The animals were gone, and the forest was dry—like the area had suffered a prolonged drought. He still didn’t fully understand what happened to a core when a skill was ripped free from its socket, but since he only stole powers from creatures he intended to kill, the mystery didn’t make him lose any sleep.
After his first visit, he already knew what skill he wanted to claim next. Edge pointed to an avatar that was hiding behind a tree and the living links surged toward it like a pair of vipers. It was the skill that let the catfish see in the dark, and it took the form of a great blind eye with an iris so light it looked like a scar rather than a ring of color.
He returned to his body, and the chains dropped the avatar into his mouth. Since it was a perceptual power, the skill couldn’t fight back and was easy to chew.
It tasted like cinnamon and conjured images of walking through enveloping darkness without being impeded at all—of exploring places sunlight never reached as comfortably as strolling through his own backyard.
Three hearty chomps later, Edge swallowed the subdued skill and stepped inside his inner world.
You have extracted the skill: Darkvision
(Uncommon, Rank 3).
Digestion is complete.
When extracting a skill higher than Rank 1, a portion of its experience will be retained if you choose to keep it.
Would you like to slot Darkvision now?
When he saw the message from his Guide, he smiled wide. Awesome, it’s Darkvision after all.
Edge was familiar with several skills that could help you see in the dark, and Darkvision was the best of the lot. Unlike skills that amplified the trace radiance found in dimly lit environments, darkvision let you navigate even when there was no light at all. While skills and gear that created light were easy to come by, he was happy to pick up a power that would let him explore pitch-black places without giving his position away.
Before he claimed Darkvision, he had another matter that he wanted to attend to while his skills were distracted. At the moment, he only had one free skill slot to work with. Even if he didn’t wind up filling it now, he was going to need it sooner rather than later. Luckily, since he was leaving the Deep-Gill Grottos behind, he had one power that was ready to be Absorbed.
It was time to say goodbye to Purge Fungal Toxin—one of the few times he had Absorbed a skill in his core collection since leaving for the Savage Garden.
Obtaining Purge had been a godsend. The power had kept him from being overwhelmed by the mycanoids’ pathogens and saved Mel’s life in the bargain. But it was far too specialized to keep when he was planning to steal more skills from the Claws’ strike leaders.
Edge made sure none of his avatars were watching—glad that they were busy playing with Repel Water—then walked over to the mushroom representing Purge Fungal Toxin and picked it up. Fortunately, since it wasn’t mobile, the avatar wasn’t taking part in the advancement celebration. He walked over to his reactor, opened the bulbous black grill, and looked down at the mushroom in his hands.
“We weren’t fated to walk the same path for long, but you really helped me out of a jam. I wanted to thank you for saving my friend before we say goodbye. I’m sorry about this, but it was always going to end this way.”
With that, Edge tossed the avatar into his reactor and fed it to the flames. When the skill had been fully Absorbed, a trickle of skill experience came flowing back out. He added it to Conceal, since taking the stealth skill to rank four was next on his list. When he called his Guide over and signaled his intentions to the System, the floating eye flowed over to the empty slot Purge had used, binding to the socket on top of the marble pillar.
When they noticed what was happening, his other avatars came running to say hello to their newest companion. Penetrate Foliage was thrilled to have another eye living in the village, even though the skills only bore a superficial resemblance to one another.
He had learned more about Darkvision after slotting it but decided to postpone his analysis until he was ready to try it out. I’ll wait until we camp for the night and I’m on watch duty. It needs to be darker anyway.
Since time was of the essence, Edge returned to his body and got ready to steal his final skill of the day. He was thrilled that the gatekeeper was still alive, although it was in shock and barely holding on. He reached out and used his last charge of Extraction before he lost the chance.
When he returned to the catfish’s core, he beheld a scene of utter devastation. The trees were barren, and the once-pristine water was cloudy and tainted. The darkness signifying the beast’s imminent demise was spreading across the horizon, and he couldn’t afford to linger. He quickly picked out the highest-ranked Uncommon since there weren’t any Rares, then got out of there as fast as he could.
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The last skill was one of the powers that helped the fish’s organs adapt to living in an environment that was strikingly different from its natural habitat. Edge Absorbed it and fed its experience to Conceal.
To his delight, it was enough to advance his version then and there, making this one of his most profitable battles to date as far as upgrades were concerned. He expected Conceal’s avatar to be easy to find for a change, since it should be glowing like a lantern while waiting for him to make his choice.
Thus, he was baffled when he couldn’t find the avatar at all. It wasn’t anywhere in his village, and it wasn’t sitting on top of its pillar either. When Edge asked his other powers about it, Chibime and Sea both shrugged, although he heard what sounded suspiciously like snickering when he turned around. The rest of his skills didn’t seem to understand the question, which was unusual, since it was a simple concept.
He finally figured out what was happening when he realized one of the lights hanging from the ceiling of his central chamber was brighter than the rest—a light that hadn’t been there before. The little bastard was hiding in plain sight all along.
He walked over, raised his hands in surrender, and said, “Point taken. There’s a lot more to stealth than just fading away. Now, would you please come down so we can get to the good part?” The glowing avatar let go of the crossbeam, walked over, and bowed.
His skills all got a good laugh out of that. Even Skill-Eater seemed to be chuckling in its sleep. Now that Edge had stolen three skills, there wasn’t a reason to put off picking his upgrades. Everything would only take a couple of seconds of subjective time, and his crew should be able to hold on until he resurfaced.
Conceal was already standing in front of him, so he decided to advance it first and called up his Guide to peruse his options.
The skill Conceal has advanced to Rank 4.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- Quadruple the distance that Conceal erases your trail.
- Significantly mute your mana signature while Concealed.
- Conceal will become an aura and affect friendly creatures within a short distance.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a significant bonus to mana efficiency.
Since this was a rank-four advancement, all the choices were great. He pondered them carefully. In addition to the advantages they provided, each upgrade would take Conceal in diverging directions, letting the skill play different roles as it progressed.
After giving each choice some serious consideration, Edge eventually crossed number three off the list. His version of Conceal didn’t work while moving and most hunters had one form of stealth skill or another, so the prospect of making it an aura wasn’t particularly appealing this time around. It would be nice to be able to Conceal his crew while they slept, but that wasn’t a good enough reason to pick it.
The first offering was a solid upgrade that would help him shake the pursuit of creatures that were too powerful or troublesome to defeat. But the second choice was better given the nature of the ordeal ahead. Right now, he could hide from opponents with acute physical senses, but not from enemies using various forms of magical detection and natural abilities like Tessa’s mana sensitivity.
In addition, if he were willing to pay the price of using a skill combo, he could ambush enemies from Concealment without his mana signature giving him away, letting him strike a critical point while his quarry was unguarded.
When he made his choice, the tiny hunter stopped shining and gradually faded away. Soon, Edge lost track of it completely. Apparently, the cheeky little avatar could even mute the mana signature from their bond, although it stopped after proving that it could.
The vision he received after making his selection made him feel even better about his decision. It turned out that the trail-deleting element of the skill would now scrub his mana from the terrain he’d crossed in addition to his tracks, making him harder to locate by magical means.
With his first rank-four upgrade out of the way, Edge was ready for the next. He turned his attention to Repel Water, which had calmed down somewhat, although it was bubbling with excitement over its impending advancement.
His Guide was floating nearby, so he asked it to display his options and eagerly began to read.
The skill Repel Water has advanced to Rank 4.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- Triple the effective range of the repulsive field.
- The skill will become Manipulate Water, increasing its versatility but reducing its ability to repel.
- Repel Water will gain a generative component, creating water in addition to repelling it.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a significant bonus to mana efficiency.
Edge hummed in appreciation as he made his way through the list. Once again, each choice would take the skill in different directions, all of which would be useful in certain situations.
The first offering was tempting. It would let him shove enemies from further away and help him create complex fields—enhancing the versatility of the skill. He would be able to ride higher while Repel Waterskiing, create more effective umbrellas and protective barriers, and keep dangerous substances away from his body.
The second upgrade would change the skill into another power completely—choices that were offered on occasion when two skills were closely related. Manipulate Water was the power Rita had used to dry his clothes. It would let him pull water as well as push it, enabling a range of complex interactions and skill combos that were sure to come in handy once he picked up more water-based powers.
Manipulate Water would be a solid pick if Edge wanted to become a water specialist, providing a broad foundation to build his skillset upon. But in the end, he decided to go with the third option.
Being able to create and repel water would turn the skill into a powerful ranged attack once he learned how to use it. He could produce effects like the gatekeeper’s spray or Warren’s bullets without having to be near a body of water, and when combined with Elemental Blade, it would let him create an unlimited supply of ice.
When he made his selection, the floating globe of water let out a hearty spray. The spew made a high arc before coming back down, falling across his village like rain. His powers let out a collective squeal of delight, then everyone ran into the water, dancing and chittering as they played in the downpour.
His decisions made and upgrades obtained, Edge bid his powers farewell and got ready to end the fight.