[STT] Chapter 68: Inside the Monolith (Patreon)

He wanted to throw the fusion shard or skill evolution shard at his current skills just to see what would happen, but he knew better.

He confirmed his choice without hesitation. The skill slot shard appeared in his system, and he thought about using it, and it settled into his chest with a warm, satisfying thrum of vibration that soothed him on a level he'd thought not possible.

And just to be absolutely sure he wasn't dreaming, he quickly pulled up his status.

Name: Benjamin

Title: [Hunter]

Tier: 1

Skills (8/11):

Focus (Parallel Focus) (Rare) - Lvl 11

Mana Sonar (Uncommon) - Lvl 15

Ignition Step (Rare) - Lvl 1

Warforged (Rare) - Lvl 12

Mana Cannon (Uncommon) - Lvl 8

Regeneration (Uncommon) - Lvl 15

Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) - Lvl 13

Mana Construct (Common) - Lvl 7

Constructs (2/10):

Learning Model

Titles:

- [Hunter] - Equipped

- [Lurker] (35/100)

Shards:

- None

Smiling at the number eleven sitting next to his skill count, he dismissed the status, though he was momentarily interested when he saw a new addition to his system.

Shards, eh?

So the system gave him built-in storage for shards. He wondered if they went straight into his soul space for storage, though he couldn't be sure, as although he had apparently formed a link to his, he couldn't access it yet, and Duncan hadn't told him when he would be able to.

Hopefully it happens at Tier 2.

He was pretty curious about it after all. Regardless, he turned his attention back to his two walking encyclopedias.

"So, based on what you guys were saying earlier, let me ask this again: do rare skills rely more on their underlying concept rather than standard affinities?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean my current rare skills have entire facets I'm completely unaware of simply because I didn't even know they were that busted?"

"Yes." Narrowing her eyes, Alice tilted her head in open suspicion. "How many rare skills do you even have?"

"Not telling. Anyway, theoretically speaking, if someone had a rare skill but didn't know its concept or what it could actually do, how would they figure it out? Like, I couldn't have figured out my skill evolutions without your help."

Ethan gestured vaguely with his hands.

"You basically have to mess around and find out. Rare skills are completely tied to your intent and your understanding of the concept, so us giving you the information on [Ignition Step], for instance, has already shaped the way you view that skill, and the way it will act going forward. You have to push the skill into weird, unconventional scenarios to see how it reacts, and the rest is just mental reaffirmation, in a way."

"…Huh. That's interesting."

Nodding along, Alice picked up the explanation.

"Since the system doesn't hand you an instruction manual, you have to meditate on the core meaning of the word itself. If your skill is called 'Fire', you don't just think about burning things. You think about heat, consumption, light, or even purification. Or death, misery. It can mean anything."

Absorbing their combined lecture on conceptual meditation and skill boundary testing, Ben realized his homework had just drastically tripled.

"You mean to say... I have to lock myself in a room and forcefully shove mana into my skills until something clicks?"

"Well, yes and no. You can do that, or you can not. The path is different for everyone. I've heard stories of some high Tier ascenders spending years staring at a single candle flame, just trying to redefine the word 'burn' in their heads to conceptually change their [Pyromancy] skill."

"Years?" Ben blanched. "That sounds awful."

"It is. But the payoff is usually worth it. Imagine taking a simple kinetic barrier and realizing its concept is actually 'rejection.' Suddenly, you become capable of rejecting magical effects, environmental hazards, maybe even abstract concepts like scrying or teleportation, provided your skill level is high enough."

The possibilities unfurled in his mind. If a simple barrier could do that, what the hell was [Focus] actually capable of if he stopped treating it as he had been?

His own perception of the skill was rather... limited, to say the least.

"So, if I had a rare skill that had a concept based around, say, 'construction' or 'creation'..."

"Then you could conceptually construct pathways for mana, build temporary pseudo-cores for constructs, or even construct temporary 'rules' within a localized domain. It would be incredibly difficult, though. As concepts are heavy, and require mental fortitude the higher you try to comprehend, and tie into paths. Which I guess you will figure out later on. Trying to wield one you don't fully understand can literally fry your brain or mutate your soul space."

He needed to find a safe space to experiment with [Focus] and [Warforged]. But that was a problem for future Ben. Present Ben was just incredibly glad he had a tangible path forward and an extra skill slot to play with.

So he gave Ethan a look.

"I guess now we just have to hit the guardian at the exit and we're golden. Though, I have to ask: where exactly is the exit?"

Tilting his head, Ethan looked genuinely confused for a second. "Oh, didn't I tell you?"

"No."

"I'm pretty sure I mentioned something about it when we first met."

Suppressing the sudden urge to push the guy off the monolith, Ben sighed.

"Yes, you did. But you never mentioned where."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. So is it wise to hit this thing solo, or as a party raid?"

Rubbing his chin, Ethan hummed in thought. "Probably a party raid... unless you want a way bigger reward for facing it."

Ben looked at Ethan.

And Ethan looked right back at Ben.

Grinning like absolute idiots, they both spoke at the exact same time.

""You aren't thinking what I'm—""

Cutting themselves off, they just kept smiling at each other.

Alice smacked face with her hand, dragging it down with an exaggerated groan. "Of course you idiots would do something this dumb. Fine. Count me in, I guess. There's no stopping you two now anyway."

###

The event monolith finally let them enter after a bit, and it turned out to be rather anti-climactic.

The inside of the monolith was just an empty room, and a portal appeared on the floor right in the center of it, which made Ben wonder what the purpose of dangling it in front of them was.

There had to be some meaning to it.

But he had to put that on the backburner as he, Ethan, and Alice along with everyone else save Theodore who'd wandered off to god knew where stood in front of the swirling portal at the bottom of the monolith.

Swirling stairs had led them down to it, and they had a few hypotheses where it led. Either it led outside, or to the guardian. But they wouldn't know unless they stepped through it.

Ethan appeared to be particularly affected by it, though. He seemed to realize what was on the other side before anyone else, and so he was staring at the portal with a complicated expression.

"What's up?" Ben asked.

"The last time I went through one of these, I was practically on death's door. I don't know if I can handle that again." He shrugged. "But this kind of confirms my suspicions. Back when I approached you to go to the guardian together, my reason for doing so was because the way there was impossibly hard. I needed someone to watch my back, and you were the first one I found. By the time we met up with Alice, things had changed.

"But if this was the other way to go to the guardian, then everything makes sense."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning... prepare for a fight."

Waiting around the portal, Ben watched the other nobles that had managed to climb to the top after them gather up. It didn't take long for Clarissa and Thomas to make their move. Thomas stopped near the portal, and he looked back at the group lazily.   

"Our party will enter together, we'll go through first. It's only right we secure the other side and protect the weaker members."

What a massive tool.

Stepping up right beside him, Clarissa backed him up immediately.

"He's exactly right. We have Theodore with us, and he will take us out safely if things go wrong."

She looked entirely too confident in their little plan, crossing her arms as she addressed the room.

They were really leaning hard on their carry, which was a valid strategy, but still annoying to listen to. He just wanted them to leave already so he could get moving. Clarissa zeroed her gaze on Ben with a flinty glare.

"We shall see at the end who has the most points. I will have my things back."

"Yeah, yeah. Have a nice trip."

Ignoring his total lack of enthusiasm, Clarissa spun around and stepped into the portal. Thomas and a very bored-looking Theodore followed right after her.\

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