First Skill

Once inside, he went upstairs and walked in front of one of the vending machines. A moment later, a glass bottle filled with water appeared in his hand. Alexander opened it and drank greedily without stopping. Only now he did realize just how thirsty he was.

Then he placed the empty bottle on top of the machine and ordered a new drink. When the next bottle was ready, he grabbed it and gulped it down. While drinking, he thought about everything that happened recently.

First of all, he had never seen anything like the pyramid before today. Why it was capable of creating such a terrifying aura? Why did the aura disappear afterwards? Did some scary monster make a nest inside? Furthermore, this zone was supposed to be safe, yet it is a total meatgrinder.

'Did other 'safe' zones experience this as well? If they did... this could truly be an extinction event.'

Alexander fished out the crystals out of his pockets. The first one gave him a weapon that allowed him to survive until now. Even though it was destroyed in the last battle, if not for the sword, he wouldn't survive the rage demon fight.

'Come to think of it, the first attack was incredibly powerful, but afterwards it was not as strong. Did the demon waste too much energy on the first strike?'

No matter which way you cut it, he had come extremely close to death multiple times during these events.

'They also seem to be smarter on higher levels. In the beginning, it even seemed to be attacking deliberately before it slipped into madness...'

All in all, things didn't look good for humanity. For starters, there weren't many humans left alive. Secondly, their enemies were getting stronger and smarter every day. Thirdly, there wasn't anyone who knew exactly why all this was happening to begin with.

'Now I understand why father was training me so rigorously. But how did he know?' At this moment, Alexander remembered that his father had basically abandoned him leaving a simple letter behind.

A fiery look of determination appeared in his eyes.

"If things are so bad then so be it! I will survive! I will get stronger! And I will find the smug old bastard and kick the answers out of his ass..."

Alexander trailed off and sighed sadly.

'I hope he's alright...' Judging by the holo message he watched earlier, his father might have been reassigned to some place that needed military protection.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do with it. So he shook his head vigorously and chased away these lingering thoughts. He needed to focus now.

He picked out one of the crystals he had. It was the rage demon crystal. It was bigger and shinier than others and inside of it a green swirl of energy constantly rotated.

"Please give me a spear, please give me a spear, please give me a spear!"

He expected the scene of the last time to repeat. The crystal shatters, the light forms an object and voila, he's armed. But this time, something different happened.

[Discovered Skill: Force Accumulation]

[Allows one to accumulate and superimpose force and momentum for a massive eruption.]

[Do you wish to add it to your skill roster?]

[Skills 0/1]

'A skill?' Alexander blinked twice in surprise.

Then his mind went back to his battle with the rage demon. This skill could explain why the first strike of the demon was so strong.

'Force and momentum... Does that mean I would be dead if I tried to run? While it was locked in close combat with me, it could not accumulate force before it slipped into a blind rage.' Alexander gulped down audibly while some light sweat appeared on his forehead.

'I was in a way more dangerous situation than I thought. If I let the demon have any distance to accumulate momentum...'

He exhaled slowly and gave a mental command.

'Yes, I wish!'

A skill like that could allow him to erupt with a force that surpassed anything on his level. Plus, he didn't have any other skills and since demons could have them, he had to have something to fight back.

He felt his soul rumble. He quickly focused his consciousness on that strange inner world and saw runes appear on the surface of that strange ball that hovered over the water.

[Skill learned successfully!]

[New Skill: Force Accumulation Lv.1]

Alexander barely resisted the impulse to try out the skill and turned his attention towards the remaining crystals. There were two bigger ones and one small. He decided to start with the small one and crushed it. It shattered immediately and light had taken a shape of an earring. He took it out and examined it closely.

[Name: Earrings of Mana Control]

[Rarity: Uncommon]

[Type: Equipment (Mana)]

[Effect: Reduces mana consumption by 5% while active]

Alexander looked blankly at the description.

'I have no magic! I don't even have a mana stat! Why would you form into something like this?!' Even a kitchen knife would be more valuable in his situation. However, despite his frustration, he couldn't do anything. He set the earring aside and picked up the second crystal.

It was visibly bigger and more shiny than the previous one. Without delaying any further, Alexander crushed it while he chanted in his mind, 'Spear!Spear!Spear!'

The light escaped the shattered crystal and rushed to the center of his palm. It combined itself into a small ring. He held it carefully between thumb and index finger, examining the details.

[Lesser Spatial Ring]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Type: Magic Item (Ring)]

[Effect: Allows one to store items inside. Internal capacity equals 1 cubic meter.]

As soon as he read the description, Alexander grinned widely. He was able to keep the stuff inside! Even if the first item was basically useless, the second one was useful beyond measure! However it still wasn't a weapon. He took out the last crystal.

'Don't let me down buddy!' Alexander crushed the crystal decisively.