Crucible Aeternum: Ascending through Skill Trees

Dirt and dust rose up with every mild quaking of the earth. The roots of what few wild plants remained were dug out, not deliberately, but due to a mad scramble. The grunts and growls of beasts filled the air, echoing drowning one of the last forests of Corrin in a horrid cacophony of dread. But the worst part has yet to come.

A man halted his hoverbike a few kilometers outside the city. It was not because he was sightseeing or anything, but rather because he was surrounded. All around him was an encirclement of at least twenty beasts with questionable appearances.

They looked like they came straight out of a mad scientist's laboratory with their heads of a goat and bodies of beetles covered in a sturdy carapace, tufts of fur peeking out of from gaps. The most dangerous part about them was the singular horn on their heads that resembled that of a hercules beetle. They looked both sharp and incredibly sturdy.

Galeon retrieved his bike with a sigh. This has been a common occurrence as of late. It had been a few days since his meeting with Vivi, and he was currently on the way to a commission. But his journey from Therion had not been smooth, having been forced to stop over and over again to deal with beasts running amok all around.

It was definitely exhausting, even for someone with a practically infinite wellspring of energy. After all, it was not just his physical energy that was being drained with all these battles. His mind needed rest as well.

A sword appeared in his hand, formed from Prisma and pulsing with a soft glow of light. And at that moment, the beasts charged at him.

Four goat beetles came from different directions, their heads slightly lowered as they lined their horns to impale his body. From behind them, a few more charged forward a step slower while filling the gaps where Galeon might evade to.

Galeon quickly noted this as it proved that this group of beasts was perhaps the most intelligent one that he had faced recently. It also meant that there was likely a leader here that he would have find and kill.

He took a single step forward, lowering upper body slightly as he began moving with confusing steps. The first wave of goat beetles arrived, but he narrowly weaved through them or pushed their horns away. He was twirling in between them while preparing to evade the coming waves.

The first wave goat beetles crashed against each other, their sturdy carapaces protecting their heads from each others' horns. But it did not protect their necks from Galeon's sword that came sweeping with elegant swings.

It was a performance and Galeon was completely immersed in it. At some point, he had closed his eyes, only navigating his surroundings through his other senses. Light pulsed from his body like waves, washing over the beasts that continued charging at him, and he could see them all in his mind.

He listened to a certain a sound, a certain music that only he seemed to find. It was the music of all things, the harmony that everything exuded as they continued to exist in the world around him. This was what he loved most about going outside, and feeling the world.

It was an overwhelming sensation to understand just how miniscule one was in this gargantuan sea of everything. And it was because of this unique sensation that he had that he was able to create a technique unique to him.

"First Step: Origin"

He muttered as his eyes opened, light shining from their depths as he began moving with greater fervour. As more and more waves of charging goat beetles came, his movements became swifter and more graceful. His swinging sword traced lines of light across the field, painting a portrait of bloody flowers blooming in spring.

With every blood his sword drew, the light on it grew brighter and brighter until it had reached a point where its intense light was producing such heat that it was finally able to cut through the carapace. It was still not easy, but it was better than before. At the very least, his sword would not be bouncing off them when he hit their bodies.

At some point, he was no longer just dancing. His elegant movements have become sharp and swift. He was beginning to wonder why there were still so many goat beetles charging at him when he was sure he had already killed over twenty of them. But it seems it was not just Galeon who was having similar thoughts as he soon began hearing a loud and annoying buzzing sound.

He looked around and saw that most of the goat beetles have retreated, creating distance between Galeon and themselves. All that was left near Galeon were the corpses of the beasts he had killed and they were big enough to be proper obstacles, especially with what came next.

A literal swarm of goat beetles came flying in from the nearby forest. Their wings flapped so fast that they cut through the air with sharp buzzes. Fortunately, due to their bulk, the goat beetles were not very fast in the air. But they were also not slow.

Galeon frowned as this was the first time he had seen such beasts. And for them to have such great numbers, this was not only dangerous but also very suspicious. But he had to focus on the battle for now. His enemies were now in the air where he could not reach them normally. He did have a means of reaching them, but it was not something he wanted to use if he could help it.

He had been feeling several eyes on him lately. They used to be just casual observers who did not bother with his activities at all. They would just check in every once in a while and only for a few minutes before they vanish. But when he left Therion and headed to Melchior, he had felt those eyes never leaving him for even a single second.

He did not want them seeing him do something that should otherwise be impossible for him. So he chose to go about the problem in a different way. This would also be a way for him to test the limits of his powers.

He had been training his Photokinesis since the day he got it. The observers would have seen his progress with it from being able to emit faint light from his hand to being able to coat his weapon in laser. The speed of his progress was fast enough to shock Galeon himself.

He did not think he would be able to make so much progress with his Photokinesis since it was something that only awakened with the help of the Vernal Bloom. But it seems he had underestimated what 'innate trait' meant.

He had always had Photosensitivity. It was one of the main reasons he was wearing his suit after all. His rather pale skin was also a side-effect of this as his mother seldom let him out of the house when he was still a child. But now that Photosensitivity had evolved into Photokinesis, it meant that he had an innate understanding of light and how to wield it.

Galeon moved farther away from the swarm that was swiftly closing in on him. He was kiting them into a formation that he could most easily handle. This was, after all, an experiment to find the limits of his Photokinesis. There was a high chance of him failing and he did not want to be in a dangerous position if that happened.

When he saw the beasts trailing after him in a more narrow line, he finally stopped and prepared his attack. His left arm began glowing with intense light to the point that his skin and flesh was burning underneath his suit. It was like an oven, definitely not a pleasant experience.

As this was the first experiment of this kind, he opted for just raw power rather than delicate manipulation. He wanted to know just how much light he could output. And this was the moment when Galeon realised that he was actually quite stupid.

He had been charging his light for a few seconds now, pouring everything he could into it. But he had forgotten that he had a bottomless well of energy thanks to the Prisma Core. His output of light could be infinite for all he knew. The problem was that because he had charged so much light into his arm, even his suit was starting to melt from the intense heat. Not even his Adaptive Body was able to heal him fast enough for it. But his little bit of suffering was not at all in vain.

[Adaptive Body has gained the quality: Heat Resistance]

The moment he obtained Heat Resistance, his arm stopped melting and was slowly mending itself. It was not able to fully heal back to its complete form, but it was enough to keep from losing an entire arm. And it was enough for him to finally throw out the light that he had been holding onto.

Galeon chucked a dense ball of concentrated light into the coming swarm. He had compressed the light so much that it barely emitted heat outside so the beasts did not pay much mind to it. But the moment the ball of light reached the centre of the swarm, it exploded.

It lit up the sky brightly, blinding practically everyone except for Galeon who used his Photokinesis to protect his eyes. The intense heat from the explosion of light literally cooked the goat beetles through their carapaces. And it was not just the flying ones that were affected as the goat beetles that initially retreated came charging back at Galeon together with their flying kin. All of them were cooked thoroughly.

The bright flash of light was visible even from far away. It was like a beacon in this dark sky covered by tenebrous clouds of ill omen. And it was so bright that those who were close enough to see it were blinded as well. And in that moment, a lone hoverbike exited the battlefield.