"What? Can it level up with my class?" Ren stared at the skill description, his mind racing through the implications.
The system's voice resonated clearly in his thoughts:
Yes, this skill fits with your class perfectly. The evolution potential aligns with your Doctor of the Ruin Gospel progression path.
"Sure, let's learn it."
Ren reached out and touched the purple-bound skill book. The moment his fingers made contact with the ancient tome, the world around him shifted. Purplish light erupted from his body, cascading outward in waves that made the air itself seem to ripple and distort. The light wasn't harsh or blinding—instead, it felt organic, almost alive, pulsing with a rhythm that matched his heartbeat.
The skill book began to dissolve under his touch, its physical form breaking apart into motes of purple energy that flowed into his body through his fingertips. He could feel the knowledge embedding itself directly into his consciousness, bypassing normal learning processes and integrating with his existing abilities on a fundamental level.
A notification appeared in his vision:
Skill successfully learned.
But Ren's mind was already moving to his next decision. "Hey, I have fifty million dollars. Use it all on leveling up."
The system's response was immediate:
Sure, Host.
Consuming 50 million dollars.
The sensation that followed was unlike anything Ren had experienced before. Energy flooded through his body in torrents, rewriting his cellular structure and expanding his capabilities exponentially. His mana channels widened and deepened, his physical form became more resilient, and his connection to the eldritch forces that powered his abilities grew stronger.
Host has been upgraded to B-rank hunter.
But the transformation wasn't finished. The skill he had just learned began to resonate with his newly enhanced power level, responding to his upgraded class designation. The purple light that had been emanating from his body intensified, and he felt the skill itself changing, evolving into something far more potent.
Skill [Veil of False Reality] has evolved.
The new skill description materialized in his vision, and Ren's breath caught as he read it:
[Skill: Dominion of the Crawling Madness]
Rank: EX
Type: Eldritch Domain / Reality-Parasitic Illusion
Description: An eldritch domain spanning 2 kilometers where the caster sculpts reality into a waking nightmare. Flesh becomes walls, skies drip with eyes, and whispers crawl across the ground.
But its true terror lies in the law that governs it: belief is reality.
Effect — Belief Manifestation:
What the Target believe will become real to them if they believe they death they will died, If they believe they cripple they will be crippleWounds, amputations, or death occur if the victim accepts them as realIf they resist belief, the illusion passes harmlesslyThe more fearful or unstable the target, the more likely they are to accept the illusion as truthWithin the domain, the caster may freely craft reality to resemble a nightmare—twisting landscapes, conjuring abominations, or reshaping the world into pure horror
Cost:
Mana Cost: 150 Mana per secondBelief Dependency: The domain only works on those who can be made to believe. A fearless or mentally unshakable target suffers no harm
"Wow, this seems so overpowered," Ren murmured, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and concern.
He immediately pulled up his status screen to check his new capabilities. The numbers that appeared made him pause in consideration.
His mana had increased dramatically with his rank upgrade—he now possessed 1,500 total mana points. It was a substantial improvement over his previous capacity, but when he calculated the skill's consumption rate, the reality was sobering.
"So I can only maintain it for ten seconds," he said aloud, working through the math. At 150 mana per second, his entire mana pool would be depleted in exactly ten seconds of continuous use.
"Well, at least for now," he added, recognizing that future rank improvements would expand his mana reserves and extend his ability to maintain the domain.
But as he studied the skill more carefully, other limitations became apparent. The power was incredible, but it came with significant weaknesses that would require careful consideration in tactical applications.
"And there seems to be another weakness," he mused, his analytical mind working through potential scenarios.
The first limitation was obvious: "What if the target is blind?"
A person who couldn't see the horrific illusions he created would be largely immune to their psychological impact. The domain relied heavily on visual manipulation to create its reality-warping effects.
"What if the target is an inanimate object, like a golem?"
Constructs and other non-living entities wouldn't possess the capacity for belief or fear that the skill required to function. They would simply continue operating according to their programming, unaffected by the nightmarish reality he imposed.
"What if the target has no thoughts, like low-rank undead?"
Mindless creatures that operated purely on instinct or external control wouldn't be susceptible to psychological manipulation. They couldn't believe in or fear the illusions because they lacked the cognitive capacity to process them.
"Well, let's assume the worst case—it won't work on them," Ren concluded pragmatically.
The pattern was becoming clear. "So this skill seems like it works best against intellectual creatures or... humans."
The realization carried both promise and limitations. Against thinking opponents—other hunters, intelligent monsters, human adversaries—the skill would be devastatingly effective. The more intelligent and imaginative the target, the more vulnerable they would be to a reality that could be reshaped according to their deepest fears.
But against mindless hordes, constructs, or entities that operated purely on instinct, the skill would be largely useless. It was a psychological weapon, not a physical one, and it required targets capable of psychological manipulation.
"The skill is hard to use, I know that for sure. I need to practice it," Ren admitted. The complexity of managing a two-kilometer domain of altered reality while simultaneously conducting psychological warfare against multiple opponents would require extensive training and experience.
The mana cost alone meant that every activation had to be precisely timed and strategically justified. Ten seconds wasn't long in combat terms, but it could be an eternity if used at the right moment.
"Let's use it as a last resort," he decided. The skill was too powerful and too expensive to waste on routine encounters. It would be his trump card, reserved for situations where nothing else would suffice.
The evolution from Veil of False Reality to Dominion of the Crawling Madness represented more than just a power upgrade—it was a fundamental shift in the nature of his abilities. Where the original skill had been about creating illusions, the evolved version was about imposing a new reality based on the target's willingness to accept it.
The psychological component made it both more powerful and more unpredictable than conventional attacks. Against a confident, mentally stable opponent, it might fail entirely. Against someone already stressed, fearful, or psychologically vulnerable, it could be instantly lethal.
Ren found himself thinking about the potential applications beyond direct combat. The skill could be used for interrogation, crowd control, area denial, or creating safe zones where enemies couldn't effectively operate. The possibilities were vast, limited primarily by his imagination and mana reserves.
But with great power came great responsibility, and Ren was acutely aware of the ethical implications of wielding such an ability. The capacity to drive people to madness or make them believe they were dying was not something to be used lightly.
The rank upgrade had transformed him from a newly awakened C-rank hunter into a S-rank powerhouse with capabilities that most hunters could only dream of possessing. His equipment loadout was complete—the Umbral Gentleman's Attire, Mana Gatling, and Pale Death Revolver gave him options for any combat scenario. And now, with Dominion of the Crawling Madness, he possessed a domain-level ability that could reshape entire battlefields.
The transformation was complete, but it had come at a price.
"And now I'm broke again," he sighed, looking at his depleted bank account balance. "Haaa."