The next day, I was still stuck in bed, for the most part. My dark form was slowly chipping away at the residue of holy mana still stuck in my body. Because of Emeri’s last attack, my recovery was taking a remarkable amount of time, when taking into account that [Dark Form] was a tier 5 skill. Despite the fact that [Dark Form] wasn’t hyper focused on healing, since it also muted pain and regulated mana flow etc, the tier difference should still have made the healing process smooth. Whatever skill Emeri used at the end of the battle must have really gone above the limit of tier 2.

Chuckling, I realized that I could take part of the credit for her feat, having pushed her that far to begin with. At the same time, I felt a pang of guilt at my actions. Forcing someone into that position hadn’t been fair of me. Yet, here I was, with a glowing pyramid in my hands, a reward for my efforts. I had no clue what was going through that old bishop's head, giving me something this valuable. Was it cursed somehow? I quickly cast away the notion. My uncle had inspected the crystal and saw fit to give it to me. That meant that the crystal itself was fine.

I regarded the triangular crystal with trepidation, turning it over with my fingers. I had used a skill merge crystal once before, to great effect. At the time, that single item had been enough to give me a new core after I broke the last one, effectively saving my life as a classer.

Coreless classers existed, but few still bothered with combat, apart from a few insane people. Even then, those maniacs were at a severe disadvantage and had to rely on passive skills to improve their strength. I couldn’t even imagine being locked out of all of my active skills.

Taking all of this into account, I was left wondering whether this crystal on its own wasn’t just better than getting first place? Unique skills were rare and valuable, since they couldn’t be affected by meta-skills. Meta skills were even rarer. They gave their holder the ability to interfere with the system directly, which made them unpredictable and dangerous. That was why unique skills were so valued by higher tiered classers, who would encounter the occasional classer with a meta skill.

That being said, actually using this crystal would be another matter, since I had no idea which skills to merge. Since I was clueless, I decided to ask my uncle who was, rather conveniently, taking care of some paperwork in the next room over.

Still covered in elaborately designed pyjamas, which probably cost more than my parents’ house, I snuck out of the guestroom I had been occupying.

First, I stuck my head out of the door, looking left and right to make sure no butler or maid was in sight. Then, I tiptoed to the room next to mine and swung open its door without knocking.

My uncle, who was sitting behind his desk and inspecting the paperwork, didn’t even bother to look up. Clearly, he had a way to keep track of people around him. Eventually, though, he looked at me inquisitively.

“Already up, are you? I am fairly certain the doctor informed you that you would have to stay in bed for another day at least.” he said, mirth in his voice.

“Of course, uncle. I’m sure I don’t need to clarify that I intend to return to my rightful place within minutes, no seconds, minimizing the risk of leaving my post as a result!” I replied teasingly.

“Alright then. What brings you here?”

“I was wondering what skills to merge, uncle. I have plenty, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t want to lose any cornerstones of my combat style by taking too large of a risk.” I explained, to which my uncle sighed in response.

“Unfortunately, I won’t share with you my own preferences. The system doesn’t like people whose paths are laid out before them by others, you see. What I can do, is share with you the rule of thumb that is used when merging or otherwise destroying skills. First things first, new milestone skills are created if their predecessors are destroyed. As a result, they are preferred.” he explained.

I nodded, having seen this happen personally. I had received [Overload-reliant physique] as my strength related skill after I merged the last skill into my core.

“Any kind of active skill is advised against. At least, the ones you use regularly shouldn’t be used. This is because the skill you get from the merge could turn out to play the exact opposite role of its components. If you merge three skills that are used to control your opponent's movement, like Reana’s root skill, they might turn into a standard damage dealer. A good one, to be sure, but not a skill that can play the role the previous skills could. On top of that, active skills are extremely difficult to receive a second time. If you created a skill yourself, you will lose the ability to ever create another skill even remotely like it.”

“Finally, ordinary passive skills. These are a decent option overall, but not preferable over milestone skills, I would say. Does that explanation answer your question?”

‘Not concisely…’ I thought to myself. Still, that was enough to work with. Unfortunately, the inherent risk that active skills represented meant that [Overloaded sword] was out. The skill was an integral part of my fighting-style. Losing it for a skill that couldn’t be used in the same way would be a catastrophe.

That left me with several skill combinations that might be interesting.

First, there was the obvious combo: [Expanded lifespan](N/A), [Mental palace](N/A) and [Manifold processing](N/A). All three were milestone skills, two of them related to the mental aspect and the last one that could act as fuel for the fire, so to speak.

Unfortunately, [Mental palace] was a hugely important skill to me. Losing it might mean losing my mind in the long term, which was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

[Expanded lifespan] carried an inherent risk as well, though I was sure that I could replace it with a new milestone skill if I lost the lifespan it represented.

For a moment, I considered a combo of [Dark radiance core](63%), [Dark flow sight](0%) and [Cascading mana-intrusive Swordsmanship](13%).

All three were tier 3 skills, and the cascading property was sure to have an interesting effect on my core. Despite this, I quickly discarded the idea. I simply couldn’t imagine getting rid of three skills that were all so vital to my entire build, simply in the hope of getting a skill that could perform all their functions marginally better. The chances of that happening had to be less than 1%.

[Overload Aura] was a great skill too, but I didn’t have enough tier 4 skills to merge it with anything that I was willing to lose.

After all this humming and hawing, I was starting to realize that I shouldn't be picking the skills with the most potential. I should be getting rid of my worse skills in exchange for a better one. That way, the risk would be taken out of the equation. If I got lucky, great. If I got unlucky, so what.

Taking this into account, I chose my final selection: [Expanded lifespan](N/A), [Manifold processing](N/A) and [Overload-reliant physique](N/A).

My reasoning was simple: Expanded lifespan was a skill I could replicate with items or other skills, if it came down to it. At the same time, its properties could meld well into a newly created skill.

Manifold processing had a limited effect on my combat. I was becoming more and more vital as the number of projectiles I controlled increased, but I still felt that I could get without it for half a tier if it was necessary.

Finally, overload-reliant physique. This skill limited the amount of damage overloading did to my body, which allowed me to heal my wounds and fight at the same time. Important but, again, replaceable.

Since my uncle would be no further help, I retreated back to my room and took out the crystal.

I sat down on my bed in the lotus position and steeled my mind, activating the crystal a moment later.

Ding! [Skill merge Pyramid] recognised. Use [Skill merge Pyramid]? YES/NO

Affirmative....choose three skills to merge... three skills have been chosen....[Expanded lifespan](N/A), [Manifold processing](N/A), [Overload-reliant physique](N/A)....calibrating.......

Ding! Skills lost! You have gained the skill [Blackened essence(formative)].

My eyes bulged, just seeing the skill’s name. Trying to push down my excitement, I opened the skill’s description.

[Blackened essence(formative)](0%)

Tier 3 skill.

Your essence is starting to take shape, though it is still in its formative stage.

Your essence has been tainted by an excessive amount of overloading dark mana. As a result, your existence becomes partially resistant to overloaded mana, regardless of its affinity or source.

Your skills become an expression of your essence. This effect is limited by the essence's stage.

Increase skill proficiency by ???

Reading the skills description, I wasn't left disappointed, despite the fact that I didn't understand some of it. From the looks of it, only overload reliant physique's effects had been kept, while the rest was new. Confused by the skill, I wasted no time and barged into my uncle's study a second time, not even bothering to keep an eye out for his staff, this time.

"Sorry for bothering you, uncle Robart. I used the crystal and got a skill called [Blackened essence(formative]. It seems pretty good, but..."

Before I could continue, my uncle raised his hand to silence me. As I fell quiet, he regarded me coolly for a moment, before slowly starting to speak.

"Congratulations on receiving your essence skill. I have to admit your luck makes me envious. Getting a essence skill is a prerequisite of becoming a tier 6, though most tier 5s never get lucky enough to receive one, since that depends entirely on luck. The fact that you got one at your tier isn't outside of the realm of my imagination, but it certainly speaks of luck. Tell me its description, word for word."

Jubilant that I was ahead of the curve again, I described the system's description. My uncle nodded along, humming wordlessly at various parts, before starting to explain some things.

"To start, essence skills always have two properties. First, they will be in a certain state, depending on their tier. I haven't heard of the (formative) stage before, but it must correspond to tier 3. For reference, I got my essence skill as a tier 4 skill, in the (nascent) stage. Secondly, all essence skills will say 'Your skills become an expression of your essence. This effect is limited by the essence's stage.' To explain, depending on the skill's tier, you will posses more control over your skills and have an easier time making derivations and new skills as a result. On top of that, it might help you aim your orb attack. It does come with a downside, though. Certain skills can affect the essences of others. From now on, your skills will act as a conduit for your essence. As a result, your essence can be harmed through your skills if certain methods are used. You won't have to worry about essence attacks until tier 5 and up, though. Even then, they're rare."

"Finally, skill proficiency for essence skills is hard to come by. Personal realisations, epiphanies, meditative trances... Progressing the skill is finicky and time consuming, yet rewarding."

I listened with rapt attention, not willing to miss a single detail. If what uncle said was true, I only lost my lifespan skill's function from this merger, and got a necessary skill as a result. Now, I wouldn't have to hope for a essence skill when I reached tier 5.

"Then, what does 'existence' mean, uncle. Previously, overloaded reliant physique only protected my body. Now, it's description has changed."

The middle-aged man sighed.

"To be honest, I was hoping to dissuade you from continuing with your current build and to choose something a little more conventional. Now that your essence has formed and gotten used to overloaded mana, you're stuck with this build for the long run. Essentially, all of your existence will now be partially resistant to your favourite state of mana. Your body, your core, hell, even your essence itself will be more resistant. I imagine you will eventually become fully immune to the stuff." he explained. "In fact..."

Hearing that he was about to start another long-winded tangent, I quickly got out of his study, using the flimsy excuse that I needed to rest. Now that all of my immediate questions had been answered, I could sleep the rest of the day away. Tomorrow, I could go spectate the tier 2 teams category. After the excitement from the last category, I was left wondering which of us had the strongest team. I knew Reana had an entire adventuring party, and Arcellus would no doubt want to recover some of his pride...