[ You have gained another new skill! ]
[ New skill : Shadow Mantle ]
Alex jumped because pure excitement punched through him the moment the second notification locked into place.
It had finally paid off in full.
Both fundamental applications of the Shadow Element now sat inside his system as real, permanent skills.
[ Shadow Vision. ]
[ Shadow Mantle. ]
'Both of them in one morning after days of the system pretending neither of them existed.'
He actually bounced once on the balls of his feet inside the still-active mantle.
The elevated attributes making the motion lighter and sharper than it should have been.
The dense black coverage around his body shifted with the movement.
Then settled again.
The cold, the emptiness, and the silence of the completed union remained steady around him.
Zara felt his joy through the bond the instant it peaked, his emotion arrived clean, unfiltered and bright enough that she could not have missed it even if she had tried.
A genuine smile spread across her face.
She was happy for him.
At the same time a small, a private perplexity sat underneath her happiness.
He had acquired both fundamentals so cleanly in only a few days of focused work and he had done it without spending a single skill point.
People needed skill books, or allocated points to lock applications of this quality into their systems.
He had simply grounded the pathways into existence until the system had no choice but to acknowledge them as permanent skills.
She privately noted that the brat did not even have a normal Skill Points section on his interface.
Instead he had that strange "Special Points" pool, currently empty.
Which already smelled broken in ways she did not fully understand.
Ordinary systems handed out skill points on level-up and expected the user to spend them on formal techniques.
His system appeared to operate on an entirely different logic.
One that rewarded pure mastery and Adaptation's data collection over conventional allocation.
She decided she would understand it better once he finally leveled up and the pool started receiving whatever it was designed to receive.
"You did it," she said.
"Both fundamentals locked in the same session,"
"Shadow users take weeks or months to stabilize a single clean application, and they usually need skill points most of the time to finish the job,"
"You just forced the system to accept them through pure repetition and Adaptation,"
"Now you should spend the rest of the day properly training with both skills and fully adjust to the boosted strength of the mantle and the clear sight of the vision."
"Get the timing clean and the efficiency higher and later, if possible, learn how they feel when they run together instead of one at a time."
"Once you are comfortable with them working in combination, you can finally go do the thing you have been planning for so long."
Alex turned toward her.
The dense black of the mantle still covering him from head to toe.
"I will," he said.
"I am going to cycle both of them together until the control feels automatic and the mana cost stops arguing with me every time I activate them, so tomorrow I can walk into that training hall with both skills ready and stable."
He released the mantle.
The dense black coverage sank inward one final time.
Then dispersed as he retracted the element all the way back to the Mana Heart.
The attribute boost faded in the familiar steady retreat leaving the brief alien emptiness he was already learning to ignore.
Alex began the cycle again without further discussion.
Shadow Vision first.
"[ Shadow Vision. ]"
It took almost half the previously recorded time to activate, it felt almost automatic, like a cheat.
'I can still do it the manual way, or adjust it mid activation, but during a fight, using this skill directly will be the best option for me.'
The darkness of the deep forest resolved into perfect clarity.
The skill activation felt smoother than any previous attempt.
The system recognition having removed the last traces of experimental resistance.
He held the vision for several breaths letting Adaptation record the stable cost and the exact quality of the enhanced sight.
Then left it active while he moved to the second skill.
Shadow Mantle second.
" [ Shadow Mantle. ] "
The same thing happened with Shadow Mantle, it was quick to activate, almost automatic in away.
When the coverage completed he forced the inward fusion without hesitation.
The surge hit hard and clean.
'There it is...'
Strength, agility, and vitality rose together in the familiar dense tide.
The elevated senses layered on top of the already-active Shadow Vision.
Turning the dim clearing into a space of absolute clarity and denser physical power.
Alex stood inside the dual activation and began refining control, timing, and efficiency.
'Let's test a few things.'
He released the mantle.
He reformed it.
He released it again.
He deactivated the vision.
He reactivated it mid-mantle.
He tested the order of operations in both directions and forced Adaptation to record every variation.
The mana drain was still significant when both skills ran together but the formal recognition made the cost more predictable.
He could plan around it.
He could push the dual cycle until the combined activation felt as natural as breathing.
His clear goal sat at the front of his mind the entire time.
Finish this final day of practice.
Then tomorrow walk into the recruits' training hall and settle the matter that had been waiting for a long while.
Alex densified the next mantle climb and kept Shadow Vision active, and continued the cycle without pause.
The forest clearing held the sound of his breathing.
The quiet shift of leaves underfoot and the steady presence of Zara watching from a few steps away.
The second fundamental skill sat locked in his interface beside the first.
The plan that had lived in the back of his mind since the early days of training now had a concrete tomorrow attached to it.
🌿 ─ ❦ ─ 🌿
End of Chapter 129: Both Fundamentals
🌿 ── ❦ ── 🌿