Chương 59: Chapter 58 - First Skill Merger

A rippling snarl echoed through the forest as Eli cursed under his breath and ducked around a trunk for the fifth time. His [Dismantling] gains had slowed down and Mira thought a new type of beast would help him get the last level he needed, but Eli was beginning to regret his choice of prey as spray of splinters blew past his vision as a pitch blank panther the size of a small pony shredded the trunk behind him and flew past crashing through the brush.

Eli flicked out his new poleaxe cutting a strip of flesh from the cat's shoulder with the axe blade as it blurred past. Mira's right, with my strength score a simple spear was a waste, having options is the way to go. Eli ducked around the trunk, getting into partial cover as the cat dug its claws into the soft earth of the forest and pivoted, launching itself back towards Eli, bouncing in a weaving pattern as it streaked towards him.

The weave was predictable enough for him to catch the pattern but the speed of its strike didn't give him enough time to set the spear for a solid charge break, and he only scored another glancing blow.

Eli ducked around the trunk at the last moment and dodged another blow of its razor sharp claws, examining the half a dozen bloody streaks of the creatures as it flew past again, It must have a huge health pool since they are still healing quick, I need to strike a heavy blow to exhaust its pool and set it up for a kill shot. A feminine voice echoed in his mind as Tia called out, I'm coming brother-Eli, ten seconds!

Eli grinned, he had been skeptical when Mira insisted he take her with him on his hunts, but the clever little creature took his warnings seriously and had been an unexpected boon. All right, I'll lead it around, catch it on the next turn. Eli dashed out into the open, a position that had no cover nearby, but also had a gap in the canopy above it.

His heart beat pounded in his veins as the drums raced a staccato line in his chest, and as he roared a challenge at the creature the sound deepened even so slightly in an echo of the drum beat. The panther narrowed its eyes and snarled a challenge in return before launching at Eli once again. He ducked aside, target incoming, tucking and rolling into the brush before spinning and popping up to race towards the cat as it dug another set of furrows in the clearing as it spun for another charge.

Splash out, An emerald and cobalt missile rocketed down through the canopy, and with an iridescent flash Tia swept open her wings, releasing her payload and banking out of her dive to spiral back up into the canopy. The stone she had been carrying continued on its original trajectory and a ten pound rock just a tad larger than a baseball crashed into the skull of the creature at close to terminal velocity with a sharp crack that echoed throughout the forest.

On target, Eli rushed towards the dazed animal bleeding from its brainpan. Tia, switch to the holding pattern. He was honestly shocked that its brains weren't scattered across the floor of the clearing as he spun, swinging the heavy hammer of his poleaxe in a wide arc as he brought the weapon around in another crash against its skull, dropping the creature to the ground. It must be magic bullshit, has to be a higher level than I thought, I really need an appraisal skill. Fuck, no notification must not be dead yet.

A series of three blows with the axeblade separated the head from the creature, finally producing the notification he was looking for. Ding [Congratulations! [Companion Bond] has reached Lv 7] Ding [Congratulations! Your party has defeated a Midnight Panther (Dark, Lv 25)] Footsteps and flapping from behind signalled the approach of Sasha and Tia as Eli whistled." No wonder the bastard was so tough, it was at the peak of the second tier, just hadn't evolved yet."

Sasha clapped him on the shoulder not carrying Tia, " Good work!" She stroked the wyvern along her spine, " Good work, the both of you, that was a serious foe for a pair of beginning hunters. Once Tia gets a little bigger you two will be unstoppable!" Eli smirked as Tia cackled in the back of his head and crowed about the impending bird genocide and Sasha crouched and began her lesson."

You chewed up the fur a bit, but since the only blow you struck after its health pool was emptied was on the brain pan, we should be able to salvage most of it. We have to be careful when we drain the blood, so you want to tie it here first…." Ding [Congratulations! [Dismantling] has reached Lv 10] Sasha giggled down below on the driver's bench as Astrid sighed yet again." NO, no."" Circle twice, pull under then turn across the wrist. If you tie it like that he'll break his thumb the next time he swings a sword."

Eli furrowed his brow as he unwound the bandage from Cooper's hand for the fifth time, and started again with a deep breath." Ok, I swear I'm listening to you Astrid, from the top again, please?" Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Much to Sasha's delight Cooper looked more like a mummy than a man as he sat in for a training dummy as Eli attempted to pick up the [First Aid] skill. As usual the congenial man was bearing through with a stoic if slightly bemused expression. Astrid was a little more frustrated at her student, but Eli would be the first to admit that his medical skills went about as far as slap a bandage on it and call a medic.

At Mira's insistence though Astra was quizzing him on medical trivia throughout the lesson and was slightly impressed by his knowledge. Mira had speculated that since he came from a world without the System it would be unable to quantify his knowledge, and if he demonstrated his education it would speed up his skill acquisition.

Elias claimed to have a passion for reading, but the Gang was starting to get skeptical that he was a soldier at all in his previous country and if not an actual scholar, then he was definitely the nerdiest guy in the garrison. As he rattled off a description of the bones in the hand and wrists, begging off on the actual names claiming to not know them in common, and describing the structure of the tendons and muscles that drove the fingers Sasha butted in." Why do you know all this?

It seems an odd thing for a warrior to know." Eli shrugged, " It all helps, I bet part of the reason Coop is so good in the field is from all the butchering he does, if you know how the muscles and tendons work you know where to cut to disable an enemy, although an arrow to the eye does make it a little pointless." Sasha laughed with a smug expression as Eli rolled his eyes and continued."

Actually the workings of the body was a huge field of research in my homeland, and it took a surprising amount of specialist knowledge to rise among the ranks of the strongest people. For example, did you know that the tiniest little pieces of your muscles are made of a thing called amino acids, and while they are in a different order in the different types of meat you eat, your body breaks them down and rearranges them to rebuild your own muscles?

It even breaks down different types at different rates, and if you mix them right it will release the correct nutrients after a workout to ensure the maximum effect…" Ding Eli grunted with a deadpan expression," Really?" The squad looked confused, even the taciturn Mr Smith looked up from polishing his hammer on the bench next to Sasha.

Eli rolled his eyes, " Working with Astrid all morning to learn useful battle medicine got me nowhere, but one minute of rattling off bro science and all of a sudden I got the skill." Cooper jostled his elbow, " Well congratulations Lad! I don't know what 'bro science' is but come by when you get it all figured out, I would like to hear more about the nutrients in meats, if it can help the men with training it is something I want to learn."

Eli smiled, " Sure thing, I'll need to swing by and chat with Mira first, but the worst comes to worst, we can always catch up before dinner tonight." He clapped Astrid on the shoulder, " And thanks for putting up with me, you're a good teacher, I'm just absolutely terrible at this." She waved him off as he sat down to focus. Ding [Congratulations! You have unlocked the general skill [First Aid]] Ding [Would you like to discard a previous skill and learn [First Aid]?] Elias flexed the mental muscle that Mira coached him on for this situation, as he focused on how well the skill would help him in combination with others out in the wild. Nothing happened for a few moments, before a slight sense of pressure giving way in his mind, triggering at the image of the skills as parts that when assembled correctly could make a greater whole meshed together in his mind into a cohesive concept. Ding [Skill synergy detected. Would you like to merge [First Aid], [Observant: Lv 10], [Tracking: Lv 10], [Stealth: Lv 10], [Dismantling: Lv 10]?] Elias sent his consent to the System. Ding [Skill merging….] Ding [Skill merge complete. Congratulations! You have unlocked the general skill [Ranger's Resiliency]] Ding [Congratulations! You have learned the general skill [Ranger's Resiliency] Lv 1] Ding [Ranger's Resiliency: Lv 1 - The wilderness is a dangerous place, but is full of opportunities for the prepared. You have shown determination and resiliency when thrust into the wild, and through grit and hard work you learned what you need to survive. These skills will carry you far in the future and lay the groundwork to take you from surviving to thriving no matter your environment. This skill passively heightens your senses, improves your harvesting skill by drawing your attention to which materials may provide the most value, and passively increases your rate of HP consumption to accelerate your healing. When in use this skill heightens your sense of sight and smell while drawing your attention to any context clues that may be present to assist in analyzing your environment, minimizing your profile to avoid actions that can draw attention to your presence, or assist in applying critical aid to yourself or others at a moderate stamina cost. Increased awareness, contextual inference, dexterity bonus, guidance, perception and reduced stamina cost per level. This skill was merged from [First Aid], [Observant], [Tracking], [Stealth], [Dismantling]] Eli gave a low whistle and his brows shot to his hairline as he read the skill description, and he was only more appreciative as he flexed the skill for a moment. The System would give a small amount of intuitive knowledge when you use one, and he was able to tell that not only did the merged skill keep all the components, but they would work just a little better with every level just like before.

Sure, I'll never be able to evolve the stealth component into one of those neat optical camouflage skills Mira talked about, but I don't really need it anyways. I'm sneaky enough already, and anyone who can spot me I would have to take in a straight up fight anyways. And now I can learn 3 more skills? I can see why she said merging is the way to go. Eli shook his head.

Mira is still being a little evasive about what class she wants me to work towards, but supposedly if I can build an impressive enough general skill list it should unlock some really good choices. Eli pulled up his full status to check out the changes for the last few days.

Name: Elias Mercer Age: 23 Race: Voidborn Human Class: [Child of Void] Lv 10 ============ Health: 200/200 Stamina: 210/210 Mana: 250/250 ============ Vitality: 20 Strength: 21 Endurance: 21 Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Willpower: 26 Charisma: 10 Free points: 45 ============ Class 1: [Child of the Void] Class 2: Locked Class 3: Locked ============ Class Skills: [Child of the Void] Locked ============ General Skills Eagle's Eye: Lv 10 Studious Pupil: Lv 6 Basic Weapon Proficiency - Polearms: Lv 10 Basic Weapon Proficiency - Small Blades: Lv 10 Stalwart: Lv 5 Companion Bond- Tiamat Mercer: Lv 7 Ranger's Resiliency: Lv 1 Free Skill Slots: 3 / 10 According to Mira this should be a good base, I need to check in to see what's next.