Metalweaver's Odyssey: A Mobster's Full Metal Alchemical Isekai

1-8. The Great Escape.

Chapter 8: The Great Escape.

Adam's POV

"Hey Nove."

"Yes, Alper."

"How long have I been walking?"

"Precisely about 6 hours and 17 minutes."

WELL, IT CERTAINLY FELT LIKE IT!

I had been walking in this section of the cave for what felt like an eternity. It started with an ascent, then a descent, a detour to the side, a loop around, another ascent and descent. And whatnot. It felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, except I was walking through it.

I came across some bats that I killed, but they weren't considered monsters, so I couldn't get any nexus blood or cores. However, I could keep them as emergency food. Although I had regenerated a significant amount of NEP by now, the Terra mend passive was truly effective—well, if you consider the fact that I had to wear shoes made out of dirt and stone for it to activate.

Regardless, I now had a whopping 470 NEP points, Way more than half my total NEP pool. So, of course, I extracted some more weird-looking ores, but I couldn't do anything with them at the moment, so I left them in my inventory. Now, it was time to test out my active abilities since I had NEP to spare.

After trying out the abilities once, the info window got suddenly got upgraded. I checked with Nove, and she said it changed because she now had all the details for the update. Since all information is being shown by Nove, if Alper was clueless about these abilities so was Nove. So Nove had to learn on the fly, and here's what we got.

Earthen Grasp (Lvl: 1)
Description: Allows the user to temporarily enhance their hand grip or standing stability, useful for resisting pushes, pulls, or maintaining balance on uneven terrain
Duration: 60 seconds
NEP Cost: 3
Cooldown time: 20 seconds (After buff ends)

Petrifying Strike (Lvl: 1)
Description: Allows the user to deliver a strike that temporarily petrifies a small area of an opponent upon impact, slowing their movements.
Power: 10 damage
Slow rate: 30% damaged part of body, 10% on full body
Duration: 5 seconds
NEP Cost: 8
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Stone Shield (Lvl: 1)
Description: Creates a temporary protective stone shield on any part of the user, absorbing a portion of incoming physical damage when activated.
Shield Health: 40 HP
Number of shields at one time: 1
Duration: 20 seconds
NEP Cost: 10
Cooldown: 12 Seconds (After skill ends or all shields break)

Sticky Web (Lvl: 1)
Description: Allows the user in creating and utilizing sticky webs for various purposes and can be used on enemies to slow them down.
Slow: 15%
Duration: 2 seconds
NEP Cost: 2
Cooldown: n/a

Alright, so here's the lowdown on these skills. Earthen Grasp turns me into a real-life Spider-Man minus the spandex suit – stronger grip and stability, but sadly, no web-swinging shenanigans.

Petrifying Strike, on the other hand, is the black sheep. It's like, "Hey, punch someone to petrify them!" But, oops, can't use it with my trusty spear. Imagine trying to stone someone but having to rely on a fist bump – not my cup of tea.

Now, Stone Shield is the MVP – it slaps a mini stone shield on me, like a medieval superhero with questionable fashion choices. Meanwhile, Sticky Web is my go-to trapper, with no cooldown. It's like setting up my own little sticky surprise party for unwelcome guests.