Adam didn’t wait to think things through before he acted on his idea. Gaea Force was still running as he activated the first boosting skill he had gotten. Bolster resisted for a fraction of a second before activating and his body which had started to strain under Gaea Force, was now subjected to an intense pressure with both of his boosting skills active and with each passing second, the pressure kept steadily increasing. His physical attributes were stretched to their absolute limits and was fast approaching a point where they could not support both skills. Though I’ll probably be able to hold it for some time before I reach that point. Adam concluded as he admired the raw power coursing through him. He had tried to use both skills on a whim and it had worked.

His Bolster skill unlike Gaea Force, boosted all his attributes instead of just specific attributes, although the cost was higher when the skill was used at full power. Right now, Bolster is at level 13 and at the lowest setting it boosts all stats by 11% and costs 0.9% mana per second. Adam checked the description as he kept the skill active at the lowest power.

Bolster*(R) Lvl 13: A mana manipulation skill user Adam had devoured from a Horned Hare. Like the Horned Hare this skill is an active skill which boosts user’s physical attributes. The skill’s output can be adjusted from 11% to 33% boost to base attributes in BODY with cost in mana ranging from 0.9% of Total mana to 9% of total mana per second. The cost of the skill decreases with proficiency. The maximum boost increases with proficiency and may unlock other effects.

The skill cost went down after the skill reached level 10 and even the percentage boost has increased, Adam checked and found that once the skill had reached level 10, the skill cost had gone down and the boost had indeed increased. The fact motivated Adam to check out the rest of his skills.

Devour (U) Lv09 -> Lvl 11

Psychic Obfuscation*(E) Lvl 19 -> Lvl 20

Penetrate*(Un) Lvl 15-> Lvl 16

Bolster*(R) Lvl 12 -> Lvl 14

Analyze (Un) Lvl 19 -> Lvl 21

Giant Killing (L) Lvl 07 -> Lvl 09

Armored Carapace*(R) Lvl 03

Mental Bulwark*(R) Lvl 01

Robust Vitality*(Un) Lvl 01

Wild Rush*(C) Lvl 01

Mana Control*(E) Lvl 01

Mimic*(Un) Lvl 01

Gaea Force*(R) Lvl 01

He confirmed that every skill that had reached level 10 had improved effects, some of the skills even had lowered mana costs while some like his Penetrate Skill had increased mana cost but with stronger effects. Wonder why that is? The question came to Adam’s mind as he went through his skills. Some skills like Penetrate and Gaea Force have increased costs with proficiency levels and some have decreasing costs although all skills get better effects as they level. Bolster and Gaea Force are both boosting skills so why is with that increasing skill levels, one is having decreasing costs while one is having increasing costs?

Adam thought for all of one second before he decided he just didn’t have a clue. Fuck I don’t have enough information to even guess why. And he had a lot of questions about the system, too many for him to even guess where he should start and now, he added one more to the list. I’ll just leave it be till I find some people. I’m sure they’d have some answers to my questions. Adam decided to just leave his questions till he got out of the Gauntlet and found some people and returned back to his “experiment”.

Adam had only spent a few seconds looking at his skills. The pressure his body was under was immense but it was still tolerable and though the pressure had grown since when he had first activated Bolster, it had to yet to reach unbearable levels and Adam was sure that it would take quite some time before it did. He was sure that he would run out of mana before he ever reached that point.

Bolster takes effect after Gaea Force multiplies my attributes, Adam had no way to be sure but from the feedback he was getting, he assumed that this was the case. He upped Bolster to 20% and he sensed that his attributes had increased a bit, it was noticeable but just.

Just to make sure that he was correct in his assumptions he deactivated both skills before he activated Bolster once more before he activated Gaea Force. The feedback from the power coursing through Adam felt the same as it had before. Adam was now at least reasonably sure that the order of skill activation had nothing to do with how the skills were layered over each other. Maybe it depends on the stronger skill? Or the Tier? Once more Adam added another question to his ever-growing mountain.

With his curiosity satisfied Adam checked his mana levels before he turned up Bolster to full power. The pressure grew significantly as he did so, it was almost painful now but his body was humming with power. It was practically vibrating with the pent-up energy.

As Adam worked on controlling the raging energy inside his body, he had another idea and without thinking any further, he activated Armored Carapace. In an almost instant, thick black plates which were hard as steel formed all over his body. The plates swelled in size and thickness till Adam looked like he was fully encased in Heavy plate armor. Cool! It worked; I was half expecting it wouldn’t work. Adam thought with more than little bit of relief. I really should think things through before I do shit. Adam silently chastised himself. Though I was pretty sure it was going to be safe to do that since Armored Carapace isn’t exactly a boosting skill.

Adam had activated Armored Carapace in order to check whether he could use it with both his boosting skills active, he had no reason to believe that it wouldn’t but honestly he just thought it would be cool looking like a 9 foot tall giant covered in badass armor. With Gaea Force, Bolster and Armored Carapace activated he looked like an absolute monster of a juggernaut. With a huge frame covered by black armor plates, he looked like he was the medieval Black knight but dialed up to a 100.

Within a minute of Adam’s little experiment, the tell-tale signs of mana deficiency started to kick in and he started to feel the onset of a headache. Adam deactivated all his skills and as soon as he did, he was met with a wave of debilitating exhaustion and fatigue. He felt weak and tired even though his stamina was still mostly full. Probably the after effects of using two boosting skills together. I should be really careful about doing that. Adam was incredibly fatigued. He could still fight but in the state he was in now, he wouldn’t even be able to properly defend himself much less kill anything. Yeah! I figured that there was going to be some sort of restriction on using two boosting skills. Being able to nearly double my attributes with only just a slight discomfort just didn’t make sense. And now I see I was right.

Adam settled down where he stood and laid down on his back, he was just that tired and his body was begging him to let it rest. Mentally he was more or less fine which made sense since his body was the part of him that was most affected by his skills. As he settled down on his back, he was met with a welcome surprise as he gained a notification stating that he had gained skill levels.

I guess pushing my skills to their limits makes it easier to gain levels. Adam wasn’t too surprised with the knowledge as he already had an idea about how skills leveled. Through repetition and application. And now I can add stress to that list. Although I should really try and stick to the first 2 since the after effects of putting skills under stress is a bit too much. Adam thought to himself, it’s good to know that pushing skills to their limits increases their level faster, and using similar skills together is one method to really put pressure on the skills, although it puts a lot of pressure on my body as well and what’s worse is the after effects of the skills. Adam thought recalling the pressure his body had been under with both boosting skills activate and the exhaustion he was currently under after he had deactivated the skills.

Though he was physically exhausted, he was still happy with the results of his experiments. He was able to confirm that he can use two of his boosting skills together and nearly double his BODY’s attributes though the aftereffects left him vulnerable and weak. But Adam was sure that he had gained another valuable weapon he could use in a clutch. It was a trump card like Giant Killing and he had to be careful when and where he used it. Oh, but I’m definitely going to use it. Adam promised to himself. Just have to be careful with how and where.

Adam had finished going through his new skills and now all that was left was to check his status page. He almost opened it but stopped. He quickly opened up his skills page as he realized something. Adam checked his skills and confirmed that he indeed had 13 abilities. He had reached the hard limit for the number of skills. Fuck!

I didn’t even realize but I had reached the skill limit after devouring that lizard core. The knowledge left a bitter taste in Adam’s mouth. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since I was constantly using devour. It was going to happen eventually. He reasoned. He had been doing his best to survive and get stronger. To that end he had devoured everything he had killed, all in order to gain the power he needed to survive and clear the Gauntlet. He had gained skills and with it, power. Logically, he knew he made the correct choice when he had chosen to devour everything he killed. He had gained skills that had proven to be invaluable.

If he had turned his nose up at the opportunities that came his way, if he had chosen to wait to get better skills from stronger creatures, Adam didn’t know if he’d have skill slots left but he knew for sure that the skills and abilities he had gained ended up becoming a big part of the reason why he was able to kill things stronger than himself.

Though maybe not Wild Rush, Adam conceded. Losing a single one of his skills would end up hurting him and his chances of clearing the Gauntlet. Again, fuck Wild Rush.

The fact that he used up all his available skill slots stung even though Adam hadn’t been left much of a choice. He had no one to help him or teach him. He had no weapons or armor or even clothes. All he could depend on was his mind, his body and his instincts. That was all he had inside a trial with deadly creatures.

He needed every edge he could get to survive and get stronger. And all his skills ended up giving him that edge. Though Wild Rush is an exception. Adam thought, though it could have been much worse. I could have gotten useless skills and ended up crippling myself and unable to gain levels. The thought made Adam scowl.

Adam thought it over and came to the conclusion that he had made the correct choice in getting his skills. Ultimately only time would tell whether he was right or wrong. I’ll count it at as a win if my abilities let me clear the Gauntlet. Adam thought after some time as he came to terms with the knowledge that he could not gain any more skills. With the acceptance of his situation, he was left with a question.

Why 13? I mean I get that there is a hard limit on the number of skills and abilities an individual can possess. But why is it 13? Adam questioned. Maybe because there are 13 attributes? Maybe there’s a link between the number of attributes and number of skills? Adam assumed there was some relation between skills and attributes. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that there were 13 attributes and a hard limit of 13 skills. So many fucking questions? I swear if the monsters don’t kill me, the number of questions I keep having is going to end giving me a brain tumor or something. Adam thought with a bit of frustration.

After spending some time thinking about the relation between skills and attributes Adam decided to shelve the matter entirely at least until he could find someone who could provide him some answers. Got to finish the trial before I get to that.

With nothing else left, Adam finally opened his interface and checked his status page.