Acquiring Passive Skills

Saad decided to save his status points for now and opened tab that had appeared in the interphase. Now, it was time to decide which passive skill to choose, which could provide significant benefits for Kael. Saad scrolled through the list and found so many good passive skills. He pressed the little information star and discovered that he could select two passive skills, as skills could be deleted later to insert a better one. Not to mention, until he got his class assigned by either awakening or reaching level 10, he couldn't acquire active skills and even if he did acquire them, he wouldn't be able to use them without clear restrictions.

Feeling more determined than ever, he then started to scroll the list of ten available passive skills.

[Indomitable Will]

Rank: Common

Increases resistance to negative status effects by 5% and enhances mental fortitude by 5% in challenging situations.

[Inner Calm]

Rank: Common

Increases resistance to fear, confusion, and mind-altering effects by 10%. Grants the character enhanced mental fortitude, providing an additional 5% resistance against mental disturbances in challenging situations.

[Evasive Maneuvers]

Rank: Common

Enhances agility-based movements, increasing the character's dodge and evasion capabilities by 5%.

[Luck's Favor]

Rank: Common

Enhances the character's luck, providing occasional bonuses to critical hits, evasion, or finding valuable loot. The chance of receiving a luck-based bonus is 10%.

[Flame Manipulation]

Rank: Common

User is able to manipulate flames to some extent. Enhances the chances of conjuring a successful fire spell by 5%.

*This skill requires mana to be awakened.

First, he really and badly needed the Indomitable Will. After all, at this rate, he might just get killed and lose the precious experience points and his measly fortune to the blackened fate. The passive skills' effects were good enough for now but he knew that later better skills would come. He was truly looking forward to the time when he would get the active skills. The skills that he got for now were the two that he needed to survive for now with his mysterious fate.

He was truly taken by the skill [Flame Manipulation], but the description was grayed out, and he realized the reason written below. He still had no mana, which could only be acquired by the awakening. So he decided to scroll down and try to find something else that could help him currently. And then his eyes landed on [Fast Learner]. There were a lot that had caught his fancy but he could only choose two.

[Fast Learner]:

Rank: Common

Accelerates the character's skill and proficiency development, allowing them to gain new skills 10% faster.

There were also masterful strategist, enhanced perception, animal empathy and discharge. It was truly a hard choice but he ended up going with [Indomitable Will] and [Luck's favor].With his new skills acquired, Saad felt a sense of accomplishment and excitement, eager to test his improved abilities in new quests later.

Before he left, though, he approached the Ashen Witch to express his gratitude for the knowledge and assistance she had provided. "Thank you for guiding me on my journey and granting me the opportunity to help you. I'll cherish the lessons and gifts you've shared with me."

The Ashen Witch looked at him with a hint of a smile. "You've shown promise and dedication, young one. Remember, the road ahead will not always be smooth, but it's your resilience that will shape your destiny. Farewell and good luck on your adventure."

Saad smiled and nodded at her, but as he was logging out, he noticed one last message.

[Your familiarity with the Ashen Witch has increased.]

As he logged out of the game, he took off the headset and grabbed his phone to check the time. As expected, a lot of time had passed even in the real world, but compared to the progress in the game and the whole day, only 8 hours had passed in reality. He felt mentally and physically exhausted, even though all he had done was lay around. His sense of time and everything else felt a little messed up because of the whole day passing in the game.

He took a deep breath and stretched a little before getting up.

The month of November was approaching, yet it was barely cold. Then again, that was how it was in Karachi. Saad got out of bed and rubbed his sore muscles as he took off the body suit and put on his normal clothes. Only now, he felt better. Just thinking of wearing the suit in the summer made his skin crawl. He really needed to earn enough money to buy the premium pod that had temperature control. But that was for later; right now, it was already 8 pm in the evening.

He thought of logging in and taking a few more quests since the experience point requirements seemed to be increasing per level, and one in-game day had already passed. He was getting a little worried now about reaching level 10. Would he really be able to do it? He stretched a little more and left the room. The kitchen was small and open with a stove on the floor and a small fridge. He was craving tea but then remembered he had forgotten to get milk today since the milkman usually came to drop off milk around 6 pm. He had messed up.

Saad sighed heavily and looked around for something to eat. Seeing leftover lentils, he decided to just dip bread in them and eat. Perhaps he should have gone home, but going home always came with so many extra, unwanted things, other than the pressure. It was his fiancé. She was a hard girl to talk to, and he just couldn't understand her. Seriously, he didn't have much to talk to her about.

While he ate, he checked through the manual, since it also seemed to be the game guide, and read through the important details. When you awaken, your potential also awakens. The potential seemed to be a confusing thing to get around, even though he had read through both English and Urdu versions. He seriously didn't get what they were trying to say. Then again, he still had a lot of time until the awakening.

But as he went to the reward section and general outline, he suddenly remembered something. Didn't he also get a common chest? He had forgotten about it in his excitement about finally getting some passive skills. He wanted to log in right away and check it but he needed self-control. He couldn't just open the game when it was already so late. It was Saturday tomorrow so he needed to wake up super early and start the game at the earliest but- Didn't he also needed to do the laundry and cook something or perhaps he could get something from his usual place.

He also needed to set up his world tube account and upload his gaming video. And so controlling himself, and his urges to just log in again, he actually got to some work. He opened up his lap top and connected the headset to the laptop with wireless connection and got to work on his video.

And he had truly underestimated this work because he barely finished editing a little bit by 2 am and just fell asleep right there. If it wasn't for his alarm, he might have slept in but it was a new day. He checked his world tube account but as expected he had 0 views and 0 subscribers.

'Its Ok. Its just the first day. There is no need to get discouraged at all.' He thought to himself and then resisting the urge to log in to the game, he took his laundry out and sitting in the bathroom he washed it still daydreaming about the game and the quests. He could still taste that warm soup that tastes so simple yet heartwarming. His stomach was growling by 7am and so he left the house to get something to eat. He got a simple breakfast at the small roadside hotel that he frequented and went back home. Now that he had fulfilled his goals and the laundry was drying up in the balcony, he could finally get back to his game.

So after closing the door, he wore the body suit other equipment before logging into the game.

[Welcome to Chimerical World System]

And with that welcoming message, he was standing in his bedroom, or more like Kael's bedroom. Perhaps this was his default point. And so he checked the settings to see that it was truly his default starting point. He could set it so he would spawn from his last location but while he was in Seraphia, he felt like starting at the home was best option. Now that he was in the game, he finally decided to check his reward for the level up.

And so he opened the reward chest with anticipation and soon a frown marked his forehead because the weapon he had gotten was just a little too unusual for a guy like Saad who liked simple swords.