Oath of the Survivor

Turning his attention back to his skill selection, Kyle decided to start by looking at the new options available to him before upgrading one of his existing skills.  As before, he had three options.

CAMOFLAGE: This skill seemed fairly simple at first glance.  It would allow him to better conceal his mana signature, while also weaving mana around his body to obscure himself.  The impression he got was that it was a far cry from true invisibility, and would likely offer little in a combat situation.  Instead, it was designed to avoid detection from hostiles that weren’t specifically looking for him.  It was interesting, though far from being at the top of Kyle’s wish list as skills went.  The next choice felt a little better.

MULTITOOL: This was a skill that also offered quite a bit of interesting utility.  He saw that it would greatly expand the mana network connections in his hands, allowing him to harden his mana into different shapes to create on-the-fly tools.  Tools that included a bladed edge.  Having access to a weapon at the drop of a hat would have proved incredibly valuable in a lot of the situations he found himself in lately, and generally there were a wide variety of applications he could think of.  Even having access to a scalpel or needle could make a difference and likely lead to better outcomes for the people he treated.  On the other hand, he had been working hard to find solutions to his equipment problem for a while.  The crafting application from RESONANCE had already proven incredibly valuable, and he firmly believed that it would only get better as he grew in strength.  That in mind, he looked at the final option

STORM SHELTER: Like the others, this ability was pretty straightforward.  It would project a dome of hardened mana over his location, creating a small zone of protection.  It didn’t involve any major changes to the way his pathways would work, instead just reinforcing his ability to project mana across his whole body at once.  The dome of energy wasn’t subtle, glowing a bright blue.  From what Kyle could tell, though, it didn’t matter much if his opponents could see the barrier or not.  The intensity of the mana gave the impression that it could easily shrug off physical and mana-based attacks without much effort.  It was the skill that offered the most in some ways and the least in others.  Nearly being cooked alive by Carlyle made it clear that he had a gap trying to fight against sufficiently skilled long-range fighters. 

The late Fire Mage had been fairly unique in that he had a powerful movement-boosting ability in addition to his long-range capabilities, but he likely wasn’t the only one.  STORM SHELTER would shore up that weakness nicely, in addition to being able to protect an area around him to give space for triage if necessary.  Outside of those applications, it wouldn’t add much to Kyle’s daily activities.  He just hadn’t encountered very many situations where this skill would have significantly changed the outcome.

This left Kyle with a bit of a conundrum.  If he was honest with himself, he was a little underwhelmed with the choices he’d been offered.  Sure, they each had situations where they’d be valuable, but they seemed significantly more niche compared to some of the skills he’d been offered in E Grade. 

Then and again, he supposed that was a big part of the difference – he wasn’t in E Grade anymore.  He didn’t really know what to expect as he continued his progression, so he forced himself to take a look with what he hoped were more objective eyes.  As he did, he landed on STORM SHELTER.  While it may not be a game changer in his day-to-day, Kyle already had means to handle the vast majority of the mundane situations he had run across. 

The times he’d truly struggled the most was when he was confronted with challenges beyond the norm.  He thought about when C.H.A.D.D. got damaged, when he’d almost been killed by the Infernal, and this most recent engagement against Carlyle and Valentine.  Access to STORM SHELTER during those encounters would have led to different, and better outcomes. 

That decided, he turned his attention to the glowing skill upgrade node.  He could choose any of his skills, but this one was much easier.  One of his skills saw more use than any other, and had saved his life every step of the way in this new world.  With a thought, he selected REGENERATION.   He saw the glowing sphere branch into three different directions.  As compared to his normal skill selections, the upgrade choices didn’t offer much in the way of impressions, only giving an understanding of the change.  He focused on the first.

REGENERATIVE AURA: This would allow him to help others near him passively recover when the skill was active.  It would cost a lot more mana to activate as a result, which would reduce the effectiveness for the ways Kyle used the skill.  Already dismissing this as an option, he looked at the next branching path.

SURGING REGENERATION: This upgrade would change the nature of the skill, offering a big wave of healing all at once through his body that would persist for a short time.  It would provide more healing early, and felt in many ways to be the most natural next step for the skill.  His breath caught, however, when he saw the name of the final choice.

ADAPTIVE REGENERATION:  The name itself was intriguing to him, as it felt much more connected to his Arthro-Human Chimera race.  The upgrade itself felt different than anything he’d seen from the other two as well, feeling an order of magnitude more complex.  He felt that the more the skill healed certain types of damage, that it would make subtle changes to try and offer enhancements against similar damage in the future, while also healing that type of damage more effectively the more he used it.  As upgrades went, he got the impression it would not offer any meaningful difference in the quality of the healing at this time. 

However, the longer he stayed true to the path of the Survivalist, the more powerful this skill would become.  And when he thought about the continual damage he took with HASTE active, the decision was clear.  He selected ADAPTIVE REGENERATION, and with that exited meditation.

Kyle made his way back to where C.H.A.D.D. and Garth were resting.  He knew he should get some sleep, but he was still riding the excitement from his D Grade evolution.  Kyle felt amazing.  His body felt lighter, and every movement as he traveled was smoother, more natural.  His eyes easily pierced through the darkness of the midnight gloom, and the uneven ground beneath him may as well have been flat pavement for the ease with which he moved.  Even his depleted mana reserves were replenishing at an alarming rate, far faster than he’d ever experienced before. 

The mana in the atmosphere around him seemed to be flowing into him like water down a drain, and he was honestly concerned for a moment that he might have a negative effect on C.H.A.D.D. and Garth as a result.  He remembered the sheer power that his grandfather exuded in the scans the little drone had taken, and calmed himself with a breath.  If Grandpa didn’t cause problems being around me back then, I won’t cause problems for them.  Hopefully.  The reality was that Kyle really had no way of knowing, D Grades were not a daily subject of study, and he was certain he wasn’t a standard example in any case. 

Coming to the entrance of the small recess, he was greeted by his longtime travel companion.  [CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR EVOLUTION, DR. MAYHEW.  YOU ARE LIKELY NOW THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON ON THE PLANET.]

“Thanks, C.H.A.D.D.  Any changes with Garth’s condition?  While I’m at it, how long was I away?”  He had lost track of time during his meditation, and hoped that it hadn’t been too long.

[MR. BOLTSBURY IS IN STABLE CONDITION, THOUGH THERE IS STILL A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WORK TO BE DONE TO PREVENT LONG-TERM COMPLICATIONS.  AS FOR TIMING, YOU WERE GONE FOR ROUGHLY AN HOUR, DR. MAYHEW.] 

An hour wasn’t bad, though it was hard for him to believe his evolution had taken place in such a short period of time.  He was ready to get back to work on Garth, but before he did, he had a request.

“C.H.A.D.D., can you run the same kind of scan on me that you did for Clark Mayhew?  I want to have them both to compare.”

[CERTAINLY, DR. MAYHEW.]

Kyle stood still for a few moments while the drone did its work, then turned to Garth.  His passive mana recovery had done wonders, even if he knew that his body could still contain significantly more.  He estimated that he had recovered nearly half of what used to be his maximum capacity, which was more than enough to get to work.  Resting his hand on Garth, he activated HEAL.  Kyle instantly felt a difference, manipulating the rejuvenating mana with more ease than ever before. 

C.H.A.D.D. guided him, and as he worked he noticed that in addition to the improved control, there was also significantly improved efficiency.  He was healing significantly more damage with less mana, which only got him more excited.  Will all of my other skills have similar improvements?  Kyle was eager to test them, however he suppressed some of the excitement as he refocused on the treatment. 

Even with his evolution, it took two days of treatment before Garth was able to get up and moving again.  Garth stood and stretched, examining the scar where Valentine had blown a hole through his torso. 

“D Grade healing is no joke.  I didn’t think I’d be standing again so soon.  Thanks, Kyle.”

[I WOULD LIKE THE RECORD TO INDICATE THAT YOU WOULDN’T BE STANDING AT ALL IF IT WASN’T FOR PROPER GUIDANCE AND SCANNING, MR. BOLTSBURY.]

“Then it sounds like thanks are in order for you too, C.H.A.D.D.”  His voice got serious as he turned to Kyle.  “So what exactly are we going to do from here?”

Kyle’s eyebrows raised as he looked at the older soldier.  “This was your idea, Garth.  How the hell should I know?”

‘In case you didn’t notice, I wasn’t exactly planning on walking away afterwards.  Besides, you’re the D Grade.  You should be the one giving the orders.”

Not for the first time since evolving, Kyle considered that.  He doubted that any group would knowingly try to fight against him if they knew his level.  They could likely stroll up to Nierburg, and if any of their drones were able to scan him they would probably cease hostilities, at least openly.  Still, Kyle didn’t entirely know what he wanted to do.  Making the wrong decision could have disastrous consequences, and he wanted to give it the consideration it deserved. 

“Let’s head back to my base, in Albaum.  We can better evaluate our options, and from there we can –“ BOOM!

An explosion cut Kyle off mid-sentence, and as he turned he saw a rising cloud of dust coming from the direction of Duilleag.  He looked at Garth, who wore a similarly confused expression on his face. 

“Or we could go see what’s going on there.”

~~~

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