SB: Chapter 253 – Constantly Improving (Patreon)

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Level: 20 Experience: BLOCKED

Healing: 550/550 Stamina: 720/720 Mana: 840/840

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: 55 ()Endurance: 72 (+1)Strength: 49 (+1)Agility: 59 (+2)Perception: 49 (+1)Mind: 186 (+2)Magic: 84 (+3)Focus: 70 (+1)Free Points: 200

Tier 1(11)(42+): Dwarven Etiquette(100), Eldarin Etiquette(100), Elven Etiquette(100), Dancing Skills(100), Seraphim Etiquette(93+14), Stillness(74+3), Driving(52), Veil(44+2), Mask(26+1), Obscure(21+1), Deception(15)

Tier 2(82)(16+): Mana Sense(100), Danger Sense(100), System Sense(100), Soul Sense(100), Speed Reading(100), Mana Vision(100), Demonic Lore(100), Critical Thinking(99+3), Focused Deflection(99+4), Darkness Vision(93+3), Shadow Vision(82+2), Focused Dodge(86+6), Focused Combat Tactics(75+2), Monster Analysis(71+3), Temporal Sense(68+1), Depth Sense(66+2), Focused Cooking Skills(66+3), Spatial Sense(68+5), Eldarin Lore(59), Trap Detection(59+4), Focused Throw(54), Sweet Teeth(54), Dwarven Lore(54), Focused Shield Skills(53), Poison Sense(52+2), Focused Rage(50), High Vostner Lore(50), Elven Lore(44), Focused Armor(41+1), Low Vostner Lore(40), Focused Spear Skills(40), Focused Axe Skills(31), Soul Vision(20), Focused Speech(20), Focused Pugilist Skills(18), Focused Whip Skills(15+5), Focused Bow Skills(13), Focused Dagger Skills(12), Focused Wrestling Skills(10), Focused Drawing Skills(8), Focused Pulse Strike(6)

Tier 3(132)(5+): Empowered Will(100), Mana Manipulation(100), Empowered Gestures(99+3), Fear Resistance(95), Cold Resistance(92+5), Hidden Status(95+1), Eldarin Runes(94+2), Empowered Meditation(94+4), Light Orb(88+3), Skill Control(83+3), Silent Casting(82+2), Ward(82+2), Clean(76+2), Empowered Breathing(70+1), Empowered Running(67+2), Lightning Resistance(64+1), Fireball(63), Flame Blade(60), Empowered Writing(60+2), Lightning Beam(54+2), System Control(53+1), Empowered Sword Skills(51+3), Physical Resistance(47+2), Dwarven Runes(47), Elven Runes(46), Sleep(46), Status Analysis(45+1), Soul Strike(44+5), Arcane Resistance(37+3), High Vostner Runes(32), Calculus(32), Advanced Geometry(31), Cure(31), Empowered Stealth(30+1), Social Resistance(29), Demonic Runes(29), Low Vostner Runes(29), Empowered Toughness(25+2), Sonic Resistance(20), Alchemy(17), Compass Of Desire(16+1), Slice(14+4), Soul Shield(13+2), Demonic Hunter(10), Empowered Monster Processing Skills(2+2)

Tier 4(32)(1+): Experience Siphon(C), Gnomish Silence(C), Poison Immunity(52+2), Multi-Casting(45+2), Soul Immunity(37+3), Vibration Blade(28+1), Pain Immunity(22+1), Healing Immunity(20+1), Fire Immunity(18), Ritualism(7)

Tier 5(5): Dominate Soul(1+1)

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)Equipment5: Sword Case of Containment(T5) (Blocks all Mana leakage and divination from inside)

Winged SerpentLevel: 70/462 Experience: 78,232/179,488

Healing: 1,510/1,510 Stamina: 810/810 Mana: 2,130/2,130

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

Vitality: 151 (+2)Endurance: 81 (+2)Strength: 98 (+2)Agility: 130 (+2)Perception: 84 (+2)Mind: 142 (+2)Magic: 213 (+6)Focus: 91 (+2)Free Points: 0

T1: Spark(10), Veil(10)

T2: Alchemic Vision(100), Danger Sense(100), Focused Dodge(49), Health Sense(46), Stamina Sense(44), Heat Vision(22), Shadow Vision(17), Blood Sense(12), Focused Smell(10), Focused Regeneration(8)

T3: Cure(100), Purify(100), Refresh(100), Alchemy(100), 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), Ward(20), Anatomy Insight(18), Harden Scales(17), Atmospheric Insight(15), Bladed Limb Insight(5), Cold Resistance(7), Quake(6), Weapon Insight(2)

T4: Flight(88), Alchemic Bounded Field(75), Greater Refresh(41), Greater Cure(39), Petrifying Gaze(34), Greater Purify(32), Fear Aura(9), Greater Quake(2)

T5: Dominated Soul(C)

I had gained 360 skill levels over the last 3 months. That number felt a lot better than 299. I noted that Ozy’s improvement had been drastically impacted. That was the result of the Tier 5 cursed skill, Dominated Soul that was on him.

He was trying to resist and his heart wasn’t into improving. I noted that Spark was still there, but I felt a lot more comfortable with the current situation. I wasn’t about to let him become independent or a threat to me.

Seraphim Etiquette was almost maxed out. After all the work I had been putting into the skill, I was happy with the continual progress I was making in the skill. While it was only Tier 1, it still felt like one of the harder Tier 1 skills I had learned.

I had 4 sensory skills maximized at Tier 2, but there were still three that weren’t maximized. That wasn’t counting my 3 vision skills that weren’t maximized. Another long term project of mine was to get Sensory Aura, an important Tier 3 skill.

As for getting aura type skills, I had held off. They used a lot of Mana and tended to be useful in much larger and complex fights that started on the 16th layer. When I had to fight and my life was on the line, my improvement was a lot more. While I knew that, I was surprised by the massive difference in skill gain between the two states.

It was probably the soul fruits and previous pressure at the College that had been helping me. While thinking about my skills, I realized that I had gained a total of 22,880 skill levels in total. A huge number and I was only 22.5 years old. I was a massive outlier. Focused skill training only started at 6 years old. While I had only vague memories before I gained access to the System at 8, I did remember the learning I had to do at a young age.

Before I had matched up with the other top graduates at the College of Advancement. But my skill level gain had barely slowed down since then. While I wanted to keep this rate of growth or improve it, I was realistic. As long as it remained above 300 skill levels every 3 months, then I would be satisfied.

It was a shame about Ozy, that he had drastically slowed down, but there was nothing to be done. It also removed the biggest risk of his death impacting my soul, since the bond put all the risks in one direction. If I died, Ozy would take enough damage to his soul, he probably wouldn’t live very long afterwards.

The fact his stats were increasing was interesting. It showed that the mechanism that the System increased them was decoupled from one’s desire. It made sense, since there were records from the time of the Eldarin Empire detailing how slaves had gained stats, but struggled with skills.

I was hesitating to finish looking at my status, since the next thing I had to do was act by setting up the runic arrays. Letting out a small sigh, I glanced at Boris working out and could barely sense Ozy working on the tunnel. He was already getting quite deep.

Before I left the cave, I made sure to put on extra cold weather gear while still being able to move quickly. While tempting to go out during the day, there just wasn’t enough daylight during the day. The dark season was almost fully upon us.

As I left the cave, I was glad of the position I had picked. There was no need to dig myself out of any snow. The wind was absolutely brutal. It was also incredibly hard to see. Even standing next to the cave, it was incredibly difficult to know where it was.

I put down a specifically marked coin just outside the entrance. I had used enough anti-divination methods to ensure anything inside the cave couldn’t be locked onto. That might protect us but would also neutralize the Compass Of Desire. Leaving a marked coin outside, made sure my skill could lock onto that specific coin. I couldn’t sense Ozy clearly enough, so I couldn’t use him as a beacon to guide me. I knew he was alive and would obey me, but beyond that the connection was a bit too unclear.

I set off through the cold. Boris already knew what I was doing and had just given me a nod when I left. I worked as quickly as I could, but I had a lot of ground to cover. Staying 5 kilometers out from the demon meant a circumference of 31.42 kilometers. A massive distance that I could cover in a single day if conditions weren’t so bad. I also had to zig zag so all the runic plates weren’t in an exact circle.

If I fell asleep outside, I would freeze to death. The cold cut right into my body. By the end of it, I had mostly given up on stealth besides not using active Mana skills. The cold had gotten a lot worse. I couldn’t tell if that was due to my efforts or the dark season starting in full. It took just over 3 full days to set up all the runic plates and then make it back to the cave.

I had Ozy heal me, but I didn’t use Mana to heat anything up. While Flame Blade was tempting, it was also too risky. While I wasn’t too worried about the heat being detected, the Mana use definitely had a much higher chance of being detected. The runic circle I used to keep the cave warm enough would blend into the background much more easily.

It was like sound. If a weird bird made a sound it was still a bird. But my use of Mana would be like ringing a bell. It might be a soft bell, but one wouldn’t mistake it for a bird. While I could hide my Mana with my skills, I couldn’t do that while actively using a spell skill.

While it might have seemed more stressful, with the wind, darkness, and flurries of snow, at the distance I was at would make it a struggle for anyone to detect me, even my mother. That was why I had set 5 kilometers as a hard limit. Even if the demon specialized in detection skills, that was the range legends would have a chance at detecting another.

My mother also pointed out that most individuals ignored ultra long distance range sensory inputs and more specialized skills unless there was a good reason to focus on them. It just wasn’t worthwhile in the dungeon, where sensory skills were suppressed. Also, monsters tended to have more close range sensory skills. And even the ones with better sensory skills would almost never focus on long range skills, the main exception being Abnormals.

Realistically I could have probably gotten within 2 to 3 kilometers without being detected, but it just wasn’t worth the risk. Once the demon knew I was here, I would be dead and there would be nothing I could do to stop that.

Now that I was back in the cave, I wasn’t overly worried about being found out. Even buried under blankets, wedged between two heating runic circles, and warm stew, I still felt cold for an entire day. My healing points had bottomed out a few hours before I got back. I had tried to time things better, but my estimate had been off. Thankfully, there had been no serious damage, except feeling like I couldn’t get warm again.

My body just kept shivering and refused to stop for quite a while. While I had gone outside during the dark season on this continent, I hadn’t pushed myself like this to the verge of collapse and death. Doing such a thing in a place that wasn’t safe was too big a risk. I only pushed myself out in the cold, because it was either this or death.

Boris was still exercising away, content to do his own thing. Honestly, at this point I was both beyond surprised at his composure and insanely impressed. It just went to show that no matter how hard I worked, there were other people out there willing to put in the effort and dedicate themselves to hard work.

Constant physical training wasn’t as effective as skills, but as long as he wasn’t complaining or making trouble, that was the important thing. Too many people would have bothered me with questions or complaints, neither of which was useful.

“I think I can finally move my fingers again, properly,” I said quietly. Everything was sore and my healing points were in single digits, but they were no longer bottomed out. Even after getting my core body temperature back up, I was still feeling rough.

Boris glanced in my direction but didn’t say anything as he continued to do squats while holding the sword case out in front of him with both arms. That was the only downside of such a teammate, they were like a brick wall.

Reaching into my spatial pouch, I took a healing potion. It had been too cold to properly get one out before, and it was too risky to use one in such environmental conditions. The healing potion would have concealed my decline and once what little it could do ran out, my body would be completely ravaged. Fighting off environmental effects with healing potions was never a good idea. The environmental effects would just build up. If one used a potion, the potion needed to counter those specific environmental effects.

Unfortunately, such potions were incredibly rare and expensive. Very few individuals made them and even fewer used them. While adventurers made good money in the dungeon, everything was streamlined for efficiency. Environmental potions were a luxury that had to be specifically commissioned. And with how stable the overall climate on the Eldarin continent was, there was no need for such things.

There was the rare dungeon chamber that had extreme environmental effects, but they tended not to last long enough to be a concern. Also, anyone that deep should be able to handle them. No need to waste money.

I had looked into such potions at the College, but the price started at a platinum and went up from there. Also, with how little refinement had been done on such potions over the centuries, the Alchemical toxicity was quite high. I had enough Alchemical toxicity to last ten lifetimes. I wasn’t about to risk my health like that again unless absolutely necessary.

As the healing potion took effect, I let out a sigh of relief. The aches and pains deep in my body began fading away. While I could have used Ozy again, there was no rush or immediate health risk now that I had returned.

The demon definitely had Cold Absorption and the monsters he was using were ice or cold based, allowing them to survive in such a climate. It probably wasn’t very comfortable. Even the worst chamber in the dungeon, was nowhere close to as bad as it got on the surface in the dark season.

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