Merchant Of Yliaster

Maxwell stared at the notification screen dumbly. He couldn't believe that he reached level 30 this easily. Of course, it couldn't be said that nearly dying to your own creation could be considered easy, but it was still unexpected for him to gain two levels out of nowhere. The vestige didn't even have a level, but the system must have placed it pretty high if it gave this much experience as a reward.

He didn't really have anything to wait for, so he proceeded with the skill selection without wasting time. He was curious what the system would give him this time. He hoped that his more sinister titles wouldn't tilt the selection in a bad way.

Initiating Skill Selection.

Displaying Options.

Master Of Beasts*:

Use your immense soul power to dominate beasts' will, taking control of their soul inside the range of your soul space.

The explanations before choosing a skill were brief as always, but this skill had something surprising. It was a tier two skill right off the bat, but Maxwell didn't know what to think about this.

On one hand, picking such a skill would mean skipping a lot of work, but on the other hand, it would limit the skill. This skill, for example, looked really mediocre even when compared to his tier one skills. He moved on to the next one.

Etheric Soul Surge*:

Focus all the energy inside your soul space on a target, unleashing unprecedented soul damage. Any parts damaged by the skill are absorbed by the Etherium Soul, fueling the growth of your soul space.

That's more like it. This skill was an awesome one, but the system seemed to be bent on making him kill people using his soul. This was not the first time he got a selection with the same concept after all.

While the skill was amazing, Maxwell was not sure if it was worth it to take it using a skill selection. After all, this seemed awfully similar to what he did to the vestige of Drakhabgar. He was rather sure that he could replicate his previous feat without the aid of the system if he spent some time on it. Still, this was a considerable choice, resembling his idea of tier two skills a lot more.

Considering the prevalence of the use of soul space in the given choices so far, Maxwell started to think that Soul space was something pretty significant in the grand scheme of things. He checked the next skill, hopefully, as the skills offered this time seemed to be much better compared to the time before.

Heretic Ritual Of Etheric Sacrifice(Unique)*:

Etherium consumed billions by your command.

With this skill, you can include the divine among your prey, as you sacrifice them for no higher being but for yourself.

And this is still here, Maxwell sighed. The worst thing was that the skill was actually really interesting. If he were on a planet filled with irredeemable demons or something, this skill would be really useful. In his case, though, it was still too creepy.

Also, trying to sacrifice gods or vestiges seemed like a fast way to get killed by them. He really doubted that the gods would appericiate becoming food, even partly. He was not sure how the divine operated, but considering Neivor, it was apparent that they had at least some kind of power they could exert over the world.

Maxwell was pretty sure it was limited, though; otherwise, the planets getting initiated into the system would turn into a playground of the gods. He couldn't see such a big influence around himself. He was pretty sure that most people didn't even know the gods were actually real beyond the gods they worshipped.

Occult Knowledge Leveled Up 28→30

Huh? Are you trying to reassure me? Maxwell asked the system after seeing the notification. The level-up was almost completely unwarranted after all.

Since coming to this world, he was a bit confused about the system. The interaction he had before transmigration proved that the system could actually answer back, but it never really did that here. Maybe it has rules for newly initiated universes? He was sure that it had autonomy, though, as The Traveler spoke to it like it was a person.

Physics Leveled Up 6→7

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I see, Maxwell smiled. He was really curious about the system. What was it? Who created it? How powerful was it? Its existence was completely covered with mysteries, and Maxwell couldn't see that there were a great many people asking these questions.

Maybe it was due to this being a medieval world. In worlds such as this one, people were quite used to godly interventions, despite the fact that most of those were fake. If this had happened a year before, Maxwell would have said that all of them were fake, but he was not so sure after the recent encounters. It was apparent that the existence of the gods were not as simple as it seemed.

Title acquired: "Philosopher"

Philosopher: You ask fundamental questions. May you one day reach the answers.

Aw, getting talkative all of a sudden? Maxwell laughed out loud, seeing the new title. He found himself in a good mood. I suppose not being in a perpetual war can do that, he thought.

Sure, there were problems, and there were things to do, but this world didn't feel like it would be destroyed if he took a break for a couple of days. It was a liberating feeling after years of constant responsibility. He checked the next skill.

Slaughter Amplification:

With every kill, you are imbued with the slaughter energy, making you stronger as the battle goes on.

So we are back to tier one? It was good news that the system could still give him tier one skills. This one, though, was completely unsuitable for him. Maxwell didn't plan to fight against an army or something, and even if he did, he could just harvest the slaughter energy himself like he did with the wolves.

Even choosing the Master of Beasts gave him something he couldn't immediately do. This skill, on the other hand, was just the system acknowledging what he could do with a passive skill. He hoped the next skill would be better.

Soul Imbuement:

Imbue objects with soul energy, giving them a rudimentary will.

Huh? Maxwell couldn't really form a thought for a moment after seeing this skill. How is this tier one? He asked no one in particular, after getting over his surprise. What this skill did was essentially what happened to Pax with the initiation. It was not an immediately useful skill, but the ways this skill could advance made Maxwell really excited.

Maxwell couldn't begin to theorize how he could do the thing promised by this skill by himself. The only reason it was even included in the selection was probably due to his trait using his body as a conduit when it was creating Pax's soul.

This made Maxwell reevaluate everything. This meant that things done by his trait using his body were considered his actions. It was apparent that this was only partially true, as the system didn't immediately give a skill to create a full soul, but even partially, this could change everything.

For example, if Maxwell used his trait to heal someone, he could receive a healing ability in the next skill selection. If this couldn't motivate Maxwell to use his trait more, nothing could. This, though, posed some problems. Someone seeing his trait would probably ask immediately why he wasn't using it for everything. The answer was simple: he couldn't.

Maxwell knew how this trait worked beyond the description since the first time he got it. He would always remember the moment he first awakened it, as it was very painful to receive that much information in a single moment. The thing was that, if this trait had a personality, it would be quite uninterested in trivial matters.

What the system meant by uniqueness of resources was a lot more unique than one would think. He could use souls because human souls were almost always unique, according to the feeling he got from the trait.

Now that he knew occultism was real, he was also pretty sure that they were valuable beyond being just a jumble of soul energy. Other than souls, though, this world didn't have many things the system would consider unique.

Maxwell found the idea of going around harvesting souls from people quite distasteful, as he had considered before. This greatly limited his options. He could always find desperate people who would give their souls for certain things, but he was doubtful that such souls would be able to pay for the wishes of their former owners. He could give skills and traits he supposed, but they would be mediocre compared to Bob's, for example.

Bob was a special case, as he already had a pretty unique trait himself when Maxwell traded the boy's fear for a new trait. Maxwell was pretty sure that the boy wouldn't be weaker than he was now, even without his help. The only thing that would change would be the boy's awareness of himself, as the former trait would clearly change the boy into a blind murder machine.

It was also important that his trait replaced the fear part of Bob's soul with the new trait the boy received. The boy wasn't left with a damaged soul after the trade. This was important, as Maxwell doubted that people with broken souls could reach great heights.

Well, I will find a solution later. He chose to procrastinate for now. He was in the middle of a skill selection after all. He would work to fix this before he reached level 40, so that he could use his trait in a meaningful way that would cause a useful skill to appear in the next selection.. He cleared his mind before checking the last skill..

The Heretic's Gamble*:

Evoke a god of your choosing through this skill, summoning a vestige of the said god. Be aware that you have no control over the summoned vestige.

It's bold of you to assume that I need a skill to kill myself. I can do that myself just fine. Maxwell smiled, seeing the offered skill. He was not choosing this one for sure. He caused enough problems for himself without a skill designed to cause problems; he simply couldn't imagine what he would unleash with this skill.

With this, though, the selection was over. Maxwell contemplated what he should choose, but he was pretty much sure what he should choose. The only skill he couldn't replicate, and would want to replicate, was the skill Soul Imbuement.

Also, the fact that he could imbue his carvings made him want this skill. Sure, that would not help him in battles, but it would definitely be fun. He could also see that this skill would pair well with mana infusion. He noted down the other skills offered, though, as these were clear roadmaps for his experiments.

He could use the things offered by the system to experiment with his skills and improve them. If others saw him min-maxing with the kinds of skills he had, they would probably try to kill him, but Maxwell could be a bit obsessive when it came to squeezing all potential out of something. After he was sure that he remembered everything, he finalized his choice.

Skill Selection Complete.

Skill "Soul Imbument" gained.