Midway to the Assistant village, Archie’s eyes had fully regenerated. He could now see his surroundings without relying on Material Insight

  He noticed he could still perceive sparks of vital energy with his normal vision. For instance, the jungle rat on his right looked like an ordinary, albeit overly roided, rat. However, he could also see its vital energy coursing through the creature—tiny sparks of vitality flickering and overlapping its physical form.

  Archie wondered, watching a rabbit hop toward a pool of water. The same flowing vital energy surrounded the rabbit, if not a bit stronger, which made sense since it was a higher level.

  Shifting his focus to himself, Archie glanced down. He realized he was nearly naked, with only his left hand partially covered by a gauntlet. Concentrating, he channeled mana into the faint echoes of his armor. Slowly, the armor began to regenerate around him.

  As he grew more accustomed to his new vision, Archie oriented himself toward his base and began heading in that direction.

  Archie exited Nature’s Meditation

  Releasing a sigh, Archie turned to face the notifications he’d ignored.

  Skill Upgraded: [Pugilist’s Grit (Uncommon)→ Pugilist’s Grit (Rare)]

  Pugilist’s Grit (Rare):

  The pugilist thrives under pressure, using sheer willpower to stay on their feet no matter how brutal the fight is. Regenerate 4% of maximum health per second while in combat. When health drops below 30%, regeneration doubles for a short duration, empowering the pugilist to outlast their enemies through relentless endurance.

  Skill Evolution: [Wrathful Martial Combat Mastery (Uncommon)→ Leeching Strikes of Fury (Uncommon)]

  Leeching Strikes of Fury (Uncommon):

  Channel your fury into your strikes, transforming your fists into relentless tools of destruction. With every attack, you steal a small portion of Health from an opponent that has Vitality and transfer it to you, fueling your relentless assault. Grants low bonuses to Strength and Endurance during unarmed combat, with additional damage enhancements while in a state of fury.

  Skill Gained: [Vital Sight (Radiant)]

  Vital Sight (Radiant):

  You are able to perceive the spark and flow of Vitality of all entities that possess Vitality. Those with Vitality glow faintly to your sight, with the intensity of their glow varying based on your recognition of their sparks of Vitality.

  *[Verdant Serpent Lv 87] has been slain – XP has been given. 1131 Tutorial Points given*

  *Your Class has reached Lv 68 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  *Your Race has reached Lv 68 – Points allocated, +3 Free Points*

  Quest: Group Tutorial Mid-Boss

  You have survived the Hoarfrost Highlands, bested its king, and have moved on to the Emernigan Isle. Having killed the inhabitants of Emernigan Isle, The Queen of the Emernigan Isle is now actively roaming its territory, seeking to eliminate you and your fellow Tutorial Participants. Your reward will be scaled based on your performance.

  Requirements: ?

  Reward:

  “Holy crap,” Archie muttered while looking over his notifications, particularly the rarity of Vital Sight

  He wasn’t quite sure about how better the rarity was but considering that he hadn’t received a title from receiving it; it was most probably under Legendary, but above Epic. By how much? He did not know.

  Nevertheless, it was a high rarity skill that he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with. Everything around him that was alive now glowed different shades of red and varying sparks.

  It was hard to describe the sparks of Vitality; they were all different shapes, sizes, and colors; constantly changing at every moment within a being.

  With enough study and experimentation, it would be a vital skill to have in fights. It would allow him to notice anything with Vitality that was trying to sneak up on him, seeing how he was able to see sparks of Vitality from those all around him.

  Previously when he first gained Vital Sight

  . Archie analyzed as he tried to focus on trying to see their sparks, but to no avail.

  “Hey, Bralmir” Archie called out. “I got a couple of questions for you, that may or may not be very important.”

  Archie felt the familiar pressure atop his shoulders, notifying him that yes, Bralmir heard him.

  “What are these important questions?” Bralmir responded. “Oh, before you say, congratulations on your fight with the serpent. It was quite a good show.”

  “Oh,” Archie said, taken aback slightly. “You saw that?”

  “Of course,” Bralmir responded, slightly affronted. “You are the only one with a blessing I’ve given in cycles. Why would I not watch your journey?”

  “So,” Archie wondered, a bit caught off guard. “Do you always watch me?”

  “Not always, but I do have an avatar of sorts watching over you and whenever things get interesting I personally watch over you,” Bralmir explained, but seeing the confusion on Archie’s face he explained. “I can essentially make clones of myself who are able to perform certain tasks. They’re obviously limited in ways but don’t worry about it too much, it’s a god thing.”

  “Kinda a bit weird though,” Archie jested.

  “Maybe,” Bralmir acquitted. “Think of it like me watching the Archie Show. Gods are immortal and immortality without entertainment is boring. So, most gods enjoy watching the lives of mortals they’ve blessed. But don’t worry about it, I only watch the Archie Show when you’re crafting something new or fighting something difficult. Anyways, your important questions?”

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  , Archie thought, somewhat understanding what Bralmir meant. If you’re an immortal, you probably get bored a lot. While leveling up and experimenting on things is fun, you need time to unwind.

  “Okay, I kinda get it,” Archie said before asking Bralmir about his Vital SightVital Sight

  “Hmm, Vital Sight

  Archie then reiterated the description of the skill to Bralmir and what he remembered doing in the middle of the fight against the Verdant Serpent.

  “Okay, I believe I know what you should do. While I’m not 100% sure, There are a couple of races within the multiverse that do have such vision and those are those who are intrinsically connected with vital energy.” Bralmir responded. “When you were fighting the serpent, you had an epiphany on how to control vital energy, thus allowing you to learn how to steal vitality from anything you punch. When you tried to locate the serpent, you funneled a large amount of vital energy to your head, mainly to your brain and eyes. When you did so, you altered your vision to see using vital energy. Thus, granting you the skill.”

  “Okay,” Archie responded while tapping his chin, replaying what happened a few hours ago in his mind. “I got a second type of vision, basically a human mantis shrimp but with shittier vision. But how do I turn it off? It’s useful, yes, but it makes it hard to see anything that’s alive.”

  Bralmir chuckled a bit before responding. “Archie, if you turn on the lights in a room, how do you turn it off?”

  “Ah…” Archie muttered at the realization. “I’m an idiot.”

  “A bit,” Bralmir joked, chuckling at Archie’s expression. “I don’t believe you can turn it off completely, but I do recommend you to visit your Magic Assistant. The Journeys of vampires are intrinsically connected with Vitality, so they have much more insight into your Vital Sight

  “Oh, that makes sense.” Archie replied, “I’ll go ask him later then since it's turning night and the village is closed…Anyways I gotta ask, what’s the difference between a boss creature in a dungeon, an alpha creature in the wild, and a normal creature all of the same level? Why do they feel completely different?”

  “There are many reasons as to why. Dungeon bosses are typically enhanced by the dungeon creator, be it the system or the individual who made the dungeon. Normally to raise the difficulty,” Bralmir explained. “Outside of dungeons, there are creatures known as Alphas, they are those who follow the Journey of a group leader, and due to their Journey, the stats they gain per level are higher than their normal counterparts. Albeit there are restrictions they face, but it's to balance the rewards they gain.”

  “Okay, make sense,” Archie replied. “They got a rare class, thus giving them much better stats at every level, and as such they have restrictions to balance it.”

  “Is that all of your questions?” Bralmir asked.

  “Yeah, thanks, man,” Archie said.

  “No problem,” Bralmir replied. “Oh, before you lessen the effects of your Vital Sight

  Archie then remembered what he saw when tossing the sphere of condensed vital energy into his spatial storage…

  Seeing the realization and many questions starting to show on Archie’s face, Bralmir left with a chuckle. The familiar weight of Bralmir’s presence on Archie’s shoulders disappeared, leaving him alone, pondering in a cave.

  Archie then took out his forging equipment then set his forge alight with Forgesmith’s Flame

  Archie stared at the sparks of Vitality that sparked faintly within the core. “Woah.”

  Rolling the core around his palms, Archie noticed how the sparks flowed seamlessly throughout the core. However, he also took notice of how the core’s vital sparks seemed to be moving in a set pattern, like a record on repeat.

  Just as he was about to place the core into the crucible, Archie placed it atop the table. Archie nervously chuckled.

  Grabbing a bar of steel Archie placed it within his heavy-duty tongs and placed it into the forge. Once it got red-hot, Archie tossed it onto his heavy-duty anvil and got to work hammering it uniformly, imbuing it with normal mana with every strike.

  Afterward, Archie placed the thin steel slab on the anvil’s horn and slowly shaped it into a large sphere. Grabbing his Thermal Carver, Archie carved out the top of the sphere, just large enough for the core to fit inside.

  Then he lightly scratched circles within the inside of the hollow sphere. Placing the sphere on the table, Archie took out a small chunk of Cragforge ore and placed it within the crucible and into the forge.

  Once it became red-hot, Archie then placed it atop the precision anvil and hammered it into a thin rectangle. Once it was properly formed Archie placed it against the carved top part of the sphere and pushed against it slightly. After the tip of the Cragforge pierced the steel sphere cover, Archie lit his fingers with Forgesmith’s Flame

  Now all that was left was to forge the core and place it into the sphere to complete his creation. Once he injected mana into the final creation, the core would release rot gas and build up within the sphere…In theory at least.

  Archie grabbed the Rotfang Basilisk Beastcore he placed on the table and placed it within the crucible and into the forge, with his Gaze of the Forgefather

  Archie stayed alert watching over the core making sure there were no signs of chipping. Archie also noticed how even with Gaze of the ForgefatherVital Sight

  He saw the sparks of Vitality start to vibrate, but still continuing their monotonous flow within the sphere. But as the sphere started to crack, the sparks of Vitality increased the speed at which they vibrated.

  Once the core was covered in razor-thin translucent cracks, Archie took it out of the forge and wrapped it with a mana string.

  Once it was out of the crucible, Archie wrapped the core with four more mana strings and channeled normal mana into the core. Not wanting to…taint the rotten core with his nature mana. , Archie chuckled.

  The vibrating sparks of Vitality’s pattern now moved in lengthened waves. Once the core started to glow a bluish-black color, Archie stopped channeling mana into the core and held it within his hands.

  , he thought. Staring into the core, Archie started to slowly funnel his vital energy into the core. Making sure that it was being pushed steadily into the core and not all at once.

  Archie slowly saw the sparks of Vitality suddenly stop before fluidly moving through the core, shining brighter than before. Archie instinctively knew to cut off his vital energy and started at the core, mesmerized.

  . Archie thought staring at the core, with its sparks of Vitality dancing throughout the core harmoniously.

  Identifying the core, gave Archie a realization. His vital energy contained his records.

  Rot-Attuned Beastcore:

  A beastcore from an E-Grade Rotfang Basilisk Beastcore, previously containing fragmented records, now imbued with the records of Archie Gracefield. Within its records lies that of the Rotfang Basilisk and Archie Gracefield. Can be used for various forging and medium applications.

  Archie carefully held the core and placed it within the steel hollowed sphere and closed it with its top, soldering them together.

  Archie stared at the almost completed rot gas bomb and started to think about what rune to place on it. Soul-Bound and Self-Repair would be useless, grenades are meant to be one-time use items…A rune of dispersion?

  Archie grabbed an iron sheet and his runic scriber. Etching the runic base of Wind, Archie started to surround it within an amplifier circuit, but with a few modifications. There wasn’t a point in making a sphere sharper, rather he needed it to lightly blow air, spreading the rot fog the core would generate.

  Once he finished etching the rune on the sheet and waited for a second to see if it vanished, he quickly etched the rune on the side of the sphere.

  . Archie said before Identifying the sphere.

  Rot Spreading Sphere (Common):

  Crafted by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith, this sphere is made from three separate materials: Steel, Cragforge and a Rotfang Basilisk Beastcore imbued with vital energy. Once mana is channeled into the Cragforge on the top of the sphere, the kinetic energy within the Cragforge with release a blast, activating the Rotfang Basilisk Beastcore and popping the holes within the sphere spreading gaseous rot in all directions. Once the Cragforge is channeled with mana, a small delay will occur before it bursts. Effects: Rot Dispersion. Requirements: Lv 65+ & Humanoid Race.

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