"Guess I'll start with the one that's easiest to digest" Making sure that there was no residual strain from learning [Basic Weapon Mastery], Valyr went ahead and grabbed [Fleeting Feet] and [Scholar's Sagacity] before absorbing them.
Allowing the strain he had accrued from learning both skills to disappear, Valyr took in a deep breath before voicing out a command.
"Merge."
Ding!
In less than an instant, a screen popped up in front of Valyr's field of vision, acting as a response to the command he had just uttered. Reading through the prompt he had obtained, a light smirk soon appeared on his face, recalling how magical it was for him to discover this feature for the first time.
[Would you like to combine 'Robust Arms', 'Deft Hands', 'Astute Eyes', 'Astute Mind', 'Fleeting Feet' and 'Scholar's Sagacity' into one skill?]
[Note that combining all mentioned skill into one shall remove all of the previous skills.]
"I accept." Accepting the prompt once he was done reading through the screen's content, Valyr soon felt multiple pieces of information in his mind move away from their original spot before clashing against one another, making him feel a bit of headache whenever the pieces of information clashed against one another.
Fortunately, from what he could recall, most of the pain he would feel was from the beginning of the process, when the pieces of information seemed to act as separate entities. Though, as they continued to clash against one another, they gradually meld into one entity, with each succeeding clash decreasing the amount of pain he would feel.
With that in mind, Valyr endured the splitting headache he had experienced at the start of the process, which gradually disappeared into nothing by the time a notification sound resounded in his mind a few minutes later, prompting him to take a look at the notification screen to his side.
Ding!
[You have gained the active skill 'Limit Break'.]
[Due to the lowest level among the prerequisite skills being Level 1, 'Limit Break' shall start off at Level 1.]
Taking in a long and deep breath, Valyr had a wide grin on his face once he took a look at the notifications he had received. Though he did feel a hint of sadness at the fact that the skill that was formed from the merge returned to Level 1, this feeling was swiftly replaced with excitement as he thought about the great number of things he could do with the new skill.
However, rather than checking the skill's description out, Valyr opted to finish learning all of the skills for now, picking up the skills the guide from his memories told him were the prerequisite skills needed to obtain [Polymorph].
Or, to be more exact, a better version of [Polymorph].
"Nngh…!" At the very moment he began learning all of the prerequisite skills needed for the [Polymorph] variant skill, Valyr instantly felt like his head was being pressed inward, feeling an inordinate amount of pain that even exceeded the pain he felt from absorbing multiple magic skill books at once.
Thankfully, once he had absorbed one of the prerequisite skills, the skills that Valyr absorbed after that put less of a strain on his mind, prompting him to ponder over the reason why some skill books put greater strain on his mind, while others put less or no strain on his mind at all.
'Hmm… I guess that makes sense.' By the time he had absorbed the final skill needed to obtain the [Polymorph] variant skill, Valyr already had an idea on how the amount of strain a skill book would inflict could be predicted beforehand. Surprisingly, the reason behind it all came down to two words.
Previous knowledge.
With that, it now made sense for him that all of the skill books that contained magic within them put a greater amount of strain on his mind since he did not have any previous knowledge regarding magic at all.
Though, as he pondered over this, he thought about the magic knowledge he had accrued in his previous life, only to come to the conclusion that the system was only taking into consideration the knowledge his body had accrued so far, not the soul that decided to settle within it. However, with the thought in mind, he could not help but wonder why his body had not decided to learn magic before he came along.
In the end, he had no clue.
Nevertheless, the requirement of previous knowledge also explained the excruciating amount of pain he felt while absorbing the first prerequisite skill for the [Polymorph] variant skill, considering that it had something to do with transforming parts of the body, even if it was just temporary. However, once he had gained a bit of knowledge regarding that area, the strain put on his mind lessened with every succeeding skill he absorbed.
"Merge."
Ding!
Commanding the system yet again once he had absorbed all of the necessary prerequisite skills for the skill he wanted, Valyr read through the prompt the system had given him, causing a faint smile to appear on his face as he took in a deep breath.
[Would you like to combine 'Muscle Control', 'Bone Control', 'Skin Control', 'Proportion Control', 'Eye Color Control', 'Hair Color Control', 'Voice Control', and 'Energy Concealment' into one skill?]
[Note that combining all mentioned skill into one shall remove all of the previous skills.]
"I accept." Reminding himself of the pain he had to go through earlier, Valyr braced himself as he accepted the prompt, deciding to lie down on the floor as he allowed his body to contort however it wanted to endure the pain.
As there were more prerequisite skills in the formation of the [Polymorph] variant skill compared to the number of skills needed to form [Limit Break], Valyr had to endure a great amount of pain for far longer, tightly gritting his teeth to the point that some of them cracked.
Thankfully, the process eventually came to an end, allowing Valyr to finally sit up straight as he mustered the strength to do so, his body covered from head to toe in cold sweat.
Ding!
Hearing the notification sound resound in his mind, Valyr went ahead and took a look at the screen to his side as he allowed the residual pain from the process to subside. Though, once he read the name of the skill he had gotten, he forgot a bit of the pain he was enduring as he let out a soft chuckle. 'It literally is a better version of [Polymorph].'
[You have gained the active skill 'Enhanced Polymorph'.]
[Due to the lowest level among the prerequisite skills being Level 1, 'Enhanced Polymorph' shall start off at Level 1.]
"You know what? I'll take a nap for now." Though Valyr wanted to absorb all of the skill books he had bought from the Boundless Skill Emporium, the amount of pain he had to endure so far was enough for him to come to the conclusion that he should rest his body for a while.
Aside from the fact that the final skill he wanted, unlike the previous two, was a passive skill, Valyr knew that the amount of pain he would have to endure to get it was far greater than even what obtaining [Enhanced Polymorph] had inflicted on him. After all, if knowledge regarding transformation of the body already hurt like hell…
What would knowledge regarding the unearthing of innate potential feel like?
