling that thread.

And I soon succeeded in pulling the thread as a range of distinct odors hit my nose, making my stomach churn with so many smells, some of which were really unsettling.

But before I could start throwing up on an empty stomach, I quickly broke the connection.

Phew!

Exhaling a breath of relief, a question came into my head: "Why?"

"Why can I use my controlled targets' senses?"

"Wait a minute."

Suddenly, it clicked in my mind.

When I opened my status earlier, there was an option to view any function in detail.

So, I immediately concentrated and ordered the system in my mind.

"[Domination] skill information in details"

And it didn't take the system long either, as a window appeared in my field of vision after only a second of waiting.

————————————————————

[Domination]

This skill allows the user to control any monster, animal, or intelligent being other than a human who has awakened their mana.

Targets who are controlled will lose ownership of everything they own, including their senses, life force, mana, strength, soul, etc., and that ownership will stay with the master until the master dies.

The master can permanently transfer the things mentioned above to himself or borrow them temporarily.

The current number of targets that can be controlled depending on the level of the user is 2.

Targets can be killed to empty their slots.

————————————————————

Unexpectedly, even though my eyes were swollen and my vision was a little fuzzy, I was still able to read everything clearly, as if I were sitting in a room with good lighting in my peak physical condition.

After reading the second point of the [Domination] skill, I was instantly able to clarify all my doubts.

The details of this skill were now much clearer to me, though the limitations of its possibilities were still a mystery.

But what if there were no limits to this control?

The description makes it clear that the monsters that are controlled lose control over everything they own.

So, what if I desire something other than the five senses?

My body shook and my hair stood on end as a thought that made me feel like I was going crazy came into my mind.

If what I believe is possible, "Fuck!"

Neigh!

Having sensed the craziness of my thoughts and feelings through our connection, the horse grumbled substantially, and as such, I immediately returned my attention to it.

And without wasting any time after making up my mind, I closed my eyes once again, felt the threads that linked us together, and tried to identify the thread that carried the horse's life force.

As soon as I found the thread, I tried to pull it and take some of the horse's life force to put in both of my hands and legs.

I had no idea whether such a ridiculous concept as "life force" even existed, but since it was displayed on my status panel and since this was a fantasy world, I knew that anything was possible here.

Neigh! Neigh!

Feeling the continuous loss of his life force, the horse suddenly started screaming.

However, after a stern order from me to remain silent and motionless, he obeyed and stopped his actions.

* * * * * * *

A few minutes later,

Ugh!

The process of transferring the life force was much harder than changing my sense of sight or smell, but I kept going because I could feel a warm energy being sent to my heart.

After which, it started to flow to my hands and legs, healing my body along the way and showing that my theory was right.

"Ahhh...!"

The itching of my wounds being healed caused me to groan through my clenched teeth.

The popping of my healing fractures was audible.

The correction of deformations was visible.

And the feeling that I had lost in my hands and legs began to return.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that my hands and legs were beginning to heal, I refrained from becoming overcome with elation and instead concentrated on the horse, who remained immobile in response to my command.

Because the horse already had a head injury and was exhausted from the long journey, I stopped transferring his life force, as I was afraid that he might die suddenly before successfully completing the tasks that I had in mind.

"Show me my health."

Once again, I instructed the system, and a small translucent screen appeared in my vision.

[Health : 40%]

My eyes widened as I noticed a whopping 20% improvement in my health, and even though I had anticipated something like this to happen, watching it with my own eyes was still a little unbelievable.

Phew!

I inhaled deeply, licked my dried lips, and calmed my racing heart.

No one could have predicted that the skill that the pope deemed useless would have such a hidden feature, and this wasn't the end of it.