Level 7 Spells:

Eruption: 32000 Aura

Hurricane: 32000 Aura

Monsoon: 32000 Aura

Earthquake: 32000 Aura

Blizzard: 32000 Aura

Telepathy: 32000 Aura

Telekinesis: 32000 Aura

Teleportation: 32000 Aura

Clairvoyance: 32000 Aura

Combine: 32000 Aura

So. The first five Level 7 Spells followed their elemental theme as usual… But it had to be said, naming them for natural disasters that routinely caused mass death and destruction was an intimidating choice—though, obviously some of those examples were more disastrous than others.

It made him wonder what the fuck Level 10 would be, where the Spells would be costing over 250k. Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Eruptions were the kinds of things that seriously damaged cities. Would he eventually have access to abilities that would ruin countries? Continents?

Entire worlds?

The first half of the list seemed almost too scary to think about, so it was a good thing, he reckoned, that the second half of the list was deeply worthy of his consideration on its own. Frankly, he saw all five of them as potential game changers, and there wasn't much room for interpretation in their names.

Telepathy. The ability to read minds.

Telekinesis. The ability to move objects with one's mind.

Teleportation. The ability to transport oneself from one location to another without having to physically cross the distance.

Clairvoyance. The ability to perceive beyond one's human senses.

Last, but certainly not least, was the only one of the five that was somewhat up to interpretation. Or it would have been, if he hadn't already unlocked another version of it.

Combine.

The ability, in his estimation, to merge two of his supernatural abilities together to create something new. Considering he'd already unlocked a Skill with the exact same name that worked on Spells, he was working under the assumption that this Spell would work on Skills.

He would admit that his active use of Skills had somewhat fallen to the wayside in the last couple of days. Accelerate, Flash Step, and Air Step were the only ones that saw really regular use, and even Air Step hadn't had much of a chance to shine since he entered the school portal world. Catfall and Thread Walker occasionally had their moments, and Eagle Eye was helpful in certain contexts.

Passives, on the other hand, were massively helpful. If not for Ninja, Marksman, Duellist, Striker, and Grappler, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have survived this long, and even then, he'd somewhat neglected them, leaving them at Level 2 while he pumped his Aura into Spells.

Curious, John pulled up his Skills menus while he went through the routine of slaughtering another classroom of insects. He barely even had to pay attention to his body anymore, again showing the effectiveness of the passives: he'd done nothing to earn the muscle memory that let him decapitate monsters like he'd done it a million times before.

Level 1 Skills:

Increase Second Wind Level 1 -> Level 2: 1000 Aura

Increase Limit Break Level 1 -> Level 2: 1000 Aura

Increase Insight Level 1 -> Level 2: 1000 Aura

Increase Suppress Soul Level 1 -> Level 2: 1000 Aura

Level 2 Skills:

Athlete: 1000 Aura

Thief: 1000 Aura

Engineer: 1000 Aura

Rider: 1000 Aura

Ventriloquist: 1000 Aura

Increase Inhuman Stamina Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Iron Fist Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Eagle Eye Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Danger Sense Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Ninja Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Marksman Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Duelist Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Grappler Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Increase Striker Level 2 -> Level 3: 2000 Aura

Level 3 Skills:

Hypnotist: 2000 Aura

Tamer: 2000 Aura

Bookworm: 2000 Aura

Polyglot: 2000 Aura

Druid: 2000 Aura

Upgrade Titan Tendons Level 3 -> Level 4: 4000 Aura

Upgrade Unstoppable Charge Level 3 -> Level 4: 4000 Aura

Upgrade Catfall Level 3 -> Level 4: 4000 Aura

Upgrade Intuition Level 3 -> Level 4: 4000 Aura

Upgrade Speed Casting Level 3 -> Level 4: 4000 Aura

Stolen novel; please report.

Level 4 Skills:

Ranger: 4000 Aura

Medic: 4000 Aura

Detective: 4000 Aura

Commander: 4000 Aura

Calculator: 4000 Aura

Upgrade Thread Walker Level 4 -> Level 5: 8000 Aura

Upgrade Precognition Level 4 -> Level 5: 8000 Aura

Level 5 Skills:

Meditate: 8000 Aura

Intimidate: 8000 Aura

Dodge: 8000 Aura

Memorize: 8000 Aura

Charge: 8000 Aura

Pyromaniac: 8000 Aura

Hydro Homie: 8000 Aura

Rock Star: 8000 Aura

Airhead: 8000 Aura

Stoic: 8000 Aura

Upgrade First Aid Level 5 -> Level 6: 16000 Aura

Upgrade Accelerate Level 5 -> Level 6: 16000 Aura

Upgrade Flash Step Level 5 -> Level 6: 16000 Aura

Upgrade Air Step Level 5 -> Level 6: 16000 Aura

Level 6 Skills:

Inner Harmony: 16000 Aura

Adamant Stance: 16000 Aura

Atomic Slash: 16000 Aura

Vector Calculation: 16000 Aura

Sacrifice: 16000 Aura

Speed Demon: 16000 Aura

All Brawn: 16000 Aura

Trick Shooter: 16000 Aura

Magnificent Bastard: 16000 Aura

Archmage: 16000 Aura

Thinking about it, the passives could, in a way, be described as combinations of lesser Skills grouped together to form a greater whole. Ninja, for example, implanted in him the way to move his feet to minimise sound, how to climb, to flip, to parkour, to blend into the shadows, and many more.

With Combine, would he be able to merge together Skills that seemed synergistic to create new passives? Every new Talent level so far had granted a Skill list structured as fives passives, and five Skills that each corresponded to one of the other stats: vitality, strength, agility, mind, and arcane. He could easily imagine that he'd be able to merge the strength-based Skills across levels.

And what if he affixed extra Skills to the existing passives? What would Iron Fist do for Striker? Would Suppress Soul add a new dimension to Ninja? Could Eagle Eye massively increase Marksman's effective range?

The possibilities swirled in his mind like a chaotic storm, but they didn't stop there. Without the Spell unlocked, he couldn't yet say exactly what it did, and so he couldn't help wondering…

What if it would let him Combine Spells with Skills? What would he be able to create then?

He tried not to think too hard about it. If he got his hopes up for something like that only for it not to work out, his day would be ruined and his disappointment would be immeasurable.

Still, the mere possibility pretty much cemented his choice, and he had to force himself not to rush through the classrooms, wary of making a mistake and bringing the headmaster's attention back towards him before he was ready. The other Spells would get their time eventually. He was in the apocalypse for the long haul, and before long everything on the Aura menus would be unlocked. For now, though, he focused on grinding through the classrooms, hiding his barbarous slaughter of the insect students with careful applications of Shadow Stream.

A dozen classrooms later:

Unlocked Combine!

-32,000 Aura

Knowledge flooded his mind like a higher being was pouring liquid enlightenment directly into his skull. It rushed through neural pathways, forming new connections and spawning new cells. In moments, comprehension dawned.

John hurried back to the Skill menus with myriad ideas spinning dizzily in his mind's eye, eager to test out his new ability, only to stop, shoulders slumping. He'd purchased the Spell as soon as he had the Aura available for it, leaving him with quite literally nothing left. For the first time since the apocalypse kicked off, his Aura hit 0.

Feeling deeply uncomfortable with that number staring him in the face, John got back to the grind. Ten minutes and approximately a dozen classes later, he put his theories to the test.

First, he wanted to see what would happen when an ability that required conscious activation was added to a passive Skill. Thus:

Combined Ninja and Danger Sense!

-5000 Aura

It wasn't immediately obvious whether it had worked how he hoped, since he had done the Combination in a classroom he'd already cleared out. When he entered the next class, he got his confirmation.

Without having to consciously activate the ability, a sixth sense at the back of his mind alerted him to the fact that there were thirty enemies aware of his existence, alongside the vague sense of where their attention was coming from. It came with an instinct to fade into the shadows and sneak away to avoid discovery, but that was easily resisted.

John couldn't help but grin as he went about slaughtering the next class. The possibilities were already wide enough that he would've been perfectly happy with just that, but he had something else he wanted to test, too, and he did so as soon as he had the 10,000 Aura he reckoned he'd need.

Once the monsters in class 41-Q were all dead, John closed his eyes to concentrate and activated the Combine Skill. There, he mentally directed the Adamant Defence Spell into the first slot. Simultaneously, he activated the Combine Spell, adding his Titan Tendons Skill to the Spell's second slot.

Then, he tried to confirm both abilities at the same time. At first, nothing happened. Neither the Spell nor the Skill reacted in the slightest to him mentally spamming the confirmation button, since neither possessed the requirements to perform their purpose. A sigh of disappointment was just starting to form in his chest…

But then, something changed. It was subtle. It might not have even been noticeable, if John wasn't focusing every iota of his attention on what he was trying to do.

The thing was, the system menus weren't exactly a visual thing, though he often thought of them that way. Or, perhaps it would be better to say they weren't only a visual thing. Any time he interacted with the system, there was a haptic buzz in his brain as information was injected directly into his grey matter through means that were far beyond human ken. This was most stark when he purchased Skills or Spells and the system bestowed the knowledge of how to use them upon him.

Other times, it was so slight as to be barely noticeable. His typical interactions with the menus, such as merely scrolling through Spells, were such a light touch on his brain that he'd been pretty much tuning it out. But it was always there. Always.

And the change he noticed here was the subtlest the system had ever been. In fact, he would even go so far as to say nothing about the part he was directly interacting with changed at all. The text didn't twitch. The mild haptic buzz of interacting with the menu didn't increase or decrease.

But there was something beyond that. It was like listening to a song on a low volume with in-ear headphones, just about feeling the tinny reverberations of the sound waves in your ears, only for the pitch of the song to shift so minutely that you weren't sure if you imagined it.

That was what it felt like, when his attempts to use the Combine Skill and Combine Spell simultaneously went from doing nothing at all, to abruptly doing exactly what he wanted. It was as seamless as if it was always supposed to work that way.

Combined Adamant Defence and Titan Tendons!

-5000 Aura

-5000 Aura

John stood there for a long moment, brows furrowed. A part of him wanted to fist pump and do a little dance and shout with delight. It had worked. For twice the price of a normal Combine, he could merge Spells and Skills together, and a whole new world of possibilities had opened up before him.

But another, more paranoid part of him couldn't close his eyes and pretend everything was peachy keen. He couldn't go on acting like the system hadn't just altered itself in real time to allow him to do something that wasn't initially part of its design.

His gaze turned to the windows, then panned slowly upwards. In the portal world, the burning sky was dimmer than it was outside, the deep red of a log fire that was on the last of its fuel. A shudder passed through him.

On some level, he'd always known that he was under observation. He had to be, for his actions to be rewarded or punished by the Aura system.

But that was just it. Knowing your every action was being watched was a very different thing to realising that the observer had access to your mind, too. It should have been obvious. Of course the system would be watched. It had to be. It couldn't perform its function without some outside intelligence interacting with it on the other end.

For some reason, he hadn't considered it. Maybe he just hadn't wanted to think too deeply on the implications of all this while survival needed to be the priority, so he had averted his eyes. Now, he couldn't look away.

Somewhere out there, someone or something was watching humanity fight and struggle and die, and that being was observing closely enough to realise he was trying to do something not permitted… and then alter the system so it was permitted. Why, he couldn't say, though he had suspicions.

And either way, he couldn't do anything about it right now. Eventually, he thought with hate in his eyes as he glared up at the burning sky. But not right now.

John moved on to the next class, Aurora Blade in one hand and Shadow Stream in the other. Time was limited, and he had a bug to squash.

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