How To Survive A Calamity

Sorting through my thoughts, in a few minutes after i had my fill, i finally rose from the tub and exited the bathroom when i was done, my wrinkled left arm hanging down like a lifeless limb next to me from my left side.

Although i say i was lucky to have my arm intact without it getting blown off, it really wasn't any much from being useless the way it currently was right now. The recovery of my left arm was leagues behind the rest of my body, and although it could still be said to have made significant progress in its healing over time, i still couldn't muster any strength at all into it.

I felt uncomfortable with my own left arm, the muscles were like they were thinned and dried out, while my bones felt as brittle as dry twigs in the summer.

The doctor said it was a miracle at all they they managed to heal the arm somewhat up until this extent. But that was where it ended. For my left arm to fully recover, it would take a significant period of time. A couple of months, or even a year or so, or longer.

But wether i would be able to use my left arm half as well as i used to in the past was uncertain and would be left for debate. They say the chances were my arm would be useless for a really long time, if not ever.

Occasionally, even till now, i still felt aching pangs of pain , especially when i recalled how the Sand Worm ground my arm in its unforgiving jaws.

'Damm, i might as well be one armed for now.'

It sucked, but i had no intentions of leaving it that way. I may not express it all that obviously, but my left arm was just as important as my right arm was to me. If i could manage it, I'd rather not lose it at all.

[Then maybe next time you should have better regard for the value you place on your arms when next you try to blow them up inside the mouth of a behemoth.]

Meta's unnecessary quip made the side of my face twitch, a sharp pain tearing through my arm at that moment as well causing a hiss of pain to escape my lips, as i took a sit at the edge of my bed. The shimmering strands of my moist hair fell against my head and stuck to my face like an extra layer of skin.

[Ding! You have unread messages and notifications.]

The status of my left arm and the question about the Level cap of Eta Rank was one thing, but there were still a bunch of other system notifications and changes i had to sift through and sort out at the moment.

Even the rest of my rewards.

Up until now that i was alone and finally regained some of my bearing and composure, my blood was slightly boiling with excitement and expectations.

I rubbed a towel through my wet hair, pushing back the strands from my face, and summoned the system screen. A barrage of various different tabs and mechanical chimes exploded instantly before my face, which i was the forced to seive through for the next couple of minutes.

Meta was orderly. All of the unread messages had been neatly tucked away inside an Inbox feature. But her usefulness ended there! I had to be the one to organise through all of it at once.

It took a while, grumbling, and cursing, but i managed to separate all that i deemed more important than the others from the rest.

====

[Quest notification]

•[Type:- Survival]

»Name: Classless Messiah

»Description: Prevent Alexander Crossfield, the Hero from dying.

»Duration: ...

•Reward:

»Location of a fragment of the God-Slaying Spear, Goliath.

»+1 Instant Rank-up (Mortal Rank --> Eta Rank)

»???

•Penalty:

»Death, ???

»Status: [CLEARED]

...

===

•[Ding! Quest clear conditions have been met;]

»Prevent Alexander Crossfield, the Hero from dying.

»Survive.

[Ding! Quest reward(s) have been distributed.]

» +1 instant Rank Up [Mortal Rank >> Eta]

•[Ding! You broken through to Eta Rank!]

•[You have grown stronger.]

...

»??? (Unknown reward)

•[Do you wish to receive (???) reward now? Yes/No]

===

My brows rose at the sudden, unexpected message. My obvious ranking up was evidence that i had automatically already received the first reward, which was the Instant Rank Up reward. And this all happened without regard of my opinion on wether i wanted to at that point or not.

So what was damned Meta playing at with this now?

"An unknown reward..." I rubbed my chin as i mused. Suspicion brewed from the base of my chest.

I was curious about what the ??? Reward was, but now i was strangely wary and suspicious.

Eventually i shrugged indifferently. There really was only one way to find out.

"Yes."

•[DING! ??? Reward loading...]

As the screen popped up next, i leaned back and relaxed as i waited for whatever the reward was to arrive.

"Since it's come to this, it better be something worth all the trouble."

The next moment, my eyes flickered wide open at what happened next.

...

•[DING!]

•[Rare Skill: {Appraisal} Level 3 is evolving and upgrading.]

»[Rare skill: {Appraisal} Level 3 has evolved and upgraded to {Eyes of Discerning} Rank: ???, Level 3!]

...

"Ah..."

Did...did I just get a skill upgrade? And a skill Evolution, too, all at the same time.

[Heh.] I heard Meta snicker smugly, but i was too occupied with my shock and suprise to react. The unknown reward was much more amazing than i thought, I'll admit.

My eyes glowed at the system prompt. A new skill was always welcome, but an evolved version of an already existing skill was also just as valuable! This meant a Skill could gain new and broader functions while also retaining it's previous effects that have been improved. While getting a new skill was just getting a new skill.

And this...this would mark the thrid time Appraisal was evolving, since the first day i had it as the mere [Inspect] skill.

"Hehe..." A genuine chuckle broke fromy lips.

When i realised my System Skills could evolve after hitting the level cap, I've always wondered what was next after [Appraisal]. But now it seems i finally got my answer.

"Eyes of Discerning, huh. Sounds kind of cool."

I folded my arms and nodded with a smile, my satisfaction was clear and brimming.

But what does it do? Thinking so, i shifted through the description.

...

•[Eyes of Discerning] (New)

»Level: 3

»Rank: ???

»Description: The Eyes of Discerning beholds the mysteries and true face of the world. Discern the bare nature of the world around you with a single gaze. The Eyes of Discerning see all.

...

The description was quite short and concise. I also noticed that unlike before, and every other time, the Skill level was already up at 3, which was the level cap of all System Skills. And the Rank of Eyes of Discerning wasn't clear either.

Appraisal had been of the Rare Rank, although i would bother to argue that it probably should have been higher than just that, considering the scope of its abilities.

"What does it mean to discern the bare nature of the world around me?"

As cool as the skill description seemed to sound, it was still a little vague and mysterious. Everything about the Eyes of Discerning was even, from the Level to the questionable Rank, and even its abilities. I would have to take some time to get used to the skill to see if i could use it in battle.

Thinking so, i dismissed the status screen for the meantime and heaved a small breath inwardly.

'Eyes of Discerning.'

...

•[DING! Skill: {Eyes lf Discerning} has been activated!]

...

The moment i activated the skill, the world suddenly lit up brightly like a screen, causing me to wince backwards slightly. The whole world present before me was suddenly painted in layers and layers of a myriad of colours that were overly saturated too look at.

They were red, blue, yellow, green, white and many more, each of them stacking against each other to created a deeply saturated and oily visage. It was like looking at a brightly coloured oil painting.

The skill had barely only been activated for no more than a second, but i immediately felt a significant pull at my Ether reserves at once. Fortunately, if it weren't for my recent breakthrough and the absurd spike in amount of Ether i now possessed, i would have probably been forced to deactivate the skill almost immediately.

Fortunately, i still had more than enough to spare for now, so i continued and tried to adjust to this new, bright and surreal sight.

I tried to focus my gaze and the whole world finally began to look more bearable, but at the cost of another significant tug in my Ether points.

By adjusting to the Skill effect, soon it was like looking at the rest of the world from behind a coloured or painted glass window — it was still bright and multicoloured, but at least now i could see better. I could see even far better actually, ironically.

"This is crazy." A mild voice of amazement left my lips like whisper.

Just then i heard Meta input.

[The different colours represent visual signatures and readings stacked against each other like layers in the form of saturated colours. By adjusting and learning to separate these colours, you'll be able to distinguish the signatures of the world around you in the form of visual colours.]

I blinked.

"You mean, like some kind of Life reading or something?"

[Life signatures, heat signatures. Energy reading. All of those are just some of the many. The world is made up of various energies that constantly mix and interact everywhere and in the atmosphere all at once.] Meta responded and i quickly gained an inkling of what she meant.

"And all of those numerous interacting energies that are layered against each other are being represented for me in the form of colours all at once..."

This...this was the Eyes of Discerning. This was... terrifying. And amazing. But terrifying still. I could feel my heart slowly begin to race and my blood boil with rising excitement when i thought about what all this meant.

Sweat began to form against my forehead and beaded down my brows. A crooked smile tilted the edges of my lips.

"Seems I've stumbled on quite the skill."

[And the Eyes of Discerning is much more than that. Look more closely.]

At Meta's words I blinked and tried to focus again even more. My Ether drained even faster in the process, as suddenly, my gaze pierced right through the walls, ceiling and floors and various other billowing points of colorful lights and energies appeared beyond.

As the world was broken down to mere lines and dimensions before my gaze, i could see the outlines and dimensional shapes of different people in the entire building. Each of them were covered in a mix of different saturated colours that represented one thing or another.

And at the center of their shapes and bodies, there were particularly bright embers of colours that billowed and lit like flames... like souls.

And each of these people had a faint thin thread stretching out of their heads and into the air above, interweaving with countless others like a sporadic tapestry of interlining fates.