Primordial Awakening: I Breathe Skill Points!-Chapter 59: The Price of Optimization (1)

Momentum Overflow dissolved the same way, flooding his mind with different knowledge.

Action tracking. Tempo analysis. The System framework for converting combat activity into explosive damage multipliers.

[SKILL ACQUIRED: MOMENTUM OVERFLOW (Rank A)]

[Type: Active - Burst Amplification]

[Effect: Channel accumulated combat momentum into your next attack. Bonus damage based on consecutive actions in past 60 seconds (attacks, dodges, skills, movements). Maximum 50 actions tracked. Each action adds 15% bonus damage (max 750% at 50 actions).]

[Additionally: Strike releases shockwave dealing 30% of impact damage to all enemies within 8 meters.]

[Cooldown: 45 seconds]

[MP Cost: 300]

’Action tracking. 50 actions in 60 seconds for maximum damage.’

’With my AGI, I can easily perform more than one action per second. That means I could reach 50 actions in less than 30 seconds if I’m moving at full speed.’

’And the damage cap is 750% at max stacks. That’s less than Accumulated Disaster’s 1,000%, but I can reach it in a fraction of the time.’

’This changes everything about my combat approach. Accumulated Disaster is my long-term devastation option—the nuclear option when I have time to build momentum over multiple encounters. But Momentum Overflow? This is my immediate response tool. My "things just got serious" button.’

He tested it in VR.

Spawned three Level 30 training dummies and started his assault.

Attack. Dodge. Attack. Movement. Skill use. Attack. Dodge.

His System tracked every action, a counter appearing in his peripheral vision:

[Actions: 15/50](12 seconds elapsed)

He kept the tempo high, his enhanced AGI making the movements feel almost lazy despite their speed. The axe moved through prescribed arcs, each motion flowing into the next with mechanical precision. Step, strike, pivot, strike again. His boots scraped against the VR arena floor as he circled the dummies, maintaining constant pressure.

[Actions: 30/50] (22 seconds elapsed)

’The counter’s climbing fast. Every dodge counts as an action. Every step. Every weapon swing. Even activating Focused Strikes added to the total.’

He incorporated more variety into his assault pattern. Axe strike, side-step, shoulder check, spinning slash, backward leap, forward dash. The System registered each distinct motion as a separate action.

[Actions: 50/50] (35 seconds elapsed)

[MOMENTUM OVERFLOW - READY] 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

[Bonus damage: 750%]

’35 seconds to reach maximum. That’s... that’s actually fast. Way faster than Accumulated Disaster.’

’But the damage is lower. 750% vs 1,000%.’

’The trade-off is clear though. Speed versus power. Quick burst versus sustained buildup.’

He activated the skill.

[MP: 3100 → 2800]

His next axe swing glowed with compressed kinetic energy—all his accumulated momentum channeled into a single strike. The weapon felt heavier, like the air itself was resisting the movement, every atom of surrounding space trying to contain the explosive force building in the axe head.

The attack connected with the first dummy.

[Damage: 5,120]

[Shockwave damage to nearby enemies: 1,536 each]

[Training dummies destroyed: 3/3]

’Five thousand damage from the main target. Fifteen hundred to everything nearby.’

’Not as high as Calamity Strike at max stacks, but achievable in less than a minute instead of fifty minutes.’

’These skills complement each other perfectly. Momentum Overflow for quick burst damage when I need it. Accumulated Disaster for absolute devastation when I have time to build it.’

’But what happens when I FUSE them?’

’That’s the real question. If the fusion takes the best aspects of both—the quick buildup of Momentum Overflow and the massive damage of Accumulated Disaster—I could end up with something truly monstrous.’

-----

Zeph spent the next hour integrating both skills into his combat routines.

Practiced shadow-fighting in his apartment, imagining opponents and drilling combinations. His neighbors below probably wondered why someone was stomping around at 11 PM, but he didn’t care. This was too important to postpone.

By midnight, he had a clear picture of how they worked individually.

Tomorrow, he’d fuse them.

’But first... the redistribution.’

He pulled the Stat Redistribution Token from his storage ring. The small medallion gleamed in the dim light of his apartment, one side showing a human figure with glowing points at major joints, the other showing the same figure with points in different positions.

’24 hours of physical restructuring. Random side effects person-to-person.’

’And I need to use it BEFORE the skill fusion, because the fusion will create a new skill that I’ll want my stats optimized for.’

He opened his phone and pulled up the forum posts he’d bookmarked earlier. User experiences with the Stat Redistribution Token.

The thread had grown since he’d last checked. Now over 300 replies, most of them horror stories.

User: StormBreaker - "Felt like my bones were on fire for 24 hours. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t sleep. Just agony. But my stats are perfect now so... worth it?"

User: ShadowDancer - "Uncomfortable warmth, that’s it. Maybe I got lucky? Or maybe high VIT makes it easier? Either way, not bad at all."

User: IronFist- "PASSED OUT at hour 18. Woke up at hour 25. Lost an entire hour somehow. Stats were redistributed correctly but I have no memory of the worst part. Blessing in disguise?"

User: QuickSilver - "Weirdest experience: I couldn’t stop laughing for 6 hours straight. Like, hysterical laughter. My neighbors thought I’d lost my mind. System does weird shit to your brain chemistry during the process."

User: VoidMage - "Extreme hormonal fluctuations. VERY awkward. The forum guidelines won’t let me describe it in detail but trust me, you do NOT want company during this process. Lock your door. Put up a ’do not disturb’ sign. Maybe move to a different planet."

That last post had 156 upvotes and a long comment chain of people sharing similar experiences.

Zeph scrolled through them, his expression growing increasingly concerned.

’Okay. So the possible side effects range from "mild discomfort" to "temporary insanity" to "things we can’t discuss publicly."’

’Great. Helpful. Love that for me.’

’But the common thread is: lock the door, don’t let anyone see you, prepare for weirdness.’

He stood up and checked his apartment door. Deadbolt: engaged. Chain lock: secured. He tested the handle twice just to be absolutely certain.

’Food and water within reach. Bathroom accessible. Phone charged in case of emergency.’

’Everything’s ready.’

’Let’s do this before I overthink it.’

He activated the token.

[STAT REDISTRIBUTION TOKEN - ACTIVATED]

[Process Duration: 24 hours]

[Warning: User will be partially incapacitated during process]

[Random physiological effects may occur]

[Emergency abort: NOT AVAILABLE once process begins]

[Confirm redistribution? Y/N]

’No turning back after this. 24 hours of whatever random nonsense my body decides to experience.’

’But I need the optimized stats. Need the balanced build. Need to fix the glass cannon problem before I walk into those ruins.’

He selected [Y].

The token dissolved into light, flowing into his body through his palm where he held it. The sensation was strange—not hot or cold, just present, like his hand was drinking liquid starlight.

[REDISTRIBUTION INITIATED]

[Current stats locked for analysis...]

[New distribution calculating based on user preferences...]

[Physical restructuring will begin in: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]

[Process active. Duration: 24 hours.]

For the first thirty minutes, absolutely nothing happened.

Zeph sat on his bed, waiting for pain or discomfort or weird laughter or SOMETHING.

Nothing.

’Maybe I’m one of the lucky ones. Maybe high VIT actually does make this easier. Maybe—’

His body temperature spiked.

Not painfully. Not uncomfortably. Just... shifted. Like someone had adjusted his internal thermostat up three degrees.

’Okay. That’s manageable. Just warmth. I can handle warmth.’

He rolled up his sleeves. The apartment’s ambient temperature hadn’t changed—he could see his breath fogging slightly in the cold winter air—but his skin felt flushed, almost feverish.

Thirty more minutes passed. The warmth stabilized.

Still no pain.

’This is actually not bad. Maybe all those forum posts were exaggerating. Maybe people just like to complain about—’

Something changed.

Not temperature. Not pain.

Something else entirely.

His heart rate increased. Blood flow intensified. Every nerve ending suddenly felt more aware, more sensitive to stimulus. The texture of his shirt against his skin became uncomfortably noticeable. The faint hum of his refrigerator in the kitchen sounded twice as loud as normal.

’That’s... that’s the neurological recalibration. My nervous system being upgraded to handle the new stat distribution.’

’The forums mentioned this. Heightened sensitivity during the process. Totally normal. Nothing to worry about.’

He tried to focus on breathing exercises. Foundation Breath pattern, steady and controlled.

It helped. Slightly.

But the sensation kept building.

By hour two, Zeph realized with growing horror that "neurological recalibration" was affecting his ENTIRE nervous system.

Including parts that really, REALLY did not need to be involved in System processes right now.

’No. No no no. This is NOT happening.’

But it was.

The redistribution process was restructuring his physical body at a cellular level. Blood vessels. Hormone production. Nervous system responsiveness. Everything was being optimized.

And apparently, his body’s interpretation of "optimize all biological systems" included activating responses that were deeply, profoundly inconvenient.

’The forum post. "Extreme hormonal fluctuations. Very awkward."’

’THIS is what they meant.’

’Why didn’t the System WARN me about this more explicitly?!’

He checked the original token description on his phone with shaking hands:

[Warning: Random physiological effects may occur during redistribution process. Effects vary person-to-person based on individual biology and System integration patterns.]

’That’s it. That’s the entire warning. "Random effects may occur."’

’THANKS, SYSTEM. VERY HELPFUL. DEFINITELY NOT UNDERSELLING THE SITUATION.’

By hour three, he’d given up trying to ignore it and just accepted that the next twenty-one hours were going to be extraordinarily uncomfortable in ways no amount of mental preparation could have prevented.

He paced his apartment, trying to burn off excess energy. Checked the locks again. Drank some water. Stared at the ceiling and questioned every life choice that had led to this exact moment.

’At least I’m alone. At least no one can see me like this. At least—’

The doorbell rang.

Zeph froze.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​