CHAPTER 84: NEW SKILLS

║You gotta stop opening and closing your mouth, Everlearn. That won’t change anything.║

The system panel blinked as Everlearn finally sighed, his head dropping low.

’I’ve always been so proud of it, you know,’ he mused to himself.

Being cute for a boy came with many advantages.

You get free cuddles that make one feel like sinking into paradise, and many unfair passes that would have normally been denied by most.

You get easily endearing to most and have them more willing to share something with you, even without doing much for them.

Besides, you’re less suspicious of a bad act being attributed to you, and even if you were caught for something, you could smartly blink your bubbly eyes, and they’d be the ones feeling bad for scolding you.

Everlearn had learned to harness his cute charms ever since he was ten, and it had indeed taken him very far both academically and socially.

But now it was all gone.

The face he had now was far from endearing.

If there was a murder in a place and he happened to be standing close, he would be the first suspect!

"Well, I guess there’s no point sulking about it then," he mused to himself, brushing away the sadness.

This look itself wasn’t that bad. At least no one would underestimate him anymore based on his looks.

One of the things that had always happened with his previous face.

Washing off the goo from his body, he moved out, dressing in a hoodie and trousers before heading to his training room and washing off the putrid goo from it.

When he was done, he couldn’t help but look at the training room.

It was dry. Too dry and empty, with only a simple punching bag.

His mind couldn’t help but drift back to when he had gone to the academy shop area and found the Training Room Shop.

It contained stuff that the students could use to design their training rooms and improve their strength.

’Maybe I should get a couple of simulations tomorrow,’ he mused to himself before exiting the training room.

Picking up his device, he moved to the living room and sat on the sofa.

He had received a notification that he had awakened new skills, so he wanted to check those out.

"Initiate MDS Protocol," he ordered, and in the next moment, the golden panel blinked to life.

Everlearn quickly navigated to the Skills and Abilities tab and there found them.

╔══════════════════╗

║ [ SKILLS & ABILITIES ] ║

╠══════════════════╣

MECHA DEVOURER CLASS SKILLS

— Rooted in the system’s Original Abilities —════════════════════

🔹 [MECHANO COPY]  [Level: 1]

Description: A system-born ability awakened through 10% fusion with the Mecha Devourer Module. By making direct contact with another Mech module fusion, the Host can temporarily replicate its form and combat parameters.

EFFECTS:

— Allows Host to copy another Mech user’s external transformation for a limited duration.

— Copied forms retain 50% of their original efficiency

.— Cooldown increases proportionally to the complexity of the copied Mech.

Note: Higher levels will reduce the copying delay, extend form duration, and allow activation of abilities of copied Mech Modules, while also increasing replication accuracy to 100%.

══════════════════════════════════════════

🔹 [ILLUMINO TRANSFORMATION]  [Level: 1]

Description: The direct manifestation of the Host’s integration with the Illumino Mech Form.

When activated, Host’s forearms shift into golden, wolf-like mechanical claws while his jaw reforms into a radiant metallic maw capable of crushing reinforced alloys.

The transformation channels divine energy circuits unique to the Illumino design.

EFFECTS:

— Temporarily enhances Strength and Endurance by 50%.

— Claws can shred steel and deflect low-grade energy attacks.

— The golden maw can bite through high-density materials and drain mechanical essence from damaged constructs.

Note: Higher levels evolve the transformation into a full Illumino Combat Frame, amplifying mobility, defense, and energy absorption capacity.

══════════════════════════════════════════

The first skill was easy to understand for Everlearn.

Even based on the name, he got the gist of things.

It allowed him to copy other Mech modules with a touch.

Though not perfectly, as seen by the 50% mark, but that could be improved.

His heart was sent into a frenzy at the thought of him using the skill.

If he had this during his fight with Vulcan, he could have copied the dude’s chainsaws and slashed him to pieces.

The ability to copy most mech modules was insane, and he couldn’t wait to try it out.

And the fact that it allowed him to copy kind of made him relate to the system’s original power, which was Mecha Devourer.

’Mech Devour. Mech Copy seems like a preface to that,’ he mused to himself before turning to the other skill.

Illumino Transformation.

This one was more complicated.

It was a transformation skill, obviously, but then, when Everlearn looked at what was transformed, the mouth shifting into a maw that could bite through steel and claws, it reminded him of those wolves back in the Illumino Mecha Grave.

He had found these beasts also having maws of iron that allowed them to devour metals, and they also had those metallic claws, the same thing the skill description said.

Even the birds that almost killed him also had mechanical talons and metallic beaks.

"Did I gain the skill from being in the Illumino Mecha Grave?"

’Gaining a skill due to being in a place? Is there such a thing?’

’What was even that place?’

’What were those buried mechs? It said it was a grave. Are those mechs all really dead or inactive?’

’And if they’re dead, what reduced such ginormous beings to that state?’

’And how did I gain access to such a place?’

’A dream? Is it a real place somewhere?’

He had millions of questions, but the system, which would have usually responded to his confusion, was silent this time.

He had a feeling it wouldn’t give him anything, and he would have to find those answers himself.

DRIIING!

DRIIIIING!

DRIIIIIIIIIING!

The sound of his device vibrating brought him out of it, and he turned to it.

A beeping alarm of the time 6:00 PM.

He had told Rosa the other day that he would be available at six, and he had set up an alarm for that.

Now that he was done with his evolution and not much left to do, he decided to go for it, picking up his green card from the table and covering his hair with his hoodie.

BEEP!

The door made a stifling beep as he stepped out, just to find a figure already by his door, with two riding helmets in hand.