Chapter 25: | Unique
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Liora lay on my back, snoring like a princess after gorging herself on a sumptuous crab feast.
I winced as a wave of pain flared through my body.
My muscles twisted and contorted, straining after being pushed far beyond their limits.
Yet, oddly, I found it… fascinating.
The pain from mutation, and the pain from overexertion, there wasn't much of a difference anymore.
Perhaps the reason I could barely register the agony now was simple.
I was used to it.
Pain, in a way, is useful.
It warns you when your body's damaged, lets you gauge how close you are to collapse.
But let's be honest, do you really want to feel every single inch of that pain?
Of course not.
Just a little pain maybe.
Too much?
Too much will drive a person mad.
And I wasn't too keen on losing my mind anytime soon.
Liora's snoring grew louder, like a gorilla rasping in her sleep.
As always, she only ever slept on my back, never anywhere else.
I sighed, lifting myself from the ground and continuing through the water.
The tunnel ahead, whether you called it a passage, a trench, or a cavern, had grown livelier.
Strange flora glowed faintly, and various small monsters lurked among the rocks and sediment.
But I paid them no mind.
The world here was quiet.
Peaceful.
And maybe that's why I liked it.
Had it been four hours since I started gliding through the currents?
Maybe.
I'd lost track of time, absorbed in the strange bioluminescent plants lining the cavern walls.
Some of them might've been rare herbs. Others, exotic flowers.
But I had no interest in plucking them out just yet.
That annoying blinking hologram in the corner of my vision had been pestering me long enough.
I figured it was time to check my loot.
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[You have slain:]
• Stage 1 Tier 6 Level 25 [★★★★ Storm-Horn Abyss Eel]
• Stage 1 Tier 6 Level 22 [★★★★ Gargantuan Ashen Crab]
[You have gained 2,400,000 EXP.]
[You have gained a level.] x2
[You have successfully devoured:]
• Storm-Horn Abyss Eel
• Gargantuan Ashen Crab
[You can now ascend to the next tier.]
[Yes] / [No]
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[You have gained new skills:]
• Ashen Carapace
• Lightning Horn
• Mercurial Reflex
• Storm Core
• Volcanic Core
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[You may now ascend.]
[Yes] / [No]
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Not a bad haul.
Nodding in approval, I selected [Yes]. A new hologram immediately materialized before me.
My tendrils quivered in anticipation.
Finally… after nearly a full year of grinding, Apex Predator Physique was ready to reach Tier 10.
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[Choose one:]
• Obtain a New Skill
• Fuse Existing Skills
• Ascend a Skill
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[Would you like to ascend this skill?]
• Apex Predator Physique [Tier 9]
[Yes] / [No]
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I hovered my tendril over the prompt.
Click.
Instantly, another hologram unfolded, brighter this time, more intense.
My body trembled,not from pain, but from excitement.
I couldn't help but grin like an idiot.
Finally.
After all this time…
You dumb bastard.
You're finally going to evolve and show your true worth.
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[Your skill has successfully ascended.]
• Apex Predator Physique [Tier 10]
[This skill may now evolve into a Unique Skill.]
[Would you like to evolve this skill?]
[Yes] / [No]
[Proceed with caution.]
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A kind warning.
But why hesitate?
Yes.
My eyes locked on the next set of prompts.
The options floated in the air before me.
I stroked my chin with a tendril, thoughtfully.
Three choices, huh?
Each of them had potential… but only one could be chosen.
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[You may choose one of the following:]
• Grotesque Physique
• Mana-Enhanced Apex Predator Physique
• Apex Predator Physique II
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Grotesque Physique immediately caught my attention.
It sounded powerful, brutal, monstrous, and perfectly tailored to my evolving body.
The second one?
Mana-Enhanced Apex Predator Physique.
Too long.
It felt like a glorified stat buff.
And the third… Apex Predator Physique II.
A simple evolution.
Probably stronger, yes, but somehow lacking in flavor.
Wasn't it obvious?
I sighed and made my choice.
Grotesque Physique.
And with that, the decision was made.
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[Unique] Grotesque Physique
A twisted and corrupted trait originating from the Whark race's natural biology, reshaped into a grotesque vessel through the influence of an unknown force. This skill allows your body to consume and bind external abilities—skills not native to your race or class—marking them with a grotesque sigil that nullifies their original growth path. Once devoured, a skill permanently loses its level, tier, and evolution potential, becoming a static construct within your internal system.
Instead of leveling, devoured skills are categorized by Ascension, reflecting their fusion depth, integration quality, and overall combat utility. While each absorbed skill retains its base effects and identity, they now act as modular components within a larger chimeric framework. Through Grotesque Physique, compatible skills can be fused into stronger, layered mutations—forming powerful bodily constructs.
This physique is not a container but a living system—one that mutates, synthesizes, and redefines the body with every devoured skill. Each fusion brings you closer to an unnatural apex, sculpted not by nature or training, but by the deliberate harvest of foreign power.
You can no longer stack body mutation skill of the same type.
Skill Devoured:
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Quite the interesting skill, this one.
With Grotesque Physique, I can now push my strength far beyond my imagination.
What's more, now I can finally fuse all those useless devoured skills into something actually worthwhile.
I snickered.
Even though these skills were identical to the ones I'd consumed before, they were just that, false skills.
They lacked the real weight.
The levels, the tiers, the ability to evolve.
Were all stripped away when I devoured them.
Still... even with those downsides, they had value.
Grinding the tiers of skills was a nightmare, and false skills, while hollow, could still serve as raw material.
They were tools.
Stepping stones for me to create Ascension skills.
But that wasn't enough.
What I truly needed were real Ascension skills.
And not false.
I sighed.
Still, since this is what the dimensional records bestowed I guess I accept it.
Now one thing at a time.
First, I needed to fully understand Grotesque Physique, its mechanisms, its growth potential, and its limits.
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Hours passed.
Countless trials, simulations, and controlled strain tests.
Finally, a conclusion.
This skill... wasn't just powerful.
It had potential, potential that scaled alongside my own evolution.
According to the Dimensional Record, there were four major paths to true power:
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1. Evolution.
The most common, and foundational, path.
Evolution upgraded your race.
Each race had a Star Rating, from 1 to 9.
The higher the stars, the stronger the base stats and skills of such race.
Nine stars marked the absolute limit of us mortals.
And going beyond that, and your existence would begin to break down.
Why did star ratings matter?
Because the more stars your race possessed, the more potent your skills and new ones became.
Stat growth would skyrocket, and your overall capacity would expand exponentially.
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2. Class.
A path I hadn't unlocked yet, but I knew of it with the information from the dimensional record.
Classes followed a system similar to evolution.
They had star ratings too, and they can evolved at tier 2 with the limit of tier 10.
It's the same, yet not the same, because classes don't evolve the person who possesses them.
Though classes provide a skill with each tier and boost your stats as you level up, they are fundamentally distinct from true evolution.
The right class could synergize with your race, magnifying your strength in unimaginable ways.
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3. Ascension Skills.
These were monsters of their own.
At low levels, they were powerful.
But the higher they rose, Ascension V, Ascension X, they became devastating.
Reality-bending.
But power like that didn't come free.
The activation costs?
Was astronomical.
You'd need higher-rank evolutions or advanced classes to even begin wielding them efficiently.
Using an Ascension skill without the proper foundation would only destroy you.
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4. Bloodline.
The rarest path.
And the most volatile.
You could be born with one, like I was… or, if you were fortunate, or reckless, you could acquire a Bloodstone.
But those stones were incredibly rare.
Obtaining one was even harder than aiming for a tier 10 evolution itself.
And even if you got one, there was no guarantee it would be a good match.
The bloodline path wasn't for the weak or the unlucky.
You'd risk your entire being for a roll of fate's dice.
Just for a chance to obtain a powerful bloodline.
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I exhaled slowly.
So that was it.
To truly reach the apex, you had to walk all four paths, race, class, Ascension, and bloodline.
A daunting road.
But I'd already unlocked two.
It was a good start.
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Liora was still asleep, snoring softly on my back.
Without a care to the world.
I shook my head, a small smile tugging at my lips.
Alright then.
Time to begin skill conversion.
Time to turn trash into treasure.
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