Crucible Aeternum: Ascending through Skill Trees

['Photosensitivity' has evolved into 'Photokinesis'.]

He sighed, hoping he had made the correct decision. His reasoning for choosing Photokinesis over Photosynthesis was actually very simple. It was, in fact, the very next thing he focused on.

[Decide the trajectory of your growth.]

[Heightened Regeneration: Your body is full of untapped potential and lifeforce. Take advantage of it and grow stronger. Enhances all bodily regeneration.]

[Branch A | Superior Regeneration: Your body is full of untapped potential and lifeforce. Syphon that lifeforce into a greater wellspring of life. Further enhances all bodily regeneration.]

[Branch B | Adaptive Body: Your body is full of untapped potential and lifeforce. Unearth your potential and embark on the path of perfection. Enhances your body's constitution.]

Heightened Regeneration was already giving him a passive regeneration. He had even tried it just now, cutting his palm with his sword. And although it was not incredibly fast, it healed at a decent speed similar to others with passive regenerative abilities. And although the healing from Photosynthesis would have surely boosted it, there were too many demerits in relying on it.

For one, since he had to absorb light continuously to heal, that meant that healing will not be effective in the dark. In such situations, he would have to rely on his passive regeneration alone. Secondly, as mentioned before, he did not know how cost-efficient Photosynthesis was. If it drained him of all his Prismana before he could even heal half the injuries on his body, then he would just end up tiring himself out.

And although the same could be said about Photokinesis, he was a firm believer of 'prevention is better than a cure'. If there was even the possibility of him being able to blind his enemies in the middle of a fight to evade attacks or deal the finishing blow, then it was a better use of his Prismana. At least that way, he was actively resolving the root of his injuries rather than merely reacting to them.

Focusing back onto Heightened Regeneration's skill tree, he was met with the same problem. There was a glaring lack of information. While Superior Regeneration looked tempting, he did not know how much his regeneration would actually increase with it. On the other hand, Adaptive Body practically assumes he understood what 'constitution' meant.

Constitution could refer to many things. It could be one's body. It could be their health condition. It could be their endurance and physical fitness. In some games, it even affects the various elemental resistances of the player character. He honestly did not know which it referred to. It would be great if it was all of the above, but that was likely not possible.

There was also the possible redundancy between Adaptive Body and Superior Regeneration. Considering that constitution could mean quite a number of different things, it might also affect his passive regeneration in which case, he might not need Superior Regeneration.

This was an even harder decision for him, but in the end he decided to trust his logic. Adaptive Body could mean many different things and could potentially even give him boons for all of them. Even if it was farfetched, he could not discard the thought. Besides, something told him that it being called 'Adaptive' gave it more potential and fluidity in its future growth.

['Heightened Regeneration' has evolved into 'Adaptive Body'.]

[Decide the trajectory of your growth.]

[Prisma Core: You have grown with a Prisma Core merged to you. Your existences are tethered together. Your lifeforce feeds its growth and its energy fuels your life.]

[Branch A | Symbiotic Devour: You have grown with a Prisma Core merged to you. Learn and understand that it is an extension of yourself. Your body is its vessel and its nature is your armament.]

[Branch B | Parasitic Contagion: You have grown with a Prisma Core merged to you. Learn and understand that it is separate from yourself. Your will is its command and its nature is your burden.]

The Contractor's thoughts halted as he stared at the words. The Prisma Core has long been a mystery to him. He did not know if he was born with it as his mutation or if it was something else, but these words seemed to hint at the latter. A Prisma Core was merged with him. The implications of such a thing were still far beyond his grasp, but he knew it was something sinister.

His blood ran cold as he felt a surge of energy wanting to be released within him. He was furious. It was only natural. After all, he was treated as a guinea pig then left to die on his own. If it were not for a kind Contractor who found him and raised him as her son, perhaps he would not have even lived to find out this truth.

Even if the Prisma Core did nothing to harm him for most of his life, finding out that he was experimented on made him feel extremely violated and it filled him with absolute disgust. He wanted to find who the bastards that experimented on him were. He wanted to find them and he wanted to torture them so badly they would wish they were never born.

And in order to do that, he needed power. He read the skill tree again before deciding. This time, his decision came swiftly and easily. There was not even a hint of hesitation in his eyes as he settled on his choice.

['Prisma Core' has evolved into 'Symbiotic Devour'.]

Although he was absolutely livid and wanted greater power, he was not willing to sacrifice his life for it. Revenge was a long-term goal. For all he knew, the bastards who experimented on him might even be dead already, though he highly doubted it. But the point was that his mind was clear and unclouded.

Parasitic Contagion might have looked tempting due to the power it seemed to promised as compared to the seemingly lackluster Symbiotic Devour, but he could not ignore the ominous and sinister implications of that power. The name alone was enough to dissuade him from choosing it, but even its description told him that it was a double-edged sword. One where a single cut would spell tragedy for him.

He could not take that risk. He owed it to his mother to live his life fully. He may not know where she was now, but he was certain that she was watching him. He had that much faith in her. And so, he could not allow her to see him selling his soul to the damned devil just for revenge.

Speaking of his mother, it had been six years since he last saw her. He was already twenty-one years old, but he was still not used to living alone despite having been doing that for the last six years. But maybe that was why his mother left him. She wanted to teach him how to be independent and not to always rely on her for everything.

He still remembered her last words to him before she knocked him out and left while he was unconscious.

"It's time to run free with the wind, Gale."

Gale, such a familiar name. She was the only one who ever called him that. He never allowed anyone else to do so. Those who knew him as a contractor knew his designation as G413. Those who knew him under the helmet called him Galeon. That was his full name. His mother never gave him a family name because she herself did not have one. They were both orphans.

He stood up and took a quick shower in the bathroom. He wanted to be rid of all the filth that stuck to him when he ended up rolling around in the crater. Recalling that excruciating pain made him shiver once more. That truly was not something a human should be able to bear. Perhaps the only reason he managed was because his Heightened Regeneration was activated at that moment.

When he was satisfied, he dried up in front of a mirror. He stared at his expressionless face. He wondered when the last time he even smiled was. He never really had much interaction with other people outside of business.

His sharp silver eyes that were like a drop of moonlight complemented his striking features. He was not too handsome, but he was above average. Combined with his neatly groomed ashen white hair, he looked more like a young master of a large commercial empire rather than a mercenary.

It certainly did not fit well with the Prisma Core on his chest pulsing with light at his every breath. Then again, he was not the only one with a strange appearance in this world. Besides, he usually wore his suit when he was outside due to him being too sensitive to light. Well, he would not need to always wear his suit now that Photosensitivity has been upgraded to Photokinesis.

He dressed up again, putting on his vest as the final piece of the puzzle. However, just when he had been covered in his full-body suit, he felt his Prisma Core react. It moved before he could even stop it as he was not expecting it at all. The Prisma Core became like a starving beast, attaching itself to the suit and began devouring it.

Indeed, this was Symbiotic Devour. He never did truly understand whatever the hell that useless description meant. He just knew that he did not like the ominous feeling he got from Parasitic Contagion so he chose the other one. Who could have known that it would devour his own armour?

Before long, the entire suit and vest was gone. It had been completely devoured by the Prisma Core that seemed to be humming rhythmically like a living engine that was all too pleased with itself. For a moment, Galeon thought about ripping the damned thing out of his chest, but he knew he would likely die as well so he discarded the thought.

He was still wearing his work clothes which were rather casual and easy to move in, but he was not used to moving outside without his suit. Also, it pained him greatly since that thing was custom-made and cost him half of his life's savings. And then, all of a sudden, the Prisma Core briefly shone with a bright light as liquid crystals flooded out of it and covered his entire body.

Before long, they solidified into something of a similar appearance as his combat suit. However, this one was clearly an upgrade. Not only was it tougher and more durable, it even granted him a boost to his physical strength. And all this was due to a single thing: the glowing crystalline core on the chest of his suit.

It no longer looked like a Prisma Core fortunately or else people would hunt him down just for that alone. But more importantly, all the increased durability and physical strength that he got came from the practically overflowing energy of the Prisma Core that have now found a release.