Chapter 78: New Skill

Nine hours passed in Professor Igris’ lab before the man finally rose from his experiment and glanced at his watch.

"Hmm, it’s already 1 AM. Time sure moves fast. Go home now, boy, and get some proper rest before school tomorrow," Professor Igris said as Arlo gave a small bow.

"When should I resume tomorrow, sir?" he asked, receiving the same reply as before.

"Anytime you like..."

Grabbing his backpack from the table, Arlo climbed down the stairs, his knee bones squeaking like faulty gears as he quickly made his way back to his dorm.

---

"Huuuu..." Exhaling loudly, he collapsed rigidly onto the bed, his legs screaming in agony.

But he quickly passed mana through his legs, immediately alleviating the pain.

"Hmm, having mana really helps a lot..." Arlo thought. If he had not been a cultivator, he would have had no choice but to wait until the pain subsided.

[Do you know there is something cool you can even do to prevent yourself from feeling sleepy?] the system suddenly said, causing Arlo to raise an eyebrow.

"What is that!?" Arlo asked curiously.

[Other cultivators might be unable to do it, but you can. The ability to slow down or speed up your brain by revolving mana within it!] the system said, causing Arlo’s eyes to flash in shock.

"That is impossible..."

Even mages could only perfectly pass mana through the veins in their hands, and passing mana through their entire bodies required endless years of practice.

As for passing mana through the brain, it was simply impossible, as there was no mana pathway leading to the brain. So how could one pass mana through it without a pathway?

[You have a pathway, the one you cultivated to pass mana through your Black Sun Bloodline.]

[Use that pathway and just put a large quantity of mana around the brain. Some of it will seep in, and you’ll understand what I mean then...] the system said.

Arlo sat down cross-legged on his bed, calming his heart. Then, he dove deep into his head. Truth be told, there was truly a mana pathway present within his own head, going straight through his brain.

"I can’t believe this..." Arlo mused to himself, half surprised and half excited.

In the next second, mana started pumping out directly from his chest, quickly going through the mana pathway and straight into his brain.

"Hmmm, nothing is happening, though..." he mused to himself, seeing that everything remained just as normal.

[Give your brain some time to properly absorb the mana...] the system said.

Suddenly, Arlo’s body went rigid as he looked dumbly ahead.

[It’s working right now. How do you feel?] the system asked, and Arlo replied much faster than normal.

"Fine..."

[Okay, okay. Stop putting mana into your brain. Let me first explain the implications...] the system said as Arlo stopped the connection, and once more, his brain began to cool off.

[Continuously passing mana into your brain will lead to one result: faster operation of your brain power.]

[It will directly boost your processing speed, allowing you to even spot sneak attacks at a quicker speed, although whether you will be quick enough to stop them will be left to your body.]

[You will feel like the world is moving quite slowly as your brain quickly processes information and moves on to the next.]

[Another implication is that putting mana into your brain makes you extra active. Your brain becomes absolutely restless as it processes information at twice the normal speed.]

[This can allow you to go without sleep at all for entire days, so long as you have enough mana to sustain the state of induced hyperactivity...] the system explained, causing Arlo’s eyes to flash in shock at the prospect of being able to stop himself from going to sleep.

[But everything has its side effects. One of them is that putting your brain into a state of hyperactivity will tire the cells.]

[If you keep your brain in hyperactivity for an entire week, once you stop putting mana into it, you will immediately sleep for at least the next three days.]

[Your brain would do that to rejuvenate the depleted brain cells. It’s almost like you’re just delaying your eventual sleep, or substituting faster brain-processing power for more sleep later...]

The system explained, resulting in a nod from Arlo.

[And also, if you keep mana flowing through your brain for two weeks at your current stage, your brain has a 101% chance of being reduced to mush.]

"What!?"

[It would be because all of its cells would have been sucked dry and reduced to mush, no longer functioning. Although that won’t kill you, it will place you in a comatose state, a slumber that may last for years. So, how you use this power is up to you...]

The system explained before disappearing as Arlo furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, it’s at least good to know..." Arlo mused to himself, shrugging it off and simply keeping the idea at the back of his head.

[That said, go check out your system interface. It’s been a while...] it reminded him.

[System Interface]

[Congratulations, you have successfully completed the quest.]

[You have been awarded the following:]

[+1 Level Up Card]

[+2 Ability Upgrade Cards]

[+1000 EXP]

[System Interface]

[Name: Arlo Eclipsion]

[Title: None]

[Race: Higher Arcana Human]

[Cultivation: First Core Enhancer | Middle Magic Apprentice Realm]

[Level: 15]

[EXP: 1700/10,000]

[Level Up Cards: 1]

[Does Host wish to level up?] the system asked, to which he gave a nod.

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to level 16!]

[+15 Attribute Points Obtained!]

[Total Attribute Points: 85]

"Oh, I forgot to use my attribute points due to the evolution last time..." Arlo said, scratching his head.

[Does Host wish to distribute attribute points?]

"Yes."

[Attributes]

[Strength: 80(x2)]

[Agility: 70(x2)]

[Perception: 60(x2)]

[Intelligence: 60]

[Charm: 24]

[Total Attribute Points: 85]

"Wow, almost all my stats really doubled up. No wonder I felt Eiron was simply too slow. His strength must have been able to match the previous me, but now that I am twice as strong, he seems so weak to me..." Arlo mused to himself.

"Now my Intelligence stat is lacking compared to the rest, and my stats aren’t balanced either. Let’s resolve that."

"Add 20 points to Agility, add 60 points to Intelligence, and add the remaining points to Charm," Arlo ordered.

[Congratulations, points successfully added.]

[Strength: 160]

[Agility: 160]

[Perception: 120]

[Intelligence: 120]

[Charm: 29]

"Good. Now I can say I’m as fast as I am strong. My perception speed is just as equal to my interpretation speed. Perfect!"

"Now there’s just one more thing left for you to do," the system said to him as Arlo raised an eyebrow.

"And what is that?"

"Your new Infinity Joker Skills..." the system said, causing Arlo’s eyes to flash as he continued on to the next tab.

[Arcane Masteries]

[Infinity Joker Skills]

[Bottomless Encore: Enables you to infinitely overlap energy throughout your body.]

[Domain Expansion: Last Laugh!: Enables the user to create an artificial domain where every attack is guaranteed to hit the target, no matter how much they try to dodge.]

[Most importantly, every attack can be carried out an infinite number of times, resulting in infinite lethality even from the simplest technique cast by the user!]

_____________

"Cool, I truly have awakened a new set of skills, and the Playful Magnifier skill has also been improved to Bottomless Encore. I don’t understand infinitely overlapping any energy, though..." Arlo mused, confused.

[If you remember correctly, your Playful Magnifier skill simply improves the passing of mana through your body by double, enabling you to achieve twice any technique’s normal range.

Like if your Dash increases your speed by double, then with Playful Magnifier, it will be doubled, making Dash speed you up by four times. Do you still remember that?] the system asked, resulting in a nod from Arlo.

Of course, he could still remember the effect of his Playful Magnifier skill, which was increasing his mana effectiveness by double.

[Bottomless Encore is just the same thing, but instead of double, your energy gets infinitely overlapped.]

"Do you mean like, more than double, and triple, and quadruple, more like infinitely?" Arlo asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Yes!]

"No. That’s impossible..." Arlo said, not at all falling for it.

[Huh?]

"I don’t know how you reason it, but I see it like this. If Dash increases my speed by double, then Bottomless Encore, instead of just doubling it, will increase my speed by double, then revolve one more time and increase it to quadruple, then revolve one more time and take it to x8, and then revolve one more time and take it to x16, continuing until infinity. Isn’t that what you’re saying?" Arlo asked.

[That is exactly what I am saying. Try it out and see for yourself...] the system said.

"Hmm, but will my body be able to take an infinite supply of energy? If my speed increases by 100 times, I will be blown to dust instantly due to the horrifying friction. My body can’t hold such a speed for that long," Arlo reasoned.

[True. That means you have to find a way to make sure you can halt the revolution at a particular mark.]

[But just like any technique, you would have to practice a lot to properly be able to use it...] the system was saying when suddenly, Arlo’s eyes jerked upward toward his ceiling, every muscle coming to a halt as he froze instantly.

[Can you hear that?] the system notification panel rang out as Arlo stared firmly at the ceiling, noticing something strange.

’It sounds like something... something on all fours!’