Later that night, Cynrik handed over the Cultivation technique he had bought the day before for Brance. Upon hearing the cost and seeing how old the booklet was, Brance was quite literally treating it like a small animal that could be easily broken if handled wrong, while Cynrik just watched in utter disgust.
All of this was quickly wiped away when it was time to learn their new skills, and their excitement was brimming as they started reading their booklets. It didn’t take long for both of them to realize that even though they couldn’t speak or read the ancient languages, these words were written in, their meaning still flowed into their heads. This was all due to their Legacy Tier Language Proficiency. It was a weird feeling looking at something and just instantly knowing what it meant. Reading these strange letters gave off the sense that their internal monologue had a mind of its own, and it took some adjusting.
Soon they realized that they could only read a couple of pages into the cultivation techniques; as they tried to keep reading, it was like their Language skill had suddenly shut off. Before they could even ask, Tobs provided the reason for this occurrence.
-You have learned the Ancient Tier: Mana Integration Skill Requiem of Dusk 0%-
-Due to not being proficient in this skill, you are unable to learn it in full. The skill has been reclassified as Tier 0 until the host raises their Proficiency-
-Raising the Proficiency past 100% will increase its Tier as usual.-
-Each Tier increase will result in new forms and benefits.-
-The host is unable to learn anything other than the primary form of the technique.-
Both brothers read the notification simultaneously and had the same response of groaning loudly while falling onto their backs. [Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy; why did I even get my hopes up. We did learn something, though, and it looks like there are Tiers other than numbered and Legacy, of which we now have skills falling into 2 of the higher classifications.] Cynrik couldn’t hide his disappointment in not getting another free OP skill.
[Things have been too easy; it seems that the Gods want us to work instead of taking handouts, fine by me.] Brance was a bit more optimistic with his outlook on their situation. Tobs had automatically nerfed their new skills, but he didn’t let it bother him too much.
They were unaware that even getting their hands on these skills was due to the direct intervention of Yahweh and Odin, who had set a chain of events into play, with the result being the two booklets finding their way Cynrik and Brance.
True, I guess all we can do is slowly climb the ladder with these Integration skills; sitting back up, Cynrik decided to give his new skill a try.
Closing his eyes, he triggered the activation of Requiem Of Dusk, and to his surprise, nothing happened at first. In fact, nothing happened for several minutes, exasperating him.
Suddenly pain seeped through Cynriks body as if instead of blood, it was acid coursing through his veins, causing every one of his muscles to tense up immediately. The veins in his hands and neck visibly bulged on the surface of his skin. Soon he realized that not only was he incapable of using his Sibling Mind Link, but he also couldn’t speak a single word out of his mouth either. On top of this, his body was locked in place in a state of paralysis.
Brance wasn’t in any better shape either, as the same thing was occurring in his body as well. The room was deathly silent as both young boys were suffering in complete silence. From time to time, a slight spasm would erupt from one of them. This scene would continue for several hours, but to them, it felt like days, days that were nothing filled with nothing but a pitch-black painfilled hell.
Throughout this agony, the only thought circulating in Cynriks mind was the words of the booklet. He continually repeated the first paragraph from the Requiem of Dusk Booklet. Cynrik himself was completely unaware he was doing this as his mind was in a state of pure concentration.
Six hours in total had passed before the muscles in his body finally loosed up, and the pain receded. Then, upon opening his eyes, he was greeted by a handful of notifications from Tobs.
-You have completed your first activation of the Mana Integration Skill: Requiem of Dusk.-
-You have gained +0.5 Proficiency in the skill
-You have gained +0.5 Proficiency in all 3 Affinities-
-You have gained +1 Mana Point
-You have gained +1 Vitality
-You may not activate this skill again for 168 Hours-
“Holy shit…” Cynrik couldn’t stop himself from swearing out loud as he saw the gains he had obtained from his first activation of the cultivation technique.
[No kidding,] unlike his uncivilized brother, Brance had the common sense to speak using Mind link instead of his voice. His technique had yielded the same gains that Cynriks had.
[Totally worth that hellscape we were thrown into, amirite.] Tilting his head to the side forcefully, the bones in Cynrik’s neck let out a few loud pops; while his eyes traveled down to his Watcet, he noticed that 6 hours had gone by.
[We were out for 6 hours; we should head to bed. The cooldown on these skills is a bit intense;] standing up and stretching, Brance extended a hand to Cynrik, who was still sitting down looking into space.
Keeping his eyes on his notifications, Cynrik caught his brother’s hand and allowed him to help him get to his feet. [To be fair, it’s kind of expected. The amount of strain put on our bodies is nuts, so it makes sense to have a long CD; while seven days may seem long, I get it. Especially if the stat rewards stay consistent, it’ll be a constant growth rate for our Affinities.] Cynrik then proceeded to explain what he had learned from Cinyah earlier in the morning about how Affinities work.
[From what I gather, if we have a high enough Proficiency percentage and Tier, the only thing we are limited to is our minds. Currently, I can only conjure small balls of fire and weak gusts of wind. Excluding the useless sparks of lightning, there’s my Darkness…]
Cynrik paused before continuing; [right now, all I can do is minimize my presence. See,] A black see-through mist started seeping out of Cynriks body before swiftly covering him entirely.
Squinting Brance saw a massive change occur in Cynrik. It was like he was looking at a ghost. He could still see him, but it appeared as if Cynrik had disappeared if he wasn’t focusing. [It kinda looks like Optic camouflage. So, what, are you going the ninja or assassin route now?] With an intrigued look, Brance couldn’t help but tease the show-off.
Releasing the manifestation, Cynrik returned back to normal and just shrugged. [It’s actually a pretty heavy drain on my Mana to vanish like that, about 20 MP per second. Which is a pain compared to the single digits for Fire and Wind, don’t even get me started on the fusion costs.178 mana simply isn’t enough.]
Having enough of his complaining, Brance decided it was time for bed and left his whining brother in the center of the room. [Yeah, yeah, you’re not the only one with high mana costs. Don’t forget we are just kids and only level 5; we won’t have shit for Mana at this stage. For now, we are at another bottleneck with our Codex, so the integration skill is the only way to gain more at this moment. Just go to bed already;] with that said, Brance hopped into bed and quickly fell asleep while Cynrik just stood there staring off into space again.
‘Black Fire, Fire Cyclone, Black Fire Cyclone, I need to come up with better ways to fuse my elements, but for that ill need to raise my Proficiency with them first, right now; at best, I can only hold a triple fusion for 15 seconds before I burn all my Mana. Whereas I can control the doubles significantly longer.’
‘If my theory is correct, then not only should I be able to control my manifestations more accurately, but I should also see the Mana costs go down. All it will take is for me to raise both my Tier and Proficiency. Mother’s fireball didn’t seem to drain any mana at all until she turned it into a flame sword. At the rate I’m going, it’s going to take years before I can freely wield anything, letting out a sigh of defeat;’ he crawled into bed as well—’Oh well, not much I can do except train harder. One day I won’t have to worry about mana costs. I wonder what cool shit I’ll come up with in the future. What about fire planes or dragons? OH OH, I’VE GOT IT; IF I CAN GET THE LIGHTNING AFFINITY ILL DO CHIDORI AND KIRIN FOR HAhhahaha HOW BOUT KAMEHAMEHA FOR WIND….kuekuekue…’
These were Cynrik’s last thoughts before he finally fell asleep, only to dream about bringing to life all the techniques he remembered from Anime and Manga in his past life.