Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

I end up sitting here for several minutes trying to figure out what to do, but eventually I settle on just searching through my Skill Trees for a new skill to unlock. Since it might end up giving me more ideas on what I can do. Other than rapid cooling, of course. Since the thing is stone and metal.

But I'd rather not show off skills from things I've killed already to the stalkers- er, I mean followers viewing me.

I don't want them knowing that I can take the Skill Trees of other people. Not yet at least.

It's pretty much impossible to keep it hidden forever, and I don't plan on it. But I want to keep it hidden until at the very least the end of the tutorial. So that no one bothers me after we're all sent back.

After all, I have no idea where I'll end up being sent after the tutorial is over.

I'll already have my hands full just trying to figure out what the hell I should do. I don't need people chasing after me too.

If push comes to shove, I can pause the broadcast for ten minutes and use my skills then. But I really don't want to show them to people yet.

Well, whatever.

I stare up at the Skill Trees open in front of me while lying down on a floating block. Or rather, not so flat on my wings.

But that's not the point.

I search through the skills on my various Skill Trees for a while. All the way from the Dark Hounds, Stone Serpents, Gargoyles, moledrills, Iron Sentinels, and so on. One after another.

And the hound related skills are all immediately out of the question. Seeing as I don't plan to go around biting stone, and I don't need enhanced hearing right now.

For the stone serpents, I pass on those too. Since most of the next skills for it involve venom and petrification. Neither of which work on a large stone golem.

Same for the gargoyles. Except for one skill from the gargoyles, that is. A skill that branches off of Minor Regeneration and costs 120 Skill Points to unlock.

But I decide against that skill as well since it's meant for protection. Basically lets me harden my skin further by using mana or earth energy.

I need offensive skills though, so that skill's out.

After the gargoyles are the moledrills, which mostly just have some skills relating to charging right at the enemy and dealing increased damage. Or just increasing their own resilience.

Neither of which are what I'm looking for. Plus I'd rather not crack my skull charging head-first at a large stone golem.

Doesn't sound pleasant.

For the iron sentinels, I've already seen and decided against their skill sets before. And the only skill they have that was useful isn't as useful anymore. The one helping me adjust to flying better.

But there aren't any obstacles to avoid around the goliath's little chamber that isn't so little. Just any attacks the goliath will be making. And I'm pretty confident I can avoid those myself.

Which leaves those turrets and the energy blade guy's skills.

I quickly realize they actually don't have many potential skills. Which is annoying.

Out of what they do have, both the scalding water ones and the icy water ones have two skills I can purchase right now apiece. One that increases the water pressure of the scald or frigid torrent. And the other that increases or decreases the temperature of said water even more.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

To my surprise though, the skills are actually quite cheap. Just about fifty Skill Points per skill.

It's almost like they aren't complete skills or something. Just skills meant to improve the root skill.

Which is very interesting to see.

And, in all honesty, the energy weapons aren't going to be that useful against this goliath. After all, what use can I get against this thing out of a hand axe or shovel that I couldn't get out of the energy blade in the first place? And I'm still not sure about whether the bow will give me arrows.

Then, last but not least, the fire elemental turret's Skill Tree. A Skill Tree whose root skill was a very basic flamethrower skill.

A very useful skill that I'm thankful for getting. But the thing only has like six potential skills in the Skill Tree. So it doesn't have much room for improvement.

And by the looks of it, the skill has the same upgrade route that the water elemental turret had. With one increasing the amount of flames shot out and the other increasing the temperature of the flames.

So now that I've seen all of my options, I pull out my knife and start fiddling around with it, my mind focused on the question of which skills to unlock. But I eventually end up settling on the most obvious ones of the bunch for my upcoming battle.

I let out a sigh before dropping my knife down on my chest and reaching up towards the Skill Tree despite not needing to as I unlock one skill after another.

{You have unlocked the skill, Pressure Increase, from the Water Elemental Turret Skill Tree.}

{You have unlocked the skill, Flames Increase, from the Fire Elemental Turret Skill Tree.}

{You have unlocked the skill, Temperature Decrease, from the Water Elemental Turret Skill Tree.}

{You have unlocked the skill, Temperature Increase, from the Fire Elemental Turret Skill Tree.}

Alright. Now I have both freezing cold water and hot flames.

Should make a good combination against a giant stone and metal golem. Assuming the temperatures are high and low enough for the golem to crack. And even after this, it should be helpful to have a more powerful flamethrower when I'm fighting monsters.

As for the frigid torrent upgrade? Well, it's nice to have free cold water, I guess. And I can use it to put out fires.

Could be useful against fire magic users as well.

Anyways, I drop one arm down to the ground while placing my other hand over the knife resting on my chest as I stare up at the ceiling. Just waiting for my health, energy, and mana to recover to full before I make my stand against the mini boss.

My mind returns to thoughts about what'll happen after the tutorial is finished. Since I have no idea who I am, or even where I was before this tutorial. So I need to figure out what I'm going to do.

The only thing I can figure out for where I was is that I was in a hospital gown. Meaning I was most likely in a hospital somewhere.

But where? And was it a big hospital in a big city? A small one? A small city? What happened to the city after the Initialization?

From what Chaos's clone mentioned, there should be monsters roaming around Val by the time we get back. But how many monsters?

There are so many questions, many of which don't even have to do with my amnesia.

As for the ones related to my amnesia? Will my family, if I have any, try to find me?

For some reason the thought of that makes me incredibly uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that I feel my fingers clenching a little around the handle of my knife.

Judging by the fact that so many people seem to very faintly recognize my appearance, I have to be famous for one reason or another. Then there's the fact that my body was well taken care of, implying that I might've been from a rich family. That or whatever Chaos did changed my body more than just the inhuman additions.

So there's a good chance I'm at an expensive hospital.

The question is whether or not I'll be monitored when I reappear there.

Considering that pretty much everyone will be dealing with the aftermath of the initialization of the planet, I doubt many people will be focusing on the whereabouts of patients. Especially patients who were in a coma before the initialization.

That, along with the fact that electricity may not even be working depending on whether monsters got to the power generators or not, probably means I'll be safe.

But everything also depends on how strong these monsters are that'll be on Val. Because if they aren't strong enough, the enforcers will be able to handle them with their powerful root skills. They wouldn't likely even need to rely on levels to beat them.

Unless they're just dozens of levels above them or something.

I continue staring upwards for several minutes before sighing and glancing down at the block I'm lying down on. An eerily glowing crimson block, just like the color of my eyes.

The blocks gradually started changing colors as I got higher up in this little Domain thing. Almost like they were representing the monsters inhabiting each part of it. With the blocks down at the bottom, where the moledrills were being made out of stone. The blocks where the water turrets were being made out of some sort of blue metal. And now these blocks, where those fire turrets used to be, made out of a glowing red metal.

After looking at the blocks for a few minutes, I turn my gaze back towards the ceiling of this Domain. Then I let out a faint breath, feeling the onset of boredom approaching.

Wish I could take a nap, but I can't risk the mini boss attacking me in my sleep.

This'll be a long several hours.