Chapter 23: Breaking ZA WARDO.
Huo Yuhao was perplexed. One of the reasons he chose this world was the leveling system, so seeing his current status screen greatly upset him.
[…]
[Huo Yuhao]
[Occupation: None]
[Class: ???]
[Level: ???]
[Magic: ???]
[Attack: ???]
[Defense: ???]
[Agility: ???]
[Intelligence: ???]
[Luck: ERROR]
[BP: ???]
[Skills: [Appraisal], [Endurance], [Item Box], [Language Comprehension], [True Martial Art: 1], [Fast Reading], [???], [???], [???], [???], [???].]
[Title: [Master of The Door], [Master of The House], [Otherworlder], [Person Who Visited a Different World for the First Time], [The First [Class Holder] to Appear in the World], [The One Who Perplexed the World's Consciousness].]
[…]
"Okay, what is going on? Why can't I level up or increase my stats?" he asked as he observed the status screen.
'Ellie? Do you know something?' he asked the trusty golden string in his soul, and sure enough, she answered by cramming his head with information.
It turned out that adding stat points and leveling up affected both the body and soul of the person. How could Ellie allow something to tamper with her master's body and soul?
Sure, it might benefit him now and make him stronger at a faster pace, but what if the World's consciousness one day decided to strip him of his current stats? Skills gained by an entity can always be stripped away by that same entity.
However, Ellie was different. She wanted the best for Huo Yuhao and to provide him with skills imprinted on his very being, ensuring that the only way he would lose his powers was if he died. They were connected: if Huo Yuhao died, Ellie would dissipate and return to the great omniverse.
Huo Yuhao took a moment to digest the information, and he had to admit it made a bit of sense. He just sighed as he stared at his status screen.
"Oh man. The gamer blood in me is sad, but I can understand. Power stripping happens quite often with overpowered characters, and I don't want to be stripped of my power for no apparent reason in crucial moments," he said in an understanding tone as he patted the golden string that emerged from his soul.
Imagine this: Huo Yuhao is about to kill the control freak in the divine realm once and for all and become the freest person in the world, only for his powers to suddenly dissipate, allowing that control freak to escape and retaliate against him in the future.
"Okay, so what do we do now? I can't keep asking Ellie for skills all the time. It's inefficient; she takes a long time to charge her energy reserves, only for me to drain them. I feel like a scummy husband mooching off his wife's money," he said, while the tuna in the stigma space rolled on the ground laughing, but he simply ignored her.
"Sigh, this is so funny. Well, Yuhao, you're looking at it in a linear way. How about you ask the origin energy in your soul to give you something that can grant you skills?"
"And since it's imprinted onto your being, the additional skills will also be theoretically imprinted and won't be stripped away from you unless you die," the tuna shared her benevolent wisdom with Yuhao, who was rooted to the spot.
For example, if Huo Yuhao asked Ellie for a [Water Manipulation] skill, she would have to use an energy charge to grant this simple skill. But if he asked Ellie to grant him something that allowed him to gain the [Water Manipulation] skill without using her reserves, it would be more cost-efficient, and Ellie could continue gathering energy in peace.
It's like going to a market to buy fruits and vegetables when you can grow them at home. It would be more sustainable and efficient; the initial cost would be high, but it would pay off in the future.
"Oh my god, Kiana. You're a genius," he exclaimed, truly astonished by this beautiful tuna.
Ellie was 'impressed' by this lazy tuna and began 'thinking' about the whole ordeal. She kept 'floating' left and right as if she were 'pacing' before finally stopping to 'look' at Yuhao. She glowed once, and information poured into Yuhao's mind.
"So?" asked the tuna in a solemn tone.
"Well, we can get that skill, but with Ellie's reserves, she'll only be able to provide a diluted version of it. But we can gain skills normally by killing monsters and such. It's the same as an RPG but Ellie's edition," Yuhao replied to the tuna as he began thinking it over.
"I can probably give her enough energy to provide you with a not-so-diluted version of it. I can give you more energy—I practically have infinite amounts—but your body won't handle it. See if that helps," the tuna came to the rescue once again.
Ellie simply nodded at the tuna's suggestion. After all, Finality and Origin are opposite sides of the same coin.
Huo Yuhao felt conflicted at this moment. This was surely a greater path to power and more efficient, but he felt that he hadn't worked for it in a sense.
Noticing the conflicted expression on his face, Kiana simply snorted at him.
"Why are you hesitating now, Yuhao? Don't think about useless stuff. It's not like you're getting world-ending skills and techniques from the get-go. You'll gain skills that you'll have to train, putting in time, effort, sweat, blood, and tears to control and elevate these skills," the tuna advised the confused boy and further explained.
"Ellie can provide you with overpowered skills that have a lot of potential, but you still have to train and master them. Otherwise, in the future, you might gain a very powerful skill that refuses to cooperate with you and might even hurt you and those around you."
(AN: Imagine he gains [Raphael], and he can't control it? Ultimate skills in Tensura can have personalities and can resist if the master is not strong enough.)
"I'll start channeling Honkai energy now and tell Ellie to absorb it. This is not negotiable. Don't cripple your own path to power with useless thoughts, okay?" The Herrscher instructed as the stigma tattoo appeared on his nape, and energy began pouring out from it like a dam.
'She has a point. I came here to kill monsters and level up, an action that involves the World's consciousness. What I'm doing right now is simply killing monsters, and the energy will be absorbed by my skill to grant me the abilities I need. It's the same but different,' he reasoned with himself and instructed Ellie to start the absorption process.
'Is this the famous Shonen protagonist talk-no-jutsu? Damn, it's a very powerful skill. Sigh, my silly tuna can't be this cute,' he smiled to himself as he began to feel his body heat up. (No horny.)
What? His body was heating up! Why? Ah, the Honkai energy. He quickly sat down on the ground and began stabilizing his body. Ellie was absorbing the energy like a sponge, but the feeling of Honkai Energy coursing through him was unpleasant, to say the least.
The process continued for a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours had passed for young Yuhao.
"This is the limit for now, Yuhao. Remember this feeling. The stigma gives you resistance to Honkai energy, and the [Schariac] bloodline will help you control it. When we start training, you'll get better at it. Don't worry; I'll follow you throughout your journey and help you when you stumble, Yuhao," the Herrscher of Finality said in a soft tone, and the stigma tattoo disappeared into his nape again.
He replied with a nod and watched as Ellie, whose golden glow rivaled the sun, floated in front of him and 'looked' him in the eye.
"Let's start, Ellie," he said as he made himself comfortable on the ground. Ellie glowed again, this time much brighter than any charge she had used before.
A vial appeared in front of Yuhao. It contained a clear liquid that shone with a kaleidoscope of colors. He grabbed the vial, downed the liquid in one go, and then it hit him.
He felt dizzy and weird, as if a fundamental part of him was changing, advancing, and evolving. The [Dragon Core] and [Blood Core] kept operating at ridiculous speeds to make him feel better.
The [White Dragon Scale] that he kept close to his body shone with a silver light as if to comfort the sweat-soaked boy.
(AN: You might not remember, but this is Alarion's reverse scale that he gave to Huo Yuhao along with the pink crystal diamond that carried the legacy for Huo Yun'er.)
The [Monster Slime] martial soul released itself automatically and entered possession state with [Great Sage] running at full speed.
The whole process lasted a couple of minutes, but for Yuhao, it felt like an eternity had passed.
[The World's consciousness took notice of your changes.]
[The World's consciousness is watching you with great interest.]
[The World's consciousness wishes for you to persevere and overcome whatever is happening to your soul.]
[Title: [The One Who Gained the Interest of the Entire World] has been acquired.]
Sadly, Yuhao was not in a stable state to read the notification that appeared in front of him.
Finally, the process ended. Ellie kept floating over Yuhao's head, checking for any abnormalities. Fortunately, there weren't any, so she 'patted' herself on the back and disappeared into Huo Yuhao's soul. There was still some remaining energy, and she wanted to digest it in peace.
(Ellie best girl.)
A couple of moments passed, and Huo Yuhao finally woke up. He felt stuffy, as if he had eaten an entire Thanksgiving dinner table on his own.
"Ugh, what happened?" he asked in bewilderment.
"Well, I don't know. You drank that weird-looking liquid inside the vial and passed out," answered Kiana as she started to inspect him to see if anything was wrong with him. Fortunately, nothing was out of place—well, at least on the surface.
It took a moment for his brain to reboot, and then he began checking with Ellie to see what had changed within himself. Sure enough, he received an answer that left him speechless.
(Not a system screen or a status screen from the world. Just [Great Sage]'s [Analytical Appraisal].)
[Heavily Diluted Essence of Skill/Power Creation]
[This essence tastes of self-improvement and future victories.]
[The essence will provide you with skill points when you perform actions like combat, killing, and satisfying desires.]
[Skill points can be used to create skills the user wants.]
[Skills can't be copied, replicated, countered, or stolen. The essence comes from Ellie and acts like a skill for the individual Huo Yuhao.]
[All skills gained by the essence are treated as skills gained from Ellie. They are imprinted onto Huo Yuhao and will only disappear in the event of Huo Yuhao's death.]
[Using skill points, Huo Yuhao can create, modify, upgrade, or merge skills/powers.]
[Skills rank from D to C to B to A to S and so on. With D being kind of useful in certain situations but still weak and SSS/Ex being an isekai level cheat and the creation of such skills is priced accordingly.]
[Skill point counter: 100]
[Notice! Huo Yuhao killed two monsters before essence integration, absorbing the energy of the killed monsters.]
[Skill point counter: 300]
[Notice! There exist multiple skills that belong to Huo Yuhao not granted by the essence or Ellie.]
[Absorbing skills and title effects granted by the World's consciousness to turn them into skills granted by the essence.]
[Absorption and skill creation complete.]
"Well, that's a lot to take in. An essence... The absolute form of a certain path crystallized into vials. All essences are broken and defy the common sense of the world, and now I have one. Although it's diluted, I can upgrade it in the future when I have enough skill points."
"And now I can be an RPG gamer in real life. We'll start farming this forest as soon as possible, kukukuku." Huo Yuhao was delighted by the new addition to his arsenal of powers and started laughing like a villain for the nth time that day.
(AN: I hope I can keep track of everything. Check the author's note at the end for further information.)
"Hmm, that will be more efficient. I can't believe I didn't think of that from the beginning. Yuhao, you kept using the poor origin power for everything. What a waste of precious resources. Now you can create the skills you need without wasting origin energy," explained the mighty tuna from the stigma space.
Huo Yuhao blushed in embarrassment and agreed with Kiana.
"Okay, no more wasting origin energy. It will be reserved for emergencies only," advised the tuna, and Yuhao simply nodded to her. Suddenly, a window appeared in front of him.
[The World's consciousness is delighted to see you survive your difficulties.]
[The World's consciousness is shocked by your transformation.]
[The World's consciousness is flabbergasted that you absorbed the skills granted by her and made them completely yours.]
[The World's consciousness is delighted that a powerful individual appeared after the death of the sage.]
[The World's consciousness says, 'If you ever have time, please visit me at the core of the planet, Huo Yuhao.']
And then the window disappeared.
"Well, that was weird," commented the tuna.
"Yeah, why is she delighted by the news of a powerful individual appearing out of nowhere? If this were the [FATE] universe, I'd probably be facing the hero of justice for the nth time by now," added Yuhao as he began making his way toward the house to look for Huo Yun'er.
"Hmm, ignore it for now. The World's consciousness shouldn't affect you right now," Kiana added as she watched him near the door.
(Chapter 23 finished.)
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An:
Phew, this chapter is about 2.4k words without the author's note. It took longer than usual.
I decided to drop the whole leveling system because it was limiting and difficult to keep track of. Can you imagine all the numbers I would have to save and track? I'd need an Excel spreadsheet for this, and it's not worth it.
I tried something new while keeping the main elements of an RPG story. After all, I chose this world for the RPG elements, resources, and people. The leveling system in the original novel made no sense at all, so I swapped it with the Chad essence.
For those unfamiliar with essences, here's a brief summary: Essences are like a pure path of a certain aspect. For example, if you want to be a king, there's an essence called [Essence of King] that allows you to become the best king ever to exist in your verse, and each essence is truly broken.
The essence I used in this story is [Essence of Skill/Power Creation]. I edited it a little; otherwise, the story would be rushed. So, no more legacies appearing out of nowhere, as I noticed most of you don't care about any OC characters I introduced, either Alarion or Velana. Which is a shame, as I spent a lot of time creating them, but it is what it is.
Huo Yuhao hesitated a bit because he was used to skills granted by a higher-level entity, so having the power to create his own skills seemed foreign to him. Think about it: he gained his skills from Ellie, a literal crystallized miracle, from Alarion, a literal divine dragon with authority over [Nihility], and so on.
Luckily, we have harem protagonist Kiana Kaslana to the rescue, who slapped some sense into him.
I wouldn't nerf my character; I hate nerfing, so I put limits on his powers at the beginning to ensure a stable and fast growth without it being forced or annoying. Let me know your thoughts on the matter.
The original essence description is as follows:
Essence of Skill Creation
By drinking this essence, you have become like a certain Not Equal, and have gained the ability to create skills.
Skills are superhuman abilities from Medaka Box, allowing the user to perform supernatural feats.
With this essence, you can create virtually any power you desire without limit and bestow it to others or yourself.
You can hold an unlimited number of skills even if they are contradictory with each other without any side-effect.
You are unaffected by any negative side effects of your skills, if there are any.
You can decide which skills are active in any given moment and can even delete them.
Skills that you bestow can never be used against you in any way and you can instantly recall or delete them from people.
You can customize any skills you create, such as how powerful they are, their capabilities, the cost of using the skill, and their weakness.
You cannot create copies of Skill Creation.
This power can never be stolen, given away, blocked, drained, or taken.
Each skill must have a name. If a skill does not have a name, it cannot be created.
As you can see, it is so Op that I had to select some features from it otherwise teh story will be imbalanced.
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Bye.