A Sinner’s Chance

Flames of Necrosis came rather easily to me, as it felt quite similar to when my Superhuman Regeneration activated, though rather than being a passive defensive type of Skill it required me to actively focus to manifest the dark purple black flames. The flames themselves were rather strange, emitting a chill, rather than any heat and when I tested it out it caused objects to decay and wither, rather than burn up, though objects 'burned' by it did leave ash like remains. It seemed both powerful and dangerous and didn't seem like the kind of Skill I could use casually or in a non-lethal fight.

Undying Fortitude was a passive Skill so I wasn't able to test out what it's effects really were, but if it did anything like it's name implied, I imagined it was another Skill that would make it harder for me to be killed. It really felt like I was becoming some kind of un-killable  monstrosity.

Without any idea on the method of activation, Thread Creation was the most frustrating Skill I'd acquired to date. All my other Skills worked off magic, which meant Mana Control eased me into their use, or were simply something that could be trained into my muscle memory. Since Thread Creation didn't seem to respond to me circulating or directing my mana, I could only assume it was a physical type Skill, yet I couldn't figure out how to get it to activate, or even what kind of effects I could expect from it.

It wasn't until I had put on clothing that I felt a odd discomfort around my tailbone. I drew my hand across the area in an attempt to relieve the discomfort, only to make a bizarre discovery, I had a new orifice. It didn't take much more investigating to figure out that my new body part was a spinneret, part of the system that allowed spiders to create and utilize their silk. With some practice I also discovered how to use the new set of anatomy I had suddenly become equipped with, it was a bizarre feeling to suddenly have control over a new part of my body.

This Skill felt like it was nearly useless. I had imagined a few ways in which this Skill would have worked, and yet all my hopes and expectations had been completely betrayed. Instead of the ability to swing between rooftops, I had literally just become capable of making spiderwebs, and I had to do it manually to boot. The speed at which I could produce thread was surprisingly quickly, though there wasn't any force behind it. I had to either use my hands or stick it to something beforehand to make any use of it.

To make matters worse, the spinneret made wearing clothing rather uncomfortable. It was sensitive, similar to the feeling of the new skin when you scrape the outer layer off and the rough fiber of the clothing that rubbed against it was irritating. Despite my discomfort I continued to get dressed, I didn't really have the option to just not wear bottoms, so I would simply have to live with the discomfort until I either got used to it or could come up with clothes that wouldn't bother me.

I had just finished getting dressed when Elaine pushed into the tent to check on me. "You seem to have completely recovered." She then paused and looked around for a moment. "One of the servants said there was a mysterious armored figure in your bed, you care to explain?"

I wondered for a moment before realizing the servant had likely seen my new carapace and had thought it was a suit of armor rather than an organic piece of me. I explained the situation and the new set of Racial Skills I had acquired to Elaine who was rathe surprised to hear such. Racial Skills should of been acquired during my Awakening and yet five years had passed and they only decided to manifest now, an anomaly, but one that we couldn't do anything about. 

In fact, she thought this was actually a great chance. I could use this as an excuse to show more of my real Status, claiming that this strange and unusual second Awakening, as she called it, caused the shift. I was too old to be taken in as an acolyte for the church so at best they would want me to become an honorary priestess, but the fact that I was learning from an ex-communicated priestess of Amare meant they'd probably just ignore me even if they were informed.

The fact that I would be able to freely demonstrate magic instead of hiding it away made me greatly excited. The use of magic had so many useful and convenient functions that I'd been forced to do manually because I was hiding it, and now I was suddenly free. There was still quite a bit of my Status that I planned on hiding, mainly my Gifts and their associated Skills.