Chương 98: Resistance Training

"Justin, I have had an idea, and it is an interesting possibility," Healer Melon said.

"Oh, what is it?" I asked curiously, since Healer Melon rarely proposed anything. He seemed content to let me make my own decisions.

"I know you want to continue resistance training. It is less effective through a potion regimen than through a chamber, and we are trying to get rid of all your Alchemical Toxicity and other concerning factors," he said, and I nodded. I was getting slightly concerned since this was a lot of buildup.

"Non-Alchemical potions are something that is being pioneered at the College."

"Non-Alchemical potions seem like an oxymoron. How can you have a potion that isn't Alchemical?"

"That's the real trick. They make the potion alchemically neutral by focusing on purely physical properties. There have been a lot of failures, but guess what? Most of them count as poisonous. I heard this from the other healers."

"Can you even train safely by consuming weird potions? What about the cross-interactions or residual components left behind?"

"They tested the ones I want you to use for side effects. While it is a niche field of study, the College is about to open wide-scale testing of these items for Poison Resistance training."

"And the other resistances and Poison Immunity?"

"Nothing. It is still a fresh field of study. Specifically, they are looking to create potions with no Alchemical Toxicity so people can take them in bulk. I can monitor you after you take them. The main issue are the side effects."

"Which are?"

"Nausea. Headaches. Digestive issues. Although it would make it harder to focus, most of your classes are auxiliary." The idea was intriguing. It was tough to train resistance skills.

"The College subsidizes the cost since I will need to collect medical information when you take these specialty potions. The best part, is that they don't require a chamber to train in."

"I will let you figure it out and make the arrangements. I trust you with my health," I told Healer Melon, who nodded. This place was the world's best for ages, for they were constantly exploring fresh opportunities. The idea of a Non-Alchemical potion of any kind contradicted the very concept of a potion. One could view the research as mostly a failure, as they made progress only in poisons, but this still advanced Poison Resistance training. There were probably other applications as well that I couldn't think of.

These specialty potions contained no Mana, so they required very select ingredients and careful preparation and harvesting. No, that would still be impossible. They made Mana self-destruct or neutralize other Mana to achieve perfect balance. Balanced regarding Alchemical components, not the outcome. The next day, Healer Melon brought over several potions. I drank the first one slowly and noticed my healing points rapidly going down.

"I will have to monitor you several times a day. Stick to a tenth of a bottle every hour. Once you finish the potion for the day, you can double the dose and increase it further in the morning."

"Thanks! I wouldn't have known about this if it weren't for you."

"I want to see you succeed, Justin. I can't do much, but maximizing Poison Resistance over the next year should be doable with these Non-Alchemical poisons. We will give them a rest for two days out of every week to allow your body time to recover and ensure there is no lasting damage."

"What about the rest of my resistance training?"

"Chamber training is still the best option."

"And immunity training?" Healer Melon let out a sigh at that question.

"You have asked that before, and there is no good way to train an Immunity skill, since they only advance when they fail. When they fail, you receive a large amount of burst damage. Such things are slightly unpredictable and highly dangerous."

"But there has to be a way? They have a Poison Immunity and a Fire Immunity course."

"I will look into them, but my understanding is that they use carefully calibrated capsules and consider as many factors as possible to break your immunity skill over and over in a controlled manner. And since it is controlled, the leveling is very poor. Those are also Tier 4 skills, so it makes it even worse." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"But it is possible. Couldn't you figure something out with these Non-Alchemical potions?"

"For Poison Resistance, yes. For Poison Immunity, absolutely not. It is too easy to make a mistake, and you have Alchemical Toxicity and Healing Resistance. There is no margin for safety or recovery. I am sure the training methods for immunity-type skills will improve over the years, and you will gain more healing points. But for now, the risk is too great."

"It just seems like a waste of an opportunity."

"I will double-check, but I saw the same course catalogue you did. You would spend a lot of time on tiny level gains. It would be better to focus on spell skills or other useful skills."

"Any other resistance skills out there?"

"You have all the major ones, including Arcane Resistance, Social Resistance, and Soul Resistance. You also have major elemental resistances. There really is nothing left."

"It would be nice to block a lot of damage," I replied.

"And yes, I know not to depend on them, since that is a good way to be overconfident and die."

"I am glad you understand that. Too many people see the word immunity in their skill list and lose all common sense. I will also check for other Non-Alchemical potions that can be used for resistance training. They might still be in the testing phases, which I will need to look at."

"Thank you."

"Despite what your mother may say, you work incredibly hard. If I had worked as hard as you while becoming a Healer, I might be sitting at the top of the Five Star Institute of Healing."

"Really?"

"I won't deny that the soul fruits and other stuff you have gotten have helped you, but you are working intently at improving yourself. While I might not agree with all your decisions, you aren't slacking off either," he said, and I felt a sense of happiness. It really was a struggle to work on so many skills constantly. I was lucky that the information from the skills imprinted into my soul, so I could recall it much more easily compared to information that wasn't skill-based.

That was why creating new things and certain business practices were more challenging, as there were no direct skills to support certain activities. If the System weren't helping me out, all the knowledge would have flowed right out of my head. There was an entire research institute here at the College devoted to researching questions like this. How much did skills help with memory retention? There were countless questions that the research institute here at the College investigated.

"I am glad to hear that. It hasn't been easy, that is for sure."

"So, any idea what you plan for your next semester as your main courses?"

"Next semester, I will focus on Elven skills. Then next year, Demonic, High Vostner, and Low Voster skills. At least after Elven, there are no etiquette skills. Then, focusing on the various script skills to build the foundation for rune skills, the following two years. After that, I will focus on spell skills."

"Not going to focus on runes here at the College?"

"No. Not that I don't want to, but I plan to go into the dungeon after graduating for several years."

"It would be tough to track you once you are in the dungeon, especially if you entered at an unexpected location," Healer Melon said, and I nodded.

"I can study runes during my downtime in the dungeon. The spatial pouch my mother left me is far too useful. I can stock up on training methods and textbooks before leaving. Mana Manipulation should be more than high enough for work on spell skills by that point."

"You are only focusing on the skill once a week, and for a tier 3 skill, that is nowhere near enough training to maximize it. You will need Mana Manipulation maximized to get the most out of spell skills. It is listed as a prerequisite for a reason."

"I will put more focus on that skill in my auxiliary classes," I replied, and he nodded. While he wasn't my advisor like Melody was, he had a lot of practical insight, and I trusted him. Melody would be happy if I kept up my high-level gain, but didn't care that much about the process itself. Healer Melon focused on me as an individual to ensure my success.

"The real challenge will be when that egg hatches. Raising a monster is no simple task."

"Just feed it my Mana every morning and evening, and it should be fine."

"And you will have to be careful when you watch it. If the creature attacks anyone, they will put it down. I will help, but it is still a monster and may behave unpredictably. You need to be ready to spend a lot of time with it," he replied, and I nodded.

"That is fine. I don't mind."

"As long as you are aware."

"Anything else I need to be worried about?"

"I have arranged for higher-quality monster meat, usually fed to monsters, to be set aside for your monster once it is born. It will also be difficult to raise since a Winged Serpent specializes in Alchemy and related skills, and you don't."

"I just need to train it up. Also, I am hoping you can help teach it healing." He gave me a look like I was one of those crazy political people in Genoa.

"You want me to teach a monster how to heal?"" Healing and Alchemy for support should be possible for the monster to learn. If it is smart enough to perform Alchemy, it should be smart enough to handle healing skills."

"That's because it is born with an innate knowledge of Alchemy and alchemy-related skills. Monsters differ completely from people in that regard, and there is a risk it could turn to Dark Healing."

"It would use Alchemy for combat."

"I will consider it. I need to write to my superiors at the Five Star Institute of Healing and get permission before attempting such a thing. No known monster in the dungeon uses healing. You only see Dark Healing below the 20 th layer, and even then, a monster with such skills rarely appears."

"I really want it to act as a support and be able to protect itself. Not to break any taboos."

"That is what all people say before things get messy. Like I said, I will ask for permission."

"Thank you," I said with a smile.