___
Mica
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Nate stood opposite me with his hands on his hips, waiting for me to activate my R-Rank skill. I took a deep breath and activated it. Immediately, a pain that I did not expect shot through my body and I gasped. In front of my eyes were black spots, but I knew it wasn't from pain. It wasn't that bad. Rather, just unexpected.
However, the pain did not last long and after a few seconds the blackness before my eyes disappeared. When that happened, I saw the world differently than before. More... rounder?? I wasn't sure how to describe it.
"Well done!" I heard someone's voice followed by clapping. I turned my head after the sound and saw a man about my age with dark gray, almost black hair, bright emerald green eyes who was about the same height as my head.
Then I remembered. True, I tried my R-Rank skill and now I should be in my second form. Panther as I chose. I quickly looked around and noticed a small pool of water nearby. I didn't hesitate and in six big jumps I was at desired place. 'Wow! This R-Rank skill is seriously useful!'
I peered into the puddle and the face of a dark purple almost as night black, panther was reflected in the water. 'Wow... This look was really nice!' I tried to sit down and even though it felt weird, I had no problem doing it.
Then I decided to open my character window to see if anything had changed.
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PLAYER
________
_____
Name: Micajah
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: Shapeshifter
Class: Assassin
Titles: -
_____
HP: 260/430
MP: 210/225
EP: 740/740
Level: 2
Affiliation to element: -
_____
Stats:
Strength: 5 Speed: 8 Intelligence: 5
Agility: 6 Stamina: 8 Luck: 8
_____
Skills:
- Animal shapeshift (Panther) (1/1) -) R-Rank
- Shadow steps (1/3) -) C-Rank
- Shadow illusion double attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Cat vision (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Support (1/3) -) E-Rank
_____
Skill Points: 0
Stats Points: 0
Health Point: 0
_____
You are currently in your alternate form!
_____
"You did it" I heard a voice behind my back but I wasn't surprised, I heard his footsteps the moment he moved and I smelled his smell all the time, I just didn't focus on him. I opened my mouth to answer, but something between a growl and a purr came out of my mouth. 'Huh?'
"Oh! I forgot to mention that in this form you cannot use human language even if you understand it. But you can communicate with other Shapeshifters" said the man whose name was Nate. I nodded my head and his response was a smile.
Then I lay down and fixed my light purple eyes, that didn't change, on Nate. He bent down and carefully scratched me behind the ears.
It felt good. I purr and even though I was starting to feel awkward, I let him pet me more.
We stayed like that for a few minutes and then Nate, who had been in squat, stood up and stretched his stiff muscles.
"If you want to go back to human form, deactivate the skill just like you would deactivate any other skill" Nate informed me and I did exactly that.
When I changed form this time, I felt no pain. 'I assume that this is only a one-time thing.'
After acquiring human form again, I checked to see if I was wearing the clothes I hoped I was, and was glad to find that was true.
"Nate" I called to my new friend who nodded his head as a sign that he was listening. "Can we use other skills when we are in our alternate form?" I asked curiously. This was one of the things that interested me.
"No, the R-Rank skill is the only skill where you can't use other skills" Nate said to which I frowned. Then I quickly changed into my animal form and tried to use Shadow steps but the red !WARNING! flashed before my eyes. I changed back into my human form and my face was still frowning.
"I told you" Nate said with a smug face.
"Shut up!" I growled, to which Nate laughed. I left him alone.
But what disappointed me was that I couldn't use my panther form with other skills. Do you know how cool it would be if a panther, about 2 meters tall, appeared out of the shadows out of nowhere? Super cool! 'Is there no other skill that would allow this?' I didn't try it, so I sat down on the grass, clicked on the skills window in my character window and started tapping in the next window.
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'Bong!'
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The message appeared in front of me.
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'Your skill request has been sent to the system.'
...
'Your request has been processed and disapproved by the system.'
...
'Your level is too low.'
...
'Please wait for your level to become higher before you choose to create this skill'
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'Ho? So only my level is low. So it's not impossible to use your R-Rank skill and other skills if you have high enough level.' I decided to try it later.
"Ready to spar?" Nate asked me, which I thought about but then dismissed. I had one more idea for a skill in mind that I wanted to try and if it worked, I could make another skill out of it.
"Give me a hour, I want to see if the system registers my idea for a skill" I told him, to which he turned and with a nod told me that he would see me at the city gate in one hour.
"Okay... let's get down to it."
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Bong!
____
The message appeared in front of me.
____
'Your skill request has been sent to the system.'
...
'Your request has been processed and approved by the system.'
...
'Your skill has been registered in the system.'
...
'You have created a skill for yourself.'
...
"You got 50 EP.
...
'Please name your skill.'
'___________________'
____
'Please name your skill.'
'_Reverse_shadow_attack_'
'Name of your skill has been registered in system.'
...
'You obtain new skill named Reverse shadow attack.'
____
However, before I could take a closer look at my new skill, another message appeared in front of me.
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'Bong!'
...
'The minimum required amount of skills with equal affiliation to element has been met.'
...
'Three of your skills have affiliation to shadow element.'
...
'You have obtained a new affiliation to element – Shadow element.'
...
'You got the first affiliation to element, you received 4 Stats Points, 2 Skill Points, 3 Health Points and 100 EP.'
____
I looked at the message in surprise, but the surprise was soon replaced by an enthusiastic grin.
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PLAYER
________
_____
Name: Micajah
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: Shapeshifter
Class: Assassin
Titles: -
_____
HP: 265/430
MP: 215/225
EP: 890/890
Level: 2
Affiliation to element: Shadow
_____
Stats:
Strength: 5 Speed: 8 Intelligence: 5
Agility: 6 Stamina: 8 Luck: 8
_____
Skills:
- Animal shapeshift (Panther) (1/1) -) R-Rank
- Shadow steps (1/3) -) C-Rank
- Shadow illusion double attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Cat vision (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Support (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Reverse shadow attack (1/3) -) C-Rank
-) you attack from the front, but the attack hits the same spot on the opposite side
_____
Skill Points: 2
Stats Points: 4
Health Point: 3
_____
I was satisfied with my new skill. Now it was time to divide my Skill Points, Stats Points and Health Points.
________
PLAYER
________
_____
Name: Micajah
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: Shapeshifter
Class: Assassin
Titles: -
_____
HP: 275/505
MP: 220/225
EP: 890/890
Level: 2
Affiliation to element: Shadow
_____
Stats:
Strength: 6 Speed: 8 Intelligence: 7
Agility: 7 Stamina: 8 Luck: 8
_____
Skills:
- Animal shapeshift (Panther) (1/1) -) R-Rank
- Shadow steps (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Shadow illusion double attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Cat vision (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Support (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Reverse shadow attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
_____
Skill Points: 0
Stats Points: 0
Health Point: 0
_____
I was most hesitant about the division of new points of Skill Points. Since Skill Points were the hardest to get, I wanted to split them up wisely.
After not so much thought, I put them in the skills I used in the attack.
The next step, since the system recognized my idea for a skill, was to create another skill by combining Reverse shadow attack and Shadow illusion double attack.
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Bong!
____
The message appeared in front of me.
____
'Your skill request has been sent to the system.'
...
'Your request has been processed and approved by the system.'
...
'Your skill has been registered in the system.'
...
'You have created a skill for yourself.'
...
"You got 50 EP.
...
'Please name your skill.'
'___________________'
____
'Please name your skill.'
'_Reverse_shadow_illusion_double_attack_'
'Name of your skill has been registered in system.'
...
'You obtain new skill named Reverse shadow illusion double attack.'
____
I checked my character window and was extremely satisfied.
________
PLAYER
________
_____
Name: Micajah
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: Shapeshifter
Class: Assassin
Titles: -
_____
HP: 280/505
MP: 225/225
EP: 940/940
Level: 2
Affiliation to element: Shadow
_____
Stats:
Strength: 6 Speed: 8 Intelligence: 7
Agility: 7 Stamina: 8 Luck: 8
_____
Skills:
- Animal shapeshift (Panther) (1/1) -) R-Rank
- Shadow steps (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Shadow illusion double attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Cat vision (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Support (1/3) -) E-Rank
- Reverse shadow attack (2/3) -) C-Rank
- Reverse shadow illusion double attack (1/3) -) B-Rank
-) you attack from the front, but the attack hits a different place on the opposite side
_____
Skill Points: 0
Stats Points: 0
Health Point: 0
_____
'Oh!! A B-Rank skill! Seriously! Great!' I thought and wanted to jump in joy.
When I was looking at my character window like that, I had the feeling that it could rival Nate's. I didn't know what the Nate window looked like, but from what I saw during our boss fight, we could be about the same level now. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my ass that I was sitting on the ground with. Now it's time for our spar.