Not wanting for Rex to be personally involved in dealing with a mere mutated animal—Linthia decided, that she would be the one stalling it until the others arrived. But that decision was a horrendous mistake for her.
She didn't even see the attack coming, it whizzed past her perception like a ghost.
Only when she was struck did her body instinctively react.
Having no mercy as it was angered, the mutated animal's tail tore a gaping hole in her chest.
It was only thanks to Rex that she was about to survive the ordeal.
Upon parrying the finishing blow that aimed to crush Linthia's body—Rex lowered his stance as a smirk crept to his face. At the peak of the moment—a notification appeared—displaying the completion of the upgrade.
<Notice: System Upgrade has been completed!>
<Available Invincible item has been upgraded to Invincible II>
<Invincible II>
Description: Unlike its predecessor, which only propelled the user's power to the strongest of the user's current potential to block one strike—the Invincible II item bestowed the user a full minute of being impervious to harm, before reverting the user to normal, with the exact same side effect.<Emulation feature has been integrated into the Skill section>
<All skills from unlocked Full Moons would become accessible for the user to learn>
<Congratulations on prevailing against a rival of invincibility, Alden Eirza!>
<System Relaying Bet Quest rewards have been delivered!>
<Obtained 300 million gold, 100 Skill Upgrades, and 3x Legendary-rank Item Ticket>
<Obtained 20 Divine Upgrade and 1 quadrillion experience points!>
<Level up!>
<Level up!>
<Lev...>
<Congratulations, the user has reached level 90!>
<Race Evolution Quest has been triggered, please check them as soon as possible>
<Please select the appropriate skills of the fallen rival to learn:>
Following the series of notifications that flooded his vision, Rex observed the last notification before it split into four rectangle-shaped, panels. All of them were purple-colored—the exact same color as Chaos Energy.
Looking at the content of the panels, he realized that they were skills he could choose.
All of them were the skills or spells used by the Fifthborn.
But as he scanned the selections from left to right, Rex frowned as one skill was missing.
Out of all his skills, I wanted to take the Touch of Death skill—but it's not one of the options.
The Touch of Death skill was, frankly speaking, the most lethal out of the Fifthborn's abilities, as it would instantly kill anyone influenced by the skill with three strikes. Rex wanted that skill for himself, but it seemed that was impossible to have.
Even then, he decided to make do with the ones he could select.
Listed before him were: Chaos Nova, Latch of Chains, Crippling Wicked Grasp, and lastly, the Breath of the Fallen. He quickly scratched the Crippling Wicked Grasp skill, as he had already in possession of a similar skill, the Alpha Bearing.
Might not be as potent as the Crippling Wicked Grasp skill, but their effects are the same.
Following that, he could also eliminate the Chaos Nova skill.
Although the skill was the strongest among the Fifthborn's arsenal—Rex already had enough offensive skills. Now, with his elemental mastery ascending to new heights—awaiting for him to utilize, he anticipated a surplus of offensive spells.
He didn't need more, what he needs right now is mobility skills or support skills.
Relying on his physique is good and all, but Rex couldn't shake the feeling that his battle with the Fifthborn could've been easier if he had more support or mobility skills. Not to mention, if he had either of those, he would be putting himself in a less dangerous position.
Not that I dislike the thrill of head-on confrontation though.
So that leaves him with the last two options, Latch of Chains and Breath of the Fallen.
...
<Latch of Chains>
Rank: Legendary (Tenth-rank)
Mastery: Mid
Description: A formidable presence-based skill that encases the surrounding space—locking the space, preventing the use of teleportation-related skills, formations—or items. Activation is solely the discretion of the caster, who can grant permission for their use.
<Breath of the Fallen>
Rank: Origin (Eleventh-rank)
Mastery: Low
Description: Harnessing the power of Chaos, the Breath of the Fallen skill is a potent force of retribution. Upon the demise of the wielder, this skill activates, channeling the linked 'breath' to take possession of the wielder's corporeal form to exact vengeance.
...
Grabbing Linthia, Rex went back to a safe distance to choose the selections before him.
Upon reading the description of the Breath of the Fallen skill, he realized, it was the very skill that got activated—at the death of the Fifthborn. It allowed the Fourthborn to take control of his fallen body and almost dealt a lethal ambush at Rex who was caught off guard.
"Hmm... It's tempting, this Breath of the Fallen skill" Rex mused inwardly, rubbing his chin.
But then, a wicked smile crept to his lips, "But this skill is only a sore loser's skill,"
"I never planned on dying, before reaching my goals either, so there's no need for this kind of skill. I'll pick the Latch of Chains skill; it might prove useful later on. More importantly, I will be able to handle that black cat's phasing ability with this skill," Rex affirmed.
He nodded and decisively selected the first option, the Latch of Chains skill.
<Selected skill: Latch of Chains!>
<Uploading the skill's content into the user's memory...>
Rex was instantly assaulted by a massive amount of information in his brain as he did this.
Instantly, he knew how the Latch of Chains operated and how to use it.
Maybe now that he had gotten way stronger, the process was not as painful as it once was—not that it matters of course considering his pain tolerance. Nevertheless, he now had one of the Fifthborn's skills in his arsenal.
<Congratulations, the user has learned the Latch of Chains skill!>
<Please select an Origin-rank skill to learn:>
Continuing the System Relaying Bet Quest rewards, Rex was greeted by another selection.
Skills from the System have always been extremely, strong—so the chance to select a skill, an Origin-rank skill—nevertheless was a rare gift. He recognized the importance of this gift and wasted no time in meticulously reviewing each skill description.
Unlike the four selections he was presented before, he is now only given three selections.
All three skills were; Primordial Glide, Perfect Hunter Apparation, and Eclipse Black Paladin.
...
<Primordial Step>
Rank: Origin (Eleventh-rank)
Mastery: Low
Description: Drawing upon the lunar energies—this skill enables the user to channel all drawn lunar energies into the user's lower limbs. Each step the user takes afterward would enhance the user's agility, and speed by 50%, maxed at five steps. Once initiated, the user couldn't be stopped, and it would last for five minutes. However—this burst of speed exacts a heavy toll, on the caster's stamina.
<Perfect Hunter Apparation>
Rank: Origin (Eleventh-rank)
Mastery: Low
Description: Instantly reaching attunement with the spiritual essence of the Werewolf being, the user can transcend the limitations of physical form—and manifest, as an apparition. This skill allows the user to stalk prey unseen, phase through obstacles—and mark the prey, with an unbreakable prey mark that allows the user to know exactly where they are at all times.
<Eclipse Black Paladin>
Rank: Origin (Eleventh-rank)
Mastery: Low
Description: Undeterred by the state of the moon, the user would be able to utilize the power of the eclipse, and undergo a transformative apotheosis—ascending to a higher state of feral lycanthropic existence, the Eclipse Black Paladin form.
During the duration of this form, all of the user's stats, elemental manipulation, regenerative healing—and Werewolf-related abilities would be exponentially amplified.
...
Faced with another choice, Rex paused and read over them multiple times.
Unlike the selections before, this one is much harder.
Each skill provided its own benefit that Rex could see using in the future, and the potential of these skills could bring, make him contemplate meticulously. He could only choose one—and he would be damned to choose the wrong one.
It was not something often for the System to be generous in giving skills.
Only through beating a rival of Invincibility did the System be generous enough to do this.
The Primordial Step skill bestowed upon him the mobility skill that he really needed, also, the skill is unobstructed by anything when it's activated. Moreover—the speed increase of up to, 250% at the fifth step is god-like.
Rex could speed-blitzed anyone with that kind of boost.
It would also complement his Brutal Impulse skill that could be avoided if not fast enough.
On the other hand, the Perfect Hunter Apparation skill didn't lose out.
Surely, in the future, he would meet with more powerful enemies such as the Fourthborn that could potentially escape when Rex was about to deal with the finishing blow. Marking them—with the unbreakable prey mark would be useful then.
Also, that was only one application of the skill, and there's a lot more he could do with it.
Another instance was spying on the Supernatural Elders, the possibilities are endless.
Lastly, the Eclipse Black Paladin skill.
Even though Rex wasn't actively seeking additional enhancement skills, the allure of this skill in particular, proved irresistible. Its comprehensive amplification of every aspect of his power was simply too enticing to overlook.
Such a potent effect was undoubtedly worthy of an Origin-rank skill.
Roar!!
Rex snapped out of his daze when he heard a powerful roar coming from the mutated animal.
He gritted his teeth and looked at the choices again, knowing that time was not on his side.
"Which one to choose? Which one to choose?" He muttered repeatedly—trying to come to a decision. But then, his eyes widened, as he realized something, "System—can I obtain these skills from sources, other than this selection?"
<Yes, the user could learn all of these skills from the skill tree tab>
<All options are shown under the Origin-rank normal skill tree>
Gaining this answer, Rex's eyes flickered in hope.
Seems like he wouldn't need to worry about his choice if that was the case.
But then he remembered something, "Aren't there requirements to learn these skills?"
Unlike the weaker skills that only required Skill Upgrade to learn—the strongest skills on the skill tree tab have additional requirements that need to be met. It was why Rex couldn't gain strong skills despite his Skill Upgrade.
He remembered that there were bloodline requirements or other difficult requirements.
Mostly, he opted to upgrade his existing skills with his Skill Upgrade.
It was more practical and easy to do than fulfilling the requirements.
<Yes, requirements are present and varied in difficulty for any skills above the third rank>
Expecting the answer, Rex nodded his head firmly.
"Analyze these three skills and tell me which of their requirements are hardest to complete"
<Affirmative. Analyzing...>
<Analyzing complete! Primordial Step is the hardest to complete>
<To gain the Primordial Step, the user needs to be level 100—achieve the Primordial Alpha Werewolf bloodline, which deviates from the user's current bloodline path, the Royal Black Prince, and obtain the Primordial Essence Shift>
Upon reading this, Rex then instantly picked the Primordial Step.
Out of the three options, he wanted to pick this one the most due to the situation.
Dodging the mutated animal's attack is possible, but Rex would need to be way faster, to get closer to it. Now—with the System's confirmation, he wasted no time and chose the first skill to learn.
Similarly to before, his mind was injected with information that made him smile.
<Congratulations, the user has learned the Primordial Step skill!>
Having the two new skills in his arsenal, his confidence shot through the roof.
"Linthia, you wait here," Rex mused as he stood up, pivoting towards the mutated animal that was glaring at him menacingly—warning him to not get close. But this, only prompted a smirk on Rex's face, "I appreciate you trying to help, but you're useless in this fight. Know your own limit first before attacking,"
After saying that, Rex proceeds to face the mutated animal, poised to clash once again.
But before that, he had one more thing to check.
Opening the skill tab, hovering over the skill tree—he wanted to check the Emulation feature.
It was only then that his eyes caught something interesting, "Oh, what do we have here...?"
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