Kael’s eyes slowly moved down the skill description until they settled on the third ability.
Shadow Between Steps.
He only needed a quick glance to grasp its general purpose, but the more he read, the brighter his eyes became.
It was an incredibly practical movement skill.
Every time he moved, he could briefly slip into the void itself for a fraction of a second, allowing him to ignore a physical obstacle or evade an incoming attack before instantly reappearing up to fifteen meters away. To anyone watching, it would appear as though he had vanished from one location and materialized in another without crossing the space between.
In other words...
It was a short-range teleportation.
Not only that, every activation left behind an afterimage capable of drawing an opponent’s attention. It wasn’t difficult for Kael to imagine the countless ways such an effect could be exploited during combat. Against an inexperienced opponent, the afterimage alone could create a fatal opening. Against an experienced one, even a moment of hesitation could decide the outcome of a battle.
Whether it was repositioning, dodging a fatal strike, escaping an encirclement, or launching an unexpected attack from a blind spot, Shadow Between Steps excelled at all of them.
The only real limitation was the number of uses.
Six activations per day.
It wasn’t a particularly generous amount, but considering the skill’s nature, Kael found it perfectly acceptable. Besides, the description clearly stated that the number of uses would increase alongside his growth. As his strength rose, so too would the skill’s potential.
Satisfied, his attention shifted toward the fourth ability.
Void Severance.
The moment he finished reading it, his expression changed.
"This..."
A faint smile spread across his face.
"...is ridiculous."
Unlike many offensive skills, Void Severance wasn’t restricted to a specific weapon, fighting style, or method of attack. It didn’t require him to wield a sword, swing a spear, or cast a spell.
Anything capable of dealing damage qualified as an attack.
A punch.
A kick.
The slash of a blade.
An arrow.
Even a simple flick of a finger.
As long as Kael regarded it as an attack, he could coat it in Void Severance.
That alone made the skill unbelievably versatile.
Its true strength, however, wasn’t the coating itself.
It was the effect that followed.
Void Severance tore through space, collapsing the distance between Kael and his target before the attack even landed. Instead of travelling normally, the strike would skip part of the space separating them, allowing it to reach its destination far sooner than it should have.
At his current level, the distance he could collapse would probably only be a few metres.
Perhaps slightly more.
Perhaps slightly less.
Either way, it was already an extraordinary ability.
As for the future...
Kael couldn’t help but let his imagination wander.
If there truly wasn’t a limit to the distance the skill could compress, then one day, after becoming strong enough, he might be able to launch an attack from hundreds of metres away.
Thousands.
Perhaps even farther.
By then, distance itself would become meaningless before his attacks.
The thought alone was enough to make him inhale softly.
A terrifying ability.
And one with almost limitless potential.
Finally, his gaze settled on the last ability.
Null Bloom.
Silence filled the room as Kael carefully read every line.
By the time he reached the end, his eyes had become unusually solemn.
There was no denying it.
This ability was terrifying.
Plant a seed of pure void within an object or location, allow it to mature, then collapse everything within its radius into absolute nothingness.
The description sounded simple.
Its implications were anything but.
The amount of destruction depended entirely on the energy supplied by the user.
In other words...
There was no fixed limit.
If he supplied only a small amount of mana, the resulting explosion might be comparable to a firecracker.
Increase the energy, and it could rival a grenade.
Increase it further, and it could level an entire building.
If he continued growing stronger for years to come...
Who was to say the explosion couldn’t one day rival a nuclear weapon?
Or something even greater?
That limitless potential was precisely what made the skill so frightening.
Unfortunately, it came with a problem.
Unlike Concept Erasure, which specifically stated that Kael himself was immune to its effects, Null Bloom made no such promise.
If he happened to be standing within the blast radius when the void seed detonated, the explosion wouldn’t distinguish friend from foe.
He would suffer the exact same fate as everyone else.
Fortunately, the situation wasn’t completely hopeless.
Since he was the one supplying the energy, he naturally controlled the size of the explosion and the length of the countdown before detonation. As long as he judged those two factors correctly, he could create enough distance before the bloom activated.
Even so, Kael wasn’t optimistic enough to believe that would always be enough.
Battles were unpredictable.
An enemy could trap him.
He could be injured.
The terrain itself might prevent him from escaping in time.
There were simply too many variables.
Then there was another restriction.
The void seed couldn’t simply be thrown from a distance.
It had to be planted through direct physical contact.
That meant he first had to get close enough to touch either his opponent or the surrounding environment before the countdown even began.
Once the seed was planted, there was no taking it back.
The timer would immediately begin counting down until the bloom finally erupted.
The more Kael thought about it, the more he realized that Null Bloom wasn’t an ability he could casually throw around. It possessed overwhelming destructive power, but that same power could just as easily become a threat to himself if used carelessly.
After several moments of consideration, he silently reached a decision.
Not just Null Bloom.
Every new ability he had obtained through Sovereign’s Decree would need to be thoroughly tested before he incorporated them into real combat.
He needed to understand how much mana each skill consumed, how quickly they activated, whether there were hidden limitations not mentioned in the descriptions, and how they interacted with one another. Reading a description and actually using a skill were two completely different things, and experience had already taught him that the System didn’t always explain everything.
Only after personally experimenting with them would he truly know what they were capable of.
# #
Hello everyone,
It’s just one day left in the month and I want to thank you all for the support you’ve given so far. Let’s keep pushing the book to greater heights.
For next month’s mass release event... we haven’t hit the goal yet, so let’s try this.
Instead of 5, if we get 2 Super Gifts (Magic Castle, Spacecraft, or Gachapon) before the end of the month, I’ll do 3 daily Chapters for the entire next month.
Let’s go!