Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 29: Elemental Blade

Edge snapped back into his own skin, gathered his will, and used his ultimate ability a second time.

When he found himself standing inside the beast’s core, the jungle had wilted considerably during his absence. Extraction had done some serious damage, but since he was planning on killing the creature anyway, that wasn’t a problem. The defoliation had the side effect of increasing the visibility, which helped him pick out the next power he wanted to steal.

After making sure that there wasn’t anything he wanted to add to his skillset, he focused on the powers that would grant the most experience when he Absorbed them—the ones with the highest rarity and rank. The beast didn’t have any Rares, so Edge went for the best Uncommons he saw. The next skill he stole was rank four. It increased the potency of the beast’s venom and wouldn’t do anything for him.

It looked like a pile of bubbling green gunk. He had some reservations about eating it, although he doubted that consuming the skill would have the same effect as being injected with actual venom. Fuck it. I have the medicinal pill and Trapper’s Cleanse if I wind up poisoning myself. Fortunately, the black chains could bind any skill, regardless of its form. He directed them to grab the goo, and they pulled it free from the core a few seconds later.

It came as no surprise that the venom skill tasted like shit. At least for the first few bites. While eating the noxious sludge didn’t paralyze him, it made his mouth go numb. Edge wound up biting his tongue several times before he swallowed the subdued skill. Since he had already ranked up Harden, he moved onto the next power on his list and put the experience into Elemental Blade.

The venom skill was sucked into his reactor and incinerated—reduced to ash within that infinite plane of searing flame. A portion of its experience came flowing back through the bulbous black grill and sank into the crystal sword hovering in his skill garden. It wasn’t enough to fill its cup to the brim, but it was getting close.

When his mind rejoined his body, Edge was thrilled to discover that the scorpion was still alive. It had stopped struggling and was hanging on by a thread, so he used the last charge of Extraction as quickly as he could.

This time around, the jungle was a scene of devastation and ruin. The ground cover was dead, the trees were skeletal, and the stench of rot had risen to fill the humid air. It was an unsettling sight, but he wasn’t planning on sticking around.

He ordered the chains to steal one final, rank-three skill. Something that enhanced the nutrition the beast received from its prey. After the chains pulled it free, Edge chewed it up, then entered his core and Absorbed it.

It was the first time that he had been able to steal three skills from the same target, since the damage Extraction caused usually killed his prey before that point. But since he was working alongside the crew and didn’t have to hide his secret from his friends, he was able to pull it off.

A rush of anticipation broke over him when Edge saw that Absorbing the third skill had generated enough experience to advance Elemental Blade to rank two. The subzero sword was a key component of his skillset, and he had been looking forward to upgrading it for some time.

I wonder what awesome new powers the upgrade will give me. He learned the answer just a few seconds later.

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The skill (Elemental Blade <ice>) has advanced to Rank 2.

Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.

Please choose between one of the following options:

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Your iceblade will be able assume a variety of new forms, including an axe, spear, scythe, and staff. The cost of leaving the iceblade manifested will be greatly reduced, and you may summon a second sword without paying the cost of activating a skill combo. Instead of summoning an iceblade, you may transfer the effect of Elemental Blade onto an existing bladed weapon. You will still be able to use the original version of the skill.Warning: if no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a slight bonus to mana efficiency.

As always, the mental images the System provided offered far more detail than the words on the screen. The first option was interesting but didn’t really appeal to him. It had taken quite a bit of practice to wield the iceblade in sword form, and he was already learning the naginata on top of that.

If he already knew how to use a wide range of weapons, the upgrade would offer some interesting versatility. But since Edge was still a novice warrior, it wouldn’t help him out nearly as much. Especially considering the opportunity cost of passing up the other two options.

The second choice was worth considering. Right now, the drain of Elemental Blade was substantial enough that he generally only manifested it right before attacking. While it was a mana-efficient strategy, it had the downside of taking a couple of seconds to set up, which could make all the difference in the heat of battle. If he went down this route, he could keep the iceblade out for more of the fight or conjure a second if he wanted to try dual wielding.

On the other hand, he fought with his polearm most of the time, and had just received his first ranged weapon, which just so happened to be bladed. Details that made the third option irresistible. Edge could still use his iceblade the same way as before, but he could extend the best feature, its subzero bite, to his polearm too, offering him all the advantages of wielding the longer weapon while increasing its damage and utility.

On top of that, he could add the chilling effect to any bladed weapon he picked up, including his new chakram. Combining Elemental Blade with his chakram would give Edge a magical ranged attack, something that he had been hoping to acquire ever since binding his core.

He sent his intentions into the System and selected the third choice. When the crystalline sword that represented Elemental Blade stopped glowing, it was still the same shape. However, the glacial glow that surrounded it was thicker and more menacing than before. As if the frozen aura was the real weapon and the iceblade merely a vehicle for its wrath.

Edge stepped back into his own skin, then grabbed his chakram and gave it a try. After his core ignited and refined mana filtered through the skill, it flowed along his arms and into the brass and bone weapon clasped in his hand.

Just as he’d been hoping, the bladed ring began to shimmer with a coating of wintry blue mana. It wasn’t quite as cold as his iceblade in its natural state, but it was damn close. To the extent that he wouldn’t have been able to use it with a weapon that he gripped by the blade if he didn’t have Regulate Temperature and its elemental damage resistance upgrade.

When Edge flicked his wrist, the chakram went sailing out of his hand, cutting down a swath of grass and leaving frost-rimed stalks in its wake. I’ll have to be careful using it, but this is a major upgrade.

He let Elemental Blade dissipate and then activated it once more, trying it out with his polearm this time. The blade of the weapon began shining with the same frigid aura, leaving a line of mist behind like the tail of a comet as he moved it through the air.

Now that he had stolen three of the beast’s skills and upgraded two of his own, Edge was ready to put the wounded scorpion out of its misery. However, the third use of Extraction had already done the job for him. The beast twitched one final time and then went still, as the life faded from its beady black eyes.

Everyone let out a cheer at the sight. Trapper’s crew had concluded another successful hunt, although it hadn’t gone quite the way they had planned. They just needed to pack up the parts and head back to Puppet Town. Now that their mission was complete, it was time to get paid.