Apocalypse Slayer [OP MC, LitRPG, Progression]

Chapter 16

by inkadmin

Sitting down cross-legged at his base, Rob went through the prompts in his Profile and focused in on the new skill selection panel.

Please select a new skill from the list.

Rob grinned.

Adding to his skills provided a huge leap in his hunting and training progress. Gaining Battle Instinct a few days earlier had been a game changer. It helped him gather general weaknesses of his primary enemy as well as more unique weaknesses to specific enemies he was fighting mid battle.

Ever since unlocking Battle Instinct, he had been eager to see what he would unlock next.

The four skills he’d passed last time were still present: Basic Footwork, Pain Endurance, Basic Taunting, and Adrenal Rush. He gave them all a passing nod and continued forth to the new options presented.

There were five brand new skills to choose from.

Rob started at the beginning and worked his way down.

[Stealth (Common)]

Silence is a sharpened tool. Allows you to naturally suppress sound, presence, and intent while moving. Footfalls lighten, breath steadies, and your silhouette becomes easier to overlook. Highly effective against unaware or distracted enemies. Slightly increases success when ambushing or avoiding detection.

Interesting, Rob thought.

He wondered if he had gained the Stealth skill option because he’d made so many sneak attack kills while hunting Jungle Lizards over the last few days.

Rob imagined Stealth was a skill that was either given to Rogues immediately upon class selection or early on at level 5.

He imagined Stealth probably did something similar to what Rob had achieved with his completed Jungle Lizard armor set. With his new armor, he visually melted into the scenery, becoming near invisible within the jungle’s greenery. Stealth probably provided the same thing in multiple environments, especially shadowed corners or other hiding spots.

There was no doubt that Stealth was a significant and important skill, but whether Rob needed it at this particular moment was a good question. He already had the benefits of it currently, and as he got stronger, he might not need to rely on Stealth as much.

Also, from what he had discovered via his crafting, was that special equipment could potentially capture the same benefits of an ability like Stealth anyways–which begged the question, was it worth wasting a coveted skill choice on such a power?

Rob felt certain Stealth wasn’t going to be his pick, but he would examine all the skill options before making his final selection.

He continued on the list.

[Predator’s Focus (Uncommon)]

Stillness sharpens intent. Heightens concentration when stalking or observing a target. Slightly improves accuracy and critical hit chances against unaware or preoccupied enemies. Grants minor resistance to distractions while hunting.

Rob was definitely now convinced that his skill options were somewhat determined by his actions. First Stealth, and then another hunting-based power–it couldn’t be a coincidence.

Predator’s Focus felt like it filled the gap missing from Battle Instinct. The latter skill showed Rob his enemy’s weakness during battle, but before the battle it didn’t really function. This issue went away if you fought the same enemy over and over, because the knowledge you gained from one fight carried over to the next; but still, with new enemies or more unique weaknesses to one specific monster, it would be amazing to know those things before a fight started.

It wasn’t a bad skill, but Rob felt like he wanted something with a bit more oomph. It was also the first “uncommon” skill in the current set of options, so he wouldn’t discount that fact. It was the difference in rarity that had led to him choosing Battle Instinct over the other options and he’d been very happy with that choice since making it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He would currently put the skill in the maybe-leaning-to-no pile, but again, he needed to read over all of his options first.

He continued on.

[Blade Control (Common)]

Precision flows from discipline. Improves fine control over thrusting and slashing weapons. Slightly increases weapon stability, strike accuracy, and reduces Stamina wasted on missed or glancing blows.

Rob tried not to be overly disappointed yet again.

The description of Blade Control just felt a bit…dry.

Once again, this skill was probably influenced by all of the thrusting and stabbing he’d been doing with his spear.

And despite how dry the description of the skill was, he was sure it would have its perks just like Battle Instinct did.

One of the key aspects Rob zeroed in on was the “Stamina reduction” element. So far, he didn’t have any skills that were draining his Stamina pool that aggressively. He could see in a situation where he needed to optimize his Stamina pool, the passive effect of this skill alone could be worth it, but he wasn’t in that situation. Not yet anyway.

Rob sighed and continued down the list.

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