Chapter 63: Water Prison (Buy Privilege Please)

Right after he clicked YES, the same painful process began all over again.

"Arghgh! Fuck! Ahfgh!"

Luckily, this time he didn’t have to roll around on the dirt outside. He immediately collapsed back inside his shed, hitting the wooden floor before writhering in agony.

"gHRU! There must be an easier way than this!"

He cried out through the pain, curling his body into a ball and desperately trying to find some position that could somehow lessen the horrible sensation ripping through his head.

But there was nothing he could do except endure it.

....

[Knowledge Imported 100%]

Almost an hour passed before the excruciating process finally came to an end.

The pain disappeared as abruptly as it had arrived, leaving behind nothing but silence and peace.

Kyle lay there for several seconds, breathing heavily before finally pushing himself up from the wooden floor.

He looked at the System window floating before him.

[Skill: Water Prison Lv. Max]

[Proficiency: 0/100%]

[Knowledge: 100%]

Kyle stared at it for a moment before rubbing his aching head.

"Never again."

He slowly got back on his feet and stepped outside the shed. If he was going to practice the skill, the forest gave him more than enough targets.

Trees, plants, rocks—everything around him could serve as a test subject.

He raised his hand and focused.

"Water Prison."

WHOOSH!

A massive sphere of water suddenly manifested several meters away from him.

The enormous sphere was at least a few meters tall and equally wide, completely trapping everything within its boundaries. Trees, plants, rocks, and even loose branches were swallowed inside the watery prison.

Kyle’s eyes widened slightly.

He had successfully manifested the technique on his very first attempt.

"So this is Water Prison..."

He didn’t waste any time.

He experimented with the technique on the trees and rocks around him, testing how easily he could manifest it, how much control he had over the water, and how long he could maintain it.

After several attempts, a System notification appeared.

[Proficiency: 5.34%]

Kyle grinned.

"Release."

The moment he gave the command, the enormous sphere lost its shape.

WHOOSH!

The water suddenly burst outward like a small flood, covering the surrounding area and flowing across the uneven forest floor in every direction.

Kyle watched the water spread around him.

’It is both an offensive and defensive technique if used correctly.’

After using it for the first time, he could already see numerous possibilities.

He could trap an enemy inside it, restrict their movements, interfere with their breathing, or potentially use the water itself to defend against incoming attacks.

And unlike Magic Missile, there was another advantage.

"Only 10 mana..."

Kyle checked the amount of mana consumed and was pleasantly surprised.

The original description had suggested a higher cost, but after adjusting the technique through his own understanding and controlling how much mana he invested into it, he discovered that he could significantly reduce its consumption.

"That makes this much more economical."

He immediately tried again.

"Water Prison."

This time, Kyle deliberately altered the size of the technique.

Instead of creating another enormous sphere several meters wide, he compressed it down to roughly one-tenth of its original size.

The amount of water decreased accordingly, as did the mana consumption.

[Proficiency: +15%]

Kyle raised his eyebrows.

"Fifteen percent?"

His proficiency had increased dramatically from a single modification.

Compared to Magic Missile, Water Prison was progressing much faster.

There simply weren’t as many variables to experiment with.

With Magic Missile, he had been able to alter its shape, density, speed, size, trajectory, accuracy, firing rate, and even control multiple projectiles independently.

Water Prison was much more straightforward.

Its main variables were its size, the amount of water, the pressure within the prison, and how efficiently he could control it.

Still, Kyle wasn’t satisfied with simply reaching a usable level.

He continued experimenting.

He changed the size repeatedly, adjusted the pressure of the water, experimented with how quickly the prison could manifest, and tested how much mana he actually needed for different applications.

He tried using larger prisons and smaller prisons. He experimented with trapping individual objects. He even tested whether increasing the pressure inside the prison could make it more dangerous.

But eventually, he reached a problem he couldn’t solve by himself.

’To properly test this, I need a sparring partner.’

The thought made him sigh.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t exactly anyone around willing to volunteer for getting trapped inside a giant ball of water.

So, Kyle continued practicing alone.

He spent the rest of the afternoon experimenting with Water Prison, slowly improving his control and understanding of the technique.

By the time evening arrived and the sunlight began disappearing between the trees, he finally decided to stop.

He had one final skill left.

Earth Shield.

Kyle glanced toward the shed before walking inside.

He didn’t want to repeat the previous experience of collapsing onto the dirt and getting his clothes covered in soil.

This time, he sat down on the couch instead.

The wooden floor had already left his body aching from the previous ordeal, and he wasn’t interested in repeating that experience.

He leaned back into the couch and took a deep breath.

Then the familiar System window appeared.

[Do you want to learn the Skill ’Earth Shield (Common)’?]

[Yes / No]

Kyle stared at it.

He had already experienced this twice. He knew exactly what was coming.

By now, he had practically become a masochist.

"Let’s do it for one last time!"

He clicked YES.

This time, he immediately grabbed the armrest of the couch tightly.

He braced himself.

"Argghh!"

The pain arrived roughly a minute after he clicked the button.

But strangely, it was different.

It was painful, but nowhere near as horrific as the first two times.

Instead of feeling like his bones were being crushed with every passing percentage, it felt more like an incredibly severe migraine.

A truly terrible migraine.

But compared to what he had experienced before?

This was manageable.

"Fuck... this is better, but it’s annoying as fuck."

Kyle gritted his teeth.

Every time he moved his head or accidentally looked toward the light, a sharp, piercing pain shot through his skull.

His migraine intensified whenever he moved his eyes too quickly, so he simply closed them and waited.

There was nothing else he could do.

He just had to endure it.

Eventually, the pain began to fade and when it finally disappeared completely, Kyle let out a long breath.

He opened his eyes.

"Alright..."

Kyle leaned back into the couch with a tired smile.

"Finally, all three skills are done!"

He was genuinely overjoyed.

All the terrible experiences he had gone through had finally ended.

At least for the time being.

"That was a terrible experience."

He rubbed his temples.

"I hope I never experience it again."

Kyle sincerely hoped that even his enemies would never have to endure the kind of pain he had experienced during those knowledge transfers.

He had no idea why learning skills had to be so damn painful.

But at least it was finally over.

"I’ll continue tomorrow. I’m done for today."

He looked toward the bed.

It was only a short distance away.

Normally, he would have simply gotten up and gone to sleep there.

But right now, even walking those few steps felt like too much effort.

"I have no strength left..."

Kyle slowly sank deeper into the couch.

The soft cushions felt far more comfortable than the bed did at that moment.

He closed his eyes. He didn’t even realize when his breathing became slower.

Within minutes, Kyle had fallen completely asleep on the couch.