Chương 85: Chapter 90: Monochrome

Time waits for no man. Unfortunately, the first thing I thought was to absorb all of the life force stored in my armour, but after a moment I decided not to; it was full to the brim and will help me, but that was a resource that I would prefer to keep for emergencies. And here, I didn't lack targets, so I approached a big cluster of eggs and sat down. Even walking this little bit was tiring me out. I started casting a hex on the unborn spider; I was feeling my skill differently…

it was like I could feel how my mana flowed into it. It was strange, but it gave me a particular understanding of the way I could push and stretch it. So I tried to not stretch it but use the smallest amount of mana possible to hex the egg. As I did so, I noticed my mana level barely dipped, but at the same time the effect of the weakening hex was pathetically low as well. This served my purpose, though; I just wanted to create a link to syphon the life force into me, and this was working wonderfully.

The little stream of golden particles entered my body as the usual sensation of euphoria made itself known for just about a moment, then disappeared with the stream, absorbed by something in me. The stream was so little that I couldn't even begin to guess where it went; the effect was minimal too, so I would have to absorb much more. Maybe as I did that, I will understand where this energy was going. I went on with my task, taking the unborn life of one cluster of eggs at a time.

How many lives did I extinguish until now? They were spiders, but killing those who were attacking you was different than this. I wasn't going to become a pacifist ever, but I was wondering how much this system valued life, if at all, and how many more monsters they would place in our way, and not only the monsters; I already had killed two humans, parasitised as they were from the dodder. Maybe they weren't even there anymore, but the strangest thing was that I really didn't feel anything about them.

Was I too callous? That instead of mourning for the loss of two lives, I only thought that I would not meet the same end? That I saw them as obstacles to remove from my path? Maybe, but here hesitation would kill you more than the monsters, and power was everything – well, not everything, but a good ninety-something per cent for sure. Nearly an hour passes this way. Rhea improved her ritual more and more, while I regained my strength little by little.

Despite the trickle of life force in the eggs, I absorbed a tonne during this time, and it was still seeping into me, healing something that I couldn't perceive. But now the sounds from the collapsed tunnel were clearer, so it was time to finish what we started, and it was time for me to try out my new skill.

"Rhea, I'm mostly fine now; let's do it." She looked at me worriedly.

"You still look terrible if I have to be honest. Are you sure you are fine? We can wait a bit more; maybe if you absorb more, you'll feel better."

"No, we don't have that much more time, and now, having lost my barrier, I don't know if I can hold off all the spiders again; I would have to train my new skill, and you need to reach for the ceiling, no? I should be able to help; let me try." I was feeling the skill inside me; it was somehow so close yet so far, but this skill was different than the others. I could feel it so clearly; I knew this skill. It was made by me, by my aura, which theoretically was coming from my soul, so I connected to it in a moment.

A trickle of mana went into the skill, but nothing happened just now. No, I had to mobilise my aura too, of course. So I did just that; I pushed the mana from the skill into my aura, and as I did, I saw the world around me going monochrome, similar to when I was wearing the cursed cape, but without the distortion. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Rhea took a step back, looking at me with a scared face.

Everything was crystal clear; I could see her even better than with just my eyes. There was something more I could gain by observing the world with the skill active. I didn't even start to do anything; I observed the aura I was unconsciously emitting became semi-corporeal. I could feel it better than ever; I could shape it easily too. I just needed to want it. I raised a hand, my aura flowing around it. I compressed it and made it come back inside of me, not allowing it to escape the limits of my body.

It responded, and the world regained its colours.

"Wha—" Rhea gulped.

"What the hell was that?"

"My new skill", I absentmindedly answered as I was busy exploring the skill; it wasn't that taxing, and it used little mana too, but I had to test it better.

"You became, how can I say it… like a movie in black and white, and I could see your aura; it's… scary, it feels like it wants to hurt, it feels evil." She finished while shivering.

"It's probably because my aura is cursed too; I have a trait for that, but it's totally mine and under my control. It won't hurt you, I promise." I told her while manifesting the aura again, this time in the shape of a straight sword, simple and unadorned. Then I swept my arm, and the sword cut messily through an egg. Despite the softness of it, the sword wasn't sharp enough. I will have to work a lot on this skill apparently, but I could create shapes quite easily at least.

The aura retracted inside of me; I didn't lose any part of it as I kept it under my control. I had the feeling that using it as a projectile would be way too inefficient compared to just keeping it tethered to me, but that will be easy to prove later. I wasn't still recovered well, so I will avoid the more strenuous activities and go on with the plan. I kept my aura contained and just manifested it from my feet; a large disc of greyish compressed aura formed around me. I then willed it to lift me up.

The disc rose without trouble, but I felt a strain this time. I was consuming both mana and part of my aura to create the lift, but it was so much easier than controlling the barrier, and the cost of energy was decidedly minor compared to before. I came back down and walked a couple of steps to reach the border of the disc, and then I reached out a hand towards Rhea.

"Come, this will do nicely, and don't worry; I can keep it up for as much as you need." She tentatively took my hand, then stepped up and planted her feet on the aura disc. She shivered for a moment before stabilising and looking at me.

'This is reeeally uncomfortable, let me tell you.' The feeling your aura gives is like there is a monster just under my feet ready to eat me. But, thank you… I just need to distract myself. Can you bring me up now? There, I will start directly over the first node." As I brought her up to where she pointed, I had to duck to allow her much shorter frame to comfortably reach for the ceiling.

She started tracing her glyphs and lines; despite the roughness of the stone and uneven ceiling, she seemed to know how to adjust the ritual shape to her needs. I was getting annoyed by the position I was in; probably I could have directed the disc from the ground, but this was way easier. In any case, I had a solution, probably. I emitted more aura from my feet; the substance was strange, not liquid or solid. It didn't even look like pure energy but a mix of those.

It flowed and took the shape based on my thoughts, responding the same as my arm if my arm were a formless mass. In a moment a somewhat misshapen cube formed at the height of my waist; as I sat on it, I shaped it for better comfort, then I extended a backrest, reclining it a tad, and then created armrests too. As I modified it for better comfort, Rhea looked pointedly at me.

"Really?"

"Definitely, I'm working here, and I'm injured; the least I can do is be comfortable, don't you think? Do you want to work sitting, too?" She deadpanned, then sighed.

"No, I work better standing, but thanks. Just… don't fall asleep. I don't want to crash from this height, especially not on the giant fucking spider…"

"Roger that!" I told her with a mock salute while reclined on my throne, but I wasn't going to sleep; no, I wanted to experiment more. This skill looked unique; it was so in tune with my commands that I was sure the exploits would be many, and the versatility… Maybe there were similar skills in the system shop, but this felt mine, more like I had to discover its function than like the others, pushing them to make them do something they weren't made for… It's time for some tests.