Chapter 97: Progress

Chapter 97: Progress

Evolving felt amazing, and Leif hadn’t yet left the comforting embrace of the domain tree. He felt something different about his connection to the tree, as if his relationship with the part of himself he had severed had changed. It didn’t take him more than a moment to realise it was almost certainly because of a skill change.

So [Settle] is probably no more. He mused, basking in the feeling of growth and potential that now suffused his form. There was something new, he could instinctually feel that even without reading the system's information. It wasn’t the only skill to change, he could sense his instinctual understanding of several skills shift within him. It was hard to pinpoint exactly which skills were different, though that was likely because he was still within the domain tree.

Without stalling any longer he opened up his system window, immediately a list of skills that had been changed by his evolution popped up.

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[Amber Sympathy] → [Time Born Sympathy]

Time Born Sympathy:

Aspects: Perception (Time)*, Enhancement (Body)*, Social*, Analysis

You passively gain knowledge of events and changes that have occurred within your surroundings, the more significant these events the more clear they are to your sight. You may invoke the passage of time, seeing an echo of the past which you may project to those nearby.

You have greater awareness of both your material and spiritual surroundings, and have the ability to sense emotions and intent of those within range of your perception.

Finally you may analyse a target to determine their age relative to your own.

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The change was immediately apparent, [Time Born Sympathy] was now an analysis skill, but beyond that Leif couldn’t tell what else may be different. The wording of the skill had changed somewhat, and he could somewhat sense that the skill was now stronger, but whether that was due to his sudden leap in attributes or because the skill was innately more powerful Leif couldn’t tell.

For now he noted the changes as minor, but potentially more potent than what they first appeared. I’m not too sure how useful being able to analyse age will be, but I suppose I’m slowly building up a repertoire of skills that let me judge the experience of those I analyse.

Leif hadn’t used [Combative Gumption] much at all since he had recovered from the battle, the skill hadn’t even worked on Ram and he had never bothered to try it on the elementals. I should analyse more often, it probably won’t hurt me unless the target can actively change the results of analysis skills.

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[Blight’s Bounty] → [Consuming Aeons]

Consuming Aeons:

Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Technique (Blood)* (Life)* (Time)*

When you strike or make continuous contact with your body you may drain vitality from the target. Additionally whenever you drain a target of life-force you inflict a damaging resonance that accelerates the body's natural decay, this effect can stack.

Vitality you absorb is naturally converted into the amber blood that runs through your veins, and you may control the speed at which this conversion occurs.

After you have drained a being of vitality you gain up to +60% to all attributes depending on the amount drained. This bonus to your attributes lasts for one hour and is incrementally lost over that duration. You may pause the benefit gained from these bonus attributes for up to a day, preventing the incremental loss of this effect.

You may bestow life-force with a touch, and your blood naturally adapts to any target you heal, increasing efficiency. Whenever you heal a target you bestow a supportive resonance that accelerates the body's natural recovery, this effect can stack.

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Woah. Leif thought. There’s a lot of good stuff in here. From the increase to his attributes going from forty to sixty percent, to being able to more easily prepare the bonus before going into a fight by being able to pause the effect. Not to mention the harming and healing resonance that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

I suppose the skill now has a time aspect. He mused, rereading the skill’s description. Functionally [Consuming Aeons] was very similar, but the skill had received a massive qualitative increase to its power. I need to test out how potent the resonances are. I don’t imagine speeding up natural decay to be very strong unless the resonance stacks up considerably.

With [Consuming Aeons] fully charged up, he would have a total of plus seventy percent to most of his attributes, and an insane increase of one hundred and fifty percent to his [Charisma]. And assuming the level fifty milestone provided additional percentage increases things were about to get insane. Leif hadn’t yet snuck a peek at his new totals after the huge amount of flat attributes his evolution had added, but he was very tempted.

One thing at a time. He reminded himself, looking over the next skill that had changed.

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[Settle] → [Tree of Respite]

Aspects: Transformation, Enhancement (Body)*, Domain (Life)* (Time)*, Technique (Nature)

Leif reread over the changes to his skills a second time, committing them to memory. He was done, the next step was getting one final level and advancing beyond the level fifty bottleneck. He had been holding off on fusing any skills until after his evolution, but now that that was behind him he could continue to whittle his number of skills down to fifteen and below.

Finally he opened up his status sheet and gazed proudly at the bigger numbers.

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Name: Leif Vin

Race: Scion of Aeons

Age: 12

Awaiting manifestation: Emblem

Attributes:

Free: 6

Might: 62 (+10%)

Alacrity: 60 (+10%)

Intelligence: 64 (+10%)

Willpower: 73 (+10%)

Spirit: 76 (+10%)

Charisma: 135 (+90%)

Total Level: 49

Monster Classes: 1/1

Scion of Aeons: 20/40

Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Time Born Sympathy / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life III / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Embolden Vegetation / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Wisdom of the Ages

Classes: 3/3

Brawler: 10/10

Skills: Tenacious Fighter III / Combative Gumption / Fists of Conflict

Adept: 3/10 (Locked)

Skills: Healing Palm (Fractured)

Attuned: Life: 6/10

Skills: Aura of Recovery II

Auxiliary Classes: 1

Noble: 10/10

Skills: Aura of Nobility III / Grand Action / Legacy

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