"Hello X L" Rex said. Slowly coming to terms with the integrated AI that was to now be his closest Aide. "What can you do X L", Rex asked the one question that had been burning in his mind. He had read about the Cosmic AI's basic features, but now that he had one, he would love to get the details from the AI itself.
"The question is what can't I do Rex", X L said with a sly smile on her face.
"What's important right now is that you check out the market section of the hub and your Ember of Aptitude" X L said, crossing her hands in front of her chest, and looking at Rex like he was some unserious fellow.
Rex, even though slightly irritated by the display. Took her advice, as he summoned the last of the three items he received from the "Overlord Newbie Package".
A very dark candle with glyphic markings running all across it, cool to touch, ancient vibe and seemed to actively absorb the very light around it; The ember of aptitude.
"Well that's a negative candle, if I dare say" Rex couldn't help but say as he stared at the summoned item that looked like a candle.
"The Ember of Aptitude is an artifact forged from the arts of the ChronoWeavers, Masters of time and space. It can be used to activate a skill path" X L said as she shrunk her size and floated around the candle like a fairy.
The unnatural size shrink caught Rex by surprise.
"My existence can be best understood by you as being an existence whose world is your interface, and I can do anything I want to in it" X L said as she returned back to her normal size, noticing Rex's slight uneasiness with her size change. Returning to her normal size she switched her attire to a cute version of the overlord set. Which made her look like a kid cosplaying space soldiers.
"Halooooo Rex" X L said as she attempted to call back Rex's attention.
"Ehmmmmm, so what is a skill path" Rex said as his cheeks were flushed red from the shame of being caught. X L was so cute in the suit, he had been momentarily dazed admiring her cuteness. He really felt like pinching her fluffy cheeks, even now that he had come of his daze.
"A skill path is one of the core requirements of progressing into an E-Grade player, from an F-class player; which is your current grade." X L said as a gold rimmed, large lens glasses materialized on her face. "Okay" Rex replied to her definition, ignoring how excessively X L was abusing his interface, as if it was a boutique.
He had some information on skill path, Grade F players (Newbie Players) could absorb Monster orbs to pick up skills, but to progress into a Grade E player, they needed to form at least one skill path. The majority of players achieved this in the Class Temple, where a class ceremony was performed to forge a skill path from the players awakened skills, play style and attribute. This was one of the prerequisites for obtaining a class.
But there was another path to obtaining a skill path, but much more uncommon. This was with the use of this very rare item, The "Ember of Aptitude". An articraft that could allow players obtain a skill path, based on the particular Class the candle held.
Rex recalled a popular player "Nexus Witch", a player of the healer class, who had obtained an Ember of Aptitude for the Gunner class. After using the Ember, she had obtained some of the skills of the Gunner Class. Leading her to develop her very own unique play style, where she could switch from casting healing spells trying to maintain her focus, so her spell is not broken or worse still, lands on the wrong target, like the monster that was being battled.
To charging guns with her healing magic and actively bombarding her teammates with healing rounds. Saving herself the hassle of being a sitting duck while she cast spells.
As Rex held the Ember of Aptitude, the details appeared in a window in front of him.
Ember grade: Epic
Class Type: Combat
Skill Path: Shadow's Embrace
Awakening Duration: 3 hrs
"3 hrs!!!" Rex screamed internally as he brought up his quest timer.
'''''8hrs 33mins'''''
That was how much time he had left, in his 12 hour quest. With most of his time lost when he had slept off after defeating the first neo-life tortoise.
"Using the Ember of Aptitude, will significantly increase your chances of completing this quest" X L said sensing Rex's indecision.
"I can't gamble the time" Rex replied as he analyzed that using the ember right now, would leave him with only 5 hrs left to complete conquering the ruin. Not knowing what difficulty he could face later on. Rex unsummoned the ember as it reappeared in his inventory.
- - - -
"Tap, Tap", Rex shuffled through stone sculptures that gave him the impression of being seats as he made his way around the hall. "Since his first entry into this hall, he had never been allowed the peace of exploring the ruin, with rage filled humanoid tortoises, whom he had come to realize were "Husks of Neo-Life Tortoise" assaulting him.
Now he was finally doing so. The architecture of the hall, seamlessly blended nature with artificial construction. The glowing-vines were perfectly integrated into the architecture of the ruin, like as if both were a single entity, having a peculiar life of their own.
As Rex admired the architecture, X L who had been silent since her advice spoke, "This form of architecture is a common practice in cultures who follow the eldergrove arts". "Eldergrove Arts" Rex repeated. X L noting Rex's confusion continued to explain further for him, "The eldergrove art is one of the five common paths of ascendance, A path to elevating one's existence, this includes increasing ones physical quality, increasing ones affinity to the cosmic laws...." X L stopped her speech as she noted the disinterest of her one man audience.
Rex couldn't be any more bothered about the Games Lore, he had just spotted more shinny metallic coins scattered around a particular area of the hall, As he made his way towards the coins, they disappeared, reappearing in his inventory.
+135 Bronze coins
Total Coins: 100,170 B
Seeing the six-digit figure in his POV, caused a satisfied smile to reappear on Rex's face. He had not gotten used to his huge fortune yet.
The corner where Rex picked up the coins, was the last unexplored space of the plant hybrid hall. He darted his eyes around the Halll again to confirm his observation. The only door in the hall was the one that linked it to the passageway. Recalling the mechanism, with which he had opened the door of the hall, Rex moved towards the closest outcrop of glowing vine from the wall.
"Coooollll", Rex's thought as he touched the glowing vine. The vine had a very satisfying cold feel, giving him a deep sense of satisfaction as he touched it.
"Twip" Rex felt as if his mind had expanded as he touched the vine. The feeling could be likened to his mind switching from functioning in battery saving mode to maximimum performance. "That is defined as a Bio-sync, and sustained sync can result in mental fatigue." X L broke Rex's euphoria as she announced with the demeanor of a cute kid trying to convince an adult of his wrongdoing.
Rex, who was already letting himself go to the sensation, quickly recalled himself.
The connection he had established with the plant life, allowed him to adjust a lot of things in the hall, such as it's temperature and lightning. When he thought about exit, he could feel the obsidian box, that the just defeated Neo-life tortoise ambushed him in, reacting.
Rex made his way to the obsidian cubic structure, as he got within a meter of the obsidan box, a slit appeared through the centre of the cube, from the side which he was approaching from. As he got closer, the slit continued to expand like it was a living creature, opening its mouth and inviting it's prey to walk into its demise, from the impressive aesthetic display of transition employed in its slit opening.
As the thought crawled into Rex's mind, he paused his footstep as he stood directly in front of the slit. X L who had already entered the slit opening of the obsidian cube in her projection in Rex's POV, tilted her head slightly to her right, as she stared at rex with evident amusement in her face.
"X L is this a trap?" Rex asked the slightly amused AI, whose face bore a sly grin as it heard his question.
"I don't know"
Rex stared at his AI, "What the heck".
As he could not get any reply from his AI, Rex quickly did some calculations in his head to reassure himself of his decision.
"Neo-Life Tortoise 2 had arrived into the hall in this and had not been present the first time I had entered the hall"
"The vines, hint to this as the pathway to leave this hall"
"There is no reactions from my instincts as I approach"
Concluding his analysis, Rex made his decision to join his "I don't know AI" in the obsidian cute.
"If I encounter any danger, there must be a way I could survive it" Rex thought as he entered the cube.
"Click!"
A crypt like sound, reverberated in the dark space, that was the inside of the obsidian cube as it closed.