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Chapter 26: Some Books Make You Stronger

  They walked back home slowly, filled with the new vigor humans had after the integration. Any normal human would have been dead a long time ago, but when they reached the cave, they were almost completely healed, apart from their most serious injuries.

  Maxwell could still feel his bones hurt, but this was buried by the curiosity he felt because of the skill selection notification he received just now. Just the notification filled his mind with possibilities.

  He watched as Bob threw himself on soft leaves they had gathered to create a makeshift bed. Now that he thought about it, he could probably make something better if he experimented a bit.

  He didn’t feel much different from the boy, but the boy got only two levels from the battle compared to his four. It was understandable that he didn’t have the same excitement he had, as he didn’t hit the threshold for skill selection.

  Maxwell was initially surprised to see the boy gaining so few levels, but after thinking about it, he figured it was normal. The boy looked bad after each fight, but in this fight, he did not reach his limits, unlike him.

  He sat down on his own pile of leaves, reminiscing about the day he made Bob pass out. It has been only a few days, but it felt like a lifetime ago. He quickly summoned the system interface to see what it had to offer.

  Skill Selection Initiated

  Displaying choices.

  Souls’s Gaze: Project your soul’s immense power through your eyes and make the ones who behold it face the weight of your soul.

  This is a good opening, he thought. He couldn’t say he was interested, though. The skill had nothing special about it, and Maxwell could feel from the last battles that he wouldn’t be able to beat higher levels with normal skills.

  Ritual of Etheric Sacrifice(Unique Skill)

  Etherium consumed billions of lives by your command. With this skill, you can continue where you left off. Let them be the fuel of your growth.

  I definitely jinxed it… Maxwell thought in bewilderment. The skill was obviously sinister as fuck but to know that even the system blamed him for the death of his people was a bit saddening. He dealt with those moral dilemmas long before he started the Project Resurrection, though. He didn’t condemn his people to death; he saved a few he could.

  Beast Bond

  You formed a bond with a beast, more intimate than most people could with this skill. With this skill, you can officially be partners as your souls are linked together.

  Maxwell could see himself choosing this skill in a world without worries. It might have made a pretty strong skill, too, if his beast weren’t a tiny bluebird. If he chose this skill, they could scout better and get killed faster.

  He was disappointed by the choices so far. He would choose the Soul’s Gaze if no good options appeared, but it was still disappointing. He read the next skill with renewed hope.

  Metal Hardening

  Infuse metal mana into your skin to harden it. Making it become stronger than steel. Embrace metal as your flesh lets you down.

  Maxwell just sighed. This skill looked oddly similar to the crocodile's, and he was not amused. He passed the option in annoyance.

  Elemental Expansion

  One spark turns into a storm of fire. A slight breeze destroys forests. A drop of blood swallows the world. Elements of the world follow your command as you will them to expand.

  Now, this was a real skill he could choose. The explanation was grand, but Maxwell was not delusional enough to believe that he would be able to drown the world with a single drop of blood at his level.

  Even considering that, though, if the destruction he caused in the forest by the expansion rune was any sign, this skill could be handy. He had one option remaining, but he was very satisfied with this skill, even if the remaining skill was bad.

  The Compendium(Unique Skill)

  The creation laughs as mortals try to understand it with the mind it has given them. You laugh back as your soul houses The Compendium. With it, you might have an actual chance.

  I should stop commenting, I suppose, He would need to be the dumbest person on the planet not to choose this skill. He didn’t know what the skill did, sure. Also, the explanation was extremely cryptic, yes.

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  But the thing was that Maxwell had been really curious about magic since coming to this world. You could even say that it was his new passion. He was no scientist back in his former life, but he was fascinated by the idea that he would be able to interact with the world with his mind in this life.

  Now, considering this, if something was blocking him from understanding the world, and this was the skill that could make him able to overcome that, it was a simple choice for him.

  Skill Selected.

  The Skill ‘’The Compendium’’ Gained.

  The Compendium:

  Some books record ideas. Some of them record objects. The Compendium attempts to record the world. In your soul, The Compendium resides, making what recorded more potent for your usage.

  There are four stages of recording in the Compendium, as every stage increases all parameters of the affinities or energies by 25%. Recording in the compendium increases the level of the injected mana affinity or energy. Reaching %100 percent will open new possibilities for the element as your shackles will start to crack.

  The skill was certainly a lot different from what Maxwell expected. It certainly made his head ache as he imagined himself injecting this skill thousands of different mana types. That would be a thought for the future, though, as he was pretty sure reaching stage four for an affinity would be a formidable task, considering the last phrase in the skill description.

  Despite it's tedious nature, his skill would fix his problem of not specializing in any elements. He didn’t have the same ease with elements as the people who specialized in them, after all. He could guide them with thought, but he couldn’t just use them instinctively. For example, Darve could fire wind blades without being able to control mana.

  He was not really bothered by that fact, though. He had more than enough brain power. Even now, he was afraid of completely merging with his other mind. He was unsure if he could survive being bombarded by months of geometry practice. A month's worth of algebra nearly turned him into an idiot back then.

  He would need to deal with that skill soon, right now, though, he had a skill that needed testing. He didn’t know how he could feel where this compendium was, but as always, the system gave him a basic understanding of how to use the skill.

  He closed his eyes as he felt himself dive deep into himself, guided by the feeling given by the skill. Soon, he could vaguely see a light, even though he hadn’t opened his eyes.

  This vague light turned into uninterrupted brilliance as he continued meditating. He could hear his meditation skill level increasing in the background, but he was too entranced by the experience to notice it.

  He opened his eyes and found himself in a small dome-shaped room. The walls were green, and they glowed with a light that gave a familiar feeling. It looked like the walls were flowing like a high-viscosity liquid, and they probably were.

  The walls could only keep his attention for a moment, though, as there was something more worthy of it. At the center of the room, there was a pedestal with a book on top. The pedestal was white and smooth, but Maxwell could see that it was made of countless tiny motes of light.

  Like it, the book was also made of motes of light. However, it was on a completely different level. It was like someone carefully selected one particle of every element to create this book. Maxwell guessed that the system might have done just that.

  It didn’t have any material properties as far as Maxwell could tell, but when he checked his own body, he found out that he himself was not significantly different from the book in composition.

  He still had his body, so that was not the problem. Even the fact that his body was completely green, like the walls, was fine. The problem was the fact that this was his old body.

  So my soul still sees himself as the 54-year-old man I was… he thought as he examined his body. It made sense, really. Maxwell had been feeling weird since coming to this world, and it was not easy to get used to an entirely different body suddenly.

  He focused his attention back on the book as he slowly approached it. He reached for it and was surprised that he could feel the book. The point of mana making up the mana was so dense that it looked like a book made out of incomprehensible amounts of glitter.

  He lifted the book’s cover, and he was promptly embraced by an explosion of light he couldn’t describe the color of. This was the closest Maxwell had ever been to imagining a new color.

  A moment later, he was back on his makeshift bed. He looked around, trying to notice a difference. Everything seemed to be normal. He turned on his Prima Sense as he wanted to see how he could absorb elements, and he felt his mind strain for a very short moment as he turned on the skill before blacking out.

  He came to his senses some time later. He could see that Bob’s bed was empty, so he figured it had been some time. He thought back to the encounter as he fought with the migraine splitting his head.

  In the last moment before passing out, he could feel that his second mind lent its power to his primary mind as it tried to help it. This emergency reaction would typically be very helpful, as this was the reason Maxwell was not suppressing his mind like everyone else.

  In this case, though, its power was hilariously insufficient. Whatever mind capacity the second mind gave was shattered as almost all of the particles he could see in the world flashed with a system notification. Maybe by itself, this would only cause a simple migraine, but the problem was that his second mind tried too hard.

  It merged with the primary mind, causing Maxwell to be assaulted by months worth of geometry practice at the same time he received millions of system notifications. He almost became the first person to get killed by the system, accidentally.

  He sighed as he tried to remember what the hell he was doing before all of these geometry memories came. If he didn’t have a 54 year long life anchoring him, he would have long lost his identity to this bullshit.

  He gathered his thoughts and managed to remember the skill he was supposed to be testing. He took a deep breath and activated his prima sense one more time. This time, though, he mentally commanded the system to show 10 notifications at a time.

  He was not disappointed as the system followed his directions. Now he could see 10 notifications in the air near 10 different mana particles. He focused on one, as this one was familiar.

  Fire Mana - Available For Absorption

  Maxwell could instinctively feel that he was seeing these notifications because the compendium was open in his soul. If he closed the book, the notifications would disappear.

  He pulled the fire mana from the air as he mentally activated his new skill. He felt something like an attracting force coming from his forehead and watched as fire particles started flowing inside his head. The skill used mana to pull these particles, and this gave him an idea.

  He closed his eyes and stretched his awareness to its limits. He imagined all of the fire mana particles around the periphery rushing towards his forehead. This, while being a brilliant idea, would be a very dangerous idea if this were not happening in a stone cave.

  Maxwell felt a wave of heat as he felt a huge chunk of his mana disappear after being used to relay his message. The room temperature increased as more and more mana rushed into the room. A couple of minutes later, the air in the room was trembling from the heat.

  Maxwell was still sitting in the place where there was a bed once. Now he was sitting on a pile of ash, and he was as red as a tomato. He was smiling, though, as he saw a new notification.

  Grade 1 Recording Of Fire Affinity Is Completed

  All Fire Affinity Potency is boosted by 25% permanently.

  Well, this was easier than I expected. Maxwell let out a laugh as everything burned.

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