Chương 74: Tier 4 Advice

Anerac groaned as he sat at my table. Everywhere else was full now.

"Problem?" I was getting lessons in dwarven culture and language from a tutor that Healer Melon had arranged, since Anerac was too busy now. After winning that race, he had gotten several sponsorships and a new magical carriage with the latest improvements.

"I can't get a Tier 4 skill no matter how hard I try."

"Ah, that problem."

"You know something?" he asked while looking at me with hope.

"Just what my mother told me. It is an issue of imagination. What does a Tier 4 driving skill look like to you or feel like? And what is the bare minimum you can do to touch upon that skill?" Tier 4 skills were the start of unique skills. The problem Anerac was facing was a common one, especially for a pioneer of a new skill. That was why people became Squires or Apprentices to have higher tiers laid out for them.

I suspected that was what my mother would give me if I placed in the top spot at the College of Advancement, a personal journal detailing her path to a Tier 6 skill and other top-tier skills. This item was priceless since it made advancing in the higher tiers much easier. But even with help, people still struggled, and even without help, Tier 6 was the limit. My mother had confirmed that her Tier 6 skill, Dawnbreaker Destruction, was only level 40.

That was probably why she demonstrated at the end of our time together to show me the pinnacle of power, and I had asked a lot of questions during that period. I had been thinking level 80 or 90. But Tier 6 skills leveled incredibly slowly, and the bottlenecks were almost impossible to get past. How often would one be able to practice such a skill as well? My mother explained that higher-tier skills weren't always better. They were just more powerful. They also used up a lot of Mana.

Rationing Mana in the dungeon was crucial for an adventurer. It was too easy to burn through one's reserves and then be stuck in a dangerous position, struggling to survive. As for higher-tier skills, it was about imagination and manipulating Mana enough for the System to recognize the skill. The System gave such skills personal names. It also made higher tiers more difficult because skills weren't as structured, which is why my mother eventually wanted me to acquire Runes Mastery and Weapons Mastery.

Acquiring all the foundational skills for each of those abilities would be huge. That was also the reason the College of Advancement sought more structured skills. Structured skills were more respected, as they're easier to teach and learn. It was widely debated whether today's skills came from shared personal skills. The skill name chain, along with the skills, focus, and empowered abilities, only went up to Tier 3.

Resistance skills became stronger, however, they were incredibly hard to level once they hit immunity. The College of Advancement provided classes with only Fire and Poison Immunity Tier 4 skills, averaging about 1 level per month. I was aware my mother wanted me to continue improving my resistance, and I saw the advantage. It's like having backup armor for emergencies. Not always reliable, yet crucial for reducing mortal danger.

"I can't think of anything," Anerac complained and slumped onto the table across from me.

"A Tier 4 driving skill? Hmmm. Maybe Carriage Sense would be a good support skill to understand its overall performance, but that would be Tier 2. Maybe some reinforcement around the engine or the Mana compressor. To go faster, didn't you use a higher grade Mana mix?"

"Yes. That is genius. Overdrive," he said, and then his eyes went wide.

"I got the skill. Tier 4." There was a sense of awe and wonder in his voice. I forgot that high-tier skills were relatively rare unless one had a legacy like mine to draw upon. For a dwarf like Anerac, they were priceless. The fact that it was a single word as a skill name showed it had potential as a structured skill, rather than a more personal skill. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Anerac might be a fantastic driver, but he was nowhere near good enough to handle the Mana Manipulation to unlock a skill forcibly. Overdrive sounded like the kind of Tier 4 driving skill that he would want.

"Justin, thank you! Thank you," he whispered. He wasn't about to shout out that he had just gotten a Tier 4 skill. After Tier 3, most people kept their skills secret unless they directly related them to their profession.

"It was all your hard work. I just had a bit of an idea, that is all. Sometimes you need an outside perspective. So, what does this mean for you now? I know you already have sponsorships."

"Win some more races, of course, and open up a driving school. With a Tier 4 skill, I qualify as an expert, especially since no other dwarf has a Tier 4 driving skill," he explained.

"You should learn from me and be my first customer."

"Please no. My stomach and head can't handle it," Healer Melon said. There was no way he would let me do a driving lesson on my own. I considered the Driving skill. It didn't seem that useful.

"Is it really that useful in the Balde's Maw?" I asked using the dwarven term for the dungeon.

"Of course. You have just seen the passenger and cargo machines. But I have seen the battle golems and other war machines. Once dwarven technology gets past a certain point, everyone will beg for a taste," Anerac said. He wasn't the kind of person with many stats or skills, but he was passionate and very good at what he did. I wasn't trying to get more skills, but Driving was growing on me. I already had two junk skills, Sweet Tooth and Pulse Strike.

One more wouldn't be the end of the world, even though my mother would sigh and give me a look of disappointment when she heard about the skill.

"Alright! Sorry, Healer Melon," I said, and he let out a groan.

"My first customer. Don't worry, I am the best!"

"Let's plan a week from now. That way I can take a day off from my regular training." I also needed a break from the training hall and resistance training. My mother made me feel guilty every time I had some sweets or wanted a spa day, but she hadn't put a cloud of gloom over driving.

"Perfect. That's more than enough time for me to make things official and get a temporary instruction license for Driving."

"How do people normally learn?"

"They get a magical carriage and try not to crash in the training area outside the city. But with a Tier 4 skill, I can officially teach driving skills."

"It seems odd they don't let people teach before that." He smiled.

"It is about not leading dwarves down the wrong path or teaching something that will make it harder to get to a Tier 4 skill. It gives credibility. Now, if I got a Tier 5 skill, then I could take up the title of Driving Master, and my life would be complete." The title of Master was often associated with a Tier 5 skill. People would ask questions if you had that title but lacked a Tier 5 skill, even though it wasn't a strict rule.

This might be the case if someone was a long-time top performer in a smaller field with less high tier skills, such as Farming. Many possessed the Farming skill, but advancing beyond Tier 3 was tough. Farmers used the skill often, but not in high-pressure situations like Driving. Plus, those who worked hard on the skill had lower levels, resulting in less Vitality. They'd have shorter lives and less time to hone their skills. That was why Anerac had a Tier 4 skill, even though he was young.

It was the pressure placed on him. Especially the life-or-death pressure. I knew the dwarves intentionally created this pressure to find the best drivers. If there were a war or a conflict, Anerac would be Driving some giant war machine instead of a magical carriage. It was a bold move by the dwarves, but played to their strengths of finding a group of skills functional both in combat and in peace. They could transition a lot of dwarves into war machines quickly with no need to train up new skills.

The dwarves were probably stockpiling Mana cores as much as possible. I had seen the Adventurer's Guild in the city, and a lot of dwarves were going in and out. Given that the average descent lasted three months to a year, their actions indicated an attempt to get a lot of Mana cores. It was improbable that a war would actually occur. Or at least a drawn-out one. They might attack the nearby human noble, display their war machines, then sell outdated ones.

Because of their craftspeople, copying the machines and teaching the Driving skill would harm other nations and empower the dwarves. Riches would be bestowed upon them. Learning a new skill wasn't the point for me. It was about trying something innovative. Living wasn't just about skill development. Along the way, my mother lost track of that fact. While she had reached immense heights, it also meant that she lost out on quite a bit. Her mindset was incredibly rigid.

She would think learning the Driving skill a waste of time. I figured it would be enjoyable for a couple of days before the College of Advancement began accepting applications. It's not good to get lost in this all the time, but if I had to travel on the surface, I'd like to drive my own magical carriage. Even with the risk, speeding around tight corners looked fun. Perhaps in twenty years, war machines will be in the dungeon. Understanding its function was key.

Like my mother, I didn't like external equipment, but a spellblade needed a blade. There were a lot of reasons to learn the Driving skill. Ultimately, I did it because I wanted to. The justifications I came up with would only help win an argument if it came to that, or at least hold my ground.