Chapter 56: New talent
"ACHOO!"
Hide violently rubbed his nose with the back of his sleeve, drawing a few sideways glances from the well-dressed pedestrians walking past him. He sniffled and scowled at the pristine, cloud filled sky of Area 5.
The air here was completely filtered, entirely devoid of the industrial smog he was used to in Area 17. It definitely wasn’t dust that had triggered it.
’Someone is definitely talking trash about me,’ he muttered internally, stuffing his hands deep into the pockets of his newly bought, cheap dark jacket. This was brought from the 2000 credits he got from Fuu.
That bastard was hard to get rid from, he was still here. Despite the fact that Hide had given him chances to run away and go back, but the dumbass rejected them all and wanted to stay with him.
Hide kept walking down the wide, marble-paved avenue of the government quarter, his silver hair catching the morning sunlight. As he walked, he let his focus shift inward, calling up the translucent blue screen of the Universal Adaptation System that only he could see.
It hovered effortlessly in his field of vision, tracking his movements.
[Universal Adaptation System]
Host: Hide Volter
Age - 18
Level: 12
Exp: 2300 / 2700
Class: ∞
Class Rank: F
Evolve - Level 12/20
Physical Attributes
Strength: 15
Agility: 15
Endurance: 11
Vitality: 10
Mental Attributes
Perception: 10
Willpower: 12
Non-Allocated Points: 28
Active Skills – Abyssal Scale Carapace (A), Abyssal Flame (B), Mana Blast (A)
Passive Skills – Dermal Reinforcement (F), Predator’s Respite (B), Unshaken Will (B), Toxin Resistance (C), Virus Immunity (C), True Sight (C), Dark Abyssal Core (S)
[Inventory]
[Daily Quests]
[Store]
[Virtual Adaptation Space]
System Messages:
[0 Unread Notifications]
Hide stared at the system screen, he did look at it before. There was even a system message explaining how to use the new option called Virtual Adaptation space.
In easy words, it was a VR like space where Hide could go and come back as he willed and there he could create monsters that he has already killed and kill them over and over again using his skills.
However he did not get any reward... It was just a place to let him help practice. That too was an overwhelming help.
Then he looked at the myriad of Passive skills he now had. To others he was just a Rank F Exterminator, when in reality with his skills he could probably even compare to a D-Rank easily.
He sighed, feeling content and then looked one space above.
Twenty-eight Non - allocated points.
It was an absurd amount of raw potential just sitting there. He had fought a C-Rank Calamity Lord with those baseline stats, surviving purely off his newly evolved skills and the sheer kinetic absorption of his Carapace.
But his foundation was still fragile. His Vitality was only a 10. If the dark mist hadn’t been neutralized by his Dark Abyssal Core, his actual body would have disintegrated in seconds.
He didn’t hesitate. He mentally allocated the points as he walked.
He poured 5 points into Vitality, bringing it to a solid 15.
Vitality : 10 - 15
He added 4 to Endurance.
Endurance : 11 - 15
5 to Perception, and 3 to Willpower.
Perception : 10 - 15
Willpower : 12 - 15
That burned 17 points, bringing every single one of his stats to a balanced baseline of 15. With 11 points left, he pushed 5 into Strength and 6 into Agility.
Strength: 15 - 20
Agility: 15 - 21
A sudden, intense wave of heat rushed through his entire body. Hide stumbled for a half-step on the marble pavement, gasping slightly as his muscles contracted, densified, and settled.
The world around him snapped into a terrifyingly sharp focus. He could hear the exact mechanical whir of the delivery drones fifty yards away. His body felt impossibly light, yet coiled with a heavy, explosive power.
He exhaled a long, shaky breath, dismissing the blue screen.
Then, he raised his left hand. The black metal of the AAA status ring felt cool against his skin.
"Class State," he muttered quietly.
Instantly, the air in front of him fractured into light. A crisp, semi-transparent white holographic projection hung in the ambient air. This was the public interface—the one that any government scanner or Exterminator could read.
Before the dungeon, this screen had mocked him with no talent. Now, the glowing white text read very differently.
--
Name - Hide Volter
Class - ∞
Current Class Rank - F
Class Evolution Percentage - 0%
Class Potential - S
Talent - Dark Liege
[You are the watcher in the dark, the song in death and the Ruler in the afterlife. Dark mana can be used to create faceless manifests called Phantom Court. These manifests can be given life by placing an anchor.]
Talent Rank - 5 star
--
Hide stared at the five stars.
Five stars. The absolute ceiling of human capability. If any official scanned his ring right now, they wouldn’t see a helpless, talentless kid. They would see a top-tier monster.
He flicked his wrist, and the white holographic screen dissolved into mist. He had to be careful with who he let scan that ring from now on.
But what exactly did the weird talent do?
Well it was written clearly under the talent, but it did not clear much, did it. It only told him the fact that he can use Dark mana to create faceless creatures who can be brought to life by placing anchors.
But what were these anchors and how could he place them? he was not even clear what those anchors in the dungeon were. He at least knew that those beast’s were not actual beasts to begin with, they were created by the master of that Dungeon.
The C-Rank Calamity beast, better known as the Lesser Calamity Lord.
Just then a realization struck him. And his eyes widened. He just realized what this talent could do, and what these anchors were. It was a rough Idea but he could try and test it.
A sweet and sinister smile spread across his face, this talent had an insane amount of potential.