SB: Chapter 240 – Evaluating Progress (Patreon)

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Level: 20 Experience: BLOCKED

Healing: 540/540 Stamina: 690/690 Mana: 760/760

Class: Tier 1, Adult Human(Blue)Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition(+10%), Increased Learning Speed(+10%), Increased Stat Gain(+10%), Increased Physical Gain(+10%), Increased Mental Gain(+10%)

Vitality: 54 (+1)Endurance: 69 (+2)Strength: 45 ()Agility: 54 (+1)Perception: 46 (+1)Mind: 178 (+1)Magic: 76 (+1)Focus: 66 (+1)Free Points: 200

Tier 1(14)(39+): Dwarven Etiquette(100), Eldarin Etiquette(100), Elven Etiquette(100), Dancing Skills(100), Pugilist Skills(98), Bow Skills(88+2), Whip Skills(64), Stillness(60), Driving(52+6), Seraphim Etiquette(35+3), Veil(25+14), Mask(11+8), Deception(9+6),  Obscure(8+7)

Tier 2(78)(15+): Mana Sense(100), Danger Sense(100), System Sense(100), Soul Sense(100), Speed Reading(100), Mana Vision(100), Demonic Lore(95), Focused Monster Processing Skills(94), Darkness Vision(90), Critical Thinking(90+3), Focused Deflection(86+2), Shadow Vision(80), Focused Dodge(74+4), Monster Analysis(68), Focused Combat Tactics(68+3), Temporal Sense(65), Depth Sense(64), Spatial Sense(61), Trap Detection(55), Focused Throw(54), Focused Cooking Skills(53+2), Focused Rage(50+4),  Focused Shield Skills(46), Poison Sense(42), Sweet Teeth(42), Focused Spear Skills(40), Dwarven Lore(39), Eldarin Lore(39), High Vostner Lore(38), Elven Lore(36), Low Vostner Lore(32), Focused Armor(30+3), Focused Axe Skills(24), Soul Vision(20), Focused Speech(15+3), Focused Pulse Strike(6), Focused Wrestling Skills(5), Focused Dagger Skills(2), Focused Drawing Skills(2)

Tier 3(126)(5+): Empowered Will(100), Mana Manipulation(100), Fear Resistance(95), Empowered Gestures(92), Eldarin Runes(84), Cold Resistance(82), Light Orb(80), Hidden Status(80+3), Empowered Meditation(79+3), Skill Control(78+3), Silent Casting(75), Clean(70+3), Lightning Resistance(63), Fireball(63), Ward(63+2), Flame Blade(60), Empowered Breathing(61+1), Empowered Running(60+6), Empowered Writing(52), Lightning Beam(52), Empowered Sword Skills(48), System Control(48+1), Sleep(46), Physical Resistance(43), Status Analysis(42), Soul Strike(39), Arcane Resistance(34), Cure(31), Dwarven Runes(30), Elven Runes(30), Empowered Stealth(29), Social Resistance(26+2), Demonic Runes(25), Calculus(24), Advanced Geometry(24), High Vostner Runes(23), Low Vostner Runes(21), Empowered Toughness(18), Alchemy(17),  Compass Of Desire(13), Sonic Resistance(12), Soul Shield(11), Demonic Hunter(10)

Tier 4(36): Experience Siphon(C), Gnomish Silence(C), Soul Link(94+2), Poison Immunity(36), Multi-Casting(32), Soul Immunity(30), Vibration Blade(27), Pain Immunity(19), Healing Immunity(15), Fire Immunity(8), Ritualism(7)

Tier 7: Seraphim Quest(C)

EquipmentGloves: Gloves Of Durability(T3) (Durability-T3)Boots: Boots of Durability(T3) (Durability-T3)Head: Helmet of Durability(T3) (Durability-T3)Body: Heavy Armor Of Durability(T3) (Durability-T3)Ring1: Ring of Warding(T3) (Can use a charged ward skill once)Ring2: Ring of Force Deflection(T3) (Reduces impact force by a quarter)Amulet/Bracelet: Sun Amulet of Experience Blocking(T3) (Prevents all experience gain for primary level, channels excess experience into imbuing weapons with fire damage)Weapon1: Reforged Beginner’s Blade(T3) (Sharpness-T4, Durability-T3, Self-Repair-T2)Equipment1: Runic Writing Set(T3) (Write Runes T3 and Below)Equipment2: Monster Processing Set(T3) (Processes Level 150 and Below)Equipment3: Ring of Remote Awareness(T3) (Allows for remote viewing from companion ring)Equipment4: Wand of Explosion(T3) (Rechargeable, single use wand with T4 Explosion spell skill)

Winged SerpentLevel: 68/462 Experience: 25,821/148,338

Healing: 1,480/1,480 Stamina: 780/780 Mana: 2,040/2,040

Class: Tier 2, Winged Serpent (Orange)Effect: Alchemy Skill Growth (+25%), Alchemic Skill Power (+200%)

Vitality: 149 (+1)Endurance: 79 (+1)Strength: 96 (+1)Agility: 128 (+1)Perception: 82 (+1)Mind: 140 (+1)Magic: 207 (+3)Focus: 89 (+1)Free Points: 0

T1: Spark(8), Veil(5)

T2: Alchemic Vision(100), Danger Sense(100), Health Sense(46), Stamina Sense(44), Focused Dodge(34), Heat Vision(22), Shadow Vision(17), Blood Sense(12), Focused Smell(10), Focused Regeneration(8)

T3: Cure(100), Purify(100), Refresh(100), Alchemy(98), Poison Insight(82), Fire Insight (55), Cold Insight(53), Arcane Insight(50), Spatial Insight(41), Soul Insight(33), Healing Insight(22), Empowered Bite(28), Empowered Toxic Breath(28), Anatomy Insight(18), Atmospheric Insight(15), Ward(16), Harden Scales(10), Bladed Limb Insight(5), Cold Resistance(7), Quake(6), Weapon Insight(2)

T4: Soul Link(94+2), Flight(80+6), Alchemic Bounded Field(72), Greater Cure(39), Petrifying Gaze(34), Greater Refresh(34+2), Greater Purify(32), Fear Aura(9), Greater Quake(2)

I only improved by 364 skill levels since the last time I had checked. Most of that time was spent traveling and practicing the anti-divination skills I had acquired. I had a lot of skills I needed to work on. I had 104 skills that were listed and 12 that were maximized and another 59 that had been maximized and transitioned into other skills.

That was a total of 21,321 skill levels in total using the tier multiplication system, multiplying the tier of a skill by the number of levels in that skill to get a base number of skill levels. While higher tier skills were worth more, this was the standard method of evaluating skill progress popularized by the College of Advancement.

The truly obscene thing was that I was only 21 years old and 3 months. A seasoned adventurer twice or three times my age having this many skill levels wouldn’t be out of place. What was even worse was the curse skill hindering my level gain. I could only curse Xanatos in my mind again.

I really needed to deal with Experience Siphon, but it wasn’t simple or easy. After having read about the Dark Cabal, they truly were the dark reflection of the College of Advancement. The skills and methods Xanatos had at his disposal would be immense. I had mostly given up on the idea of confronting him personally.

Improving my soul skills would take time in the dungeon. They weren’t the type of skills that did well with book learning. While I planned to look at research studies and other information the College had, I didn’t plan on getting caught up working on these skills while I was here.

I needed to focus on my weapon and rune skills. Those two skill groups were my priority at the moment, since they impacted my combat ability and versatility in combat. Eldarin Runes was getting close to being maximized after all the work I had done with them in the dungeon.

Looking at my stats, it was tempting to use my free points to increase them. In the last 3 months, I had gained 8 stat points, which was massive. That rate of stat point gain far exceeded other people and even legends. The frustrating part was that it was a long term investment strategy.

The longer I could hold off on cashing in on my free points, the better off I would be. However when I did cash in on my free points, my skills would have a period of rapid improvement.

My mindset was skewed. Almost anyone else would see 300 skill levels in 3 months and be supremely happy about such gains. I looked at my skill gain and thought to the time periods I had earned 400 skill levels over three months, or that one time period I had earned over 700.

What I could say for certain was that the pressure of the dungeon had a big impact on skill gain. Around a 50 to 100 skill level difference every 3 months. In 10 years that would be 2,000 to 4,000 skill levels worth of difference. That many skill levels represented maximizing 5 to 10 Tier 4 skills.

Now I knew why my mother pressured me to stay in the dungeon so much. Ascending and descending took a lot of time the deeper one went. At a certain point, I could no longer rush forward and had to slow down. Then I had to be careful to go deeper.

Thinking about my future, I would spend a year at the College, then go handle the Seraphim Quest curse skill by destroying that sword. Once it was destroyed, I would probably do a long solo descent. I could borrow some more from the College to get another spatial storage to store up a lot of food.

Then I would fight until my soul skills leveled up. Once they leveled up, I could begin trying to unravel the curse skills on me. Gnomish Silence would be the perfect one to start on before trying to handle Experience Siphon. While I was annoyed at the gnomes for not removing it, I would deal with it another way and use it as a way to gain experience in dealing with curse skills.

Perhaps I might even hire a curse specialist to practice on other curse skills that were applied to me. Or I might do that if I couldn’t figure out how to remove Gnomish Silence. Dealing with the sword and Seraphim Quest came first then I would deal with getting the levels and skills to break the cursed skill Xanatos had placed on me as a child.

As for resistance training, I wasn’t overly concerned about that at the moment. They had to be put to the bottom of my priority list. My mother’s legacy and the anti-divination skills were next after soul skills and removing the curse skills that were on me.

The Seraphim were clearly a restricted topic, so I should probably pay to get any updated training research for the Seraphim Etiquette skill. I had just been working off the book my father had given me, but I had no doubt that the College had some specialized training method tucked away that I could use to speed up my progress.

Consolidating four Tier 1 etiquette skills into one Tier 2 skill, Social Performance would reduce my skill count and take me further away from Meldor’s Threshold. There were a lot of other skills I was interested in. Slice was high on my list of skills to get. Getting that skill alchemically wouldn’t be cheap, but the College would probably be happy to bankroll the skill after I had paid them back so much already.

They were more hesitant to bankroll equipment, but less hesitant to bankroll skills, even skills gained through Alchemical processes. My guess was that skills couldn’t be resold like equipment could be. The hardest part was finding the right monster to extract the skill from.

Another reason to go on a long descent was to improve my financial situation and equipment. My current armor wasn’t bad, but I wanted Tier 4 equipment with self repairing properties.

I also still needed to improve my class. The red soul fruit I had found didn’t do much as far as I could tell. But if I got enough of them, I was sure my class color would improve.

While I considered learning the Explosion spell skill, it wasn’t necessary at the moment. It would be a Tier 4 spell skill, which meant it would cost a lot of Mana. Efficiency was key in the dungeon. I also had two wands, which was more than enough for emergency situations. My Mind stat, despite being the highest stat by far, was struggling with the number of skills I had in relation to Meldor’s Threshold.

Thinking about the supreme legends in the past, they probably didn’t have as strong a foundation as I did. They would have to claw and fight for every skill they had. My thoughts drifted to my mother as they often did when thinking about such things.

I would eventually go down to the 26th layer through the Undercraft dungeon entrance and find the demon that killed her. That was a very long term goal and dream, but one I held deeply in my heart. My mother had done so much for me and I hadn’t truly appreciated it when she had sacrificed so much of her time and effort.

Now that I was older with a better understanding of the world and experiencing a fraction of the challenges she had faced, I regretted how we parted. While I wasn’t willing to give up Ozy, I would have worked harder and ignored sweets and other such skills. I would have trained constantly.

Like the carriage ride I had taken with Healer Melon to Undercraft, instead of playing Pulse Strike with a so called luck master, I could have studied runes. Even now, I felt the pressure to train harder and be better to reach the heights that I desired. But in the end this was a marathon, not a sprint.

I would reduce my relaxation days, but I would still enjoy them. The past two years had been far too stressful. While I knew my mother would disapprove, that was fine. I had come to accept that I would do things my way. While her shadow still loomed over me, I was now an accomplished adventurer.

Looking over Ozy’s skills, they were quite good. He needed to focus on Flight, but beyond that there wasn’t much. The fact that Spark hadn’t increased was a good sign in my mind. I would have to watch that skill carefully and not allow him to consume any more demon cores.

I would not allow my pet to become an intelligent monster. Another thing I had realized my mother was correct about. A tool should not have intelligence. I needed confidence that Ozy would do what I told him and put my life above his. An intelligent being would rarely engage in self sacrifice.

Soul Link was getting close to being maximized. The next step after that was Soul Bond, but I wanted to look at other options. That was a skill of equals and I was a human, Ozy was a monster. I wanted to ensure that he could never betray me. Now that I had access to the restricted section of the College, I was sure that the Researcher Hawkeyes would be able to find what I needed.

For small expenses I had more than enough money and if I was low I could borrow from the College. I could only sigh at how I considered money. I understood that the majority of people dealt in coppers and silvers. But I only cared about gold and platinum, amounts that normally only legends dealt with.

My thoughts hesitated as I considered something else. I had made great progress by going to the beastkin continent. Perhaps by going to other continents I might find similar opportunities? There were two other major continents out there, but beyond existing, I hadn’t seen anything about them. Another thing I would have to explore in the restricted section of the College.

What could cause that information to be hidden away? Was there something truly interesting over there and why didn’t my mother try to reach them? Since I was going to be here for a year, it was time to get those answers and see if there were other opportunities that might be out there.

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