How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 238 - 237: Doom Scrolling Through the System [2]

Chapter 238: Chapter 237: Doom Scrolling Through the System [2]

With this little hidden detail uncovered, I couldn’t help but wonder—what else was this damned System tucking away in plain sight? The thought gnawed at me as I combed back through every tab on my Status screen, scrolling like some addict discovering it for the very first time.

And so began my long, but oddly short, doom-scrolling session through the System.

Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure how I ended up here, doing exactly this. This was my first time stepping into the Training Hall since my discharge from the clinic—over a week ago now.

At first, I stayed away under the pretense of recovery. Though to be fair, there wasn’t much to recover from. My Rank Up had reforged my body an entire Rank stronger. The damage was gone, replaced by power.

Still, the healers had strictly warned me not to push myself—especially after waking from a coma. They’d fussed, lectured, insisted I rest.

And maybe I would have listened, if not for everything that came crashing down afterward. Too many things happened at once, too quickly. My thoughts were a mess, tangled and chaotic, scattering my focus even now.

Yet, even buried beneath that storm, the Training Hall never truly left my mind. The idea of returning lingered constantly, like something clawing at me from the shadows. It wasn’t just a want—it was a pull. An instinct. A cosmic nudge. A call I couldn’t ignore.

People might call me crazy, but it made perfect sense to me. I spent nearly all my time outside of classes getting pummeled by training dummies anyway.

And then there was the itch—that gnawing anticipation of testing the limits of my new strength and abilities after Ranking Up.

With everything that’s happened since, it was almost easy to forget: I was an Eta-Rank Awakened now.

Stronger. Faster. Tougher. But by how much exactly? That, I still hadn’t figured out.

──────

<ATTRIBUTES>

• Ether Blessing

— You have received the rare abundant grace and favour of Higher Aether: Ether. Increases control and sensitivity of Ether and all related aspects passively.

──────

I still wanted to see just how far this [Ether Blessing] buff could take me.

The glowing system screen pulsed before my eyes, displaying the very first—and only—Attribute I’d gained since Awakening.

Technically, [Blessing of Aether] had come first. But that had evolved into the [Ether Blessing] I now carried.

The memory tugged at me, bittersweet and sharp. A pale smile curled my lips as I let myself slip down memory lane.

It had been just a little over a year ago—though, now that I thought about it, most of the real, life-changing stuff had gone down in the Inheritance Labyrinth. Still, the memories clung. Painful, sure, but also strangely bittersweet.

Weeks trapped in Laplace’s Dungeon, barely scraping by with my sanity intact. The constant dread. The near-death encounters that came way too often. The Bonespike that almost bled me dry. Those absurdly gigantic Boulder Crabs—traumatizing to fight, but, honestly? Worth it for the taste alone.

And, of course, the Silver Sentinel.

A nostalgic smile tugged at my lips as I exhaled, heavy with memory. There was no way I could ever forget my old friend. We’d been through a lot together. Had our fair share of spats, too—like all friendships, right? Except ours usually involved him gutting me open, decapitating me, or, oh yeah, that one time he nearly punched a hole straight through my chest.

But hey—everything I’d been through, that’s exactly what made our bond stronger. Strong enough that Hamlet, my ever-faithful slime Familiar, could back me up on it.

I grinned darkly, tilting my head to the side.

"Right, buddy?"

...Except Hamlet wasn’t actually here. The amoeba-like blob was probably off doing whatever eldritch nonsense slimes get up to when unsupervised. I had no idea why I even looked.

Awkward cough. Focus, me.

I turned my attention back to the softly humming blue screen in front of me.

Normally, the higher an Awakened ranked up, the more their control, sensitivity, and overall finesse with Aether—whether Mana or Aura—naturally sharpened. Passive bonuses, perks of power, the usual deal.

But I had an Attribute that flipped the rules upside down. A limitless boost in everything Ether-related, regardless of my Rank. With enough training, I could bend Ether on par with, or even beyond, those above me. Rank meant nothing. Effort, everything.

And as Aether—or in my case, Ether—was the fundamental element that defined every Awakened, it naturally reinforced the body. The stronger you grew, the more it shaped and refined you.

Still, true mastery of Mana or Aura only came at the Heroic Ranks and beyond.

The lower Awakened—Beta, Mortal, and Eta—barely managed the basics. Sensing Aura, shaping Mana... all laughably limited.

Their cores topped out at pitiful volumes. Aura pools dry as deserts, Mana Cores the size of cracked marbles.

Those poor, poor souls.

But me? Of course I was different!

Not only could I actively feel and bend Aura and Mana far beyond what my so-called Rank allowed, but my Ether reserves were unnaturally vast—expanding wider with every step I took forward. And the quality of that Ether? Sharp enough to shame even those ranked well above me.

It explained why my [Ether] tab had a +??? beside the actual value.

_______

• [Ether] 49/50 (+???)

_______

It meant I could almost never run out of Ether. Almost. And my refinement level was crazy.

My output was also top-notch, although I could still work on that...

The backlash of my newly created [Impulse] Skill came from my physical body, unfortunately—unable to properly withstand my Ether output in a single powerful discharge.

I recovered essence at an incredible rate, and since I had more Aura than others of my Rank, I was physically a bit stronger and sturdier than usual.

And all this... from eating the suspicious fruit of a mysterious tree.

The [Ether Blessing] granted me insane growth potential, really.

...Unfortunately, it also required equal or greater resources to harness that potential.

With all the perks and advantages I gained from the Attribute, it had one glaring drawback.

I needed more EXP than others to grow stronger.

...

I ended up staring at the screen tab for so long that my shoulders had grown stiff.

Time slipped by quickly, and before I realized it, curfew was near. In an hour or so, the First-Year training hall would be locked, and I’d be kicked out.

The moment that sank in, I waved off every other blinking system tab crowding my vision and finally focused on the last one—the ultimate reason I was here in the first place.

Among all the vague and mysterious stats that seemed to appear out of nowhere, this was probably the only one that existed directly because of my own actions.

And ironically, it was also one of the few numbers I still didn’t fully understand.

My [Arts].

The only [Art] I had was the incomplete Aura Art I’d created earlier—then neglected somewhere along the line.

I exhaled a weary sigh and lingered on the tab until the letters shimmered and glowed, just like they had with the [Class] tab. Then, suddenly, a new screen flickered into view before my eyes, lines of information unfolding out of thin air.

──────

<ARTS>

• Ether Art: Armament (Incomplete)

— A commendable achievement. This is a unique Ether Art that weaponizes the human body.

— Additional Information: Too little is known about this original Art. System Note: complete or advance proficiency to unlock greater potential and clearer details.

— Current Proficiency: Intermediate Mastery (Higher Tier)

— Current Art Potential Rating: Grade 4 (One Star)

──────

This was yet another aspect of my stats I had been neglecting.

Arts—powerful techniques that shaped combat and survival in this world—came in countless forms. Some were stronger, some stranger, and some utterly unique.

There were different categories as well:

Martial or Weapon Arts

Aura Arts

Mana Arts

Movement Arts

Defensive Arts

...and a myriad of other variations branching beneath them.

An average Awakened is usually armed with at least one of these types. They form a big part of Aethoria’s power system.

And, just like Skills and Attributes, their value depends heavily on their rank—measured by Potential. The scale runs from Grade 4 Arts, One Star Potential, up to Grade 1 Arts, Three Star Potential.

But then there’s Grade 0, or Special Grade Potential. These were oddities—Arts that, for one reason or another, didn’t fit neatly into Grades 1, 2, or 3.

They could be ridiculously powerful—too strong for the system to gauge—or pathetically weak. Either way, they were rare, unpredictable, and sometimes absurdly valuable.

The only Art in my arsenal was an original Aura Art I’d crafted myself.

It was still incomplete, sure, and the system currently slapped it with the lowest rating possible—Grade 4, One Star Potential.

But that was only because the Art’s full structure hadn’t been completed yet, and my Proficiency had been stuck at Intermediate Mastery for over a year.

Armament.

The brainchild of a genius idea I had when I was younger. It demanded far more resources than my body could handle at the time.

I needed absurd amounts of Aura just to build its foundation—and even after that, I needed even more Aura to keep pushing it forward.

I couldn’t afford it back then—at least not until I awakened the [Ether Blessing] attribute. But even with that boost, I quickly learned the limits of what my Mortal Rank body could handle. The output just wasn’t enough. So I hit a roadblock.

Until now. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This time, I was determined to break through.

"My Aura Art is still my secret weapon," I muttered under my breath. "Incomplete or not, it won’t stay half-baked forever. I’ll have to fix that—fast."

I dismissed the status screen and crossed my legs in a lotus position. Meditation first. I needed to test exactly where my body stood now—how much Ether I could regulate, how steady my control was with this new expansion in both reserve and quality.

The cameras were probably still watching, which meant no flashy theatrics. Still, I doubted any of them could track what was happening beneath my skin...

Breathing evenly, I began to channel Ether through my veins. Heat spread faintly under my skin, and my lips pursed, eyes closed in concentration.

"...Maybe I should just get another Art later," I thought wryly in passing.

"... Maybe a Spear Art..."