"He was a legend. One who killed all opposers and still swayed the people's hearts, he is true to the name Emperor." - Unknown
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As Xen was walking he stopped dead in his tracks. His instincts he's honed throughout his lifetimes was telling him that there was an enemy near.
On further examination there was tiny holes in the sand, curiosity took hold and he began to observe them from the distance.
Xen waited and waited until the enemy appeared before him. Their species was a type of worm and they were dark green in color with large spikes protruding out from their mouths in a permanent open state, this intrigued Xen to some capacity.
'Quite interesting, their stomaches must have a way to eject the sand, or do they eat the sand itself?'
Just like that, he was entranced and began to study the worms. Days passed as he did this, he hunted and ate worms when he was hungry and he never felt thirsty, seemingly due to his race.
He watched and took mental notes until he had an entire thesis about the worms written in his head.
'The worms seem to absorb the blood contained within the sand and eject the sand unstained, they grow and gain permanent mana from each grain slightly. There are some mutations because of this causing slight changes in the growth of the worms, whether it be body abnormalities or a change in color.'
Some might think it's quite silly for Xen to study mere worms but to him who was once a great magician, it was one of the most important things to do. By finding out how things work one would be able to manipulate it in his favor.
After a few more days Xen completed his study.
'Interesting.. it's a shame that I currently do not have the capacity to copy the skill entirely, but I am able to do this much..'
"Skill Created! 'Minor Absorption'! Description: '.01% Chance of Absorbing Mana or Skills from an enemy, it decreases by 10% every level difference!'"
'I see. So unlike a few of the other worlds, they have the old system of levelling and learning, well I'm quite suited to this way.' A smile crept up onto Xen's face, out of all the world's this one had the same system he had accomplished the most on, the same one where he became an Emperor!