Being back in Doom Sovereign was weird. Specifically, it was weird to note how differently all the actions I was taking affected the world around me. Doom Sovereign compensated for levels and power enhancement in an unusual way. Since people played with their real bodies, just upgrading the character wouldn't work. Instead, as you became stronger, the world around you was shifted. Items became lighter, gravity became lower. Other people's avatars went through relative adjustments.

That said, having played this game for quite some time, I was pretty used to what level of power my body would have at different levels. My current level shouldn't have been nearly enough to create the kind of effect I was seeing. In retrospect, the concept that a stronger base body would affect your DS character was nothing new, but the sheer power I had here even at this low level was mind boggling. Still, it didn't matter that much anyway. I was basically just moving like a higher level character. As long as I didn't springboard myself into the ceiling or something what I did in the game didn't matter.

What mattered was that it was time for me to get some practice in. In fact, Doom Sovereign in general was perfect for the way the skill worked, because the way the scan box projected it onto the room meant I was using my skill in the real world but still had a visual aid for it. I was knocked out of that reverie when Benny's character showed up at the house I was currently in. I'd been working my way toward a rep when I'd been on last, and part of that was a good meeting place. A quick quest I remembered from early on in my playtime had gotten me a bare bones cabin to use.

This whole forest was filled with them actually, since the quest was repeatable, and the deed vanished when you got another house, so there were almost always a few available, due to the out of the way location. Luckily doors still worked, because Benny was banging on mine waiting to come in. The strangeness of my best friend, who was in the room down the hall, being at the door of a room I wasn't actually in and knocking on said door with a second body that was technically part of a holographic projection was not lost on me.

It wasn't just me either, when I opened the door, Benny's orc shaman looked...troubled. He nodded as I let him inside. "Man, remind me never to play DS with someone in the same house again. My brain is twisting in knots keeping track of both of our relative positions. This is deeply unsettling." I nodded in agreement and he puffed out a breath. "Ok, so, training day, part two. What are we going to do here? First you should tell me how your Skill works by the way, is it character dependent? If so let's go over your build."

That seemed as good a place to start as any. "Yeah, seems to be character dependent. As for my build." I shrugged. "Same as my last. I'm playing a hybrid multi class rogue,diviner,and monk. Most of the websites call it a Fatewalker build. The diviner's prediction and the monks elemental attacks combined with the rogue's stealth and damage over time. So far only my diviner layout has been available to me in real life. Makes sense considering I started with the diviner class."

Diviner's were mainly noncombat classes. Their prediction could be adjusted to the template I had, with the multiple arrows and possible strike options, but most people used them as a dowsing rod for finding deposits of ore or rare plants. The further the divination the larger the arrow and the less specific, but it was still a damn useful skillset. My build was a somewhat unconventional one as far as DS characters went, but I'd always enjoyed weird combinations in games, even if there were more effective ways to do things.

Benny blinked at that. "Huh. Diviner was the first to work? Even in order I wouldn't have figured that. I'd have expected it to be rogue, or even monk. Something physical based. Do you know why?" His character strolled over and plopped down on my couch, one of those weird interactions that was hard to figure out as someone watching from the outside. At his question though, I had to stop and give that some thought.

Why had my diviner skills been the first to unlock. Looking back, thinking about the combination of factors, I was pretty sure it was because they really only required a physical component, and I really only had physical Skills. I didn't have the ability to throw fireballs or mobilize Fantasy in a way that seemed like magic. I knew from talking to Ian those skills existed, though they were mostly unlocked by mastering enchanted items, still, I'd been firmly stuck in the mundane.

However, that was in the past. I DID have a magical skill now. A crafting based skill sure, but it still counted, and if the whole skill harmonizing thing was what let me properly use my Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery Skill, then now that I had Minor Enchanting Mastery, I should be able to apply the less mundane aspects of my build. At least...a little bit. If it worked the same I'd be limited to two attacks per day, but two supernatural attacks was better than none, and I could potentially improve that going forward.

Waiting until I reached G rank wasn't the only way either. Apparently my number of runes per point of Impact would rise when I hit Lesser Enchanting. Only to two per point, granted, but still, it would be a big bump, and it would compound the improvement from the Impact bump when I hit G rank. I'd wondered why Zeke hadn't mentioned it, but in the end I'd decided that he probably figured I would rush if I had the extra incentive, and he wasn't wrong.

The important thing here was that I had an idea of how to do this. I was going to get one shot at this today, since I still had a rune to do for Jessie's wand. I had to pick carefully. Something easy to use preferably, and hopefully something that didn't do too much damage. In reality I was still in my game room and I was pretty motivated not to blow a fireball hole in my wall. My rogue skills were all dangerous to others, I didn't think a curse or a cloud of poison would be a good idea even if I had the stats to manage them, which I probably didn't.

That left me with monk skills. Most of those were elemental though, and of the elements the majority would be too damaging for an indoor test like this. Fire was a no go, obviously, as was wind, because air pressure was brutal. Earth would be feasible because it mostly just coated my limbs, but that seemed creation heavy, and I only had a single point of that for the moment. I decided my best bet was probably a water style technique.

I'd never focused much on the water style of my monk class, I tended to prefer speed and explosive force, either fire if I was fighting head on or wind when mixed with my rogue skills. I did have a few of them though, and it didn't take me long to pick out the low level water skill. The actual water required was scant so most of the heavy lifting should be done by Fantasy, which I had more of, besides it was a low level skill anyway so I doubted it would require much in the way of stats.

The technique in question was called mistwalking. It was literally the first skill in the water tree for monks, and I had only even gotten it to unlock the next layer of the tree because there was a steam skill in there that worked well as a surprise attack. Still, it suited my purpose here pretty well, so I brought up the game menu for my character with the gestures needed and activated the skill. As I did though, I focused on my Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, my Minor Enchanting Mastery, and both the Fantasy and Creation stats.

The feeling of the two skills resonating was...intense. Minor Gymnastics Mastery had been a clear subordinate to my DS Skill, but the resonance it had been able to elicit from the larger Skill had been pretty tame. It was clear to me that the Skill I paired my Lesser skill with would have a huge impact on how powerful the resulting attack could be. I was almost positive this was a half step version of what Ian and Callie had told me about, partially making a unique skill, but I could tell that true merging between the skills wasn't something you could do by mistake, so using them this way was safe enough.

I reached out to the air around me, feeling for the moisture. In the game this part was done by the system, the concept of using nearby moisture was just a mechanic that balanced water skill users. In reality though this was important. I was using Fantasy to engage the moisture in the air, minimizing the need for Creation at this step so I could employ it later in the technique. It was a slow and draining process, but eventually I managed to draw in a cloud of mist. I could see the technique around me in the game as well, and Benny was staring, wide eyed from his spot on my virtual couch.

Slowly, deliberately, I used the game menu to shut off the scan box, leaving myself standing in the empty room, alone. Tock had gone with Benny when he went to my room, and that left me alone in the game room. Just me, the scan box...and a cloud of opaque mist clinging to my skin. I almost cheered when I noticed the skill still active, though the disturbance in my mental state cause the already pitiful cloud of mist to dissolve, but it didn't matter. Despite it being weak and temporary, I'd still done it.

Enchanting was the key to using my Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery skill to the fullest. This accidental and insane skill that no one else had to my knowledge was going to be the key to my success, all I had to do was build up my stats to allow me to use it properly. My rogue class curse techniques and stealth skills, the other elemental trees of my monk class, even some of the more powerful diviner abilities. I could gain access to these in reality, and it was a powerful skillset that would really help me out.

I understood now what Ian meant when he said unique skills were powerful but complicated to improve, but with my abilities, I was sure I could manage it. Sure I could succeed where a normal person would have no hope of growing further. I could keep gaining experience for my skill through wishes. Maybe a single persons Doom Sovereign Skills would be useless, being even below a Minor Skill. But what about a thousand. Two thousand. Ten thousand. If I kept gaining more and more experience I refused to believe I couldn't get this skill to Beginner, or even higher.

For now though I needed to focus on learning more about my abilities with skill through my own training. A foundation of normal peoples experiences wouldn't be enough without actual practice and ability to fill it out with. If I was really going to make a unique skill like this I needed to put in the work. In the end though, I believed this was a great idea. I was going to have at least one ability in my corner that no one would see coming. Hopefully that ace in the hole would be my secret to surpassing the other candidates. The idea of being the Wishmaster suddenly seemed a lot more enticing when I had hope.