Testing Skills

[Alex]

[0-Star awakened]

[Talent: Attribute Consolidation, EX-Grade Mana Cost Reduction,???]

[Vitality:5]

[Force:1]

[Skills: Ice Razor(Inferior 2-Star, Variant)]

As expected, the panel listed his new skill, which was identical to the description given by the merchant. Alex wanted to try out his skill immediately, but it would simply cause too much of a commotion. He had to find a better place to do that, and he already had an idea. But first, he had to finish here.

Alex quickly produced another skill shard out of his pocket. It was a 1-Star Resistance skill shard. A relatively common skill that boosted defense, and while it wasn't particularly good at defending something particular, its main draw was that it would boost your defense against most forms of damage, which made it a great support skill. As well as the fact that Alex wasn't able to find anything better for the money he had. Still, it was better than nothing, and if pushed to the very peak of its potential, the skill was actually pretty good, since most of the skills that boosted your defense at the 1-Star level would only boost it against one type of damage.

Alex was quick to absorb this skill as well, though, unlike the 2-Star one, it didn't have any major impact on his body. Instead, it felt as if a vague mental picture entered his mind, representing the skills. As it cleared up, Alex realized that he had learned how to cast this skill. He gave it a test, just like the previous one. A slight tingling sensation engulfed his body, which indicated that the skill was working. Just a moment later, the feeling stopped, and Alex realized that the skill actually made him feel quite comfortable. It was as if he had a pocket climate control system that affected only his body.

The feeling was quite pleasant. And since it was a channeled skill, it could be sustained as long as one had enough mana, which was basically a non-issue for Alex.

Since this skill was a defensive one, it was much easier to test. Alex opened a small kitchen drawer. He quickly fished out a small knife and slid his finger across the edge, but his finger remained intact. One more try - this time with pressure applied. He felt the knife digging into his skin, but no pain at all. Alex grinned like a kid. The skill was proving itself to be quite good. Alex put away the knife and tried to punch a wall full force.

A dull pain erupted from his knuckles. "Shit! Ouch!" he exclaimed, quickly withdrawing his hand. "Ow, ow, ow, that hurts!"

Alex clenched his teeth, as he watched his already swelling and bruised knuckles. "I should get some ice... or not." He grabbed a vitality crystal he bought. The side effect of both vitality and magic crystals was restoration. To an extent, vitality crystals could accelerate your healing and recovery, but the effect was very minor, so one could rarely rely on them if they were seriously injured. The same was true for magic crystals, they would help you recover some mana when absorbed.

"Here goes nothing!"

Alex crushed the crystal between his thumb and index finger. Immediately after that, he felt an indescribable warm feeling surging through his entire body. The swelling in his knuckles started to recede and the pain quickly subsided. Alex waited a few moments for the crystal to finish its job. And as soon as the warmth stopped coursing through his veins, he opened the stat panel to see the changes.

[Alex]

[0-Star awakened]

[Talent: Attribute Consolidation, EX-Grade Mana Cost Reduction,???]

[Vitality:8]

[Force:1]

[Skills: Ice Razor(Inferior 2-Star, Variant); Resistance(Inferior 1-Star)]

"Niiiiiiice." Alex's smile grew wide. The vitality crystal indeed gave him 3 stat points, which in his case counted as a whole nine of them. He still hadn't crossed the threshold of 1-Star awakened, but he certainly felt a lot stronger.

Alex looked at the magic crystal he had. He could absorb it now, or he could wait and see how many times could he cast [Ice Razor] first. And then use the crystal to recover some mana if needed. The sun was still high, and it would be best for him to try his skills at night when there were fewer eyes around, so he decided to take a little nap and continue in the evening.

***

It was nearly midnight when Alex awoke. His roommates were already sleeping, and the dorms were quiet. Alex got up and sneaked out of the dorms, using the back entrance. It was technically prohibited to go outside during curfew time, but the gate was unguarded and it was more like a formality rather than a rule. The mine was situated on the very outskirts of the city, so the distance to the nearest monster field was over thirty kilometers, and a few random monsters popping out at night did happen, but the awakened on patrol duty usually dealt with them on their own, so it wasn't an issue.

Alex walked approximately a kilometer away from the mine when he found a nice clearing by the forest. It was a perfect spot for him to test the [Ice Razor]. There was no one around and no traces of any humans ever passing through, so it should be safe.

Alex activated the skill, and immediately a thick layer of frost appeared around his arm. Then, a chunk of translucent ice manifested over his palm. Alex flicked his hand towards a tree on the other side of the clearing. The ice shard shot out from his hand and flew through the air in a curved trajectory, leaving a thin trail of fog behind it. A moment later, the shard pierced into the tree trunk. The sheer force of collision exploded the tree trunk into small pieces of bark, wood chips flying everywhere.

Birds, startled by such a rude awakening, flew off their nests into the night sky. 

"Holy shit!" Alex exclaimed, staring at the broken tree in disbelief. "That is powerful."

The remaining part of the tree trembled and collapsed with a loud thud. 

"That's a two star skill for you!"

Alex couldn't hide his excitement. On average, a newly awakened person would be able to cast an inferior 1-Star skill around five times before being exhausted. Casting a 2-Star skill even once was out of the question. But for Alex, with his skill cost reduction talent, the mana consumption was reduced down to a negligible amount. An inferior 2-Star skill was probably his limit, but even that was already incredible.

Now, he wanted to see just how far can he go.

Alex kept casting the skill over and over. At first, the cast time was around a second, and that included the time taken by the shard to cross the distance. However, as his skill proficiency rose, the time decreased and the time required to conjure a shard in his hand also became smaller. Right now, the shard appeared in less than a second after the command.

With each subsequent cast, Alex was becoming faster and faster. With each new cast, Alex felt more in tune with the skill. His body was quickly learning the skill. By the time he felt he was unable to cast anymore, he could cast the skill in a little bit over half a second.

This meant that Alex could literally cast this skill over a hundred times in one minute! It was like having a rapid-fire railgun hidden in his arm.

However, his mana was still a limitation. Even with an insane amount of skill cost reduction, he managed to cast the skill only forty-one times before running out of mana. The regeneration was nowhere near the speed of his mana usage. But the time frame for regenerating enough mana was not that big, since each individual cast was not that mana expensive.

Alex took out the mana crystal and promptly began to absorb it. The crystal dissolved in his hands. Immediately after, the warmth he experienced earlier returned to his body. He checked his status panel again, and a wide grin spread over his face. Just like the vitality crystal, this one gave him full three stat points, bringing his [Force] to 4.

Alex took a bit of time to recover and then tried to rapidly cast [Ice Razor]. The cast time remained at a consistent half-second. Alex noted that he will have to work on increasing his mana pool by consuming more crystals, but for the time being, he was satisfied with the result, as he was able to cast the skill continuously for a minute straight, and instead of exhaustion, he felt like he studied for a whole day instead. His head was a little foggy, but he knew that if needed, he could cast the skill for another hundred times or so. He was ready to hunt some monsters.

It was time for a field test.