章節 11: Better Nuts

"Hm...well this is a surprise," Aurus muttered as he checked the remaining HP of the Lesser Mahogany Branch in front of him.

After seeing that just one fight allowed him to already evolve one of his skills to a higher grade, he couldn't help but admire the passive skill he gained from Kurohana.

"Though it's not like incredibly strong where it breaks the balance of the world, it still lets me improve at a fast rate," Aurus said.

"Well let's finish this first before I evolve it! [Nut Shot]!"

Bang!

With one more ash gray nut, the Lesser Mahogany Branch that Aurus targeted finally broke apart into two and died.

Ding!

'Aurus has dealt 5 HP damage to [Lesser Mahogany Branch].'

'Experience +15'

'Congratulations! Aurus has leveled up.'

Aurus then closed his eyes and felt a weird sensation all over his body. All of the cells in his body started to condense towards the center as new cells were formed, making Aurus' body denser than it was.

He didn't know why this happened but then realized something.

"Leveling up means that my stats increase," Aurus deduced. "Now that I have a faint connection with my body, does that mean that I can now feel every improvement happening in my body?"

Thinking about it, it sounded plausible. Aurus placed it in the back of his head and decided to test his hypothesis later.

"But first..." Aurus was going to command something to the system but a notification sound popped up.

Ding!

'[SP Storage] has leveled up.'

"Ooh. I'm surprised it leveled up this fast. I just need one more level before I can evolve it," Aurus chuckled as he said this to himself. Though it sounds weird that the ability of storing SP can be improved through skill leveling instead of stat improving, it's quite logical from the perspective of a stick.

A stick inherently doesn't have any way of improvement other than the environment and skills it has. For [SP Storage], the repeated usage of SP allows it to gain experience and level up.

Pushing the notification aside, Aurus then focused on the matter at hand and commanded, "Evolve [Fruit Creation]."

Ding!

________

Please select the skill that [Fruit Creation] would evolve into:

[Condensed Fruit Creation]

[Piercing Fruit Creation]

[Regenerative Fruit Creation]

________

"Ooh. Three choices," Aurus said to himself. "From the names alone, I feel like each and every one of them is a great upgrade compared to the previous skill. I should check what each skill can do before I really choose."

"Identify [Condensed Fruit Creation]."

Ding!

________

[Condensed Fruit Creation] (Level 1/5)

Experience: 0/5

An upgraded version of the [Fruit Creation] skill, focused on a balance of SP storage and damage. Once evolved to this skill, the amount of fruit able to produced would be reduced by half, but in turn, it would allow the fruits to hold twice as much SP and allow the fruits to deal twice the amount of damage.

Maximum amount of fruit: 3

Maximum SP capacity per walnut: 4 SP

________

"Holy... that's a lot of SP per nut," Aurus couldn't help but say. He checked the maximum amount of fruit he could produce and saw that it made sense since [Fruit Creation] at max level would allow him to make 5 fruits since each level increased the limit by one. But, 4 SP per walnut?

He then checked the skill screen for [Fruit Creation] and saw that each fruit could now hold 2 SP since it was maxed in level. After checking it, everything now made sense to Aurus.

"If I evolved to this skill, I would basically hold double the amount of SP I can currently hold with a maxed [Fruit Creation] skill and even deal twice the damage than I used to do." If Aurus said that he wasn't interested in this skill, he'd be lying. He then moved on to the next skill.

Ding!

________

[Piercing Fruit Creation] (Level 1/5)

Experience: 0/5

An upgraded version of the [Fruit Creation] skill, focused on dealing extreme amounts of damage. Once evolved to this skill, every fruit formed will now deal twice the damage. In exchange for that, the amount of SP a fruit can hold has been halved. Nonetheless, the Walnut stick can now produce a nut that can deal twice the doubled damage, effectively dealing four times the damage.

Maximum amount of fruit: 5

Maximum SP capacity per walnut: 1 SP

________

"Ohhh!" Aurus' eyes gleamed. "Dealing four times the damage with the same skill? If I chose this, I would be able to one shot the Lesser Mahogany Branch I fought a while ago and possibly one shot stronger species as well!"

But after he realized something, he thought that he shouldn't pick this skill as an evolution. "If I choose this skill, it would be harder for me to become a stick mage. Although one shotting enemies is cool and stuff, nothing's cooler than conjuring spells."

Ever since Aurus evolved and knew that he had SP, he was aiming to get a lot of SP...although he didn't know how much SP he wanted. 25? 50? 100?

"Let's move on. Identify [Regenerative Fruit Creation]."

Ding!

________

[Regenerative Fruit Creation] (Level 1/5)

Experience: 0/5

An upgraded version of the [Fruit Creation] skill, focused on everything related to SP. Once evolved to this skill, the fruits produced would be able to hold twice the amount of SP while still dealing the same amount of damage. In exchange, the Walnut stick can produce a new type of fruit that could either regenerate HP or SP which has its own limit.

Maximum amount of fruits: 5

Maximum amount of regenerative fruits: 1

Maximum SP capacity per walnut: 4 SP

________

"This is..." Aurus was left speechless after seeing the upgrade the skill brought. Although the nuts wouldn't deal as much damage when compared to the Condensed or Piercing variant, he would be able to hold twice the amount of SP just like the Condensed variant. Not to mention, regenerative fruits that would allow him to regenerate HP or SP over time! With that, wouldn't he become invincible or be some sort of gatling gun with the amount of SP he regenerates?

"I've chosen!" Aurus nodded as he made his final choice.

Ding!

'[Fruit Creation] has been evolved to [Regenerative Fruit Creation].'

If Aurus was still human, his mouth would be curved at both ends, showing his happiness. But since he was a stick, he instead started to use the fruits he obtained.

"First, create a regenerative fruit that regenerates SP!"

Not long after saying that, a light blue nut sprouted out of Aurus' body, radiating a soft blue light. Afterwards, 5 more nuts sprouted from his body, 4 of them being colored a slightly darker green than before and a single ash gray nut.

Aurus then looked at two bars over his body and smiled.

HP: 6/6

SP: 19/19

With that amount of SP, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of SP while fighting. But at this moment, Aurus frowned. He was currently facing another problem.

'A Lesser Sakura Branch has targeted you!'

'You have been hit by the [Confusion Pollen] skill. You shall be confused for 10 seconds!'

Right now, only one word came out of Aurus.

"Shit."