[Alkelios' point of view]
Flying up in the sky, I laid my gaze upon the battlefield stretching between Pustia town and Elden'bar city. The once beautiful fields of ripe cereals had been scorched and turned to ash. The dragons on our side struggled to keep to the flames contained while countless others put them out. The animals that once lurked around underground or above it have been turned to charcoal alongside a woods up north.
This wasn't my doing or that of any dragon on our side. It was the act of the enemy. Their cheers for victory reached all the way up into the sky and across the plains to our side.
364000 dragons and dragonesses had been gathered to oppose our 26000. The difference in might was as clear as day. We were overwhelmed by sheer numbers and never before have I felt such an impeding doom... except maybe for that day when I accidentally stumbled upon the Queen while she was changing. The door was unlocked, and it wasn't like I came to meet her specifically. I was there because I wanted to bring his Majesty some of the jam I made seeing how he asked for a taste. That day, I ended up running a full-length marathon around Drakaria while being chased down by a certain dragoness' royal pain in the behind husband.
Letting out a sigh, I aimed my hand at the opposing force and thought about shooting a nuke at them, however...
“The bastards are standing too close to the city and if I shoot it, this land will be irradiated... The main trade road between Embryger and Albeyater also cuts straight through the middle of the battlefield.” I said and then lowered my arm.
That was my biggest problem so far. I couldn't attack with my most powerful weapon because then I would end up not only poisoning the land but also heavily damaging the economy of the Kingdom. They could easily recover from a war like this one, but if the land become uninhabitable even for a decade or two, it could lead to a heavy blow for our side. If this was uninhabited or unused land, it would have been something else, but both to my left and right were fields of cereals.
This area was part of what the dragons called the granary of Albeyater. Because they burned the crops here, the merchants were certain to raise the price of the cereals attained through import. However, they were bound to have a plentiful crop next year. That was, of course, if I didn't drop a nuke on it.
“If the battle was closer to the border of Embryger, I may have used this attack...” I said.
Still, even that was the case, I still wouldn't have used this skill unless his Majesty, King Feryumstark Seyendraugher, agreed with this sort of strategy. As it was, however, we were forced to use less destructive means.
On our side, most of our troops were looking with worry at the enemy, seeing how in the upcoming battle, every soldier from our side had to defeat fourteen from the enemy's. It was a ridiculous number seeing how these weren't the Kingdom's elites. However, what we could say we had as an advantage was the fact that we had more Breakthrough-ers than the enemy.
According to the scouts, we were facing six. Our side had ten, including the King, me, and Kataryna. Brekkar had yet to reach Breakthrough status again, Seryanna was far from it, and Kleo was at the same level as Iolaus. All of them were strong, true, but I had no idea if they were capable of surviving against a Breakthrough-er or not.
Overall, our stats looked liked this when I was within 100 meters of them:
[Name]: Seryanna Draketerus
[Species]: Superior Draconian of the High Flame
[Awakened Status]: 4 of 4 Conditions met.
[Level]: 861
[Strength]: 6845+1821.1
[Speed]: 5138+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 4810+1915.4
[Magic]: 7804+2768.8
[Luck]: 60
[Magic Excellence]: 76.4%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Flame Whisperer]
[Name]: Brekkar Draketerus
[Species]: Draconian
[Awakened Status]: 2 of 2 Conditions met.
[Level]: 961
[Strength]: 8640+1821.1
[Speed]: 4310+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 5670+1915.4
[Magic]: 3840+2768.8
[Luck]: 24
[Magic Excellence]: 64%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Name]: Thraherkleyoseya Draketerus
[Species]: Superior Draconian of Darkness
[Awakened Status]: 3 of 3 Conditions met.
[Level]: 541
[Strength]: 2470+1821.1
[Speed]: 3240+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 4120+1915.4
[Magic]: 10000+2768.8
[Luck]: 34
[Magic Excellence]: 56%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Dark Mistress]
[Name]: Kataryna Greorg
[Species]: Superior Draconian of the Ice Spark
[Awakened Status]: 6 out of 6 conditions met
[Level]: 1336
[Strength]: 7229+1821.1
[Speed]: 8775+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 7860+1915.4
[Magic]: 5450+2768.8
[Luck]: 41
[Magic Excellence]: 31%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Wisdom of the Old One]
[Name]: Iolaus von Striggnyark
[Species]: Superior Draconian of Light
[Awakened Status]: 4 of 4 Conditions met.
[Level]: 681
[Strength]: 3670+1821.1
[Speed]: 3110+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 4170+1915.4
[Magic]: 4720+2768.8
[Luck]: 44
[Magic Excellence]: 36%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Light Master]
[Name]: Elliessara Seyendraugher
[Species]: Superior Draconian of the High Light
[Awakened Status]: 6 of 6 Conditions met.
[Level]: 1207
[Strength]: 2245 (6556)+1821.1
[Speed]: 1040 (7868)+1918.2
[Dexterity]: 3810 (9378)+1915.4
[Magic]: 7940 (12980)+2768.8
[Luck]: 55
[Magic Excellence]: 43%+13.69%
[Current Buffs]: [Dragon Tamer] <10X Life Force and Magic Energy Absorption from kills/Learning Speed. 10% of hero's overall stats gained while they are within 100 m of him.>
[Wisdom of the Old One]
[Debuffs]: [God's Demise Poison]
And then there was me...
[Name]: Alkelios Yatagai Draketerus
[Species]: Half-Human Half-Draconian (Superior Draconian of the High Flame, High Light, High Darkness, and High Authority)
[Level]: 1346
[Strength]: 7588+2053.5+2592+741+2168.7+1101+1966.8
[Speed]: 9450+1541.4+1293+972+2632.5+933+2360.4
[Dexterity]: 8760+1443+1293+1236+2358+1251+2813.4
[Magic]: 14250+2341.2+1152+3000+1635+1416+3894
[Luck]: 100
[Magic Excellence]: 45%+22.92%+19.2%+16.8%+9.3%+10.8%+12.9%
[Skills]: Show? Y/N
[Skill Points]: 16
[Stat Points]: 0
So rounded up, all of these stats were:
[Strength]: 18211
[Speed]: 19182.3
[Dexterity]: 19154.4
[Magic]: 27688.2
[Luck]: 100
[Magic Excellence]: 136.92%
And to think his Majesty, King Feryumstark, managed to defeat me despite these outrageous values. Well, it was true that I wasn't using my full strength... I didn't want to kill everyone there. The King was most likely wasn't using his full strength either. If I were to guess, then both of us stopped at values around 8000 points and then let it all to skill and experience. A department in which I was heavily lacking when compared to him.
Even so, my stats had some insane values when compared to the first time I arrived in this world, but something rather interesting happened with the [Magic Excellence] stat once it reached 100%. Its total reached 136.92%, so technically, my attacks weren't only insanely strong now, but I also got a free attack. If I for example cast a [Fireball], it was going to be free of charge on my Magic Energy pool, but the Magic Energy in the air around me would diminish a bit. In other words, I was using the Magic Energy found naturally in the environment, which was awesome!
If I cast two [Fireball] attacks one after another, the first was free of charge, while the second one was at a cost of 36.92% of the original cost, but the basic raw damage they had was about the same. The countdown would then reset, and I could once again cast an attack at no cost at all.
In other words, when I first came to Drakaria, I could have just used this nifty little trick to spare myself of some Magic Energy, but the infernal cost for the [Itsy Bitsy Boom!] was 10000 points! I could have easily ended up sucking the area dry of all of its Magic Energy and his Majesty, the King, could have seen this as a 'change of plans'. Or he could have thought that I had truly decided to betray the dragons and thus attack me to defend his Kingdom.
There was something else I noticed about this. If I did suck the area dry of Magic Energy, my own pool would not regenerate that fast or at all, which led me to believe that the amount consumed from the environment was far greater than the internal one. Well, it did restore over time, but I couldn't go for it if I was in the middle of a battle. Using it as some sort of anti-mage skill was also not possible UNLESS we were both trapped in the same room.
Thus, it could only be used in a fast moving battle... or on a battlefield like this one where I was certain not to stay in the same area for too long.
Now the funny part was that even the stats of my friends were rather absurd. They were the type which were usually gained only after decades of training, however, because of my [Dragon Tamer]'s effect, such a process was accelerated to an absurd level. According to Brekkar, it was like doing max performance training 10 times faster.
From my point of view, it was a rather broken effect, but just as Kataryna once told me, it didn't matter the amount of stats as much as how good one was at using them. As evidence of this claim was the relatively low level when compared to their stats. In this war, it was going to be crucial for them to be able to use as much of their points as possible.
But, to be fair, it wasn't only that... My second advancement had the uncanny option of adding 10 stat points wherever I desired after every time they leveled up in my presence. Seryanna being the longest with me and level up the fastest ended up having a LOT of points. To be exact, they had together over 4000 points. However, individually, there were various values, but I did my best to distribute those points in a way that would benefit their combat style the most.
These points were something akin to a reward for being my friends, but how exactly they worked in the natural way of things, I had no idea.
The abilities of a Hero were completely broken and ridiculous in some situations. My [Dragon Tamer] made no sense in several regards, or maybe... I was just too stupid to understand the complex process behind it. If I didn't know the laws it was based on, I had no idea how exactly it worked and could only observe its effects.
Speaking of which, when I upgraded [Dragon Tamer] to [Level 5], my Level was reset to 1, and I could gain more stat points and skill points as a result.
If I didn't spend ANY skill points after this level up, I would have had at this point about 1388 points, out of which 42 were from before. This meant I could gain another 138 skills and make 277 improvements. At this point, I honestly didn't bother keeping up with those numbers. They were just too ridiculous! Who would bother going through a list of 138+ skills?!
Well, going from the very start, my Hero skills were the following:
[Hero]: This is a passive skill which grants the user the ability to gain 10 Stat Points and 1 Skill point for each level up, allowing the upgrade and physical advancement of the individual without needing to actually train for it.
This one couldn't be leveled up and it offered me an insane boost when compared to the regular inhabitants of this world, that was if I knew how to use it wisely.
Then there was the:
[Dragon Tamer] [Level 5]: This is a passive, buff type skill. When a Hero develops any sort of friendly or intimate relationship with someone of a Dragon origin, this skill will allow the creation of a special bond between the two of them. The bond is indestructible by any other skill unless the Hero wills it. The Hero has his species permanentlychanged from Human to Half-Human Half-Draconian. The Variant of Draconian is chosen depending on one's personality and skills. This change makes the Hero immune to any other FORCED species or variant changes. The Hero gains respective variant's special traits as well as all Draconian species traits and retains his Human species traits. The Hero gains 30% of the Dragon's Stats, and the Dragon will gain the ability to level up 10X faster wherever the Hero might be. The Dragon will gain the equivalent of 10% of the overall buffed stats of the Hero when they are within 100 meters of them.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Advancement I]: The Hero can sense the direction in which he can find his [Selected] Dragon friend. Number of Dragons that can be sensed at the same time: 5. Current targets: Seryanna; Kataryna; Thraherkleyoseya; Brekkar; Elliessara.
[Advancement II]: All Dragons gain 10 stat points upon level up and every 10 levels gained in the presence of the Hero allows the Dragons to gain a random improvement in any of their skills. The Hero can choose where to add the stat points at any given time. If the bond is broken before applying them, they will be added automatically to the stat with the highest value. [Apply Stat Points]
[Advancement III]: The Hero may choose to share a part of his own gained XP with up to 3 selected Dragon Friends. Current selected Dragons: Seryanna; Kataryna; Kleo.
[Advancement IV]: Allows one Dragon friend to know the Hero's current location and general direction. Current Selected Dragon: Seryanna. [Send Location].
Needless to say that I used the third Advancement quite early on, but apparently it was highly dependent on my distance from them. The farther away from them I was, the less XP they received, and it was also level dependent as well. The higher the level, the lower the amount of XP.
However, just by looking at Seryanna's stats, I could tell just how hard she had been training while I was in the Seculiar Forest. Iolaus as well made an exceptional progress under Brekkar. Even Kataryna advanced several levels. Leaving aside whatever bonus XP Seryanna, Kataryna, and Kleo received from me, their efforts were visible through the numbers in their status windows.
Now this skill had cost 25 points to upgrade to level 5, and another 16 for those other two advancements. If I were to presume that I never spent a single skill point after becoming a Half-Draconian, I would have had now 1347 points.
[Kitty Eyes] [Level 5]: Changes the Hero's irises to those of a feline when this ability is used. Can see anything in a 10 km radius around the Hero. Cost: 50 Magic Energy points for initial cast and another 100 Magic Energy points per kilometer traveled with out of body perception.
[Advancement I]: The Hero's perception can pass through walls up to 1 meter thick.
[Advancement II]: The Hero can cast [X-Ray] to see through any surface with a thickness of a maximum of 10 centimeters. Cannot be used on Living Beings.
[Advancement III]: The Hero can share his sight with another selected individual. [Select Individual]
This spell was leveled up quite early on in my journey because I needed it to spot any potential prey or troublesome enemy which I wanted to avoid. This one costed a lot, it was 10 points for Level 3, 15 for Level 4, and 30 for Level 5. The first advancement was only 2 skill points, but the second one was 8 and the last one was 16. Bringing me to a total of 81 skill points. My total thus dropped to 1266.
[Identificus Processus Juridicus]: This skill allows the Hero to Appraise anything. Cost: 10 Magic Energy points.
[I R Roboticus!]: Allows the Hero to mine anything. Allows the Hero to gather any type of herb. Allows the Hero to harvest any material. Passive.
I didn't try to upgrade and improve either of these two because they were already at their maximum value. They were skills which made an Appraisal skill and a Specialized Gathering skill worthless since they worked with Godlike materials as well.
Speaking of which, I noticed that normally, my [Bartender] skill required me to have the correct types and amounts of ingredients before intuitively offering me the formula, however, [Identificus Processus Juridicus] made this thing obsolete or rather it worked as an extension of it, making my job A WHOLE LOT easier when compounding new potions I never tried before. All I had to do was identify the an ingredient with [Identificus Processus Juridicus] and then look at the [Bartender] comment.
As for this skill, I did upgrade it to [Level 4] back at Brekkar's mansion, but I added the last level and all of this skill's advancements in the Seculiar Forest, and it became something like this:
[Bartender] [Level 5]: Allows the Hero to create all existing types of potions up to Godlike Rank. Requires Alchemy Laboratory. For Godlike Potions this skill requires a Divine Alchemy Laboratory. Requires the correct Amounts and Types of ingredients before intuitively offering the formula of the potion. Requires a Storage type Item or Skill. Cost: Depends on Potion.
[Advancement I]: Once a formula for a potion was identified, the Hero an gather all the ingredients without the need of a specialized gathering skill.
[Advancement II]: Difficulty in processing the formulas for each potion reduced by 50%
[Advancement III]: All the positive effects of potions on the Hero are up to 50% more powerful. All the negative effects of potions on the Hero are 50% weaker.
[Advancement IV]: Spawn the Divine Alchemy Laboratory.
The [Level 5] was worth 25 points, while the advancements went from 2 to 4 to 8 and lastly to 16 points. Making this a 55 points upgrade, which brought my total down to 1211.
[Speedy Rooster]: Summons Gragh'jaggar, the armored giant chicken mount of level=Hero, stats Hero-100 points except Luck. Can carry up to 5 persons. Cost: 250 Magic Energy points.
[Advancement I]: Gragh'jaggar now has a comfortable 5 seat saddle with shock dampener enchant and a coffee cup holder unit for the driver.
This was the only Advancement I could add to this skill and that cup holder was totally worth the 20 points I spent for it! Total went down to 1191.
[Lightning Chicken!] [Level 2]: Summons a giant Lightning Phoenix of min level=999, max level=Hero. Cost: 237 Magic Energy points. 1 hour initial duration, afterwards it costs 100 Magic Energy points per hour.
[Advancement I]: The Lightning Phoenix can now remain summoned for as long as he or she wants, but the initial summon cost is now 2337 Magic Points.
Of course, I couldn't forget about Jophiel Thunderash. I upgraded this ability to max as well, and she was a great helper during my time in the Seculiar Forest. Although, I would have preferred if she took some other form than she did... But well, it all came down to fighting efficiency and Magic Energy consumption. With my increased pool and this upgrade to this skill, her time together with me was longer, and she could unleash her full potential.
As for the cost, it was 100 Points to Level Up and another 30 points for the Advancement. With this, the total went down to 1041
[The Spartan Hamster] [Level 5]: A passive ability which grants a defensive aura to the individual. 40% of any sort of physical damage is dampened. 40% of any sort of Magic Attack is absorbed and turned into the equivalent value of Magic Energy.
[Advancement I]: Adds an active ability which temporarily raises All Defenses to 80% at the cost of 100 Magic Energy points per minute. Chant: I am the Spartan Hamster!
After [Lightning Chicken!], this was the second skill I upgraded to max. It was cheaper, and its effects saved my tail more times than I could count, especially that beautiful advancement of it.
It cost me a total of 40 points.
Now I was left with 1001, but all all those 300+ points were well spent.
[The Effect of Tzuika] [Level 5]: Grants expert magic ability to the individual. Currently in control of: 6 elements. The amount of spells usable with this ability are 1 for each element at the same time. Available Spells: [Fireball], [Firewall], [Fireblast], [Flamethrower], [Flame Tower], [Earth Spike], [Earthquake], [Earth Arrow], [Earth Spike Tsunami], [Meteorite], [Water Ball], [Water Wall], [Water Gun], [Water Jet], [Tsunami], [Breeze], [Air Barrier],[Air Scythe], [Air Push], [Air Scythe Tornado], [Shadow Ball], [Shadow Wall], [Shadow Arrow], [Darkness Swallow], [Light Negate], [Light Ball], [Light Barrier], [Light Arrow], [Rapid Fire Light Arrows], and [Illuminate].
[Advancement I]: Increases the affinity with one selected Element. Currently: Fire.
[Advancement II]: Increases the affinity with one selected Element. Currently: Darkness.
[Advancement III]: Increases the affinity with one selected Element. Currently: Light.
[Advancement IV]: Allows the user to learn any spells of the controlled Elements. (These Spells are not listed under Available Spells)
This one was one of my most used skills and also the one which allowed me to gain the affinity towards several elements. The Fire was for attack, Darkness was for going stealth, and Light was to heal myself. But this was also because these elements represented my primary ones, so adding a bit more power to them didn't seem like such a bad idea. Because they didn't compliment each other that well, it also made it quite hard for anyone to counter me.
The total amount of points I spent on this skill was: 70 points.
Points remaining: 931
[Super Chihuahua Style] [Level 5]: Grants Master Skill with any and all bladed weapons, one-handed or two-handed. Grants the following Combat Skills: [Dash], [Ten Strikes Attack], [Side-Step], [Block], [Parry], [Dodge], [Double Jump], [One Hundred Strikes Attack], [Blade Dance Counter], [Taunt], [One Thousand Strikes Attack], [Air Jump], [Side Dash], [Afterimage], [Unlimited Strikes Attack], [Mirror Attack], [Slow Time], and [Weakness Perception].
[Advancement I]: Allows the Hero to continue training and developing his Combat Skills with bladed weapons.
[Advancement II]: Allows instinctual use of each skill. This Advancement turns [Super Chihuahua Style] into a Passive type skill with Magic Energy and Stamina consumption elements.
This was another skill I upgraded to the max as soon as I could. It's combat skills were what I was looking for, but because of my insane strength and speed, I often ended up breaking my sword, which left me frustrated and annoyed. Good thing I brought a lot of spares...
The total for this was 16+20 for the levels and 4+8 for the Advancements, meaning 48 points.
Total remaining was 883 points.
[The Shiny Artisan] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to craft any type of jewelry up to Godlike Rank. Depending on the desired item to be made, it may require a Jewelry Crafting Workshop. Requires a Forge. Requires an Anvil. Requires a Smith's Hammer. Godlike items require a Divine Jewelry Crafting Workshop. Cost: Depends on the Item.
[Advancement I]: Allows the Hero to identify any Jewel and unprocessed Metal Ore.
[Advancement II]: Polished Jewels can now be granted the ability to store Magic Energy or Spells.
[Advancement III]: Magic Energy production cost of all items is reduced.
[Advancement IV]: Spawn the Divine Jewelry Crafting Workshop.
[Pony Power!] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to enchant and imbue with magic any item up to Godlike Rank. Enchants require an undamaged item or a test object for a temporary one. The Hero must have a clear understanding of the desired enchant if it is to properly work (this does not apply to Godlike Rank Enchants). Imbue of an item can be done only during the process of making the item and require the Hero to shout out the skill's name. The strength of each Enchant depends on the amount of Magic Energy poured during the enchanting or imbue process.
[Advancement I]: Allows the creation and testing of new enchants based on the already know ones.
[Advancement II]: Allows the Hero to Enchant damaged items.
[Advancement III]: Enchants applied by the Hero may be focused on the core of the item so that outside damage does no affect them as much.
[Advancement IV]: Godlike Enchant List is now unlocked. [Godlike Enchant List]
[Rock Hard!] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to create any armor or weapon up to Godlike Rank. Smiting requires a Forge, an Anvil, and Smith's Tools. Leather Crafting requires a Tanning Rack and Leather Crafting Tools. Godlike Rank items require a Divine Forge, a Divine Anvil, and Divine Tools. Cost: Depends on the Item.
[Advancement I]: 50% less chance of breaking an item while crafting it.
[Advancement II]: Can now imbue items with Magic Energy to increase their durability.
[Advancement III]: Spawn the Divine Smith's Tools.
[Advancement IV]: Spawn the Divine Forge, the Divine Anvil, and the Divine Leather Crafting Tools.
All of these three skills were acquired at the same time, and they were absolutely crucial for my survival in Seculiar Forest, but I didn't upgrade them to the max until I was 100% sure I could spare the points and I wasn't going to need them for anything else. Their cost was also mostly the same, meaning 30 points for buying them and 2+4+8+16+32=62 to upgrade them. Each Advancement was worth 2, 4, 8, and 16 respectively.
This meant that each skill cost me 122 points to buy and upgrade to the max and all three of them in total were 366 points. It was an insane value, but thanks to them, I could now craft Godlike items, which was totally worth it!
My total points went down like this to 517 points.
[Black Hole]: Grants the Hero access to a unique magic Item Vault with a total volume of 25 km3. Upon death, the items within the Item Vault are randomly scattered across the land surface of the planet. Immune to any sort of Steal Magic. Cast Cost: 50 Magic Energy Points.
[Advancement I]: Can allow temporary and limited access to a specified selection of items to one other individual. Current Selected Individual: Seryanna Draketerus.
This one was an all round important spell, I couldn't just skip on. I spent 50 points to buy it and 10 points to upgrade it. As for its use, it was obvious. I acquired it long before I maxed out any of the previous crafting skills.
This brought my total to 457.
[Shadow Play]: Grants the Hero complete mastery over the Darkness and Light Elements. All negative effects from both elements are reduced by 30% and all the positive effects are increased by 30%. Unlocked Skills of the Darkness Element: [Summon Fiends]; [Shadow Hunter]; [Darkness Cloak]; [Dark Meteorite]; [Shadow Blades]; [Curse]; [Defile]; [Darkness Corruption]; [Shadow Spike Hell]; [Darkness Blade]; [Silence Barrier]; [Shadow Barrier]; [Darkness Shield]; [Darkness Mammoth]; [Shadow Whip]; [Soul Eater]; [Rupture]; [Negate all Light]; and [Sinister Laugh]. Unlocked Skills of the Light Element: [Purify]; [Heal]; [Area Heal]; [Restoration]; [Illuminate]; [Light Sphere]; [Light Bug]; [Summon Light Spirits]; [Calm Mind]; [Blind]; [Exorcise]; [Light Beam]; [Light Blade]; [Light Scythe]; [Tornado of Light Blades]; [Light Explosion]; [Light Burn]; [Light Barrier]; [Illusion]; [Light Shield]; [Light Giant]; and [Let there be Light!].
[Advancement I]: Allows the Hero to easily learn spells pertaining to either the Darkness Element or the Light Element.
This ridiculously broken spell was what I would call an unexpected win. It was the jackpot in the box for me which allows me to turn the specialties of my previous skill to: Fire, Light, and Darkness. As for the massive amount of spells it unlocked guaranteed my survival in the Seculiar Forest until I reached my Breakthrough and I didn't need to worry that much about anything.
To buy it costed me 100 points, while the advancement was 1 points. Yup, insane skill cost with a joke cost for an advancement. It was the only one too...
Thus, my total points reached the value of 356.
[Fatty McFat]: Grants the Hero the ability to infuse with Magic Energy any Spell before it was released.
This ability was worth only 10 points to buy, and I couldn't upgrade it any further, but it didn't feel like it needed to either. As for what it did, this thing was basically an insane buff for any of my spells.
If I infused my Dragon [Roar] with this skill, I could make it reach over an insane area. However, the most dangerous use of it was to infuse the [Itsy Bitsy Boom!] skill, which could double or even triple in power like this. Erasing a mountain all of a sudden didn't sound like an impossibility. But to be honest, I was way too afraid to use it. Its destructive power was too insane, and I wasn't a madman to do it either. The normal version, OK, but not this amped up buffed version!
With this, my total reached 346.
[Grandma Fu] [Level 6 – Practitioner]: Passive ability that grants the Hero the knowledge needed to perform a special hand to hand martial art that can be used ONLY by species with a tail. This skill can be leveled up by using it in combat or by practicing.
Because I got a half-beast form as a dragon meant that I had to learn a way to do combat like this, right? One night, while remembering some martial arts movie scenes from Earth, I got the idea of searching through the skills for something that could be used by my other form. That was how I stumbled onto [Grandma Fu]. Needless to say that I did practice it quite a lot and used it as often as I could, that was why it was now at [Level 6].
Regarding its ranks, from Level 1 to Level 5 was the Apprentice. Then followed the Practitioner until level 10, and I had the feeling that from Level 11 to 15 was going to be the Master Rank. I couldn't wait to reach that one. As for how the skill work, it was all 100% instinctual. It was like I already knew what to do and how to do it.
This one cost me 60 points, bringing my total down to 286.
[The Pope] [Level 5]: Grants the Hero the ability to Project Elemental Beams from his palms. Unlocked Elements: Water; Fire; Air; Light; and Darkness. Damage has been doubled for each element. The Hero can now use the beams to move himself through different elements. Cost: 50 Magic Energy points for the initial cast and 10 Magic Energy Points to maintain the Beams for 1 second.
[Advancement]: The Hero suffers no damage as a result of projecting the beams.
Now this skill... this one was... how should I say... a surprise? The buy price was only of 20 points, while the upgrade to [Level 5] was 1+5+10+15+20=51, and the advancement was only 4 points.
On the bright side of things, I turned into a living flashlight or a walking laser cannon. I could also use the Air elemental one to propel myself through the sky to fly and the Water one to swim faster through water. Unfortunately, it wasn't an endless cast.
This brought my total points to 211 points.
[Dictionary of Turnips]: Passive ability that grants the Hero the ability to learn new languages 10 times faster than he normally could. The Hero is now able to differentiate between languages with ease.
This was a skill I acquired one night because I began to worry about what I will do when I will meet other humans and won't be able to communicate with them properly. It didn't really solve the problem, but with a bit of hard work, I would be able to understand them and avoid any possible translation misunderstandings.
At that time I didn't consider the fact that learning another country's language was also a sign of respect from me who now held the title of a Duke in Albeyater Kingdom.
As for the cost, this one came quite cheap. It was only 10 points.
So my total was 201 points now.
[Senilicus Perveticus]: Passive ability that allows the Hero to improve his sex skill and offer more pleasure to his partner. This skill is not gender or sapient species restricted.
This... Well... I do believe that as a man I had every right to look through that long-ass skill list for over two hours until I found it. Luck and perseverance were the key to acquiring it. As for the cost of it... 50 skill points.
My total dropped down to 151 skill points now.
[Constipated Grandpa]: Passive ability that grants the Hero the blade dance dual sword mastery. By shouting: “HYOH!” and taking a combat stance, the Hero can use the following active skills: [10 meters long Cutter]; [Shadow Swords]; [Blade Tornado]; [Unlimited Shadows]; [Enraged Blade Storm]; [100 meters long Cutter]; [Steel Cutter]; [Meditate]; [Inner Warrior]; [Reflect Projectile]; [Mirror Play]; [10 meters long Impale]; [100 meters long Impale]; [Moonlight Slayer]; [Elemental Sword]; and [King Grandpa Blade Runner];
With my creation of Heaven and Hell, I had to obtain a skill which could benefit the most from this skill. Even more surprising was the fact that Chaos also benefited partially from it. If I held onto a handle of a sword, this skill was activated, and I could use some of its abilities with my two-handed blade. This was a small bug or glitch I discovered by chance. Either way, with Chaos it was incredibly powerful, but with Heaven and Hell, it was insane.
If I were to describe my fighting style, then two swords meant that I was going full out melee combat, while a two-handed sword meant that I was aiming for slower but far more devastating attacks. It also meant that I combined magic with sword fighting.
As such, this one was a good investment as well. 80 Skill Points it cost me.
My total dropped to 71 points now.
[Moonlight Eraser]: Grants the Hero the ability to spawn a pencil, a piece of paper, and an erase with the word 'Moonlight' written on it. The items disappear after an hour. Cost: 10 Magic Energy Points and 10 Point for a time extension of another hour.
This was the most absolute useless ability in my list. No, it was the most useless ability EVER! However, this was true only for combat. For someone who had lost their voice, this could be a very beneficial skill since it could allow them to write their thoughts on a piece of paper that vanished in one hour... I, however, found other uses for it. My crafting skills benefited the most from it by drawing doodles and ideas and practicing my hand. The other use was... as toilet paper.
Either way, it cost me 5 points to buy it, so... I was still debating if it was a loss or not.
And now I had 66 points left.
[Sparkling Unicorn]: Grants the Hero the ability to create an Area Attack around him in the form of a sphere that extends outwards. To activate this ability, the Hero must shout the skill's name. Cost: 160 Magic Energy Points initial cost. The spell can be increased by another five levels, each level costs 100 Magic Energy Points and increases both the range and overall damage of the attack.
[Butt Kissing Champion!]: Grants the Hero the ability to quickly increase his charm towards another individual. This skill offers a 10% Charm increase to the Hero as a passive. This skill can target specific individuals. Upon activation, the Hero's charm towards the affected target drops to a max negative. To activate this skill, the Hero must shout the skill's name. To deactivate this skill, the Hero must say: “It's a joke!” or a something similar. Cost: 50 Magic Energy Points.
These last two skills were at the peak of embarrassment. While the first one was usable in certain situation and had quite a devastating effect, the later was only usable in a party in which the members couldn't run away from you. It was the type of skill you could use only and only if everyone already pretty much hated you. If I were to use [Butt Kissing Champion!] in a formal political meeting, chances were I was going to end up running out of there with people throwing swords after me.
I actually asked Feryumstark's advice about it, and when I described it, he begged me never to use it in a political meeting. If the opposing party were to ever reach a negative value in regard to charm, it was quite possible the meeting itself wouldn't last long enough even to reach a neutral value. There were many times in history when political meeting were put off just because the King or Queen didn't like the face of the ambassador.
At the very least it gave me a passive ability as well, which was better than nothing. They both cost me 25 points, adding them up to a total of 16 points left.
[Itsy Bitsy BOOM!] [Max Level]: Creates a CONTAINABLE Thermonuclear explosion with the equivalent of 100 Megatons TNT using the fission of a Magic Energy Core boosted by the fusion of a Deuterium and Tritium gases. [WARNING! This skill will cause nuclear fallout on a 25 km area around Point 0 of the Blast.][CONTAINMENT is achieved through the usage of 3 specialized barrier domes. The first one will contain the Fireball, which can reach a maximum of 16 km in radius from the Point 0 of the Blast. The second one will contain the heat and a part of the shockwave, spanning at 20 km in radius from the Point 0 of the Blast. The third and final dome barrier spans at 25 km in radius around the Point 0 of the Blast and has the purpose of stopping any Radiation that may spread farther than this.][WARNING! DO NOT use INDOORS!!! Like seriously! It's a pain to stick continents back together, so do this God-like a favor and don't pop this thing inside a cave or a dungeon!][Cost: 10000 Magic Energy Points]
Of course, I couldn't upgrade this skill at all. It was one of those maxed out skills from the very start.
Looking over my entire list, I had gained quite a lot of abilities. My power was far greater now when compared to how I was when I first arrived on this planet. I also had control over four elements as a dragon: Authority, Fire, Light, and Darkness. The first one was rather weird, and I didn't get a full understanding of it yet, however, what I found out so far was that it had an effect of sorts on those around me. It made them recognize me as a force to be reckoned with and even a leader to follow.
If Draejan also had control over this Element, then this explained why he could amass such an army in such a short time. It also explained why everyone followed him.
Either way, looking over this whole battlefield, and more specifically at my group of friends, I had a feeling our side was well prepared for the upcoming battle. We were fewer than them, but we were far stronger. I alone was not someone they should take lightly, and even if by chance they tried to, I would make them regret it.