"Haah…" Letting out a light yawn, Valyr woke up from his nap as he gradually sat upright. Giving his body time to adjust to its current surroundings, he took a look out the window beside his bed, taking note that the moon was still high up in the sky.
'With how much pain I had to endure earlier, I wouldn't have been surprised if my nap turned into a full-on slumber.' Thankful that his body decided to follow his wishes of waking up in the middle of the night, Valyr went ahead and checked if his body had recovered from the pain he had to endure, only to become glad that his body seemed to be faring better than ever.
However, the grin that had adorned his face soon turned into a bitter smile as he thought back to the reason why he had decided to wake up in the middle of the night, heading to the gray orb to ask for a small drink that would keep him awake.
Though he had decided to use the gray orb on a whim to find out if he could use the inn's services even though it was late at night, Valyr was pleasantly surprised to find out that he indeed could do so, being greeted by the drink he had ordered once he heard someone knock on their door.
Thanking the man that had delivered the small drink to their room, Valyr then returned to his bed, taking a sip of the drink before placing it to the side, focusing his attention on the eight remaining skill books he was yet to absorb soon after.
"As long as I endure this short-term pain, I'll be able to benefit from it in the long run." Muttering a few words to himself to increase his confidence, Valyr took in a deep breath as he infused a bit of mana into the skill book he had chosen, prompting the latter to disappear into thin air as an influx of information soon greeted his mind.
"Nngh…!" At the very instant information started to enter his mind, a great wave of pain washed over the entirety of Valyr's body, causing him to grit his teeth as he tried his best to not fall unconscious. Thankfully, after a couple of minutes, the pain he felt gradually subsided, instead being replaced by the sensation of strength welling up within him, giving him the feeling that he now had the ability to tap into more strength than ever before.
Ding!
[You have gained the passive skill 'Innate Strength'.]
Letting out a sigh of relief as a notification sound resounded in his mind, Valyr took a quick look at the notification he had received by bringing up a notification screen in front of him once more. Similar to what he had done earlier, he then moved the notification screen to the side as he continued absorbing the other skill books that remained, their names all starting with the word 'Innate'.
"Mngh!" Though successfully absorbing a skill with the same principle in mind had reduced the amount of pain he was feeling, Valyr was still subjected to a great amount of pain as each skill tackled a specific stat.
While he was in the midst of absorbing [Innate Vitality], he felt his blood boil within his body. While he was enduring the pain brought upon him by [Innate Perception], he felt as if all of his senses were being ripped out. All of the other skills inflicted pain to Valyr in a similar manner, with [Innate Wisdom] and [Innate Intelligence] giving him a splitting headache the likes of which he had never experienced before.
Fortunately, as if to console Valyr for having to go through all that pain, as well as reward him for having the tenacity to push through all of those skills, absorbing [Innate Luck] only took a short while as a notification sound resounded in his mind a few seconds later. As for what difference [Innate Luck] had brought to his stats, it was only after sometime did Valyr notice that [Innate Luck] gave him an incredibly crude sense of how lucky he was.
Taking another sip of the drink he had ordered, which had already returned to room temperature at this point, Valyr pondered as to whether he should go ahead and combine all of the 'Innate' skills into one as soon as possible, or give his mind and body some time to rest from the pain he had to go through.
Unsurprisingly, Valyr chose to let his body and mind relax for a bit, getting the feeling that if he forced himself to continue with the skill merging, he would have definitely fallen unconscious.
With that, he decided to take a look at what had changed to the Technology Tree after he had learned multiple magic skills, finding a great number of advancements that could be unlocked within the tree's Combat and Innovation branch.
Making a mental note to head to the Blacksmith Guild in the morning to get his Technology Points for the month, Valyr soon realized that he would be heading to the Blacksmith Guild either way, considering that the Imperial Production Guild was the headquarters for a few notable class guilds including the Blacksmith Guild.
Keeping in mind a few of the new advancements he wanted to unlock once he got his Technology Points later, Valyr slightly found it a shame that the ability the Necklace of Enlightenment had was still on cooldown, recalling that he had used the ability to unlock more advancements regarding knowledge of the Ancient Age within the tree's Innovation branch.
Thinking that he had rested his body for long enough, Valyr braced himself for what was about to come as he sent the command he now had a slight fear of to the system.
"Merge."
Ding!
[Would you like to combine 'Innate Vitality', 'Innate Strength', 'Innate Agility', 'Innate Dexterity', 'Innate Intelligence', 'Innate Wisdom', 'Innate Perception', and 'Innate Luck' into one skill?]
[Note that combining all mentioned skill into one shall remove all of the previous skills.]
"Yes." Though Valyr knew that there was no other way around his current situation, he felt a bit of regret at the fact that he had accepted the prompt…
Only to regret it even more.
"Aaaaaagghhh!!" Letting out a scream of pain in response to the incessant amount of pain that now bombarded his body and mind, all Valyr could feel at that moment was the feeling that he was burned alive on the inside and the outside at the same time. Unsurprisingly, Valyr's sudden scream startled Wells to wake up, prompting him to head to where his friend was as he wondered what the latter was doing…
Only to be greeted by the sight of Valyr seemingly convulsing on the floor.
Noticing that Wells had made his way to where he was, rather than feel bad at the fact that he had inadvertently woken him up, a deep part of his mind felt delight at Wells' presence as all of a sudden, Valyr's body and mind decided to shut down and fall unconscious.
…
…
Ding!
[You have gained the passive skill 'Unearthed Innate Potential'.]
