Ethan felt his cut closing. It was a strange sensation, like his skin was being pinched and stretched at the same time. He paid it no mind and instead focused on something far more important.

  He had a new skill to select.

  Skills were an interesting thing. Your class dictated your options to a degree. If you were a mage, you wouldn’t have access to something like a berserk skill, and if you were a warrior, you were unlikely to see anything that allowed you to cast massive spells. But the system wasn’t completely rigid. There were still other options. A warrior could pick up the odd magical skill, just like a mage could still learn combat.

  A prime example of this was Nivia. She could perform healing almost at the level of a fully focused healer, but Ethan was certain she also had at least one combat skill—probably something tied to swordplay or close-quarters fighting. However, if he was honest, she wasn’t very good at it. Which again, was the trade you had to take if you wanted to split your focus and not stick to a certain build.

  All of that was to say that, though Ethan was a warrior, he had already planned out a path where he would mix in aspects from other classes when possible. The main issue with going that route was the absurd amount of PO it would cost.

  PO was an interesting concept in itself. Depending on the skill and the person buying it, costs could vary by massive margins. That didn’t mean those costs were fixed, however. If Ethan wanted to buy a skill that was purely combat-focused, it would likely be cheap due to his existing understanding of the concept. But if he tried to purchase a healing skill, or anything heavily mana-based, the cost would skyrocket.

  That gap could be reduced by studying and learning more about the field he was trying to enter, you could even learn a skill without having to buy it, if you had absolute knowledge about it. Just like how Ethan had gotten [Sword Mastery].

  Unfortunately, Ethan was running low on PO, which didn’t help his plans in the slightest. Still, he pulled up the options available to him.

  [Pain Tolerance] [Battle Rhythm] [Power Strike] [Keen Sense] [Self Heal] [Mana Strike] [Poison Resistance] [Hardened Skin] [Axe Mastery] [Light Footed]

  The list kept going, depicting another hundred or so skills ranging from pure combat to the occasional odd magical option. Ethan quickly narrowed it down to three he liked the sound of.

  [Mana Strike]

  Enhance your next strike by adding mana to it. Power varies depending on how much mana is applied.

  Cost: 1282 PO

  [Hardened Skin]

  Infuse your body with aura, hardening the skin. Power varies depending on how much aura is applied.

  Cost: 120 PO

  [Keen Sense]

  Enhance sensory clarity, improving vision, hearing, and awareness.

  Cost: 85 PO

  Ethan read over the descriptions and costs, then held back a sigh. By the time he looked up, Nivia had finished healing his arm. He rolled his shoulder experimentally, thanked her, then returned his attention to the skills. There were other options he could take, ones that cost next to nothing, like [Battle Rhythm]. He could select it and walk away with most of his PO intact.

  But there was little point.

  He could likely learn something like that on his own without the system’s help. But most importantly, at the end of the day, he didn’t really need it. He was already more than capable of finding a rhythm in combat. While the skill at a higher level would obviously be amazing, as it was, he found little use for it and wasn’t willing to take up a slot on it.

  What he really wanted was something like [Mana Strike]. That skill would allow him to branch away from a pure warrior build and start implementing his long-term plan. Unfortunately, the cost was far too high. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he hadn’t focused so heavily on aura in the past. If he had paid more attention to mana, he likely would have been able to pick it up.

  As it stood, he only had two real choices.

  [Hardened Skin] and [Keen Sense].

  [Hardened Skin] would obviously help him defensively. The skill probably would have saved him from getting injured in the last battle. The ability to defend yourself was one of the most important things a warrior could have, at least as far as Ethan was concerned. But he had to ask himself if he truly needed it yet. Both skills were something he was going to have to get eventually. But he needed to think about what would help him right now.

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  With his first option for branching into magic effectively impossible for now, he wasn’t sure where to lean. Defense or perception. By all rights, he didn’t need another attack skill. His swordsmanship was more than enough, and any offensive skill he picked up now would feel like a waste of a slot.

  [Keen Sense], on the other hand, would heighten his awareness. He knew that as it leveled, the skill would eventually remain active at all times. It appealed to him for several reasons. For one, no one would be able to sneak up on him the way Alex had that first morning. More importantly, during combat it would help him spot weak points—something he desperately needed if he was going to fight above his weight class.

  Which the Colossus definitely was.

  In the end, it came down to a simple choice: the ability to defend himself, or the ability to sense danger and weakness before it reached him.

  The more he thought about it, the clearer the answer became. If he had greater awareness, he wouldn’t need to defend himself as much. It would also complement his swordsmanship perfectly. If he chose the defensive skill, his offense wouldn’t improve at all—he would simply be sturdier.

  And sturdiness didn’t mean much when facing something twenty or thirty levels above him, unless he leveled the skill a ridiculous amount or brought a more expensive defensive skill. Something he didn’t have the PO for.

  So Ethan made his choice.

  He only had 205 PO, courtesy of killing higher-leveled monsters over the last few days. When he confirmed the selection, he watched the number split in half of what it had been. At the same time, he felt the skill slot into his soul, along with the faint awareness of how to activate it.

  The skill didn’t automatically enhance his senses yet. In the future it would, but for now, it had to be activated consciously. With his choice made and the group preparing to move on, Ethan pulled up his status to make sure everything was tracking correctly. He had continued putting his free stat point into Strength, just as he had planned. He added the new point and reviewed the result.

  Name: Ethan Carter

  Level: 10

  Class: Warrior

  Cultivation:

  ? Core — Unawakened

  ? Body — Unawakened

  Attributes:

  ? Strength: 25

  ? Endurance: 18

  ? Agility: 15

  ? Perception: 17

  ? Willpower: 19

  Skills: (3/10)

  ? Steadfast Lv.5 (Common)

  ? Advanced Sword Mastery Lv.1 (Uncommon)

  ? Keen Sense Lv.1 (Common)

  He looked it over as they resumed walking, quietly pleased. His Strength had reached a decent level compared to where it started, so he wondered whether to stop focusing his free point there. His Agility lagged slightly, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to commit to it yet.

  Instead, his thoughts drifted back to cultivation.

  It bothered him that his core still hadn’t awakened. He needed to start cultivating properly if he wanted real power behind his actions, and he was confident it would reduce the cost of mana-based skills. After all, core cultivation governed everything related to mana.

  As for body cultivation, he had a plan for that as well. But it would have to wait. First, he needed strong healing items and a safe place where he could push himself without dying in the process. Ideally, that would happen after he found his sister.

  With cultivation settled—at least in theory—his attention moved to the next thing that bothered him.

  His sword mastery still hadn’t leveled. Despite all the fighting.

  It grated on him, seeing the skill stuck at such a low level. Clearly, he hadn’t done enough for the system to acknowledge him yet. That would change once he faced a worthy opponent.

  Everything else, at least, was fine.

  [Steadfast] had leveled several times since he last checked. He’d gained two levels fighting undead and another two while traveling through the desert, avoiding sinkholes and unstable ground. He was still glad he’d taken the skill. It made a massive difference when traveling and allowed him to keep pace with the others while spending less energy fighting the terrain.

  So far, though, it hadn’t quite lived up to the hype he’d built around it. Hopefully, that would change in the future.

  He closed his status window. The others were already walking ahead of him—farther than he’d realized while distracted. Ethan grabbed his gear and as he caught up, Ethan decided to test [Keen Sense].

  He activated the skill.

  The change was immediate. It wasn’t as if time slowed, but his awareness expanded. His vision sharpened until he could pick out individual grains of sand. His hearing refined until he could hear his own heartbeat beneath the wind. Beyond that, he could hear the others talking.

  He considered not listening in.

  Then dismissed the thought. He had to know the limits of his new skill, after all.

  “—How strong is he?” Nivia asked.

  Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. We didn’t have any crafters or scouts available to get his level. He seems like he can hold his own.”

  “Really? He got hurt by something under level twenty,” she replied.

  Thane, who Ethan had barely heard speak before, answered. “I noticed that. He looked genuinely shocked that his attack didn’t cut through its armor though. Seems odd.”

  Nivia hummed. “That’s worse. Why would he think he could cut through Sand Stalker chitin? Not even a level forty strength-based warrior could do that. Sounds like he has a bad sense of his own strength.”

  Ethan frowned.

  They were talking shit about him. Granted, she was right. But still it’s the principle of the matter.

  He thought about saying something—but that would be awkward when he had to explain how he’d heard them. He hesitated, indecision settling in, and decided to wait.

  “Give him a chance,” Alex cut in. “He’s smart. I can tell. He’s been watching us for the last few days. This was the first time he took something on alone—and he still killed two of them.”

  Ethan felt a flicker of satisfaction. He knew there was a reason he liked Alex.

  “But there’s something about him, I’ll give you that. The way he carries himself—it’s like he thinks he’s the strongest person there is. But I can feel that his core isn’t even awakened yet. So maybe his sense of self really is off.”

  He continued.

  “But it doesn’t matter. As long as he can lead us to the Colossus, I don’t care.”

  Ethan exhaled slowly.

  Never mind, fuck that guy.