NOVEL NEXT Chapter 117: Skill Booster Stone
'There is no need to be so wary of this person,' Ivan reasoned, forcing his tense muscles to relax. 'Saint Angouleme must surely be nearby. He would have intervened if this was a trap.' The logic was sound enough to quell the immediate sense of danger. He slowly lowered his crimson blade, though he did not dismiss it entirely, and eased himself out of the defensive stance.
"How can we help them?" Ivan asked, his voice steady despite the bizarre circumstances. "And why are you restricted?"
"I am part of the Liberation Force, and I cannot act in this region," the Grimm Reaper explained, its voice a discordant symphony of shrill tones. "But you, you have been recognised as an ally to the church and have been granted a pseudo-permit. This allows you to briefly become a citizen for a limited duration, granting you freedom of action."
"How come I don't know about this?" Ivan countered, a frown creasing his brow beneath his helmet.
"You never asked your friends at the church why they let you embark on this crusade, did you?" came the sharp retort.
Ivan reflected on all that had happened since his arrival. It did not make sense that he was free to act while Lady Flux, a seemingly more powerful entity, was restricted. According to the pontiff, she had been hired to act as a guardian at one of their sanctuaries.
'Why would she agree to be a mere guardian if she was so interested in saving lives?' Ivan questioned internally. He recalled the information in circulation that painted Section 1 as a strict, almost isolationist zone, a region pervaded by constant, clandestine power struggles. In the past, Ivan had considered the news an exaggeration, mere propaganda stirred up to incite people and pressurise the forces in Section 1 to abandon their selfish desires and pursue the human race's liberation from the Torn Indigo. Now, standing before a restricted puppet of a powerful figure, the propaganda felt chillingly real.
Lady Flux, through her puppet, fell silent, allowing him a moment to process her question and its implications. "I can help you," she continued after a moment. "I observed you have a potentially devastating power set. But it is stuck because of certain limitations."
The Grimm Reaper stretched out its right arm, revealing a gleaming gold bar resting on its open palm. "Have this. It is a skill booster. This item allows you to select the specific ability that you want to improve. If you are lucky, it could even improve the other abilities in the same power set."
Ivan felt the situation was awkward; a significant distance still separated them. He felt a pang of pride, as if approaching the puppet to accept the gift was an act of submission. He suppressed the feeling and approached the Grimm Reaper in the blink of an eye. He did not take the gold bar straight away.
"Are there any problems with using this gold bar that I should know about?" he asked, his gaze fixed on the item. He felt confident about the situation. The fact that Saint Angouleme had not intervened in this interaction was proof enough for Ivan that it was an honest one.
"There are no problems. Just know that this gift is something incredibly difficult to obtain for people at your level. A little advice: use the gold bar to work on that mind control ability."
'She knows about Possession,' Ivan realised, his shock contained within his thoughts. 'She has been covertly observing my actions all this time.'
Ivan collected the gold bar from the Grimm Reaper's hand. The moment it touched his skin, a system panel popped up in his perception, visible only to him.
[Do you accept the gift from Lady Flux?]
[Yes] [No]
He did not hesitate.
[Yes]
>>>>
Item received
Info: You have a skill booster stone. Gold grade, which is equivalent to an A-rank item.
Description: A gold-grade skill booster stone can be used to obtain high-level improvements in the abilities of an acquired power set. This stone can also be used to improve innate abilities. Note that the improvements the stone grants to innate abilities are not as impressive as those for acquired abilities.
<<<<
Another series of prompts appeared immediately.
[Do you want to use the stone to improve an acquired power set?] [Yes]
[Do you want to use the stone to improve an innate ability?] [Yes]
[Ignore the panels if you are not interested.]
Ivan selected the first option.
[Yes — I want to use the stone to improve an acquired power set.]
Another panel popped up. It asked which acquired skill he would like to improve, and he chose 'Parasite'. On the next panel, he chose the specific parasite ability that he desired to improve: 'Possession'. The results were displayed instantly.
Skill (4): Parasite.
Information: A skill that allows the user to plant parasites on desired targets. The parasitism gives an array of abilities.
>>>>
Abilities (1): Possession — Gradual possession of the body and mind of the target. The effectiveness of this skill depends on the power gap between the user and the target. The stronger the target, the higher the chances of failing.
Improvements: The successful possession of a target ranked Supreme Crusader is no longer uncertain. The probability of successful possession is now 50%.
Bonus (1): Higher probabilities are possible if the target's vitality or luck has been negatively affected.
Bonus (2): Other power sets in your power repertoire can influence and grant a higher probability of successful possession.
Bonus (3): The maximum amount of parasites that can be deployed to use this ability has been increased to one hundred.
Note: The probability to successfully possess a target ranked Transcendent is 1%. A target ranked Gold Transcendent or higher is 0%.
<<<<
The gold bar in his hand crumbled into ordinary Saharan sand. Ivan was satisfied with the improvements. He wondered if the con where the target died after twenty minutes of possession was also improved, perhaps extending the duration. He doubted it, however. If it had been improved, it surely would have been listed on the panel.
He thought that the process was over, but he was wrong. Another panel popped up.
>>>>
Abilities (2): Steal — A parasite can leech so deeply on a target that it can steal any form of power from them. The stolen power can only be recovered gradually after the death of the responsible parasite.
Hidden Information Unveiled: The probability of successful power theft is limited by the target's power rank. Targets ranked higher than Bronze rank cannot be stolen from.
Hidden Information Unveiled (2): After a successful parasitic inoculation for this ability, the target dies after one hour.
*Improvements: Hidden *
<<<<
Ivan wondered why the improvements on the 'Steal' ability were hidden. This was an odd and frustrating development. He strongly desired to see the improvements he had obtained for it. As if reading his thoughts, a new prompt appeared.
[Do you want to see 'Steal's' Improvements?]
[Yes] [No]
"What sort of child's play is this?" Ivan lamented, speaking his frustration aloud. He peered forward and discovered that the undead puppet, the Grimm Reaper, had silently disappeared while he was distracted.
He focused back on the prompt.
[Yes]
[You do not have enough skill booster stones to expend on unveiling the improvements.]
[You will have to wait for ten minutes to see the improvements.]
Before Ivan could voice his laments again, another pop-up appeared in his perception.
>>>>
Abilities (4): Knowledge Eater: You can extract knowledge from the minds of inoculated targets.
*Improvements: Hidden *
<<<<
Ivan was exasperated and frustrated. He was angry that these pop-ups had taken up time that he could have used to achieve more tangible goals. His frustration was further kindled by the absence of a better means of transport. The MRAP was out of the option, driving it into the Hero Zone would surely draw assault. He did not plan to run his way to the Hero Zone; it was a stupid idea because the entire area was crawling with powerful aliens that could match his power and better. Recklessly trying to cross the war-torn landscape on foot would undoubtedly attract assault.