Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

The Iron Sentinel Skill Tree leads to three different branches right off the bat, but most of them aren't particularly useful to me right now. Or rather, some are, but not as useful to me as Minor Regeneration.

{Iron Projectile – Locked – Launches the user in one direction with great force.} – [Spend 100 Skill Points to unlock this skill.]

{Flight Adaptation – Locked – Allows the user to adapt better mid-flight, making it easier to avoid stationary objects the user is approaching at a fast speed.} – [Spend 100 Skill Points to unlock this skill.]

{Resilient Construct – Locked – When one sensor is destroyed, the user may repair it one hour after the destruction of the sensor so long as they have other sensors.} – [Spend 100 Skill Points to unlock this skill.]

That third one has little to no use at all for me. Considering that I don't have these 'sensor' things. Which I'm guessing are probably those little extended segments on the iron sentinels.

Although knowing that they have that skill in the first place should be helpful.

Means I probably can't start a fight with one, damage it a bit, and come back later. Since it'll have restored itself.

Flight Adaptation could be quite useful for me, but Minor Regeneration is still more important.

And Iron Projectile… it could be useful, but once again, Minor Regeneration is more important.

So after briefly checking my other Skill Trees and their options, I focus on Minor Regeneration. Which is in the Gargoyle Skill Tree.

{Minor Regeneration – Locked – Minor damage done to the user such as small scratches and minor bruises will no longer require points of Health to regenerate. Meanwhile major damage such as deep cuts and broken bones will take fewer points of Health to regenerate.} – [Spend 100 Skill Points to unlock this skill.]

It's a skill that'll make things far easier for me.

So without any hesitation, I go ahead and focus on the underlined text.

{You have chosen to spend 100 Skill Points to unlock the skill, Minor Regeneration, from the Gargoyle Skill Tree. Please select the check mark to confirm.}

A check mark and an X appear at the center of my interface. And just like last time, a dinging sound echoes in my head the moment I focus on the check mark.

{You have unlocked the skill, Minor Regeneration, from the Gargoyle Skill Tree.}

Immediately after unlocking it, I feel a warm sensation spreading through my body. One that focuses more in specific areas than others.

The areas where I have small scratches or bruising from slamming into a block earlier.

My right arm and wing to be specific.

And I feel some extra relief from that area. A sensation that isn't given when a wound is regenerated through health points.

Good. Now I won't be wasting those health points with every single wound I get.

Speaking of not wasting things, I turn my head upwards to look at the monsters flying in the air a bit further up. Some of which I've seen before but never identified.

So I go ahead and do that now in preparation for fighting them. Since I don't want to waste the rest of my Assimilate skill's runtime.

♢ Level 8 Fire Elemental Turret – 29 Potential Skills – X ♢

♢ Level 7 Water Elemental Turret – 30 Potential Skills – X ♢

♢ Level 6 Steel Moledrill – 21 Potential Skills – X ♢

Okay, that piques my interest a little.

Of the three other types of monsters, there are two triangular-shaped ones, both of different colors. One red and one blue. And there is the pyramid-shaped one that is of a color similar to steel.

And all of them are higher up in the Domain than these sentinels.

But more importantly, their names imply they may be able to use magic. Ranged magic too, judging by the word turret.

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I hope I can get a ranged skill off of them. Because it isn't very nice not having one.

My thoughts come to a pause at that thought as I remember Dark Howl. But at the same time, I'm not sure if that skill will even work on these things.

Considering that they don't, um, have any ears to hear with.

I think about it for a few seconds before deciding to just go for it when I get closer to them. Since none of the viewers saw the skill Dark Howl in action before, they can't link it to me taking skills from others. And I want to see how fast I regenerate mana anyways.

The turrets are a lot closer together than these sentinels are. Same with the moledrill thingies.

So it'd help more against them than the sentinels.

And I'd rather not waste so much mana if it does end up working and I only manage to get a single monster with it.

I feel it has a chance of working at the very least. It is a mental attack after all, regardless of if it uses sound.

With that thought in mind, I proceed to take on one iron sentinel after another. Gradually climbing my way up the Domain from block to block. Using my wings to carry me further up while occasionally resting on a floating block.

And after killing about four of the sentinels, I get the System Message about leveling up

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 5. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

Then, a few seconds later, my ten minutes fully runs out.

Just like always, I allocate the point to PHY.

To my surprise, after allocating the point, I get another System Message. A rather pleasing one considering what it says.

{Congratulations! You have reached over 20 points in the MAG stat! From now on, you will have two more points of mana!}

So I can increase my mana after all. And going by the same logic, I wouldn't be surprised if my health increases by raising my PHY stat.

Not sure what the MEN stat would increase though. Maybe a secondary energy?

That would be nice. To have more Chaos Energy.

Might allocate points to MEN to check it out for my next level-ups. After raising PHY to twenty to check health, of course.

I go ahead and open my status while landing on a floating block.

Good. I also regenerated another point of Chaos Energy and health with that level-up.

With the amount of Chaos Energy I have right now, I can use Assimilate four more times. But I'm starting to wonder if I can even use Assimilate with mana, since every other skill that has a secondary energy lists the secondary energy's price and which one it can use.

Every one but Assimilate. Which only states what the skill does.

Unless it's different because it's my own personal skill and not one I assimilated?

Either way, every usage of Assimilate generally gets me at least a few kills. So a few Assimilations.

And with that in mind, I should save the last usage for the mini boss of this little Domain thing. Because if I'm gonna be fighting a big mini boss thing on my own, assuming I survive, I will be claiming its Skill Tree.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

On a different note, I'm not getting many new skills from the Iron Sentinels added to their Skill Tree anymore after Assimilating five of them. So I should save my Chaos Energy for Assimilating the other three species of monsters in here.

Actually works out rather well. One use of Assimilate for each monster, along with another use for the mini boss.

Of course, I could probably also wait a couple hours for my energy to regenerate. And I should regenerate a point of Chaos Energy with each level-up here.

Judging by the number of monsters left, I'll likely end up leveling a few more times by the time I reach the top.

So all that mental math was probably wasted just now.

I rest for a few minutes on the block before taking a deep breath and jumping into the air, flapping my wings again.

At least I'm starting to get a bit more used to flying.

I continue flying around the Domain while killing every sentinel that's a little bit further away from the others. Trying to make sure I get one at a time.

And thanks to my lovely new Minor Regeneration skill, I end up being able to kill them without losing any more points of health over minor wounds.

Skill's working out already.

This time it takes me longer to level up to level six. Takes an entire hour this time of just killing these iron sentinels.

But over time I grow tired. To the point that I have to go rest on a floating block for another hour or two due to the strain of repeatedly flying around and killing these things, playing a game of chase with them in the process.

After I rest up enough though – and recover a couple extra points of Chaos Energy and health in the process – I focus my attention on the next type of monster that is in this place.

The moledrill thingies.

Time to see what they're like.