A group of 4 cockroaches started crawling towards my crippled body.
'Shit this had to happen just when I got a migraine.'
I immediately tried to control the mud to scare off the cockroaches. I moved it to make it seem like it was alive. This of course only increased the pain of my migraine.
'Oooohh. If the body dissolving I experienced was physical pain, then this is mental pain.'
It felt as if someone had put my brain in a blender and turned it on to the maximum settings. Enduring the pain, I continue to control the mud. Seeing this, the cockroaches backed off and returned to their nest.
'Phew safe. This migraine sucks. There must be a limit to how long I can use the ruby.'
I lay on the muddy cave floor thinking of what I learned. But it hard just to think because the pain still lingered in my head.
'The mud and the ruby seem to be connected now. I can't separate them. The curious thing is that the mud also seems to be connected to what remains of my body. As for what caused this, I have no clue. Maybe it got attached to me because it ate parts of me? But that doesn't explain the ruby.'
More questions have been added to my list.
'At least I am alive. That means I still have the chance to try to find answers and maybe get some revenge along the way.'
I already met 2 of the creatures in this cave and died to one of them. Even though Fran escaped, who knows if she will run into another one of those mud monsters.
'I hope experiences more pain than what I had to go through.'
After laying around for a few hours I try controlling the mud again. I was able to move a few steps before falling down again.
'This is gonna take some getting used to.'
I control the mud to take me back to where I first woke up in this cave.
'Hopefully the cockroaches won't come over here during my migraines.'
Spending all my time on practicing and controlling this mud, I start getting the hang of it.
###
After what feels like weeks, I was finally able to get the mud to act as my body naturally.
*Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.*
I throw some punches and kicks while controlling the mud as if it were my own body.
"Now let's do some advanced moves. Hya!"
I swing my left arm diagonally. Mid swing I control the mud and turn it into a whip shape.
Splat.
Hitting the cave wall with my impromptu arm whip, I pump up a fist in joy.
"Haha it works! I can use this to defend myself and get my revenge on Fran!"
[Skill Arm Whip created.]
'?!'
I suddenly hear my own voice inside my own head saying things I wasn't thinking… What?
"Skill… Skill menu… Skill list… Open skills… Skill open…"
I immediately tried to say some words from novels that can show me my 'skills'. But nothing happened.
'That's strange I definitely heard something. Also now that I recall, I think I heard the same thing just before I passed out.'
I sat down and tried to think about what I heard.
'It definitely said skill. And this was not the first time I heard it. What made it pop up now? Since it said the skill was Arm Whip is it because of what I did with my arm and the mud just now? So if I do something similar it should sound again.'
I wanted to confirm my thoughts and so I manipulated my left arm into the shape of a blade. This was harder to do than the whip because I had to condense the mud. Doing so took a lot of my concentration. I was barely able to maintain my body's form when I succeeded. I quickly slashed my arm down vertically before my concentration wanes and my body crumbles.
[Skill Arm Slash created.]
'There it is! I knew I wasn't just hearing things. It's a bit strange hearing my own voice in my head saying things I don't mean to say. But the discovery of skills in this world is great! I wonder what skill I used to survive the mud monster. If only I could see what skills I have.'
'…' I waited for a few seconds.
'Damn I thought that would work. Normal novel plots would provide the protagonist with what they need just when they need it. Oh well. I guess this is not that kind of plot. Let's keep trying out other things to try and make more skills.'
Forgetting the fact that I survived a near-death experience with a certain plot armor lucky charm I have, I tried creating skills.
[Skill Arm Bash created.]
I turned my arm into a small shield and jabbed forward.
[Skill Arm Stab created.]
This time I turned it into a thin needle like sword, a rapier, and stabbed forward.
Taking a break whenever my head started to hurt, I kept testing out different methods and weapons to try and create new skills.
[Skill Arm Slice created.]
Mimicking a certain pot destroying, green capped swordsman, I swung may arm blade in a 360 degree motion to create this skill.
[Skill Arm Fist created.]
'…'
The naming of this skill is terrible. I just condensed the mud and hardened my fist and gave a punch.
[Skills Arm Whip + Arm Slash + Arm Bash + Arm Stab + Arm Slice + Arm Fist combined into Arm Weapon.]
'?! Holy shit skills can combine! Awesome it's so much like a game.'
Feeling great satisfaction at this discovery I continued to play around- *Ahem* I mean explore new possibilities of manipulating my new body to create new skills so that I can defend myself in this monster filled cave.
[Skills Leg Whip + Leg Slash + Leg Bash + Leg Stab + Leg Slice + Leg Kick combined into Leg Weapon.]
[Skills Arm Weapon + Leg Weapon combined into Weaponized Limbs.]
'Now that's what I call productivity! And that skill sounds so cool! I'm on my way to becoming a femme fatale. I just need a more mature figure. I don't know if I can grow and develop my body anymore though…'
Dismissing the depressing thought, I continued trying out various things but sadly I wasn't able to get any new skills. Taking a break, I thought about the skill creation process.
'It requires me to use that flow technique along with a certain action to create a skill. Perhaps that flowing thing is some sort of energy and when I use up too much of it I get headaches. Let's call it mana like from video games.'
I sat down and tried to circulate mana throughout my body, even the non-mud parts.
[Skill Body Enhancement created.]
'Nice. Confirmed that skill creation needs mana.'
I controlled the mana to "activate" the newly made skill. I noticed my control of my half mud body increase and that power was coursing through entire self.
'I wonder if I can use this on my brain to try and increase my brain power or maybe alleviate the headaches from mana consumption.'
I decided to try out my idea.
[Skill Thought Acceleration created.]
[Skill Thought Acceleration + Parallel Processing combined into Mind Enhancement.]
'… When did I get the Parallel Processing skill? Is that the skill I heard about before passing out? No, it can't be. Based on the name it's not related to survival from near death at all. I really need to find a way to know which skills I currently have.'
I thought while continued exploring the various ways to manipulate the mana.
[Skill Hearing Enhancement created.]
[Skill Olfactory Enhancement created.]
[Skill Tongue Enhancement created.]
'… I'm speechless.'