Chương 35: Breakthrough, Soul Resistance

"Healer Castelle, I feel slightly different, at least my soul does," I said during one of our training sessions.

"Your Soul Resistance probably broke through. That is both good and bad news. Bad, since it means your soul is at the edge of destruction. The good news is that the skill has broken through and will help stabilize things. Describe the feeling."

"Like a thin layer on the edge of my soul. It is still turbulent, but it seems more constrained, if that makes sense. Like the surface is thicker."

"Your Soul Sense is improving as well; that is good. Your soul largely mirrors your body. It is how healing potions and other skills know how to fix you up. Healing points use energy from your body and the potion itself while using your soul as a template. That is why stronger attacks are more likely to leave a scar behind, since there is Mana in them. It makes it harder for healing points to overcome and remove that external Mana."

"All resistance skills are on the surface of my soul?"

"Most. Even poison. Your body will initially fight it off, but once it has overcome your resistance, you will have to rely on other skills at that point. That is why resistances are risky to depend on. If it breaks, it can do so in unexpected ways. Some attacks might get through, all of it, but just a shorter burst; it all depends on the Mana and skill interactions."

"What comes after a resistance?"

"Immunity, a tier 4 skill, and a nightmare to level up. They consume a lot of Mana when they activate. And if you are immune, they don't do damage. So, they must be broken, but in combat, that is insanely risky. There is a story about an idiot healer. Big idiot, never copy this…" I eagerly listened to his ranting.

"This idiot, who I won't even give a name, just idiot, thought she was so smart by having lots of healing skills and then getting resistances. She would train up by healing herself while taking damage. After immunity comes absorption. Her idea was to get every resistance possible, level them up to tier 5, and be able to absorb the attacks to recharge her reserves and attack skills. Idiot!" Healer Castelle was clearly on a full rant and I didn't dare interrupt him.

"She died screaming when she ran out of Mana. Tier 4 and Tier 5 skills use a tremendous amount of Mana. So, because she was careful and clever, she had some success, but she was unprepared when a monster inflicted immense damage with a single attack. Her skills struggled, and she couldn't absorb enough of the attack quickly enough. As her mana failed her, the monster incinerated her alive, turning her into a flaming idiot."

"So, resistance skills aren't good?"

"They are like another set of armor. You don't want to depend on your armor, but if you need it, then it is useful. But you shouldn't go into fights counting on your enemy to do what you expect. That is a good way to become a flaming idiot." That made sense. Resistances were already tier 3 and a pain to level up. Higher tiers would be a nightmare, especially if leveling them efficiently was only possible in life-threatening situations.

"But my Pain Resistance leveled up quite a bit while training under Sabin."

"Did you want to feel pain?"

"No," I replied.

"There you go. You were training to resist the pain, not to level the Pain Resistance skill. That makes a big difference for resistance-type skills. You can't just stick your hand in some fire and level up Fire Resistance that way. The consensus is that since you want to put your hand in the fire, the skill doesn't level up. Mindset is important when using and leveling skills, especially higher-tier skills."

"What would Soul Absorption look like?"

"Don't let the name fool you. You would gain more reserves from soul damage, but it is absorbing the damage, so you aren't taking any. Your life is under immense threat. Since you are taking an attack, and if your skill cannot overcome spike damage, you will die. When these skills fail, more damage is allowed to pass through. It is impossible to just let a small amount of damage through, especially in combat.

So, while you are leveling resistance, you won't be able to level immunity and then absorption without something attacking you. Like getting Fire Resistance from being constantly in a fire, but that won't level up higher-tier versions of the skill. Yours is only leveling up from the sheer and constant danger you are under."

"Then would it be possible to go past Meldor's Threshold if Soul Resistance got high enough?"

"No, don't even think about it. While it might not truly be absolute, it is best to treat it as if it is a point of no return." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Sorry. It is just a skill that is leveling, that I have no control over."

"You have control. You are just a single skill away from death, despite my warnings and best efforts. I suspect that your soul might have adapted and somehow know this after all the times I have shouted at you, but we can't be sure. Natural soul defenses are a restricted field of study."

"Why is it restricted?"

"Slavery. Forcing people to take the Slave skill. The Eldarin Empire was a big proponent of slavery. When it collapsed, there were a lot of revolts and targeted attacks against slave owners. As a result, people stopped practicing it and heavily condemned it. Now it is a black mark in human history." I knew about the slavery of the past, but didn't realize it had to do with the soul.

"People relentlessly hunted Soul Mages over the centuries. It is a simple way to bypass stats, skills, and other defenses. Training up a defense is even more difficult and dangerous. Although the practice isn't banned because monsters use soul skills, and healers must address such damage, it is heavily restricted."

"They don't study this at the College of Advancement?"

"That degenerate cesspool of Alchemists, Mages, and Mathematicians? Absolutely not. I trained at the Five Star Institute of Healing, which was founded by five healers from different races millennia ago. It is older than the College of Advancement, but less prestigious since we focus on healing and no other nonsense. The skills related to souls are highly restricted and only focus on healing."

"What about combat healing?"

"Stupid! I can tell what stupid thought is going through your head after my story. I don't enjoy telling stories like that to people with limited understanding, like yourself. Are you considering combat healing to keep fighting even if injured? Idiot! Don't get hit. Block, deflect, dodge. Getting hit is essentially asking to be affected by some unusual skill a monster possesses. The higher the level, the more dodging is important."

"Even for my mother?"

"Especially your mother. Ask her if you don't believe me. While she has her fancy heavy armor that can take a beating and her skills, it is better not to get hit directly. You might live, you might not. Regardless, you won't like the outcome. Better to focus your efforts on dodging and killing, rather than trying to heal yourself in the middle of combat."

"Thank you for explaining, Healer Castelle," I said, and he let out a soft sigh.

"I don't like being harsh and yelling, but I just see so many stupid people, so many people die. They think their skills and stats are enough and go with whatever nonsense enters their heads. Don't be like those people. Even your mother didn't think things through when giving you that soul fruit. In the race to get ahead and get stronger, many people fall; most don't get back up, even when I try to put them back together," he said tiredly. I didn't ask, but I could tell he had lost people in the past.

I could only imagine being the designated healer in a team in the dungeon, and people dying one by one, while you try to save them. It would be a nightmare, and you would get all the blame if anyone died, even if they were being an idiot. That woman, the flaming idiot, she had probably been a friend of his if I had to guess. It wasn't easy being a healer. The attrition rate in the dungeon was horrendous, at all layers, not just the top layers. All it took was one mistake to die horribly.

Healer Castelle looked so broken after going on about idiots that it made me realize he wasn't just yelling at people, he was genuinely upset. He was yelling because he cared too much and didn't want to lose anyone else to things he considered foolish. It was easy to get mad at the old man when all he did was yell and reprimand people, but I knew I was being reckless with my life. I couldn't slow down. I had to go even faster. Push harder, train harder, be better, if I want to be the strongest.

The risks were high, but having time to level up Soul Resistance was not an opportunity that would come often. Unless I met a monster that did soul-related damage and survived, how would I even level such a skill? There was probably a way, but from everything I heard, my life needed to be on the line for such a skill. I couldn't just have a trainer help me train up the skill, at least not quickly or easily. My mother would never let someone get away with capturing or torturing me to improve the skill, either.

But one day it might very well save my life. While Soul Sense might not seem important, it was the gateway to other soul-type skills and their immense power. I had been thinking about how I would surpass my mother one day, and soul skills were an answer to that question. I was unaware of her skills, except that she combined magic with her sword, achieving new heights with a spellblade build, a combination of weapon skills and magic skills to counter all threats.

Though I knew Healer Castelle cared for me, I couldn't slow down. I had no choice but to go faster. There were countless more skills for me to learn. Although it might have seemed I had lots of time, I understood that every second was crucial to becoming stronger and reaching higher levels. Looking at the other people, I saw that they just struggled to level a handful of skills. Betraying everyone who invested and believed in me would be casting away this opportunity. I wouldn't do that.

Once again, I vowed in my heart to become the strongest spellblade possible, no matter what. The books were so dull that they made me want to pull my hair out to stay awake. Even when my body ached and my head hurt. I would keep going no matter what.

"Stop whatever nonsense you are thinking and focus on your Soul Sense. Stabilize Soul." Healer Castelle's hand touched my head. I felt a wave of Mana enter my soul, but didn't focus on it. I concentrate on the vibrations traveling across the surface, and they settle down once more. But they settled down less than previously. My skill was resisting Healer Castelle's skill. I could tell he knew by the frown on his face, but there was nothing that could be done. Resistance skills were passive.

Only those with more powerful immunity and absorption skills could control them more easily. Perhaps if I had a skill-control skill of some kind, it would be easier to manage, but that was a problem for the future. Healer Castelle didn't seem to be in a talking mood anymore, and I didn't want to ask him more questions at the moment.