I must say, my Status looks like a total mess.
There are a lot of things that have grown over the past few years.
My Skills have reached an average of Level 50 or 60, but many of them surpass that by a lot.
I have learned and explored Magic way beyond what I expected from the first Trial that included Magic. I'm confident I've become quite a powerful mage.
Well, maybe calling me a Mage is a bit of a stretch, since I don't even know any spells. I've just started on the path to becoming a Magician.
I'm actually looking forward to creating Magic Scrolls and assimilating more knowledge. My goal is to compact every single Magic I have into a sort of [Magic Theory] Skill, just like I did with my [Sky Sword Technique].
While I could have tried to create one through the System already, it wouldn't have been much help to me currently. I know I am objectively lacking the knowledge needed to create a skill at a level I'll be satisfied with.
Of course, while I haven't forgotten about my ambitions for Magic, I can't overlook the fact that my Martial Arts repertoire is a bit lacking.
I only have Karate. That's quite a problem.
After all, I'm also planning on creating a unified Martial Art of sorts someday in the future.
For now, that is just a pipe dream, though.
Anyway.
The most impressive thing about my new status is the use of the two [Lv. 100 Skill Ticket] I received as a reward.
At first, I was torn about which active and passive skills to choose for this massive level up.
While there were obvious candidates like [Mind's Dominion] and [Body Zen], I chose [Perfect Human Body] for the passive skill.
I firmly believe it will become the most powerful skill in my arsenal one day.
Even after upgrading it, I don't regret my choice at all.
[Perfect Human Body]
[Description: Your body's internal functions will be [massively] (NEW!) more adapted for Combat, [resembling] ➔ [evolving you into](NEW!) a perfect, enlightened Human. [Your Body will start to naturally look for the best [Evolution Path] that is available for you] (NEW!)]
Apart from the change after its massive level up, there's also the fact this skill will evolve in the 3rd Trial.
This is the 2nd evolution it will go through, and I'm excited to see how it will transform.
As for the active skills, there weren't many choices. I could have gone with [Cooking Master] just to see what would happen if it reached Lv. 100, but that seemed a bit risky.
[Shadow Step], [Turtle Shell], and [Mirage Veil] were all great options, but they were already close to Lv. 50. Using the ticket on them would have felt like a bit of a waste.
For that exact reason, I decided to bet on the most valuable option: [Mana Explosion].
If its efficiency rate could increase, that would be a huge deal for me.
Currently, in my skill set, there's really no use for [Mana Explosion] other than having fun. If I need a powerful skill, I can just use my [Sword Arts] or any other active skill, which are faster to execute and consume way less mana.
But all of that changed once this skill was forcefully raised from the low Lv. 17 to Lv. 100 in an instant.
Although the name of the skill didn't change, I feel like it should have.
[Mana Explosion]
[Description: Explosion is a form of art. Those who do not understand this shall face the wrath of this skill throughout your Mana]
[Effect: Upon activation, the Skill will blow up the Mana you are controlling. The range, and power of the explosion will depend on the amount of Mana]
[Additional Effect: You can add effects from other Skills to this skill] (NEW!)
[Limitation:
[You will not be able to control the explosion and its lasting effects in any way] ➔ [You will consume triple the Mana required to activate the effects from other skills you want to add to this skill]
The cost to activate this skill will be [equal to double] ➔ [equal to half] the amount of Mana you are controlling]
This skill is now absolutely broken.
It's introduced something I had been theorizing for a while:
Skill stacking.
The dream I had about this possibility, I can almost see it in reality now.
Some of my skills don't require my own mana to cast, so using them with this new skill is easily achievable.
The easiest example of how broken this skill truly is would be to combine [Mana Explosion] with the added effect of [Sky Slash].
In simpler terms, not only does the explosion deal massive damage, but it will also trigger the immense damage from that skill.
Its potential has surpassed my expectations.
Given the reasons I just listed, I believe my choices were not incorrect.
'This recap was quite needed'
Now that I had reaffirmed my goals, analyzed my new status, and understood what I needed to work on, I could finally tend to my growling stomach.
I cracked a few eggs into a pan, whisking them into a smooth, golden mixture.
The aroma of the cooking eggs filled the air in the kitchen, a comforting scent that made my mouth water in anticipation.
As I stirred the eggs, they transformed into a fluffy, creamy scramble, a sight that was almost as delightful as the taste.
"...It's really tasty," I mumbled, my mouth full of the delicious scrambled eggs.
Despite the fact that attack skills are useless in the [Rest Area], the skill [Cooking Master] can truly shine here.
In the 2nd Trial, I mostly used this skill to impress Alexia with some well-cooked meals.
The memories of us sharing a table, laughing and enjoying the food I had prepared, filled my mind, for just a moment.
The food we ate together was undeniably more delicious, more satisfying.
Still, I guess I'll have to get used to eating alone once again.
---
After eating, sleeping, and experimenting with a few new things in the [Rest Area] without much success, it was finally time.
[00:00:30]
[00:00:29]
[00:00:28]
.
.
.
I won't repeat the same mistakes in this trial.
Let's see which world will be thrown my way.
Even if it's hell itself, I'll clear it, because now there's someone waiting for me, someone who'd be sad if I was gone.
You can't understand just how much that can change a person's state of mind.
From now on, it's an open war.
I have the determination to win it.
---
Author's Note:
Friendly Reminder! Tomorrow the poll on discord will be closed, so if you want to vote, please join and vote on the poll!
After closing the poll I'll release the total amount of votes added with votes I gathered from surveying friends, so the situation may vary just a little.
But even so, I doubt the current 1st place holder, SAO, will be dethrowned.
As promised, here's some of the Statuses(I'm too tired to finish them all, so for now you only got some partial ones, sorry)
Alexia:
[Status: Healthy
Title: Fate Holder
Class: ???
Level: 350
...
Combat Prowess: Highest+++/Extreme (only using Thousands Sword Art: 1000 Sword Stacking)
Mastery: Sword(35%), Martial Arts(1%)...
Sword Arts: Thousands Sword Art(Offensive Formation I(Lv. 20), Defensive Formation I(Lv. 20), Sword Stacking(Lv. 50)...)
Active Skills: Agile Movements(Lv. 30), Slash(Lv. 180), Thunder Strike(Lv. 30)...
Passive Skills: Iron Will(Lv. 58), Seer(Lv. 200), Commander(Lv. 37), Copy-Paste(Lv. 73)...
Magic: Body Strengthening(Lv.60), Sword Infusion(Lv.60), Slime Manipulation(Lv.175), Restricting Magic(Lv. 1), Fly(Lv. 3), Weight Adjustment(Lv. 2)...
Resistances: ?(Not Unlocked yet)
...
Talent: Magic(Lv. 50), Vision(Lv. 50), Sensibility(Lv. 50), Manners(Lv. 5), Determination(Lv. 100), Wisdom(Lv. 150)
You have 350 unused Skill Points]
Alpha:
[Status: Healthy
Title: First Shadow
Class: ???
Level: 550+
...
Combat Prowess: Extreme++++
Mastery: Magic(85%), Sword(85%), War Arts(95%), Business Management(75%), Stealth(90%)....
Sword Arts: Shadow's Sword Arts(...), Ordinary Shadow's Arts(...)
Active Skills: Shadow Hunter(Lv. MAX), Manipulation(Lv. MAX), Magic Compression(Lv. 73), Weapon Creation(Lv. MAX), Concealment(Lv. MAX), Power Nullification(Lv. 37)...
Passive Skills: Impossible Perception(Lv. MAX), War Commander(Lv. MAX), Battle Analyzing Monster(Lv. MAX), Killing Intent(Lv. MAX)...
Magic: Body Strengthening(Lv.380), Sword Infusion(Lv.400), Slime Manipulation(Lv.MAX), Flight(Lv. 75), Compression(Lv. 400)...
Resistances: Weapons(30%), Magic(70%)
...
Talent: Magic(Lv. 250), Sword(Lv. 300), Slime(Lv. 175)...
You have 550+ unused Skill Points(Cannot use Skill Points)]
I will keep on posting them both here and on discord.
I'll create a channel where you'll be able to properly read the information about each character of my novel or something, so check my discord out.