The night air hung still and heavy around their shelter, broken only by the gentle crackling of dying embers from their evening fire. Ambrose sat outside, his back against the rough wooden wall, with Hualing maintaining her vigilant position beside him. When she saw that he wasn't sleeping, she had decided to volunteer to be the first one on night watch, that way, she could both protect her master and complete her party obligations.
As for Ambrose, he'd been asleep (unconscious) for almost a day so he didn't feel sleepy at all. This was also because of his many mind enhancing skills. The recent upgrades to skills like [Thought Acceleration] and his new [Parallel Processing] had fundamentally altered his need for sleep, leaving his mind in a constant state of crystal clarity.
[Parallel Processing](S) - A supernatural ability that allows the mind to operate multiple independent thought streams simultaneously. The user can completely isolate and compartmentalize different mental processes, enabling them to pursue multiple complex analyses or tasks at once with no loss of efficiency. Each thought process operates with full access to the user's mental capabilities, allowing for true multitasking rather than rapid task switching. The number of parallel processes scales with mental strength, though each active process consumes a portion of the user's mental strength pool.
As he was appreciating his new abilities, a whisper of movement caught his attention, barely perceptible even in the quiet night. He glanced at Hualing, noting her unchanged expression – whatever had triggered his senses remained beyond her detection. It wasn't surprising, given his supernatural perceptual abilities:
[Heightened Perception](A) - An advanced enhancement of the user's sensory capabilities that approaches supernatural levels. Visual acuity is increased by 300%, allowing for crystal clear vision up to 500 meters and the ability to track hypersonic movements. Hearing sensitivity is improved by 250%, enabling the user to detect whispers from up to 150 meters away and perfectly distinguish hundreds of overlapping sounds. The sense of smell has evolved to track specific individuals across vast distances and detect subtle emotional changes through pheromones. This heightened state can be maintained indefinitely without strain.
The darkness posed no barrier to his enhanced vision, the night world appearing almost as clear as day. Yet the dense forest surrounding their shelter created natural blindspots, walls of vegetation that even his extraordinary sight couldn't penetrate. But his hearing compensated beautifully, picking up the subtle sounds of approach – not a single entity, but multiple ones, drawing steadily closer.
Without hesitation, Ambrose activated [Thought Transmission], his mental warning reaching his companions still settling down for sleep inside the shelter. Their response was immediate and coordinated, emerging into the night air with impressive speed. But even their swift reaction proved barely adequate – by the time they gathered outside, the creatures had already encircled them.
With the trees no longer obscuring his view, Ambrose could finally see their adversaries clearly. He activated [Mind's Eye], analyzing the threat:
[Name: Dire Wolf]
[Level: F]
[Type: Warrior]
[Weakness: Area attacks, Fire]
[Description: A larger, more aggressive variant of normal wolves, hunting in coordinated packs.]
Although the situation looked dire, especially for a non-combat such as himself, his [Rational Mind] skill allowed him to remain calm and collected as he analyzed the situation.
He counted roughly twenty wolves, with their alpha standing apart – an E-rank threat leading its F-rank pack. Despite their party technically outranking these creatures, Ambrose immediately identified several concerning factors. Three of their members – himself included – were intelligence-types, essentially leaving only Marcus and Hualing as combat-capable defenders. The darkness, while no hindrance to his perception, would hamper his companions' fighting ability while giving these naturally nocturnal hunters a significant advantage. Their keen sense of smell would make any attempt at stealth or misdirection futile.
Moreover, Ambrose harbored concerns about his party's combat experience. While Marcus's previous life likely equipped him well for such encounters, the others remained unknown quantities. In combat situations, panic could prove contagious, potentially compromising their entire group's effectiveness.
Yet as his companions smoothly assumed defensive positions, awaiting his command, Ambrose realized he might have underestimated their capabilities. Their formation was textbook-perfect, displaying a level of preparation that suggested his fears of inexperience might have been unfounded.
…
The wolves advanced with predatory grace, their growls and snarls filling the night air. Marcus stood protectively before Meihua and Adelaide, his stance indicating battle readiness despite the challenging visibility. Similarly, Hualing maintained her position as Ambrose's shield, her body coiled with lethal tension.
Studying his companions' subtle movements, Ambrose noticed their slight hesitation when tracking the wolves' positions – a natural consequence of human vision limitations in darkness. While victory seemed likely given their individual capabilities, the risk of injury from unexpected attacks loomed large. On only their second day in the dungeon, any significant wounds could severely compromise their long-term survival chances.
As he contemplated their options, Ambrose recalled one of his most versatile abilities:
[Thought Transmission](A) - An evolved form of mental communication that approaches true telepathy. The user can transmit their gathered information telepathically to multiple willing recipients within a 500-meter radius, complete with full sensory details from their observations. They gain near-perfect sensitivity to mental transmissions in their vicinity, able to detect, intercept, and even redirect telepathic communications within 300 meters. This sensitivity extends to reading surface thoughts and emotional states of those around them.
He had barely scratched the surface of this skill's potential, using it primarily for simple communication. But now, a more sophisticated application presented itself. He activated the ability, preparing to share his enhanced vision with his companions.
A/N - Not necessarily share the ability but rather the sensory information.
However, he quickly realized that simply broadcasting his perspective wouldn't suffice – the difference in viewing angles could disorient them rather than help.
To solve this problem, he called upon his newest skill:
[Spatial Awareness](S) - Grants acute awareness of all matter and energy within the user's sphere of influence, with range determined by mental strength (typically extending from 30 to 50 meters). Within this space, the user can sense movement, position, and spatial disturbances. The ability provides heightened sensitivity to spatial anomalies like teleportation or dimensional distortions, though prolonged use can cause mental fatigue.
A/N - Its some sort of omniscience within a certain range.
Knowing the full power of this ability would rapidly deplete his mental energy, Ambrose activated it selectively, focusing solely on gathering visual information within their immediate area. Then, employing his extraordinary mental capabilities, he began the complex task of mapping and translating this information into individualized perspectives for each party member.
The computational demands were staggering. For each companion, he had to constantly track their position, eye movement, and orientation, adjusting the visual feed in real-time to match their natural perspective. The processing requirements for maintaining zero-latency transmission while accounting for four different viewpoints simultaneously would have overwhelmed most minds. Yet for Ambrose, with his evolved mental abilities, it felt challenging but manageable – like solving multiple complex equations simultaneously.
A/N - Umm, English please: its just using his omnicience and turning it into diferent POVs and giving this info to the party members.
He had effectively transformed himself into the group's neural hub, processing and distributing vital visual information tailored to each individual's perspective. While the mental strain was considerable, his enhanced capabilities could handle it. As his companions' movements became more assured, responding to their suddenly improved night vision, Ambrose allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.
…
[Thought Acceleration](S) - Elevates mental processing speed to supernatural levels, accelerating thought by a factor of 1000. This extreme acceleration enables instant analysis of complex situations, perfect tactical assessment, and instantaneous problem-solving capabilities. The user experiences time in extreme slow-motion during accelerated thinking, allowing for exhaustive analysis in split-second situations.
[Time Perception](A) - Enhances the brain's ability to process information in real-time to an advanced degree. Users gain enhanced ability to track dozens of events simultaneously, along with exceptional situational awareness and greatly superior reaction time to observed events. This skill also grants improved prediction of immediate outcomes through enhanced temporal processing.
…
A/N - For anyone who's wondering about the skill descriptions, checkout the auxiliary chapter. I can't always give the full descriptions of skills as soon as they appear since it'll take up much word count, but I'll always give a description of a skill when its used for the first time. But sometimes I might forget to give the description or assume i've given it earlier when i in fact havent so its better to check the auxiliary when you feel like you're missing something. I'll also include the descriptions of the side character's skills at a later time. For those interested in the stats of the main character at a certain period, I might create a wiki where I'll list all that.
Anyway, I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my work, even though its not the best, I'm still improving and I'll try to make it more and more entertaining.
Thanks