Crucible Aeternum: Ascending through Skill Trees

Galeon sped through the distance between the outpost and Therion. Unlike when he was travelling to the outpost from Vaulkeen's End earlier in the day, there were quite a number of other vehicles traversing the vast land. Most were speedy vehicles like cars and bikes, but there was also a rather sizable truck guarded by a convoy heading toward the outpost. They were likely delivering supplies.

It was a comforting feeling to be amidst a crowd while also not being stifled by them. This was the reason Galeon loved being on the road, but also did not venture out all the time. It was a special feeling that he did not want to grow tired of. But today, there was something different.

It was no longer just seeing other people driving away on practically no man's land that made him feel good. For some reason, he could feel the wind whipping past him, but it was like a gentle caress of a sweet lover against his skin.

Certainly, that should have been impossible. He was wearing his suit after all. The wind should not be able to reach his skin much less let him feel it so directly. But here he was. And he wondered whether there was more to his connection with the Prisma Core than he truly realised. Perhaps this suit that it recreated acted more like a natural exoskeleton of sorts rather than something wholly detached from himself.

If that was truly the case, then he really needed to understand this ability of his more. He was now starting to understand why the description for Prisma Core and Symbiotic Devour were phrased that way.

[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.]

[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.]

The Prisma Core was not only tethered to him. It was an extension of himself. He had to understand what this truly meant to him because, so far, he had been thinking of it as a foreign object that had no business being in his body. But he pushed the thought into the back of his mind. This would be a long-term endeavour. Instead, he focused on something else.

[Name: Galeon]

[Titles: Master of the Vernal Bloom]

[Aspects: Cor Ena – Vernal Bloom | Prisma Core]

[Skills: Photokinesis (T2-S1) | Adaptive Body (T2-S1) | Symbiotic Devour (T2-S1)]

He had breezed over it earlier since he did not think it was immediately urgent to understand, but now that he was on the road with about over an hour left to his destination, he finally thought to spare some of his attention to it.

T2-S1, this was a designation that he had never seen before. It looked like a code, likely a categorisation considering that all three of his skills were labeled as such. They did not appear in the skill tree before so he had no idea what they signified. But because they did appear in his status, he began to wonder why they were not shown in the skill tree.

As he focused on the unique code, new information came to him and he realised that this was perhaps the single most important thing out of everything in his status. He was a fool for not checking it sooner.

T2-S1 was indeed a categorisation. It literally translated to Tier II of the First Stratum, and as one might expect, this was indeed referring to the current level of his skills. He had been wondering for a while now what he needed to do to upgrade his skill trees later on, but now he had his answer.

According to the information given to him presumably by the Vernal Bloom, his skills were a part of his existence. In order to strengthen them, he must define them to become much clearer parts of his existence. The way to do that was by increasing his proficiency and understanding of them.

Proficiency was simple to increase. Just the constant use of the skill will allow him to become more proficient in its use, however there came the problem of passive skills. His Heightened Regeneration and Adaptive Body were both passive skills, working automatically without his input. This made it impossible for him to actually gain proficiency in them. And that is where understanding came in.

Understanding was self-explanatory. He needed to understand what the skills entailed, what they do and how they affect him. And although passive skills would greatly rely on this for further growth, his active skills will also benefit from greater understanding.

It was through these two methods that he would be able to define these skills as parts of his existence. And when he either fully defines a skill or reaches a certain threshold, the Vernal Bloom would be able to extrapolate more complexities from the skill's potential. This is how the skill tree comes into being. This is where he would once again decide on the trajectory of the skill's growth, homing into a specific potentiality of his skill that he would further define to repeat the cycle.

Naturally, with each upgrade of the skills, they gain more power and sometimes even new effects. And the advancement of the skills are categorised into Tiers. Photosensitivity, Heightened Regeneration and Prisma Core were all Tier I skills whereas Photokinesis, Adaptive Body and Symbiotic Devour were all Tier II skills.

The great thing about skill trees is that the previous versions of the skills are not abandoned or gone. They cannot just disappear because they are quite literally the root of the skill trees. It is from them that new and more powerful skills are derived and thus their original effects are carried over and strengthened with every advancement in Tier.

There are five Tiers for each skill meaning five levels for each skill tree, but that is not the end of it. As mentioned before, the skill trees are extrapolations of complexities from the hidden potential of the skills themselves. So as long as there is still potential to be unearthed, there will be further advancements to be made.

And upon fully defining the Tier V of a skill tree, the Vernal Bloom will consolidated all the defined information regarding the skill, condensing it into a complete and stable whole. In this way, even when some freak accident happens, the skill trees will not be messed up and regress or worse. Once the skill tree has been condensed, it then becomes a more powerful version of itself. This is the completion of the First Stratum.

For most skills, this might be the end of the line. But for those that still have untapped potential, Galeon could begin another process of definition, going up the Tiers to complete the Second Stratum. And there are as many Strata as there are potential. He could reach the Tenth Stratum in a skill and he might still be able to evolve it further to the Eleventh Stratum.

The sheer scope of what can be done with this was numbing his mind. He realised once more that this definitely was not a game. In games, you just had to level up to gain skill points that you use to invest in a skill tree upgrade. Sometimes, you can even reset and change your build, but he could not.

This was real life. And these skills were his lifeline. He could not allow himself to be carried away by the grand picture it painted. In order to reach the extremes in his skill trees, he would need to survive. And in order to survive, he would need to carefully think, analyse and plan his skills.

The Vernal Bloom promised him a path of freedom in this, but it also imposes a strict rigidity as expected. He cannot just change his choices. His actions and decisions have consequences, and he would have to learn to live with that. But he was not out of options either.

The Vernal Bloom was a gift that kept on giving. And he could feel it telling him that there was more to come. There was something more than what he had just learned that would help him grow further. He did not know why it did not just tell him directly, but he knew that there was no point questioning it. It would not give him the answers until it deemed the time was right.

So he focused on the road, driving steadily under the rather dark sky. The clouds seem especially sullen today. Perhaps they would finally have a downpour after a few weeks of dry spells.

As Galeon resolved to learn more about his abilities and grow stronger, he noticed that his hoverbike was actually running a bit faster than usual. Could this also be an effect of the Prisma Core? The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

As his mind shifted to the Prisma Core, he felt that he was getting closer to understanding a simple but important thing about it.