NOVEL WEB Chapter 9: Chapter 9 - New Tricks!
[Quest completed!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Hidden reward unlocked! Random Skill Shard gained!]
'And here I thought I managed to avoid becoming a gambling addict, but this seems like quite the attractive proposal.' As amusing as that thought was, the allure of a new skill soon shot down my desire to make fun of the irony it hid. 'Grandpa would be proud, still.' Besides that, it also answered the question of what that hidden quest reward was, as well as how I was supposed to get it. 'He really was supposed to be the first, wasn't he?' Whatever skill I gained from this shard could define my evolution in this life, for better or for worse, so I wished I could dedicate the proper amount of time to exploring whatever I got, sadly, the clock was ticking, and fast.
"System, use the Random Skill Shard."
The prompt brought forth a new window I haven't seen yet, a small box with a white circle within it, however, closer inspection revealed the white to have miniscule gaps in between. This made me assume that it was a circle composed of white dots for some weird reason, until it began spinning at least. This brought back a familiar image, as well as the regret that I won't ever be able to finish that campaign… 'A die?' And that it was, simply one with so many different sides that it more resembled a round ball than anything traditionally associated with dice. When it came to a stop, the visual representation zoomed in close enough for me to make out what I had previously assumed to be mere dots to be finely detailed emblems, as well as the one this roll landed me on, 'Why does that suit of armor look so…'
[Congratulations! New Skill - Smoke Helmet - Gained!]
The basic knowledge of the skill filled my mind, and I immediately realized that this was not something like Shaping which I could just recreate in my next life. It was not a natural skill I could learn without a significantly higher level of understanding than the system allowed me to gain, and it even mildly adjusted me internally to make it easier to manifest, which I concluded from the miniature sensation of "evolution" I felt as the knowledge settled in my mind. It wasn't quite comparable to the real thing, but the basic underlying principle felt similar. I activated the skill, forming a weird, not-quite-tangible helmet made out of smoke to appear around my entire body with two slits in what it thought to be the front, not that it really mattered. What was more important was that it didn't obstruct my omni-directional sight in any major way either, which was neat. Maintaining the skill presented a moderate drain on my willpower, but not enough to be a hindrance, and it also increased my constitution by 10%, which made my point investment in this life quite simple to figure out.
"System, invest seven points into Dexterity and Constitution each, as well as one into Luck."
The invigorating feeling spread across my body, filling me with newfound strength, and I was off before it even completely disappeared, using my now familiar way of transportation to where I knew that Ogre would be waiting for me. The point in Luck was mainly in hope of making this go smoother, but there was still no guarantee everything would work out as I hoped it would. 'I could have gone faster, activated the skill shard sooner, immediately headed off after killing the goblin or something.' As I leapt over the bush and into the already burning village I berated myself internally, but I knew this was as close to perfect I could get in this life with the new variables introduced.
To the onlookers, it appeared as if a strange, semi-translucent helmet with a blue glow somehow came to life and decided that it didn't want to be as rigid in this life as the last, flattening itself and using its momentum to head towards the center of the village at an ever-growing pace that was faster than anyone could interrupt without risking their lives to their enemies. What's more, neither side knew whose side the helmet was on at this point, although two goblins were cheering their supposed reinforcements long enough to get beheaded by the remaining fighters on the village's side as I politely ignored each of them in pursuit of my actual target.
After several leaps, he came into view once again, the Ogre was standing in front of the mother and the child, both still miraculously alive, although the mother looked a bit worse for wear this time around. His grin was as evident as each time before, stretching from ear to ear as he went on and on in that ear-piercing language of theirs, swinging his oversized club from left to right as he seemed to describe in detail how he would deal with the woman before moving on to the child, inferred from where he was pointing it occasionally between the swings. My pace increased further, and when he realized and turned towards the direction I was coming from, I was already heading for his right calf with a spike rapidly forming midair. My last gambit showed that heading straight for the kill might work out against me more than anything else, so I was going to restrict his movement before I did anything else.
As I flew by his leg the spike drew blood, prompting a pained scream from the big bastard, as well as causing him to drop his club in surprise. 'Even better than I hoped.' I wished I could grin somehow. My landing was followed by immediately launching myself at the semi-intact wall in front of me, hoping to preserve as much momentum as I could and end this before it really began. Flattening myself against the wall caused it to creek and croak slightly, but it held long enough for me to launch myself off it and straight at the chest of the monster. Sadly, he seemed to be smarter than he looked and recovered from his earlier wound sooner than I would have liked.
Just as I approached him with my supposed maximum speed, he drew back his massive fist and prepared to implode me into a million pieces once again. Despite how it looked for the onlookers, however, I wasn't quite as proficient in flight as I seemed, so my options were pretty limited at this point. That didn't mean I was out of them though. I put as much willpower into reinforcing my already formed spike as I could, thinning it further but compressing it to ever greater heights of sturdiness, just before colliding with his fist. 'Come on you big bag of meat! Show me what you can do!'
The spike entered his fist, but it didn't stop there, it continued on into his arm, penetrating the bone supporting all that hideous muscle directly through its center and causing it to break into a multitude of tiny, razor-sharp bone shards that would cut into their surroundings in the following moments. The glee from knowing that I caused major damage to my mortal enemy had yet to catch up to me, but the consequences of my reckless actions have never waited that long to remind myself of my place in the pecking order of the universe. Just after my major success, the spike, containing large parts of myself broke off from the rest, flooding me with a world of pain.