[Skillbar]
{Available Slots at Beta-Rank 8.}
{Slot 1: Talent Skill: (Major Plus) Coersion} *UPGRADE*
{Slot 2: Talent Skill: (Major) Psy-Tag}
{Slot 3: Circulation Skill: (Minor) Hidden Vestiges of Physicality}
{Slot 4: (Major) Augmentation 2nd Stage } *UPGRADE*
{Slot 5: (Major) Telepathy } *UPGRADE*
{Slot 6: Empty}
{Slot 7: Empty}
{Slot 8: Empty} *NEW SLOT UNLOCKED
Contrary to what happened upon reaching Alpha-Rank in my Talent, the only change that opened up when I broke through to Beta-Rank was the addition of an extra Skill Slot.
This was a very big change from what occurred in the Origin Timeline; unlike then, this time around, I didn’t automatically attain any new skills; this time, although I gained the knowledge of potential additions to my Skillbar, they weren’t free handouts.
Still, it wasn’t like I was helpless; to some extent, I had expected this after learning both Telepathy and Augmentation at Alpha-Rank. Something was telling me that it wasn’t going to be an easy task to learn any new skills moving forward, and when I stepped into the Beta-Rank in my Talent, it was proven to be fact, as several pieces of new information flooded my mind.
The knowledge of three new skills DID appear in my mind; however, I knew it was impossible for me to learn them right off the bat, the reason being the lack of resources.
In order to even come close to activating any of these three skills for the first time, let alone adding them to my Skillbar, I needed a very important resource: Beta Particles.
All three of the new skills, Psy-Shock, Psionic Pulse, and Mind Shield, relied HEAVILY on Beta Particles, thus rendering me incapable of learning them, let alone ever using them, since technically, all I had access to was Alpha particles, in the form of Particle Stones and potions.
Luckily, there was a silver lining to finding out what I had about these new skills, and that was in their existence. Of the three, the only one I had ever had in the Origin Timeline was Mind Shield, which, as its name suggests, was a form of mental protection against incoming attacks.
Mind you, it wasn’t a physical shield of any sort, and in turn, it couldn’t stop any kind of attacks but instead revolved around giving me greater resistance from external mental attacks.
With billions of people having Talents, there were, of course, going to be those who could use mind attacks, and after getting my brain practically ripped to shreds at one point in the Origin Timeline by a very NASTY type of Instance Monster, I had trained the hell out of the skill in question.
Now, in the case of Psy-Shock and Psionic Pulse, I had my theories about them. Still, without having any evidence about their abilities in the form of a Technique Space or Description, the only thing I could do was theorize about their potential power.
With a swipe of my hand, I moved my display panel out of my face and quadruple-checked that I was ready to go, but first, there was one more thing I needed to do.
Spinning around on my heels, I walked toward my bedroom door, opened it, and made my way down the hall toward Brenden’s room.
Much like my room, Brenden’s was covered in toys and baby-safe furniture. With a faint smile, I walked up to the crib, which had been mine for years before being passed down to my brother, and watched him sleeping soundly, unaware of the dangers that could transpire in my absence.
Standing there, watching over him like a guardian, I ran through all the possible outcomes that could have occurred and shook my head.
Ever since that first assassination attempt, there hadn’t been a second, but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone came after him.
’I’ve got two months at the maximum to finish what I need to be done; January 1st is the deadline for the first 1k people to arrive, so hang in there, little brother.’ I thought while glancing across the room to the small dresser where a baby monitor sat.
As per the plans I had passed onto Brenden before my death in the Origin Timeline, I had placed a note inside of the monitor, explaining the present situation, just in case I didn’t make it back…
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It was a contingency plan that I frankly didn’t want to think about. Still, with how I was about to jump headfirst into an Instance that contained Monsters in the Beta-Rank, as a measly No-Ranker, I knew full well of the possibility of my not returning alive.
It wasn’t as if I had a god complex wherein I convinced myself that I was immortal and unbeatable; no, I am a realist. The possibility of dying in the Instance was VERY real, and even with all my planning, I still had a 95% chance of dying within the first minute of arriving within the (α++) Alpha Instance.
If I didn’t need so much damn XP, I wouldn’t even consider entering such a dangerous place as an option, but I had no choice. As it stands, there are hundreds of people in the world leveling up already, and Basic Human or Not, they had a leg up on me until I started my climb to the top.
’No more dawdling, it’s now or never…’ Turning my back on my sleeping little brother, I made my way through the house, checking that all of my preparations in case of another assassination attempt were complete before eventually finding myself back in my bedroom.
Standing dead center of my room, I gripped the Instance token tightly, causing the wood to groan under the pressure until,
CRACK,
It shattered into two even halves before emitting a golden flood of light, which covered me from head to toe.
A weightless and dizzying feeling accompanied the flash of light, and the last thought that flashed through my mind was…
’Please be anything other than the caverns, please be anything other than the caverns, please be...’
TAP *echo…echo…echo* TAP *echo…echo…echo*
With my eyes closed, I felt my shoes touch down on solid ground, tapped my feet lightly, and felt a shiver run through my body.
"MOTHER FUCKER IT’S THE GOD DAMN CAVERNS!"
ROOOOOOARRRRRRRRRR!