Upping The Ante

87. Upgraded and Ready to Roll

The rest of the pet skills don’t interest me right now. I don’t need to take the skill to increase the number of available pets until the system refuses my attempt. I may as well try and find a third now that I have the faster pet growing skill. Presumably I won’t be able to Level it up unless I gain a new pet.

At that time, perhaps the system will refuse to allow me to reconstitute a monster and I can easily pick up the skill then. For now, let’s look about and see what other skills there are.

Scrolling through the menus takes a significant amount of time. They don’t seem to be organised in a properly logical way. Movement skills are mixed with mental skills, and magical skills are sometimes tucked away amongst physical ones. It’s almost as if you need to know what you’re looking for and where to find it ahead of time, otherwise your only choice is to trawl through the lists checking every entry until you find something you like.

Which is exactly what I’m doing. And it sucks!

This one? No…

How about—No…

Hmmmm… No.

Who would want to get better at that anyway?

Madness!

There has to be some juicy new skills here somewhere. I need to look a little more carefully. I remember when the skill list had only five options on it. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but that’s ballooned out to over one hundred at this point. I’m not sure exactly what causes the skills to become unlocked. There must be some sort of prerequisite that needs to be met. Perhaps with stats… or even actions in the world?

For example, the pet skills. I don’t exactly frequently check the skill list, but they didn’t appear until after I reconstituted my first pet. I didn’t go looking for them until after I’d met Formo the Sophos, but it stands to reason they were unlocked somehow.

Which means other skills must also have prerequisites before they become available. I suppose humans and civilisations like the Sophos would have had hundreds of years to learn all this stuff and map it out. Uncovering the most optimal paths, planning the best combinations of skills.

Well, the ant kingdom will also have to compile this knowledge! Starting with the first twenty of the new generation, I’ll begin the process of learning the secrets behind the entire skill tree. Not a single leaf shall remain unturned!

With renewed determination, I start reading through the skill descriptions one by one and I manage to uncover a few gems.

[Mana Miser: Allows the user to be able to do slightly more with slightly less when utilising Mana. Effect will increase along with skill Level.]

[Cerebral Endurance: The user will be better able to marshal their mental resources, reducing the mental exertion for complex Will-based tasks slightly.]

[Meditation: User will be able to relax the mind and achieve clarity of thought. Each Level will make the state more effective and easier to achieve.]

Each of these three makes a lot of sense to me from a magic user perspective. More efficiency with Mana, better mental endurance and a clearer, more focused mind? Perfect for my spell slinging ways!

Purchased!

Man, the number of skills I have is really climbing. Now that my skills are starting to reach the third tier, it’s becoming harder to train them, meaning I have to upgrade them less, causing my current Skill Points to build up.

I shouldn’t go too crazy picking up new skills… perhaps only one or two more.

I’ve already picked up some skills on the mental side. Is there anything on the physical side worth a consideration? I start to hone in on skill names that seem to focus on physical prowess, but most don’t seem that useful.

There has to be something that could be interesting… I need to remember not to judge a skill on exactly what it says at the first stage. After reaching Level five and then Level ten, the skills become much more useful. Look at Dash, for example. I ignored it initially since charging forward when I was just born would be little more than charging into my own death. After witnessing the awesome movement skills of the humans, it became clear that once upgraded, Dash was almost essential for physical combat.

Ooooo, how about this?

[Precise Shooting: The user will become better able to target objects with ranged attacks.]

This should work for my Acid Shot as well as my magic. Purchased!

All right then, there has to be something else… something less passive.

One more skill…

Something catches my eye. Even then… it sounds a bit nasty…

[Ripping Bite: Increases the user’s ability to make Bite attacks aimed at tearing away parts of the target’s body.]

That… is badass.

Purchased!

With the warm trickling sensation of new skill knowledge flooding my brain, I feel pleased with my new purchases. New skills to Level! New horizons to explore! Who knows what exactly these skills will turn into in the future.

One thing I do know, I need to start training them up quickly. My current options aren’t nearly enough to handle the sort of conflicts we’re going to start getting into, so I need to lift my game.

Content with my spending for the moment, I turn to check in on my pets. Crinis is still bobbling away in the corner and Tiny remains seated, eyes glazed as he contemplates the upgrade menu.

Good luck, guys, I wish you well!

Since I don’t have much to do, I may as well start grinding my skills.

Who knows? Perhaps I’ll be able to unlock something interesting if I can get some of my skills to evolve.

I settle in to wait for my pets to complete their spending and try to activate my Meditation skill. It takes a little while but I gradually feel a calm sensation begin to pervade my mind, my thoughts growing still and placid, my emotions fading into the background.

With the proper mood established, I call on my Mana and begin to practice. There’s a lot of work to do.