บท 8: 8 Skill creation
[El's POV: ]
Skill points were some of the most important things in this world.
To upgrade a skill's level, one has to either fulfill some conditions or use these skill points.
Usually, [Grade-1] skills took around 20 skill points for their first upgrade, and the amount doubled after that.
[Grade-2] took forty, [Grade-3] took sixty, and [Grade-4] took eighty.
Every skill had a maximum of six levels.
Very few people could even upgrade their skills up to level four, as one traditionally only got two skill points after every level up.
Aside from levels, the 'players' received them through rare quests, but now we couldn't have quests.
So, the only other option to gain skill points was through achievement recognized by the <Voice of world> and Worldline.
And twenty was enough to upgrade the [Grade-1] {Mana breathing} to the second level…
[Ding!]
[Skill: {Mana breathing} has been upgraded to (Level-2)]
There was no need to spare my skill points like Lucy.
He will save most of his points just to use them in his sword dance or maybe use it when he thinks it's the right time.
My skill was overpowered from the start and it continued improving as the level increased, but the skill was a [Rank-4] so there was no way I could upgrade it so easily.
By the time I complete this one skill, he might have finished creating at least four skills.
So, we would be almost at the same level in overall power.
I had taken the crystal so the main first core's work of the skill will be completed by today.
It would take at least a year without the help of a support system like in the game to finish this skill and after that, I can finally move on to other things.
Creating these skills wasn't the only thing we will have to do in the time we have left.
There were still things like practicing skills and increasing stats.
That was all we could do as to increase the level, we had to hunt.
That was the only way aside from quests.
We only gained the experience points after killing something. And that was even more of a reason to kill that bastard.
Not only do we get the reward, save some children and gain many things, but we will also gain EXP. And that should almost push our level to 10.
"But… the painless death will be the last thing that bastard will taste from me," I smirked and painted the white canvas before me in all black.
My creation style was close to the painting and contained coding and programming unique elements with Mana as the base.
Mana strings were the fundamental particles of all creation in this world.
The Mana worked a bit differently from the particle form as the word 'string' itself explained most things.
The Mana strings were something that was based on the (String theory) that proposed that the world was based on the strings and the fundamental particles were strings at their base.
Almost anyone can use this power called Mana, but only those possessing a Mana heart can produce spells from them.
Spells were a bit different from skills as we produced them on the spot with the manipulation of the strings.
One with a Mana heart can play with these strings and, just like music, produce distinct notes.
Strings were ultimately the power source of a computer called the mortal body, and the brain was a processor.
The input, like Mana strings, was processed in the brain which was powered by the heart that can pump that Mana in the body.
Going into that thing was too much as I can just go on without caring about you all so, I gathered my attention to the work before me.
Looking at the black canvas, I increased the size to 30*30 meters, the size of my painting.
It was big, and I knew it. That was the very reason there was almost no one that could break this skill.
My work was simple: Channel Mana, start with one core, create the sub-cores, connect all cores, drop the skill circles around the cores, and cover the whole thing with some small layers of Mana.
This was something that took time and the amount of Mana had to be perfect every time I drew even a single line.
"Let's get started~!" Tying my long ash-white hair behind in a bun, I bent down.
***
[Lucy's POV: ]
Standing in a white, endless room, I took a deep breath.
"This is the moment," I muttered under my breath and closed my eyes.
Finishing a skill in one day was an almost impossible thing, but I was at the end of that so…
Calming my breathing, I took a step back and put my right hand on the hilt of my sword.
Holding the sheath of my sword tightly, taking the proper stance that was now a part of this mental body, preparing my muscles and calming my breathing, I repeated the same movement of pushing up the sword from the guard, and slashing before the empty space before me and retracting the sword into the sheath.
-Click.
Just the same subtle clicking sound, but this time without stopping, I repeated the same moment another ninety-nine times.
It was hard at the start with this new body, but after ten thousand times, I became comfortable repeating this quick movement.
And the result of my close to twenty thousand identical movements...
[<Voice of world> has found a new skill in your actions.]
[<Voice of world> acknowledges the sword moment as a new skill.]
[Congrats! You have created a new skill.]
[Assessing the skill.]
[Scaning...]
[Complete.]
[<Voice of world> has acknowledged the simplicity of the complex skill.]
[Please name the new [Rank-2] skill.]
"Horizontal slash," I replied as I tried to calm my wildly beating heart. Doing that simple movement a hundred times in twenty seconds was no joke.
Doing a hundred quick draws wasn't easy and doing it precisely took too much concentration. The strain on the body was another factor altogether, but at last, I had done it.
It was amazing and impossible sounding, but I had created a skill of [Rank-2] in mere hours.
I knew it would be morning very soon, but I still had to check the skill and rewards I would get.
'I will receive more rewards than her, but ultimately, we both will have rewards of the same value.
Maybe she will have better things than me when she finishes her cheat-like skill.'
Her {Dismantle} was an almost unreasonable skill, and I had experienced it the longest.
We did challenges and PvPs in her virtual worlds and many of the functions in those games were the same as in this world.
This unique world contained a game-like system, but that was only because the main brain of the worldline believed it was the simplest and most efficient way to supervise the world.
The system and rules of the [Worldline] were important for growth, but it was also the reason we had so many restrictions on us.
Knowing the shit tone of things was useless if you can't use it, anyway. And there was this thing called <Authority> that made us more restrained.
But... going slowly and one step at a time was the best way to achieve what we wanted.
There was no actual end to this game and no one can know what would happen in the future.
"Of course, there are exceptions, and prophets and fate exist, but we don't have to worry about that."
[Ding!]
The message rang again, and I returned to the system window.
[Skill creation complete!]
[Congratulations! You are the youngest being among normal humans to create a new skill.]
[<Voice of the world> has found multiple accomplishments in this act.]
[A physical sword skill: {Horizontal Slash} has been created.]
[Bestowing gift of appropriate rank.]
The messages ended, and I came back to the real world. The first experience of the workplace was not so bad.
A wooden box materialized before my eyes and I caught it.
"Lucy~! Won't you give me that box~?" El asked as she crawled inside my bedsheet and hugged me.
She was hot, maybe because of the training.
Not minding her normal actions or those cute puffed-up cheeks one bit, I opened the box with a hopeful expression.
Previous rewards were already good, so there was a good chance this will be more exciting than them!
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