Chapter 10: [10] : Mutating the Step, Nullified Falls

The suspension bridge creaked loudly under their boots. The thick steel cables groaned with every step, and the wooden planks looked like they had not been replaced in a century. Below them, the Howling Gorge lived up to its name. The wind ripped through the massive canyon, sounding exactly like a screaming ghost.

Declan walked in the front. Sloane and Kendra trailed behind him, keeping a very safe distance. They were still staring at the back of his pitch black trench coat like he was a live bomb that could go off at any second.

"You really just killed the guy who runs this sector," Sloane said over the howling wind. "Like it was nothing. Do you even know how big the Black Vanguard is?"

"They were charging a hundred copper for a bridge they did not build," Declan replied without looking back. "That is bad business. I just filed a customer complaint."

"You vaporized three men!" Kendra yelled.

"They brought hammers to a meat cleaver fight," Declan said smoothly. "That is on them."

They finally reached the other side of the gorge. The air here was completely different.

The wet and freezing fog of the Weeping Thicket was gone. Instead, the air was dry and smelled faintly of sulfur and burning coal. The ground was covered in dark gray ash. Jagged black rocks stuck out of the dirt like broken teeth.

A system prompt popped up in Declan’s vision.

[Entered Area: The Ashlands]

[Warning: Level 5 to Level 10 PvE and PvP Zone.]

"Alright, let us take a quick break," Declan said. He walked over to a large flat rock and sat down. "I need to check my inventory. You two keep an eye out for anything that wants to eat us."

Sloane sighed and leaned against a dead petrified tree. "Sure boss. We will just yell if a fire breathing bear shows up."

Declan ignored her sarcasm. He opened his system interface. He had a lot of Origin Points sitting in his balance from the hound fight, the boar, and a few other random kills they made along the way.

But what he really cared about were the two items he looted from Gideon’s dissolving corpse.

He pulled out the blue glowing book first.

[Skill Book: Dash]

↳ Type: Active Skill

↳ Description: Consume 10 Stamina to rapidly dash 5 meters in any direction.

Cooldown: 5 seconds.

It was a standard mobility skill. Five meters was not very far, but in a close quarters fight, it was the difference between getting your head taken off and stepping right into the enemy’s blind spot. But a basic dash was not going to cut it. Not for him.

His SSS Rank Talent, Boundless Enhancement, clearly stated it applied to items and skills. He had not tested it on a skill yet.

"System," Declan thought. "Can I enhance this skill book before I learn it, or do I have to learn it first?"

[Notice: Skills must be learned and integrated into the host’s neural network before enhancement can be applied.]

"Fair enough." Declan pressed the glowing blue book against his chest.

The book shattered into dozens of tiny blue lights. The lights sank through his trench coat and directly into his skin.

Declan gasped. It felt like someone had just poured a cup of ice water directly onto his brain. A sudden rush of information flooded his mind.

He instinctively knew exactly how to tense his leg muscles, how to shift his weight, and how to push off the ground to move five meters instantly.

[Skill Learned: Dash Level 1]

He looked at his Origin Point balance. He had well over a hundred points. It was time to gamble.

"System," Declan commanded. "Enhance the Dash skill ten times."

He expected a flash of light like when he upgraded his cleaver and his coat. Instead, a massive and splitting headache hit him right between the eyes. He grabbed his head and gritted his teeth.

[System Enhancement Initiated]

↳ Dash +1. Stamina cost reduced to 9.

↳ Dash +2. Cooldown reduced to 4.5 seconds.

↳ Dash +3. Distance increased to 6 meters.

↳ Dash +4. Stamina cost reduced to 8.

↳ Dash +5. Cooldown reduced to 4 seconds.

The headache was getting worse. It felt like the digital information inside his brain was being forcefully rewritten with a sledgehammer.

The normal safety cap for a skill was +5. Going beyond that meant the skill would normally corrupt and erase itself, taking a chunk of the player’s sanity with it.

[Notice: Skill has reached maximum safety thresholds. Neural corruption imminent.]

"Keep going," Declan growled under his breath.

[Talent: Boundless Enhancement activated. Cap removed.]

↳ Dash +6. Distance increased to 8 meters.

↳ Dash +7. Cooldown reduced to 3 seconds.

↳ Dash +8. Stamina cost reduced to 6.

↳ Dash +9. Distance increased to 10 meters.

The pain peaked. Declan felt a strange popping sensation behind his ears. The headache vanished instantly, replaced by a cold and empty feeling in his chest. The blue light in his system menu turned into a deep and swirling black void.

[Dash has reached +10.]

[Triggering Conceptual Mutation...]

Declan let out a long breath. The new information flooded his brain, replacing the old muscle memory of the standard dash.

This was not about pushing off his legs anymore. This was about stepping through a hole in reality.

[Skill Mutated: Void Blink]

↳ Type: Active Skill

↳ Description: Teleport 15 meters instantly in any direction. Ignores all physical obstacles.

↳ Cost: 15 Stamina.

↳ Cooldown: None.

Declan stared at the floating text. No cooldown. He could spam it as long as he had the stamina. And it ignored physical obstacles. He did not just move fast. He literally stopped existing in one spot and started existing in another.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kendra asked. She was looking at him with a worried expression.

"You just grabbed your head and looked like you were going to throw up."

"I am fine," Declan said. He stood up. "Just digesting some new information."

He looked at the second item he got from Gideon. He pulled the boots out of his inventory. They were dark and hardened leather with nasty looking steel spikes on the toes and heels.

[Item: Spiked Striders]

↳ Tier: Forged

↳ Defense: 10

↳ Agility: +3

He took off his cheap burlap shoes and put the boots on. They automatically resized to fit his feet perfectly. The +3 Agility boost was immediately noticeable. He felt lighter. His base agility was only 5, so this nearly doubled his natural speed.

But it was not enough.

"System, enhance the Spiked Striders ten times," Declan thought.

The familiar white light swallowed his feet. The chimes rang out rapidly.

[Spiked Striders +1]

[Spiked Striders +5]

[Notice: Maximum cap reached. Shatter imminent.]

[Talent: Boundless Enhancement activated. Cap removed.]

[Spiked Striders +9]

The boots changed shape. The leather smoothed out, turning into a sleek and matte black material that looked like carbon fiber.

The heavy iron spikes retracted slightly, becoming sharper and more streamlined.

[Spiked Striders has reached +10.]

[Triggering Conceptual Mutation...]

The white light turned a dull and heavy gray.

[Item: Spiked Striders +10]

↳ Tier: Forged (Mutated)

↳ Defense: 30

↳ Agility: +15

↳ Trait Unlocked: Kinetic Dampener

↳ Functionality: Fall damage is completely nullified regardless of height. User cannot be knocked down by physical force.

Declan smiled. Thirty defense, a massive fifteen agility boost, and complete immunity to fall damage.

"I need to test this," Declan said out loud.

"Test what?" Sloane asked.

Declan did not answer. He turned and sprinted straight toward the edge of the Howling Gorge.

"Declan, wait!" Kendra screamed.

He did not slow down. With his new agility stats, he cleared the distance in two seconds. He did not stop at the edge. He just kept running right off the cliff.

He dived into the open air.

The wind roared in his ears as gravity yanked him down into the bottomless gray mist of the canyon. He watched the rocky cliff face blur past him. He fell for a solid four seconds, picking up terminal velocity.

"Void Blink," he thought.

He looked straight up at the cliff ledge he had just jumped from. He focused on a spot of dirt right next to where Kendra was standing.

The world went completely dark for a fraction of a millisecond. There was no sense of movement. No wind. Just a cold nothingness.

Instantly, the darkness shattered.

His boots slammed into the rocky dirt right next to Kendra. He did not stumble. The Kinetic Dampener trait absorbed the massive downward momentum completely.

He just appeared out of thin air and stood there perfectly still.

Kendra shrieked and moved a bit backward onto the ground. She scrambled away from him like he was a ghost.

Sloane dropped her jaw. She looked at the cliff edge, then looked at Declan. "You... you just jumped off. I saw you fall."

"Yeah, you saw it right," Declan said casually.

He checked his stamina bar. The blink had cost him 15 stamina out of his 100 maximum. He could comfortably do that six times in a row before he needed to rest.

"That is teleportation," Sloane said, pointing a shaking finger at him. "That is not a Warrior skill. That is not a Mage skill. What class are you?"

"I told you," Declan grinned. "I have a really good gaming chair. Now, let’s get to work. Find me something to kill."

Kendra slowly picked herself up. She looked at Sloane.

"I think we made a deal with a literal monster," Sloane whispered.

"Just stay behind him," Kendra replied, grabbing her bow. "As long as he points that crazy stuff at the enemies, we get to survive."