Hammer Time!
1668 Words
I felt my skin burning, almost as if I was dipped in molten lava and then thrown over a field of peppers. The pain was unlike any that I've experienced so far, and I almost lost my mind to it. However the pain only lasted for a second, and I found myself back in the storage room, sweating, breathing deeply, with my back feeling like it had been scrubbed raw with an iron sponge and then slathered with a mentholated balm.
I shakily got up to my feet, and that was when I felt it. My body hand undergone a tremendous change, and it was not just my body, but also my senses and the way I perceive my surroundings. Everything felt a hundred times more intense, my body had actually filled out. I wasn't overly bulky, and was still on the thin side, but it was muscled and streamlined. I was like a swimmer or some sort of Hollywood movie star, and I had to admit I loved the feel of my new body. At the very least I did not look like all it would take to kill me is one good puff of wind.
{Mission accomplished: Initiate Celestial Beast Theorem} {Reward: The Skill Throw has been raised to Max. It has evolved into the skill Marksman}
[Leon An Khel: Age 20]
[Bloodline: Ancient Human]
[Cultivation level: 1: Body Refining Realm]
[Cultivation Method: Celestial Zodiac Theorem: Level 1 A]
[Strength: 25/ Speed: 19/ Body 25/ Energy: (30/30)/ Perception: 10]
Talents: > > >
Skills: > > > > > > >
Stat points:6 | Skill Points:9
My stats have certainly improved, though how that relates to the strength of the monsters out there was something I was not really sure of. However there were other changes that I was privy to, and that was the fact that I had a sort of sixth sense, and awareness that kept me connected to the star beast that now resided in my body. But apart from that I could actually feel him etched on my skin, and not being able to withstand the temptation, I used a mirror I found lying about the storage room to look at my back.
It was tattooed, without one inch of space left. And the tattoo on it was that of the [World King Tortoise]. But the tattoo was so life like, it felt like he was actually moving, and to be honest it freaked me the f**k out. But only for a little while, I realized that this tortoise had become a part of me now, it's power was now my power, and it was a soul that was now inexplicably entwined with mine. To be honest I felt as if I lucked out with the world King Tortoise.
According to the manual, I should be incapable of choosing a star beast for myself, but that's exactly what I did, I chose. Granted throughout the entire ordeal I was mainly relying on instinct and feelings, I could safely say that all of the cards had been in my hands. But this was unknown territory for me, even the previous Leon did not have too much knowledge about the celestial zodiac Theorem, seeing as until I took the first step yesterday, he has never cultivated before.
But I would rather let sleeping dogs lie, but for now I wanted to experience the [World King Tortoise's] special ability for myself. It's ability was called hard shell, a rather dull name if you ask me, but beggars can't be choosers, we get what we get and make the best of it.
"Hard Shell!"
I'm sure calling out the name of the star beast ability was not necessary, but it helped me focus and somewhat visualize it's activation. All of a sudden there was a tingle over my entire body and I felt terribly drained, almost as if someone had scooped out my insides.
{Hard Shell has been activated/Duration: 180 seconds/Cost:15 Energy points.}
All over my body there was a dull black glow, as a phantom image of a shell seemed to appear all over my body. I didn't feel any different, but I think my defense should have been raised to an astronomical level, or maybe not astronomical, just strong enough to withstand heavier force, though how heavy I wasn't really sure. But to test that I grabbed a frying pan from the supply are of the storage shed, and proceeded to whack it on my face.
*Clang!*
I felt nothing, in fact the handle of the pan seemed to have been dislodged from the pan itself, while it's surface was completely deformed with the shape of my face on it. I got exited and grabbed a hammer next, and then slammed it on my hand with all my strength.
*Bang!* *Crack!* "Arghhhhh! uhhhhh!"
I crushed my fingers until they were completely unrecognizable to me. The hammer I had used was completely unscathed, there were even some symbols on it that lit up, before fading away into the hammers dull silver frame.
"Appraise"
{Thespian Refined Silver Iron Hammer(Warded): Rank 4 Mortal Grade Tool}
{A sturdy hammer refined from a spiritual metal, capable of beating out impurities from ores, and is ten times more resilient than normal iron hammers. This particular hammer has lightness and controlled impact wards inscribed on it. Good for blacksmithing and carpentering occupations. Can also be used as a weapon.}
Big fat drops of tears fell from my eyes without any sign of stopping. I felt really stupid, which i***t would slam a hammer down on his own hand. Of course it might not exactly be my fault….well it is seeing as I'm the only one here, so I just had to chalk it up to a case of bad luck. Who knew I would be this unfortunate to pick a hammer that was not even ordinary, but rather a rank 4 mortal grade tool. The pain was a wake up call, as if I needed anymore situation telling me that I wasn't in Kansas anymore, or at least the world where Kansas was located.
My accident with the hammer aside, I needed to analyze what just happened. I was stronger than normal, faster too, and definitely my body is also stronger. And based on what I saw with Hard Shell; the skill could raise my defense by a factor of fifteen to twenty percent. But I had used my full strength, coupled with my increased speed and the fact that the hammer was a special one, I might've exerted a force that was about 100 to a 150% more than my usual. Which assuming my defense was at a 100%, plus the 15 or 20% of the hard shell skill, would be completely unable to withstand that hit, as the extra 30% force left would be extremely effective against my defense negated skin.
For one I had no idea how I was able to come to this conclusion, learning is not really my strong suit. However it seems the talent hyper learning was really helping me here. But with all that calculations done for, I had to deal with this bloody pain that was driving me half insane at the moment, I really needed to do something.
{The Skill Pain Resistance has been generated.}
I raised an eyebrow at that, a little surprised by it, and the fact that I felt the pain actually go down a bit. However the surprising thing was that with each second that passed, I kept on seeing (Pain resistance +1,+2) until finally it leveled up to level 2. But even then it didn't stop going up at a rapid pace.
Rather than heal the wound, I just sat back and let the pain resistance skill increase in levels, reducing the pain I was feeling to the bare minimum. But it was not as if the skill completely removed the pain, it was actually still there, It just made me used to it, giving me the ability to ignore it and just focus my mind on other things.
When the pain resistance skill reached level six, I had finally had enough and used my heal skill on my hand. It didn't work, each heal cost a full 30 energy points, which was exactly the amount of energy points I had after I had activated the Hard shell skill. And it seems the energy regenerates at one energy point every fifteen minutes, which if you ask me is incredibly slow, but there was nothing much I could do but wait until the energy bar was filled up again. This place really does seem like a game.
{Mission: Study every knowledge available to you in your storage room.} {Time: 15 days and 10 hours} {Penalty: Death} {Rewards: +3 to all stats, 2 skill combining token, system level up +1}
I had to be honest, none of the rewards looked appealing, though it mostly had to do with the fact that I had no idea what most of them meant, or the value they might hold. Either way, I was thankful for this mission, even though the penalty was death, at least I did not have to put my life in danger to complete it. It was a win situation for me, I really needed a break from all the excitement of the past two days. And reading was a welcome escape, after all I loved reading. But before that, I had something I needed to take care of.
"Heal!"
(Heal has been activated/Duration: 5 seconds/ Cost: 30 energy points)
{Heal + 10}
By the time I was done, my hand looked less like it had been put in a grinder, and more like I smashed it with a hammer. It seems I might need more than one session of healing to be fully healed of my injury. I guess I have to wait again, oh well, let's have lunch while I'm at it, that should give me a clearer head.
- Writer
