WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈
Chapter 75: Promotion (3)
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Swish...!!
But the Tentacled Human, which had read every emotion and physical change in the Crystal Human, sneered at that reaction and extended its tentacles, as if to say the Crystal Human was in the palm of its hand.
Forced to turn around by the command despite its reluctance, the Crystal Human obeyed. The Tentacled Human lifted it into the air with Telekinesis, then slowly raised the sword forged from the remains of the Crystal Human's own kind.
Slice!
Just as the Crystal Human was finally about to regain control of its body, the Tentacled Human swung its sword and ruthlessly sent its head flying.
As though it intended to torture its soul until the very end, delaying it as long as possible.
It was not only that Tentacled Human.
The same scene played out throughout the ship as the Crystal Humans were trampled one by one by the Tentacled Humans.
As the one-sided slaughter continued, Gerik's possessed form, having retreated to the rear of the battlefield, extended its tentacles and began collecting crystals from the scattered corpses.
Then, at that moment, Gerik's vision turned white, and the recollection came to an end.
"Hah...!!"
Gerik woke from the vision and returned to reality, gasping for breath.
But before he could feel relieved, a sensation starting at the back of his head spread throughout his body, and he felt himself beginning to change.
'Don't tell me...!? Is my body turning into one of those Tentacled Humans?!'
He would rather die than become such an evil monster.
Gerik shuddered as goosebumps rose all over his body.
Hummm...!!
As Gerik feared the unknown change, dense psionic energy spread throughout his body along his blood vessels.
"Ghk...!!"
It felt as if tiny threads of Telekinesis were piercing every blood vessel and nerve in his body.
Gerik gritted his teeth and desperately endured pain several times worse than what he had experienced during the Psionics awakening procedure.
"Huurgh...!!"
At the same time, the biological energy stored in his body began to drain away rapidly.
It felt as though his life force were being converted into something else.
As Gerik, unable to withstand the extreme weakness, sank to the floor, the energy drawn from his body began flowing toward the mysterious organ at the back of his head.
'...Is that organ being strengthened?!'
Gerik was certain.
The organ at the back of his head was absorbing the surplus energy left in his body and strengthening itself.
"Aaargh...!!"
But his realization lasted only a moment before an intense sensation, as though something were scraping the inside of his skull, swept over him.
His body was already weakened by the extreme energy consumption.
Under those circumstances, the pain began multiplying severalfold.
Creak...!! Crrreak...!!
Gerik felt a chill as though something inside him were slowly changing.
Then.
Thump! Thump!
His heart suddenly began pounding violently.
It began spreading the dense life force gathered in his heart throughout his body.
"Kh..."
At once, not only did the abnormal change that seemed about to occur in his body subside, but his mind began to calm as well.
"Hah... Hah..."
But perhaps because of the extreme stress, Gerik finally lost consciousness, unable to endure any longer.
* * *
How much time had passed?
Gerik, who had collapsed, opened his eyes with a heavy groan.
The familiar ceiling of his lodging came into view.
'My body...!'
The moment he woke, Gerik hurriedly raised both hands before his eyes and checked whether he had changed.
Fortunately, nothing he feared had happened.
He still had five fingers on each hand, and no disgusting tentacles had sprouted anywhere on his body.
"Haah... That's a relief."
Gerik let out a deep sigh of relief and flopped his relaxed body back down.
But his relief was short-lived.
He soon realized that his body was nothing like it had been before and began examining himself again.
"Huh...?"
Before long, Gerik realized that the changes to his body were limited solely to psionic energy.
What he felt most strongly was the density of the energy flowing through his body.
He could feel energy far denser than before circulating within him.
'...The energy used to be stored only at the back of my head.'
Not only that, but the psionic energy that had originally remained only within the organ created by the awakening procedure had spread throughout his body, as though it had permeated every cell.
'What happened to the organ?'
With some concern, Gerik carefully touched the back of his head.
'It's heavier...!'
There was no outward change, but he could clearly feel that the mysterious organ within had become more substantial than before.
'...How much stronger have I become?'
As his anxiety faded, curiosity about his strengthened body rose within him.
As if enchanted, Gerik reached toward a nearby water bottle and projected Telekinesis at it.
"What...!!"
At Gerik's will, the water bottle rose into the air with astonishing ease, as though he had picked it up directly with his hand.
It felt less like lifting its weight and more like simply moving it elsewhere.
'It's this light...? How is that possible?'
As Gerik watched the water bottle suspended in the air with Telekinesis, he noticed something else strange.
The consumption of his Psionics had become far too low.
Previously, no matter how small or light an object was, he could never have maintained it for this long.
Even after quite some time had passed, he did not feel close to his limit.
'Before, even lasting a dozen seconds was difficult...'
Now, it felt as though he could maintain it not just for a dozen seconds, but for several hours.
'...Is it because the energy circulating inside my body has increased beyond comparison?'
Intrigued, Gerik repeated various experiments.
Then he suddenly remembered the Tentacled Human's skill from the recollection.
The one that created an invisible wall in empty space.
As he recalled it and absentmindedly reached out, the sensation the Tentacled Human had used while Gerik possessed it began flowing through his body.
"...!!"
A translucent barrier unfolded before him.
Other than being blue rather than dark red, it was clearly the same skill that creature had used.
'...Did I learn its skills through possession?!'
There was no doubt.
Just like when he had learned a skill through a Skillbook.
The powers the Tentacled Human had displayed moments ago. The thought force that had pressed down from all sides, and the whips that had scorched flesh.
Gerik instinctively knew that all of them now belonged to him.
'...Should I check my status window?'
Having roughly grasped the situation, Gerik naturally opened his status window.
Then he went over the changes that had occurred to him one by one.
[Name: Gerik]
[Class: Dimension Raider]
[Level: Lv. 1 (0/100)]
[Attributes]
Strength: 6 Dexterity: 3 Health: 4 Intelligence: 6 Perception: 6 Charisma: 4
[Skills]
Lv. 5 Slash (Master)
Lv. 2 Charge (86/100)
Lv. 1 Telekinesis (44/100)
Lv. - Strength Enhancement (Passive)
[Class Skills]
Lv. 1 Thought Barrier (0/100)
Lv. 1 Thought Blade (0/100)
Lv. 1 Thought Whip (0/100)
??? (Unmanifested)
??? (Unmanifested)
[Achievements]
* One Who Crossed the Line of Death (Passive / Rare)
* Transcendent Procedure Success (Passive / Epic)
* Heir to the Wild Blessing (Passive / Legendary)
* Master of Cutting (Passive / Rare)
* Blooming Psionics (Passive / Epic)
'...What is this?'
The moment Gerik checked the status window floating before him, he was left speechless.
Too many things had changed beyond comparison.
'Level...!!'
The first thing Gerik noticed was the entry called "Level."
It had not existed when he was Unemployed.
Even without an explanation, Gerik naturally understood.
The higher it rose, the stronger he would become.
'There are... this many skills?'
Next, Gerik's eyes were drawn to his expanded skill list.
The three additional active skills alone were astonishing, but two more skills remained unmanifested, making Gerik excited.
'They probably unlock when I level up. And...'
Based on the Thought Barrier he had used naturally moments ago, Gerik guessed that the unmanifested skills were also among those he had seen in the vision.
'I have a rough idea what Thought Blade and Thought Whip are...'
Gerik guessed that the unmanifested skills were probably the wide-area mental attack used against the Crystal Humans, or perhaps mind control.
'It's a shame they didn't all unlock...'
Still, gaining four skills in total, including a passive, was an enormous reward.
Gerik soothed himself, telling himself not to be greedy.
With that thought, Gerik selected the passive skills and examined their details.
* Blooming Psionics: Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Charisma +1, Psionic Ability +300%
"Blooming Psionics..."
No wonder the output of his Telekinesis had become stronger than even the power he felt in his body suggested.
Gerik realized that this passive had strengthened his psychic abilities across the board.
'Perception, Intelligence, and even Charisma went up...'
On top of that, his Attributes had risen by a total of three points.
Having personally experienced how powerful Attributes were lately, Gerik could not stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
* Master of Cutting: All slashing speed +20%
'...Master of Cutting?'
He could guess the rest through the vision to some degree, but Master of Cutting was something Gerik had never expected at all.
'Could this... have appeared because Slash reached Master?'
No matter how he thought about it, that was the only explanation.
Since it was a completely unexpected gain, Gerik felt twice as satisfied.
'Learning that mastering an active skill creates an Achievement is a huge gain too.'
After thoroughly reviewing the status window and grasping the full scope of his promotion, Gerik felt intellectual curiosity toward his newly acquired power surge within him.
Swish... Swiiish...!
Unable to contain his excitement and curiosity, Gerik finally reached out and projected Telekinesis at the objects in the room one after another.
He had already tested the water bottle, so he decided to test weight next.
His first target was his longsword.
"...This is this easy?"
It felt incredibly light.
In the past, he had barely been able to lift the sword even while using his full output with all his strength, but now it floated up as though it were nothing.
Growing excited, Gerik lifted various objects.
'It doesn't seem to be solely because of Blooming Psionics.'
Gerik realized that, beyond the passive that increased his output, the fundamental reserves of his Psionics had also grown deeper.
It would take something as heavy as the armor in the corner of the room for him to feel energy consumption comparable to before his promotion.
'The range I can extend Telekinesis has increased this much?!'
Before, even exerting all his strength, Telekinesis had only reached five meters at most.
Now, it could easily reach a little over twenty meters away.
This also seemed separate from the 300% increase in output. His psionic capacity itself appeared to have become fundamentally stronger.
'If my basic reserves have become this strong... shouldn't I be able to try applying it in other ways too?'
Filled with confidence, Gerik decided to try lifting his own body and floating, just as the Tentacled Humans had done in the vision.
Swiiish...!!
When he projected Telekinesis onto himself, Gerik's body astonishingly rose about a handspan off the floor.
'It works, but... I still can't float as high as they did.'
Hovering above the ground and drifting through the air, he looked similar to the Tentacled Humans he had seen in the vision.
But his limits were clear.
The higher he rose, the more his energy consumption increased until it became difficult to bear.
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