"Flickering Hands." Alex murmured as he looked at the final ability pearl in the list.
This skill was unlike the others. It couldn't even be said to address mind-body coordination at all. The problem with the latent physical reaction delay was that physics didn't allow for mechanical movement to be as fast as thought. However, with Flickering Hands, hands could disappear and reappear at other places instantaneously. While this ability couldn't be spammed, it could certainly form a perfect last resort surprise attack!
"Does this ability pearl require any attribute talent?" Alex asked the robot who had been waiting patiently for his choice.
The robot shook her head. "While Flickering Hands appears to behave like spacial teleportation, it does not in fact require any spatial talent attributes. According to our database, Flickering Hand's technique is attributable to hints of a Rule."
"Rule?" It was the first time Alex had heard of the term and was ignorant about it. However, knowing that he did not require any special attribute talent made this the perfect ability for him as his second choice.
"I would like to purchase this ability pearl." Alex said with some satisfaction. The robot nodded, before halting for a moment, as if processing some new information.
"Dear sir, Our Guns and Glory Shop has a special offer for you, if you would like to partake in it." The robot suddenly spoke.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked with vigilance. He had grown up in the age of MOBA offers and Free to Play Money traps and gift boxes, he was not going to fall prey to those kind of tricks.
"We have two Flickering Hands ability pearls in our store, and we also have another ability pearl from the same monster species that happened to have mutated. From the testing we know that the pearl is indeed an ability pearl, however, we cannot be sure if it contains Flickering Hands.
As such, a confirmed Flickering Hands ability pearl will cost you 480 Glory Points, while we can sell you the mutated ability pearl for only 200 Glory Points!" The robot tantalizingly offered.
Alex laughed inwardly. This was clearly a pit designed to offload a single appearance pearl without needing to actually waste money on an ability tester and a nullifier potion. However, the shop owners would never have imagined that Alex had the system.
"I'd like to see the ability pearl in question before making the judgement." Alex replied looking thoughtful as if he were baited by the gamble offered by the store.
The robot once again negan performing calculations and receiving instructions. Then, before Alex's eyes a live video recording showing the ability pearl was displayed. Alex immediately got the system to inspect it, and to his delight, he found that the system could in fact inspect objects through their video projection!
[Flickering Continuity Ability Pearl]
[Flickering Continuity - Mutated Version of Flickering Hands that can allow now just instantaneous displacement of hands, but entire body within small limits. Contains hints of a Rule Power.]
Alex looked serious. He then agreed to this purchase and bought the unappraised Ability Pearl with 200 points, before logging out of the virtual station. The ability pearl would be delivered to his place within an hour.
Alex went to the training room in his house to exercise. In the process he realized that he would have to purchase better fitting clothes now that he suddenly grew slimmer. An hour into practicing and exercising hard to get into better shape, Alex heard the sound of the bell ringing and walked to the door to find that his mom had already collected the package that had arrived for himself.
"What did you buy, good son?" She asked while ribbing him in the elbow and showing a knowing eye.
Alex rolled his eyes as he opened the small box in front of her and showed her the ability pearl. Once again inspecting it to make sure that he hadn't been cheated, Alex found that it was indeed the ability pearl for Flickering Continuity.
Alex's mom was surprised. "Ability Pearl? Don, have you reached Ordinary Grade 1 already? You are ready to absorb your first ability pearl?"
Alex shook his head. "Mom, I've already absorbed one ability pearl. This will be my second ability." As for his cultivation, he did not bother to explain it.
Alex's mom didn't interrupt him any further. Alex walked back to his room, and calmed his mental state, before proceeding to absorb the second ability pearl. Soon, the instinctual knowledge regarding Flickering Continuity entered his mind and he now knew how to instantaneously move parts of his body in a flash. He could suddenly change the angles of his hand as if it were a phantom and after some practice flicker his entire body and displace it by a foot.
While he was amazed by the ability, what shocked him even more was that the feeling he felt when he performed flickering continuity actually reminded him of the mysterious feeling of unity he had felt when he had used the Calming Potion earlier.
"Was what I experienced at that moment the power of Rule?" Alex juggled the provocative thoughts that were springing up within his mind. After successfully upgrading, Alex quickly summoned his own status to check his current progress.
[Alex Hail]
[Ordinary Grade - 3]
[Cultivation System - Crazy Immortal Sutra]
[Skills - Gun Technique (Uncommon), Hunting (Ordinary)]
[Abilities -
1. Precesion Accuracy (Ordinary)
2. Flickering Continuity (Ordinary)
]