NOVEL NEXT Aggro 4.1
Aggro 4.1
Friday, April 1, 2011
1:22 AM
"Okay… y-you can do this." The words came out slightly shakily, a mix of excitement and actual nerves racing through him. Greg's fingers twitched as he held his arms out at his sides, his torso bent forwards at a near forty-five degree angle.
Yes, he was poised to do a Ninja run. After all, it was scientifically the fastest way to run.
Because science.
Twisting his neck slightly, he shifted his head to the side as he tried to work out a nonexistent kink in his neck. Greg's teeth were clenched down on his bottom lip, his expression warring between eagerness and anxiety. Even then, his little half-smile could be seen beneath his half-mask. After a moment, he let out a long, slow breath. Let's go with Reinforcement again.
A skill that he had gotten shortly a few days after Structural Analysis, Reinforcement was quickly turning out to be one of his favorites. Even though it took him hours of experimenting for him to actually make it…
Well, that wasn't exactly true. The skill itself took him about… what? Fifteen minutes to create, at the most.
Undoubtedly less than twenty. He was sure of that. Anyway, the skill only took him half of half an hour to make. It just took him about two days to realize that he needed to experiment with Will, instead of Mana. Boy, was that embarrassing when he finally figured out that little hitch.
On the flipside, all that practice did net him some more stat points, so… silver lining? (+5 INT, +2 STR, +3 SPD)
Anyway, despite the fact that it cost him both Power Sprint and Angry Straight to make, Reinforcement was now one of his favorite skills.
Why?
Simple, really.
Unlike Power Sprint, which only boosted his speed, and Angry Straight, which only increased his punching Damage, Reinforcement…
Well, It handled everything.
Plenty of Merchants could attest to that.
"[Reinforcement!]"
As he yelled the skill name, the flesh visible around his body, which was limited to the space around his mouth and the tips of his fingers, flared with a yellow light for a single instant.
His expression shifted into a grin and he let out another breath, his breath visible in the cold air. "LET'S DO THIS!" In hindsight, it may not have been the best idea to scream at the top of his lungs in a run-down area like this but self-motivation was important, after all.
Priorities.
Besides, anyone that showed up would get a big hunk of metal to the face, courtesy of his inventory.
Screaming, Greg surged forward toward the alley wall in front of him, running fast enough to outpace any Olympian. Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped forward, leaping several feet into the air. His arc launching him directly into the wall, Greg met the brick feet-first and kicked off with all his might, launching him towards the other wall across from him.
"I do parkour!"
Shouting out his actions as if to remind himself of what to do, Greg contorted his body in mid-air and kicked against the second wall with as much force as he did before, sending him on an upwards path back to the first wall. "Parkour!" Again, he jumped off, leaping with all the force his Reinforced body could grant him.
"Parkouuuur!"
Twisting once more, he made to repeat his actions on the other side of the alley, kicking off the wall again in a move worthy of the Matrix when a piece of cracked brick fell from the wall he kicked off from the moment his foot made contact. "Parkou-nononononoo!"
His kick, lacking the explosiveness of the several before it, didn't so much launch him forward as it did send him sprawling into the air. His eyes widened behind his silvery mask, hands clawing furiously at nothing as he desperately tried to recover in mid-air.
C'mon! Do something! Mana surrounded his gloved hands with an opaque blue aura, his eyes widening even further as he tried to think of something to do with it. Powers or not, he had somewhat of a mild fear of heights and falling was big on his list of things he'd rather not have happen. C'mon!
Arms stretched out to meet the approaching wall, Greg slammed into it face-first, grunting with the impact as his nose met the unforgiving brick with an audible crunch.
-12
"Shi-iiiiiiiit!" His grunt of pain quickly turned into another scream as he began to fall, his fingers buying him precious time as they dug into the walls for purchase as he slid down the wall again. His face scraped painfully against the worn mortar, scraping the flesh from his cheeks with every passing second. If that wasn't bad enough to deal with, he also had to ignore the red dust flying into his eyes, nose and mouth as he did his best to resist the pull of gravity.
-1
-1
-1
-1
Gritting his teeth, Greg spread out his arms, hugging the wall with his body, his hands continuing to scramble for a handhold on the worn alley wall. A moment later, Greg paused, suddenly aware that he was no longer falling, his hands almost stuck to the wall itself. "Wha-"
Skill Gained!
Surface Adhesion Lv 1
You ever wanted to be Spider-Man? Don't lie. Of course you did.
This skill allows you to stick to walls and hang on to ceilings and vertical surfaces without a risk of falling. While not denying gravity, this allows you to adhere to surfaces unaided.
Cost: 2 MP per second
Skill Level Up!
Reinforcement (Novice) Lv 12 (XP: 10%)
A discount version of the Kaio-Ken for the squishy wizard.
Increase your effective strength, speed and health by 2% per level with this technique.
Does not increase actual points of vitality or willpower.
Cost: 2 Will per second
Warning: Overuse will lead to HP damage.
Ability Level Up!
Acrobatics Lv 4 (XP: 15%)
Parkour!
An ability that enables you to pull off backflips, frontflips and any manner of jumping-based ground-movement technique with greater ease.
Mana Awareness Lv 3 (XP: 35%)
Mana, magic energy, magicka, prana, ether, thaum, spiritual energy, magatsuhi or even chakra… Call it what you want. It's all the same in the end.
You have gained awareness of Mana, the spiritual energy found within the human mind and soul. Gaining awareness of your magical energy has given you some semblance of control over it.
Breath coming in quick, shaky gasps, Greg hung on the side of the building, clinging to the wall with nothing but his gloved palms.
He blinked, watering eyes pushing away the dust that clogged his eyesight. Once clear, those same eyes widened incredulously as he realized that, somehow, he was not falling. His gaze flicked up to the boxes right above him and Greg goggled further, his mouth falling open as the information suddenly dawned on him.
"Holy crap on a cracker…"
Closing his eyes, he let out a relieved breath and slowly, tentatively, peeled off one hand from the vertical surface he clung to so desperately. Simply hanging on for dear life while his mana, the only thing keeping this skill running, slowly drained away was not his idea of a smart plan Hell, he doubted it was anyone's idea of a smart plan. Come on. Let me climb. Let's just get to solid grou… roof.
Yes, the roof was probably better, considering he was much closer to that than the ground.
Despite the resistance he felt, a somewhat enjoyable sensation similar to peeling dried glue off his fingers, Greg's hand eventually came loose from the wall. His remaining arm buckled slightly, straining under the weight of his entire body, and he hastily brought his other hand back to the wall, lifting it above the other as a pained groan spilled from his lips. He repeated the action, ignoring the brief pain he felt as he lifted his other hand a bit higher, his knees clinging to the wall just the same as his hands to provide him some respite.
"So, wall-crawling is kinda hard… but I can stick to walls," Greg thought aloud, tilting his head to the side. "Good enough, right?" He let out another breath, this one slower than before, a relieved laugh spilling out of him as he did so. "Okay… new skill… level ups… wall jumping works, kinda…"
A smile grew across his face, the hint of fear mixing with relief to create a slight mania in his grin, "Let's try that again."
Spoiler: STATUS