[It's time to give you a brief explanation of what skills are and their types before continuing with the selection].
Cloud nodded weakly as he sat on the bed.
[It's quite simple, [Skills] are innate techniques that you can get under different factors, which are divided through their element, rarity and type, the latter being divided between passive and active].
[The passive Skills, are skills that will always be active and are mostly improvements for the player, although there are skills that to balance them, the system assigns some disadvantages]
[The active Skills are mostly techniques that need a means to be used, either a specific energy, or just a weapon of a unique type, for example, the skill [Sword Dance], obviously needs a sword type weapon, be it short, normal, double wielding, or other subtypes].
[Skills are also divided into elements, these are so many that it's going to take me too long to specify them, so I'm going to transfer the information directly to your brain]
Cloud let out a small groan of pain as he felt new information pierce the barriers of his brain.
[Ok, let's continue, now come the rarities, as I said before, Skills are also divided into rarity, the rarest being, EX skills, which can evolve in [Divine Territories] if the necessary requirements are met]
"Divine Territories?" - Cloud repeated with slight curiosity.
[They are requirements to acquire a divinity, but that's too early for you, so we'd better get on with the conversation. What is going to happen now is simple, I will show you a series of skills, these will be divided into Innate skills and Acquired skills, the Innate skills are Skills that are the basis of your character, you could say they are your "talents", the Acquired skills are Skills that you can get through hard training, mind you, you have to take into account that the number of skills have a limit, which you will see in your [Stats] when we finish the customization].
"I understand" - Cloud nodded as he saw the list of skills appearing in front of him.
- - - - - [Acquired Skills] - - - - -
1- [Two-Handed Weapons [Plus]: +50% of damage dealt with two-handed weapons]
2- [Firearms [Plus]: +50% of damage caused with firearms]
3- [Bloodlust: Causes the [Terror] state for 5 seconds, prevents the use of actions].
4- [Combat Instinct: +20% Evasion, does not accumulate with other similar effects (Unique)].
5- [Fast Movement: +10% of general speed (movement, attack, and reaction)].
6- [Melee [Plus]: +10% damage when using martial arts. +5% additional damage for each martial art learned]
7- [Infiltration: Drastically reduces the user's presence and prevents the sound emission when in the [Hidden], [Invisible] and [Camouflage] states]
8- [Cool Mind: Allows to maintain the composure in moments of crisis and increases the user's speed of thought and reaction]].
9- [Absolute Control: +10% of [Str], and allows for perfect control over the user's movements]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cloud was surprised to see these skills, I mean, they weren't that broken, but that didn't mean they weren't useful, especially the last one which was an extremely rare skill, this was easily deducible thanks to the fact that it directly increases a [Stat].
[Not bad, huh?]
"Yeah, I'm not going to deny it, these skills are awesome" - Cloud answered honestly.
[That's good to hear, so now let's go for the innate skills, though I have to warn you that these skills are random.]
"Random?" - Cloud repeated while frowning - "What do you mean?"
[What I said, they're random, the system did a roulette and these were the lucky winners]
"That doesn't make sense" - Cloud said with annoyance.
[I know, but that's the way the sages have decided, and this brings me to one of their most common phrases... "Luck is also part of an individual's strength"]
Cloud let out a long sigh before nodding weakly and starting to look at the skills that appeared in front of his eyes.
- - - - - [Innate Abilities] - - - - -
1- [Weapon Master [Passive]: Increases by 25% the effectiveness of Weapon [Skills], whether passive or active. This bonus can exceed the basic limit of a skill]
2- [Steel Skin [Passive]: +35% resistance against physical attacks, not stackable with similar passives].
3- [Lucky [Passive]: +10% of [Luk]. Chance to reduce recruitment requirements by one].
4- [Blood Boost [Passive]: +25% to all effects of the user's [Bloodline], and if the user possesses a [Bloodline] when acquiring this passive, the effects are doubled]
5- [Wonder Guard [Passive]: Blocks 5 lethal attacks per day, but reduces all the user's [Stats] to 1 for 6 hours].
6- [Adaptability [Passive]: +50% additional power to all elemental attacks the user casts, as long as they are of the same element as the user's affinity. The user can have a maximum of 2 affinities]
7- [Concentration [Active]: Channels the user's concentration and energy between 1 and 10 seconds. Each second increases the next 5 attacks' damage by 15% for each second of concentration].
8- [Vengeance [Active]: +50% damage reduction for 5 seconds. All damage received by the user is accumulated and at the end of the 5 seconds, the user releases an attack that hits the target with 100% of the accumulated damage. If this attack ends up killing the target, then the user gains 25% more damage for the next 20 minutes, not stackable]
7- [Ambidextrous [Passive]: Allows the use of both hands as if these were the dominant hand. Increases the user's reaction speed by 50%].
8- [Son of the Night [Talent]: +50% to all [Stats] during the night, and -25% during the day].
9- [Sun Salutation [Talent]: +50% to all [Stats] during the day, and -25% during the night].
10- [Animal Spirit [Talent]: Assigns an animal spirit, and the user gains characteristics of said animal, be it improved smell, stamina, speed. Increases the affinity with [Bloodline] of animal type].
11- [Anti-magic [Passive]: Ignores the damage caused by the different types of energy (Except Divinity), but prevents the user from using these energies]
12- [Chaotic Form [Talent]: +25% damage and affinity with the light and dark elements, but prevents the use of the other elements]
13- [Achilles Heel [Passive]: +20% of [Vit] and [Str], but the user gains a random weak spot, when attacked on that spot, the damage received changes to true damage, ignoring the user's natural defense and defensive [Skills]]
14- [Accurate [Talent]: The user gets the [Accurate] status, making all attacks caused with a randomly chosen weapon never miss and be 25% more powerful, however, all other weapons will have a 100% chance to miss the hit]
15- [Pay 2 Win [Talent - Active]: The user can pay [SP (System Points)] to get information from the world. The value depends on the type of information, and it can only be activated a maximum of 5 times per world]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cloud was silent as he pondered at high speed all the possible combinations, or at least the ones that might best suit his new self, as well as the instincts built inside him.
[Have you made your decision? Oh, you obviously know that from the information I transferred to you, but remember that you can only choose two acquired skills and one innate skill]
"I know" - Cloud answered honestly after thinking everything through in as much detail as possible - "I want the acquired skills, [Combat Instinct], and [Absolute Control]"
[I understand, granted.]
Cloud felt a sharp headache before he felt how he understood the use of his new passives. As for why he had chosen these skills, it was simple, for survival.
[Absolute Control] would help him train and not waste energy on unnecessary movements, as well as increase his passive damage thanks to the increase of [Str], while [Combat Instinct], as its name said, would help him move during combat, which would facilitate his adaptability to this new life, not to mention that the 20% evasion bonus was seductive, more so when taking into account that this evasion was passive, in other words, he would evade even if he was immobilized.
"As for my innate ability, I want [Weapon Master]..." - Cloud continued simply.
[Excellent decision.]
Cloud felt an unlimited amount of information about wielding multiple weapons pop into his head, proving that his decision had been right. With these three skills, he was sure that everything would go perfectly.
[With that finished, it was time to move on to the last phase, dimensional transportation.]
"Is there anything I need to know?" - Cloud asked earnestly.
[The information will be assigned to you when the time comes].
Cloud felt everything around him begin to darken as he finished listening to the voice of the system administrator.
[Good luck, player, I hope you can make it all the way to the end].
The last thing Cloud could hear, was the sound of a robotic voice.
[Entering tutorial world [Highschool of the Dead] mission will be assigned in 18 years: 2 months: 1 day: 19 hours: 25 minutes: 30 seconds and counting...]
[Good luck, player...]