Chapter 210 (1/2)
Congratulations! You have completed the Aether Philanthropist Path! Your path begins to vere through the paths of others, and some of those you cross paths with are vastly improved by your touch. Your familiarity and experience grows in the manipulation of Aether. Your understanding of Aether greatly increased. You have learned the skill “Aether Connection (A) Lvl 1”.
Randidly breathed slowly, not really sure what to make of this. Not only the result, but also the rarity...So he opened up the skill explanation for the skill.
Aether Connection: Create a connection of Aether with another being. As the creator of the connection, you will have more control over the amount and quality of the Aether sent. Effectiveness of the connection will depend on the willingness of the recipient, and the synchronicity between two individuals. Individuals can reject the connection. Efficacy of connection and possible size of the connection improves with skill level.
Randidly’s face was solemn, because based on what he understood, his Aether Spring was a hobbled Aether Crossroads, that had no ways of making connections with others, like the Aether Spring that a village spirit was given. On the other hand, it didn’t have a formal connection to the System, so he didn’t need to accept meaning that flowed downwards from it.
But this skill… basically eliminated that weakness, by giving him a System approved way to establish an Aether connection. There would likely be some drawbacks, depending on his skill level, but…
It was a skill that made him into an Aether Crossroads, legitimately.
Is this then, what the creature, intended…? Because it was hard to imagine that the Being who created the System would have done it, in order to effectuate his search. Randidly would assume that other full power Aether Crossroads running around would just make things more difficult.
But it was too far beyond his level to even speculate. Instead, Randidly turned back to his possible paths. All of the new ones looked interesting. Experimenter was slightly ambiguous, but Tireless, based on his recent actions, seemed pretty clear. But the former would lead to a longer series of paths, which Randidly wasn’t sure he wanted to commit to.
Randidly had a growing interest in finishing off the Initiate of Ash path, but he decided to wait on that. Similarly, The Path of Control and Agony I paths were a little big of a commitment. As he wouldn’t be able to use his mana for this second part of the preliminary, it would be better for him to double down on his Endurance, and finish the Tireless path in one fell swoop.
After that, Randidly thought he would probably begin on the Initiate of Ash path, but he might change his mind depending on what happened. Randidly put points into the Tireless path. But the more he put into it, the more his face fell. He did receive 1 End every 10 PP, but that wasn’t what he was waiting for. It was only on the 48th PP that the event he waited on finally occurred.
Congratulations! Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Rain upon you. Wisdom +3, Focus +6. Concentration permanently increases by 1%. Mana Regeneration increases by 15. +3 Free stats.
Randidly released a breath that he had been holding. It did take much, much longer than it had previously, fully 50 PP, but overall the reward grew as well. Not linearly, a little less than that, but it was still a powerful boost. Especially the jump in Mana Regeneration. As for the 3 Stats, they went into Strength. Perhaps Randidly hadn’t lost his bitterness about the harshness of the previous portion of the preliminary after all.
After nodding in satisfaction, Randidly put the last two points into the Tireless Path, completing it.
Congratulations! You have completed the Tireless Path! The path is long, but you stoically continue. Obstacles become par for the course. There is no hesitation in your movements. As your base level rises to this new plateau of difficulty, you sense your very body changing. This is not yet your limit. Vitality, Reaction, and Willpower +5. You have learned the skill “Stalemate Breaker Lvl 1”.
Stalemate Breaker: Must first clash against an enemy and be somewhat equal in strength. Increase your consumption of Stamina by 10x for one second to increase your physical output by 1%. Effect on output increases with Skill Level.
It was truly a powerful skill, but the cost and the small bonus made it extremely unattractive now. He would effectively exhaust himself, using the skill. Increasing the stamina consumption by a factor of 10 was ridiculously debilitative. But Randidly supposed that was part of the point. It wasn’t designed for every situation, but as a skill that could be used only to break a stalemate. And decisively, at that.
If, however, he didn’t finish the fight in that time, even his monstrous recovery probably wouldn’t be enough to make back up the difference in Stamina. And the fact that the active time was only a second…?
Well, if he simply pushed forward during that time, it wouldn’t expend too much mana…