The odd Achievement floated before him, and he couldn’t help but re-read it a few times. It granted no outside bonuses, but he had to admit, not being killed for utilizing a bug was a powerful boon in and of itself.

  Dei assumed there would be no such thing as bugs with a conscious System, but he supposed the “bug” here was not a glitch in the traditional sense, but a sort of oversight in some sort of deal the System had with Time, or different affinities in general now that he thought about it.

  It wasn’t a surprise either that the System hadn’t found this yet. [How About a Demonstration] could only be earned by telling the System, an interdimensional God-like entity, something it didn’t already know. There were probably not many who could do that, and even less who were willing to stick around after earning such a Skill. If someone was able to expand the Systems knowledge, they were most likely from outside the System. If they were outside the System, then there was a good chance they would move back outside the System eventually as well. Anyone powerful enough to do that wouldn’t need to rely on [How About a Demonstration] to get more power or in niche situations, they’d just kill the enemy outright, not even considering the Skill.

  He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t exactly a game-changing Achievement. It just gave him the greenlight to boost the formations of Skills and get a lot more bang out of them on the first use.

  That out of the way, he went to the first of several evolutions, his [Homeostasis] evolution. Opening his interface and selecting the Skill, a window popped up

  [Diverging paths for evolution open:

  Regenerating

  Enduring

  Attuning

  Adaptability

  Resistance]

  Two options were familiar to him, Regenerating and Enduring. When he checked both, he confirmed that Regenerating would double how quickly he regained HP, and Enduring would double his SP passive gain. He was interested in neither though, because [Growing Pains] healed faster and gave him practically unlimited SP, so long as he had Wrath mana.

  Attuning was the third in the series, helping to regenerate MP, but again he didn’t care for it. He had an already massive pool to draw from, so he looked towards the other two.

  [Adaptability:

  Nothing can prepare you for the unexpected, except expecting the unexpected, an exceedingly exceptional exercise. Greatly increases the rate at which you can adapt to harmful imbalances]

  Simple and effective. When Dei was suffering from the vibrational attack of the Accipere during his trance, he felt that his body was slowly adapting to it. Not enough to fully offset the harm it did, but enough to give him hope that, even if the chase lasted indefinitely, he’d be up and running eventually. That being said, “eventually” wasn’t always an option, so rapid adaptation looked very promising.

  [Resistance:

  Rapid adaptation may not solve the issue, if the limit for how much it can handle is too high. Raises the maximum level of resistance you can develop to a particular imbalance]

  This one, too, was amazing. Dei noticed that Homeostasis was very broad with what it considered an “Imbalance.” In general, it was… anything that wasn’t a direct attack, but still harmful, such as exhaustion. When he raised the level of Homeostasis, Dei noticed that he needed to sleep less. Growing Pains only helped with his physical exhaustion, but Homeostasis helped with mental exhaustion too.

  Thinking about it, this would help with his two biggest weaknesses as well. While it was true that there were a lot of environmental things that could hurt him, Vibrations and Light were the only two that would immediately cripple him. Speaking of, after he closed these screens, he was going to see if Fendrascora could attack him with Vibrations until he was at his maximum resistance to it. This should have been something he’d done a while ago, and he chastised himself for his stupidity.

  Taking his Weaknesses into consideration, Dei leaned more towards Resisting than Adapting. It would be too useful to not have a glaring vulnerability.

  Confirming his selection, Dei didn’t notice anything change immediately, which was understandable considering the Skill worked on time and exposure to various things

  Next, he moved down to [Vigilance]

  [Diverging paths for evolution open:

  Sixth Sense

  Overload

  Reaction

  Observative

  WARNING! This Skill is part of a Class within the first evolution, and cannot move past level 100 until the Class does so first]

  Dei was about to shrug and move to his Class evolutions when he froze, and his eyes found another Skill.

  [High Mind (100)]

  Then his Profession level

  [Pondering Sage (Level 11)]

  He grimaced. Waiting was not a viable tactic for evolving his High Mind. it would be far too long before Pondering Sage reached level one hundred, and he needed High Mind. It was simply too useful. So what were his options?

  Dei could think of only one: Back when he stole a Skill from his Profession after first selecting it. Originally, Pondering Sage had a Meditation Skill. When it interacted with his Meditation Skill, they ground each other away, leaving a qualitatively better Skill. If Dei could create and merge something with [High Mind], he could remove the Skill from his Profession and, hopefully, level it up again.

  Nothing to do about that right away, Dei went to his Class options instead. It was important to keep in mind that Class would dictate how he fought, so he shouldn’t just choose anything that looked good. It would have to synergise with him. He selected [Prodigal Detector] on his Interface.

  [Diverging paths for evolution open:

  Remote Link (Rare)

  A Hundred Eyes (Uncommon)

  Watchful Guardian (Treasured)

  Remote Slaughterer (Treasured)

  A Hundred Slaughterers (Rare)

  Watchful Slaughterer (Epic)]

  ‘Woah…’ he thought, looking over the options. First, he saw that there were two variants to each Class, and it was clear where the second came from. It was time for Dei to choose whether he should take the next step down the path of Slaughter, or if he should continue as a normal person.

  It wasn’t much of a choice at all. Dei needed more power, the Accipere showed that in full. What would he give up from a rarer Class that was exactly the same in every way?

  Reading over the descriptions of [Remote Link] and its Slaughterer counterpart, Dei compared the two

  [Remote Link

  You have not only fought using your spiritual form from a distance, but harmonized your style with that spiritual form to overpower your enemies. Scouting with your projection, you find enemies and lure them into a false sense of security as they chase you directly to your main body, where they are outnumbered and outpowered. Despite being only one, you hold the numerical advantage.

  Gives the Skills: [Synchronize], [Imbued Spirit], [Stable Connection]

  Gives the Stats: +1 Magical every odd level, +1 Spiritual and +1 Mental every even level

  Looking over the Skills, he saw that Synchronize would help him fight alongside his spiritual selves without overlapping one another, Imbued Spirit made it so that he could pour affinity mana into his Projections for variable effects (such as Wrath for more physical strength, or fortitude for more durability), and Stable Connection let his Projections go out further and repair themselves from Dei’s pool of Soul mana.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Moving over to the Slaughterer variant, he pulled up the full description.

  [Remote Slaughterer

  You have not only fought using your spiritual form from a distance, but harmonized your style with that spiritual form to annihilate your enemies. Scouting with your projection and crushing those you find unworthy for a true fight, you find enemies and lure them into a false sense of security as they chase you directly to your main body. When they face you as the wall, they will find only death.

  Fully confirms your path as a Slaughterer, destroying the weaker parts of yourself and using those ashes to empower your true strengths.

  Gives the Skills: [Synchronized Slaying], [Fury-Imbued Spirit], [Stable Connection of DEATH]

  Gives the Skills: +2 Magical every odd level, +1 Spiritual and +1 Mental every even level

  Comparing the two, he saw that the Slaughterer half was just an edgier, stronger version of Remote Link. The only real difference was that clause in the middle about fully confirming his path, and Dei thought he knew exactly what it was talking about.

  When Gargeth the Body Melder, fleshy half-spirit he’d talked to a while ago, told Dei that level one hundred was when the changes to his body would become finalized, this was likely what he meant. If Dei chose a Slaughterer class, then he would be fully locked out of mana sense. If he didn’t he’d slowly recover the ability to see mana.

  ‘Well, I’ve survived this long without mana sense by just asking Clever what he senses. That seems easy enough to do, and I’ve done this all for a boost in power which is now sitting right in front of me. I’d be a fool to not pick one of the Slaughterer options.’

  That being the case, he continued looking over his options. A Hundred Eyes, and its Slaughterer counterpart, both did not interest him. It was all about producing a small swarm of Projections to fight his enemies for him, and lessening the blow of his Echoes dying. Altogether though, the smaller projections were quite weak.

  Watchful Guardian and Watchful Slaughterer though, those drew his eye. Not only as the rarest in the selection, but also because they helped to encompass exactly what he wanted: direct power. Since he was going for Slaughterer options now, he went straight to the Slaughterer variant

  [Watchful Slaughterer

  Outleveled at every turn, you tip the odds in your favor through use of strange or unique powers. Unable to accept defeat, you’ve put yourself in harm's way to protect those you consider worthy of protecting time and time again, growing stronger despite battles that would cripple or traumatize a lesser man. You face off against enemies not to protect yourself, but to do for others what you wish someone should have done for you. You will find and destroy anyone who's ever wronged you, leaving enemy corpses or friendly faces in your wake, they may choose which.

  Fully confirms your path as a Slaughterer, destroying the weaker parts of yourself and using those ashes to empower your true strengths.

  Gives the Skills: [Empowered Rage], [Join Arms], [Dispersed Burden]

  Gives the Stats: +2 Physical every odd level; +1 Mental, +1 Spiritual, and +1 Magical every even level

  It talked about facing enemies head-on, which was something [Prodigal Detector] simply did not do. Even the other classes focused on tricking his enemies and leading them into advantageous situations, but he could already do that.

  What Dei lacked was a way to harm things directly. He still didn’t have any way to channel his mana into attacks, aside from using Homeostasis to create explosions, but that wasn’t even a real Skill. It was a clever application of a healing ability. The first Skill in the roster of this class was [Empowered Rage], and it was exactly what he needed.

  [Empowered Rage - Level 1 - Passive

  Emotions serve to cloud the mind, anger over those who would dare challenge you only impairs your judgement, and gives no trade off. To rein in those responses is not only smart, but efficient- UNTIL NOW! Allow your emotions to run rampant all you want when you only get stronger as you become more crazed with battle lust.

  Allows the body to handle larger amounts of Affinity Mana without becoming damaged, while greatly enunciating the effects of raw mana further.

  Amplifies the effects of the Skill with each level.]

  He was rather hopeful of this Skill because it was something he’d tried a while ago, back in the Lorpee cavern, with little success. He’d attempted to run Wrath mana through his system and draw strength from that, but all he’d done was suppress his fear-factor with a mild strength boost.

  This Skill would have helped with that. Dei understood that all mana types did something to whatever they interacted with, and this Skill increased that effect. If he had to guess, it would help Wrath make him stronger, Fortitude make him tougher, Kindness to… heal him? And Soul to…

  Ok, he wasn’t entirely sure what each did, but he could experiment. Wrath and Fortitude alone were more than enough to justify getting the Skill, because it would just be a flat boost to his survivability.

  Moving on, he went to [Join Arms]

  [Join Arms - Level 1

  There are many kinds of relationships. Friendships, enemies, comrades, siblings, parents, and children. Each of these means something different between those that hold them, each one is unique.

  Allows the user to turn their relationships more tangible, gaining variable benefits or burdens depending on who the Skill is used on. Skill is useable once per day, and costs one use to deactivate its effects on one of your relationships.

  Raises the maximum effect of the bonds with each level]

  Dei would have to use it to find out what he did, but the name was a clue. It would probably help him cover his own weaknesses depending on who he used it on, such as Clever giving him a rudimentary ability to sense mana or something of the sort. On the other hand, there was an actual chance of it giving him a burden as well- one that he wouldn’t be able to remove for at least twenty four hours. If Dei used it on, say, a Shaman who wanted him dead, he would probably get cursed.

  This was one he’d just have to use to find out what it did, like [Commune with the Universe] but hopefully less painful. He hoped that Dispersed Burden would be a bit easier to understand.

  [Dispersed Burden - Level 1 - Toggleable

  The path upwards is lonely and dangerous, but it does not have to be. You’ve watched for danger for so long that you sometimes forget there are others behind you, ready to catch you if you fall.

  Choosing a damage type dealt to you, you may shunt that type off to another whom accepts it into themselves.

  Damage type carries over, damage does not necessarily carry over.

  Efficiency of connection increases with each level]

  Dei read this one thoughtfully, trying to figure out what exactly it meant when it said that damage type would carry over, but not necessarily the damage itself.

  ‘Does it mean like, if I get burned, I can give that burn to Clever, who might even benefit from the extra heat? Or maybe if I get hit, I can disperse that to Fendrascora, who would handle it a lot better if she were in a more healthy state? That would be… strong. I like it!’

  Looking over the different Skills he would receive, he was starting to get a bit excited. He would even be able to use his explosions or fire breath more, because he could just give his burns to Clever, who wouldn’t care all too much.

  He’d have to test it of course, but based on its wording, Dei was almost positive he was right.

  Looking over all his options one more time and making sure it would be the right choice, Dei quickly told the others what he was about to do. He was going to gain a Skill that would supposedly rewire his body to accept affinity mana easier, so it might be painful.

  He was decidedly not ready when he accepted the Class selection and felt as the three Skills granted by his Class start grinding down to nothing.

  Grabbing his chest, the first two to fight were [Growing Pains] and [Empowered Rage], and if he could visualize it in any way, it would be a slug-fest. The two Skills worked to enhance his own body, and were especially rage-based. Though Growing Pains was a much higher-leveled Skill, they fought in a conceptual ring, and were very equal to one another.

  Blow after blow, the two punched each other to dust. When they were finished, and he worried he’d just destroyed his Skills, a union of the two rose from the ashes like a phoenix.

  It had no name for but a moment, but he felt his soul quickly give it one without conscious decision. It was frankly uncreative in name, but fitting nonetheless.

  [[Empowered Rage] has merged with [Growing Pains] to form the Skill: [Growing Rage]]

  The fight in his soul was not over though, as it was [Join Arms] against [Meditation]

  Once more, they were mostly equal, but it was a decidedly different fight. Rather than punch each other into nothing, the two tried to tie the other up in intangible ropes, securing the other so it could be devoured.

  But “Mostly equal” did not mean “Equal.” [Meditation] was just slightly stronger than [Join Arms] and, slowly but surely [Meditation] freed itself while the new contender was bound and squeezed until nothing was left, absorbed fully into [Meditation].

  [[Join Arms] has merged with [Meditation] to form the Skill: [Meditation]]

  Last on the chopping block was [Dispersed Burden], and it fought against… Meditation once more.

  ‘Damn! Slow down greedy fucker!’ Dei thought, but truly, he was elated. He knew that fusions were an objectively good thing, as the new Skill inherited the best parts of both. His new Meditation would be a beast.

  [Dispersed Burden] didn’t put up even the slightest fight. [Meditation], by this point, was far, far stronger than it. In a single swipe, [Dispersed Burden] was no more, and Meditation had absorbed its functions fully.

  [[Dispersed Burden] has merged with [Meditation] to form the Skill: [Meditation]]

  At the end of it all, Dei was left with a new Wrath Skill, and one thrice-empowered Meditation.