’Enhanced cognition really does get the job done,’ Elion thought.

He really liked how the skill worked.

It dulled everything that didn’t matter and filtered out the hesitation that would otherwise cloud his judgment, and instead of being the inexperienced youth that he was in battle, he fought like a veteran with hundreds of years of experience.

It was almost unfair for his opponents. They stood no chance.

He moved swiftly from branch to branch through the tall, steady trees as these thoughts filled his mind, his body flowing effortlessly with each step, barely making a sound as he advanced deeper through the forest.

It was well into the night by now, and he was thinking of calling it a day and setting up a makeshift resting spot.

He continued moving, looking around his surroundings until he found a suitable spot, and planted his feet onto a thick branch and paused, looking around briefly.

’This looks good enough,’ he thought.

It was a well-enclosed little cove within the forest canopy, a small clearing surrounded by dense foliage, with long vines winding down from the branches above and trailing toward the ground below.

He sighed quietly.

’How much longer do I still have to go...’

Running on foot was not exactly efficient for long-distance travel.

He lowered himself onto the branch and took a calm breath. The good thing was, with his level of stamina, he didn’t need to worry about rest all that much; he still felt refreshed even after running for hours, but old habits died hard. Nighttime meant rest.

Even though he could still see almost as clearly as he did during the day with his enhanced senses, he chose to take a pause anyway.

Now that he had obtained quite a haul of system points, he could start thinking about expanding his arsenal, maybe pick up a few more spells, maybe even look into a couple of unique skills.

Unlike spells, unique skills weren’t tied to any specific affinity, and they were incredibly rare. Not many people had access to them.

In fact...

If knowledgeable individuals ever saw the number of unique skills he possessed, they would probably try to dissect him just to figure out what the hell he was made of.

"System store..." Elion thought.

The panel flashed into existence in his vision as he sat there on the branch. With a little over one hundred and thirty thousand points...

He finally had some room to work with.

However, without the system’s usual snarky voice and its constant recommendations, the system felt more like a utility tool than the almost sentient presence it usually gave off.

As soon as Elion expanded the store page, he immediately felt a headache coming on.

"This is too inefficient..." he thought.

There were too many spells, with no clear classification other than their affinity type and level.

He wasn’t looking for spells anyway, so he closed that tab and opened the abilities section, then navigated to unique skills.

Now this was more interesting.

There were more utility-based and passive abilities under this section, some of which he already possessed, like poison immunity and ailment immunity.

He frowned slightly.

’Why are these two even separate...’

Poison immunity felt like it should fall under ailment immunity in his mind, but perhaps they differed in some way that he didn’t understand.

He didn’t dwell on it though, he moved on. The others were things like passive mana recovery and passive regeneration.

He scrolled past those without much thought. They were too basic. They would never really tilt a battle in his favour by the kind of margins he was interested in.

What he wanted was something on the level of Enhanced Cognition, maybe even better, so he kept scrolling.

And scrolling.

Until finally, the lower section immediately caught his eye.

There was a Devour unique skill.

The description stated that the ability allowed the user to absorb abilities from fallen enemies. That obviously caught his eye, almost making him salivate when he thought of the applications.

He wouldn’t need to gain new spells from just his harem seal anymore. This worked in a similar way to the seal, only that he could only use it on enemies he felled.

The cost, however, was ridiculous.

Ten thousand system points.

But it was extremely useful to pass on.

From what Elion understood, unique skills were not as heavily capped by his own ability or the target’s capability, unlike most mage skills, though some limitations still existed.

Regardless, he didn’t immediately purchase it.

He kept scrolling to look at other options. Then he stopped again, not long after.

Temporary Stat Conversion.

"...Okay..."

This one was so unreasonable that he had to read it twice.

It allowed the user to transfer stat points between any physical attributes.

Meaning he could convert mana attribute points into strength points for a short burst of overwhelming power, or shift everything into speed and agility to gain absurd movement.

The cost?

Eight thousand points.

A very reasonable price.

"...Bookmarked," he muttered to himself as he kept scrolling. He was already liking this little shopping venture.

After scrolling once again, the next skill he stopped at was Substitute.

"Wow... impressive," he said out loud.

This one allowed him to swap positions with an object or a person, essentially meaning he could use it to get out of a tricky situation in the middle of battle, or even reposition instantly for an attack.

The price, however, was astronomical.

Hisss!

He took in a sharp breath.

Thirty thousand points.

’Must be because it makes use of a spatial technique,’ he thought, even as he bookmarked it without hesitation.

This was, quite literally, a teleportation ability. And in his opinion, the cost was more than justified for the amount of value this would give him.

Once again, he scrolled for a bit and came across a unique skill called Undying Will.

The description read: User continues fighting at peak strength even after sustaining fatal injuries (temporarily).

It seemed like a good skill, but...

Would he just keep fighting until his body eventually gave out on him if he was fatally wounded? That sounded like a downside to him.

Still, he took note of it.

The cost was five thousand points.

He continued his search, scrolling further down, and though he saw more and more useful skills, he knew he was on a budget.

There didn’t seem to be anything else on the same level as what he had already found that he didn’t already possess, and though he was tempted to keep scrolling, he decided to stop.

He didn’t have the points to go on a shopping spree.

It would only be a waste of time. More of a window-shopping experience than anything else.

After reading through the skills he had taken note of earlier, he bought them all for a total of fifty-three thousand system points and watched almost half his available points vanish with a pained grimace.

’Why does it feel so painful to watch them go, even though technically I didn’t have to work for them?’ he thought grimly.

He opened his status window and looked through it for a bit, taking note of the new additions and familiarizing himself with what he had just gained.

There was nothing else for him to do immediately, so he waved the panel away and dismissed it without much thought.

He briefly considered buying something like a tent to sleep in, or at least some basic camping equipment like a sleeping bag, but in the end, he decided against it.

’Gotta save up on points until I can guarantee that I can get more,’ he thought.

He shifted his position on the branch, pushing back slightly so that his back rested against the tree trunk, and settled in.

"Hopefully I can find a base camp tomorrow," he said out loud.

He placed his hands behind his head to cushion it against the rough bark, crossed one leg over the other, and stretched them along the length of the thick branch before closing his eyes.

At the same time, he attuned his body to the surrounding mana, suppressing his presence as much as possible, blending into the environment so that any beasts sensitive to mana would overlook him if they happened to pass by him overnight.

Even though he was concealed by the darkness, and even though he could easily deal with most beasts in this forest, he would much rather have an uninterrupted night’s rest.

’I should look for a stealth skill next time...’

With that final thought, he let himself rest.