Initiate of Pride could be offered because of my own pride and confidence in myself, which sometimes borders on recklessness. Yet time and time again, I choose to trust in myself to the point that it might kill me one day.

Sounds good.

Patience could be something I got due to my willingness to endure pain and patiently work on my skills, often preferring future results instead of immediate ones. I think I've proven multiple times that I'm willing to just shut my mouth and endure whatever the tutorial or monsters throw at me.

As for Greed, that one is obvious: my greed for more mana and power, and my desire to learn all the skills, sometimes at the expense of others.

Somehow, I also feel a really strong pull to pick Greed. It's as if it's an old friend reminding me of itself. It's a really weird feeling.

I'm sure any of these would be a good enough decision, and I believe that I could reach the top even without them or with any other subclass.

So what can sub-classes offer? If I pick Pride, maybe it will improve my abilities, perhaps increase the speed at which I master them? Maybe my efficiency will improve. Maybe it will allow me to fight someone with a similar level of skill, giving me an edge because of my Pride. It could also allow me to perfect my skills or reach a deeper understanding through arrogantly trusting in myself.

As for Patience, it could help me endure—endure the strain of mana or perhaps the strain of constantly running stronger skills? Maybe my mana projectiles and weapons made of mana will become firmer too.

Greed could improve the speed at which I learn new skills, or allow me to learn them faster, maybe even steal them in the future?

There are so many options, yet as always, I come back to trusting myself and my decisions. I do believe I will do well no matter what I pick, and it's slightly annoying how Greed keeps calling out to me. As if someone or the system is trying to influence my choice. This is my decision to make. Only mine.

Pride it is. I choose, and a new passive appears.

[Initiate of Pride]

There is no level, no rarity; it just appears in my status right next to the subclass.

Immediately I try to move my mana, and it feels like there is a slight change—it moves more smoothly. I might just be imagining it, so I ignore it for now and will revisit it later. As of now, it feels like my hold over mana is better—how to put it—a bit more dominating? It's as if I don't have to expend as much energy in controlling it.

I try multiple skills, and it feels the same. It's not that the skills themselves have improved, but rather that they're easier to control. When I create armor around my body, it also becomes more intricate and firmer. Before, I didn't care much about it, but now it seems as if my Pride doesn't allow that. The armor doesn't become overly decorated, just looks more elaborate, and firmer, with some simple ornaments. It looks quite nice.

I continue to activate all the skills I have and use them for a bit, and each seems to be affected. They are easier to work with, and now I start to realize that this affects my mana as well. The effect isn't terribly strong yet, but I can feel it. I'm sure I will improve on it with time and maybe explore more of the new subclass. But for now, it's really good.

Still, I can't help but be slightly disappointed. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had hoped it would be as strong as my attribute upgrade, but perhaps I'm wrong or haven't fully explored it yet. I will have to look into it a bit more and observe the changes after the rest of the group picks their sub-classes.

Anyway, my mana is noticeably easier to handle, and it's easy to guess what that means!

But since I'm thinking of my mana, I should upgrade my skills, shouldn't I?

The last time, I went and upgraded [Focus] instead of [Mana Manipulation], and I still think it was the right decision to go for Consolidation, as it allowed me to [Focus] a huge amount of mana into a much smaller point than my other skills allowed me. I used more mana than before to create nuke-like javelins, even though the shape was much smaller—just a dagger.

It's not something I'll be able to replicate anytime soon. It was only the situation I was in last time that allowed me to do so: a healing aura that kept me alive as I released everything that held my mana at bay and used its beautiful entirety to create that small black dagger.

My answer to the Potency attribute upgrade that Lissandra chose instead of my Amplification. Mana that should be much stronger than what I usually use. Mana that seems to dominate all the surrounding mana to the point of taking it under control.

I'll need to practice with it more, but I just can't right now; I would quickly end up dead just trying to get a little bit of it. In the future, I'll do it, and I'll create a construct that will passively temper my mana into this one. I'm already excited, thinking about how it could affect my skills.

But first, I use a skill upgrade token, and the [Mana Manipulation] upgrades are the same as before.

[Mana Manipulation] (Advanced Mana Manipulation) Expert Mana Manipulation: Extend your understanding of mana to refine your manipulation techniques. This upgrade allows for an even more precise control and intricate shaping of magical energies. Mana Sculpting: Further improve your control over mana to form detailed and intricate constructs of magic. This extends your Advanced Mana Manipulation skills, allowing you to perform elaborate magical feats with a high level of precision. Mana Imprinting: Learn to leave your unique imprint on the mana you have manipulated. This can be used for tracking, marking territory, or creating unique temporal magical constructs recognizable only by you. Mana Veiling: Perfect the art of concealing your mana, making your magical presence less detectable to others. This can be useful in evading mana sensors or hiding your magical abilities.

I have already upgraded [Focus] at level thirty. I'm unable to upgrade [Resonance] since it's not at level thirty yet, and it seems that upgrading it for reaching level ten won't work. This skill I acquired by combining two different ones seems to work a bit differently or it's impossible to do a level ten upgrade for such a skill.

The [Armament] options are still quite disappointing, and [Perception] has some nice offerings, especially Mana Flow Analysis, which I also liked last time.

[Perception] Mana Echo Reading: Enhance your skill to perceive the residual trails of mana, enabling you to track past magical events or spells. Kinesthetic Perception: Hone your ability to perceive the movement and position of your own body, increasing agility, balance, and accuracy in combat. Perception Shielding: Upgrades the skill to mask one's own mana perception, making it more difficult for others to detect or trace your mana-sensing activities. Mana Flow Analysis: Develops the capacity to identify nuanced patterns and rhythms in the movement of mana, offering deeper insight into how skills are invoked and controlled.

Then I hesitate. All the upgrades feel weak right now, lacking even. The ones I really liked last time feel like something I could easily achieve and most of them I'm already using on my own. For example, Mana Flow Analysis, which I used to like so much, is something I'm sure I can mostly do on my own, even without upgrading. The same goes for Perception Shielding or most of the upgrades for [Mana Manipulation].

Should I really upgrade it? It's a shortcut that would immediately make me stronger but could also lead to a bottleneck that I won't be able to break through because I relied on mastery over the skill that the system gave me, rather than trying to learn it on my own.

Then, after thinking it over I decide to trust in my abilities, and I resolve against using the upgrade token.

From now on, I will use skill upgrades only for skills I do not consider that important. It breaks my heart not to be able to receive some juicy upgrades, but I'll be fine. In the long run, it will pay off. I'm absolutely certain of that.

Oh, wait a moment. Should I try selling it?

"I want to sell a skill upgrade token," I say out loud and a new window appears:

Do you really want to sell the following item for 2500 shards?

Skill upgrade token

Yes/No

WHAT! What the heck is that! That's straight-up daylight robbery! I saw that I can buy a skill upgrade token for five thousand, so how the heck is this even allowed?

Just wow. WOW.

Okay, whatever. Let's sell it. Starting now, no skill upgrade tokens. I will master my active skills properly and I will do it because I know it will be worth it.

I check my shard balance and it shows 2600 shards. Huhu, now then, let's find some nice rare passive skill with a healing effect.

Passive Skill: Enhanced Mana Recovery (Rare) - By attuning their body to mana's flow, the user experiences accelerated healing. The potency of this regeneration is directly proportional to their current mana levels, making their natural recovery swifter when mana is abundant.

Passive Skill: Kinetic Resurgence (Rare) - The user's connection to kinetic energy bolsters their recovery. Each movement becomes a catalyst for healing, with kinetic energy propelling the body's natural regeneration.

Passive Skill: Pyrokinetic Resurgence (Rare) - The user taps into pyrokinetic energies to fuel their regeneration. By channeling controlled bursts of heat, they expedite the healing process, using fire's transformative nature to mend their wounds.

After going through what's probably hundreds of passives, I find three that I really like. I also have to try really hard to not pick a different kind of passive.

It's time. I'm an adult so yeah, it's time to make a smart decision and finally improve my healing a bit.

Yes, my body is now super tough, but I do not believe that I won't get hurt ever again, plus Lily won't be near me forever, so yes, even a rare passive should be good enough for now.

I did check and I'm still far from buying an epic passive skill. They are starting at eight thousand shards and I have only a bit over two thousand.

As for passives, each of them could be even a bit stronger than their rarity might suggest, as they would fit me super well, so they could end up feeling halfway to epic or as one of the stronger Rare passives.

Enhanced Mana Recovery would use my ever-increasing mana to accelerate my healing. Nothing too difficult to understand. More mana, and faster healing to the point where rarity itself doesn't allow it to become faster. In my case, it could be instantaneous. Obviously, the system won't explain how strong rare passives are.

Kinetic Resurgence could have a bit stronger healing effect, but it's less of a passive if I can say it like that. I would need to actively use some kinetic energy to feed it to the passive for faster recovery. It's not such a problem, though.

Pyrokinetic Resurgence would rely on my thermal energy. So it's a janky way, as I always go about it. Mana into kinetic, kinetic into thermal, and then strengthen my passive; but from the description, the healing effect seems to be the strongest out of three.

There are a few more decent ones, but these three are something that seem to be fitting me the most. I also picked them on purpose in hopes that I could learn from them to heal my body. Somehow, I had no luck copying Lily's more "traditional" healing or Hadwin's, so maybe I will have more luck with these ones.

I give it a bit more thought, but in the end, I pick the most expensive one. It must be the best, right?

Do you want to buy the following Passive skill for 700 shards?

Passive Skill: Pyrokinetic Resurgence (Rare) - The user taps into pyrokinetic energies to fuel their regeneration. By channeling controlled bursts of heat, they expedite the healing process, using fire's transformative nature to mend their wounds.

Yes/No

I confirm it and buy the passive skill.So, I have 1900 more shards; should I buy one more healing passive?

It takes only a few moments, but I decide against it. Right now, I do not have a feeling that I desperately need one more, nor anything from the shop, so I decide to keep my shards. There might be a better use for them a bit later.

After checking that no one is around, I clench my teeth and break my finger and also cut my leg. Then, I start transferring kinetic energy into thermal and keeping it inside of my body, ready to be used.

Almost immediately, I feel something inside me siphoning some of that energy and transforming it into something entirely different. That new energy quickly circles my entire body and then rushes to the place I wounded. I then observe as the wound on my leg starts closing and even the broken finger starts twisting and returning back to its original place.

I try to connect to that energy and create a more intense heat inside, and the process speeds up even more and the wound quickly heals. It takes a few seconds, but I believe that I can speed it up even more if I condense thermal energy enough to the point where my flames would turn golden instead of yellow.

The effect isn't as smooth as Lily's, nor does it feel like I would be able to restore missing limbs, but overall I'm quite happy with it. The best thing is that I had a feeling that this is something I can work with. Unlike Lily's skill, it was easier for me to follow the process, and there was even a hint of understanding.

Good! I became stronger once again. Pay to win, I could say. Still, System, you are such an asshole.

Before returning to others, I open and check the floor quest.

Floor quest:

Destroy one of the four Calamities

Rewards:

Epic Passive skill

Skill upgrade token

Shards

stat points

Access to other Communities