008 Survival

[Worldly Manipulation : Reign Of The Absolute]

Your hunger for power overturns reason. Every 30 seconds for 2 minutes your stats receive 0%-30% boost. Stacks. Consumes 100 Mana initially. Doubles consumption every time a new boost is applied within the 2 minutes.

Until now Illio had failed to keep track of his mana bar. He didn't possess any skills currently that required the use of Mana so the thought of managing one's mana while in battle flew over his head.

When he read the description and saw that the resource was needed to activate the skill, he was momentarily taken aback only to realize his ignorance.

He couldn't let simple errors get to him! One small mistake and death with its heavy penalties would happily claim him.

Those punishments had to be avoided at all costs.

Illio had to play smart and unfortunately he had gotten caught up in the thrill of SOS.

After regaining his composure Illio started breaking down and analyzing his new skill information.

The class ability used daily instances for the moment as oppose to mana and his ancient swordsmanship was a passive that taught and guided him basic techniques.

While the newly acquired skill was a great one, it definitely rides more on chance and luck than anything else. Because of the random % amount received it could be good or it could be great. To mitigate the luck aspect of the skill, he could receive the buff multiple times within that short period of time.

He took a quick second to check his health and mana bars stacked above each other on the top left corner of his sight.

Each point invested in stamina allowed for an increase of 20 Health Points while each point in Intelligence allows for 10 mp or mana points.

His current stats reflected 25 Stamina and 50 intelligence thus his window read :

[HP : 237/500 ]

[MP : 500/500]

With this information he surmised that currently he would only be able to get 2 out of the 4 buff stacks before he had insufficient mana to get the third buff. The skill had lots of potential but he was currently too weak to take full advantage of it.

On top of that until Illio obtained different skills, he would have to rely on the Ancient Swordsmanship which he was still getting used to and not even proficient in.

Currently the skill was a double edged sword. It would help his situation but he needed to be careful using it.

With the descriptions of both newly acquired skills it would seem that every aspect of this legendary class he obtained was riddled with chance and probability.

He was walking a gamble but that was the path that he got was it not?

Master Of Fate…If proficiency could be gained would it still be a bet?

In a world where knowledge was literal power, the more techniques and skills one amassed, the more powerful one would become. If it was just with this skill alone, he could gain a few minutes of strength but would most likely be overwhelmed shortly after.

He needed to level up fast in order to increase his stats and obtain new abilities and skills.

Luckily for him, there were still hundreds and hundreds of prowling wolves that were summoned. To make things even better he could continuously summon more and more mobs creating and endless river of Experience gain for him to drink from.

This would become the initial fuel that would propel him forward.

With a smile on his face he freely activated the new skill and got a notice.

[Worldly Manipulation : Reign Of The Absolute]

[MP : 400/500]

[12% buff to all stats received]

"Yes!"

Illio rejoiced as managed to get a decent variable for the stat boost.

His smile only grew more as Illio truly began understanding how broken his class was and the limitless undiscovered potential that laid in wait for him to find.

Sure there may be some constraints put on him by the system, but if he could discover them and work around them, he would rush to the top.

Instantly upon the activation of the skill, a faint red glow surrounded Illio as he received a buff. It was an overflow of power that filled him briefly, causing his silver gray hair to flutter about as this temporary aura overtook him.

It almost looked cool. A lone warrior against hundreds of enemies….except the monsters before him were wolves. A beginner level mob.

There wasn't anything special about them.

Moving quicker than before, he dodged the incoming targeted strikes from the vicious wolves.

It almost seemed like In the short time Illio spent pondering thoughts in his mind they grouped together and coordinated an omnidirectional attack.

If that really was the case it wouldn't surprise him. The super computers controlled monsters and NPC AI to a frighteningly high degree. They were more intelligent than one could understand. Hence his concern when he faced a multi staged attack from these creatures.

Illio didn't let that shake him and instead fought back harder than before.

After blocking several claws aimed at his chest with his battered sword, he pushed them back using newly acquired strength and jumped as high as he could In the air.

Taking advantage of the buffed stats, Illio mustered the full potential strength he could bring out. He swung his battered sword and the sheer force of wind created from this motion caused despair destruction to fall onto the wolves.

~Ahhhhhhhhh~

He kept swinging and swinging as he slowly fell back to the ground following his jump.

Each attach created an insane pressure that either killed the foes in its path or pushed the surrounding mobs aside.

Yelps of pain and a crackling of tree branches rang out in the forest. Gray smoke indicating the death of a monster filled the surroundings.

Time passed on as the genocide happened and before long in the long string of notifications, a favorable one popped up.

[Worldly Manipulation : Reign Of The Absolute]

[7% buff added to all stats]

[MP : 200/500]

With his attack and stamina getting another boost, he pressed forward killing everything in his path. Obtaining both experience and proficiency.

A strange joy began coursing through Illio. It wasn't one that stemmed from violence but one that came from knowing that he was affecting his future by gaining strength.

Notification after notification kept piling up.

[You have killed an enemy]

…

[Wolf pelt acquired]

…

[84/10]

[146/10]

[328/10]

…

[+12 experience]

…

[Congratulations, You Have Leveled Up]

…

The notices kept flooding and flooding eventually coming to a stop with unwanted notices.

[Insufficient mana]

[Skill Cancelled]

[Durability of [Beginners Sword] has reached 0]

[Item Destroyed]

Instantly with the sharp drop in stats, he felt weakened and fatigued more than ever before. While earlier the situation had been favorable, now things were different.

His stamina was completely drained out and he was weaponless. The Level ups he received restored his wounds but it would take time to restore stamina.

Currently it was not impossible but difficult to move and fight.

With the scattered remnants of wolves numbering at about 200 left of the thousand that were accidentally summoned, Illio began thinking about what kind of penalty would he get after he died to the wolves.

After so many of their kind had been slaughtered the wolves finally noticed that the antagonist before them was done for and Exhausted. They didn't miss this opportunity and instead of pacing slowly waiting for the opportunity to strike, they pounced immediately eager to get revenge.

The razor sharp claws were nearing Illio who had been standing ragged catching his breath. He was looking around for anything he could use as a weapon in the seconds before the coming attack. Not even finding a rock or hefty stick nearby, Illio raised his fists. They were what he learned to fight with in reality so he was going to trust that he could still dish out damage with them here when out of no where-

"Hey! Use this!"

A deep voice rang out in echos while steel long sword was flying in the air towards him. The throw wasn't hard enough and as a result the weapon landed just near Illio's feet.

Two figures caught Illio's attention and he began questioning himself.

Who were these kind strangers? Why were they helping? And why do they suck at throwing?

It didn't matter.

Whoever they were had just saved Illio's life and he wouldn't leave their generosity unpaid. He knew how to appreciate help because it was hardly given to him. As such he felt indebted so he worked that much harder to pay off the debt. This would be no different.

In an attempt to move towards the sword, the ferocious claws struck him in the back while other wolves bit down on his shoulder.

Illio choked down a pained scream and began punching the growing number of wolves on his body as he moved towards the sword on the ground.

His health was draining fast but only after 5 agonizing seconds, the weapon was in his hands and a counterattack ensued on the last of these creatures.

Two figures approached him in the midst of the final clean up and introduced themselves.

"Hey! I'm Kye, that's Ancef. Do you-"

Struggling to catch his breath Illio cut off and scolded the pair.

"Talk later idiots, I'm dying here!"

Very quickly realizing that their timing was inopportune, the both of them joined in on the fight against the remaining monsters.

20 minutes later the battle was over and 3 figures laid on the ground. Exhausted and elated to be alive.

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