Horus ran his fingers over the cool, rainbow crystals. Twenty Skill shards to upgrade two skills and with that he'd have five Adept skills, practically an Elite-tier already. Well, not really, because there was a huge gap between each tier.
He opened his status with a thought.
◇—Status—◇
Name: Horus
Title: Lonely Moon
Class: Common Swordsman
Attributes:
[Endurance] > 18 (Common)
[Twin Scar] > 21 (Adept)
[Physicality] > 20 (Common) [Skill Limit Reached]
[Lifesight] > 22 (Adept)
[Reflexes] > 20 (Common) [Skill Limit Reached]
[Basic Swordsmanship] > 20 (Common) [Skill Limit Reached]
[Basic Archery] > 8 (Common)
[Shelter Building] > 13 (Common)
[Cooking] > 13 (Common)
[Striking Proficiency] > 17 (Common)
[Twilight Swordsmanship] > 19 > 20 (Common) [Skill Limit Reached]
[Trap Disarming] > 2 (Common)
[Twilight Body] > 22 (Adept)
Weapons Slot (4): Celestial Steel Sword
Quest(s): [Big Game Hunter]
He couldn't upgrade [Physicality] or [Basic Swordsmanship] because they were just placeholders for when he learnt a new mana type, but the other two were free game.
[Spend 10 Skill Shards to upgrade Reflexes to an Adept-tier skill?]
[Checking the skill requirement?]
[Skill: Reflexes]
[Rarity: Common]
[Adept-tier requirement: Controlled reaction to stimuli from different senses. Completed.]
[Congratulations! You have upgraded Common-tier Reflexes to Adept-tier Full Capture!]
Horus felt no different once the upgrade finished, but when he squinted his eyes, the dark cave and the three people around him grew visibly slower. Dust drifted in the air and Wally's moving mouth slowed to a snail's pace
He had read about the skill and the sub-skills; it needed some experimenting, but he could already see this making all of his fights far simpler. His blood pumped with excitement to get into a fight.
He moved on immediately.
[Spend 10 Skill Shards to upgrade Twilight Swordsmanship to an Adept-tier skill?]
[Checking the skill requirement?]
[Skill: Twilight Swordsmanship]
[Rarity: Epic]
[Adept-tier requirement: High proficiency of one Sub-skill. Completed.]
[Congratulations! You have upgraded Common-tier Twilight Swordsmanship to Adept-tier Twilight Swordsmanship!]
The name didn't change, but the difference was immediately felt. The Celestial steel sword in his hand glowed with a more solid light; liquid blue and purple lights surged over the black blade.
His mana output had increased, which would be beneficial in many places. Using stronger Sub-skills like [Moonshadow], would become far easier.
Actions like [Fading] his sword through an enemy's body and making it tangible required him to expend mana. If he didn't have enough mana, or the enemy was too strong, the sword wouldn't become solid.
It was also why he always made sure to jump before using [Fading] on his body.
But now that he had more mana he could use the attack against more powerful enemies without worry.
And his attacks in general would have become devastatingly powerful. With his Adept-tier physicality and swordsmanship, his attacks would completely cleave through simple Common-tier Firespitters.
What would learning more swordsmanship styles do to his already high attack power? He wanted to quickly learn one now and find out if he could use Skill Fusion on them. He would need twenty Skill shards for a Skill Fusion of two Adept skills, but it would be worth it.
Skill Fusions brought new and far stronger skills. If you fused two Adept skills their product was comparable to an Elite skill depending on how rare the skill was. For something like Twilight Swordsmanship, the skill fusion might even rival Master-tier skills in force and Sub-skills.
June tapped his shoulder, drawing him from his absentminded stare. "Did it work?"
"You met the Adept-tier requirements, right?" John said with a doubtful look.
Horus nodded. "Why wouldn't I? Getting through level 15 to 20 is about proficiency in your skill, so if you focus on understanding them you should meet the requirement."
"I had a cousin that couldn't upgrade his Common skill for a month because of proficiency," John shrugged. "But yeah, it's probably a skill issue."
Wally grinned at him before turning to Horus. "So what did you get for reflexes, [Instant Dodge] or [Full Capture]?"
"He'll get [Full Capture], that's what Morrigan got," John remarked before Horus could say a thing.
Which made him raise an eyebrow. "How do you know what Morrigan got?"
"I have to keep up with my future wife, we have to have matching skills and stuff."
Horus stared at John blankly, but the boy simply grinned back. Wally and June stumbled away laughing.
"This amount of delusion…" Horus mumbled, shaking his head.
John shrugged. "A man can only dream. I've also been meaning to ask you, she has a Skill Fusion with her Twilight Swordsmanship. Do you know which skill?"
"I'm not telling you," he replied, turning away. Not that Horus even knew what skill Morrigan had fused with her swordsmanship.
He faced the wall he was supposed to be cutting down and got into Deimos stance. Even from the first swing of his sword, Horus felt a heavy tidal wave of mana flow into the blade.
After three moves he already had enough mana to strike. By compressing death and time, he could bring mana to a dying state faster and then keep it there.
He let out a sharp breath and slashed down, compressing the mana just as it left his blade. Brilliant white light flooded the room, the air grew subtly colder.
A crescent arc of white light hung in the air, creeping forward so slowly it looked like the moon drifting through the sky.
"Isn't it meant to be faster?" June asked, squinting. Her silver eyes flashed like white rings in the skill's light, her hair was a red halo over her pale face.
"They can control its speed and direction," John answered also covering his eyes.
"Why did you choose slow mo for your first try?" Wally asked. "Other than wanting to blind us."
Horus just wanted to study it. This was the signature technique of the class he was meant to inherit after all. The sign of his belonging in this world.
When he realised he didn't get the [Crescent Swordsman] class, he had expected to be distraught or sad. But he felt happy, and he couldn't understand it back then.
Was it him just being cynical? Now, he didn't have to worry that he was a fraud; the system had told him in clear terms who he was.
But it wasn't that. Horus felt his failures deeply, he always regretted everything, but he was never afraid to prove himself.
I think I was happy to not belong anymore.