ALTER REALITY: Online

Before checking his Innate Talent, Noel knew he couldn't afford to stay out in the open. More monsters could appear at any moment.

He quickly scanned the desert around him, eyes searching for any kind of cover. Not far off, he spotted a rocky formation that had risen to about two meters high.

Tucked between the rocky boulders was a narrow crevice, just wide enough to squeeze through. The rocks blocked the sunlight, offering a cooler spot and some protection from danger. It wasn't perfect, but it was far safer than standing in the open.

Carefully, Noel made his way toward the gap. He slid between the rocks, the rough surface brushing against his back as he squeezed through the narrow opening. 

The passage sloped gently downward for about two meters before opening into a small space nestled between the rocks. It wasn't large, but it was wide enough for him to sit down and rest.

Once he felt secure, he shifted his focus and brought up the details of his newly unlocked Innate Talent.

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Liability ⧼Grade-5⧽

- Allows the Host to inflict one of three types of Liabilities on themselves, enhancing damage received on the Liability-inflicted body part, at the same time enhancing the Host's overall damage output by the same factor. The higher the Liability, the greater the risk and reward.

Calculated Liability: 2 times

Cost: 2% Overall Spirit Energy per minute.

Enhanced Liability: 4 times

Cost: 4% Overall Spirit Energy per minute.

Critical Liability: 6 times

Cost: 6% Overall Spirit Energy per minute.

Liability Slots Available: 1

⧼ An additional slot becomes available with each higher Mastery Stage ⧽

⧼ Every 10 levels in Mastery comprise a Stage. With each higher Stage, a new Innate Exclusive Skill will be unlocked. ⧽

Lv.1 Liability Mastery

STAGE 1 ⧼Lv.1 - Lv.10⧽

⧼ Use your ability more to have Lv.1 Liability training methods Ingrain into your mind step-by-step. Comprehend them to forge your path ahead. ⧽

Innate Exclusive Skills

⧼ Unlock your first Exclusive Skill by reaching Lv.5 Liability Mastery ⧽

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

Reviewing his Innate Talent, Noel realized it wasn't as bad as the name suggested. By weakening a part of his body, he could significantly boost his attack damage.

As long as he was careful, he should be able to deal damage beyond his current level, especially with the Critical Liability that amplified his damage output to six times his own.

The notification panel indicated that his current Mastery was at Level 1, and he needed to reach Level 5 to unlock his first Innate Exclusive Skill. As the details had mentioned, he needed to use his ability frequently to increase his Talent's Mastery Level.

Noel considered calling out the command but remained silent, wary of alerting nearby monsters. Instead, he whispered softly, "Activate Calculated Liability."

As soon as he spoke the words, a notification prompt appeared, asking him to select a body part to target with the Liability. 

Noel thought carefully as he considered his options. The prompt in front of him explained that body parts were categorized based on their size and the level of risk involved.

For Calculated Liability, he would need to target one of the smaller, less critical areas of his body such as a finger, toe, the outer forearm, or the side of his calf. These parts posed the least risk due to their limited size and minimal impact on overall movement or survival.

Enhanced Liability required him to target more functional areas such as the wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, hands, feet, and shoulders. These parts played a bigger role in balance and coordination, but the increased danger came with a reward: quadrupled attack damage.

To activate Critical Liability, he would need to choose one of the major regions of his body such as the head, chest, thighs, or an entire limb. These vital areas were far more vulnerable, but if he was willing to take the risk, the damage output would rise to six times his normal level.

While Critical Liability remained the most dangerous option, Calculated Liability was undeniably the safest choice. It minimized danger while still allowing him to harness his talent's power, even if it only doubled his damage output.

After some consideration, Noel selected his pinky toe as the target. He braced himself, unsure of what to expect. Almost immediately, he noticed a subtle change. The toe, though still hidden beneath his boot, began to emit a faint, light red glow that seemed to seep through the material. 

A wave of worry washed over him. 

'Will this make it easier for others to notice?'

The thought made him uneasy. It was no different to inviting enemies to aim for that exact spot.

Other than the faint glow at the targeted area, there was no visible change. He didn't feel any stronger or faster. No sudden boost hinted that his attacks had doubled in power.

But then, as he took a moment to focus, he noticed something peculiar. All over his body, a strange, layer began to form, like a haze hovering just above his skin. 

It wasn't solid or opaque, but looked similar to petrol evaporating on a hot surface, creating a faint, wavy distortion in the air around him. The layer moved with him, leaving a faint blur behind, almost like an afterimage.

Noel suppressed his curiosity to test how his ability improved his damage output, wary of causing a commotion that might attract more of the monsters he fought earlier. Instead, he shifted his focus to the 1 unit of Spirit Energy expended upon using Calculated Liability.

To understand more about Spirit Energy, Noel reviewed the attributes listed in his STATUS. As he scanned through the information, and found an explanation for each of them. 

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

﴾ Strength: 10 ﴿

- Equivalent to the average muscle power of an adult human, capable of lifting approximately 100-120 pounds (45-55 kg) with moderate effort. This translates into typical attack power for an untrained individual.

﴾ Agility: 10 ﴿

- Comparable to the average speed and reflexes of a healthy adult, with reaction times around 200-250 milliseconds and the ability to sprint at 12-15 mph (19-24 km/h).

﴾ Endurance: 10 ﴿

﴾ Stamina: 33/50 ⧼End x 5⧽﴿ 

﴾ Stamina Regen: 2 units per min ⧼End/5⧽﴿

- Reflects the stamina of an average adult who can engage in moderate physical activity (like jogging or manual labor) for extended periods. This includes an average standard of defense, bodily resilience, and a stamina regeneration rate of 2 units every minute.

﴾ Vitality: 10 ﴿

﴾ Health: 73/100 ⧼Vit x 10⧽ ﴿

﴾ Health Regen: 1 unit per min ⧼Vit / 10⧽ ﴿

- Represents the health of a typical adult, with the ability to recover from minor injuries like cuts or bruises within a few days. Health regeneration occurs at 1 point every minute, supporting normal immune function and healing.

 ﴾ Spirit: 10 ﴿

﴾ Spirit Energy: 49/50 ⧼Spr x 5⧽ ﴿

﴾ Spirit Pool Regen: 2 units per min ⧼Spr/5⧽﴿

- Equates to average cognitive abilities, such as normal thought processing speed, perception of time, and sensory awareness. This supports clear, focused thinking under normal conditions, with Spirit Energy regenerating at a rate of 2 units every minute.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

Strength and Agility were self-explanatory.

Endurance, on the other hand, was tied to Stamina, and his earlier fight with the Sand Stalker had drained more than half of it. Now that it regenerated at 2 units per minute, he was already feeling better.

Vitality worked the same way with Health. Thanks to the Healing Bandages, his health had climbed back to around three-fourths. Before that, it had dropped below half and was close to the danger zone.

Then came the Spirit Attribute. Unlike the others, this one felt more abstract. It related to the mind, how fast he could think, how aware he was, and even how he sensed time.

Noel did not fully understand how time perception worked, but he remembered Leon mentioning that the difference between in-game time and real-world time would widen as players climbed higher tiers.

He was not even in Tier 1 yet. Not even Level 1. He still needed 25 more Life Energy to level up, which meant he had to kill another monster.

But before that, he had to get used to his talent, increase his mastery, and use the weapon selection card.

Rushing into another fight without preparation would be no different from suicide. Last time, he got lucky, but there was no guarantee that luck would save him again. Maybe his Luck attribute, which was the highest at 16, had played a part. He wasn't sure.

Noel turned his attention back to Spirit Energy and how much of it would be consumed when using his ability.

'I've used an unit of Spirit Energy for Calculated Liability, but it'll regenerate soon,' Noel thought. He realized the expenditure was low enough that it was essentially canceled out by his regeneration rate.

'Which means... I can keep using Calculated Liability and even Enhanced Liability nonstop,' he thought, realizing the potential of this ability. There was no cooldown for any of the three Liabilities, so he could theoretically maintain them indefinitely.

Even using Critical Liability didn't demand much Spirit Energy, and the benefits far outweighed the costs. As he looked closer, Noel noticed there were slots for his Liabilities, suggesting that as his Mastery increased, he could eventually use multiple Liabilities simultaneously. 

However, the more Liabilities he could activate at once, the more his Spirit Energy expenditure would scale up. But he had a long way to go before reaching that point.

After all, he was only at the 1st Mastery Level, and he needed to cross 10 more to reach the 2nd Mastery Stage, where he could increase his Liability slots by one. 

That goal seemed far off, but his immediate focus was clear: reach Level 5 in Liability Mastery and unlock his first Exclusive Skill. He wondered what ability awaited him and how it might help him in clearing the First Instance.

≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾

Author Note: 

ALTER REALITY: Online is the 1st Side Story of EARTH's ALPHA PRIME, a LitRPG System Survival novel that has completed 3 volumes so far. 

The revamped version of EAP Volume 1, 2 & 3 are now live on Kindle. You can find them on Amazon by simply searching the book title or go through the link provided here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DR53YMV2

≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾

Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.

 ╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :

https://discord.gg/P6cWGg2G

 ╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯