System Shortcuts

"I have a package for um... Mako Grey?" a delivery person asked as he stood on the doorstep of Mako's home.

"Yes, That's me!" Mako replied as he proceeded to sign a few documents before the delivery man gave Mako his package. He turned to leave on the vehicle he arrived in.

Mako felt like it was Christmas day, and he had been given a huge gift full of wonderful goodies that he would have all to himself. However, this was all in Mako's imagination, as He had never actually experienced Christmas or any other traditional holiday. He only assumed the feeling and reaction of children receiving gifts and compared it to opening his box that had just arrived from TIM Laboratories.

When Mako opened the box, he was in shock and awe. He had only heard about these things from others, and this was his first time actually witnessing, holding, and experiencing what it felt like to be in the presence of such powerful items.

Before he continued, Mako first took everything out of the box and laid it out neatly on his table. Then, he used his Analyze skill to provide a good description of what he had actually purchased. The website only gave a brief description, as it was meant for rich people who already knew most of the details to buy from that site.

[Analyze]

[5x High Tier Healing Pills] ⓘ

[High-tier healing pills are made from several different materials that are not currently in the user's knowledge. A single pill, when consumed, saps 10 energy from the user while restoring 5 health per minute for the next 60 minutes, and can restore and heal internal injuries while also enough to completely heal the user from two fatal wounds such as bones shattering, massive cuts, serious damage to organs, etc.]

[+300 Health]

This was brand-new information for Mako, as now he could increase his knowledge about different materials and substances found in the galaxy and easily determine the composition of any substance he came into contact with.

Secondly, another new piece of information was the amount of recovery a High-tier pill provided for fatal wounds, as it didn't heal a person instantly and completely like Mako thought. During a serious fight between two powerhouses, it won't be uncommon for each of them to suffer multiple fatal wounds, so much higher-grade healing pills would be required.

[5x High Tier Rejuvenating Pills] ⓘ

[High Tier Rejuvenating pills are made from several different materials not currently in the user's knowledge. When consumed, a single pill provides the user with a small amount of instant energy and boosts the user's energy regeneration speed by 300% for the next 30 minutes.]

[+100 Instant Energy]

[+300% Regeneration speed]

Energy regeneration was important as it was the cost of casting skills. He learned that if his energy pool had been slightly lower during his fight with Bill, he would have lost the battle due to completely depleting his energy, so energy regeneration would have benefitted him a lot.

"Come to think of it, what is my current energy regeneration speed?" Mako asked the system.

[The user's current rate of energy regeneration is 0.75 energy recovered per minute while not in combat.]

This was also another shocking discovery. It meant that currently, Mako could completely regenerate his energy in a bit over three and a half hours, while if he consumed the pill, that time could be close to a bit over an hour. This would be a game-changer for Mako if he had to face multiple opponents on the same day.

[5x High Tier Boost Pills] ⓘ

[High Tier Boost pills are made from several materials that are not currently available to the user. A single pill, when consumed, boosts all the attributes of the user by 5 points for the next thirty minutes.]

[*SYSTEM OVERRIDE*]

[The user can now choose to only temporarily boost a single attribute of his choosing with that single attribute having a boost of 15 points instead of 5]

[+5 Temporary All Stats OR +15 Temporary Single Attribute]

"Well, that is new! I wonder if the system can change things about the other pills as well?" Mako questioned, but the system remained silent this time, which Mako took as an obvious "NO" and carried on to the more expensive and important items.

[High Tier Blue Horn Mammoth's Combat Knife] ⓘ

[A 9-inch long blade forged from the crystal and flesh of Blue Horn Mammoth found in (Unknown). A decent quality blade forged by (Unknown)]

[Strength +20]

[Agility +5]

[Attack: 55]

[Active skill: Frostbite] ⓘ

[Frostbite: When an opponent is stabbed with this knife, Ice starts to form around the wound, chilling it to very low temperatures, causing the opponent to be slowed down and their strength cut in half.]

[The effect of the active skill lasts for 10 minutes once it has been activated.]

[The active skill has a cooldown timer of 60 minutes.]

A lot of information rushed into Mako's head. It seemed that it was guaranteed that every time he used Analyze on the items he bought, he would be blown away by the description, and this time was no exception.

Mako already knew that if a forger was experienced enough, he or she could forge an item with active or passive skills, which often turned the tables during a fight. However, what Mako didn't know was that the blade itself was crafted from organic materials, not some special ore, as he previously thought.

There was a massive debate among people who couldn't attain power about how the power items were crafted, but Mako had just found out the truth. He was still confused, as he couldn't imagine how they made a metallic blade from the flesh of a beast.

The blade itself was very beautiful, but the pictures on the website didn't do it justice. It had a few layers of brown fur wrapped around the handle, which was ultra-soft and comfortable to hold. The blade's color gradient ranged from shiny metallic grey to a very dark and beautiful midnight blue.

The shocker was that holding the blade caused Mako to feel a huge rush of energy in his arms and legs, similar to when he had added attribute points to his strength attribute. Mako had no idea that power items had this kind of effect, as just holding the blade immediately doubled his strength.

The knife also came with a sheath and a leg strap, where Mako would keep the blade while using it. However, the most interesting thing was that even though the blade was resting on his thigh, as long as his body made contact with it, he would receive the boost it provided.

The only items left were the ability book and the one complementary skill book he received due to his large order. He decided to check out the complementary skill book first and save the best for last.

[Skill Book: (E-Tier) Ten Palm Strike] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

[A basic skill book containing the fighting skill that teaches the user how to perform consecutive ten-palm strikes on an opponent, with each consecutive strike amping up in power and the last one dealing double damage.]

[Attack: 10 - 50]

[Final Strike: 100]

[Requirements: 35 Strength, 10 Agility, 10 Stamina]

[Cost: 80 Energy]

[Does the User want to instantly learn?]

[YES/NO]

"Huh? What is this about? What do you mean by instantly learning it?" Mako asked the system, but there was no reply.

"Well, I guess I could give it a shot since I was going to learn it anyway," Mako said as he pushed his thoughts forward to select the "YES" option.

As soon as Mako did so, the entire book began to glow with a bright white light. An instant later, it started to disintegrate into particles of light and enter his body before completely disappearing moments later.

Before Mako could even react, a familiar notification sound was heard.

*DING!*

Mako quickly checked to see what the notification was about. The notification directed the system screen to the skills tab, and in the "Basic Skills" tab, there was a brand-new skill that Mako could now use.

(NEW) [(E-Tier) Ten-Palm Strike] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

Mako's mouth was left wide open as he couldn't utter a single word. His eyes were ready to pop out of his sockets, and his mouth was opened so wide that elephants would be able to fit in them... well, at least hypothetically.

****************

The reason why a lot of people were powerless or had very little power was not only because they had no money to buy an ability book but rather also because they had no talent to learn a skill.

Skill books were much cheaper than ability books, so most people's only chance of getting a bit stronger was to learn skills that anyone could use, as they didn't require a specific ability.

However, not everyone was talented enough to learn a new skill, no matter how hard they tried, as they simply didn't have the capacity to understand what was written in the book.

The skill books were unique, as the writing inside them was completely random and indecipherable. It was said that only those who the book itself deemed worthy could read the text and learn the skill.

Even those who were capable of reading a skill book took almost a month to perfect the basics of the new skill, and only once they had completely mastered the skill would the skill book evaporate into particles of light and enter the person's body, permanently etching the skill within their DNA and here Mako had just learned his first E-Tier skill instantly.

******************

Words could not describe the plethora of emotions that were running down Mako's mind as he could now do things that even the people at the Master Level would envy.

After calming down from yet another shocking revelation, Mako turned to his first ability book.

Now that Mako had learned of the shortcuts that the system had provided for him, he no longer had dread over the thought of trying to learn all of those skills that came with the level 3 ability book before he went to military school.

With that, Mako picked up the thing that he thought he would never be able to obtain in his lifetime.

But before he could use the Analyze skill on the ability book, Mako heard a few notifications pop.

*DING!* *DING!* *DING!*

[Hidden Quest Complete]

[Hidden Quest Complete]

[Hidden Quest Complete]

"What is going on?!"

**************************

Author's Note: Hey guys! Universal Power System is one of my favorite projects, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. This is my very first work, so expect some amateur writing and a few slips. However, I always try to learn and correct myself so I can create a more coherent narrative. I hope you guys enjoy it. Don't forget to check out my other works!

Come say hi to me on Discord: https://discord.gg/TvjkrdnbE2