Free Web NovelChapter 22: Chapter 22 - not completely defenseless anymore."
After Sara left, Night summoned his companions. Right now, he had some energy to spare, so he decided to let them out.
Lilith, Eve, Death, and Lucy materialized in the living room. Lucy immediately went and jumped onto the sofa, lounging comfortably. Lilith and Eve began looking around the house; everything was new to them, and they felt an irresistible urge to explore.
Death walked over and sat on the sofa as well.
Night finally smiled. Seeing this, he already felt at home. He sat down beside them and relaxed, pulling up the System’s menu.
Status
Name: Night (Nightmare)
Race: Homunculus (Artificial Human)
Class: Unlocks at Lvl. 10
Level: 4 (EXP: 70/500)
Energy Value (EV): 1980 (+10%)
Aspect: [Nightmare]
Skills: [Sensitive Nose (Lvl. 1)], [Beast Instinct (Lvl. 1)]
Unique Skills: [Nightmare Domain]
Summons: [Eve], [Lilith], [Death], [Lucy]
Title: [Awakened]
Looking at his EV, he decided to upgrade the [Beast Instinct] skill. Despite his previous reservations, this skill was just too good to ignore.
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 2) - Cost: 20 EV]
[Description: Gives the user the instincts of a beast.]
[Purchase? Y/N]
He immediately upgraded the skill.
Surprisingly, as soon as the skill became Lvl. 2, he didn’t feel anything dramatic happen like he was expecting.
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 3) - Cost: 30 EV]
He upgraded it again to see.
Again, nothing.
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 4) - Cost: 40 EV]
Again...
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 5) - Cost: 50 EV]
And finally...
...
A few moments and -540 EV later...
...
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 10) - Cost: 100 EV]
Yes!
...Still nothing.
Night flopped back with a groan.
[Energy Value (EV): 1439]
Death looked at him in worry, while Lucy asked, "What happened?"
Night explained how the skill didn’t seem to improve even after reaching Lvl. 10.
Lucy explained, "Instinct is a very vague concept. Its intensity depends on various factors; when you are close to death, it becomes as real and sharp as it can be, but in a safe environment, it dulls. Usually, skills like these only truly evolve after crossing the Lvl. 10 threshold."
"The fact that you can upgrade skills like this directly with Energy is unheard of. Others have to repeatedly use a particular skill in combat or eat a natural treasure for them to evolve."
"A skill like instinct is extremely difficult to upgrade. It would typically require the user to survive life-threatening situations again and again, which would most likely lead to their death before the skill ever leveled up."
Hearing this, Night’s mood improved significantly. He prepared to upgrade the skill again.
[Beast Instinct - (Lvl. 11) - Cost: 1100 EV]
He was about to confirm, but stopped abruptly when he saw the cost.
Bullshit! Who increases the cost like this?!
Just when he had started enjoying the feeling of being rich.
He decided to wait and not push his gambling streak. Despite knowing the skill would likely evolve, he still had an assassin’s corpse digesting in his domain. Who knows, maybe that would give him an interesting skill instead.
By now, Eve and Lilith had returned to the living room. Since there wasn’t much space for all of them on the sofa, they all moved to the bedroom to hang out.
To pass the time, Night started sharing interesting stories he had read in his past life.
"There was this unfortunate hero who awakened a divine aspect, only for it to possess a massive flaw. Whoever uttered his true name would make him their absolute slave..." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Seeing Lucy narrow her eyes dangerously, it suddenly hit him how similar her own situation was to the MC of his story. Expertly, he pivoted and changed the plot.
"...But he died because his blind friend betrayed him!"
This time, he saw the ethereal flames in Death’s eye sockets flare up. She practically screamed murder. It seems she didn’t like betrayal.
Shit... Night thought.
"Ahem... and the blind friend was swiftly brought to justice!"
He changed the story so drastically that only the opening remained the same; the rest was pure, nonsensical fluff he came up with on the spot to avoid offending his highly sensitive summons.
...
As he was done with the story the last of the human remains dissolved and this time he recieved what he had been hoping for... A new skill...
Ding!
[Basic Knife Proficiency - (Lvl. 1) - Cost: 10 EV]
[Description: User is granted basic proficiency with a knife.]
[Purchase? Y/N]
As soon as he purchased it, he felt foreign knowledge flow into his mind, instantly teaching him the basics of wielding a knife.
He remembered the assassin had been carrying a dagger. Checking his domain, he saw it floating there in the darkness.
He summoned it into his hand and walked to the training hall. The others followed, curious to see the new skill in action.
Looking at the knife, it was an unassuming weapon—a straightforward, matte-black blade devoid of any shine or decoration. The unpolished edge was sharp but perfectly plain, leading down to a simple, wrapped grip.
The only hint that it was more than a common tool was a solitary, rune carved deep into the base of the dark metal.
[Simple Black Knife (Lvl. 10)]
[Description: An unremarkable tool meant for basic survival tasks. The dark iron is highly conductive to mana, serving as a vessel for a singular, dormant rune carved near the hilt.]
[Over-Sharpen - Pushes the weapon past its physical limits for a single attack]
He started to do some basic jabs and slashes with the knife. At first, his movements looked a bit comical, but as the seconds passed, his body adapted to the knowledge. His motions became fluid, making it look as though he had trained with a short blade for a lifetime.
Then, he activated the weapon’s skill. He wondered if it would work with his EV, since he didn’t possess traditional mana.
It worked. The knife’s blade practically hummed, becoming incredibly sharp. He checked the EV consumption: it drained 1 EV per ten second.
It’s manageable, Night thought.
Besides, in a life-and-death situation this skill can easily turn the tide.
EV consumption will only matter if I actually stay alive.
Seeing Night stop his practice, Lucy spoke up. "A weapon skill, especially a basic proficiency one, will give you the knowledge of how to hold and swing the weapon. But knowing when to use certain moves and how to adapt in real combat can only be learned through actual practice and real training."
Night smiled, gripping the black handle. "At least I am not completely defenseless anymore."
