[Hahaha, someone’s salty.] Holding his stomach with one hand and wiping the tear forming in the corner of his left eye, Cynrik erupted after Brance’s insult.
[Shut up, I need to concentrate and focus on my surroundings, and I can’t do that with your annoying ass fucking cackles invading my thoughts.] Gritting his teeth, Brance closed his eyes and focused on the different sounds in the water again.
“Shut up~ I can’t concentrate.” Cynrik mockingly said aloud instead of using the mind link while waving his hands around, imitating how Brance moved when he spoke in anger.
‘Sigh, alright, back to shopping. So far, I burned 45 points on the shortsword and 30 on the dagger. Then there were the three STAM and MP potions which ran me 15 points each.’ Tapping the air as if using a calculator, Cynrik quickly calculated his spending so far.
‘That’s 120 points, leaving me with 250. Hmmm, FlameBite pots have a fixed 500 points of spread damage, with a 50% chance of inflicting a burn status. Tsk, 500 is too little in the higher Tiers.’ Scratching the side of his head, Cynrik dismissed the thought of carpet bombing his way through the crowd.
‘The frost pots may be helpful, especially if I want to conserve Mana. Sure I can always use [Shadow Sewing], but the more targets I try holding, the faster my MP drains until it bottoms out or the enemy breaks free. Fighting against 20 opponents simultaneously will be annoying, so I might as well pick up these.’ Clicking on the description, reading over the fixed damage, and noticing the 50% Freezing rate, Cynrik purchased five Frost potions for 100 OKP.
‘Ok, 150 points left. Do I save them or try to find something to blow them on.’ Stretching his back out by raising his arms over his head and pulling upward, Cynrik tossed the idea around for a minute or so before scrolling through and locating a tab that piqued his interest.
“Innnnteresting.” A smile formed on his lips as he tapped on the Tamer Supplies tab. The topic of his two eggs had bothered him for months. Be it figuring out what secondary Element to give them or how he would hatch them; he was left helpless as the equipment was so expensive he couldn’t afford it with either Credits or Merit Points. If Cynrik was going to nurture his little Nátt Hrafn into the powerful birbs he had in mind; then he only had a handful of options. Most of which involved him delving into dangerous scenarios or selling body parts.
Not wanting to get his hopes up, Cynrik navigated through the user interface, scrolling passed the various assortments of food, weapons, and special skills, and eventually found the Incubators section.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Cynrik read the price tag for the highest Tier top-of-the-line device and felt his heart shudder.
“Fuck, 2200 OKP each, that is batshit crazy. What kind of monetary value do these damn points carry. This same Incubator goes for upwards of a couple hundred million Credits.” He said aloud as his eyes drifted toward his pitiful balance of only 150 OKP.
While Cynrik was beating himself up, Brance had eliminated all but the final AquaNewt and was calmly waiting for it to come into his hearing range. But as time went on, and all he could hear was the slapping of the water against the pillars or walls of the room, Brance felt something was off. Even if these creatures could hold their breath for long periods, they still had to come up for air at some point, and nearly 23 minutes had elapsed since the start of the battle, meaning it had been submerged for a bare minimum, 15 minutes.
Knowing he would regret his following action, Brance prepared himself and reinitiated contact with his brother.
[Oh, great and powerful lord of knowledge, I require your assistance in my time of need.] Rolling his eyes and fighting the urge to cringe at his own words, Brance tightly gripped the hilt of his shortsword and sucked it up. He knew this was the best way to smooth things over and get a proper answer without too much bullshit or teasing.
[HM, yes, what can I do for you, lowly peasant.] Looking away from the Obelisk Market, Cynrik stroked his chin as if he had a long, imaginary beard and spoke with a holier-than-thou tone.
[I need to know how long AquaNewts can hold their breath. I was able to take out all but one of the creatures, and this last one seems to be hiding.] Scanning the water’s surface as he searched for anything resembling a head, Brance deactivated [Mana Sight] and sighed.
[Eh, I can’t give you a specific timeframe, only what we were given as a reference, which was 45 minutes to an hour and a half. If it’s hiding in the depths, then you can only either go in after it or burn a shit ton of MP to raise a platform the size of the entire room above the water. It’s your call; either way, I can only present the data, not fight the fight for you.] Holding his arms up in defeat, Cynrik returned to examining the different incubators and comparing the pros and cons of the expensive ones vs. the cheaper incubators.
‘Tsk, as if it’s that easy to raise a platform large enough to cover wall to wall. Even if I have enough Affinity Control to pull it off, my tank is too small to even think about that option.’ Peeking over the edge of the one-meter round platform he was standing on, Brance gazed down into the dark water below.
‘Since it’s murky and the lighting in the room was poor to begin with, I can’t see shit past maybe a meter deep. WAIT, LIGHTING!’ Widening his eyes, Brance felt the urge to smack his face in punishment for not thinking of an idea sooner. So what if the water was dark? He literally has an Affinity for Light Mana.
After placing his shield back in its holster on his back, Brance curled his left hand into a fist and surged Light Mana into it. Inhaling deeply, his left hand began shining brightly as he overlapped his [Orb of Light] with the chargeable [Glint] forming a milky white ball the size of a marble within his clenched fist.
Opening his hand Brance was surprised to find a tiny solid sphere resting neatly under his fingers. Bouncing it in his palm a couple of times, Brance raised an eyebrow as Tobs sent a notification in response to making this new little marble.
-You have created a new skill by combining your [Orb of Light] and [Glint]; since this skill is entirely new, as its Creator, you have been allowed to name it by the Central System Host.-
‘Hey, Tobs, do you know what this little thing can do?’
-Negative, I do not have access to its skill description until it has been named.-
‘I see, uh, how about we just call it White Dwarf.’ Brance said after putting a little thought into it.
– Your skill has been registered in the official skill database after being approved by the Central System Hub.-
-The Central System Hub has generated an adequate effect and description; you may view them at any time within your Affinity Skills Tab.-
-You have learned the Tier-2 Light Affinity Skill: White Dwarf-
-You have created a never before seen Light Affinity Skill; as such, you have been given a reward pack from the CSH.-
-Your Mastery over Light Mana Particles has increased from Adept to Expert.-
-Your Light Affinity has Grown to Tier-2.5-
-You have received 20 Points in all basic Stats.-
-You have received 20 Free Allocation Stat points.-
-You have received 75 Skill Points.-
-You have been awarded the Title “Skill Creator”.-
Opening and closing his mouth like a fish, Brance was stunned by the new rewards. When he had made his [Flashbang] skill, he didn’t get any upgrades or rewards; all he could do was name the newly minted skill, yet now, after making [White Dwarf], not only did Brance get to name it but he was informed that a skill like it had never been generated before. As surprising as it was, this meant that similar fusion skills like his [Flashbang] had already been created.
Although confused, Brance decided to put that thought aside and examined his new skill.
-Tier-2 Light Affinity Skill: [White Dwarf]-
-Category: Active Construct Skill.-
-A Skill Created by Brance Jetlensr. By compressing the blinding power of [Glint] and the stability of [Orb of Light] and infusing it with an abundant amount of higher grade particles, you have created a new pure Light Mana Construct.-
-The User can create up to five small milky white spheres, which can be thrown or attached to a preselected target. The user can either detonate the marble at will or have it shatter on impact. Upon the orb breaking, a concussive blast and a blinding flash of light will be generated as the Light Mana Particles go out of control and expand. Anyone who views this flash of light, other than the skill User, has a 75% chance of being inflicted with the status effect “Impaired” for 30 seconds.-
-If the Enemy who is in the vicinity of this erupting attack has the opposing Dark Affinity, and you have formed the sphere with a minimum of 1200 MP, they will also have a 45% chance of receiving the status effect, “Light Burn.” This status effect is similar to “Burn,” only the damage received over time is 55 HP per second. This status effect can last between one minute to five minutes depending on the power and Tier of the being’s Dark Affinity. If the targeted Dark Affinity User also gained the “Impaired,” both “Light Burn” and “Impaired” will have double the duration.-
-Damage Calc: Based on the amount of Mana condensed into the sphere, INT and Light Affinity.-
-Cost: 250 MP per marble CHARGEABLE.-
-Construct Life: There can only be five marbles active at a time, and each marble can last for a maximum of 2 hours. After that, they will automatically explode.-
-Cooldown: 1 hour.-
It took Brance a full minute to calm his rapidly beating heart as he read how devastating this new skill could become if used in the proper situation. Not only that, but he was nearly unable to contain his excitement because he had finally received another offensive Light Affinity skill. One that would be devastating against any opponent who used or harnessed Dark Mana skills. Then, his mind moved to a different place, and a single question popped up in his head.
‘What kind of face would Cynrik have when I show him this skill. Hehe, depending on how much Mana I put into it, it can be used as a practical joke.’
Snickering to himself as he thought up several types of pranks, Brance formed four more small marbles in his palm and rolled them around while looking around and calculating the best place to throw them.
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-