Now that Rue had calmed down and Edge had spent some quality time with the avatars living inside his core, there were two things he needed to do before he made his way back to the Ivory Plains—check out his gains from the fight and harvest the valuable parts from the shadowreaver’s remains.

  He began by summoning his Guide. He felt a faint pulse of warmth as a mote of golden light detached from his chest and floated in front of his face, flattening to form a translucent screen that only he could see.

  You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 35.

  You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 36.

  You have 10 attribute points awaiting allocation.

  For defeating a cored opponent Stage 2 or above, you have earned 1 Mortium.

  Two cycles, two skill upgrades, some valuable resources, and a Mortium as a cherry on top. Not bad for a day’s work. Edge was deep into stage two by this point and had only expected to earn one cycle from killing the monster. Defeating that stage-three bear must have taken me closer to thirty-five than I thought.

  He rubbed his chin while considering his options. Now then, how should I spend those points?

  While he mulled the matter over, he considered his stats before committing to a course of action. He had put the last six cycles into Generation, doubling the rate that his reservoir refilled so he could use his powers more freely.

  While he planned to focus on his energetic attributes going forward, he couldn’t afford to let his physical attributes fall too far behind. If he neglected his physique, he would be dead before he knew what hit him if he were ambushed by a powerful predator or found himself battling blade to blade against a skilled warrior, both of which were bound to happen sooner or later.

  After bouncing a few ideas off Foebinder, Edge decided to place all ten points into Control.

  Right now, the boost to his Speed from Mantle and Fear let him move so fast that his mind struggled to catch up. It was borderline manageable under ordinary circumstances, but matters would get out of hand if he added a Speed potion to the mix, flared his upgraded aura, received a buff from an ally, or used Overdrive.

  Even without an external boost, he wasn’t making the most of his superhuman quickness. Unless he could guide his body and blade with the precision to match his alacrity, he was undercutting his mobility, offense, and defense by a considerable margin.

  Edge was inclined to raise the attribute anyway, since Control came in handy in a thousand other ways, making it easier to perform almost any task. It helped with everything from keeping his balance when he stepped on something slick to moving silently while hunting to getting a smoother shave when he slid his razor blade across his face, providing some nice quality-of-life upgrades in addition to the life-and-death kind.

  On top of everything else, it was incredibly satisfying to pull off extraordinary feats of athleticism that no uncored person could match. Confident that he had made a wise investment, he voiced his decision to the System. “I’ll take ten points of Control, please.”

  Every time a core reached a new cycle, it created a type of transformative energy known as potentia, which could permanently upgrade his attributes in the manner of his choosing. After granting his consent, the potentia was set free in an electric tide, flowing out from his core and into his tissue to work its wondrous magic.

  His awareness of his body blossomed like a flower greeting the sunrise. The crackling energy soaked into his brain, nerves, and muscle fibers, enhancing his ability to perceive and direct his body. It felt like an army of ants was crawling beneath his skin, which was intense and kind of itchy, but not particularly painful.

  The process was finished a few minutes later, leaving him changed on a fundamental level.

  Thanks to the 10% bonus from his Triple Tap trait, Edge had gained eleven points of Control in total, increasing the attribute by over 50% in a single bound. To say that this was an improvement would be a considerable understatement.

  His proprioception, balance, and fine-motor control had skyrocketed, providing an enhancement equivalent to decades of training the old-fashioned way. Thankfully, the potentia helped his brain adjust to these changes, letting him receive its benefits right away.

  He had been sitting on the floor while the process was underway. Instead of simply rising to his feet, he kicked his legs up, performing a backflip before landing lightly on his feet. He kept right on going, flipping ten times in a row before springing into the air. He kicked off a wall to gain more height and hopped on top of the building where the reaver had flung his sword, retrieving the weapon and storing it in his vault.

  Edge shifted his weight while marveling at how agile he felt, hopping from one foot to the other and then spinning on the toe of his boot. He took a few jabs at the air—each movement smooth as silk and crisp as a newly minted bill.

  When he was done enjoying the moment, he leapt to the ground. Before he proceeded to the last item on his list, he pulled up his profile to peruse his recent gains.

  Personal Statistics: Edge Vasher

  Attributes (Values in parentheses are provided by your traits)

  Physical Attributes

  Power:   20 (25)

  Endurance: 20 (25)

  Durability:  35 (41)

  Reflex:   17 (20)

  Speed:    20 (25)

  Control:   30 (36)

  Perception: 23 (26)

  Energetic Attributes

  Generation:    58 (61)

  Amplification:   41 (44)

  Disruption:    35 (41)

  Core Information

  Name: [Skill-Eater]

  Stage: 2

  Cycle: 36/63

  Rarity: Unique

  Category: Unique

  Attribute points per cycle: 5

  Ultimate Abilities

  [Extraction]

  Uses per day: 3

  Cooldown period: 20 hours

  Steal the skills of monsters, men, and beasts and claim them for your own.

  [Overdrive]

  Cooldown period: 1 week

  Overdrive increases your Amplification by (10 x stage) for 60 seconds. Activating skills will not require mana during this period. You will be severely exhausted for 60 seconds after Overdrive is complete.

  Skill Bond

  Your relationship with your skills will enhance their power. As these bonds deepen, it may alter their behavior in novel ways.

  Core Traits

  Collector (Unique)

  You can no longer acquire or rank up skills through normal means. You may slot twice as many skills as before. Additionally, you will gain an extra skill slot with every new stage.

  Devourer (Unique)

  You may absorb an unwanted skill, freeing its slot and granting a fraction of its experience to the skill of your choice. Be advised, the return on this exchange is significantly less efficient than extracting a duplicate of an existing skill.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Skills

  Skill slots: 18 (Unused slots: 0)

  Counter Disruption (Uncommon): Rank 2. Path: Dual-Link.

  Enhance two paired powers by making them resistant to Disruption Fields.

  Harden (Uncommon): Rank 3. Path: Coverage.

  Cover large portions of your body in diamond scales.

  Regulate Temperature

  (Uncommon): Rank 4. Paths: Protection, Aura.

  Gain significant insulation against temperature change, including elemental attacks. The skill can be activated as an aura, extending its benefits to any allies within 100 feet for no additional cost per person. It will count as a passive skill when only being used on yourself.

  Repel Water (Uncommon): Rank 4. Paths: Repulsion, Manifestation.

  Push large volumes of water away from the user. The shape of the repulsive field can be altered at will. Additionally, a second field may be placed that manifests a considerable volume of water.

  All-Seeing Gaze

  (Rare): Rank 1.

  You may peer through plants or use particles of mana to create a representation of your environment. The first configuration of this power includes a weak thermal vision component. Additional information may be revealed while using both modes at once, although doing so may induce sensory overload.

  Double Slash (Rare): Rank 3. Path: Disruption.

  Empower an attack with a bladed weapon. The weapon will have an offset double, and its edge will be magically sharpened while the skill is active. Additionally, the blade will be coated in a weak Disruption field.

  Elemental Blade (Rare): Rank 3. Path: Elemental Infusion.

  Create a subzero blade of ice or infuse a bladed weapon with a chilling aura.

  Mental Fortress

  (Rare): Rank 2. Path: Total Protection.

  Provides a potent layer of protection against any outside force that is attempting to influence your mental state, emotions, or sensory perceptions. It can shield you from direct mind-reading, but not skills that interpret body language, vocal tone, or biorhythms.

  Rejuvenation : Rank 3. Paths: Unlimited Regeneration, Purification.

  Rapidly heal wounds. Rejuvenation can restore destroyed organs at a significantly slower rate. Rejuvenation will actively purify foreign mana from your body along with a range of venoms and related poisons.

  Sense Natural Treasures

  (Rare): Rank 2. Path: Rarity.

  Detect any nearby resources that are unusually rare, valuable, or useful in crafting. These deposits will be indicated by glowing light, with brightness corresponding to size and quality. This power may penetrate several feet into earth or stone and can detect even minute quantities of extremely rare resources.

  Shadow Play (Rare): Rank 2. Path: Mobility.

  Transform into shadows. In this state, your body is significantly lighter, incredibly malleable, and immune to physical attacks. The cost of transforming your gear is greatly reduced.

  While in shadow form, you may jump with explosive force without consuming additional mana. Additionally, you will emit no scent or heat signatures, and your mana signature will be muted. Visually, you will appear to be a faint shadow that blends in well with most environments.

  On activation, the last 25 feet of your trail will be removed and your Durability will increase for 10 seconds

  Vacuum Blast (Rare): Rank 2. Path: Controlled Detonation.

  Use a pair of vacuum fields to form a wedge of compressed air and launch it at your opponent. If the spell lands on target, the fields will collapse along the point of contact instead of dispersing all at once, creating a directional blast instead of a generalized explosion.

  Warlord’s Mantle (Rare): Rank 3. Path: Attribute Boost.

  Cover yourself and chosen allies within range with a mantle of mana. Anyone bolstered by Warlord’s Mantle will receive a significant boost to Power and Speed and a moderate bonus to Reflex and Control. Additionally, they will receive a slight enhancement to their combat awareness. Any blow passing through the mantle will have a portion of its energy sapped.

  Wind Ward (Rare): Rank 2. Path: Rapid Reload.

  Wind Ward creates a powerful vortex when it detects an incoming projectile attack. This effect is triggered automatically. The ward is potent enough to destroy many missiles outright and strong enough to deflect even more. If for some reason a projectile cannot be deflected, Wind Ward will attempt to reduce its velocity instead. This skill has a cooldown of 5 minutes.

  Intimidating Roar (Epic): Rank 2. Path: Pack Leader.

  This aural attack infuses the listener’s nervous system with a powerful wave of mana, creating an intense state of fear. Intimidating Roar can cause complete paralysis against weaker opponents and may impair stronger creatures to a lesser extent. Allied creatures will not be affected by this skill.

  Fear the Seasons

  (Epic): Rank 2. Path: Elemental Enhancement.

  This skill features two separate components, which are both influenced by the turning of the seasons. The passive component may be activated independently of the domain and provides a significant bonus to a single attribute. Manifesting the skill’s domain requires payment up front and costs a modest amount of mana to maintain.

  At Rank 2, Fear the Seasons provides the following benefits:

  Season (Passive attribute bonus, Element bonus, Domain)

  Spring: Generation, Water, Deluge.

  Summer: Power, Fire, Heatwave.

  Fall: Speed, Wind, Maelstrom.

  Winter: Disruption, Ice, Blizzard.

  Additional powers may be unlocked as the skill advances in rank.

  The current season is: Fall.

  Summon Companion (Epic): Stage 0.

  Summon a bonded Companion to your side or transport it to a pocket dimension where it can rest safely.

  Companions are living creatures. They may acquire skills that will naturally advance over time. Summon Companion does not have a rank and cannot acquire experience via Absorption. If your Companion dies, this skill will be destroyed.

  Manifest Chain (Unique): Rank 2. Path: Restraint.

  You may summon a chain of oblivion and guide it by your will. The chain may also be freed to act at its own discretion. If the manifestation is destroyed, it cannot be summoned again for 24 hours.

  At Rank 2, you may only manifest the left chain, Foebinder. Foebinder can carry considerable weight and features considerable retractive power. It is resilient to physical attacks and weak against magic.

  Traits

  Trait slots: 5 (Unused slots: 0)

  Big Game Hunter

  Holy shit. That. Was. Fucking. Awesome!

  You managed to score a kill on a colossal and behemoth creature, all in the same afternoon. I’m shocked to my circuits that you’re still breathing and loved every second of the show.

  I hope that you try something that batshit crazy again soon. Here’s a trait that should incentivize you to do just that.

  Effect: 50% more damage with weapons and skills to creatures at least 20 times your size (excluding magitech weapons, traps, and spellshots).

  25% extra Perception when sensing creatures at least twice your size.

  Raid Wiper

  Your actions have led to the death of multiple cored crews in a short span of time. Your involvement wasn’t direct enough to award experience, but you get an A+ for effort. Not to mention, a sexy new trait to commemorate the achievement.

  Don’t worry, none of your people were inside when the dungeon sealed itself.

  Effects: +30% damage dealt when facing 5 or more enemies at or above your stage (excluding magitech weapons, traps, and spellshots). Once activated, this bonus will persist until the end of the fight.

  Spelunker

  I didn’t think you had it in you, but once again, you’ve proven to be remarkably resourceful and harder to kill than a stage-seven cockroach. Not only have you managed to successfully cross an unknown biome filled with hostile beasts, you did it fast enough to make it in time for the main event.

  If you hurry, you can join the showdown between Puppet Town’s expeditionary force and the Crimson Claws, which is set to begin approximately… now. The fight with the fish was fun, and I’m ready to enjoy the second screening of this glorious double feature, so get up there and show those jailbirds what the hunters of Ord are made of.

  I’m rooting for you, although watching you die should be almost as entertaining. Either way, today is going to be awesome.

  Effects: +3 to all attributes.

  Triple Tap

  You are either a genius, blessed by the heavens, or the luckiest motherfucker on the planet. You managed to win a fight against three opponents at least one stage higher than yourself and—more or less—landed the killing blow on each.

  Effects: +10% to Power, Speed, and Control (minimum gain of 1).

  Wanted

  You have found 1 of the 21 Unique cores in existence, which has painted a target on your back. In fact, checking out the bounty board is probably something you should do sooner rather than later.

  There’s a good chance that this is going to end spectacularly badly for you, and I can’t wait to watch it all play out. This trait might help you live a little bit longer, but I’m not holding my breath.

  Effects: +10% to Endurance, Durability, and Disruption (minimum gain of 1).

  Fit and Toned (unequipped)

  You’ve managed to push your new body to the limit, maxing your conditioning across the board. I must admit that you’re looking pretty good. The monsters will have some eye candy to appreciate while they’re tearing you apart. That being said, you aren’t the baddest mofo in the dungeon. Not by a long shot.

  Oh, and be careful—I don’t think the bone slime will be alive for much longer.

  Effects: +1 to all physical attributes.

  Implants and Runic Bonds

  Implants

  Implant points: 6 (Unused points: 0)

  Organ-Guard (Uncommon). Tier 2.

  Size: Small (1 implant point). Aether type: Gold. Charge: High.

  This implant generates a potent barrier to protect your vital organs when it detects incoming damage.

  Auxiliary Skill Slot (Rare). Tier 2.

  Size: Small (1 implant point). Aether type: N/A.

  This Auxiliary Skill Slot can be used to socket two extra skills beyond the limit of your core. The skills placed in this slot cannot gain experience, cycle up, or be merged or altered in any way, although they can be Absorbed and replaced with new skills at will.

  This is a passive, structural implant. As such, it does not require an aether charge to function.

  Contents: Enhance Hearing. Sense Fruit.

  Bound Runes

  Frostfury Medallion (Rare)

  Type: Runic item.

  Strain: Low (1 implant point).

  Significantly boost the output of all cold-based magic.

  Rune of Spatial Storage (Epic).

  Type: Core rune.

  Strain: High (3 implant points).

  This rune creates a spatial storage chamber within your body that can be accessed at will. The dimensions of the chamber total 5,000 cubic feet, and its maximum load is 2,000 pounds. Storing and retrieving items from this space will drain a small amount of mana.

  System Currency

  Credits: 356, 225

  Mortium: 31

  Edge was blown away by how fast he’d grown over the last few weeks. He spent several pleasant minutes grinning at the numbers on the screen before moving on to the grisly task of extracting the reaver’s parts.

  While he walked over to the monster’s corpse, he pondered what little he knew about Mortium—the mysterious currency also known as lifecoin.

  The System awarded Mortium when killing monsters and men stage two or above, but not for defeating beasts. In addition to the core Mortium point a cored creature carried, any other lifecoins they had accrued would be transferred to their killer.

  After defeating several powerful monsters that only awarded a single Mortium, Edge had come to believe they could spend it to increase their power in some way. It might even be how monsters evolve, which would explain why Ord hasn’t been overrun by endless hordes, spawning more every time one reaches a new stage.

  Shrugging at the mystery of it all, he pulled out the knife Trapper had given him, which was incredibly sharp and ideal for detailed work like harvesting parts. While cutting through strips of stinking flesh to extract the reaver’s claws, talons, and beak, he reviewed his plans for the short-term, organizing his thoughts while his hands were busy.

  When he finished harvesting the last claw, he washed himself off with Repel Water, sprayed down the pile, and stored everything in his vault.

  Edge left the ruins with a spring in his step—ready to head back to town and help his people prepare to battle the kaiju and its army of undead beasts.