[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 102: All In (Patreon)

As Overdrive hit the seven second mark, Edge jumped to the ground.

He buried his iceblades into an unfrozen portion of the hydra’s body along the way, carving a pair of ruby gouges down its chest until his boots hit the dirt.

He gripped the hilts of his subzero swords, flaring Elemental Blade all the while to bolster the arctic mana it was pumping into the monster’s torso. The runes added by his Frostfury Medallion shone silver like the moon, multiplying the power of the skill. Overdrive filled his core with concentrated magic, adding its potency to the mix.

Then, for just a second, he thought he sensed Elemental Blade’s avatar exerting itself, lowering the temperature of the crystalline blades a few degrees all on its own. The frozen patches of flesh ringing both weapons were spreading fast, but he didn’t have time to wait any longer.

Without letting go of his iceblades, Edge mouthed a prayer and willed Extraction to activate.

The black chains sprang from his wrists in a clinking flash, diving into the frost-rimed wounds. They dug their way through a few feet of frozen tissue, then slid into the monster’s core.

Edge wasn’t able to follow them, since he was battling the quartet of heads that could still move, along with the monster’s feet and tail. Leaving his body for even a fraction of a second would wind up getting him killed.

While he was curious what powers the hydra had in its collection, it didn’t really matter in the end. He already knew what he wanted—the keystone binding the creature’s skillset together. He sent his intentions into the chains of oblivion and said, “Steal its healing power before it’s too late.”

As he fended off the elite’s attacks, the black chains began a battle of their own, which took place at an accelerated rate thanks to the time dilation inside the core. Edge shoved two heads aside with Repel Water, jumped over a lash of its tail while balancing on the blades’ hilts like an acrobat, then Hardened his body to endure the rest while the living links waged war with the monster’s skill.

Even while crippled by cold, the hydra’s will was strong enough to put up one hell of a fight. The chains failed on their first attempt, leaving five seconds until his gambit failed and his life was forfeit. The instant the onyx coils retracted, he sent them in again.

He threw himself to one side, dodging a breath attack that would have obliterated him, just as Foebinder and its twin lost the second round. He was down to one last attempt, although he sensed that the chains were close to claiming their prize. Three seconds.

When Edge activated his third and final charge of Extraction, the animate links made their final stand, with his life and the future of his home hanging in the balance. Two. Although Foebinder seemed confident in its victory, he was terrified that the chains weren’t going to win. That the monster would recover from the cold and destroy him the instant the exhaustion kicked in.

With one second left on the clock, he felt a fierce surge of satisfaction coming through their bond. The battle-scarred loops pulled a glistening red mass free from the creature’s core, flinging it into Edge’s mouth before retreating through his wrists to nurse their wounds.

The instant the chains of oblivion emerged from the hydra’s chest, he Leapt back to open some room. He hit the ground hard, just as the skill touched his tongue. Half a heartbeat later, the final flicker of Overdrive faded away. The great engine detached from Skill-Eater and returned to whence it came, while black enervation rose to engulf him.

The side effect of using his ultimate ability was even worse than before, but he had prepared himself for this moment. While he waited for the crippling fugue to wear off, Edge fought to stop the skill in his mouth from escaping. It took everything he had to keep the avatar trapped behind his teeth over the next 60 seconds as the power struggled to escape his jaws.

He didn’t have the strength to move, watching the hydra while waiting to find out if he would live through the day. He hadn’t heard the notification signaling its defeat, which meant the monster was still alive.

While that was a deeply worrisome development, it hadn’t moved an inch. Apparently, its healing skill had been the only thing keeping its body from being flash frozen. The instant the hydra’s foundational power was out of commission, the rest of its body had turned to ice.

Edge prayed that it would stay that way for at least a little longer. If the monster recovered first, he had no hope of escaping. His reactor was running on fumes, and he couldn’t summon the will to use his skills in this state regardless, much less rise to his feet and run.

That was when the elite began to move. In that moment, he knew that he was well and truly fucked, but his fears proved to be unfounded. The creature hadn’t taken a step; its entire body was tilting. He watched with wide eyes as the hydra toppled, shattering like glass upon hitting the ground.

The instant that the exhaustion wore off, Edge activated Conceal and started to chew. The skill in his mouth fought back, struggling and straining like a caged animal trying to break free. When his teeth sank in and he got his first taste, he knew exactly what prize he’d claimed.

It’s Regeneration. But this avatar is so much stronger than my version. The miniature heart beating between his gums was soft and slick. While the skill was robust and stout, it couldn’t actually hurt him. The problem was, he couldn’t damage it either. The avatar healed so fast that he could feel it knitting itself back together between bites.

The flavor was exquisite—far more potent than any skill he’d tasted before. Regeneration radiated vitality and vim so intensely that he had to fight to focus as the need to devour permeated every fiber of his being.

He felt Skill-Eater rouse from its slumber, opening its eyes long enough to send a message before drifting back to sleep. The ravenous lord could only convey simple sensations in its half-awake state, but it got the point across.

The moment a wintery chill entered his mind, Edge knew what he needed to do. He drew his knife, infused it with Elemental Blade, then speared the squirming skill through the gap between his molars. He froze his lips before the heart solidified and ceased to beat, but that didn’t matter right now. He pulled out the dagger, pushed through the pain, and chomped so hard that half his teeth fractured.

The skill broke apart before dissolving into goo, sliding down his throat to fall into his core. A few seconds later, his Guide separated from his chest and flattened to form a screen.

You have extracted the skill: Regeneration (Uncommon, Rank 5).

You already have this skill in your collection.

Its experience will be added to your existing skill.

Relief flooded through Edge as he entered his core, followed by a fierce surge of satisfaction. Rank five. No wonder it could heal so fast.

He watched in eager anticipation as the massive heart representing the hydra’s skill floated over to his own copy of Regeneration. The avatars touched, then began to merge, glowing so bright that he had to look away.

The skill (Regeneration) has advanced to rank 3.

Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.

Upon reaching rank 3, you may control the volume of mana the skill consumes, adjusting its output at will.

Awesome. Now Edge could control the rate that Regeneration consumed mana, in addition to another boost to its efficiency. It was kind of like having minor versions of the upgrades he had passed up at rank two.

He could pour more energy into the skill in exchange for making it less efficient, or he could slow it down to reduce the drain. The former would let him heal critical injuries faster, keeping his blood inside his body. The latter would let him power the skill using his natural Generation, even when he didn’t have any magicytes left in reserve.

While hitting rank three was a fantastic upgrade, it was only the start of his gains. Edge realized that Regeneration’s avatar was still shining, softening like it was getting ready to change. He wasn’t sure what was happening until he noticed that his Guide was still floating beside him, and the System’s message had scrolled to another page.

The skill (Regeneration) has advanced to rank 4.

Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.

Please choose between one of the following options:

• Regeneration can suppress the effects of foreign mana within the body.

• Regeneration can regrow organs at a significantly faster rate.

• The effects of Regeneration may be extended to another creature for up to 5 minutes per day.

Warning: if no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a considerable bonus to mana efficiency.

Edge hadn’t realized it was possible for a power to gain two ranks at once, but Absorbing the rank-five version of Regeneration had provided more skill experience than he’d ever received in one go. He laughed with delight, pondering his options while reviewing what little he knew about skills that were this advanced.

Rank-four upgrades change a skill’s behavior in a fundamental way, as opposed to the minor alterations from rank two. Each option leads its development down a branching path that will produce completely different powers by the end. Except for the pure efficiency bonus of course, which seems a lot better than the rank-two version.

But he already knew that he wasn’t going to pick efficiency. Not when the other choices were so amazing.

Being able to rapidly regrow organs would make him even harder to kill. It might even let him regrow his heart or brain fast enough to survive a critical wound. That being said, he wasn’t sure that Regeneration could work its magic quite that quicky, no matter how powerful it became. Taking an injury that severe mid-battle will leave me vulnerable for far too long either way.

He would love to pick up a healing skill, and being able to extend Regeneration’s effect to other people was a fantastic offering. But Edge was all alone in the dungeon—hunted by convicts and surrounded by monsters.

On top of that, he still had the boss to deal with. He couldn’t afford to pass up a powerful upgrade in order to pick something that might help other people in the future. If he didn’t make it out of the Savage Garden soon, he wouldn’t have a future.

In the end, he went with option one. In addition to helping him heal wounds that were infected with toxic mana, the upgrade would counteract other types of skills that penetrated his Disruption field and invaded his body.

Such powers were notoriously difficult to deal with, and the ones Edge was familiar with were completely fucking horrifying. There were skills that forcibly grew a new set of nerves, letting an enemy take over your body. Others turned you into a living bomb, feeding on your core until they went nova. Having a way to deal with what would normally be a death sentence sounded like a good idea, and increased resistance to magical pathogens was bound to come in handy.

When he made his selection, the glowing avatar that represented Regeneration began to morph. When it was done, the light faded away, leaving a beating heart resting by his boots.

The avatar was only a bit bigger than its prior incarnation, but he could tell that Regeneration was far more powerful after jumping from stage two to stage four. It radiated an atmosphere of recovery and wellbeing—able to do its job far faster and more efficiently than before.

Edge stopped to congratulate his upgraded skill, then returned to his body. Although time moved slowly in this place, he’d just made one hell of a racket and needed to be gone before something arrived to investigate.