Multiple chimes sounded in his mind, and Lev eagerly started reading.
[
You have selected the Bladewalker class:
+ 5 Strength
+5 Dexterity
+5 Constitution
+10 Intelligence
+10 Wisdom
+10 Perception
Class Benefits:
* Mana capacity is increased by 50% and mana regeneration by 20%
* The range of manipulation granted by the Intelligence attribute is doubled.
* Barrier formation is more efficient.
* Barriers are more resilient.
You have obtained a class skill:
Arcane Barrier Manipulation- Active:
Form a barrier out of pure mana in your base manipulation range. Any barriers formed by this skill are 75% more durable. Wielding barriers becomes more natural as the skill increases in level.
You have obtained a class skill:
Incisive Edge - Active:
Extreme lethality is the best friend of Bladewalkers. Any barriers formed with a cutting edge will have their sharpness increased by 60%. You will find barriers faster and easier to move, increasing their speed by 25%.
You have obtained a class skill:
Whirling Rim - Active:
Increase the penetrating power of your barriers by making them spin. Any barriers formed by you spin 50% faster and have their penetration power increased by 10%.
You have obtained a class skill:
Barrier Armor - Active:
Cover your body in transparent armor to protect you from your foes. This armor is considered one whole instead of individual pieces. It can be manipulated like normal barriers, but the shape cannot be altered.
You have obtained a class skill:
Opportunity - Passive:
Spotting weakness is the specialty of Bladewalkers. Perception during combat is increased by 75%. Finding weak points and predicting the trajectory of moving objects/targets is considerably easier.
You have obtained a class skill:
Swiftfoot - Passive:
Moving on barriers conjured by you is made trivial. Maintaining your balance and moving between different barriers is easier. Manipulating barriers to support your movement is 100% easier. Dexterity during combat is increased by 25%
You have obtained a class skill:
Heavy Lifting - Passive:
Supporting your weight on your own barriers requires 50% less focus. Balancing objects on barriers is easier.
You have obtained a class skill:
Needle Precision - Passive:
All barrier manipulation is 25% more effective. Increases intelligence by 10%.
]
Holy moly, what are these numbers? 75% perception increase?? Straight up 10% more intelligence… wow.
“Are you going to say something, or am I going to be in the dark forever?” Oriana’s impatient voice brought him back to reality. She was getting tired of watching Lev’s changing expressions.
“What do I start with?” Lev asked her.
“Class name.”
“Bladewalker.”
Oriana raised an eyebrow, “That's a pretty fancy name. What are the benefits like?”
“50% increased mana capacity, 20% increased mana regen, doubled range of manipulation from intelligence, stronger barriers in general, and increased efficiency.”
Oriana whistled, “You hit the jackpot, Lev. Those are some of the highest mana benefit numbers I have heard of. I think there's only a single case of an arcane mage class getting 60% increased mana capacity and 25% increased mana regen, otherwise yours is pretty much the highest.”
“I doubt that. It’s almost guaranteed that people are hiding the strongest classes,” Lev said while shaking his head.
“You are only partially correct. While the strongest classes are kept for the most privileged, knowledge about other decent classes is not tightly guarded. There are a lot of people from common beginnings who lucked out with their classes and provided information about them. Some of them rivaled the strongest classes that humanity has ever seen.”
Lev chewed on that, raising his overall trust in humanity slightly. “Alright, let’s compare the rest of the numbers…”
Sharing them with Oriana, Lev found out that while his class was pretty good, its individual skills were only great. The numbers on them were decent. What really made it stand out as exceptional, however, was the last passive skill. Needle Precision improved everything in his class except barrier formation. This type of skill was extremely rare and often only seen in the strongest specialized classes. The 10% increase in his primary attribute was also absurd, considering it was also a part of the same skill.
“What does manipulation for supporting movement mean?” Lev inquired once they went over the numbers.
Oriana thought about it for a moment, “Basically, it applies whenever you manipulate a barrier with the intention of aiding your movement. A simple example is when someone jumps from some height and calls a barrier to move below them, allowing the person to land on it. Does that make sense?”
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Lev nodded, then asked a question he kept forgetting about. “Is there a way to calculate mana regeneration? I always fell asleep before figuring it out.”
Oriana smirked, thinking of the times when Lev returned rubbing his forehead and falling asleep as soon as he hit the bed. “Generally, a mana pool fully regenerates in 12 hours. This is not a fixed rule, but the fluctuation between people is minimal. Now that your mana regen is 20% more effective, it will fully regenerate in slightly less than 11 hours.”
That was amazing. Not only did Lev have much more mana than a normal mage, but he also needed considerably less time to replenish it fully.
And for how much exploration I crave, I’m gonna need every bit of regeneration I can get my hands on.
****
Breaking the news to Sir Alec went pretty much how Lev expected it to. The artificer expressed his heartfelt congratulations before talking about the exact numbers and moving on to the testing grounds in the Attack branch. The first test they tried was a level 10 goblin simulation.
As soon as Sir Alec set the device up, a blue goblin materialized in the middle of the testing field.
Before anything, I want to see if working so hard on making the barriers spin was worth it or not.
Forming a barrier disk the size of his hand, Lev made it as sharp as his skills allowed before launching it toward the goblin’s wrist at half speed. The barrier produced a whooshing sound and covered the 10-meter distance in less than a second and penetrated flesh to till bone. Recalling it back and throwing it at the other wrist with as much speed as he could manage, the barrier slammed into it with a cracking sound before severing the wrist completely. In doing so, the disk had lost the majority of its momentum. The edges were also damaged.
Testing against a new goblin, Lev dismissed the old barrier and let it fade into ambient mana. Creating another barrier disk of the same size, he focused on making it spin as fast as possible. As the barrier was thin, colorless, and transparent, the sound the spinning barrier generated was barely audible, and it hardly looked any different from when it was stationary.
Lev tried moving it around slowly to avoid damaging himself and gradually got acclimated to moving and spinning barriers at the same time. Once he got the hang of it, he launched the barrier towards the neck of the goblin. Producing a low yet sharp whistling sound, it cut cleanly through flesh and bone. The disk had faced only a hint of resistance. The minimal damage to its edges was repaired within moments.
Lev and Sir Alec shared a glance full of childish excitement and immediately moved on to test the barriers on more monsters.
The testing continued for over 30 minutes before Lev’s mana started to run low. The conclusion that they reached left him elated. While the barriers were slightly less durable than those specialized in defense, they were simply outstanding at fulfilling their intended purpose. The stationary barrier edges were comparable to the sharpness of a high-quality mundane sword. The penetrating power produced by spinning and the associated skill was simply superior to any mundane weapon. Only class skills completely specialized in piercing or penetrating power rivaled it.
For their last test, which was definitely not born of youthful excitement, they moved away from the simulation dummy. When the goblin was at the edge of Lev’s manipulation range, he formed a small barrier. Slowly filling it with mana, he kept going till its structure started to destabilize. Holding it together while continuously overloading it, he hurled it toward the poor goblin before releasing his control over it as soon as it made contact. The barrier violently exploded, charring the dummy and launching it to the other end of the field.
“How much mana did you put into it?” Sir Alec asked once the noise died down.
“Around 10%,” Lev replied, still observing the result of the explosion.
“Not bad at all. That was almost three times stronger than a fireball launched by a newly minted fire mage.”
That pulled Lev up short. “Really?”
“Yeah, the explosion was fairly impressive for a Level 1,” Sir Alec responded casually.
****
“Make sure to only hit the center,” Lev repeated and formed a half-a-meter-wide barrier.
“The edges may still be sharp.”
Lev had returned shortly after the explosive experiment and was promptly dragged to The Park to show his skills to overly curious friends. Jack being Jack, instantly asked Lev to form his toughest barrier for him to punch. Obliging, Lev conjured a barrier and waited for Jack’s move.
Twisting his body to produce the maximum force, Jack’s punch packed enough power to snap the neck of a 0 Constitution human with a direct front hit. It made contact with the barrier with full force… and was stopped completely with a thud.
“Damn, it didn't even budge. How close was I to damaging it?” Jack asked, rubbing his knuckles to ease the pain.
“Breaking? Not even close. Cracking it would only take a little more force, however. And I stopped it from moving because I wanted to see if a full-power punch from you would break it. Letting it move would’ve absorbed less force.”
“Can I try kicking it?” Kayla piped up, looking at the barrier thoughtfully.
Lev shrugged, “If you are fine with the pain that comes after, sure.”
Hearing that, she shook her head and backed off. Amelia questioned him after a few moments of silence, “What are you going to do now?”.
He answered pretty much instantly. “Nothing much, a whole lot of training and obtaining as many attributes as possible before you guys finish your apprenticeships. After that, either the hunter’s guild or the adventurers guild. We can decide later.”
Jack, Kayla, and Amelia shared a look. They knew where Lev wanted to go very well.