Chapter 253: In the Zone

Ideal upgrade available for [Focus - Rare].

Prerequisites met:

Remain focused in the face of severe pain.Remain focused in the face of certain death.Actively use [Focus] to resist a Tier 4 fake-world illusion for one hour.Channel emotions to enhance [Focus].Score in the 99th percentile on the trait of concentration.

Ideal Upgrade unlocked:

[In the Zone - Epic] - Elevate yourself to a state of laser focus and enter the Zone. Once inside, there's only one thing left to do: annihilate the obstacles in your path. Ideal upgrade potential. Potential Cost: 320

You have selected the skill [In the Zone - Epic].

POT -320

[In the Zone - Epic] - The Zone is a mental construct that channels your emotions, filters distractions, and isolates you from irrelevant aspects of your environment. With unnecessary data stripped away, the situation becomes clearer, allowing you to find solutions more easily.

Your purpose becomes a guiding flame... but it can also burn you.

PERC +3

VIVA +3

DEXT +3

Priam opened his eyes as the System upgraded his skill. With the transformation of [Focus] into [In the Zone], everything gained clarity. The illusion dissipated on its own, and the ritual ceased, having achieved its purpose. The runes composing it were interesting as references, and the add-on began copying them.

Several things happened simultaneously. Mama Apo and Gabrielle's conversation had been recorded by the System even as Priam's senses were disrupted by the illusion. He absorbed the information in moments. A parallel thought, influenced by [In the Zone], observed the two Gaeserts watching him.

“You were quick,” said the grandmother.

Replying was a waste of time. He needed more ideal upgrades before facing Sumstreh to maximize the use of Back in Time. His next step was to talk to Gryphe. Eager to move on, Priam set off.

“Kids...” Mama Apo waved a hand, and Priam nearly stumbled as he passed her. The clarity brought by his new skill shattered, and he blinked, as if waking from a lucid dream.

“What the—”

“[Focus] is less disorienting than [Berserk], but it can still severely affect its user.”

With his vivacity, Priam needed only a second to regain his composure and realize he had let the skill control him. The upgrade had boosted both its strengths and its hazards. I'll need to be careful with the influence of mental skills...

“You knew this might happen.”

The shaman shrugged. “I don’t have access to your full status, but it was a possibility.”

“I see. Well, thank you for your help.” Priam rubbed his left eye. A phantom pain bothered him, and Micro couldn't alleviate it. In the fake world, the last arrow had pierced his eye socket, and the illusion felt so real that his mind struggled to accept it had been deceived. [Focus] had kept the pain at bay while active, but now, Priam had to endure it.

“The pain will fade soon,” Mama Apo reassured him.

Priam hoped so. He was accustomed to pain and accepted it when it came with growth. This torture was more excruciating because it offered no positive change.

“You were super fast!” Gabrielle exclaimed, seizing a lull in the conversation.

“I guess so.” Priam had shattered Braato's record, the Gaeserts' chief, but he had advantages Braato didn’t. Besides his innate talent for concentration and his familiarity with pain and death, he used his two parallel thought streams to understand the skill from different angles. As usual, dragons cheated. “Once again, thanks for your help. I won't bother you any longer.”

His ideal upgrade checklist was far from complete.

“Wait. You're not obliged to answer, but could you tell me the prerequisites that unlocked [Ideal Focus - Epic]?” asked the shaman. “Most warriors need to go through multiple illusions to get it, and you did it on the first try.”

“I didn’t get [Ideal Focus], but [In the Zone],” Priam corrected.

“The System loves giving complicated names to its skills,” Gabrielle explained, hearing her mentor grunt. “In the tribe, we prefer to rename skills as the original name helps to understand what they do. Some add High or Ideal in front to flaunt their power.”

“It also prevents giving away information to strangers. For an epic skill, it’s less critical, but knowing the full name of a mythical skill could reveal the path of a Tier 1.”

“Makes sense,” Priam admitted, grimacing. His eye still hurt. “I’ll share my prerequisites if you tell me what a Smiling Juggernaut is.”

Mama Apo squinted before nodding. “The founder of our tribe was a Champion. In his memoirs—which you won’t read—he wrote that rivals always have an archetype. The Juggernaut is one. To differentiate between generations of rivals, Gaesert added an adjective. I thought Smiling Juggernaut suited you well, but it's not official. At least, the adjective isn’t.”

A Juggernaut, an unstoppable force crushing all obstacles in its path. I guess that fits me in some ways.

“Why smiling?”

“The Impossible difficulty of the Tutorial only appears to those who seek change. Hence, Champions are naturally inclined to the System's arrival.” Priam’s eyes widened slightly. “You, however, seem particularly happy to pursue the Zenith.”

Where the Gaesert camp was disorderly, the Aelbes' camp was pure chaos. No two tents were alike in shape, size, or color. The inhabitants, more human in appearance than feline, behaved like cats. One only had to watch them chase each other through the maze of tents and pavilions or lounge in hammocks several meters off the ground to see the resemblance.

As Priam walked along a winding path, he encountered an adorable girl with slightly pointed ears and vertical pupils. She stood pensively near a clothesline strung between two tents, adorned with a dozen garments.

Suddenly, she noticed Priam approaching and smiled before putting a finger to her lips. Priam returned her smile and nodded. The next moment, the girl drew a claw, cut the line, and darted between two tents. Dumbfounded, Priam watched the clothes tumble into the dust.

The definition of chaotic neutral...

A second later, a teenage boy burst from one of the tents, loudly complaining as he surveyed the mess.

“Was it you?” he asked, casting a suspicious glance at Priam.

“I don’t have the nails for it.” A lighthearted justification was always better received than outright denial.

“Mmh,” the teenager muttered, eyeing Priam's hands. “Normally, I’d accuse you, but you look too pitiful.”

He retreated into his tent, leaving the clothes on the ground and Priam stunned.

“Those cats are crazy...” Priam murmured, heading toward the central pavilions.

Gryphe’s tent was larger than the others and the only one closed. Touching the flap, Priam realized it was as solid as stone—the equivalent of a locked door.

“The shaman is napping.” Priam turned as Rohan approached. “We like to sleep... and we hate being woken up for nothing.”

“I enjoyed the spar,” Priam admitted, letting his add-on and half his attention analyze the fight. His first impression had been poor, but after a good fight, he almost liked his training partner.

“Anytime,” Rohan laughed, tossing him an orange fruit. “We don’t have a tank in our tribe, so I appreciate the variety.”

Priam identified the gift.

[Vitamin-Rich Mango - Tier 1] - A mango packed with an impressive amount of nutrients. To be consumed after significant blood loss.

He bit into the fruit and smiled. “This is delicious!” he exclaimed after swallowing. “Where does it grow?” He needed Log-a-rhythm to analyze the seed after rewinding time.

“Our gardeners have cultivated this species for generations. There are mango trees on a floating island several days from here, but their fruits are nothing special. We sell ours for Sun points if you’re interested.”

“I’ll buy some, it's perfect for recovery.”

“The best thing,” Rohan said, dodging two children chasing each other, “is not to lose so much blood in the first place. For a moment, I thought you were under some kind of [Focus] skill. You know you’re allowed to dodge, right?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t train my resistances,” Priam joked.

Rohan’s look was eloquent, the young master questioning Priam’s sanity. Finally, he shrugged as they arrived in front of the now-open tent.

“Gryphe is gruff but kind,” Rohan warned.

“Thanks for the tip.” Seeing the young master hesitate to continue, Priam waited.

“Mmh... The young woman who was with you, in Braato’s tent...”

“Jasmine?”

“Yes. She seemed feline. Did she talk about me?”

This fucker...

The Homo Elysium squinted before grinning. “No,” he said, stepping into the tent.

Status:

PHYSICAL:

Strength 755 (+29)

Constitution 1 195 (+16)

Agility 897

Vitality 1 147 (+17)

Perception 778 (+11)

MENTAL:

Vivacity (D) 599 (+4)

Dexterity 673 (+15)

Memory 864

Willpower 1 168

Charisma 692

META:

Meta-affinity 829

Meta-focus 417

Meta-endurance 710

Meta-perception 346

Meta-chance 274

Meta-authority 228

Potential: 13 862 (-278)

Tier 0

Sun points: 1 486 825 (+899)

[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED

[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.

Future Tribulations delayed until:

Time: 152 days 20 hours 40 minutes 10 seconds.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200

This arc is already complete on Patreon if you're interested in finding out what happens next!

/ANovelConcept