Randidly took a bit of time to meditate and search himself for any leftover emotions from his earlier violence. For this test, he wanted his mind clear and focused. Of course, he found some vestiges of the pain and anger, but he simply let them flow through him as he prepared his mental state for his attempt to examine how quickly he could Level a Skill.

Originally he thought to do the experiment on his island to avoid outside influence but decided against it due to the extremely widespread ambient energy on the island. It seemed to Randidly that it would be easier for his growth to go quickly if it occurred in a more typical location.

Plus, it was possible his island would fall from the sky if he inflicted significant physical damage to the formations that held it aloft. That would be… embarrassing.

So Randidly left Kharon and the bustling ogre migration and headed East. He passed through the high mountain ranges and arrived as some of the green and lush valleys that lay between the Wildlands and Zone Seven. There Randidly set up in a meadow next to a bubbling stream. The monsters here were only around Level 49, but Randidly didn’t think the monster Level would matter at all for the first portion of his attempt.

Randidly raised his hand and flexed his fingers. Without any help from an image or by forcing Mana through the Skill with his raw Willpower, Ray of the Desolate Dawn blasted out from his fingers. A finger-thin ray of grey light shot forward and impacted a nearby oak tree at which Randidly aimed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 2!

Apparently deciding that the tree was an enemy and not an ally, the beam hit the tree and splintered the trunk. Bark was ripped away in shreds, followed quickly by splintered wood. Even if the Skill Level was rather low, Randidly’s Intelligence was high enough that the tree trunk very quickly cracked. The beam bored a smoldering hole through the wood and shot off to impact the sloped ground behind the tree.

Randidly’s mouth twisted. Honestly, the process was a bit tiresome as he waited for his Mana to deplete while using the Skill. The Mana expenditure constantly increased, but it took a full second before the expenditure was higher than Randidly’s passive Mana Regeneration. It was only then that his Mana total began to tick downward.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 3!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 4!

Of course, as the Mana expenditure increased while using the Skill the power of the Skill also slowly grew. Unfortunately, the difference wasn’t extremely noticeable without having a foe more difficult to kill than a helpless tree. But the beam did slowly widen until it reached about two finger’s worth of thickness. The grass burned and the ground melted. But after spending about five hundred Mana, Randidly let the Skill trail off.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 5!

Curious, Randidly walked over and examined the melted stone of the ground. Although the damage was relatively localized in a small spot, it was clear that the heat of the beam had been extremely high to have such an effect. In terms of damage, heat could obviously be extremely dangerous if it got high enough.

After examining the effects of the offensive use, Randidly called out Acri and had him stand some distance away. Although there was a risk that Acri wouldn’t be recognized as an ally, because Randidly couldn’t find a second mode with which to shoot the beam, Randidly was confident that Acri was powerful enough to endure the heat for the second or so it would take to realize something was wrong.

Once again, Randidly unleashed the Ray of the Desolate Dawn. This time, as soon as the finger width of beam hit Acri, it was clear that the beam utilized its ally function. Rather than being concentrated, it dispersed into a warm glow that suffused the surrounding area. The large body of Acri rolled back and forth, clearly pleased with the sensation from Ray of the Desolate Dawn. It’s three sinuous portions of the spear tip undulated in pleasure.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to level 6!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 7!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 13!

This time the Levels began to tick up much more quickly as Randidly maintained the Skill. But it was mostly because Randidly gained a deeper understanding of how to utilize the spell. As he looked at Acri, he could see the way the energy of the light encountered some signal that diffused it as a warm energy field around Acri.

Otherwise, when he had used it offensively, the energy had concentrated to a dangerous point. So the quality of the energy remained the same in both uses, it was just a matter of whether the dosage was something the recipient’s body could cope with.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 14!

Which would mean that, theoretically, if Randidly used the Skill against someone powerful enough, even the offensive version would just grant them increased energy. A scary thought, but probably irrelevant to the current experiment.

Randidly let the Skill fade again and chewed on his lip as he thought about the Skill. In terms of light… the natural image of the Skill was very different from Alana’s image. Whereas she was all about the bright power and heat of the sun, this Skill… it was about concentrated energy from light but without any of the furious productivity of nuclear fusion that was going on within a true star. Or, to put it another way, the heat was just a side effect, not the main point.

So Randidly cut out heat as a portion of the image he associated with the Ray of the Desolate Dawn.

Instead… the Ray of the Desolate Dawn seemed to be powered more by surprise. It was the first ray that was more powerful, finally breaking across the horizon. As time passed, that ray slowly lost its element of surprise by gained increasing power as more and more light flooded over the horizon. It should manifest as a cascading wave of power.

“So maybe… I should be thinking of that chill of dawn,” Randidly muttered to himself. He raised his hand and unleashed the beam with his mind extremely focused on what he wanted. The light had definitely changed with Randidly’s understanding the skill, becoming a light blue color as it once more shot toward an innocent tree.

This time, the trunk cracked and shattered almost instantly. Although the effect was small, Randidly did see a creeping covering of frost that stretched outward from the place where the tree had been destroyed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 15!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 30!

This time the Skill Levels came much more quickly. In addition, the beam swelled much more rapidly than it had previously. After a dozen seconds of pumping an increasing amount of Mana into the Skill, it reached the thickness of a fist and pushed its way punishingly into the ground. The indentation was created without even relying on the heat that was present previously and quickly created a deep burrow.

Randidly let the Skill taper off after spending about one thousand Mana on the current blast. He sat for a few minutes and considered his inherent image once again. The energy really was a potent force that could take many forms. Still, having the chill be present was cute, but almost seemed like a waste. What was most important were two factors: the initial burst of power and then the speed of the scaling. If Randidly could focus on improving his image for those aspects…

Again he raised his hand. Unleashing another offensive blast of energy, Randidly watched the target tree carefully. The beam ripped a hole through the trunk immediately and then began to swell. The tree cracked and swayed before toppling over as the expanding beam felled it.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 31!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has grown to Level 41!

With his Willpower fueling it and a very careful focus on the image, Randidly gained about ten Skill Levels in a minute of usage. Which, even for Randidly, was a ridiculously fast amount of growth. Part of the reason was his practically unending Mana pool, but it was also because he hadn’t Leveled the Skill at all before he began to try and focus on it. With a blank slate, it was easy to concentrate and achieve rapid growth. Randidly felt the way it closely responded to his shaping now.

In the future, Randidly resolved to Level his Skills much more consciously, rather than simply routinely practicing with them.

Once more, Randidly refined his image. He felt the shock of that first ray of light, the almost revelatory nature of its arrival. Then the explosion of light and power as the horizon failed to withstand the tide of unending light that was poised to arrive. This time, when Randidly raised his hand to unleash the Skill once again, he felt the change almost immediately.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) is evolving! Warning, if you possess insufficient energy-

Recalculating-

Congratulations! Your Skill Ray of the Desolate Dawn (R) has evolved into Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L)! Skill Levels will be maintained. Initial burst power of the Skill increased! Rate of growth for the effect due to prolonged exposure has increased! Mana cost has greatly increased!

Congratulations! Your Skill Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L) has grown to Level 42!

There was a fundamental shift in the manifestation of the energy. It shot forward like a javelin, cracking the unsuspecting tree in half. But barely had the tree recovered before the light from Randidly’s hand grew to the thickness of a beachball. The flood of powerful energy reduced the wood to splinters before it could even react to the initial blast.

The size of the beam continued to quickly rise, growing to almost a meter in diameter. And then after another five seconds, it had reached two meters in diameter. Randidly’s Mana depleted at a pace that made him raise his eyebrows; he had spent almost six thousand Mana in ten seconds.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L) has grown to Level 43!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L) has grown to Level 67!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L) has grown to Level 99!

This time, Randidly let his entire Mana pool be devoured by the Skill. When he had no more fuel, the sizable beam quickly fizzled and faded, leaving a path through the trees that appeared to have been cleared by a bulldozer. The slope behind the trees had been largely been demolished the last blast, leaving the valley rather ripped to pieces after Randidly’s training.

But still… Randidly looked down at his hand. It’s been an hour… and the focused training got the Skill up to Level 99, evolving it in the process… Having a higher starting point really makes a difference.

As he lowered his hand, Randidly’s face twisted into a frown. Because honestly… most people can’t get to this point. They are capped by their Class Skills, or more importantly, they are much weaker in terms of images when they obtain their Class Skills, which is the only reliable source of Skills that most people have.

Compared to that… my advantage of being forced to develop my images before even Level 50 means I have the chance to truly grow into a monster, given enough time...