章節 70: Rude Awakening [1]
"Here I go."
I calmed my breathing and heightened my concentration.
Stretching my left arm out, I channeled the Nether in it towards the palm. Slowly a black orb formed on top of it.
Dividing my focus while making sure that the orb didn't dissolve in itself, I started channeling the Ether in my right arm.
Another red orb formed on top of my right palm.
I slowly brought my hands together until the two orbs were almost touching each other.
'Please work.'
As if my wishes were answered, for the first time in a few years, the two orbs started fusing.
Continuing, I didn't let my concentration falter until the orbs completely fused. As they started fusing I could feel the space around them distort.
'No No No'
The space distortion was a sign that Nether and Ether were starting to reject each other.
On this crucial step that will decide failure and success, my concentration rose to another level and a few seconds later the space distortions died.
The energies achieved harmony and I finally created a fused orb.
It was a mixture of red and black color and smaller than its predecessors. One couldn't even feel any fluctuations of energy from it because the harmony of energies and their opposite nature made it undetectable.
I was alone in this dark void and the orb didn't work on me. Thus, for now, I only knew how the orb worked in theory.
This was one of the two tricks I created after combining my knowledge of Ether with the knowledge of Nether from Caim.
This fused orb was an energy EMP orb.
As long as I hit someone with it, they will lose control over their energy and be unable to manipulate it for a few seconds, completely rendering them defenseless.
A few seconds might seem little but in the battle between awakeners, even a single second can decide the outcome of the fight.
Making the enemy unable to use their energy was the same as taking the gun away from a shooter. They will become as helpless as a child.
Creating something like this was only possible because I was in this memory world and I could manipulate both Nether and Ether.
The only drawback was that I will be a sitting duck while I fuse the orbs.
My attack resembled rasengun from an anime in my previous life as I also need to make direct contact with the enemy for it to work.
"If only I could shoot kamehume with this orb. Then I wouldn't need to worry about getting hit because I was too near the enemy while preparing the orb."
This was a real world. There was no way my enemies would wait for me while I fused the orbs.
"Congratulations, master you did it after 7 years."
I smiled at Caim's praise.
The first 3 years I entered this memory world I tried to find the perfect ratio to fuse Nether and Ether.
Because at that time I didn't have my left arm it was hard to control Nether and accidents weren't uncommon.
My personal record was 73 times. My right arm exploded 73 times in one day because of the wrong mixture ratio.
Still, an explosion was a better choice than getting the ratio horribly wrong and my arm melting from extreme corruption.
Also, every time I will get my arm back after a few hours. This was a perk of this memory world. It always brought my body condition back to its prime condition.
As for the pain. It was …unbearable.
At first, I tried to ignore the pain thinking that this was a golden opportunity to grow stronger. I knew whining would do me no good. I had to grasp every possible straw if I wanted to guarantee my survival.
But over time pain became the only stimulus that kept me connected with reality.
During a blackout, Caim also disappears along with the memory world.
I am always alone in this empty world.
The ever-stretching silence started gnawing at my sanity.
Oops, it got a little dark.
"On the bright side, I succeeded in fusing the orbs thanks to this memory world!"
Other than the pain there were no risks. Wonderful isn't it!
When three years passed I noticed a change.
The black smokes from my left shoulder had reduced considerably. They were replaced by a semi-solid black arm that I could control.
I'll be honest. I have no idea how or why it happened.
My only guess was that Eth was doing something in reality which resulted in me getting a somewhat usable arm.
After getting my left arm the accidents were considerably reduced. The arm acted as a medium and I was able to channel Nether for longer. Giving me more time to attempt the fusion.
After getting two arms, my right arm only exploded 2 out of 3 times!
And now my left and right arms exploded together. The right arm wasn't exploding alone!
Anyway, the increasing duration of blackouts started making me a little lonely.
So, I named my right arm 'Ka' and my left arm 'Boom' to have someone to talk to.
Failure in ratio meant Ka and Boom going Kaboom.
Hehehe, get it? Kaboom!
Five years later, I finally started getting the hang of it and now Kaboom happened only once a day.
Hmm? What should I name my new move?
Kamehume? Cerou? Spirity Gun?
Oh sorry! I forgot I couldn't shoot the orb, yet.
For now, I needed to directly make the orb and the enemy come in contact with it to work.
"I'll think of a name later."
Diffusing the orb I watched over Eth who was training with a spear.
Now, Eth looked like I remembered him from the reality.
Over the years his hope slowly turned into despair.
No matter how much he trained and pushed himself to the limits, he couldn't overcome the limits of his talent and potential.
In 4 years he was only able to level up twice. For average potential, one can reach Lvl 4 or even Lvl 5 in four years.
And he only got 2 stat points with every level up. Meaning he had average talent.
No matter how hard he trains he will never be able to achieve his goal.
Efforts don't equal results. This was the harsh truth of every world.
Even I was only able to fuse the orbs because I had means available for it. This memory world perfectly replicated reality and I couldn't die here.
My path was filled with thorns but at least I had a path to walk on and reach my goal.
He didn't even have that.
Despite that, he kept training without slacking. Never once did he slack off in his training.
Watching him also helped me maintain my sanity and keep working toward my goal.
But I knew Eth will never be able to achieve anything and will have his body taken over by me in a few days.
This was what was supposed to happen.
Then what was I witnessing?
"One more time."
Ignoring his quivering knees Eth had a ferocious grin on his face.
He pulled his spear and thrust it while activating the only skill he had [Pierce].
However, it was vastly different from the one I knew.
The tip of the spear extended without even Eth calling out the skill name. It extended over 30 feet and retracted in one short second.
Eth again thrust his spear but this time it only extended 3 feet. But unlike the previous time, he was able to use the skill three times in one second.
"A..Acquired Skill?"
The disbelief-laden voice of Caim entered my ears. But I ignored him and watched Eth, who was lying on the ground with a merry grin, with wide eyes.
System skills are always activated by the System. The user doesn't need to do anything other than meet its activation conditions.
However, this means the one executing the skills is the system, not the user. This was why when someone uses magic skills there is no magic circle. But if someone uses a magic spell by themselves there will always be a magic circle.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that the system uses the user's body to activate the skill.
Theoretically, it was possible to learn how the system manipulated one's energy while activating the skill, copy it, and then reproduce it.
If someone could do it then they will be able to tweak the skill however they want.
Just like what Eth did when he altered [Pierce] to his requirements.
However, there was a reason it was only theory. The system was an entity that defied common sense and governed over the laws.
It had the supreme {Authority} over the laws.
Even the Common-rank skills are common only from the System's perspective. They contain countless calculations and precise manipulation of energy that is humanely impossible.
But on the off chance, someone who defies this common sense exists and reproduces a System-skill then the resulting skill is called Acquired Skill.
These were acquired skills. Something that was above even the legendary grade skills.
On Earth, only three people will have acquired skills. One, was an Irregular, while the other two were people who will shake the Earth to its core in the future.
Now I just witnessed the fourth human to ever have an acquired skill.
"Ergghh."
Suddenly, my head started spinning and intense sleepiness attacked me. I understood that it was the cue for me to return.
Yet I couldn't take my eyes off the kid who had finally tore through the veil of darkness and was basking in the afterglow.
Eth couldn't hear me. But I couldn't stop myself from asking one last thing before sleep overtook me.
"Why was there no mention of you in the novel?"
***
"….an …od…"
I could feel my senses returning.
"..tha.. d…ge"
Was I finally out of that dream world?
Before I could drown in sentiments the noises cleared.
"….than dodge!"
-Thwack!
Something akin to a truck smashed into my side and blew me away.
I felt my body bounce on a cold hard floor as it skidded from the force of impact before finally coming to rest.
"Cough..cough"
Even covering my mouth to stop the uncontrolled fits of cough felt excruciating.
Pain washed over my body in intense waves with my ribs, which were probably broken, as its source.
Ignoring the red spit on my sleeves, I scanned my surroundings in hope of understanding the situation.
Dozens of feet away a gigantic stone statue in the shape of a knight. It was moving and attacking a boy, around whom golden lightning crackled.
Swish-
Suddenly, a beautiful girl with waist-long silver hair appeared in front of me.
Without even asking me about my condition, she forced me to drink something.
I felt cold sensation travel down my throat. Not long after the pain diminished and my ribs slowly started mending.
Finally, I was able to examine the situation.
After five solid seconds of careful observation, this was what I understood.
Leon, Susan and I were fighting against some a Knight Golem in a Colosseum.
I was alone with the two people I wanted to stay away from the most!
There were many things I had to say about this. But all of them could be summed up in one sentence.
"This is one hell of a rude awakening!"
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