Zarek dragged himself back into his house, practically half dead. He threw a glance at Priya and nodded.
Walking to the window, he took a handful of flesh and smeared it across the windowsill. Then he repeated the process at every one, calmly and meticulously.
The piece of flesh in his hands was from the Strength Types. Mutants were like the apex predators of the Turned, and because of that, other Turned were incredibly cautious around them.
Though not a perfect defense, especially against particularly feral Turned, it would stall for long enough for Zarek to do what needed to be done.
'She did well,' Zarek thought to himself.
Priya's Godsfall Droplet capacity had probably increased to four now. When the next rainfall came, she would improve significantly for sure.
There was probably also a slight bump to her Growth Potential as well, though it would take weeks to months before it manifested enough to actually change what was on her stat page.
Zarek smiled and then shuffled over to a corner. He sank down, exhaling a heavy breath. The waves of pain were really hitting him now, but he didn't have the luxury of passing out.
If he did, and anything went wrong, Priya wasn't ready to handle it yet. Plus, he knew his body well. If he went out now, he probably wouldn't wake up for another several days.
But, if he did something that was nothing short of suicide for others, he would be back up to 70% at least by the morning.
He took another breath and took out one of the Godsfall Crystals. Not allowing himself to hesitate, he slammed it into his mouth.
The Godsfall Crystals at this stage were very small, ruby-like shards that almost reflected like splinters in space beneath the light. They were gorgeous beyond measure, but when it hit the bottom of Zarek's stomach, it was like a seething, molten ball of fire trying to burn a hole straight out of him.
Dull booms echoed in Zarek's stomach, but he had already begun to circulate [Tearing Gut] in full force.
His will was focused and his mind was almost entirely blank of thought and reason. There was a savageness bubbling up within him as his body was being quickly overwhelmed. It seemed that any moment now, he would lose the last shred of humanity he had.
But he never tipped over the point.
Using the Godsfall in his body and [Tearing Gut] to direct it, he wrapped the crystal up into a bundle of energy that rested at the base of his stomach. Then, he slowly began to grind away at it, piece by piece, step by step.
It had taken him almost an entire lifetime to learn that [Tearing Gut] could be used this way. The original intention of the skill was to be used in meat where the Godsfall was hard to process.
However, back then, he had been in a desperate situation and he needed something far more substantial… so he took the risk.
That was the day he raised [Tearing Gut] to S Class Mastery, something rarely if ever seen.
His Godsfall Droplet capacity was still far too low. But with all these injuries to direct its energy toward, and [Tearing Gut] to slow the mutations, he knew that he could get away with it.
It would be years before humans could start swallowing crystals like this, and even then, it would only be the most powerful of them.
Zarek, though… he planned to get his leg up right here and now.
So what if this lousy system didn't acknowledge his S Class Mastery? Would he lose his touch just because of a few words on an illusory screen?
What the system rated his progress at would never be the true reflection of his talent.
Slowly, Zarek's wounds began to close. And yet, in real time, it was shockingly fast.
Blood dried up and flaked off of him, his power steadily rising.
DADUM. DADUM.
A thumping came from his chest. The more comfortable he got, the faster he allowed the stream of Godsfall to come from the crystal, pulling it into his body as though he had become a bottomless well of strength.
And then…
Chi.
Zarek's eyes flashed open and he swallowed the second Strength Type crystal in a single bound. The first hadn't even fully finished yet, and yet he had taken on another.
With his Charisma stat right now, splitting his mind to focus on more than one thing at a time should have also been impossible. And yet…
DADUM. DADUM.
'There.'
Zarek exhaled. He had yet to finish, but he knew that he had succeeded.
The last of his wounds closed up and a new tightness came from his body.
His deep, mahogany skin shimmered as though baby oil had been poured over it.
He clenched his fist.
Crackle. Crackle.
—
Name: [Zarek Ashford]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: FFF] <A>
>[Dexterity: F+] <B>
>[Intelligence: F+] <C->
>[Endurance: FF] <B+>
>[Charisma: F+] <C>
Talents:
>[Temp Duplicate: F-] <B->
[Abilities: Mirror]
[Grasp the subtleties of the moment, reflect them through your mind and into the world]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: E+] <C+>
—
Zarek's amber eyes glowed bright and hot as he saw exactly what he wanted to see.
This was it. FF and FFF.
Not many knew that beyond F+, there was a higher, hidden tier to reach. But you needed very special requirements or an exceptional Growth Potential to hit it.
Normally, many thought that only the S Class was divided into these duplicated tiers. But in his second life, Zarek had stumbled onto this secret. But it wasn't until the end of his third that he found a method to do it without having S Class Growth Potential.
He wasn't foolish enough to chase these hidden tiers for every stat. But seeing Strength had succeeded, he was happy. The fact Endurance had followed along was a pleasant surprise and must have been the result of his mastery over his Circulation Methods.
Good.
Now he had even more confidence in securing his second Talent. The third… though it was likewise a useless and overlooked Talent… was bound to be difficult no matter what.
Zarek slowly closed his eyes and drifted off into a half sleep.
Tomorrow, he would repeat the process all over again. And then he would do the same the day following. And the day following that…
Until the day there were no obstacles remaining.