Chương 14: 1-13 Dodgy gains

Josef had just discovered the greatest use of having a pocket desert whenever he wanted to choose his next skill. It was to escape from unpleasant conversations. Like having to explain to Cana why the dungeon exploration he had pushed for almost killed the two of them. Even though she had gone on that route and killed that boss dozens of times over without ever encountering any issues. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea, except for that weird message he got just after he killed the original boss encounter.

That's why he fled into his little private space to get a breather and look at his shiny new stuff. Surely, that would calm his mind, right? First up was his level. He had received another level up notification he hadn't yet looked at, after Cana finished off the slime queen. Level 11 -> 13 8 Free attribute points. 1 Endurance and 1 Intelligence gained It was surprising that he had managed to gain any free attributes between those two kills at all. Not that he would ever scoff at extra attributes.

That left him with a lot of points to spend. Checking his attribute panel, he started figuring out what the cap on points per single status was, now that he had several level ups at once to spend. The last time he had been here, he could only use 2 points at once on Intelligence, but that was also for 4 points on a singular level up. Assigning the points, he found the maximum to be 6, which made sense going by the points per level.

He could invest one from each regular level up, as well as two from the pool he had gained at 10. Not that he planned to skew his build that badly towards one attribute. The dungeon had just shown him how much it would demand from his physical attributes whenever things went wrong. And apparently, a lot of things could go wrong at any time. He really wanted to go beyond 20 points in Intelligence for that free Dexterity, but he wasn't going to spend half his points there.

Instead, he selected a more equal spread between the essentials. 3 Endurance, 3 Intelligence and 2 Wisdom gained Health, Magic and brainpower, or something like that. Everything a young spellcaster would need. Next up was checking his new feat, so he pulled that one up. <Kingslayer> A rebel, liberator, or usurper. Whatever moved your hand to spill royal blood, you have gained the right to assume part of the domain that you have freed.

Unlocks: ☆☆ Acid Resistance (Moderate) - King Slime ☆☆ Blunt Resistance(Moderate) - Queen Slime So killing royalty allowed him to get a skill from the slain monarch? That was neat. Also morally questionable, as it encouraged him to kill people in charge wantonly just to gain more power. But mostly neat. Not that Josef expected this feat to get upgraded often. Kings didn't grow on trees after all. Well, they kind of did on family trees, but that's semantics.

Didn't that mean he could work his way down some royal family… Anyway, there were more notifications waiting for him, and time was wasting. Spell Upgrade: ☆ Mana Syphon(Inferior) -> ☆☆ Mana Drain (Moderate) You have dined on the mana of others with gusto. You can somewhat freely absorb mana that carries no intent. Where absorption was limited to the core itself, you can now take directly from the channels of others.

Heart Upgrade: ☆☆ Manaheart (Exceptional) -> ☆☆☆ Syphoning Manaheart (Moderate) Mana is a type of energy naturally occurring on Aurum, unaspected fuel for all magic. Your Manaheart has become adept at taking in foreign mana and converting it for usage. Beware the growing hunger. Josef had gotten a lot better at taking mana. He already knew that. After all, he had already staked his life on that very ability. And he would be lying if he said he didn't like that spell and where it was going.

The upgrade to his Manaheart that developed in tandem wasn't small either, though even more concerning than the last one. Was he going to grow into some kind of mana vampire? He would have to watch himself, just in case he was going to develop some unhealthy cravings. ☆☆ Humanoid (Advanced) -> ☆☆ Humanoid (Pinnacle) Your body is a temple made of flesh, mana and blood. Extreme tempering has increased your pain resistance minorly. So all he had to do to push the limits of his body was to take a bath in a vat of acid.

At least he got some pain resistance out of it. Though he wasn't even sure if he felt the difference in the middle of combat, with all that adrenaline rushing through him. ☆☆ Regeneration (Inferior) -> (Advanced) It only takes encouragement and a touch of magic, and the body will take care of itself. Channel your mana with the intent to improve the body's own regeneration. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Improves the rate at which the body handles natural ailments.

The rate of blood and tissue regeneration was amplified. This one also went side by side with an upgraded part of his body. It was direct and exactly what Josef would have wanted from the spell. Just regenerate better and more quickly. He wondered what would change about the spell once he hit 3 star ranking though. Not that he wanted to figure that one out with his own body. That fight had put him under more than enough stress.

Spell Upgrade: ☆ Minor Heal (Pinnacle) -> ☆☆ Heal (Moderate) Sometimes all it takes is a single touch and a bit of goodwill. Channel mana with even greater power, to heal all that ails the body. You have developed an increase in efficacy, in exchange for decreased efficiency. Well, he had pushed his healing to the next level while being melted alive, and now the upgraded spell reflected exactly what he did in that circumstance. More power and speed on the healing, but also more mana used.

On paper, that was still pretty good for going into dungeons, where a life threatening injury could happen at any moment. For healing the sick in an illegal clinic, like he was planning to do soon? Not quite optimal, though at least it would be good for emergency patients. ✩✩ Summon Familiar(Inferior) -> (Moderate) Nothing except the grade itself had changed for this one. It felt more like a formality for having filled the new slot with a familiar. It also appeared to be the last of his spells with an upgrade.

☆☆ Discerning Eyes (Exceptional) -> (Pinnacle) It only takes one look to understand what you see. A much more basic version of the true eyes of a dragon. None the less a foundational skill. You continue to spy not only on those above your level, but those above your station. Your gaze has turned more subtle and piercing. And the system was back to calling him out as if he were a peeping tom. It happened in the middle of combat, for fuck's sake! Still, overall he didn't mind the direction of subtlety it took.

Being able to look into the status of others without getting caught, even at a power differential, was an enticing possibility. Maybe the system had a point. Looking at the spells and abilities that had upgraded so far, he wondered if he needed to do something special to push them into the next tier. Something that defined the direction these upgrades took. Discerning Eyes was a great skill to test that theory on. He would just have to find the right target and circumstance.

☆ Fluid Movement (Moderate) -> (Exceptional) The grace of water fills your every move. Increases your Dexterity by 14% of your Intelligence score, rounded up, and marginally amplifies the casting speed of water spells. Improves movement in water. Josef had to read it twice before he caught it. Only one thing had changed in his last selected skill, without any added flavor text, but it was a damned good one. Turns out he didn't need to go above 20 Intelligence for his extra Dexterity point.

He had already passed the threshold. Maybe next time he would check for an upgrade of this skill before he invested his status points. The next notification caught him somewhat unaware. It was his first upgrade to an affinity. ✩ Space(Inferior) -> (Exceptional) The infinite expanse. Rare affinity that allows manipulating the fabric of space itself. Unlocked by travelling through the realm between. His space affinity had increased.

And all it took was creating a whole new spell in the middle of a fight, while squeezing the last drops of mana from his body. He still wasn't sure what exactly even increases an affinity. Maybe the exposure to the element in question? Or perhaps by pushing his spellwork? It did, after all, end up at the same rank and grade as the new Blink spell. Space wasn't the only affinity to improve, though.??? Unknown(?) ->???? Unknown(???) The key to saving dragonkind.

There is c urrently no data available on using this energy. Josef would have expected that upgrades to his special affinity would make it clearer what it was about. Clearly, he was wrong. At least he was making progress with it, even though he didn't understand what he had achieved. After that brief foray into the unintelligible and strange, no more messages were waiting for him. That meant it was finally time for the juiciest part of this entire process. The skill selection.

Walking up to her, he felt like greeting the stone-cold dragoness.

"Hey there, Lapis. Hope you're still hanging in there. Kinda had a nasty surprise in a dungeon today. Got eaten by a slime, which hurt like hell. Dusty also died, kinda. But I see you have already met the new member of our little menagerie." His gaze fell on Nibbles, who was nestled between two of her talons, down in the sand.

"I still have no idea how to break you out of there, but I'm progressing just fine in everything else. Hopefully, I'll figure something out soon. You'll let me know if you think of something, right?" Somehow, it felt like the atmosphere became just a little lighter. Maybe Josef was being stupid, but to him it felt right. What if she could actually perceive her surroundings in this state? That sounded like the cruelest torture. At least he could make things a little more bearable for her.

Having reached the outstretched paw of the dragoness, he faced his new selection of skills. ☆☆ Guiding Light (Moderate) Become a light upon others. While healing others, but not yourself, increase the efficiency of all healing spells by 14% ☆☆ Tidal Adaptation(Advanced) The currents aid in your every move. Increases your Endurance by 26% as long as you are submerged in a liquid. Also works in your own magically created water. ☆☆☆ Mentor's Feedback (Moderate) Teaching is learning.

As your summons utilize the affinity you bestowed on them, they will not only increase their own understanding but yours in turn. That selection was just unfair. Two percentage based improvements and a skill that made him grow faster. How was he ever going to choose one of them? Well, Tidal Adaptation wasn't that attractive outside of the large number it showed. Not that Josef wouldn't appreciate the extra Endurance, as he had definitely learned to appreciate the stat, but the requirement was just unwieldy.

Would it have worked while he was inside the slime? Other than that, he could imagine a world in which he could make almost permanent use of that skill. Like going to live out at sea, like a pirate. Or maybe just envelop himself in a thin layer of water all the time to make the gain permanent. But even if he could eventually spare the mana to do so, it would severely hinder him in casting any other magic. This skill could be a cornerstone of someone's build, but it wasn't for him.

That left him with a choice between Guiding Light and Mentor's Feedback. Become a better healer or make it easier to level affinities? Boost the main thing he was planning to do, or gain something passively he had no idea how to gain himself? What should he choose?