After a long period of running through the mountains and having fun, Leo got back to finishing his last skill selection, this time for his class. He’d reached the precipice after killing Serrix.

Based on the insect’s words, Leo surmised that D-grade had to be around level 100. It made sense, a nice whole number. If that was the case, he was looking at two, maybe three unlocks before reaching D-grade.

The way Caldrin looked at him when he forced both of them back to the training was like a stern old teacher finding two wild students goofing off.

Without killing a golem, or being defeated by one, Leo wasn’t restored, which meant he needed to meditate to get back up to full. Or perhaps it was Caldrin’s punishment. That was fine. While he had about a week of time with Caldrin’s training arena, Leo wanted to make the most of it.

After expressing his—somewhat false—apologies to Caldrin, Leo sat down and got to work.

He was offered three choices this time, and based on the first one, this was going to be spicy.

Flare Grasp (Rare)

Coat your fingertips in extreme heat. The heat is so concentrated that you will be able to burn holes through the toughest of armours. They will be unable to escape your grasp.

When penetrated, heat spreads further into the opponent's body, burning them from the inside.

Scales with Strength

Cooldown: 1 Minute

The first one was already Rare, and it was both a martial technique and infused with an element!

Finally!

Throughout his leveling so far, he’d been offered a couple elemental spells, aura skills, and martial techniques. But never had he been offered an elemental attack. He’d tried, over and over, to combine some of his non-infused attacks with an element of some sort, but it had never worked.

The only way he could get them to work was through the elemental infusion at levels 25, 50, and 75. So to see this finally appear filled him with hope that he was getting closer to the Elemental Adept his class promised him in name. Starting with this skill.

A brief memory flashed through his mind. He was in his Apotheosis, fighting Serrix as they fell from the sky. He wanted to get a grasping hold on the creature, so he burrowed his fingers through the thick chitin with heat.

This basically confirms that things I figure out myself can become real skills…

Ideas started flowing through his mind, ways to use all his elements in one way or another. According to Caldrin, he had some awful mana control, so he might have to hold off on summoning a meteor for now.

Leo passed up this skill for now, opting to look at the next.

Landslide Break (Rare)

Channel earth mana into a devastating close-range elbow strike. Upon impact, condensed force erupts through the target, causing severe internal damage and destabilising their footing.

Targets struck by Landslide Break may suffer Fracture, reducing mobility and increasing the effectiveness of subsequent earth-aspected attacks.

Scales with Strength and Toughness.

Cooldown: 1 Minute

Another elemental technique! One that would also penetrate tough defenses. It also inflicted a new kind of debuff Leo hadn’t seen before. To say excitement was rising would be an understatement.

Fracture was interesting, and felt like a kind of defense and speed drop combined. While it did say that further earth based attacks would be more effective, he wondered if it was only that.

All in all, this skill was rock solid. He’d probably take this one over the Flare Grasp if it was down to those two.

It wasn’t, however.

Redirect (Rare)

Projectiles come in all shapes and sizes. Be they large earthen spikes or small glowing blades. What happens when dodging is not an option?

If you cannot move from harm, Redirect it.

With precise timing, redirect a projectile that is coming toward you.

The higher your strength, the greater control over the projectile you have.

The more powerful the attack, the more stamina and mana this skill costs

Scales with Strength and Will

Cooldown: 30 seconds

I’m starting to see a theme here, system.

It was like the system was rewarding him for his efforts against a foe that he should have probably lost to. If not for his Bloodline that allowed him to deny his own fate, he would have.

The grasp, the ability to break tough defenses while slowing, and now redirecting projectiles.

He bit his lip. A projectile was what killed Bjorn in the end.

Letting out a steady stream of breath, Leo stopped himself from taking the skill at once. It was an insanely good skill, yes, but that didn’t mean he should automatically take it…

You have unlocked the Elemental Adept class skill: Redirect (Rare)

This felt like a bit of an ode to Bjorn. A way for him to carry the memory of the man with him in the future. Several times he’d been saved by him, often when Bjorn activated the ability on his shield.

It was a shame it only worked on projectiles, at least for the moment. Being able to redirect someone’s sword or giant killer mandible could be rather useful. Notes for the future.

With all the decisions—for now—made, Leo asked Caldrin to start up the golem again.

Himself and Ellie were on full resources, ready to fight their hearts out. A golem rose from the ground, armoured and strong. It charged and the pair got to work.

Work that ended after not much longer.

Leo was flying across the room, head spinning after taking a massive punch to the dome that would have caved in a pre-system skull with ease. Ellie was down, out of the fight completely.

The wall barely moved as his body crashed into it, the speed of the impact was too great for his Tailwind to make a difference, and he was fresh out of Spark Dash charges.

Pulling himself shakily to his feet, his left arm hung loosely at his side. “Bit of a power jump,” Leo barely croaked out.

It had only been two golems since the break. The difficulty had spiked so severely that he felt as if he’d chosen the wrong setting all of a sudden. Not that he was in control of that.

The golem didn’t let up, Nerveflash warning of the danger. The problem about a danger warning was just that.

A warning didn’t do shit if you were too slow to react to it.

He pulled his head to the side, barely dodging. A solid chunk of his face was caught by the swing.

Not sitting idly, Leo’s one remaining hand started to glow with red flames. He swung it upwards into its usual weak spot under its arm on almost instinct alone.

The golem clamped down on his fist, trapping it underarm as the flames barely did a thing.

“Fuck.”

A second later he was unconscious. Or dead. Both?

You have been restored.

Leo took a deep breath like he’d been resuscitated. Got up. And went straight back into it.

~

Caldrin watched the young man fight, shaking his head at his inadequacies, tilting it when he did something decently. One thing he was definitely certain of, even without all the incredible stat bonuses the boy seemed to have; he was a monster.

Fifteen times.

Fifteen times Leo had been defeated by the current golem in one way or another. The reason he was unable to beat it so far, was that the golem had entirely learned Leo and Ellie’s fighting habits. It would continue to do so, getting more of an advantage each time they fought.

To the boy’s credit, he was improving, little by little. The golem was, unfortunately, improving faster, each weakness overwritten as soon as it was revealed. It was not just to instill hopelessness in the challenger, it was to inspire. To push one beyond one’s limits.

Based on Caldrin’s estimations, Leo’s skills were sitting mostly at the Uncommon rarity. Quite common for those at late E-grade, but Leo wasn’t common stock. He had numerous advantages, in both stats and status. More Essences than anyone known within the current multiverse.

Being average was unacceptable if he wanted to keep thriving.

This golem’s goal, and this training in general, was to give Leo a chance to really practice his skills. To focus on one or two of them, hone them into something he could control better. Not letting the system take care of it all through activation.

The problem, Caldrin realised, was that Leo had too many skills for his time in the system.

Some people would have less than half the number he did, not to mention the tandem fighting with a companion that he wanted to protect. There was too much to do in such a little bit of time.

His finger was tapping his desk without realising. The other hand was stroking his beard.

He could… give a bit of insight perhaps. Caldrin stood up sharply.

Scratch that. He couldn’t take it anymore.

~

“Stop trying to use everything. Make one thing work,” Caldrin said, voice echoing out as Leo rested after another defeat.

What does that even mean? Leo grumbled internally.

He didn’t start the next golem straight away. Instead, thoughts of the previous fights flickered through his head. Each one, he’d tried to utilise as many of his elemental powers and skills as possible when needed. Why have so many skills if he wasn’t going to utilise them all?

With his Apotheosis, using all of the skills he had available was what kept Serrix on the backfoot. They were all temporarily boosted by said Apotheosis, but Leo figured it would be the same without. A good template to aim for.

What Caldrin was suggesting was that he focus on only using one thing? One what, exactly?

If he used only one skill, Leo would get flattened. Simple as that. The golem was too strong. But he was already getting flattened. All of his skills were getting countered in one way or another. He resisted using Draconic Equip just yet, as he didn’t want to always rely on it. It was a finite skill, and if he fought based on its strength then he’d not be as strong. At least in his mind.

This made him think. Took him back to before the system. To something he knew best. Gaming.

What would he do if he couldn’t beat a boss in a game where he could gain experience and upgrade skills?

Upgrade skills and gain experience of course.

He couldn’t gain any levels in here, not that he knew of, that left upgrading.

But how?

Most of his skills had been upgraded in times of dire importance, evolved through a need more than an intent. Most of them were stuck at Uncommon rarity, even while he was being offered Rare skills in his unlocks.

Let’s pick one or two and focus on them then, Leo decided.

Looking through his fairly diverse armoury of skills, Leo honed in on Fuel the Fire. It was his first and oldest Essence skill, one unlocked very early on. It had been upgraded from Kindled Strength almost the same time he’d received it from that first Essence Crystal, all things considered.

It gave him a decent strength increase while burning through his stamina, but it was not scaling well right now. It felt more like a flat boost rather than a percentage increase. Unlike Lightning Drive, which felt like it was speeding up as he himself got faster due to his Agility increasing.

A lot of the time he’d avoided pouring too much into it, as it would gladly eat the stamina for not a lot of extra gain. But how did one go about upgrading a skill?

Probably starts with actually using it.

Leo activated Fuel the Fire, his skin steaming with contained power. He pushed it to its max, feeling the strain as it consumed the fuel like a burning pyre lit with an accelerant. He’d done this before, trying to decipher how exactly it was boosting his muscles.

But not since his Apotheosis.

Stamina was circulating through his body at all times. The energy from it was dense and powerful. He knew as much after his little experiments that ruptured his muscles back when he’d played around with it. Mana, on the other hand, was like trying to catch smoke through his veins, especially when stamina was being so actively consumed.

But now, after experiencing such intense levels of energy, his mana felt almost tangible now. He could grasp it a little easier at least.

Some of his skills could consume both stamina and mana. So why not this one?

His mind touched on the stamina coursing through him, feeling it drain his massive reserve. He calmed down the flow, giving the skill less fuel to work with. It didn’t need to be full blast for his intentions.

It slowed until it was a gentle pulsing of power. Steady. Then Leo tried to channel some mana, but not to use a skill, to control it.

Immediately it fought him, not doing as he willed. The mana wasn’t working through the skill as he hoped, almost like it was being a petulant child telling him no.

You’re my mana, do as I say!

His focus doubled, pulling the mana into the channel that was guiding the stamina through his muscles. The one that Fuel the Fire used from his Essence. To his surprise, it actually started to work. Mana flowed into the skill, boosting him with more than just stamina.

The power granted to him by the skill started rising and rising as more mana was consumed by the skill. He couldn’t believe it was working so well.

Until he tried to stop it.

Cancelling out the skill should have worked, but some kind of channel had been opened into it, consuming more mana by the second. Panic started to rise as much as the heat did, almost to the point of burning his skin and the environment around him.

“Focus!” Caldrin’s voice bellowed out. “Control the mana!”

Leo let it consume, watched the channels, waiting for his moment. Then he pounced, seizing control of the mana flowing into his skill, each rushing river into his muscles was tapered into a steady flow. Sweat was beading down his face, the difficulty of the task showing itself.

Each muscle that was empowered by the skill had to be individually tapered, but once he’d done a few, the rest became simpler as the pressure and mental strain eased off.

By the time he’d finished it all, Leo felt empowered. His skin, once steaming under the heat of stamina being burned, was now glowing a dim red, pulsing as it consumed both mana and stamina.

He’d finally succeeded and the system agreed.

Fuel the Fire (Uncommon)

Upgraded to:

Inferno Drive (Rare)

Inferno Drive (Rare)

The blaze within has grown into a raging inferno, consuming all it is offered in exchange for power.
Mana and stamina become fuel for the furnace, feeding an ever-growing fire that roars through your body.

Enhances strength while active.

Inferno Drive consumes mana and stamina over time.
Additional fuel may be expended to increase the skill’s output, further enhancing physical strength at the cost of dramatically increased resource consumption.

The greater the output, the greater the strain.

Scales with Strength

Cooldown: None

With the system’s automatic help, Leo could feel himself able to toggle the new skill. Pushing what resources he could spare into it, his power rose as his body was roasted from the inside. The heat was staggering, so much so it was steaming what little moisture was left in the air around him. A moment later, he ceased the skill, the power fading with it.

Then he staggered.

He glanced down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists.

“I was worried about this when I read the name,” he muttered.

At first, he’d been initially surprised by the name, a coincidence perhaps. It was exactly like his Lightning Drive in terms of activation and usability. But while Lightning Drive was insanely useful and had the bonus of Spark Dash within, it also had a major deficit in the period of weakness after it faded.

Leo activated Inferno Drive again, the power in his body rising as the heat did. It was like pushing sludge into his muscles for a brief moment before it allowed full access. A familiar sensation, just fire instead of lightning.

He nodded, understanding how this skill would play out. Once activated, make sure it’s for good.

With that, Leo meditated on the ground until he was ready to fight once more.

And this time, he would bring the heat.