Macronomicon
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Chapter 178: Skin Can’t See Color
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 18:10:06 +0000 UTCWill sought out a nice quiet spot in the ever-bustling caravan and brought up his list of possible Secondary Abilities. With a quick scan, W
Will sought out a nice quiet spot in the ever-bustling caravan and brought up his list of possible Secondary Abilities.
With a quick scan, Will dismissed the Abilities that were simple attacks or things that he wasn’t particularly interested in:
Uru Breath, Stone Charge, venom Strike, Mighty Leap, Prey’s senses.
They were Abilities that had been offered early in his Climbing career, and they weren’t very powerful, sophisticated, or they were slightly redundant.
Next he went through the new abilities offered:
Inexorable
Active: 10 Charges
choose a creature, object, or point in space within range. The user is compelled to move towards it by the world itself. You cannot move further away, nor be moved further away. If you do not move, you will be pushed towards the target at a slow pace. Until User reaches the target, they cannot die, but can be mortally wounded.
Scales with Resistance.
That one is from the seed of Inexorable Death, Will thought. It mimicked Sin Amalgam’s tactic of warping reality so it couldn’t be escaped from.
Can’t die? Will thought, studying it. There were probably some tricks he could do with the Ability, upgrades that might give him a boost of healing on arrival, or add a damage effect. Add a lifesteal relic, recover from any wound he got on the way.
Could be a good way to buy time to recover from mortal wounds. Take a shot to the heart, select a max distance location and buy yourself another 30 seconds of life to find a solution.
Or Abyss, you could force your body through an impassable location and not die in the process.
It was an interesting ability, but Will’s defences and traversal were both already pretty solid, and the idea of stuffing himself through a pipe or the seam of a vault door were…not fun. Will was sure he would feel every bone getting crushed in the process.
Pass on that.
Consumption
Active: 5 Charges
Consume a permanent relic, destroying it in the process, to gain some of its effect for a few minutes. Can only benefit from one consumed relic at a time.
Scales with Resistance
…This goes together with Soudough, almost criminally well.
Will wasn’t sure, but if Sourdough could be used with it, he might be able to consume a Relic and preserve it with Sourdough, basically allowing him to pseudo-equip an extra relic for a certain amount of time without even losing it.
And of course he could custom-make Relics specifically for that use with Sourdough.
Interesting. Will added it to the list and moved on to the next new Ability.
Climber's Piton – Active: 10/1 Charges
10 Charges. Place a dimensional anchor in the terrain. So long as the piton exists user may expend 1 Charge to propel themself directly towards it. Distance scales with Acuity, max number of Pitons with Focus, duration with Resistance.
Isn’t this the same Ability as the ranger I fought? The one who teleported to his arrows? Will thought, musing.
Could this Ability be upgraded from ‘propel’ to ‘teleport’? Will thought.
If so, it might be excellent. Despite being multi-Stat scaling, Will was pretty good at all of those things.
Without upgrading it to teleportation, it was about on par with what he could do with his Phantom Hand for free, bouncing himself around a battlefield wildly.
With a teleportation upgrade, it would probably be slightly better than the Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet, because Will imagined the range would be much higher, since the amulet was only ever meant to unexpectedly close a few feet of distance for a killing blow.
Maybe.
Will added to the list of potential acquisitions, then turned his attention back to the full list, minus the ones he’d dismissed already.
Let’s drop Gravity Charge, Progenitor Affinity, Stubborn Ass and Astral Tread.
Will reviewed and dismissed four more before he listed out all the remaining possible choices.
Deceiver’s Molt
Active: 5 charges. Moderate Self-heal. User slips out of their skin and creates a decoy that can perform simple pre-determined actions. The decoy will retain any wounds the user has healed through this Ability.
Man…this one just sounds fun.
Will could imagine himself upgrading it and then using those decoys to do the things he didn’t want to do, like feeding the oxen, signing papers, attending meetings.
They’d probably catch on eventually.
Titan’s Grasp
Passive: Space and gravity subtly warp around objects the user tries to hold, allowing them to handle objects both larger and smaller than they might’ve otherwise been able to handle, whether that be from cumbersome size or weight.
This could definitely be upgraded to synergize with both Phantom Hand and Aspect’s terrain manipulation ability, providing a powerful passive boost to both of them.
Serpent’s Tongue
Active: 1 Charge
With a vile word of Eternity, extend the duration of debuffs on the target for (Acu/10) Seconds.
Well, that would be amazing if I had already specced into debuffs…which I didn’t, unfortunately. Pass.
Blood Binding
Active: 20 Charges
Apply your tainted blood to a weapon to imbue it with a fraction of your nature. The weapon will warp fate to always return to you.
On Binding, one Ability will be randomly added based on the User’s Sacrifices. Only one Ability can be bound at a time, To re-roll the random Ability, Cast Blood Binding again.
…Probably the best one, Will thought. If he could add an extra ability to an already Sourdough-ed weapon and then add it to Phantom Hand…that was hard to say no to.
Uru Drake’s Eye
Passive: Become able to see that which a Uru Drake Progenitor can. Dimensional effects, Charges and miasma become visible to the naked eye.
…Interesting. I can already feel miasma and charges fairly well. What’s the benefit for me if I can physically see it? Will I be able to see past it? Will this effect blind me on higher levels?
Serpent’s Gaze
Active: 1 Charge
Inflict (acu/100) seconds of Paralysis on a target you can see the eyes of. Acuity contested by Focus or Resistance, whichever is higher.
Goes great with Phantom Eye. Acuity divided by one hundred isn’t nearly as much of a problem as it used to be. I could kill someone six different ways in two seconds.
Consumption
Active: 5 Charges
Consume a permanent relic, destroying it in the process, to gain some of its effect for a few minutes. Can only benefit from one consumed relic at a time.
Scales with Resistance
Pairs well with Sourdough.
Climber's Piton – Active: 10/1 Charges
10 Charges. Place a dimensional anchor in the terrain. So long as the piton exists user may expend 1 Charge to propel themself directly towards it. Distance scales with Acuity, number of Pitons scales with Focus, duration of piton scales with Resistance.
Could be upgraded to allow higher level teleportation.
Will sat and reviewed all of his choices and imagined how they would impact his Class:
Deceivers Molt would make him trickier, allowing him to fake his death a couple more times before people caught on. It also gave him a self-heal Ability.
Will already had a self-heal Ability with his Set, offloading wounds onto his snakes.
In essence, this was a purely defensive Ability and didn’t really help him win a fight. Even if it was upgraded to allow the copies to have some of his Abilities, they wouldn’t be any stronger than he was…most likely significantly weaker.
Guess I’ll have to pass, Will thought, reluctantly setting it aside.
Will dismissed Serpent’s gaze and Climber’s Piton.
They were both good, but Serpent’s gaze branched off his Build into a debuffer, and the Piton was slightly redundant. If he could travel miles in a minute, possible medium range teleportation wasn’t that appealing.
That left him with: Titan’s Grasp, Blood Binding, Consumption, and Uru Drake’s Eye.
Blood binding and Consumption both leaned heavily into the Relic exploitation that his Build focused on. Titan’s Grasp would likely boost his Aspect cantrips even more than they already were. A simple boost in his raw, baseline power.
Abyss, I might even be able to upgrade Titan’s Grasp to further widen the definition of ‘terrain’.
And Uru Drake’s Eye…
Why IS that one still in my list?
Will almost dismissed it, but he couldn’t help but keep thinking about it, a nagging thought that kept resurfacing from the churning waters of his mind…what was it reminding him of?
Lord Ghoul.
Will thought back to his brief conversation on the subject of Cantrips.
‘Forget about your Class. ‘Mage’ is just a word I assign to people who have mastered their Abilities enough to create several unique cantrips. To me it means flexibility above and beyond the Archetypes people’s Classes try to impose on them. It doesn’t have any meaning in The System.’
‘Are you a mage?’ Will had asked.
‘Boy, I would qualify myself as a ‘wizard’.” Ghoul had said. ‘I can do a lot more than a few parlor tricks. I reverse engineered your cantrips and improved on them in a matter of seconds…Maybe one day you’ll be a wizard too.’
That’s what it is.
The Uru Drake’s Eye offered…information. The kind of information that Will couldn’t get anywhere else. Flexibility above and beyond his Archetype.
Sure, he could feel Charge being used with a high degree of accuracy, but there was probably more information underneath.
It was like this:
Will’s Acuity was high enough that he could sprint through a hallway with his eyes closed just by feeling the proximity to the walls with his skin and ears…but he couldn’t read the map on the wall that said ‘you are here’.
He couldn’t perceive color with his skin.
Does charge and Miasma have different colors? Could I tell what kind of Abilities other people are using before they even finish? Could I see hidden spells? Through illusions? Charms?
Will would never know, unless he gambled on this one Ability.
Will mentally reorganized the Abilities by how they might affect his Build:
Consumption, Blood Binding: Relic Exploiter
Titan’s Grasp: Terrain Master
Uru Drake’s Eye: …Wizard, maybe?
From the very beginning, Will had envied Nukers lording it over everyone with their truly magical Abilities that could level buildings, or even cities. That was power. That was magic, to Will. That was what he had wanted: Magic.
Over the course of his career, Will had gotten a lot closer to a Nuker, through incremental upgrades to his Build.
Tomorrow we’ll see how much closer.
If Will could use the Uru Drake’s Eye to enhance his understanding of Miasma and develop new cantrips…maybe he could be a wizard like Ghoul?
Even if it doesn’t lead to me developing new cantrips like Ghoul, it would still serve as an excellent information-gathering Ability, allowing me to see when people are trying to be tricky.
…Not to mention, the chokepoint.
Will’s thoughts turned towards Reese’s prediction of Will’s untimely demise. How he was Fated to die sometime in the next four or five years, on the 50th Floor.
Somehow, every Coil there was someone like him who rose to prominence, then died young mysteriously. They were all strapping young men with outlandishly powerful Classes that laid waste to their competition and made names for themselves as legends…right before the end of the Coil.
Ezykial the Serpent.
Castavelle the Paragon.
William Oh.
…And then they died.
Perhaps there’s some trial or circumstance that is literally impossible. Something that can’t be overcome with more power.
He hadn’t tried excercising all his power since he hit level 40, but Will was absolutely confident that he could already tear apart a castle or small city if he really wanted.
That brought Will back to his earlier rumination about making the transition from a Climber to a Lord. There was a limit to what more power could get you. More information on the other hand…
…I’m just convincing myself to take the plunge at this point, Will thought with a half-chuckle.
If this Uru Drake’s Eye doesn’t work, I’ll come back for one of the other three Abilities at level 50. It probably won’t be too far away, especially if The Tower has a bounty on Kincaid.
…Add Uru Drake’s Eye.
Confirmed.
Will closed his eyes as the shudder of his Class rearranging itself went through his whole body, collecting in his spine and travelling up through the back of his neck, creating a subtle pressure that seemed to gather behind his eyes before it faded a moment later.
Will took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
…And I’m blind.
Shit.
Comments
dijet
If Will doesn't get to transform into an Uru drake from the transforming into an immortal snake ability I will be very disappointed
Fabhar
Beginning couple of paragraphs are repeated.
Don
Funny enough dragons in dnd have 'consumption' as an ability as well they just hate eating their own treasures funny coincidence
Gorane
That leaves Uru drake eye, Consumption and Blood binding as good secondary skills. Of those Uru drake eye is probably good w no upgrades but consumption has crazy potential to get very op with some upgrades so he should take both by lvl 50 and then upgrade consumption by lvl 60
Gorane
Subsequently, i feel like some skills are very good for just a tertiary upgrade slots. Inexorable for an example seems niche but potentially lifesaving even w out any upgrades. Further skills like Progenitor Affinity, Stubborn Ass and Astral Tread all count as well
Gorane
Unless Will gains more upgrade slots to his primary abilities he will run out of upgrade slots by lvl 75. Maybe one of these skills is a viable addition for a new primary skill by then. Both Titan's Grasp and Deceiver’s Molt have lots of upgrade slots and i can see them both being very strong. Maybe Will can get them even earlier because it seems wise to hold a upgrade slot or two reserved for very powerful sacrifices from floors 20 and above.
Macronomicon
Delve has a very smart character but it leans number-crunchy. Super supportive’s MC is clever, but the series has more focus on emotion. Slumrat rising by Warby Picus, but it gets a bit philosophy heavy.
Doggo
any reccomendations for a similar novel mostly im looking for an intelligent mc with similar flaws as will where they are smart but dont know everything
Hell 5pawn
Oh I like that rumor. It may even make it to Jason Prophecy level of a telling.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Macronomicon
I always like making a character that tries to dig deeper than just 'numbers get bigger'
Macronomicon
Warms my heart, thanks!
Doggo
i bought this subscription after reading the novel on rr in like a week i think sometimes staying awake until 6 am reading and i just really love the story the characters the abilities and yeah.
Natalie
Ooo I wonder if he also gets a snake to really rev up loth lmao Edit: Snake tongue, I was supposed to say snake tongue. Why do you hate me autocorrect
Natalie
Yea, I think and hope this is more of a "neo waking up and not being able to move because he's never used his muscles" moment as opposed to a "you just got the slum dog millionaire treatment" moment
Natalie
I'm sad my "he's behind me isn't he" one wasn't listed, but c'est la vie
Quazzy
But more importantly, the curiosity and getting more and more invested with each question and making a decision based on *that* is very Will
Quazzy
what better way to cast spells? And with Uru Drake's Eye, maybe he can actually tell when a creature would be a good sacrifice for miasma manipulation!
Quazzy
V fair; there are plenty of Lords who are ridiculously tanky and hard-hitting and... okay, haven't seen any mobility-based lords, but eh. Point is, being able to actually *see* the foreshadowed really trippy and possibly instakill abilities and how they work is probably more helpful than anything else, and even against Kinkaid being able to dodge what are undoubtedly going to be some nasty magicks will be nice.
Crispined Glover Potato Snacks
If Will now has slitted snake eyes then he might get his sight back once his brain relearns how to interpret the different signals his snake rods and snake cones now supply to his human brain. Also if he has slitted snake eyes then Loth will be in her bunk.
StrollingEye
The man is going to see with his flickering forked tongue!!!
Macronomicon
yeah, they're discussed in terms of being new, then added to the list of possibles.
Hell 5pawn
... How blind? Blinded by the light, or blinded by the nothingness of malfunctioning optical nerves?
Enzo Elacqua
“Naked eye” eh? Seems like Wills about to full matrix and start rocking sunglasses everywhere! ‘William Oh’s sight is so dangerous that to be seen by his naked eye is to have all information not only seen through, but devoured, leaving you naught but a thought in his head!’
Ethan Barrow
TFTC!! We'll at least he can already navigate blind and has two very experienced people in his caravan to get advice about how to un-screw himself.
Ral
If consumption makes relics considered a consumable then sourdough would work on sacrificing his relics?
Patryk Rys
Climber's Piton and Consumption are listed two times.
SunderGoldmane
I hope the next chapter we get some pov from alicia about adapting to altered eyes. Maybe them walking around camp or the woods and her being like “yeah you have to look out for trips and edges that you might run into…” then them both realizing that his passive is just doing 90% of the heavy lifting and making walking around blind actually easier and weirder.
SunderGoldmane
One drunken reveler overheard a small conversation discussing the ethnic and racial composition of william ohs party, saying with resolution that “william oh does not see skin color, and is a rather paragon of diversity”. The reveler, upon hearing this and announcing himself with a large belch while thinking himself both clever and funny drew attention to the conversation by declaring boisterously to the room that, “no, no, no, william ohs SKIN doesn’t see COLOR!!!” He proceeded to laugh to himself rather loudly until a young man at the bar stood up and declared the reveler as a liar (and a drunk), but more importantly a liar, as william ohs skin does infact, see color.
RedInkQuill
Will his eyes molt to see as Ouroboros does? Find out next time on Serpant Coil Z
KingBing
I think was first mentioned in the fight with the paladin and glasswimd nuker, but it’s based on acuity. That was how the nuker sensed Will’s hand coming at them, and tried putting up a shield
Jake
If he gets his sight back, that ending was gold
Jake
Wooohoo uru drake, giving an already powerful genius more information is a recipe for disaster.... for everyone else :)
Gardor
Just before we get too far past it, does Consumption work with the relics already in his Phantom Hand? Probably not, but it seems like a good way to get the functionality of the Serpent Amulet back without destroying it. Consume one of the relics already in Phantom Hand, get a Sourdough seed, go from "not" having the relic to having it. This mostly brought up in case he finds something better than his gear, and needs another physical set item to still get the bonuses.
Stanisław Drewienkowski
He went for the Alicia gambit. If he can not see baker girls no more, than he truly paid the price. But I guess with his acuity he can zone it out a bit, hopefully soon since he is on a timer
Ral
If Will's snake look like the sacrificed relic in them plus the internal storage all just smashed into the shape of the snake, then I'll laugh.
Exrotes
Time for "Miasma is a Terrain"
Imp
Yay Uru Drake Eyes. Good call. You've gotten caught by unseen effects and few too many times. A necessary counter once you figure out how to use it.
Not_You
I have wondered a lot how much will can feel charge. It feels like a very powerful thing that doesn’t come from any ability he has, so it’s likely natural disposition? I wonder how sensitive other people are to it, or if they are at all naturally. Could be a fun conversation in a later chapter
Andrew
Thank you!
CoveringStorm
“Visible to the naked eye” is the workaround having a phantom eye up and running whenever he wants to actually see? I wonder if phantom eye got the “upgrade” too. What a hilarious situation. Maybe he and Alicia can make a support group for people who took eye upgrades that were double edged Regardless these are the consequences of not taking Mighty Leap!
Not_You
Gotta love building into information
Tsorov
Do spatial folds/layers count as terrain? Cause if they do, now that he can see them... oh boy, teleportation is nothing against bending space around you and your enemies. Distance to the enemy too long? Make it shorter! Can't reach something? Now you can! These are some interesting possibilities.
Macronomicon
they are semi-autonomous, so...I suppose they can see, but they can't relay that information back to him, which is why he usually sends a Phantom Eye with them.
Chris Curtin
Do his snakes have eyes and vision? He might have 100's of eyes versus his own eyeballs?
Beeees!
Annandale I'm blind.... lmao
Julia Niles
Sucks that he didn’t pick it up, but the eyes could work
Julia Niles
YES CONSUMPTION WAS MINE
