Solis played around with the dagger a bit by twisting it all over his hands and also trying to take a couple of test swings with it. The weapon felt good and easy to maneuver, which he liked very much. One thing to note about him is that knives and daggers were always his favorite type of melee arms to wield in any combat-oriented video game that he's ever played.
"After all, daggers and knives are the best since it suits me very well, especially with my quick-action style of fighting."
When he was done messing about with his dagger, Solis redirected his attention back to the Game Menu.
"Now that I'm done checking with the inventory… Well, the only thing in my inventory, that is—let's look at this very curious thing here called Road to Enlightenment. 'Cause I'm really wondering what that's about."
Saying so, he pressed the corresponding box. What followed next was a digital window showcasing three vertically arranged categories—
***
(Road to Enlightenment)
Weapon Masteries: N/A
Elemental Affinities:
Space Affinity – Rank 1
Darkness Affinity – Rank 1
Time Affinity – Rank 1
Auxiliary Skills: N/A
***
There really wasn't much to look at regarding the current state of his Road to Enlightenment. Needless to say, he was still a fresh hatchling who just came out of his Character Creation, so it was only natural for his statuses to be quite literally lacking right now.
"Hmm… Aside from the Weapon Masteries and Auxiliary Skills which have nothing to show for, my Elemental Affinities gots something in there—Space, Darkness, and Time Affinities that are all Rank 1. Again, they probably stem from the fact I'm a Speed Devil. But, I wonder what these three categories are for…?"
Thereafter, Solis exited the Road to Enlightenment window and went ahead to Skill Slots. Unfortunately for a level 1 noob like him, there were no skills to be seen anywhere on the display. Instead, the only thing to account for were twenty small empty boxes situated on the lower ground floor of the screen.
"As to be expected, there are no skills for me here. Which begs the question of where I can learn some."
Finally, he moved on to the last feature in the Character section of the Game Menu.
"The Genetic Skill Tree… Wait, is this it…?"
A small seedling that only had two tiny leaves on it was sprouting out of the soil patch it was sown in. Additionally, a few highlighted words were put on the side of the soil which wrote: [Available Genetic Skill Points: 1].
"No, actually, if I were to think about it starting out as a seedling ain't that bad either."
Because watching the seedling grow and eventually turning into a great big tree was definitely a pretty cool concept. The welcoming and gratifying sense of progress is always a pleasant feeling, like seeing your hard work being fulfilled and finally paying off in the long run.
Having his interest piqued, Solis selected the two leaves on the budding seedling and viewed each of their contents. As a result, a window respectively popped up for both of them that stated the following—
***
(Genetic Skill Tree)
Ability: Speed of a Devil – Evolutionary Stage I
Type: Active
Cooldown: 12 mins.
Effect: Temporarily increases the user's agility stat by 10+ points for ten minutes.
[Genetic Skill Points required to Unlock: 1]
Ability: Speedster – Evolutionary Stage I
Type: Passive
Cooldown: N/A
Effect: Permanently increases the user's agility stat by 5+ points.
[Genetic Skill Points required to Unlock: 1]
***
On the Genetic Skill Tree (or Genetic Skill Seedling, at the moment), he was presented with two choices. Using his single Genetic Skill Point, he could only pick to spend it on one of them.
"Hmm… Which Genetic Skill should I spend my sole point on?"
One side was an active skill that granted a plus ten-point increase on his agility stat, albeit it lasted for just ten minutes. And the other one was a passive skill that gave him a permanent five-point increase, also on his agility stat.
So, which one should he pick? A moment of rapid movement speed, or a perpetual growth on his movement speed but it only gave half of the effect? Which direction should he go to? A burst style of fighting which is easily subject to change, or a solid field of combat that is constant in its condition?
"Ten minutes of effect, and a technical cooldown of two… I could probably take out my enemy or enemies at that limited timeframe, I guess?"
In the end, Solis couldn't resist picking the skill that had the highest number count, even if it meant there were certain risks involved. The 'Speed of a Devil' skill's temporary effect needed its user to really gamble everything in those ten minutes to finish off their opponents, lest they're the ones who would be put in a disadvantageous position for the next two minutes that it's on cooldown period. It was a burst style of fighting classified as the Assassin's way of battle.
"Speed of a Devil it is!"
Solis tapped on the plus sign next to the Genetic Skill that he chose, thus spending one precious point of GSP that he will never get back to redeem a useful ability. And with that, he had nothing to do there anymore on the Character section, so he promptly exited it. He wanted to check out the other interesting options the Game Menu had to offer, but unfortunately for him, unexpected trouble was headed his way.
All of a sudden, Solis heard an audible running noise as he turned his head to the sound. A terribly sorry figure was scampering in a pitiful manner towards him, fleeing desperately from whatever it was that was chasing after him.
***
(Young Master Valedd of the Nebuchadnezzar Aswang Clan, LVL. 10)
Type: Special
State: Severely Injured
Health: 96/500
Mana: 50/250
Physical Defense: 35
Mana Resistance: 30
Skill/s: Lifesteal, Crisscross Slash, Aswang's Heightened Senses, Ghoul Transformation
***
When Solis looked at him quizzically, a character window suddenly popped out. He was quite surprised by it since this was his very first time seeing something like this appear in view. He once again evaluated the sorry fellow that came out of nowhere; only this time, he took it more seriously.
'Who is this Young Master Valedd character, and what is he running away from that he looks so badly beaten up?'
There were fresh spots and marks of gore all over his clothing as well as his body. His facial expression showed how distressed he truly was: his eyes were stern yet slightly unfocused, his brows and forehead were scrunched up to the maximum, and his mouth was fully painted red presumably from coughing out too much blood.
"Get back here, Valedd! Give it up, there's no way you can escape!"
Directly on his tail was a wide, obese man… no, actually, looking at it a bit more clearly it was apparently a fat-ass Ogre. And a very, extremely reviling one at that. There was no doubt in Solis' mind that if it were only the fatso chasing this Valedd character, he wouldn't even need to run, as he could probably jog away without a problem from his pursuer.
Alas, he had two assailants; it was just that Solis had a hard time distinguishing the other one since the fat f**k was directly blocking his view. In fact, the Ogre's chubby feet weren't the ones doing all the running—a strong, athletically-built pair of legs were responsible for striding on the ground.
Solis could see it now: the ugly bastard was being carried around in the arms of a bipedal horse.
"You damn stupid Tikbalang! Can't you run any faster?!"
"I-I'm sorry, Fifth Young Master Yahtorn. I can do that but it's just… kinda too embarrassing for me if I were to—"
"Enough! Do it now and I will pay triple the number of gold coins that you will receive after completing this mission!"
Hearing the obese ogre's promise, the bipedal horse abruptly stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, what in the bloody hell are you doing?! WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY STOP!?"
"Galloping Horse Form!"
The horseman didn't pay any heed to the shrill shouting blasting his eardrums. He put down the ogre in his arms and then got on all fours. After doing that, he urgently spoke,
"Fifth Young Master, please quickly get on! This fast-speed state of mine can only last for ten minutes!"
"You want me to ride on your back?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Please, hurry now! Valedd is escaping!"
Not saying anything else, the fat ogre hopped onto the horsey's back and sat comfortably on it. Witnessing this super ridiculous situation just unraveling before his eyes, Solis reacted in a justifiably dumbfounded way.
"…What in the actual f**k is going on right now?"
The scene playing out in front of him was just too weird and funny, to say the least. He couldn't believe for the life of him that this was really the first event that he would encounter after having finished his incarnation unto the game.
"Sheesh, man. I just got here..."