Taking stock

The ominous tone and wrathful eyes spooked the army veteran, and Del quickly moved to remedy the situation before the only earthlings he had met decided he was a greater danger than the roaming mutants.

"Monsters. I meant we'll be killing a lot more monsters. And of course, we will help all those who deserve it. Starting with the people in that shopping mall you mentioned earlier; you're certain there's someone there?" The loud sigh Del heard Joshiah make really cemented the idea he had just spooked the decades-long veteran. 'Well their world has gone to hell, who is to say I'm not just helping them so as to harvest their essence when they reach an appropriate level.

"Not certain, no. But both you and my platoon travelled through the outskirts of the city only to find a grand total of zero survivors. The only places we haven't looked are the neighbourhoods in the heart of city but I doubt people would hide in their homes seeing as mutants can just break down doors. Taking all of this into consideration, it's reasonable to presume they sought safety in numbers and moved to places where they thought others would gather, i.e. the shopping mall or the campus." A trace of unease was in Joshiah's voice but Del didn't press the issue and continued listening.

"When we find other survivors I'd like to be the one to talk to them, my uniform and mannerism might calm them down more than the words of a mysterious spear-wielding man dressed like a Gaelic bounty hunter." Joshiah's words could be interpreted as insulting and he promptly rephrased. "Aah don't get me wrong, I understand you're wearing system-made clothing that probably offers many enhancements, but we will most likely encounter civilians and they will probably be unfamiliar wi-"

Delvin could see the man sweating while bumbling words so he interrupted; his words reassuring the slightly frightened lieutenant "Please stop, your embarrassing yourself lieutenant. I'm not that great with words and speeches, so you'll do the talking with the survivors. You are familiar with the city and it's possible someone will recognize you if you're the one doing the conversing, which will earn us the trust of their groups. Also, I'm pretty sure I would like to be saved by a man in a military uniform more so than someone who looks like they'd just returned from an adventure in the Middle Ages."

The last part visibly relaxed Joshiah and his shoulder slumped in a grateful manner; he probably thought his comments had disrespected the mysterious stranger.

"I'm thinking we start moving in 45 minutes, just let me check my system messages. You can practice your stance or spar with Hannah; see if you can get any skills." The lieutenant nodded and moved on to practice with his subordinate, though not before giving Delvin some valuable information.

"Oh yea, regarding skills, I have a couple. Let's see...here they are: Beginner Gunmanship, Inspect I and Logistics Management I. They showed up alongside the status and everything else at midnight a week ago, just like those messages said they would. You really think we can get more of them by sparing or training?" Delvin was perplexed by the look of craving plastered on Joshiah's face and his lack of knowledge.

"Well duh, just what do you think those flashy moves of mine were? You really believe those are possible without the system's assistance; no, they were all skills I gained over the past seven days fighting mutants and monsters whenever I could. And what's with the face, you're looking at me like I'm about to give you head??" The lieutenant quickly shook his head before exclaiming a loud "YES!"

"Sorry Delvin, it's just... so we can get additional skills? This... I'm talking about that sensation; when the skills... I have to tell Hannah, if we-" A swift flick to the forehead knocked Joshiah out of his daze and the lieutenant proceeded with his view on skills.

"Well that sensation was simply addicting; the information and expertise filling up your brain, strengthening your very being... It felt like all my knowledge in handling guns was crystallized and given form. The same happened with my previous experiences of handling resources and looking out for suspicious activities while on missions." Joshiah's elaboration continued for some time after that. It was mostly about the divine, blissful state he experienced when he received the skills, but he also clarified how he felt the skills themselves were embedded somewhere within him; he just couldn't know where exactly as cutting yourself up in search of imprinted skills was not considered a good idea.

Delvin's perplexion only grew after the explanation as he had no idea what Joshiah was talking about. 'What blissful state? What knowledge filling up my brain?! Whenever I got skills they would merely show up in my status and I'd know how to use them, albeit at an almost inherent degree.'

This is how we find Delvin, 15 minutes later, scratching his head while reading through his entire System UI; some bundles of brown hair were scattered around his immediate vicinity.

'Just what the actual fuck, how bad is this mana core condition or is it the missing supercomputer that handicaps me so; maybe the fact I'm not of this world.' Seeing as there were no answers to his questions, Delvin decided to bottle up his frustration alongside all other negative emotions; they would only act as a weakness in the short term after all.

In truth, Delvin was feeling quite bad about himself. Utter ignorance towards his own heritage and history prior to emerging in the butler's domain, coupled with an unmistakeable sense of loss and regret deep within his soul were some of the problems he decided to supress; at least until the supercomputer returns.

'No point in feeling sorry for myself if I can't even remember what I'm feeling sorry for.' Was his reasoning.

So Delvin decided to focus on the things he could affect; namely his newly-gotten gains. The first thing he pulled up was his most used skill and the thing that kept him going until now, and probably for some time to come.

< Half-Android Physique > (Epic, Tier 0)

Effect: Your body is more reflexive and flexible allowing your joints to bend at an angle of 275 degrees. All primary stats are more effective by a factor of 0.02%. Fatigue build-up -15%. Stamina regen +15%

Several parts of your skeleton, organs and cardiovascular system have been modified and/or replaced by unknown cybernetic enhancements. The modifications have been integrated into your arms.

Level 2/3

---

Del immediately noticed the change in numbers, primarily the 5 degree increase in rotation and the 0.01% increase in stat effectiveness. While he did notice numbers, he felt no actual difference to his body. 'Well 0.01% is a negligible increase, maybe when I have more stats under my belt the boost will be noticeable.' It was a shame the level-up didn't further enhance his fatigue and stamina numbers, but beggars can't be choosers.

But he was a bit puzzled by the change in the skill's description though; the word 'Several' was added to the beginning and an entire sentence to the end.

'...into your arms. But they feel the same, is the skill bugged-' A sudden idea popped into Delvin's mind and he immediately focused on the skill while closing his eyes.

Firstly, he bended the joints on his legs, making him look like a pre-surgery war victim. He then proceeded to turn his head as much as possible, and was surprised to see his right-hand side when he did so. 'Okay, now onto my arms.'

Delvin started rotating his palms, elbows and shoulders while trying to sense any energy or stimuli coursing through them. He remembered the so-called mana channels which acted as the veins/arteries of a person's mana flow, and he attempted sending some mana through them, but was unsuccessful. A few more attempts all yielded the same result, or rather lack thereof; but Delvin wasn't discourage as on the last attempt he had felt something just above his right elbow.

Even if it was for a tenth of a second, there was a miniscule aura of power and he wasn't gonna let it go now. He continued concentrating on that brief, but powerful, aura of energy for several minutes; all the while looking like a serial-killer's magnum opus.

It wasn't until 15 minutes later that he felt a rapid change occurring. At that particular moment, he was picturing how his mana channels looked like and he landed on an image similar to that of a person's nervous system. A web of interconnected pathways, branching around every part of his body, guiding the mana with precision and control.

The feint aura had shown up in various places on both his arms a few times now, but this time was different, Delvin felt it in every joint on his arms at the same time. The feint wisps of energy had grown into enormous vortexes of force that burrowed their way into Delvin's bones, and he barely repressed multiple screams of agony.

Delvin was subject to the most miserable minute of his life as the energy ground his bones to dust and reforged them many times over. It was miraculous he hadn't feinted from the pain, and more miraculous still to not release a single yelp for help. But what came next more than made up for the 60 seconds of doom.

A surge of power unlike any other permeated Delvin's upper limbs and he even detected traces of mana in his mana channels, oh yeah, he could now also visualize his mana channels; at least his crude interpretation of them. He couldn't outright see them, but he knew they were there.

Del promptly rotated his body into its normal shape and executed a series of air punches, or as fancy folk call it, shadowboxed. The difference in strength wasn't ludicrous but Delvin estimated it to be equal to or greater than getting +5 STR, which was nothing to scoff at. 'Maybe that monkey wouldn't have trashed me around like a ragdoll if I had unlocked this earlier.'

Delvin still had many wounds from the fight with the Tier 1 mutant, but they were healing up at a decent pace and would most likely be fully gone in a couple hours. The fight had been a wake-up call for him, and reminded him there was no time to get complacent in this new world. He would continue growing stronger while trying to obtain as many benefits as possible, and the first order of business was...reading.

< Half-Android Physique > (Epic, Tier 0)

Effect: Your body is more reflexive and flexible allowing your joints to bend at an angle of 275 degrees. All primary stats are more effective by a factor of 0.02%. Fatigue build-up -15%. Stamina regen +15%

Several parts of your skeleton, organs and cardiovascular system have been modified and/or replaced by unknown cybernetic enhancements. The modifications have successfully been integrated into your arms.

Level 2/3

---

'So that was the actual integration process, looks like the system won't be doing all of my work for me.' The skill was in a sort-of passive state until Delvin decided to actively try it out. This was his big brain idea, total focus on the skill itself, not the action it produces. The influx of pleasure and wisdom Joshiah explained was foreign to Delvin as he hadn't experienced it, but he attributed this influx to mana, or rather its effects.

If Del ranked all the things the system would consider 'crucial', he would place Mana among the top, right next to perseverance and strength. Going by this logic, he concluded that mana now played a major role in virtually every situation, including the receival of skills. So that is what he did, he focused on the all-important mana as the skill was active, whilst simultaneously contemplating on what the skill could become and what it meant to him.

The integration also healed his arms completely, it even fixed the strain he felt from that sudden flux of mana during the earlier fight. And oh boy, when it rain, it pours.

The catastrophic mana core condition was now slightly less catastrophic, showing only a -70% to mana regen and -4 to WIS and INT. Delvin could also intuitively feel his bones were now heavier and denser, and would require greater force to be broken.

With a renewed sense of vigour Delvin checked his other skill level ups, only to be met with disappointment because the only changes were to their numerical values.

[JOURNAL]

8. How to win skills and influence the system(only weak skills unlockable??) Skills, their usage and mechanics

-Unlocked...

-Potential...

Skill rating system: 1-10

1 are skills that are detrimental to your own survival ( Suicide Mastery or Beginner suicider)

10 are skills that present an immediate and impactful step forward, either in exploration, during combat, crafting etc.

...

8.3 Skill descriptions

-flavour text? Or hidden suggestions (test later)> CONFIRMED

NOT AS SIMPLE AS THEY SEEM, HIDE POTENTIAL BENEFITS (remember Physique level up!!)

- Consider them carefully, and keep an open mind

- Only important for Epic skills? (need more skills!)

...

This discovery was massive, and Delvin hastily wrote it down in the renamed skill chapter of his Journal. He would have to keep collecting skills so he shifted over to reading the fresh batch of skills the system had cooked up; upon reading through them he also marked the date in his Calendar as his luck was simply overflowing today.

< Mana Infusion > (Common, Tier 0)

Effect: Channels mana to a certain part of your body, increasing physical strength and defense against projectile-type attacks (miniscule)

Cost: 1-15 Mana

Cooldown: 15 seconds

The first step towards True Essence begins with the simple guidance of Mana. Conti

Level 1/5

Delvin attributed this skill to the surge of mana when he threw the spear at the gorilla, and he gave it a 8/10 rating all round. He also noted down the 'True Essence' in the Journal, under the mana chapter as he remembered this term being used by the system previously. 'This could help with my general insight into mana while also fixing the mana core debuff, huhu, I'm getting excited already.

The next skill on the menu wouldn't hold the same value in practical combat situations, but Delvin gave it an overall higher rating of 8.3

< Sneak > (Uncommon, Tier 0)

Effect: Using your stealthy nature to your advantage you move quickly and quietly, allowing you to bypass detection for a high cost.

Cost: 20 Mana and Stamina

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Duration: 20 seconds

You have the makings of a crafty, tricky individual. This skill will help gradually expand upon these characteristics as you traverse the Rogue path.

Level 1/7

---

The newly-gotten skills were all proving to be a major boon, both in overall prowess and in information gathering. The 'Rogue path' was written in the bare Classes and Subclasses chapter alongside some of Del's thoughts; the rest was written in the Skill Descriptions chapter.

Sneak would provide Delvin with some much needed utility, and he couldn't wait to test it out, but he stopped himself to glance at the final skill, and the only Rare skill he had earned by himself so far.

< Warrior's Vigour> (Rare, Tier 0)

Effect: Your STR, END and VIT increase by 1 for every 5 seconds spend in combat. Maximum increase of 10 for each stat respectively. Upon reaching +10 in both stats you can unleash a loud battle cry which stuns enemies and doubles the damage of your next attack

Cost: 1 Stamina per second until maximum stats are achieved, 3 Stamina per second with maximum stats. 50% of total Stamina (2nd Activation)

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Duration: Maximum of 120 seconds

Repeated conflicts day in, day out, result in an early grave or a place among the greats. Let us hope you are the latter. This skill can only be levelled up by fighting creatures of a greater Advancement than your own, or those at least 10 Levels higher than you; after all, the Warrior's path is riddled through combat.

Level 1/3

---

He noted down the 'Warrior's path' next to the rogue's one with a shaking hand and a grinning mouth. 'The almighty system has gained a devout follower in this lowly android.' Delvin mused to himself.

But seriously, the skill simply offered too much. A flat increase of 10 to three different stats was equivalent to gaining six levels, SIX! Not to mention he now had a reliable method of disrupting his enemies in the form of the skill's second activation. Delvin was also delighted to see the skill could only be levelled up to 3, much like his Physique skill; he already imagined the next augmentation that would come if this skill was worked the same as Half-Android Physique

'It is costly, 50 Stamina just to get the stat bump and a hefty fifty percent for the crowd control, I don't even have a hundred Stamina...' He lamented putting all those points into agility now, and vowed to dump the next several level's worth of SP into endurance.

Delvin flexed his muscles and checked on his wounds only to see them nearly fully healed by now; his mind itching for battle.

A desire that would soon be fulfilled as a red headed woman and rugged military man finished their sparing session.

Delvin greeted them with a slight nod and brief instruction. "Let's find something to kill."