Chapter 55: A Glimpse
A Glimpse
STATS
[Name]: Mike
[Age]: 17
[Race]: Lupine
[Level]: 7
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STATS
Strength: 37 → 66.5 (+29.5)
Agility: 39.8 → 67.2 (+27.4)
Endurance: 38.4 → 63.8 (+25.4)
Vitality: 42.8 → 59.6 (+16.8)
Perception: 42.2 → 65.4 (+23.2)
Ferocity: 12% (Stable)
Allocatable Stat Points: 6
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SKILLS
> (Active Skills)
•Crimson Ladder (First Step) – A combat style devised by Masha and adapted by the Host. Built upon compounding momentum, each motion fuels the next in a relentless chain. Though simple in structure, it demands an exceptionally durable and powerful physique. First Step represents the initial master and grants access to its core movements and flow.
•Partial Transformation (Stable Variant) – Lupines are creatures of both control and wildness. This Stable Variant allows the Host to partially assume his true form without surrendering to instinct. Grants heightened strength, agility, natural weapons (claws, fur, tail), and improved balance, while maintaining mental clarity.
•Overclocking (Level 1) – By forcefully accelerating energy pathways, the Host can dramatically boost physical performance. Comes at the cost of rapid energy depletion and severe bodily strain. Prolonged use risks exhaustion and internal damage.
• Primal Awareness (Level 1) – The Host can precisely direct his instincts to warn of danger, incoming attacks, or nefarious intent.
• Predator’s Foresight (Level 1) – It’s only natural for a predator to excel at hunting, and to excel at hunting, the predator must know how to read their prey. Allows the Host to see an outline of their target that alludes to how the target will move immediately after. Effectiveness of Predator’s Foresight scales with energy output and mental energy expended
> (Passive Skills)
• Bestial Adaptation – Physical stats (strength, reflexes, stamina, and senses) are heightened even in human form.
• Cellular Recovery – Slowly regenerates minor injuries and recovers fatigue over time.
• Aura Modulation – Through disciplined control, Host can regulate the intensity and spread of his aura at will, reducing waste and maintaining longer active periods without strain.
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ABILITIES
• Primal Surge [B+]
A combat-type aura ability absorbed from a fallen foe. Enhances physical performance, reinforces strikes, and can be shaped into offensive bursts or barriers.
> [Hold to Expand for Details]
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EVOLUTION
Locked
> Requirement: Unknown
(A/N: I’m gonna start putting spaces between each skill because it’s kinda hard to look at without them ( ＾ω＾ ).)
Mike stared at his status with wide eyes, the sheer number of stats startling him.
"... System. What’s going on?" He asked slowly. He saw the Skills, but how they got there eluded him.
[The notifications more or less explain it.] The system replied curtly, and Mike sighed, deciding to check out the notifications and not just his stats.
[Ding. Through the Host’s efforts, he has successfully integrated a new combat style.]
[Skill Name: Crimson Ladder (First Step)
Description: A combat style devised by Masha and adapted by the Host. The style is built upon the principle of compounding momentum, where every motion fuels the next in a relentless chain. Though deceptively simple in structure, its true effectiveness demands an exceptionally durable and powerful physique. First Step represents the initial stage of mastery, granting the Host access to its core movements and flow.
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[Ding. The Host has broken through the limitations of his body and awakened a dormant racial ability.
[Skill Name: Partial Transformation (Stable Variant)]
Description: Lupines are creatures of both control and wildness. Their greatest strength lies dormant within them, revealed only when instinct or transformation unleashes it. This Stable Variant allows the Host to partially assume his true form without losing control to instinct or ferocity. Grants access to heightened strength, agility, and natural weapons such as claws, fur, and tail, while maintaining mental stability.
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[Ding. Through the Host’s efforts, he has successfully created a new skill.]
[Skill Name: Overclocking
Description: Pushes the Host’s energy flow beyond safe thresholds, rapidly amplifying all physical capabilities. Increases combat performance dramatically, but consumes energy reserves at an extreme rate and places immense strain on the body. Prolonged use risks severe exhaustion and internal damage. A tool of desperation and destruction, to be used wisely.
Mike blinked as he took in everything, actually reading everything closely and not just glossing over them due to his shock.
Immediately, he noticed something new.
’The first two descriptions didn’t just say I created a new skill. It says I integrated a new combat style for Crimson Ladder, while for that Partial Transformation, it says I unlocked a dormant racial ability. Only for Overclocking does it say I created a new skill.
As for the Skills themselves...
’Crimson Ladder is self-explanatory.’ Mike nodded to himself. Its appearance was the most obvious of the three, especially the part about it only being the first step, as at the end of his display, Mike felt like he’d crossed some sort of threshold, and he knew in his heart that he had managed to complete the first step. He wasn’t entirely sure of what the implications of that were, but he was fairly certain it was a good thing. The cracked wall of reinforced concrete an example of this. There was also no level under it despite it being an active skill, but he guessed that’s where the ’First Step’ tag came in.
However, what came next was a bit confusing to him.
’Partial Transformation...’ Mike thought as he more or less tasted the phrase. He stared at the description while staring at his body, and he felt like the Description was appropriate. What he didn’t understand was why.
His ferocity was still Stable, and he didn’t feel any of that all-encompassing anger that signified how close he was to losing control and transforming. His mind was clear, and yet despite all of this, he’d gotten closer to fully transforming besides when he actually fully transformed.
Moreover, the stat increase was insane. And yet, he felt no drain on any energy source, which–naturally–perplexed him.
’System. What exactly is this?’ Mike finally asked.
[As the notification explained, the Host managed to break his limits and activate a dormant racial ability. It isn’t anything that requires energy as it is simply you removing the lid on your true form slightly, gaining the stats that come with doing so.] The System explained.
’I got that part. But why. Why am I retaining my sanity? Why did practicing the Crimson Ladder grant me this skill?’ Mike pressed.
[As mentioned before, Lupines are a race that contains the attributes of both humans and wolves. As such, they possess the attributes of both races and more. However, you shouldn’t think of both sides as separate, as they are both intrinsically connected to one another. Hence, they aren’t mutually exclusive and create several unique rules that apply to Lupines as a whole.] It explained, and Mike’s slight agitation faded as he listened closely.
’Then can you elaborate on the unique rule in relation to what’s happening right now?’ He asked, and the System promptly replied.
[The rule at play here is simple, but unique to Lupines. Humans excel at control, restraint, logic, and discipline. Wolves excel at instinct, ferocity, and wildness. For most races, such opposites would clash and one would suppress the other, that or they would destroy each other. But for Lupines, the two are not separate halves but part of a single existence. They don’t cancel each other out, they overlap.
In most cases, Transformation is spurred by instinct overwhelming rationality, this typically happens when your emotions become too volatile and unleash your true form. However, Transformation isn’t bound by instinct alone. Stimulation of the body, strain, pressure, stress, can achieve a similar effect as physicality is the wolf’s domain. Normally, this would make your ferocity spike, but as humans also experience physical strain, the rational side tempers the instinct instead of being crushed by it.
That is why practicing Crimson Ladder, a technique centered around momentum and pushing your body to the limit, forced your Partial Transformation where you still retained your sanity. The result is neither a full Transformation nor pure restraint, but a partial state. A Stable Variant.]
When it finished, Mike fell silent as he let the words sink in.
’So to summarize, both my natures complement each other, so instead of extreme physical strain making me purely feral, the two sides simply matched one another to create a sort of... balanced state.’ He summarized, a crude one, but it was more or less correct.
He sighed and looked at his furred arms. Despite having accepted his nature, it was surreal seeing it manifest in front of him like this. This wasn’t a skill or ability. It was HIM.
It was both disconcerting and oddly comforting.
Perhaps he had wanted to see his ’true’ self, to get a proper glimpse at this part of him that had become who he was due to that single choice he made. The power granted aside, he was experiencing a glimpse of what he had become, and through this, he was getting an idea of what he would become in the future.
He sighed.
’Well, it looks cool, so that’s something.’ He smiled faintly and took a step.
Then, like a puppet whose strings got cut, Mike collapsed on the ground while spasming, his Partial transforming coming undone as blinding pain shot through his body.
It’s at that moment that he learned the consequence of the third skill he got, Overclocking.