Before jumping into the Skill selection options, TJ asked the System a much simpler question. "What time is it?"
1:58 AM
TJ rolled his shoulders. He was tense and suspected that, if his attributes were even a little bit lower, he'd be sore to the point of near immobility. While he decided to check with the System as to what Skills were going to be offered to him at this point, he also stood up and walked towards the house. It would still be in the bounds of the safe zone until the final siege began, and TJ would get what comfortable rest he could while it was still possible. There was no guarantee as to what would follow the Tutorial, and with the reality of failure staring in his face, TJ would ensure that he could hunt down as many of the monsters as possible. Plans regarding Meditation and Divine Manifestation combined to wreck large swathes of space for the enemy crossed his mind, and he mentally filed them back as he walked forward, Stanton beside him. It was finally time to make a decision as to what Skill he would take. The first two options were familiar, and this time, he gave them much more consideration than at level 10.
Raging Coatl, (Copper (I)): You are a Neophyte of Kukulkan, and you have indulged in the fury of your bloodline. This Skill will allow you to fully lose yourself in the bloodlust and fury of your Divine Transformation. While using the Divine Transformation Skill, you will gain a 50% increase to every one of your attributes. In addition, you will gain the Fearless and Painless conditions while using your Divine Transformation. As a consequence, while using the Divine Transformation Skill, you will be inflicted with severe levels of the Bloodthirsty, Enraged, and Frenzied afflictions.
Wind Scythe, (Copper (I)): You are a Descendant of Kukulkan, and have displayed a familiarity with his rule over the winds, even going so far as to establish a Divine Authority over the concept of Storm. This Skill will better hone your ability to use Wind Manipulation as a weapon. This Skill will strengthen the cutting power of Wind Manipulation while decreasing the MP cost of all usage of the Wind Manipulation Skill with the intent to cut. This Skill will be enhanced by your existing Copper (I) tiered Divine Authority; Storm.
He'd thought that the downsides to Raging Coatl were too much to really consider the Skill before, but now, TJ didn't think that it was worth dismissing it out of hand. If he became a monster to ensure he survived, he'd do it. He felt like he'd made the resolution a dozen times a day since the Integration, but again, the Tutorial continued to beat any consideration for the world before the INtegration out of him. Maybe, the world that followed this hell would be kind enough to allow TJ to thaw out, but for now, he would continue hardening himself for each moral quandary that arose. Every other Skill was a new offering, showing that he'd lost the opportunity for Crushing Body and Mindful Mouth.
Stormcaller, (Copper (I)): You have embraced the storm and, with it, the Divine Authority of Storm. Some Divine Authorities are nearly or entirely omnipresent, while Storm, a violent, encompassing force, is fleeting and overwhelming. Those with a Divine Authority must have the capability to summon, create, and influence the concept, domain, or aspect that their Divine Authority encapsulates. Stormcaller allows its holder to create a storm in their vicinity that serves as a Storm for the purposes of Divine Authority and any other Skills. To create the storm, you sacrifice any amount of your current HP, MP, and Stamina over the course of any time longer than one minute. The strength, longevity, potency, and range of influence of the storm created is dependent upon how long you spend calling and channeling the storm, as well as how many resources you put into the creation of the storm.
TJ couldn't hold back a low whistle of surprise as he read this latest Skill. Though complicated and he couldn't say exactly how much this Skill could impact things in the greater scheme, he wanted to choose it immediately, even without looking at the other two options.
"What is it?" Stanton asked. "You get a good Skill option?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you levelled up and you're not looking where you're walking now."
"Oh. Well, yeah. A lot of things."
Stanton grunted in response, nothing else. TJ imagined he could feel curious questions coming his way, but he didn't want to answer them and was grateful when Stanton merely continued to walk alongside him.
Though he'd almost certainly already made his decision, TJ refused to choose before he checked out every possibility the System was offering him. True to his suspicion, the other two Skill options were good, but far from as potentially impactful as Stormcaller. One, Lightning Manipulation, initially drew him in, but after thinking about it, TJ quickly decided against taking the Skill. Frankly speaking, lightning was was cooler than wind, but TJ had a fair amount of practice with wind, and through his Enlightenment, he'd come to at least partially understand that with his Divine Authority, it was merely a question of time for when he'd gain the ability to manipulate lightning as well. If it wasn't a Skill granted by a selection, then it wouldn't be as powerful, but TJ was alright maintaining Divine Transformation and Wind Manipulation as his two primary Skills in combat, to be bolstered by whatever he could create with his Occupation.
In addition, if TJ had to choose to limit the tier of either Stormcaller or Lightning Manipulation, he would choose Lightning Manipulation in a heartbeat. The impact of having a storm with him basically at his beck and call, especially as his Divine Authority reached higher tiers, would be much more impactful than having a second, highly MP consuming, Manipulation Skill. In addition, Lightning Manipulation didn't currently get any bonuses from his Divine Transformation, so it would be stuck at Dirt tier for now. TJ had every confidence that wouldn't always be the case, but he quickly set it aside.
The other Skill offered was just another bodily enhancement Skill, granting more Toughness per Neophyte level. That was one of the few attributes TJ cared much less about, given that it was over 150 while in his Divine Transformation. That said, if the Skill had offered two or three per level, he might have considered it. After all, who wouldn't prefer if a wendigo's claws couldn't get through their defenses?
After thinking as much, though, TJ realized that even if it offered three Toughness per level, that would only offer him the ability to survive better. He wouldn't be able to drive off the attacking monsters or kill them any better with more Toughness, so unless it was something insane, to the level of making him able to completely disregard all attacks, then it would be better for TJ to take any Skill that made him stronger instead of more unkillable, at least for now. He'd need to trust in his Vitality and Toughness for that.
TJ made the choice and felt the understanding of how Stormcaller worked settle into him. Principles of humidity, air currents, cold banks, potential lightning creation factors, and so much more he couldn't correctly explain settled into his mind. The first thing that settled into TJ's mind was just how good of a choice he'd made. The greater the potential for a storm in an area at any given time, the less it would cost him to create a longer lasting, more powerful storm. It almost made TJ regret living in the generally temperate south of Arizona. Somewhere that storms lashed the coast, like in some of his visions, he'd experience a marked upgrade to his personal strength, because even if the storm wasn't actively there, he'd have much less trouble summoning up a storm to grant him all his bonus powers.
Then, a thought occurred to him, one he asked the System aloud. "What happens when two people with the same Divine Authority come into conflict?"
Divine Authority is hotly contested. When two Participants with the same Divine Authority come into contact with each other, they have the opportunity to siphon away or even entirely seize the other's Authority and add it to their own.
Though he'd already known it, TJ was again reminded how, outside of the Tutorial, other Participants would be at least as dangerous as the monsters inside of it had been. Maybe it was for the best that he was here, away from somewhere that gaining Divine Authority over Storm was easier.
Now that he'd made the Skill selection, TJ felt the tiredness really settle into him. Though he hadn't been strictly conscious and he'd gained levels that restored him to peak form, the exhaustion from the torture and the general difficulty of a Divine Tribulation wasn't so easily shrugged off. Even so, as they walked into their room, TJ couldn't help but look at the many materials he'd set aside for crafting. There were several dozen ideas that'd bounced around his head, but TJ didn't have enough time to waste to do that right now. Instead, he looked at the Tezcatlipoca-blessed mountain lion hide and promised to take care of it tomorrow, or today, he supposed. It was the twelfth day of the Tutorial, and in about 72 hours, the final siege would begin.
His plan for the hides temporarily put to the side, TJ spoke to Stanton.
"I'll be right back. I'm just going to try out this new Skill."
Stanton grunted and followed TJ. The younger man shrugged and continued on his path out of the house. Nobody was moving or making any noise, given that it was 2 AM, but TJ didn't mind if Stormcalling ended up waking a couple people up. He wouldn't be putting too much into it anyways.
His decision made, TJ went to a small clearing less than 100 feet away from the house, still well within the bounds of the safe area. Then, following the instructions that came from the Skill, he sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. Just as when he'd left his body's perception and triggered the Enlightenment in the first place, TJ's consciousness entered the skies above him, though he retained a good sense of himself instead of forgetting who he was. There, he sacrificed a mere tenth of each of his current total HP, MP, and Stamina.
As soon as he'd made the conscious decision of how much of himself to sacrifice, TJ pressed it outwards. The resources, a representation of himself, called the storm from where it slumbered. While unconscious, the storm was everywhere, as if a thin sheet of aluminum foil, and Stormcalling was the act of consolidating it into a single solid bar. TJ quickly understood why spending more time would create a stronger, longer lasting storm, as it would allow the storm to form into a more complete whole, to build on and sustain itself on the part of himself that TJ incorporated with the storm.
Since he was experimenting, TJ used only the bare minimum of time, one single minute, to call, create, and establish the storm over his head. As soon as he finished the summoning, he returned back to himself, and looking around himself, he could see that a faint circle had been carved into the ground by winds circling around him. Beside him, Stanton looked ready to tear him out of the Skill, but TJ raised a hand to placate the old cowboy.
"Just using the Skill. I won't go anywhere else any time soon."
TJ didn't give any more explanation while he stretched his awareness to understand what he'd done. Looking up, he couldn't see much in the dark skies, but he could feel the presence of the storm activating the boons from his Divine Authority. That said, TJ knew that if he tried to draw any power out of the storm to fuel Divine Manifestation, he would quickly deplete it and would only get about 40 MP worth out exhausting the storm completely, so just over half of what he'd spent.
Instead of destroying the pitiful storm that continued overhead, TJ waited to see how long it'd last. With over 100 each of his HP and Stamina, combined with the 73 MP, the storm overhead whipped at the top canopies of the trees. Though the trees creaked and groaned, there was no danger of them falling and TJ couldn't smell any moisture on the air. Evidently, what he'd spent was far from enough to bring moisture that wasn't there, and after a mere eight minutes, the storm's ability to grant him the bonuses from Divine Authority waned. At just over nine minutes, the storm faded enough that it was no longer a Storm according to the System. As soon as that happened, TJ felt that whatever was sustaining the winds overhead fell apart and the storm returned to its "aluminum foil" form.
"Is the duration the number of minutes multiplied by the percentage?" TJ muttered to himself. "Couldn't be, because then gaining more levels wouldn't actually help if it's based off of percentages. Would it be additive?"
"What's the Skill do?" Stanton finally asked, unable to hold himself back. "You were surrounded by wind for a minute, then it got all windy."
"I got a lot out of the Enlightenment. Storms help me now, and I can make them." TJ explained without going into detail. "I'm going to do exactly what I did now, but I'll take ten minutes. You can wait here, or you can go to bed. I'll be in the house in fifteen minutes at most."
As usual, Stanton merely grunted, but after doing so, he turned and walked back towards the house. TJ chuckled to himself, sat back down on the ground, and chose to spend, again, one tenth of each of his resources. Then, his consciousness placed within the skies overhead, TJ set to gathering the storm once more. He idly wondered if he would be able to Meditate as he channeled the Skill moving forward, but for now, it would be better to merely execute the Skill as identically as it had been before, with the exception of the amount of time he spent preparing it.
In the skies, TJ took the time to build humidity, heat, wind, and everything else required for the storm to feed itself. Again, he couldn't understand what exactly it was that created and maintained the thing, but he knew what to do as he gathered the storm into one piece. After ten minutes, with an uncanny sense of how much time had passed, TJ released the storm and returned to his body.
The moment his perception was his body's once again, TJ felt the difference in the Storm he'd created. The winds, instead of shoving at the trees, whipped threateningly and tore weak branches free, and pine needles and pinecones pattered to the ground all around him. Lightning flickered overhead, and though he knew it wouldn't rain, TJ could smell moisture in the air. As soon as he noticed it, a thought occurred to TJ, and when the System supplied the answer, he felt pretty stupid.
"How long does a Storm generated by Stormcaller last?"