Chapter 909 - Decent enough guy
You have been given [Jüdrajil].
And that is all I get regarding the skill. But before I can check it out, I get another pop up.
Additional personalization parameters unlocked. Four options generated for selection.
You can select one of the following:
Passive skill combination token
Three active skills combination token
Active skill evolution
Trait evolution
Note: Any of these options will be influenced by your Mana Primarch (Unique Pristine) Primary class.
Then, as if a kid got slapped on the fingers, and before I can activate my new skill, pain rushes through my body. My mana stat increases and then doubles from my attribute upgrade effect. A new passive skill appears in my status, and that fucking passive skill instantly begins strengthening my other four passives.
I do not even find the energy to take chips out of the bag as I turn all my attention to enduring it all. Especially that increase in mana, which obviously fucks up all my usual processes like Mana Cycling. It also messes with the constructs that I made with this in mind, yet still already have to start tweaking.
And some dumbass in a moment of panic spent all healing marks from Lily, though one or two would’ve been enough. Like, how many would reconnecting a brain and spine require? They are not even that big.
Ramping up mana, etching of my new passive, and gradually strengthening four, goddamn four, low pristine passives, begin to be too much, especially since the more mana I have, the stronger the new passive becomes, and after that the other four too.
As smart as I am, I begin to empty my mana, I concentrate it into projectiles that I launch far into the distance. Dozens, hundreds of them as I release them one after another to weaken Synergy Feed and lessen the burden on my body because of this rapid increase in mana. I can worry about the troubles a bit later and just hope I am not hitting anyone, even as I begin to get notifications about killing some monsters once in a while.
I sit there unmoving for what I am sure is days as I tune Mana Cycling, do some changes to my subminds, and adjust my chassis to deal with all of this. Annoyingly, my low constitution even further complicates these things.
In the end, with all the changes, I still find myself taking damage. It is akin to my constitution dropping by 1 every second, and if I leave it be for 10 seconds, I am confident I would die. That is the simplification I allow my tired brain to have. It is not like 1 constitution is one health point or some similar crap.
To solve it, I decide to run my healing passive permanently. That means flooding my body with thermal energy nonstop.
If I did it fully manually, such movement of thermal energy through my body wouldn't be a problem. In a simplified way, imagine my constitution drops 1 per second and moving heat of thermal energy makes it drop at a speed of 3 per second. But at the same time, that heat causes my constitution to go up at 5 per second. Or if I balance it better, it goes at 10 per second and damages it an additional 2 to 3 per second.
It is annoying, someone smarter should math it out instead of me. Simply said, it is fucked up, and I can't believe the Ruler of... I pause and sigh.
Once again, I modify my efforts and dedicate a bigger mental capacity of mine to circulate thermal energy through my body to keep me healed. This will be a trouble in combat or in case someone fucks with my thermal energy.
I will either need some other way to keep myself alive or to make my body more durable. Rising Constitution could help, but since it is impossible for me to use stat points to increase Constitution because of a system bug, I will need to improve on some of the methods Lissandra left to me.
Of course, I will also get healing marks from Lily, and we could possibly work on some fucked-up body modification. Lately she started talking scary stuff about possibly using what she learned from observing Biscuit or possibly from Kindness's clone.
I will need to have at least 2 options to deal with this problem in case my thermal healing passive disappoints me. Though... now that it is getting boosted by my new passive, it should be halfway towards mid pristine rarity, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has the strength of mid pristine, or is very close to it or slightly over it, once I get to level 500.
One day I will need to find each and every one of the dumbasses who told me mid pristine passive skills are impossible during the tutorial and who refused to unlock them for me. Then, I will laugh in their faces.
After that start, I spend two more days with further changes to my body. I do not sleep, but eat and drink the rest of the food I brought with me, and toward the end I am becoming more relaxed. No one interrupts me, but it is a bit unnerving. If someone did and I had to have a serious fight during all that, or if there was some sneaky attempt on my life... my state would be much worse than in my duel against Nyssa.
But once it is all mostly dealt with, I look toward the fake sky of this floor and give a long sigh of relief, even as most of my mental capacity still goes into getting used to this all.
“You here?” I ask.
“What do you want?” The voice from next to me makes me jump as I realize it is Ruby in her Handler form sitting there.
“Fucking ghost-”
“Repeat that.”
“No thanks, I know what would follow. No one is listening?”
“Most of them got bored after one day of you sitting there and not dying. Others got bored after I just refused to tell them what you got. They offered some nice sums too.”
“You could tell them some bullshit and take money anyway.”
“I did.”
“... of course.”
“I have another persona that is assistant to my Handler persona, but actually just me. That assistant pretends that I tell her almost everything and is often selling and leaking info.”
“You know what, I can respect that, but I want my cut.”
“Thirty percent.”
“What the hell. At least make it fifty.”
“Thirty because 50 percent goes to me as Handler and 20 to me as assistant. They secretly have a deal between each other where Handler allows her assistant to sell some of the info.”
I pause and just stare at her, but something... something about that logic... isn't wrong. This greedy woman must know it. She is very greedy, she must be used to dealing with people, she must know how I view things.
How annoying.
“Deal, but I get some info on my new skill.”
“Sure, you should have your shards already.” She says.
Instantly I check it, and it is indeed two or so million more.
“Got it,” I answer. “So now about that prototype thing.”
“It is what it says, but before you misunderstand, it isn't prototype skills from the beginnings of the system or from during the system war. These are mostly abolished, with many of them too powerful to be given again or flawed in some other way.”
“Do you have some skill like that?”
“Maybe.”
“You are so cool.”
“I'm not telling you.”
“You are still the coolest Ruler I know.”
“Asshole,” she snorts. “The more I talk with you, the more I feel like I devolve into some stupid version of me from long ago. But back to the skill. It is one of the newer prototypes, though your feeble mind would still think of it as ancient. Five thousand or so years ago, the system began creating a new pool of prototype skills and giving them out once in a while.”
“But why?”
“Don't ask me, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you. For you, it is important to know that they are usually very powerful or have difficult to deal with effects. Especially this certain pool of prototypes. They are often limited in their application, with usually just two or three effects or uses. Some Rulers say they are the types of skills Easy Difficulty attendees would have, but with the potential to scale to Absolute grade. Their names are, as you noticed, also different, likely because the skills are given to just a few people and the system doesn't want to use some name that could already be in use or used for something more fitting.”
“So I got a unique pristine class, rejected a cool active skill, just to be a lab rat?”
“You, my silly ward, can act annoyed as much as you want. To me it looks like you are smirking and giggling, ready to play with a toy no one else can have.”
Hearing that, I carefully reach and touch the corners of my lips, searching for any signs of that, but there is none. Once again I have been lied to.
But well, she isn't that wrong. I'm confident I would do well even without that skill and make it to another primary class upgrade at level 600, but having a prototype skill? This is way too cool.
“So no description, unlike with [Usurpation]?”
“No. Even I don't know more. You will have to do your testing, but I recommend starting slowly.”
“That sounds like something I would do.”
“That does not sound like something you would do.”
For a few seconds, I stubbornly return her gaze until I win by the fact of her rolling her eyes and looking away.
“Do whatever you want,” she says before disappearing as she came.
Tired of all that sitting, I stand up, move a few steps, and lie down with my head resting against the tree. Looking up, I can see the fake sky through the leaves, and when a slight breeze presses against me, I nestle there a bit more comfortably.
Then I look at the name of my new skill and at its place in my status, and then I begin my testing.
Barely an hour later, I find myself walking through Megacity, searching for someone looking powerful. It takes me a few rounds, but I find a man with an impressive mana signature and surrounded by a group of people.
Channeling my inner Extroverthaniel, I put a smile on my face and reach them with a greeting, “Hello.”
“What the fuck is with that expression? Are you looking for a figh-” The man stops, and his pupils widen. “Are you by any chance the guildmaster of the Primordial Lun- I mean, Knights?” he asks quickly, and this time more politely.
The people around them murmur, and I wave it off. “Sure, sure. You are an A rank, correct? Would you mind if I test something?”
“S rank,” he says.
“What?”
“I gained S rank not that long ago,” he sticks his chest out proudly.
“Oh, I see! That is cool!” I say and smile at him, but for some reason, it causes his expression to sour.
“Whatever,” he smiles at me anyway. “I won't mind helping, if you won't mind me using the fact in the future.”
“That much is obvious,” I say. “So you have some decent handling of your mana, right?”
“I would say so,” the man who reminds me of Prince Charming smiles, though I know a predator when I see one. Compared to the people around him, he is like a bear sneaking into a pen of hamsters and pretending to be one of them.
“Good,” I nod. “Try defending your mana. It won't hurt… I think. I mean that it won't be anything life-threatening.”
“Just go ahead,” he says, still confidently, but I see him react and activate his defenses, both passive and active.
Not letting myself hesitate, I activate [Jüdrajil] and touch him, utilizing one of the skill's four applications I discovered.
I let go right away, with the contact lasting barely half a second.
At first, he just looks at me with that smile, showing satisfaction that I likely have failed against him. That smile lasts half a second and is quickly replaced by something else as he realizes what just happened.
Slowly, terror appears in his eyes, and his pupils shake. His heart palpates, his muscles tense as fear threatens to take over.
But he is still an S rank, though fresh. His mask of confidence slides back on, and his smile stays. No one from the group surrounding him notices.
Thankful to him, I say, “It seems I have failed against you.”
The man swiftly realizes what I am doing, and his smile becomes a bit more genuine as he says, “I'm glad to be of help, Guildmaster Gwyn.”
He basks in the looks of admiration from the people around him as I say my goodbyes and leave. Still, even in the end, that fear is still there, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
My barely leveled up new skill just took all his mana in that shortest moment I touched him. Though his natural barrier and through all his effort to stop it.
I consider testing the second application of the skill on him, but after what I just saw, I drop the idea. He seems like a decent enough guy. Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much.
Comments (108)
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End skill i see.
Channeling near infinite mana has never been easier!
10,072 mana, plus the points from his level ups of course
Always great to see Nat helping out the weak and defenseless get their start in Beyond
Th*r*ough his natural barrier and
Alright, training agenda for Nat, extra-reward independent. In no particular order: Playing with his new skill, [Jüdrajil]. You don't get handed a new toy by the system and not figure out how to make sure it's as broken as possible. While Nat might be able to get through some scrub S-rank's barriers with it at a low level, he's going to need it at a much higher level to make it work on strong Champions or Absolutes, which is now the level of throwing down he's getting ready for. Re-raising his Constitution to some level of not-exploding when he hits 500 via Lissandra training methods. Obviously some skill and other improvements can also be made to help with that. I realize this might sound heretical to some viewers, but the higher Con need not be permanent, and it also lets him make future trips to the 5th floor of Beyond. Manually upgrade Empryean Ichor another stage / as much as possible - look, with even lower constitution and more mana, he should be able to condense more mana into his blood and get at least a few percent more there. Save yourself a future level 3 trait upgrade token at least - and do it by hand. Imagine even strengthening it to level 4, giving the proverbial finger to 'thats for Champions only'. Manually replicating [Empyrean Lance] via [Mana Manipulation] - [Empyrean Lance] is low key a significant loss as one of his delete-things tools for tough targets, so getting that functionality back is pretty important. That can be expanded on further to do more generic Empyrean Mana things (barriers, non-lance weapons - he was already using the skill to make swords fairly often, etc). Nat needs to fix his, to be blunt, skill issue with thermal cycling. This might require learning from someone who is actually good at using Thermal Energy. He's way less talented in thermal energy than mana, yes, but he also hasn't had instructors remotely on the same level of mana or kinetic energy, in addition to not seeming to put the same level of effort in because he views it as supplemental, which means he's really not taking advantage of the extra strong Champion-grade heart shoved into his chest. Getting it to the point where he isn't harmed by it even without his healing passive would be huge. Exploiting the info from the Primordial Harmonizer class to do some experimentation and or power leveling of his skills, especially [Weave], [Eclipse], [Redistribution], and [Manifestation], the skills it explicitly mentioned. Off the top of my head, creating [Manifestation] constructs purely out of Kinetic or Thermal energy as well as combined Mana+Primordial energy constructs, getting [Eclipse] to affect Primordial energies as well as mana, pushing [Weave] from structural mixing of primordial energies and mana to qualitative mixing, etc. My BIG note on this one is that if he can get some of the properties of *thermal* energy into his mana, *especially* the combination of thermal energy and Empyrean mana, he might be able to solve the problem of his Ichor interfering with his thermal healing passive. He's only really combined Empyrean Mana and Kinetic energy on screen. Continue power-leveling [Selective Adaptation] and [Attunement] to handle his lower Constitution and higher mana levels. Simple as. Ensuring he can fully manually replicate the effects of his former Unique Arcane Passive (Mana Wave Predation), and learning to manually replicate Active Mana Tempering, as a method of pushing his [Mana Manipulation] further. He's going to be liquid again, and Active Mana Tempering is the most disposable of his current set of pristine passives. Learn from it, replicate its effects actively, and pick another fun toy from the pile. Note In addition to the 'danger' at level 500 of his upper pristine passive kicking in and killing him, remember that on entering the 13th floor he will regain Wrath's old knuckle, which it's soft-implied he's going to use as a tool to force a trait evolution - Mana Vessel makes the most sense here. He'll need to be very careful this doesn't kill him, or turn him into a werewolf. Yes, I am anti werewolf Nat. You don't turn down "Demigod" only to accept Werewolf. On which extra reward he'll pick: Honestly, I suspect the skill upgrade token since its a reward he hasn't picked yet. [Redistribution] or [Eclipse], or a re-acquired [Empyrean Lance] (after a manual skill merge, especially if he can't replicate it with Mana Manipulation) being the most likely candidates for that. That said, neither the trait evolution or the 3-skill merge would surprise me.
He won’t pick skill upgrade back on floor 1 or 2 he talked about disliking evolving skills that way and he even undid the effect
At the rate hes going hes going to become a being of pure mana eventually
So... What do we think would happen if he evolves his unique skill?
My money would be on him taking the trait evolution token- I don't think the three skill combination token is going to be all that appealing - it's not like it's a FIVE skill token like he's been requesting, completely reasonably.
12th floor Nate > 3rd floor Nate?
"You-drah-jill" is how im saiyan it
After rereading the chapter it seems like Ruby as Nats handler can see all his skills? Does that mean she knows the 10th skill of his and still keeps saying to kindness he is not enough?
She can in fact see his whole status I don’t remember when they told us that but they definitely revealed that
So he got more OP
Per Gemini, Jüdrajil is the specialized counting system for water used by Fremen in the Dune series
okay so he COULD evolve mana manipulation or mana vessel tho, right-
Remember he doesn’t like using skill evolve tokens + that would just get him advanced mana manipulation again
oh thank goodness, its not a lightning skill, i searched up the name and my mood instantly soured thinking we had been fully robbed of Usurpation
The extra reward has some nice options. Passive combos are always op. 3 active combo of mana manipulation, attunement, and adaptation would be interesting. Evolving mana manipulation would be awesome too, he might even get manipulation. Trait evolving his mana physique would also be great.
All these attendees walking around with Nats mana in them, truly he is magnanimous to allow them to borrow it
🤣
I wonder at what level the next body upgrade will hit?
Is the new skill only for mana or other energies as well?
If it's other energies as well and Nat can somehow siphon some of Starless Sky's stigma off Vic he will be a walking divine bomb
"Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much."....would just turn him into a Mana bomb 🤣
*Me angrily reading hoping he'll pick the skill evolution* I don't even have a preference of which skill it just sounds neat
I love his dedication to Mana and severe allergy to putting points anywhere else, but it feels pertinent to point out that he literally HAS to increase constitution or he has 3 keys he can't use without killing himself. He has to get back to the fifth floor of beyond and that means he needs at least 15 more constitution to sacrifice. Unless the keys let you jump there directly, without being on the 5th floor?? Can't remember if it was ever really clarified when he used it before to challenge Nyssa. Or maybe it doesn't have to be constitution? Don't remember how the fifth floor works
Hello, it doesn't have tu be con, could be dexterity or strength
Maybe he can infuse even more mana into other people, not just from his pool, but from the crown, environment, and other sources. What if he could infuse black mana LOL!? Turning people he touches into little black holes. What if he can infuse non-living things with mana too? That could be super useful, especially combined with [Weaving].
He probably should strengthen his mana body trait but knowing Nat he is going to do something ridiculous to get even more mana and leave his body problems for Lily to handle
‘pop’ And then the running, and the screaming…
Tftc does Nat not have the mental capacity to temper his Con up now?
“The more I talk with you, the more I feel like I devolve into some stupid version of me from long ago” RIZZTHANIEL STRIKES AGAIN
"Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much." Pop goes the S rank!
Ah, what the hell? I though the class upgrade was supposed to fix his body. Wasn't that what all the preparation was for? I'm over him dealing with his body, let's just move on.
No, he has done this himself by intentionally lowering his constitution, although it sounds like 10 is too low and he is considering raising it again. The constructs slowly killing him thing is not solved, but he has repeatedly said he has a solution.
He has to use trait evolution on his mana vessel, imagine how crazy that would be!
TFTC. "Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much" made me snort in horror and awe!!
Jüdrajil Yood-rah-yil
Yumanji!
“Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much” The skill equivalent of playing hot potato with the actual sun 😂
Evolve Premeninence Eyes........ He already has a plan for Empyreab Ichor and Mana Vessel will likely force evolve when he becomes more of a living mana monstrosity. With his eyes evolving and being effected by his class, it could turn into something terrifying.
I thus name the new skill [Jumanji]
Seconded
I love the name 😆😆
"all your mana are belong to me" - natnat, probably
Adrian is so cooked
Since [Jüdrajil] is a unique skill and not tied to his class Nat won't lose it on his next class upgrade right?
Pretty sure the text indicated it was a replacement skill for the class. But, maybe?
„Giving him all my mana in less than half a second feels like too much“ Damn Kindthaniel showing up making sure nathaniel doesnt blow up an entire city
I hope Fraudrian is as unprepared as he should be to Jurdululu.
He could have gotten the "Channelled 10,000 times your mana stat" achievement, Nat, not cool denying it from a guy the helped you.
TFTC!
trait evolution on mana vessel ... into mana being.... no need for con if your body is made of mana
Nat becoming just a straight up mana elemental with mana = constitution would make him the most durable being in the entirety of the tutorial
The hype was huge, but the Ruler of Diligence fooled us. Does it only allow him to give and take mana? That sounds like usurpation. Also, the skill doesn't say anything about mana.
Those are just 2 of the 4 applications that Nat has discovered after what appears to be a couple hours of tinkering with a level 0/1 skill. I'm sure there's more to come.
The "jüd" part made me think of the one if the original words for jew... looked up this word and its a translation from Afrikaans to Jewish? Huh
Oh my GAWD! He woulda POPPED if you did that! 😱
"active skill evolution" or "trait evolution" seem by far the best choices. not being offerd by the tutorial otherwise, also not by tournaments..
Imagine choosing trait evolution and both empyrian ichor and mana physiqe are not available cause they are too highly evolved already.
Anyone else cringe with that guy bragged about being s rank, 🍿 ready moment, all his ancestors just cringed . Wtf would being packed full of nats manna look like, like someone shoving a fire hose down your throat and turning it on.
🤔 looking forward to some Ruby vs. lily bickering about Nat
Skill evolution on mana manipulation
Hear me out, three active skill combination on [ Mana Manipulation] , [ Weave ] and [ Redistribution ]
The awesome thing about [Jüdrajil] is that Nat can learn how to do this shit himself. He already dominates ambient mana, this should be a great help in being able to steal/give mana using his own skill and mana manipulation. The 2nd application of [Jüdrajil] sounds like it'd be broken with Jean? The dude has some sort of mana absorption ability/trait/passive - imagine supercharging it by giving him 10k mana lol.
There is a 100% chance of Jumanji getting fused with Eclipse at some point. Presumably manually
Considering how hard Nat has to work to keep himself from exploding I can imagine just flooding someone with his mana might cause some fireworks.
Thank you for the chappie!
"Though his natural barrier and through all his effort to stop it." Should this be "Through his natural barrier"? Great chapter!
The two applications seem very limited in its use so far? I mean dumping mana means that people will either explode or if skilled they will just channel it (and Nat should be worried about skilled people, so this application is sort of useless). Stealing mana would be perfect, but if it needs touch, then I am unsure how useful it is. I also wonder how it would interact with Mana Crowns? Can Nat steal mana from crowns now?
Higher skill levels may increase the range
I bet a noble lady's pet can handle it
Is Nat actually going to kill Pride?? Hear me out... 1) Bait Pride into using the skill that mirrors his opponents stats 2) if he doesn't immediately die from a suicidal stat distribution, inject him and double his mana 3) Pride explodes, perhaps? 4) Call everyone that couldn't beat him trash and declare you've seen noble ladies pets with more talent
1) Prime doesn't use his [Mirror] 2) Pikachu face and die
So, what are we thinking in terms of secondary awards? It must be between three active skills or skill evolution, right? Maybe trait evolution for Mana Vessel?
Force an evolution of mana vessel then use the token! But my guess is either 3 way because of how powerful Manifestation turned out to be, or evolve Empyrean Ichor if he isn't sure how to evolve that on his own
Ah, are we finally reaching that idea of long range mana sharing Group 4 was theorizing some floors ago? Heck yh.
Can’t wait for the Nyssa rematch!
I get the impression Nat doesn't intend to challenge her again during her tutorial. I think its a respect thing, not constantly hounding her for a rematch as soon as he gets a little stronger
That second application would be a funny insta kill. Just offload all your mana on someone, they explode, and you collected it back.
Jüdrajil applications: 1. Steal all the mana 2. Make someone explode by giving them all the mana 3. TBD 4. TBD I don't even know what to think about this chapter. Just ridiculous...smh
Presumably he doesn't have to give them ALL his mana, though that control may require higher skill levels?
TFTC
TYFTC *POP goes the beyonder*
I cant believe the Ruler of Diligence would be so cruel as to use mind magic on mana daddy to prevent him from helping cure that poor S-ranks case of severe mana deficiency
Thanks for the chapter. Goathaniel strikes again!
I’m pretty sure Nat giving his entire mana pool to any tutorial attendee might actually instantly kill them????
Just wanted to write the same 😆
Oh god, he can use people as mana batteries just yoinking their mana pools or dumping mana in them to make them pop? If he has enough people with high mana it might mitigate a tiny bit of his chronic mana defficiency. An extra 50k's worth should stave off the worst of it.
I wonder if one of those uses involves infusing his mana into items that shouldn't normally be able to hold mana?
"The more I talk with you, the more I feel like I devolve into some stupid version of me from long ago." Yes Ruby, but that is part of why you like him! 😁
In one of the Ruby POV chapters, didn't Ruby literally say something along the lines of: "Every once in a while, I find a trace of that naive girl I used to be. I treasure those moments."
Thank you!
TFTC! Nathaniel is now a hungry hippo it seems.
'Rising Constitution could help, but since it is impossible for me to use stat points to increase Constitution because of a system bug' Sounds like a symptom of a severe case of mana deficiency to me! 😄
That line killed me 🤣
Diligence really altered Nat's system to make it impossible for him to raise Constitution ? It's his first good deed. Great job Dilidili
Good Ant
WTF is this skill name?
It's a magic spell in Frieren
TFTC
TFTC! I guess Savant is truly Nat's Battery now, and they're not even playing baseball, smh.
Thanks for the chapter!
Tftc
Tftc ccc!!
TFTC!!!