After leaving the regional manager's office, Moon made his way downstairs. The Glassy Group had their own shop on the premises, so he took a quick look around.
Nothing caught his eye. He needed to check out the Trading Center first before committing to any purchases. There was no point spending money in case an item in the Trading Center appealed to him more.
On his way to the Trading Center, Moon wasn't idle. He was evolving his skills.
He had decided that the smartest approach was to evolve his most useful skills to Level 15 before choosing which ones to push all the way to Second Order. This way, his strength remained versatile rather than concentrated in a single area. A broad foundation first, then depth later.
The first skill he turned his attention to was Rune Inscription.
[Rune Inscription] [Order: First] [Rank: Epic] [Level: 10] [Evolve] [Details: You possess elite mastery of first-order runic language and can inscribe powerful runes for offensive, defensive, or support purposes. Your runes can be etched onto surfaces, objects, or even directly into the air using mana as a dium. Inscribed runes activate either on command or when triggered by specific conditions. 100% Inscription Speed and Stability. 100% Rune Duration and Effect Potency.]
[Level 10 → 11: 64 Lives Consud] ...
[Level 14 → 15: 1,024 Lives Consud]
A total of 1,984 lives to bring Rune Inscription to Level 15. The evolution increased both bonuses by 50% without altering the skill's core functions. Solid, predictable growth, exactly what Moon needed and expected from it.
The next skill his eyes landed on was Tenacity. This was one of the few he was most excited to evolve.
'Will I gain more attributes?'
[Tenacity] [Order: First]
[Rank: Epic]
[Level: 10] [Evolve] [Details: Your will cannot be broken, no matter the circumstances. Illusions do not affect you, and your courage makes those with you feel stronger. 5 to Strength, Agility, and Constitution.]
[Level 10 → 11: 64 Lives Consud] ...
[Level 14 → 15: 1,024 Lives Consud]
After a quick blur of notifications, the skill reached Level 15.
[Tenacity] [Details: Your will cannot be broken, no matter the circumstances. Illusions do not affect you, and your courage makes those with you feel stronger. 10 to Strength, Agility, and Constitution.]
A sharp glint flashed in Moon's eyes. Fifteen additional attribute points in comparison to before. Five each in Strength, Agility, and Constitution. Every single level had granted him one point in each stat.
'This is by far one of the best evolutions I've made so far.'
The skill was already valuable for its ntal fortitude and immunity towards illusion abilities below Supre Beasts. But the fact that it also scaled his physical attributes with every level. Moon was already looking forward to pushing it to Second Order when his lives allowed.
From there, Moon moved on to evolve [Ignite], [Purify], [Advanced Elental Body], and [Bird Dance]. Each one progressed as expected, increasing in bonus percentages without any surprises or anomalies.
After evolving a total of six Epic-Rank skills to Level 15, Moon had spent 11,904 lives.
—
[ Na: Moon ] [ Race: Human ]
[ Class: Classless ] [ Level: 28 ] [7%]
[ Lives: 35,252 ] [ Super Lives: 0 ]
—
Two rounds of evolution had taken him from over 110,000 lives all the way down to 35,000. The sharp decrease stung, but Moon wasn't worried yet. 'I'll evolve three more skills before stopping. I still need enough lives in reserve in case sothing unexpected happens.'
After inspecting what he had and weighing what would benefit him the most in the short term, Moon settled on three skills: Air Step, Minor nd, and Golden Skin.
He started with Golden Skin.
[Golden Skin] [Order: First] [Rank: Rare] [Level: 10]
[Details: The user's body becos vastly more resilient to damage. Non-magical weapons cannot penetrate the skin. Provides 20-30% damage reduction against First Order weapons and beast attacks, with reduction scaling based on the weapon's quality and the attack's power.]
[Level 10 → 11: 32 Lives Consud] [...] [Level 14 → 15: 512 Lives Consud]
A total of 992 lives. A little cheaper than the Epic-Rank skills for the initial five levels. Moon ran the numbers in his head. If he wanted to push Golden Skin all the way to Second Order, it would cost him approximately 32,736 lives in total.
'I'll pass on that for now. I'll evolve it after I've killed so Second Order beasts and replenished my reserves.'
He pulled up the updated details.
[Golden Skin] [Order: First] [Rank: Rare] [Level: 15] [Details: The user's body becos vastly more resilient to damage. Non-magical weapons cannot penetrate the skin. Provides 25-30% damage reduction against First Order weapons and beast attacks, with reduction scaling based on the weapon's quality and the attack's power.]
Moon stared at the numbers. The improvent from five levels on a Rare-Rank skill was clear, and it was also imdiately clear why it fell short.
A 5% increase on the lower bound. Nothing on the upper bound. If this had been an Epic-Rank skill, the sa five levels would have likely pushed the range to 25-35%, gaining ground on both ends.
This was why every prodigy fought tooth and nail to acquire Epic-Rank skills before their evolution. The gap between Rare and Epic wasn't just about power in the mont. It was about how much further each level carried you. Over ti, that difference compounded into sothing enormous.
This was what forged heroes and monsters.
Moving to his two skills, both at the uncommon rank, Moon noticed the difference even more. The difference was very minuscule, and hardly worth it.
[Minor nd]
[Level 10 -> 11: 16 Lives Consud]
…
[Level 14 -> 15: 256 Lives Consud]
A total consumption of 496 Lives.
[Minor nd]
[Details: Channel restorative energy to heal a single target for a moderate amount of health. Healing scales with Mana. 105% Healing Effect.]
'Only an increase of 5% in Healing Effect is really low…Uncommon skills might only be worth the increase if they evolve to Second Order. Other than that, leveling them up five levels is hardly worth it.'
The sa followed for his next skill: Air step.
[Air Step]
[Order: First]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Level: 15] [Evolve]
[Details: You can temporarily solidify air particles around you for support. 55% movent speed when airborne. Effect duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute between uses.]
'5% increase in movent.'
After leveling up both skills, Moon no longer evolved any skills after. He had also arrived at the Trading Center.
'Ti to buy so Second Order Items.' Moon thought, walking inside.
User Comments
0 comments from readers