Random brain farts, and disquiet sensations of forgetfulness aside, there was still a great deal to do. Blackthorne looked to his status menu then immediately splurged the majority of his ability points to increase his charisma to twenty-four. He could have increased it further, but the combination of Improved Draconic Soul and his stat growth had already increased his charisma modifier to plus ten. Nine points remained. However, before he could place any further points a now familiar sensation surged through his body. Black lightning danced along his scales for a moment then his eyes began to burn. He closed them to fight against the irritation. When he opened them once more he saw golden words floating in the air before him.

You who had eyes could not see. You who had lips could not speak. You who had possession of a cunning mind, did not think. No more...

Awaken now, you who are no longer blind.

Yours are the eyes who see truth.

Blackthorne blinked slowly then watched as those golden words disappeared. What came next was a strange ripple in the air. Soon, it was followed by the appearance of a message window. However, this window seemed corrupted and filled with graphical glitches. Those glitches did soon disappear, but the event gave off the impression of something that should not have happened having actually done so.

You have acquired a new racial power!

In the depths of racial memory, you have discovered a long lost power exclusive to celestial dragons.

- You now have access to the Supreme Celestial Draconic Racial Power: Eyes of Judgment.

The Eyes of Judgment operate in a manner similar to the divine power known as Veritas. You will be able to discern truth from lies, and even see into the heart of an individual as they speak to you. This is a supreme racial power. No force can remove it from you. Beings of superior charisma, or incredible magical power may possess methods to thwart your eyes in some ways, but they cannot stop you from seeing the truth in regards to the general nature of their soul. While individual memories and information can be falsified by such beings, you will always know if they are lying to you.

The stench of wickedness or deception, and the light of truth and innocence can never be hidden from your eyes.

- You are now immune to illusion magic. You will be aware that you are experiencing an illusion, but it will not touch you.

- You may now detect lies and perform soul readings as a free action.

- You may now detect the level of corruption inherent within a sapient being.

- The awakening of this power will influence your mental state. As a Celestial Obsidian-Gold dragon hybrid you are a creature of morally good aligned character who personifies the positive aspects of darkness and law. As you continue to age, these influences will take further hold on your thoughts and influence you toward the path of true justice. From the darkness you will grant eternal rest and have power over the transition from one life to the next. From justice you will gain abilities that will help to bring the order and law to the lawless. You have power over the abyss and as you age, you may call upon that power with greater capacity.

"That's... pretty awesome, isn't it?" Blackthorne blinked slowly as he tried to fathom what had just happened. It was like the world had bugged out for a moment and now he was a living lie detector.

"What do they mean Obsidian-Gold dragon?" From the sound of things it was like he was some sort of lawful good dragon god of death and justice. He still got his ass kicked all the time, so in spite of the awesome nature of his supposed existence it all seemed a bit lacking in real world application.

He spent a moment in consideration of what he had learned then turned back to his status menu. There were still points to be spent. Awesome and amazing nature aside, he was still a little guy who needed to become stronger. Briefly he was torn. He could upgrade either intellect or luck twice. That would grant him an additional modifier in both. On the other hand, he could increase vigor and agility. Doing so would leave him two ability points for his next level and also increase those stats to the next modifier.

"I'll gain a handful of life force points if I do increase vigor and that extra modifier would increase my regeneration... Sounds a lot better than five more skill points per level and whatever luck does." Choice made, Blackthorne spent his points then looked over his status once more.

STATUS

Professional Title: Gentleman of Darkness

Name: Scott Logan

Dream Form: Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Age Category: Infant

Level: 6

Ability Points: 26

Talent Points: 0

Skill Points: 154

Life Force: 295/295

Armor Class: 21 [0]

Strength: 20

[+7]

Agility: 16

[+5]

Vigor: 20

[+8]

Intellect: 16

[+5]

Charisma: 24

[+10]

Luck: 16

[+5]

"Might want to keep boosting agility, intellect, and luck with my next levels. At the moment I can at least increase them one time each level... but my other stats need two levels each." His skill points called out to him. So far he had not really checked his skills, though his message windows did mention that he had increased his skill ranks.

"Biggest upgrade while I was a walking eating machine was draconic combat and tail whip. Then there's the other skills that increased before then... I can take a few techniques now that I have the skill points..." Blackthorne eyed his skill menu carefully.

MAHORELA ABAIVONIN RACIAL SKILLS

Mana Sense

Rank: 36

- Sub-Skill: Life Sense

Rank: 9

Mana Manipulation

Rank: 19

- Sub-Skill: Draw Mana

Rank: 8

Mahorela Abaivonin Magic

Rank: 38

- Sub-Skill: Draconic Racial Ability Mastery

Rank: 36

- Technique: Aura of Terror [LVL 1]

***

- Technique: Breath of Darkness [LVL1]

***

Metamorphosis

Rank: 39

- Master Form: Midnight Shadow

Rank: 5

- Master Form: Human Form

Rank: 33

- Technique: Mana Manipulation [LVL 1]

***

- Technique: Mana Sense [LVL1]

***

- Technique: Draconic Combat [LVL1]

***

Draconic Combat

Rank: 42

- Sub-Skill: Tail Whip

Rank: 21

PRIMARY SKILLS

Dark Magic

Rank: 39

- Sub-Skill: Basic Dark Lightning Mastery

Rank: 28

- Technique: Imperious Jolt! [LVL 2]

***

- Sub-Skill: Basic Dark Fire Mastery

Rank: 18

- Technique: Imperious Burn! [LVL1]

***

- Sub-Skill: Basic Dark Frost Mastery

Rank: 6

Conjuration Magic

Rank: 4

Synergy

Rank: 37

- Sub Skill: Improved Synergy Refinement

Rank: 22

- Technique: Metal Salvage and Refinement LVL 1

***

- Sub-skill: Improved Low-Grade Material Synergy

Rank: 11

[Empty]

[=]

SECONDARY SKILLS

Heavy Armor

Rank: 2

Blade Mastery

Rank: 27

- Sub-Skill: Basic Longsword Mastery

Rank: 8

- Sub-Skill: Basic Shortsword Mastery

Rank: 6

Arcane Ring Mastery

Rank: 4

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

TERTIARY SKILLS

Jewelry Crafting

Rank: 5

Enchanting

Rank: 5

Alchemy

Rank: 2

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[Empty Slot]

[=]

"I don't see Eyes of Judgment... might be because of how I got the ability. Could just be part of my draconic senses too." He tilted his head and acquired a thoughtful expression. "Might also be a technique in my racial ability section."

Blackthorne had a lot of options to choose from, and many of them were completely viable. Slowly, he went through the list and began to tick off options. Several of his skills could be upgraded with sub-skills or techniques now due to their rank. If he splurged on increasing all of them at the bare minimum he would still have plenty of points left over for an extreme push for one skill set.

"Synergy is my best skill, but my magic is finally starting to be worth a damn. What if I..." Blackthorne played with the numbers a bit then made a decision. Every time he had the chance before, he had elevated skills from a lower rank to a higher one. It was a sound strategy, as it would make increasing those skills in rank far easier. However, it had constantly undercut his skill development.

"I earn enough skill points to spend most of a single level on elevating a skill to a new tier. All of you bad boys are going into my main skills for once!" He grinned at his status then began to splurge.

"Sixty-five points went flying into Synergy, its sub-skills and its techniques. His base synergy skill was now fifty points, and his techniques had been increased by a few levels. One new technique under the sub-skill, Improved Low-Grade Material Synergy, had been acquired. It was named Mass Production.

Mass Production was a skill that allowed him to combine multiple items within a certain range, provided he had the life force and synergy skill to do it. At level two, he would be able to generate a synergy field that encompassed one full yard in all directions from his body. It only worked on low-grade materials that had been prepared before-hand, however. He could use it on grass and broken garbage, basically. Of course, most of what he could gather at the graveyard was also broken garbage. It would be quite the useful skill.

"At fifty skill ranks there's no need to increase basic synergy for a while. I can spend my points adding new sub-skills, or just boosting the ones I have for a while." Blackthorne nodded to himself then looked to his next goal. His dark magic skills.

Before he could move on, however, he received a whisper in his ear. The voice of the system update lady began to speak, "You have reached a milestone in your synergy technique: Metal Salvage and Refinement. You may now choose an advanced variation of that technique."

"What's this then?" he asked in delighted confusion. Two skill names appeared before his eyes. Each one would help him refine metal in a certain manner. The only downside was that each of them would cost him ten skill points!

The two skills were each devoted to one part of the technique. Advanced Metal Salvage would allow him to acquire more metal when he utilized synergy to create basic resources such as ingots. He would need fewer metal resources in that regard. Advanced Metal Refinement would either cut down on the life force cost needed to turn metal scrap into basic resources, with the provision that no high quality materials would be made.

Both techniques were useful, but he could only pick one at the moment. Apparently, if he reached the next milestone in the base technique, he could acquire the other upgrade. Once he reached level ten in the base technique, he could also increase the level of one of his advanced techniques.

"Do I want more material to be made in general at the standard cost, or to be able to spend a little more life force and gamble on the synergy RNG giving me better results?" After a moment, the choice seemed obvious. Advanced Metal Refinement would allow him to create ingots at a lower life force cost if needed. That could potentially mimic the other skill to some degree, though he would only be able to make low-grade materials. However, he would also be able to acquire higher quality materials randomly at any point in the synergy process if he chose that skill should he be willing to pay more.

"If nothing else choosing that skill will give me a reason to boost my luck stat," said Blackthorne in an agreeable tone.

Seventy-five points already spent, he considered shutting down his menu for a time. However, a thought occurred to him. If a level four technique in synergy was a milestone level that granted access to an advanced skill, would it be the same for his magical abilities?

Blackthorne eyed his dark magic skill. Originally, he did intend to boost it slightly then spend the remainder of his points on the acquisition of sub-skills and techniques for his skills that had reached a new milestone rank. Yet, the possibility that he could get some sort of advanced imperious magic was too good to pass up!