In a World of Fantasy—particularly Cultivation—logic was thrown out the window. Anything was acceptable.
But the science behind this Evolvable Fireball actually made sense!
"As for this |Large Fireball| Skill," said Xue Ren, rubbing his chin in thought. "I don't even need the System to say anything to know that it's likely just a larger, more powerful version of the Basic |Fireball|"
[Bingo!]
Trying it out without delay, he vocalized, "|Large Fireball|"
*Fwooom!*
Even while at 0% proficiency, the produced Fireball was almost as big as a 100% proficiency regular Fireball. Furthermore, the resulting Fireball damage was more than double that of the regular Fireball if they were the same size!
BOOM!
The oak tree that Xue Ren had been practicing on for the last period of time broke in half in the middle. The top half leaned off to the side, eventually thudding against the ground.
[Skill 'Large Fireball' proficiency increased by 0.0000001%!]
"I like where this is going." Xue Ren smirked, throwing |Large Fireball| after the next at the area in front of him. "Let me see how long it'll take to get this and Fireball Arrow to 100% proficiency."
— Three months later —
|Large Fireball| and |Fireball Arrow| both required 10 times more initial proficiency than |Fireball|, but because it became easier to progress proficiency the more you used the Skill, it didn't actually take 10 times longer.
It was more like 4 times.
|Fireball Arrow| X7
Although Xue Ren couldn't cast Skills infinitely at the same time, he could still do 1 at a time an infinite number of times. There was a difference between the two, as there was a delay between each cast the way he did it.
Even so…
BOOOOM—!
With the casting of 7 |Fireball Arrows|, seven different trees were incinerated by fiery arrows two meters in length and one meter in width. Yet, even with the same specs as Basic |Fireballs|, the resulting firepower was nowhere close to being equal.
Nothing remained of the seven trees that were targeted by the |Fireball Arrows|.
"The single target damage could still use some work, but I can target up to 10 different things with them, so they'll definitely make for good multi-target situations," Xue Ren mused. "Now then, time to cast THAT again."
When it came to |Large Fireball|, he had to be careful. Its destructive power was no joke, and because of it, he had to go to the backside of a nearby mountain to use it.
A mountain backside that wasn't looking too good right about now…
While observing the thousands upon thousands of varying-sized craters on the mountain's backside, a hellish glow reflected within Xue Ren's pupils. The summoning of a ten-meter by ten-meter ball of searing hot flames shriveled up the grass around him, burning up even the air.
|Large Fireball|
Xue Ren's eyes were painted with a red glow as the giant mass of flames shot forward.
KABOOOOM—!
A massive crater the size of a small building was carved out of the mountain's backside, violently shaking the whole place.
*Ding!*
[Proficiency for Skills 'Large Fireball' and 'Fireball Arrow' have reached 100%!]
[EP +50]
[EP +50]
[Your Evolution Points are 100/100, meaning that your Evolution Gauge has achieved 100%]
[Commencing Evolution of your Primary |Fireball| to the next Tier!]
[Evolution complete in 10… 7… 3…]
[Your Primary |Fireball| has advanced from the Solid Orange Tier to the Light Orange Tier!]
[The Range and Damage of all Skills branched from Primary |Fireball| have had their Range and Damage multiplied by X3 (Stackable)]
[Effectiveness of all Skills branched from Primary |Fireball| has doubled!]
[Unlocked Skills: Fireball Burst (Burst), Fireball Shield (Defensive), Fireball Sniper (Long Range)]
Three new Skills at once!
Plus a X3 Damage and X2 Effectiveness Booster!
Didn't this mean that his previous Skills were now six whole times better now!?
Too Overpowered!
"To think my underdog story would go down like this," said Xue Ren, speaking in disbelief. "Well, no matter, I'll still train until I can't train anymore whether I have this cheat or not."
His cultivation was still stuck at the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation, and based on the rate of Spiritual Energy Absorption, it wasn't going to be increasing anytime soon. Therefore, he decided to once again focus on the Skills derived from his Primary |Fireball|.
After a few short demonstrations, he figured out that |Fireball Burst| fired three Fireballs at once. This was his first step toward becoming some kind of spammer. And though the size of each Fireball could only be up to a meter right now, Xue Ren predicted that they'd go up to 10+ meters in the future, rivaling and perhaps even surpassing the |Large Fireball|.
As for |Fireball Shield|, it conjured up a watermelon-sized protective barrier made up of hundreds of smaller Fireballs. He could move the shield around, push it outward, pull it back, and even shrink it. However, to increase its size and defensive power, the proficiency of the Skill had to be increased.
Fortunately and conveniently, |Fireball Shield| could be passively activated and gain proficiency as long as he had enough Spiritual Energy.
It went without saying that he had enough, thus he kept a |Fireball Shield| near his chest.
He wanted to cast more of them, but soon realized that he couldn't…