Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

It doesn't take much testing to figure out a few fundamental details about my new Unique Skill, Gaze of Destruction. With the first and foremost detail amongst them being the obvious 'I can't turn it off' thing. Which is annoying as hell.

Other than that, I also can't block it by looking through a medium like glass as it just destroys whatever I'm looking at on the other side. And in some cases, destroys the glass. Nor can I do anything to lower the amount of True Damage that's dealt out.

The only thing I can do to stop the damage is to close my eyes. And I would find that rather annoying to fight while doing.

All that said, there are a few things I found work a little bit.

For one, the damage is centered in one single point. The spot where my gaze directly looks at. With the True Damage spreading out from there.

So everything in my peripheral vision is safe from harm.

Which means I won't be destroying everything and can still use my eyes without harming people all the time. Even if it will be difficult to get used to.

As for the Official System Events though, I don't really care about holding back there. If the people are in it then they're my enemy anyways, so they can take the damage for all I care.

And with that in mind, I quickly go searching very carefully for Blake. Making absolutely sure as I do so to be careful with where I'm looking.

Fortunately for me, when I find him, he's just asleep and inside of a large crater somewhere in the Unique Domain. And while it's hard to tell without looking directly at him, he doesn't appear to have any fatal damage on him. Probably because the Unique Quest's clearance healed the two of us, just like all the other quests I've completed have done.

I let out a sigh of relief before looking away from him for now. Now that I know he's safe.

Then I focus on the new Skill Tree.

The Queen of Destruction Unique Skill Tree. One meant for me and me alone. Explore stories on empire

And to my complete surprise, it's actually very different from every other Skill Tree I've ever seen.

For one, the root skill branches off into five different skills in a star formation around it. For two, the Skill Tree is pitch black in color with a blood crimson border to every skill. And for three, each of the skills are of the highest quality just from the appearance of the nodes in the trees alone.

But the biggest difference is that I can actually see the basic descriptions of each of the skills in the Tree up to about the first twenty-six skills.

Five skills in each branch along with the root skill.

After that the branches split again into two different branches and I can no longer see the descriptions of the skills.

And what I find at the end of one of those five branches is a skill that I realize I must have right away.

{Visual Focus – UNIQUE SKILL – Locked – Your eyes gain the ability to lock onto specific objects and directly control the amount of True Damage that object receives from Gaze of Destruction.} – [Spend 8000 Skill Points to unlock this skill.] – LOCKED FOR PURCHASE UNTIL THE PREREQUISITE SKILLS ARE UNLOCKED

Unfortunately for me though, I can't purchase it right away. Not even with the over twenty-thousand Skill Points I have saved up.

Because of just how expensive the skills are in this Unique Skill Tree.

The first skills of each branch are one thousand Skill Points, followed by the second that is three thousand five hundred Skill Points, then the third that is five thousand Skill Points, and the fourth that is another six thousand five hundred Skill Points.

So if I want to unlock Visual Focus, I'll have to spend…

Twenty-four thousand Skill Points just to unlock the skill.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Almost four thousand more Skill Points than I currently have.

What's more is that I'll have to go all in on this one branch without purchasing a single one of the rather useful looking skills in the other branches that I can already see.

I let out a sigh at that before looking at the first four skills in the branch. The ones I can unlock now.

At least every single Unique Skill in this Unique Skill Tree is incredibly useful and powerful. So it's not like it's a waste or anything.

{Perfect Destruction Mana Manipulation – UNIQUE SKILL – Locked – This skill grants the user the ability to turn their natural mana into destruction mana and use the mana to perform destruction magic spells of all kinds. Additionally, the user may experiment and create new runes of their own for spell-crafting purposes.} – [Spend 1000 Skill Points to unlock this skill.]

{Fangs and Claws of the Queen – UNIQUE SKILL – Locked – This skill grants the user retractable fangs and claws that are filled with pure destruction mana from the Queen of Destruction herself.} – [Spend 3500 Skill Points to unlock this skill.] – LOCKED FOR PURCHASE UNTIL THE PREREQUISITE SKILLS ARE UNLOCKED

{Royal Perception – UNIQUE SKILL – Locked – This skill enhances every last aspect of the user's vision-based perception, granting them the ability to see various different spectrums with their eyes alone.} – [Spend 5000 Skill Points to unlock this skill.] – LOCKED FOR PURCHASE UNTIL THE PREREQUISITE SKILLS ARE UNLOCKED

{Indestructible Fangs and Claws of the Queen – UNIQUE SKILL – Locked – This skill makes the user's claws and fangs completely indestructible.} – [Spend 6500 Skill Points to unlock this skill.] – LOCKED FOR PURCHASE UNTIL THE PREREQUISITE SKILLS ARE UNLOCKED

Every single one of them looks useful. Especially the Perfect Destruction Mana Manipulation.

Other than that, I quickly notice that the skills in each branch seem to share similarities with each other.

This branch for example seems to focus on three things. Miscellaneous skills like the mana manipulation one, my fangs and claws, and my vision. Meanwhile the top branch – this first branch having been the top right branch – seems to focus directly on enhancing my magic even though the mana manipulation skill is in the other branch. The top left branch focuses on breath and energy based attacks, with the breath attack the King of Destruction used against me being included amongst their number. And the bottom left branch focuses on defenses like scales and even wings at the end. With the wings no doubt not having been purchased yet by the King of Destruction.

Finally, the bottom right branch focuses on my physical strength.

If I'm being honest, the first branch and the last branch are currently the ones I'm most interested in. Since the miscellaneous branch is no doubt going to have some very useful skills.

I can't see any sort of destruction resistance amongst the skills, so if the King of Destruction has a skill for it, it's likely much further down the line of skills. Probably in either the defensive skill set or the miscellaneous one.

Considering how mana manipulation was in the miscellaneous one though, I'm betting that branch has it.

Which also means that the King of Destruction didn't have any Destruction Resistance skills. Yet I still couldn't so much as crack his scales without using his own True Damage to do it.

That realization makes me feel rather pitiful, if I'm being honest with myself.

Anyways, I think the best plan to go with right now is to buy all four of these skills to unlock up to the one I need. Then to spend a thousand or two thousand Skill Points on the first skills in a couple other branches. Just to branch out a little bit.

Because I really do want that physical strength upgrade along with the scales for defense.

They would help a lot.

And both are only a thousand each. Which would leave me with a little over two thousand Skill Points left that I can put aside for the Visual Focus skill.

My mind comes to a halt when I hear a voice echoing in my head.

"Ashley!!! Congratulations sweetheart!!!"

I blink once. Then twice.

Then a smile stretches across my face, and I mutter out loud, "Hello again to you, too. Chaos."

And as if that wasn't enough, I hear rustling coming from next to me, making me turn my gaze over a little while still being careful not to look at him directly. At which point I find Blake starting to sit up, having woken up from his slumber.

"And you as well, Blake," I finish with my smile growing wider.