Chapter 3: Skill Evolutions and Broken Skills

  After evolving the skill, he kept writing stuff all over the place until he was satisfied. He did this partly to test but mostly out of excitement. Regardless, he did learn the fine details of the skill and its limitations. It couldn't write on living material because, what his mom told him before she left, was that the flow of energy inside a living being disrupted the internal structure of the words collapsing them before they could even form. So, he couldn't use them to blind foes. Then there was the fact he could only use it to form words and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't paint or draw using the skill no matter how he tried. Even the words weren't permanent, their lifespan depended on how much mana he put into them. He guesses the skill truly was utility only.

  He decided it was time to evolve his other skills. He decided to start with his breathing skill. Once more he was inside the place with the seeds in the ground. The first thing he did was to look for the writing skill seed that he evolved last time to see what it looked like now. It was easy to find it with his experience from last time and the fact that it was literally the only thing here that wasn't a seed of light helped.

  It looked like a tree sapling made of light. Then he recalled a very common phrase used by anyone when they're talking about the progression of their skills, 'Skill Trees'. Was it a coincidence or is it that this place was represented by what people perceived skills to look like? He did hear of some places and eldritch abominations where everyone perceived them differently, and not because of magic but simply because they had no shape or form which is something humans can't comprehend so the human mind gives them one. Or he could just be overthinking things, and someone has been here before and then spread the word on how skills look.

  Nevertheless, he focused on his goal once more. He quickly found the breathing skill seed and started thinking about which direction to evolve it in when he thought about something he saw last time. He had noticed how some skill seeds are close together and pulse in the same pattern the last time he was here. Thinking about what it could mean he recalled something his mother had told him during training (Memory skill is doing a lot of heavy lifting right so far) about how multiple similar skills can boost each other effectiveness and how very rarely two skills can fuse if they are similar enough or are a part of a set.

  That's just for normal people. I'm the skill sage if I can't fuse multiple skills at once I might as well give up and become a farmer. He thought with an odd feeling of arrogance and pride that seemed to originate from his class and skill. Now that he thought about it, he had that same feeling when he decided to add writing on any surface to the evolution of his writing skill. He decided to take note of it and think about it another time.

  So, he started multiple skill evolutions at once. The heart skill, lung skill, blood circulation skill, and breathing skill. He imagined them as one, how each skill is part of the circulation system so that's what he was aiming for, a circulation skill for oxygen and energy. Then it happened, all the seeds fused into one before he felt a choice appear before him. He could either let the skill go directly to the rare rank due to how many skills he fused, or he could let it go to the common grade. If he hadn't realized why his skills started at the inferior rank last time he might have made it go evolve directly to rare rank but since he did it wasn't even a choice.

  When he exited the place that he was going to call the Skill Garden, he didn’t bother checking his notifications and just continued making evolutions. He went to his sleeping skill and directly evolved it into deep sleeping because he didn't have any ideas for its evolution. Then he fused all of his 5 basic senses skill into a skill that he imagined to be the 6 senses. He had thought that the sixth sense would be mana sense but it turned out to be aura sense. Next was dreaming skill.

  He turned to his dreaming skill first and thought of something. He had heard tales about how people with mental spells could trap their victims in entirely realistic dream worlds but instead of putting other people into a dream world, he would instead build a dream world around his mind which he could practice in while sleeping. He could also use it as a shield to defend against mental intrusions.

  He fused his scabbing and bleeding skills into a skill that gives him a stronger defense the more health he loses. He also fused all his production skills into one.

  Then there was his sense pain skill. The very bane of existence. He had gained it accidentally while his mother had been training. The skill he had been aiming for was pain resistance but instead he had gained a skill that enhanced pain. When he had told his mother what had happened, she had laughed at him saying that he was an idiot. He had been focused on the pain, so he had enhanced it, and it was the same as when you're trying to hear better you concentrate on your hearing. Nevertheless, while evolving it he made it allow him to intuitively know his injuries without being bothered by pain.

  Lastly, he fused his regret, determination, and hope skills into one. This time he didn't even give them directions since it seemed they were meant to be together and the only reason that they hadn't already fused was that they needed his permission. The rest of his evolutions weren't worth mentioning.

  'Skills'

  After checking his skills, five skills caught his attention. Inspiration, enlightenment, and self-insight were very promising skills with a lot of attention. He understood they came from when he was evolving his skills and the pride skill came from that odd feeling of arrogance he had when evolving his skills.

  What really left him shocked was the Regret, Determination, and Hope skill. Skills that allow you to travel through time were unheard of. Some skills allow you to affect the flow of time in the area around or even reverse time but all in a set area. A skill that allows you to travel through time is considered impossible. The ability to go between moments in time essentially allows you to pause time. Even considering the cost, the skill is way too overpowered. He couldn't wait to use it. Thinking about it he knew the perfect way for his first time using it.

  Going into the house he walked right up to a vase in the living room. His brother, Orion, was in the room watching the TV noticed him, and was surprised by his actions.

  His brother was a tall lean person with brown hair and green eyes. He was a C-grade with an aero engineer class, a variant air mage/engineer class, with a mechanic subclass. He was working with the government on a project to bring back planes, some sort of vehicle form before the Initialization, and make them usable in aerial combat or simple long-distance transportation.

  "What are you doing? You know Mom will kill you if anything happens to that vase. None of us are allowed within one meter of the vase. Remember what happened last time you were that close to the vase? You couldn't sit for a week." His brother asked lightly, not thinking Joey had the guts to anger their mom. Especially, not after she finally started training him.

  "Nothing, I'm just going to break this stupid vase." Joey said excitedly.

  "What? Did mom's training make you lose what little brain cells you had left or something? Stop being an idiot and get away from it." His brother said sarcastically, still not believing him.

  Instead of wasting any more time, Joey just walked up to the vase, grabbed, and then threw it to the ground. The satisfying sound of its shattering made his day. Then, without waiting for his brother's response, he said the activation phrase.

  "I Regret what has passed, I wish to change the past." He said calmly. He opened his status panel to watch as his mana went down to half. Then in the next moment, the world turned to shades of gray. He felt a choice for what he could do. He could either go back to where he was a minute into the past or stay where he is yet still go into the past.

  After some thinking, he chose to stay where he is to see what happens. In the next moment, he watched as the whole world moved backward. He saw as the shattered pieces of the vase gathered together into a vase once more. He watched as his brother talked backward until eventually, it was the time from before he walked in, and his brother was still working on his computer. Then the skill stopped since he went back the maximum amount he could. The world regained its color and time started flowing forwards once more. His brother, still working, hadn't noticed him.

  Getting an idea Joey used his new roar skill to shout. "HEY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Scaring the absolute shit out of his brother. Joey fell to the floor laughing as he watched his brother jump a couple of meters into the air out of surprise, hitting his head on the roof.