The Premise Behind Skill Acquisition

'Wait... what?'

Mike frowned.

Now, don't get him wrong, reading through the skill made him ecstatic, and from the way it sounded, it was an absolutely stellar skill. It was straightforward and easy enough to understand, too, so Mike didn't need to do any special mental gymnastics to understand how it worked, though, he wasn't sure what the percentage cap was.

What he didn't understand... was why.

He closed his eyes and considered all his fights since he landed in Naraka, and no matter how he thought about it, there were only three scenarios where he fought against an opponent stronger than him.

The first time was with the Titanic Corpse Flower, and that wasn't even technically a fight. He ran for his life.

Next came from the 6-armed creature, and that was probably more apt as Mike had fought with the maximum power he could pull out without getting his ferocity over the 50% mark or using Overclocking. If not for his landing a White Spark, the fight would have kept going for a while.

Then there was the battle with the Rat King which was arguably his hardest fight yet. Whether it was the creature's raw stats, its control over the lava, or its ability to devour and adapt to anything it came into contact with, it had simply been a nightmare to fight against, and the only reason that fight had ended was due to Mike's impromptu use of Primal Dread at a higher form.

In short, of the three battles he fought where his foe was truly stronger than him in the context of pure stats, he'd only won two.

So, was that enough to warrant his acquisition of this skill?

It seemed like an odd thing to be worried about. After all, it was a cool and probably powerful skill. Was there much need for him to think about whether he did enough to get it?

The thing was, when the system told him that it only rewards his effort, he began to believe it wholeheartedly, and after some time had passed with him growing stronger and leveling up, he began to realize something.

He liked it that way.

There was just something satisfying about getting rewarded after doing something difficult. It just made everything more worth it. So as absurd as it sounded, Mike wouldn't be happy if the system just gave him something on a platter.

Thankfully, it appeared to have noticed his discomfort and explained.

[The acquisition of the passive skill "Hunter's Resurge", was not random, but a result of the cumulative battles and experiences the Host has undergone since he acquired his ability as well as some other things.] Hearing this, Mike tilted his head.

'But I've only fought three things stronger than me in Naraka. From what I can tell, acquiring passive skills isn't the same as acquiring active skills, since I can't just 'understand' something to gain them in the same way I can do it with active skills.' Mike pointed out.

[The Host would be correct. However, that's also under the assumption that the three creatures you fought on Naraka are the only creatures you've fought that were stronger than you since you became a Lupine.] This made Mike pause, and the system continued.

[There have been numerous times when you fought beings stronger than you. From your first and consequent spars with Theresa, to the fight against the hologram, to Agnes, to Masha, to Kris, and so on. You have been fighting beings stronger than you for a long time, and consistently, too. Which brings up another reason for the acquisition of this skill. Your adaptability.] Mike's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't interrupt.

[Your ability to grow and match your opponents mid-battle is rare and not something you gained simply due to becoming a Lupine, but is a raw talent you've possessed by default. Whether it was the way you understood how to condense your Aura simply by looking at the energy pathways within Theresa's bow, or using your instincts and perception to bridge the gap between you and Agnes, or reading and mirroring the combat styles the hologram used against you when you fought. Your ability to adapt on the fly even when you are being suppressed in terms of pure stats contributed heavily to the acquisition of the skill. Its appearance wasn't random, it's just something you've already been doing for a while now.] Mike fell silent for a few seconds.

Then, gradually, he began to relax.

'... I guess that makes sense.' He mumbled as he thought about it.

Indeed, he'd simply been thinking in the context of Naraka. Quite a lot of the fights he'd been in consisted of him getting thrashed by whoever he was fighting, and then adapting mid-battle to fight on more even ground. His ability to read and understand his opponent before applying that to the way he fought was simply absurd, and it often helped him bridge the gap when his stats weren't enough.

The battles on Naraka were most likely just the peaks of this specific phenomenon, as were the other times he acquired certain skills or levels, which were an accumulation of his experiences until they reached a climax, and the only other way for him to get levels of skills without the experience factor was if he did something absurd on the first try, like how he'd gained Primal Authority, but even that was after dozens of times of use of its predecessor.

In short, after hearing the explanation, Mike had to admit, it made sense.

And that relaxed him.

'Heh, I've gained so much already while on Naraka that I forgot that I've been getting stronger even before then.' He chuckled at his own slowness.

Finally, he looked through his skills again, and other than Hunter's Resurgence and the availability of a new ability slot, there were no other changes to his stats, not that he wasn't already satisfied with what he already had.

It was hard to get his head around the fact that this was just the first day, but he'd already gained so much.

Granted, the Rat King was probably a huge outlier, and Mike doubted he could encounter a similar creature unless he left the bounds of where he was allowed to move within or enter the chasm again, two things he wasn't keen on doing.

Regardless, he was sure that he would only continue to get stronger, and eventually...

His eyes flashed as he recalled how he'd been unable to do anything other than flee from the massive flower.

'I'm coming for you.'

GROWL

The surrounding pups flinched as a deep growl came from Mike, but it wasn't intentional, nor did it come from his mouth.

He forced a cough.

"But first, I need to eat."

***

Around an hour later, Mike was doing some light stretched when his nose picked up two familiar scents, followed by his ears picking up faint sounds.

He turned to the cave entrance just as two figures appeared and entered, making Mike smile.

Theresa and Kris seemed quite a bit better off compared to him. Especially Theresa, as she only had low energy levels the previous day, which she probably slept over.

Kris didn't seem to be at a hundred percent yet, and Mike could still see a few burns on his skin here and there, but he seemed good enough to fight at least.

"Hey!" Mike smiled brightly when he saw them and was about to run over when his smile froze.

He looked at them again. Kris was expressionless as usual, but he seemed to be giving Mike a look of... pity?

As for Theresa, her expression was also impassive, but Mike could sense a mix of emotions coming from her, anger and worry being the predominant ones.

She strode forward, and Mike took a step back.

"Uh... Theresa?" He called out with a nervous smile, but she didn't respond.

As soon as she got close, she pulled her leg back and kicked him hard in the shin.

"ACK!" Mike subconscious jumped to one leg and held the one that had been hit. Granted, with his durability, he was more surprised than hurt.

"What was that for?!" He exclaimed, only for Theresa to try and kick his other shin, bit he managed to evade this time.

He looked around for help. However, Kris simply averted his gaze, and the wolves acted like they didn't know what was happening.

'Traitors!' Mike's eye twitched before he looked back at Theresa, who looked like she was about to spontaneously combust, and he frowned.

"Can you tell me what I did wrong?" He asked genuinely, and this made Theresa freeze.

She stared at him for a few seconds, and when she saw that he was genuinely perplexed, she gave an annoyed huff.

"You promised to stay safe." She finally said and crossed her arms, and Mike blinked before realization dawned on him.

'Right...' He scratched his cheek. He might have been unconscious, but he could imagine how Theresa must have felt seeing Kris carry him into the cave, bloodied and suffering from backlash.

His first instinct was to defend himself, but then he remembered how angry he got when he saw Kris was injured against the Rat King, and he ended up just feeling guilty.

"... Sorry." He mumbled while looking down, looking like a scolded puppy.

This sight made Theresa's gaze soften slightly, and she sighed.

"... It's fine. Injuries are to be expected in this place." She rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Just... be more careful next time?" Mike looked up slowly.

"I'll try. But... I can't really make any promises." He admitted quietly.

Theresa stared at him for a few seconds, then she took a breath.

"Alright, that's fair. Just... focus on recovering right now. Alright?" Mike perked up, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Good."

An awkward silence slowly set over the trio as no one knew what to say, then Mike blurted out.

"Uh, you guys should be careful in the coming days."

Definitely could have phrased that better.

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