[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 77: Next Steps (Patreon)

The next thing Edge knew, morning sunlight was warming his legs.

The buzzing of insects and chirping of birds filled the air, punctuated by the occasional roar of a monster in the distance. He was surprised to have slept straight through the night, and relieved that nothing had approached his shelter, although by this point, he trusted Skill-Eater or Chibime to wake him up in an emergency.

He needed to head deeper into the dungeon before the convicts entered the jungle in force, but there were a few tasks that he wanted to take care of first. Edge walked over to the river—where a pool of water was sheltered by a mudbank. It was relatively clear and too shallow for anything to be lurking below.

He removed his gear and stepped into the pool, scrubbing the layers of dirt and viscera off his body until the water ran clear. He would have loved to have taken a proper bath, but that wasn’t happening inside the Savage Garden. Even still, it felt good to be clean, or at least a great deal cleaner.

He used Repel Water to dry himself off, then washed his toolbelt and backpack. He refilled his canteen after running some river water through his filter, then relieved himself and let the current carry the waste away. He was still low on mana, since Conceal had been running all night. He had enough in the tank to continue his journey, but getting into another fight would be incredibly dangerous.

Edge turned Conceal back on while he broke into his provisions and made himself breakfast. His appetite was enormous after burning through so much energy during the battle with the elite. I need to find something to supplement my rations before long. With any luck, I’ll come across some edible plants or animals that I can hunt.

Unfortunately, monster meat was incredibly toxic. The few instances he knew of where people had tried consuming more than trace amounts had invariably ended in gruesome deaths. He wondered if the reaction was related to the corrupted magicytes filling the dungeon or the taint he’d seen inside their cores before shelving it as a matter for another day.

After burying the crumbs from his meal, he walked back to the hollow trunk, stopping long enough to read through his updates before heading out.

Although he was sure that he’d earned enough experience from killing the stage-three ape and a bunch of its minions, it still took a load off his mind to receive conformation that he’d finally reached that last cycle of his stage.

You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle-up your core. Your new cycle is: 21.

You have 3 attribute points awaiting allocation.

By conditioning your body, your Speed has increased by 1.

Picking up another point of Speed was a nice bonus, taking him one step closer to maxing his gains via conditioning. But what he really wanted to see was further down the list, so he kept on reading.

Congratulations. You have reached the final cycle of your stage.

The conditions for evolving to stage 2 have been revealed.

The requirements are:

• Obtain a Unique skill.

• Use it to defeat 3 enemies at least 1 stage above your own.

Edge’s forehead crinkled as his eyes widened in confusion. He had expected the requirements for stage two to be more arduous than stage one, but this was something else entirely. What the hell is a Unique skill, and how do I go about obtaining one?

He needed to figure it out fast, since he had to evolve if he wanted to expand his skillset and continue cycling up. Doing so was imperative to surviving in the Savage Garden and a prerequisite if he were to have any chance of defeating the boss and completing the quest to claim the core manufactory for Puppet Town.

At least the second condition is straightforward. It should be easy to complete while I’m in the dungeon. He would start working on the problem soon, but for now, he moved on to the next section on his list of updates, which brough a smile to his face despite the seriousness of his situation.

You have completed one component of the supplementary quest, Open the Boss’s Chamber.

For defeating the monkey mini-boss, you have been awarded:

2 Skill-Merger Tokens.

1 Skill-Mutation Token.

3 Mid-Grade Spellshots (Stage 4 Pillar of Flame).

20 Mortium.

Hell yes. He read through the rewards a second time, savoring each in turn. Completing the quest was a fantastic windfall—one that would boost his odds of enduring the ordeal ahead. He had never heard of anyone soloing a quest that was meant to be tackled as a crew, and the prize for doing so was more than worth the risk of obtaining it.

That was when he noticed that he had one more batch of updates awaiting his perusal.

For defeating a cored opponent stage 2 or above, you have earned 1 Mortium.

For defeating a cored opponent stage 2 or above, you have earned 1 Mortium.

For defeating a cored opponent stage 2 or above, you have earned 1 Mortium.

…

The same message repeated another nine times. Apparently, his back-to-back Roaring had killed some of the monkey’s stage-two minions after all, paralyzing their lungs until they suffocated. Edge sat there in stunned silence, processing the fact that he now had 33 lifecoins to his name—more than most shadowkillers earned in a year.

He couldn’t wait to make it back to Lilly’s exchange to cash them in. If she’s still alive. The thought made his worry rise to the surface. He prayed his friends were ok, and that Puppet Town was holding out against the Crimson Claws.

I have to trust Sakura and Earl to handle the situation outside the dungeon. I have my own part to play. At least I have enough Mortium to steal any skills I want for the foreseeable future. He took a deep breath to collect himself, then got ready to head out.

When Edge closed his menus and dismissed his Guide, a paper-wrapped bundle wavered into existence beside him—one aspect of the System that was still working in the aftermath of the anomaly. When he opened it up, the listed items were waiting inside. He put the packaging into his backpack, then examined each item in turn.

He started with the spellshots—thrilled to have some ammo for his revolver besides the crystalized skill that had been Warren’s trump card. Stage-four Pillar of Flame wasn’t as powerful as the rounds that had come loaded in the spellslinger’s chambers, but it was stronger than any of Edge’s skills. Better still, he knew exactly what these spellshots did and could use them without any risk to himself.

He held one up to his eyes, gazing at the faint profile of something embedded within the lump of crystal—like a fossilized creature trapped in amber. Then he loaded the spellshots into the revolver’s cylinder, rotating the chamber holding the mystery skill so that it would be fired last. After slipping the Merger Tokens into his belt pouch, he placed the Mutation Token in a beam of sunlight so he could get a good look at the unusual item.

It was carved from a silvery wood with dense, spiraling grains. The disc had a reactor etched into one side and a question mark on the other. When he expanded the quest completion notification, he was pleased to discover a full description of how the token worked.

Skill-Mutation Token

This token can be redeemed to alter a skill in an unpredictable manner.

Some mutations are minor and don’t affect a skill’s core functionality at all, such as changing the color of a fireball. Others can fundamentally alter its behavior.

This can result in a variety of outcomes, including: creating a skill that is more powerful than before, rendering the skill effectively useless, and everything in between. Mutations can even change the rarity or category of the modified skill.

Note: Mutated skills can still rank up and advance, but they can never be removed, Absorbed, or merged. You have been warned.

Well. That’s more than a little ominous. Maybe I’ll save that token and sell it. I should at least research it after leaving the dungeon before I risk ruining one of my powers and being stuck with garbage forever. Either way, it’s time to get going.

There was one last issue to deal with first—spending the free points that had come with his cycle. I’ll put one more set into Disruption before investing in anything else. Getting hit by the wrong skill from a stage-three monster is one of the worst things that could happen while I’m in here, and the jailbirds’ powers are certain to be just as bad.

He sent his intentions into the System, then waited until the potentia had finished enhancing his Disruption field. The process was soothing and left him feeling cleansed, pushing back the filth filling the air.

The moment the upgrade was complete, Edge left the hollow trunk and started walking into the swamp. He had severe reservations about relocating deeper into the dungeon, but he didn’t have a choice. The Claws would start clearing the jungle soon if they weren’t here already. There weren’t enough powerful monsters left in the maze to delay them for long, and stealing the kill on the elite ape was guaranteed to have centered him within their sights.

Going forward, he wanted to keep a few miles of unconquered terrain between them. Except, of course, when the mist was out. Once he managed to evolve, he needed to start hunting stage-two monsters on foggy days. The jungle was his best bet until he picked up more skills and cycles, since the denizens of the swamp were even more powerful.

No matter how angry they were, the convicts should be reluctant to follow him into the wetlands. The region was treacherous to cross until you found a path, which was tricky due to the countless dead ends formed by the narrow strips of dry land.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Edge left the borderlands and entered the swamp, ready to begin the next stage of his plans.