[You have awakened your Periodic Affinity: Lightning.]
These words snapped Armaros from his slumber, looping like a broken record. His heart raced, threatening to break free from his chest. His eyes darted around the length of the area he was in, taking in the destruction that was left behind.
His body still ached, a few wounds slowly leaking blood. But by some miracle, his worst wounds had already closed. Most of the blood on his body wasn't even his own. His weapons had destroyed all that once threatened him.
Remains of the creatures lay at his feet, their snake-heads and limbs from their quadrupedal bodies, strung over the place. Armaros was left mystified as to what could have possibly happened.
How…why am I not dead? Or is this what the dead think when they reach the other side?
Armaros then looked at his arms, seeing both the bite marks from the Serpentine and the newly changed forms of his weapons. Both of his arms still felt hurt and heavy, but at least he could move them now. The weight of the weapons seemed to have lessened. It was as if his body had grown accustomed to their load, or had developed the strength to truly hold them.
These swords…they look a lot cooler than they were before.
Zeus's blade edge had become jagged, its cross guard nearly nonexistent. Its fuller was steel blue with gold running down the new bevel of the sword. Hermes, however, formulated itself with a dual-edged fashion, gold from fuller to sword-edge with a cross guard similar to a Claymore with a grooved hilt that made it feel comfortable to hold.
[LV. increased to 3: Four Skill Points gained: Required allocation.]
Armaros's system prompted his attention away from all the intricacies that had now taken place with his sword. The system opened to the familiar screen with his birthmark at its center, but now it was a yellowish hue, no longer blue with two previously locked sections beginning to reveal themselves. It appears Level 2 or 3 was when they awakened.
Both sections were written in archaic lettering, reading to Armaros as "Core Status Tree" and "Weapon Skill Tree" respectively. They both glowed with a faint yellow, as if calling Armaros to find out what secrets they hid.
So, I finally got the real level system…let's see what the basics look like then.
He turned his attention first to the Core Status section. The system warped itself, taking him almost to a new tab right before his eyes. On this new tab, six categories stacked on top of each other descended the left side of the screen, while on their right, each seemed to have chevron-like nodes that each denoted an increase.
The categories were: VITALIS, FORTIS, CELERIS, ARCANA, POTENTIA, and ANIMA. Each was color-coded, starting with red for Vitalis, yellow for Fortis, white for Celeris, blue for Arcana, purple for Potentia, and green for Anima. Beside each of these was the number 5, the starting amount for each stat.
Proper game-system, then I should be able to understand it relatively easily.
Focusing on the nodes for each, they all had the number one within them. This denoted to him that with each unlock of a node the beginning number of 5 increased by 1. He then quickly realized that at the moment, he had four skill points ready to be used. Throwing a couple in right now wouldn't be the worst idea.
I could…but I kinda want to see what this weapon side of things looks like. Maybe it is different or uses the same skill points. Hopefully not.
His system then brought him back to the home page and moved to the Weapon Skill tree. The Weapon's side of things was similar in function to how the Core Status Tree worked, but with some notable differences.
Instead of six horizontal categories, only three were present. Both names for his swords were at the bottom, sparkling with a gold, electric aura written in their Greek forms. However, the most striking thing was a name in between the two weapons—more an ability than a weapon.
This was his ultimate ability—each weapon had one. When dual-wielding weapons, those two abilities would be combined to make a new one.
Divine Recreation…that's my ultimate ability? Ha, I was expecting something like Divine Lightning.
Look specifically at each weapon; both had their own skill trees for upgrades. But as he continued his examination, he noticed each node's grey-out hexagonal nature. He couldn't upgrade them at the current time.
[Weapons Current Rank: C. Weapon Rank Up required before Skill Upgrade.]
Never mind, I guess I didn't even need to look here. Why even let me see this early then?
While in a huff, Armaros returned to the Core Skill Tree and examined each category. Each stat came with its own description of its purpose, with the Celeris being the first to pull his attention.
[Celeris: Untouchable by any beneath you. Godspeed to any that may challenge you…if they can keep up.]
So this is the speed stat. Christ, I should probably worry about my health before even looking at this.
But as Armaros looked back to the top left corner to see his health status, it was two-fifths full, shocking him as he had nearly died five minutes ago. Either leveling up gave back health, or some unknown ability of his had made this feat possible. And confirming his suspicions, another message prompted with his answer.
[Hermes - Active: Hermes' Step: Dash within eyesight, Then Increase Celeris by 30%. Passive: Increase own Vitalis and Anima by 4% per enemy killed. Weapon Scaling - Celeris: A | Potentia: B]
So, that's how I lived…
Fate had handed him a lifeline through Hermes's lifesteal. All ten Serpentine had died to Armaros, and in that, 40% of his health had been restored. It was certainly a blessing for him to have taken these weapons, forgotten heirlooms like himself that held more potential than anyone could see. They needed only the right circumstances to thrive, and now, their full powers could be unleashed.
Scaling? Guess that means the higher the stat, the better the effect. I've got four skill points to my name, might as well split them then. More health is never a bad thing, but being able to use this weapon effectively is nice as well.
Armaros then put all his skill points in the respective categories.
[Achievement Unlocked: Honing Your Divinity]
Thanks…I guess.
Armaros then staggered to his feet, relieving himself of his place against the wall. With his speed and health being the highest stats right now, and not much else going for him—save for these new weapons—he knew what he had to do to make it out of that hellhole alive.
It couldn't be that hard if he had killed 10 of those beasts whilst nearly dead, right?
Pushing on to the exit of the area, Armaros continued with a bit of a limp in his steps. He had survived one challenge by luck, but now it was time to see if he could turn luck into true worth. The cards of fate had blessed him; now it was time to capitalize.
*******.
Armaros explored further through more of the cavern, each step he took feeling just as painful as the last. At times, he would stop and take a break, but hearing some beasts nearby always kept him from resting for too long. Even with his new abilities, he felt nowhere near confident enough to actually take them.
Taking a rest in one of the corridors, Armaros was panting harder than usual, feeling like his body was growing heavier with each passing moment. As he rested against a wall, a status prompt appeared over his eyes.
[Status Affliction: Poisoned, slow movement by 10%, constant health reduction of 0.2%]
Well…there goes my luck. Does it ever go away?
[Status Affliction: Removal in 2 minutes.]
Alright then…not too much longer then.
But just as Armaros was about to rest and let the poison clear out of his body, two Chimeric Serpentine came around the corner of the hallway. The second Armaros heard their steps, his blood went cold. Seeing their serpent heads only compounded the increasing fear that spread through his body. The beast soon caught sight of him, smelling his terror.
Jumping to his feet, the two foes bared their fangs for the boy to see. Now was the time to show his mettle, or succumb to the fate he was destined for before.
Even if I am poisoned. I don't have much of an option at this point! Armaros thought, "Alright. You want a piece of me!" Armaros yelled, just as the beasts roared at him. "Come and get some!"
One beast rushed him, all three gnashing in hunger for his skin. Readied in a defensive stance, the Serpentine was inches from Armaros. Just as he could just see the black of its beaded eyes, he called his first skill.
[Skill Activated: Hermes' Step.]
A streak of lightning burst past the first Chimeric Serpentine, knocking it aside but causing no actual damage. The lightning continued past the second beast, shoving it away as well. Armaros, having aimed to attack the first one, suddenly crashed face-first into the weathered concrete back wall with a loud thud! Instead of striking his foes, he seemed to have hurt himself more in the attempt.
What the fuck!? Did I miss or something!? Armaros thought, shaking his head many times.
Lightning continued to trickle off his body, sparking and flowing erratically. But in his dazed period, the second beast had regained its senses. The beast jumped into the air overhead, spewing venom from its three heads meant to burn him to ash.
But something strange happened, something Armaros noticed instantly. It was like the venom spray was moving in slow motion, allowing him to jet to the side irregularly fast in a brief span of time. Capitalizing on his newfound power, he immediately used Zeus to swipe at the beast. He cleaved off one of the beast's heads just as the lightning flickers faded.
The beast backed away, its other heads wincing. Armaros was ecstatic; it was the first hit he had landed without incurring pain upon himself as well.
"HAHA! Yeah! You like that!?" Armaros shouted, failing to comprehend that he was very much still in a battle for his life.
And just as he was growing confident, the second beast from before raced up to capitalize. Realizing this, Armaros spun around to face his predator. He prepared to use his ability again, but a notification appeared as he tried to activate it.
[Ability Cooldown - 15 seconds.]
What?!! There is a cooldown?! Why would there need to be a cooldown? Isn't this real—!
Armaros had no time to finish his thought. The beast bore down on him, forcing him to raise both blades to guard against its ravenous heads. From behind, the injured one slashed the back of his knee. He dropped to one knee, seeing the time on his poison shooting back up to five minutes. Small trickles of blood escaped from his back knee.
Damn it! I gotta have something else. Anything—anything will do right now!
[Zeus — Active: Zeus's Bolt – Transform weapon into lightning for 5 seconds. If thrown, recall the weapon or become lightning to travel to it.], The System prompted.
Then it will have to do!
[Skill Activated: Zeus's Bolt.]
Instantly, Zeus turned elongated with lightning that travelled up Armaros's arm. The weapon immediately burned away one biting head of the injured Serpentine. The force that Zeus awoke with threw back the beast from Armaros, allowing him the time to deal with a closer out-of-view threat. Spinning on his good leg, he cleaved another head off the first Chimeric Serpentine. The beast staggered, allowing Armaros to truly put an end to it.
In one clean move, he hacked his blade down onto the beast form. He smashed its body into the ground beneath him, ending its life instantly.
Through huffs and puffs, he thought, One down…
Moving to avenge its fallen kin, the last remaining Chimeric Serpentine sank its fangs right into Armaros's back. Feeling the force of the blow, his ichor and clothing stretching free, Armaros rolled forward onto the ground. He turned to face the growling beast, releasing another volley of acid poison for Armaros.
He blocked it perfectly, getting a feel of his weapons' weight.
I got something for you, don't worry. I think I'm getting the hang of this!
Armaros activated Hermes's ability, dashing past the beast so fast that it was incapable of registering that he was gone. He arrived behind it, dicing a second head free from the beast. And to end his nightmare for the time, he stabbed Zeus's entire weight into the back of the animal, though cleaving upon it would be a far better move.
He had defeated the two beasts, and both of their carcasses were left dead in the hallway. Hermes's passive was working overtime, and even whilst doing so, Armaros was heaving like no tomorrow, his body covered in cuts. His clothing was no better—torn and ruined, leaving him practically shirtless with shredded jeans barely hanging on. A single chain Tyra had given him remained around his neck.
For anyone with decent sword skill, killing those beasts would be far too easy. Armaros's inexperience at just about everything made it seem more like an act of divine intervention than a simple reading of movement patterns—and even he knew this. Leaning against the wall, he took a few breaths, trying to relax his heart rate.
But after he composed himself, a toothy grin jumped onto his face.
I did that…I just did that!
Adrenaline was taking over, and dopamine rushed into his brain. The thought of defeating something was so monumental he couldn't help laughing maniacally despite the small feat he had accomplished. This gave him all the determination he needed to continue moving on.
But the second he stepped forward, feeling some level of resolve returning into his body, the world couldn't let him have his moment for a second too long.
At the prompting of the next words, dread ran through Armaros's spine.
[Boss room detected nearby: Objective: Defeat Glycon, the False Queen of Snakes.]