Zane read the skills he got from the slab and he was getting sowhere when the system asked him if he wanted to rge the skills.
To that, Zane replied:
"No. Answer so questions first."
The system remained silent.
Zane took it as a yes.
"This second skill, Threshold Piler, sounds similar to what I felt with the Enforcer. Did you perhaps use it when you took over ?"
[ Negative. I took over Host’s body and this Skill activated on its own. The host’s body sensed distress when I took over and the Enforcer was attacking. So the Skill activated to protect the Host and when I stopped the penalty because of low synchronization, host’s body returned to normal. ]
"But you said it was you who fought with the guard?"
[ I still stand by it. I was inside the Host’s body so it was who faught. ]
Zane held his head.
"So you took over , the skill activated, the Enforcer attacked , I retaliated, you stopped the penalty, the skill ended. You couldn’t kill the guard because the synchronization was too low. If you were inside my body for one more second, nevermind my strength, would I have killed him because of my skill?"
[ Positive. ]
Zane ran his finger on his chest, tracing the scar and his eyes lit up.
"What about this scar? Is it because of you that its shape changed?"
[ Positive. ]
"Why? How is this possible? Why did my body react with that brick?"
Silence.
Zane clenched his hair.
Silence ant the system won’t answer. Zane understood it by now.
"Wait.." Zane rembered sothing. "My first skill, the one with the intent, it’s passive, right? So when that madman who held my hand turned angry and smiled right after, I felt scared. Was it because I sensed his intent of so kind?"
[ Positive. ]
Zane went silent.
"These skills are good. If I rge them, will they vanish?"
[ Positive. Instead of two skills, host will only have one. ]
Zane nodded.
He imagined what could be the result and made up his mind.
"Go ahead. rge them."
[ Command Accepted! ]
[ 1 rge Point Consud! ]
[ rging the Skills... ]
Zane waited and then two windows appeared in front of his eyes.
The windows carried the details of the two skills he got from the slab and before he could question them, both windows collided against each other.
Golden graffiti appeared as the windows joined and then...
[ Ding! ]
The familiar sound rang and Zane smiled.
[ Skills rged Successfully! ]
"Show ."
[ rged Skill(s): 1 ]
[ Survival Threshold (Convergence Tier) (Passive/ Triggered Body-State): Host will sense imdiate threat vectors and hostile intent traces and for his survival, the Conflux will temporarily align host’s body and perception towards continuation of life. Host’s body movent efficiency will increase. Pain response will be suppressed. Reaction timing will be tightened. Wasteful motion will be reduced. ]
[ Limits: This state cannot be manually activated. Activation requires real danger, not staged behavior. Duration scales with Synchronization level. Repeated activation reduces bodily integrity, causes neural and muscular degradation. Host control may be partially overridden. ]
[ Warning: Host’s survival is prioritized over Host’s preference. ]
Zane blinked.
"That’s... too much information."
Pressing his forehead, Zane read everything anyway.
One minute passed and Zane finally finished reading. He had lost attention midway and ended up reading the sa line over and over until he finally pulled through the whole thing.
"So my body will move on its own whenever I have a chance of death. The skills really rged in one."
[ Positive. ]
"Just use yes and no. What’s with this positive and negative?"
[ Synchronization too low to follow the command. ]
Zane rolled his eyes.
"Forget it. Now that I rged the two skills I had, I have nothing else. I won’t get more skills from the brick. Can I rge the rged skill with sothing else further?"
[ Host can rge anything. ]
"But only the things I own, right? For now, at least."
[ Positive. ]
"I see."
Zane stayed under the tree in silence, thinking about things he had.
Then he chuckled.
"Does humiliation count?"
[ Not at the mont. ]
He raised his brows.
"Emotions count too?"
[ Host can rge anything. ]
Zane scratched his chin.
"This is too powerful. I shouldn’t be getting this for free. What do you want from ?"
Zane waited for a while.
No windows showed up.
"I really need an answer here. I will rip out my heart before you could satisfy your intentions with ."
[ Host is free to do that if he senses any malice from Conflux. ]
Zane nodded slowly.
"How can I get more rge points?"
If Zane could rge anything, then he would want to rge whatever he could.
[ Primary source is from finishing Quests. ]
"Primary, huh? What’s the other source?"
[ Killing. ]
Zane exhaled a mouthful of air.
"So it won’t be easy then."
Zane stopped talking and finally got up.
"The hard part cos from tomorrow. I hope I survive."
He patted his hands and wiped the spots of blood from his tunic and from around his nose.
"She will be worried. How would I convince her?"
Zane shook his head and walked.
Not only the Citadel, the area around the Citadel was pristine. Zane felt he was staining the clean path by walking on it.
Soon, he erged from the forest area and walked in the bustling roads of Veyndral.
This was the capital city of the Eldros continent mostly because it contains the golden slab. And one look was enough to tell this city rolled in money.
Large shops decorated the side of the roads.
So are selling books depicting the legacy of the three Crowns, the mystery of the golden slab, the ergence of the rifts and the birth of the riftborns.
There were so other things which Zane couldn’t even understand. Lun bath potions, relics from the Xavros continent and forbidden zones.
The fat rchants or shopkeepers yelled for custors as people walked by but no one yelled for Zane. The brat wasn’t of any use to them other than scurrying the custors away.
Zane wasn’t interested in any of them either as he only knew vendors with carts around his ho.
The carriage drivers ran with their carriages asking the walking people if they wanted to go sowhere. But just like the shopkeepers, no one asked Zane.
Is my poverty that clear?
Zane looked at himself.
Alright. It’s clear.
He looked around as he couldn’t be the only Gutterborn coming back from the Citadel.
Like he thought, many others like Zane were also walking on the sides of the street. Their heads hung low, carefully taking each step so as to not bump into soone and spoil their polished clothes.
He shook his head at their condition and walked normally unlike the other Gutterborns.
But then, he slowed his steps.
A frown appeared on his face along with a slight shiver.
Sothing is wrong.
He surveyed his surroundings while taking slow steps, not making it obvious.
But he couldn’t find anything strange. No footsteps. No voices. No shouting.
Nothing obvious.
But then his skin tightened.
His chest felt cold.
He stopped walking.
The world didn’t change.
The road didn’t change.
The people didn’t change.
But sothing else did.
His vision blurred for a split second.
Not emotion.
Not fear.
Intent.
Not aid at him.
Not yet.
But close.
Very close.
Zane swallowed.
"... So that’s how this works."
As if to support his feelings, a window appeared before his eyes.
[ rged Skill: Survival Threshold Is Acting! ]
Zane’s fingers curled slowly.
He didn’t know what it could be, but his best guess...
Soone from the Citadel had followed him.
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