[-60 Minor Human Skin Shards (Mortal)]
[Carter No.4 Acquired]
[Carter No.5 Acquired]
[Carter No.6 Acquired]
[Carter No.7 Acquired]
[Carter No.8 Acquired]
[Carter No.9 Acquired]
Carter tried to fuse the original Carter Hayes skin with two minor skins but the system refused it. Even with Human Skins, they needed to be in the same category to be fused.
So Carter made six more and forged them into Medium Mortal Skin. Each had a distinct secondary ability and a variation in skill set. There wasn't any impressive secondary ability, all of them were very ordinary.
[Medium Carter Acquired]
[Medium Carter No.2 Acquired]
'Alright. Let's see if this works.'
Carter fused all three skins together. It worked this time and gave an 8 STAR skin. The skin awakened a fifth skill, called Performance Skill, which Carter also already had.
'Let's keep fusing.'
[-90 Minor Human Skin Shards (Mortal)]
[-30 Medium Human Skin Shards (Mortal)]
[Major Carter No.2 Acquired]
[Major Carter No.3 Acquired]
Carter used the same tactics and created three Major Mortal Skin again. His Minor Shards ran out so he had to switch to Medium Shards to get another Major Skin.
'Alright… Now. The moment of truth.'
[Carter Hayes is lost]
[Major Carter No.2 is lost]
[Major Carter No.3 is lost]
[Awaken Carter Hayes Acquired]
'Holy shit! It works!'
[Carter Hayes]
[Rank]: Awaken
[Star Level]: 1
[Ability]: Adrenaline (Awaken); True Psychopathy (Unique); Danger Sense (Awaken).
- Adrenaline (Awaken): You may temporarily increase the capacity of your strength or mind by burning a huge amount of your internal energy. Excessive uses can lead to death.
- True Psychopathy (Unique): You are dissociative from reality. You have no empathy, share no real connections, fear nothing, and would only care for one thing that you obsess about.
- Danger Sense (Awaken): You can feel when your life is in danger.
[Skill]: Level 3 Charisma (Awaken); Level 2 Intelligence (Awaken); Level 3 Mental Fortitude (Awaken), Level 3 Acting (Awaken); Level 3 Performance (Awaken); Level 1 Metabolism Manipulation (Awaken).
[Item]: None
[Synchronization]: 100%
[Danger Sense (Awaken) is added to the Host]
[Level 1 Metabolism Manipulation (Awaken) is added to the Host]
[All skills with the same name are also updated to the highest level]
Carter had a long exhale. He was different. It wasn't something unfamiliar like wearing a skin. It was more intimidating than that.
Becoming an Awaken was not an easy task. You must have a supernatural pathway to proceed.
For Cyber Runner, it was through scientific and body modification. It had a lot of risks and a high mortality rate.
But Carter didn't need to go through all of that. His human body advanced the rank through Skin Fusion.
And the new abilities were exceptional.
Carter's Adrenaline could make him several times stronger. This would be useless for a human skin. But it was added to the Host.
'Adrenaline combined with the Eldritch Knight is simply unstoppable. Danger Sense is also a great ability. It was similar to Living Sense but focused on a different aspect.
Then there is the Metabolism Manipulation…'
The new skill came as a pair with Adrenaline. Without it, Awaken Adrenaline would be useless. Carter felt every nutrition and energy within his body which he could burn for the Adrenaline machine.
'Humans aren't as weak as they seem…'
Carter picked up a rock. His biceps grew twice larger immediately. He threw the rock at a tree. It bolted from his hand like a bullet, shrieking through the air and piercing through the tree.
The skin didn't just give him the power. It also gave him knowledge. He could help others awaken as well.
'Invokers walk a different path. Quill and Nina abandoned Cyber Runner. They have no supernatural path at the moment. Maybe I can teach them how to naturally awaken as a human…'
[Total Skin Shards]:
- 8 Minor Terror Skin Shards (Awaken)
- 9 Medium Terror Skin Shards (Awaken)
- 2 Major Terror Skin Shards (Awaken)
- 2 Minor Cyber Slave Skin Shards (Mortal)
- 11 Minor Human Skin Shards (Mortal)
- 69 Medium Human Skin Shards (Mortal)
- 47 Major Human Skin Shards (Mortal)
Carter took a look at his current skin shards.
'I have just enough to make two other Awaken Human Skin. Should be enough to raise my skin to Medium Awaken.'
Carter lit up the Skin Forge again.
[-60 Medium Human Skin Shards (Mortal)]
[Acquired x6 Medium Carter Skin]
[Fusing x6 Medium Carter…]
[Acquired x2 Major Carter]
[-40 Major Human Skin Shards (Mortal)]
[Acquired x4 Major Carter]
[Fusing x6 Major Carter…]
[Acquired x2 Awaken Carter]
'Alright… Let's do it once again…'
Carter licked his lips and rubbed his hands together.
[Fusing x3 Awaken Carter…]
[Medium Awaken Carter Hayes Acquired]
[Star Level]: 5
[Skill]: Level 7 Charisma (Awaken); Level 6 Intelligence (Awaken); Level 6 Mental Fortitude (Awaken), Level 7 Acting (Awaken); Level 7 Performance (Awaken); Level 5 Metabolism Manipulation (Awaken); Level 5 Reflexes (Awaken).
[Level 5 Reflexes (Awaken) is added to the Host]
[All skills with the same name are also updated to the highest level]
'I wanted to have the Performance Skill so bad. I never thought I would get an Awaken version from myself.
The Reflexes skill is also very nice.'
Reflexes skill didn't make Carter faster. It only helped him react quicker.
He spotted a leaf floating down and was able to catch it with superhuman reflexes.
'This skill is simply generally good. Actually, most of the abilities and skills of human skins are very good. They are broad and can apply to almost every skin.'
Carter noticed that he still had 11 Minor Human Skin Shards left. They weren't enough to advance his default skin anymore. So he just created someone fun.
A tall pale man with black hair that looked extremely handsome.
[Please name your skin]
Carter shared a smirk and put a name in as a joke.
[Dracula Acquired]
'Well. Fun's over. Let's get the hell out of here before someone sees me.'
[SYSTEM GHOST EQUIPPED]
Carter used the skin to disguise himself as some old man and escaped the cemetery.
People wouldn't learn about what happened in this graveyard for at least a few more weeks. When the new grave keeper arrived.
But even then, no one would give much of a damn. Because the world was focusing all its attention on this new faction of power, the legendary race of warriors, the Eldritch Knight.