NOVPUBAmbrose stared at his new skill's description with quiet satisfaction, a gentle smile playing at therners of his lips. This wasn't just a fortunate accident; it was the culmination of a carefully designed experiment he had been meticulously working toward. The pattern had revealed itself to him over time.
It had begun when he first detected others using telepathy. Rather than simply observing, he had immersed himself in thencept, dissecting its fundamental principles untilmprehension crystallized into capability—resulting in his Thought Transmission skill. Later, when examining the talent testing device at the academy, hisncentrated attention and deep analysis had not only awakened his Mind's Eye skill but evolved his entire Observation talent to new heights.
Following this established pattern, Ambrose had now turned his extraordinary intellect toward spatial manipulation. Drawing on everything he knew about dimensional theory, he hadnstructed elaborate mental simulations, runninguntless iterations through his phenomenal mind. The underlying principle was bming clear to him: as long as one simulation proved successful, the system would facilitate the awakening of therresponding skill.
His hypothesis had provenrrect. The system had rgnized hisnceptual mastery and manifested it as a tangible ability. Yet even as he admired the impressive skill description, Ambrose remained analytical, noting the inherent limitations of this process. No matter how brilliant his mind, heuldn't simply start awakening anyncept he understood into a skill. The awakened abilities needed to align with his established talents, unless he somehow unlocked an entirely new talent category.
Scanning through the detailed descriptions of his other skills, Ambrose noted with satisfaction that they had all advanced significantlympared to their previous iterations. The evolution represented a substantial power increase across his entire capability spectrum.
Rather than immediately implementing his new abilities, Ambrose maintained his meditative posture on the dusty library floor. Prudence dictated replenishing at least a portion of his depleted mental strength before attempting to utilize such power-intensive skills. The minutes stretched on as he focused on his rvery techniques, his breathing measured andntrolled. Though heuldn't restore his mental energympletely, he eventually accumulated enough reserves for what he planned next.
Rising smoothly from his seated position, Ambrose brushed the dust from his academy uniform with practiced precision. "Time to move," he announced to Claire.
The librarian floated to his side, her luminous form pulsing with barelyntained excitement. Though she tried to maintain a dignified demeanor appropriate for her role, childlike curiosity radiated from her ethereal features as she wondered how her master intended to relocate an entire library's worth of books. Despite her uncertainty about the method, her expression reflected absolute faith in his capabilities—a belief that heuld amplish anything.
Ambrose cleared his throat under her expectant gaze, a hint of theatrical flair creeping into his normally restrained demeanor. With deliberate slowness, he extended his arm before him, fingers splayed as if grasping something invisible.
In the next instant, reality itself seemed to tear open before his outstretched hand. A massive spatial rift materialized in the air, approximately three meters in radius, its edges pulsing with swirling energies in deep blue and midnight black. The rift hummed with power, distorting the light around it like a gravitational lens.
Claire riled instantly, her spectral form darting behind Ambrose for protection. "A dungeon gate!" she exclaimed, her luminous eyes wide with alarm and rgnition.
Ambroseuldn't help but smile at her dramatic reaction. "It's not a dungeon," herrected gently. "It's my skill."
"You can summon dungeons?" Claire peeked out from behind him, her voice a mixture of fear and newfound reverence.
"Well, not really," Ambrose replied with casual nonchalance, "but something similar." He didn't feel inclined torrect her misunderstanding further. If she perceived his abilities as even more extraordinary than they actually were, it would only strengthen her loyalty—a calculated advantage he was not above exploiting.
The ghostly librarian gazed at him with undisguised awe. After experiencing the terrifying murky void within him earlier, the ability to summon what appeared to be a dungeon entrance seemed almost tame bymparison. Her respect for her newfound master deepened with each demonstration of his mysterious powers.
Focusing hisncentration, Ambrose extended his influence throughout the hidden chamber. At his mentalmmand, books began to rise from their shelves—first a few, then dozens, then hundreds simultaneously. The ancient tomes floated through the air in graceful arcs before accelerating toward the spatial rift. The spectacle resembled a reverse hurricane of literature, with the portal's gravitational pull drawing in every volume and scroll from the surrounding shelves.
Claire watched in stunned silence as the entirellection, representing centuries of accumulated knowledge, vanished into the dimensional gate. Within minutes, shelves that had been laden with precious manuscripts for untold years stoodmpletely bare, the chamber stripped of its purpose and identity.
When the final book disappeared into the swirling rift, Ambrose released a measured sigh as he stabilized the pocket dimension with careful mental adjustments before closing the gateway with a decisive gesture. Some sweat had formed on his brow from the exertion, and he dabbed it away with a handkerchief produced from his sleeve.
The twenty cubic meters of dimensional space had proven just sufficient to ammodate the entirellection, though the operation had taxed his newly awakened abilitiesnsiderably. The cumulative strain of the day's events—the ghostntract, navigating the murky void, awakening new skills, and now this massive spatial manipulation—had left him feeling genuinely fatigued, a rare sensation for someone whose challenges were typically mental rather than physical.
"Let's go," he instructed Claire, whontinued to stare at the empty space where the dimensional rift had been, still processing what she had just witnessed. She had known of spatial techniques in theory, but witnessing one of such magnitude—capable of storing an entire library—exceeded her alreadynsiderable expectations of her new master.
Rgnizing that he hadn't yet tested whether sheuld teleport alongside him, and lacking the energy for unnecessary experimentation, Ambrose drew her form closer. With a simple mentalmmand, he reabsorbed her essence into himself, where she would be safelyntained during their journey back.
With Claire secured, Ambrose turned his thoughts to his newly evolved teleportation ability. The upgrade from [Blink] to [Spatial Displacement] represented a significant advancement, and he was eager to experience its expanded capabilities firsthand.
He focused his mind, visualizing his destination while mentally activating the skill: [Spatial Displacement]
The detailed skill description flashed through his mind as space began to warp around him:
[Spatial Displacement](S) - The evolved form of Blink that grants vastly improved teleportation capabilities. The user can now teleport themselves and objects up to 100 meters with pinpoint accuracy, and can transport other willing creatures through touch. The mental strain has been significantly reduced, allowing for multiple sequential teleports before exhaustion. The user can now also perform partial displacement, such as teleporting just a hand through a barrier to unlock a door, or displacing iming attacks to miss their target. Each use stillnsumes mental energy proportional to distance and mass moved.
