Chapter 100: Variant Skill

Hours passed as Sol practiced with his skills. If there was one thing he learned from changing [Earth Hammer] into [Terra Spikes], it was that it was much better to analyze every aspect of the skill and find direct ways to improve them rather than mindlessly repeating the skills over and over. While repeatedly practicing would eventually level up the skill, it was much slower, and learning how the skill actually worked improved Sol's ability to better control it.

It was like switching from blinking automatically to manually. The movements of the mana, the way his body moved, it was mostly subconsciously ingrained by [Siphon] and the system. It was when he took manual control that he could learn to create the earth spikes without a weapon to act as a medium.

Sol also found out that gaining [Terra Spikes] was mostly a fluke. He found some skills much harder to fundamentally change and others much easier. One of the skills he practiced, [Ground Shrink], was one of the harder ones to change. The most he could do was find ways to increase the power of his legs to move faster while also increasing the recovery time to use it again. 

The only skill he was able to slightly change was [Barricade]. While it drastically increased defense, Sol found it too inconvenient for the skill to also immobilize the user. He found out he could cancel the skill by changing the way he locked his body when using the skill. It would keep its strong pose to handle the brunt of attacks but if needed he could stop at any time.

There were also skills Sol couldn't practice with at all, or at least didn't know how to. [Wild Hunt] was the prime example. Since the white room was only so big and he knew everything that occurred in it, there was no good way to verify how it worked in action. The second effect was also impossible to use, as whenever Sol tried to communicate with nature, he felt like his mana was trying to contact something but whenever it did, nothing responded. Sol knew this didn't work because there was no nature in this white room, so he could only practice it in the real world, but he didn't want to do that as the month-long cooldown was too long to test it out.

Sol noticed it was getting late and decided to end today's practice. Although he decided to stop now, he knew he would probably keep practicing back in the inn at night. Leaving the white room, Sol saw a few messages pop up.

[Ground Shrink] leveled up! (1 -> 2)

[Snap Punch] leveled up! (4 -> 6)

[Basic Psychic Mastery] leveled up! (2 -> 3)

[Concealment] evolved into [Invisibility]!

[Barricade] transformed into [Barricade (Variant)]!

'Variant?'

The name reminded him of the variant kobold he fought. Variants were different or mutated versions of monsters, Sol reasoned it was the same with skills.

[Barricade (Variant)] Lv 9: Take a defensive stance that greatly enhances defense by 800%. Can be canceled early. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Sol wasn't surprised by the effects as he already knew what the changes were going to be, so after giving it a glance, he closed the skill description and made his way back to the inn. When Sol arrived, he noticed Amber was already there in the dining hall. She was being berated by one of the cooks, and Sol couldn't really make out what they were talking about. 

"Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to use sugar-"

Sol overheard a little bit of what the chef was saying before the man suddenly stopped. The cook now looked nervous, like he was on thin ice with the woman in front of him. 

"Hey Amber, is everything alright?"

Sol couldn't see it from the table blocking the view, but Amber silenced the cook with her unique dagger, pointed menacingly at his thigh. Amber herself couldn't explain it, but she didn't want Sol to know she was learning to cook, at least not yet.

The cook being poked with the dagger understood what she wanted and spoke up, "Nope! Everything. Is. Just. Peachy!"

"Uhhh, okay? I'm gonna head up for the night, tomorrow before dawn let's meet up and head to the dungeon."

Amber nodded, she hid the dagger back in her spatial ring, which relieved the cook and also left to go to her room. Sol followed behind as he went to his room leaving a cook who was terrified over what almost happened.

"Fuck… Why did I say yes to teaching her just because she was pretty?"

The cook lamented over his poor decision and hoped she would never approach him ever again. To be honest the cook believed everything was fine during the lessons, the only odd part was how she rarely spoke. It wasn't until just now that his life was in danger. Luckily for him, Amber would be in the dungeon for the next two weeks assuring his safety for a while. At least until they returned.

Sol back in his room didn't plan on sleeping but to instead continue practicing. Sol decided to focus on the ones he wouldn't be able to level up by using [Siphon] in the near future. Activating [Reinterpret] and appearing in the white room once more Sol summoned his clone and restarted his practice session.

…

Just before sunrise, Sol exited the white room. 

[Snap Punch] leveled up! (6 -> 8)

[Counter] leveled up! (1 -> 3)

[Blast Arrow] evolved into [Exploding Arrow]!

[Barrage] evolved into [Unending Volley]!

[Exploding Arrow] Lv 1: Launch a heavily mana charged arrow that deals massive damage in an area. Mana cost: 100.

[Unending Volley] Lv 1: Enter a focused state that allows one to rapidly fire an endless volley of arrows. Fires 5 arrows per second until users concentration breaks or reaches exhaustion.

A few skills had leveled up, and two of them had even evolved. Sol knew when the skills evolved in the white room, as he felt a much bigger change with the two skills compared to normal level ups. Feeling refreshed and ready to go, Sol got ready and headed downstairs. 

Sol ordered breakfast for himself and Amber, and just as the food was being served, she arrived. The two ate their meals and, ready to take the dungeon by storm, headed to Necropolis with the intention of reaching the peak of B-Rank by the time they left.