I scratched my head in contemplation. All three possible skill evolutions were powerful, which left me with some hesitation. As always, I decided to look at them separately first.

[Overloaded Triple unity sword] was a direct upgrade of my current skill, in the sense that it simply added to what was already there. More power, more difficult to dodge or block, more projectiles, that kind of thing. Usually, people would have to beg the system to receive such a straightforward upgrade. This time, though, the other options were far more powerful.

[Aura blade], for example, was supposed to act as a more general-purpose skill, the same way some swordsmanship skills transformed into a general weapons mastery. Instead of being limited to a single sword, [Aura blade] would allow a person with an aura skill like my [Overload Aura] to create multiple projectiles with their aura at once, as long as a sharp piece of equipment was used. In many ways, it was a rather mediocre upgrade, one that people would only pick if they wanted to use a particular weapon over their current setup. The only advantage it had was that multiple projectiles could be made, but, realistically, how many bladed weapons could a person wield at once? It wasn’t like skills counted, since the [Aura blade] only accepted equipment.

Luckily for me, I had just acquired the perfect synergistic skill, [Onyx chain wind]. If I was lucky, each chain could count as a separate piece of equipment, which would allow me to send out a near-infinite amount of aura blades as long as I had mana. Such a concept would be infinitely useful in nearly every situation, which made the implication of the synergy hard to ignore. Normally, this skill would be an instant pick, its power simply too much for me to pass up on.

Unfortunately, my last option was a monster of a skill.

A laser beam that could destroy any skill it came into contact with, as long as its tier was at or below [Sword laser]. Furthermore, the system didn’t mention a thing about me losing the ability to create normal sword arcs either, so chances were that I would be allowed to keep both functions.

The sheer destructive capabilities of a skill like that were almost unfair. As long as I tiered the skill up enough, I would be invincible among people of my own tier. Well, to be fair, I already was, at least for now.

All of this meant that my choice boiled down to two possible options. I would have to choose between a swarm of small but deadly sword arcs or a single unblockable black beam of pure destruction. Both were attractice options, to the point that I couldn’t choose anymore. In the end, I decided to put it up to a coinflip. Heads, I go for [Sword laser], tails, I go for [Aura blade].

My decision made, I pulled out a copper coin and tossed it into the sky. It flipped once... twice... several more times... and fell into my waiting hand. Slowly, I opened my clasped fist, revealing the copper sheen in the palm of my hand.

Heads.

~scene transition~

POV: A retired soldier.

As I sat on the porch of the destitute shack that had been given to me by the captain, I was left wondering: Where had it all gone so wrong?

I was sure I had handed in my letter of resignation properly... Did it get lost in transit or something? Why was I here, out in the middle of nowhere, assigned to a job that young men could do five better than myself?

I sighed and ran my fingers through the beard that I had slowly cultivated for the past few decades. These days, I was spending a good chunk of my retirement money on grooming the thing, since it had nearly reached my belly button. Humming a tune from when I was young, I pulled out an old pipe. My old man had left me the thing after his passing, along with a letter of recommendation. The greatest mistake of my life had been delivering the damn thing. Near 300 years spent in the army, with nothing to show for it, apart from something as arbitrary as reaching the fifth tier.

I was interrupted from my musings by a small speck that had appeared at the edge of my aura. A few minutes later, a shadow appeared in the shade that a nearby apple tree provided. The man was covered in black rags. Any passerby would mistake him for an assassin or a ruffian, but those in the know would recognize him as one of the king’s hidden men, a Roanian soldier.

The man pulled a brown bag out of a small pouch and opened it in a way that I could see it. A severed head appeared.

Without looking at him, I spoke to my subordinate.

“Another one? Doesn’t this kid attract a little too much attention?” I asked.

Wisely, the black-clad man kept his mouth shut.

I grunted. These young fellas were no fun. Back in the day, soldiers could still joke with each other. It seemed that, the stronger you became, the less fun the people around you would become.

“Origins?” I inquired.

“Unknown as of now. His fighting style leads us to believe that he’s one of the aristocracy’s dogs.” the man said, nearly hissing in anger when he said that last part.

“Just like we’re the king’s dogs?” I asked with mirth, making the tier 4 rogue fall silent.

How typical of our king to pick up vengeful spirits and turn them into men and women loyal solely to him... Though all monarchs do that, I supposed.

“This is what, the fifth one this week?” I asked, not expecting an answer.

“Sixth, sir.”

I snorted. “What difference does it make? Still, it seems things are calming down. A month ago, we were finding several each day... Some of which we still don’t recognize... It doesn’t help that the cults are also interested in him because of his affinity... A coin for your thoughts?”

“The cults won’t move until they’re sure Arthur won’t rat them out. Roa is too well-guarded for them to approach. Most likely, they’ll lure him out of the country and try to recruit him then.”

I shook my head. He was mostly right. There was just one thing I wasn’t convinced of. The cults wouldn’t lure him out, they’d make the higher-ups send him out...

Before I could contemplate this further, something put me on alert. In the far distance, I heard a strange shrieking sound, like a skill that was scratching against some kind of hollow metal. I jumped into the sky to take a look, and saw a black beam tear through a stretch of trees. A moment later, all of them toppled over. Only a long stretch of dirt remained where the skill had passed.

“It seems that ‘young master’ has learned a new trick...” I said with a smile. The faster he grew in strength, the sooner I could get back to my retirement, after all. Once the time came, I would be free to enjoy myself. Maybe I could go visit the azure beaches in the south, or the snowy villages in the north...

~scene transition~

The wide smile on my face quickly evolved into full-on laughter. I had had high expectations for [Sword laser], but this was too much! With this much tree-chopping power, shouldn’t I just become a lumberjack instead?

The only unfortunate part about the skill was that it used so much mana that I could only use it once before I reached thirty percent capacity, which wasn’t enough to cast it a second time. And that was only when it came to my core’s mana, which acted more as the controlling energy for the skill. Its real power came from the overloaded mana around me, that gathered on my sword when I used the skill. Casting the skill once had taken all of the mana around me without asking. I literally couldn’t limit its intake. Supposedly, the more mana it consumed, the more powerful the laser...

Oh, and there was one other problem. The laser was loud. When I say loud, I mean LOUD. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people over in town could hear me use it, that was just how loud it was. If not for my frighteningly high constitution stat, my eardrums would have popped.

Yet, despite these problems, I was happy with my choice. Now, I finally had a proper ultimate skill, like all those other braggarts from the tournament. Just one skill to rule them all. Well, maybe that was a bit too dramatic.

I headed deeper into the forest to test my skill without bothering the townsfolk.

A few hours later, I headed back home to rest for the rest of the day. Constantly waiting for my mana to regenerate had been a constant test of patience, but it had allowed me to properly learn how to use sword laser. The skill was somewhat easy to dodge normally, but sword marks would help with that. Besides that, the day had been a great success.

Now, I only had a month left to practice the final two skills I wanted to complete before I evolved my class to tier 3. [Dark radiance core] and [Overload aura]. Both skills worked as the power sources of my other skills. Combined, they represented my true combat power even more clearly than my stats.

That evening, even my parents picked up on my mood.

“Did something good happen, son?” My father asked, while mom fed Amber, who quivered in satisfaction as she fed. The little bundle of cloth wrapped around her and my mother hid all but one of her tiny limbs, a little hand that clasped as she concentrated.

I decided to confide in my parents and told them about the new skills I had gained, as well as the last two that I was working towards. Dad indulged me and acted like he understood the significance of what I was saying. In my mind, I was grateful that he tried. That was enough.

Before I went to sleep, I decided to spend some extra time in my mental palace, since I let so happy after a good day. Skills, family... what more could I ever want?

As I entered the white space, I once again found myself in the familiar environment of my subconscious. Over the past month of meditation, my little gathering of trees had finally grown to the size of a grove. The plants there were still rather limited in variety, but for the most part, everything seemed to be shaping up. My shack was a little sturdier than before. Some walls had been repaired and some shaky foundations had been replaced with fresh beams and planks. Furthermore, the inside of the shack actually looked liveable now. Furniture was present, and the floors were as clean as you could expect a farmer’s house to be.

The only thing that was bugging me was the rose out in my grove. I hadn’t yet bloomed, and the normally sturdy plant was starting to look a little isolated and dry. Since I wasn’t sure what the plant represented though, there wasn’t a thing I could do about it...

Time passed. Before I knew it, I had lost the exclusive right to occupy the tier 1 dungeon. Thankfully, I didn’t need it anymore. After a month of gruelling hours of meditation, the day had finally come. Humming a happy jingle, I opened my system notification.

[Dark radiance core](100%)

Tier 3 unique skill.

You possess a dark core filled with dark elemental mana.

The core can passively absorb ambient dark mana incredibly quickly, but has a small total capacity.

The core is immune to overloading damage.

Ambient mana of any affinity can be absorbed and converted into dark-aligned mana with an efficiency of 1000-1.

[Dark radiance core] provides a very large amount of extra power to dark-aligned skills and reduces their mana cost by a minimal amount.

Increase proficiency by drawing mana into the core for prolonged periods of time.

Tier 4 unique upgrades

[Dark revolving core]

At the expense of pure dark mana, increase conversion rate of other mana to dark mana to 500-1.

Converted dark mana can be recycled into its previous state at the same ratio.

Has a small mana capacity.

Provides a very large amount of extra power to dark-aligned skills and reduces their mana cost by a mediocre amount.

[Twin chaotic core]

Create a second, smaller core. This core can absorb and store a limited amount overloaded mana.

(Note that mana inside of the core must first be expelled into your surrounding area before it can be used in skills.)

Provides a very large amount of extra power to dark-aligned skills and reduces their mana cost by a small amount.

The first core has a small mana capacity.

The second core provides a small amount of extra power to skills that use overloaded mana and reduces their mana cost by a minimal amount.

The second core has a small mana capacity.

[Overload combustion core]

Concentrate mana into your core to overload it more efficiently than your body can.

Overloaded mana can be reverted to pure dark mana at the same efficiency.

Has a mediocre mana capacity.

Provides an extremely large amount of extra power to dark-aligned skills and reduces their mana cost by a large amount.