Just when Daimon was about to follow the path traced by his mana circuits, the unmistakable sound of a notification rang in his ears.
[Ding]
[A new type of skill has been created due to a specific action]
[The host has successfully adapted a skill from the system to fit his needs creating a “Independent skill”]
Daimon then changed to the skill tree tab and saw a yellow “!” symbol blinking under the skill truth seeker eyes, after clicking on it a small list displayed below the skill.
[Independent skill unnamed: Depending on the amount of energy injected in the mana circuits of the eyes, the host will be able to see the different layers of the visual spectrum]
For a split of a second Daimon was speechless, so far, he has treated the skills as a “constant,” during the past years he consumed the respective amount of mana or AP depending on the case and the skill was activated, it was as simple as that.
That’s why he didn’t put all the eggs in one basket and instead also focused in learning spells, which were able to be molded given the proper training, just like how Aisha changed the one-star spell “lightning bolt” to produce a shockwave which allowed her to surprise the instructor back at the admission exams.
“Am I too naive, or perhaps is my knowledge too shallow and that’s why I didn’t think on trying this earlier?”, thought Daimon.
But then he immediately discarded that thought, unlike spells which could be overcharged making them stronger but unstable, the skills didn’t have that property, at least the few times he has tried nothing happened, on the other hand he hasn’t been in the need to do it.
“What changed…”, Daimon’s eyes suddenly glowed, he harshly turned around and looked at Yvonne.
The truth seeker eyes allowed him to see hidden things or inspect the details of something, but he never focused in the mana flow until he met Yvonne, after she told him how “special” was his mana flow compared to others, he tried and then managed to see his mana flow.
The other situation he could think of was the inscription engraved where Dimas was imprisoned, he tried to decipher it a couple of times but it didn’t work.
Daimon chuckled remembering Evangeline’s words at the huge change after overlord’s pride leveled up.
“The system will register your desires, experiences and actions and create a path according to them”.
“So, what was not possible before became possible because I wanted it, in other words I’m evolving due to my interactions with others”.
There was also another thing which has been bugging him about skills, some of them had a “frame”, like the skills related to an emotion, “Terror Contractor” and “Desperation Creator”, had dim black light surrounding their names, as for “Core Synchrony” the colors were a mix between golden and purple, not only that but it was granted the classification of “Irregular Skill”.
And apparently, he now discovered another classification in the form of an “Independent Skill”.
Having reached a vague conclusion of it, and since Evangeline wasn’t saying anything, Daimon realized this was some of that information she as the manager of the system was “restricted” to speak about, so there was no point in asking her.
“I need to further investigate this, for the time being let’s give this skill a proper name”.
[Ding]
[The skill will be registered under the name “Infinity Eye” Y/N]
With a little nod, Daimon confirmed it as he was lost in his thoughts.
Evangeline which was listening to his thoughts from her isolated space couldn’t help but feel a bit afraid and expectant.
“What a monster… a kid which hasn’t even discovered his own path nor started to walk in one of the ones previously created, is actually wearing down those things”, she mumbled as she gazed at the sky of her space where there were countless of golden spiked chains, gathered around something creating a cocoon of chains.
Among them there were thin, large, wide, long chains, a variety of all forms and sizes, all of them were imposing, but now among that complicated net of chains there was one in which small black spots had started appearing, as if it was being corroded from the inside.
Evangeline then laughed out loud, as a proudful expression flourished in her face which was blurred, making it impossible for anyone to see it in detail.
“Truly worthy to be my host!”.
After saying that, the space surrounding Evangeline trembled and then a small piece of the blurriness that covered her body faded, leaving some strands of ash-silver hair to be visible.
Once the tremble finished, Evangeline touched the strands of her hair which were now visible and after playing with them for a couple of seconds, she saw the notification which appeared in front of her.
With a wave of her hand the notification exploded, but then her legs seemed to lose their stand almost making her fall on her ass.
“Sigh, this troublesome “outstanding” host of mine surely likes to make this poor lady overwork”, after mumbling some insults like “pervert”, “skirt chaser” and the like, Evangeline laid down and fell asleep.
Oblivious to all the changes that his “obvious” deduction caused, Daimon focused his attention in Aliya’s lesson again, luckily although what happened took some time to describe it only took one minute or so to happen.
“Can anyone of you tell me which is stronger, a magus king or a half emperor?”, asked Aliya as she pointed at Calvin.
The corner of Calvin’s mouth trembled.
“I know Haylee which isn’t even part of the class, answered the previous one… but why did you have to choose me”, he thought before clearing his throat.
“Ahem, my money would be on the half emperor”.
“Sit down Calvin”, said Aliya as she sighed.
“Anyone else?”.
Michael gave Calvin a disdainful gaze as he took the initiative to answer this time.
“The answer is “undefined”, not all the half emperors are equally strong and the same applies to magus kings”.
Aliya nodded with an approving expression on her face.
“That’s right, let’s focus in the magus kings first, some of them are at the same level of the Arch ranks, but others had managed to surpass that limit and reach a strength in the same category as a half emperor”.
“A clear example of that would be the principals of the three academies, in previous quarrels they have fought in equal standing with half emperors, or even managing to get the upper hand against them without the need to sacrifice their subjects, like the principals from the Ocean Heart and Earth Palace academies”.
“That being said, a magus king has a huge disadvantage in a fight with a half emperor, since they lack a domain, they can’t automatically absorb mana to replenish their reserves, although they have a way to bypass that obstacle, their subjects gather mana and send it to them, the process is much slower compared to when a domain is involved”.
Aliya then stopped the lesson for a moment as she drank a sip from the bottle which hangs of her waist, before continuing.
“Unlike the method to become a half emperor, the one to become a magus king is actually available to the public, as long as a mage lord joins their academies and signs a confidentiality contract, then they can easily become magus kings, any ideas of why that happens… Daimon?”.
Aliya noticed Daimon wasn’t paying attention to her lesson a moment ago, so she decided to get back at him a bit, although he is the student, she is the most eager to work with in potion brewing, not paying attention in the class is something she who takes pride in her knowledge and profession as a teacher doesn’t like.
Daimon noticed the slightly annoyed gaze of Aliya and he didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry, he learned something really important a moment ago thanks to her mentioning the mana circuits, but apparently, he dazed off enough for Aliya to notice it.
Not only that, he felt the two amused gazes on his back, one of them was definitely Liz and the other one was surprisingly Elaine.
“Laughing at your husband’s misfortune, watch how I take care of you two later”, he thought before answering.
“They want more magus kings to be born, not only for the power’s balance but to study why some are able to surpass the limit of the Arch ranks, while others can’t, if we are being subject, becoming a magus king does increase the battle prowess, lifespan, mana capacity and the strength of spells, so ultimately it is an advance”.
“While others might consider magus kings failures, I think that is not an iron rule, but more of a personal issue… wasn’t the first knight also called a failure for not being able to use magic, and now there are half emperors which walk in the knight path”.
Aliya’s slight bad mood immediately faded as she listened to Daimon’s answer, she couldn’t help but nod in recognition, is quite praise worthy for someone of the young generation to have a decent understanding of the bigger picture after all.
Knights originally could only fight in close combat and mages despised and even chased them, due to the versatility of their spells, but then one of the students of the first knight barged into one of the bases of those guys and with a wave of his sword he cut in half a whole city with barriers, walls and other defensive formations.
That’s how people learned that battle Aura was mana’s weakness, and also that’s how martial arts, the substitute of spells for knights were invented.
In other words, in this world of magic everything is possible.