For the next few hours, he sparred with Hushar, trying to see the intersection between his three martial disciplines. It was harder than he had expected. Even the mace and club were hard to meld together, let alone pugilism. The main reason that it was this way was because of the fact that in combining the skills, he was reaching for a greater level of mastery than simply merging the bonuses. An Advanced skill brought a whole new level of power to the table, in both its stat buffs and its skills.
He slid through martial form after martial form, searching for a way to make his ingrained footwork meld with longer weapons. Most of his martial arts skills were designed around getting in close to his opponent, whether to grapple or strike with his fists. When one brought a weapon with far more reach into the equation, everything was put off slightly. However, he was able to piece together a cohesive fighting style from the constituents with his advanced intelligence and dexterity, and eventually, it all snapped into place. He suddenly felt everything merge into one unified whole, and the world shifted.
For reaching Journeyman Rank in three different Mastery type Pathway Skills, you may choose to combine them to create a skill better than the sum of its parts.
Combine?
Y/N
With a smile, he pressed yes.
You have fused three Pathway Skills!
Martial Arts, Mace Mastery and Club Mastery have combined to form Blunt Weapon Mastery! Level has been given based on relative mastery.
Blunt Weapon Mastery: Journeyman 4
(Advanced Pathway Skill)
Unsatisfied with the mastery of a single weapon like most, you have gone above and beyond in creating a fusion of three different martial disciplines, filling in the gaps between them with pure technique. This skill will instill jealousy in all those too narrow minded to go beyond a single weapon.
Bonuses: +50 to Strength and Dexterity.
In light of this skill, you may upgrade your Martial path to one more fitting with your mastery.
Y/N
Jonathan hit yes, of course, and felt new mastery flowing through his mind.
You have upgraded your martial path!
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Flowing Hurricane-> Flowing Maelstrom
Rank has been preserved(Journeyman 6)
Not content with dominating the battlefield with your fists alone, you have branched out to other forms of blunt weapon mastery. Summon a veritable tornado of force by wielding your weapons in concert, destroying all in your way.
Jonathan clenched his fists, feeling the absence of his other weapons as he did so. While he could still use his fists to devastating effect, he now could use his other two weapons as well.The only difference was the quality of his armaments. Now that he knew how to use more weapons than just his fists, he knew that he never would have defeated the Hells by simply punching. Eventually, the lack of range would have spelled his end. However, he would have to acquire a proper club or mace before long.
“You must have achieved your goal, going by the way you’re standing,” Edgar called out from his position a few dozen feet away. “I have to say, I haven’t ever heard of someone trying to master multiple different weapons at the same time. Normally that is a recipe for stagnation.”
“It isn’t if you know what you’re doing. By the way, have you considered trying for an Advanced pathway skill?” Jonathan replied.
Edgar shrugged. “Is it really that much better than a normal one? I might be able to piece one together, what with the various skills I have gained by fighting at your side. However, it would require significant effort.”
“You already have Mana Manipulation unlocked, right? And Elemental Manipulation would not be that hard to gain with your level of Mastery, if you made a conscious effort. The only thing that might be an issue is Stamina Manipulation.
“Yes, well I don’t have tens of thousands of points of stamina to brute force my way to an insight. My Strength score is quite low compared to yours.”
“What about me? Should I try to gain an Advanced skill as well?” Hushar asked. “I have seen your prowess, and it is extraordinary.”
Jonathan smiled. “If you mind me asking, what Pathway skills do you have?”
“I have Blade Mastery at Journeyman 9, Elemental Manipulation at Journeyman 6, Mana Manipulation at Journeyman 3, and a few other skills not worth mentioning.”
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “So you’re already quite close to Energy Manipulation. You should try to push towards a Stamina core.”
“Perhaps I should.”
With Jonathan’s main objective achieved, they returned to their home base, finding the others training. Branth had quickly opened up to the Uthraki, and they seemed to be on good terms now, not that they had exactly been unfriendly before. The beastman fighter had taught them how to more effectively leverage their natural racial talents to their advantage, while the Uthraki had instructed him about elemental manipulation.
Jonathan had one more skill to go before he could progress further on his quest, and that one could be trained in the process of creating defenses for their base. He slowly circled the ruined town, etching runes into the ground, as well as a few arrays every now and again. This brought him more in line with his knowledge of runic design, while making it safer for him to use his runes for enhancing his skills in the future. While he already had a skill that allowed him to effectively supercharge his skills, he hadn’t used it recently, instead knowing that he could enhance his skills by adding enough Divinity, as well as a complementary rune to them. Doing so had granted him the Runic Augmentation Pathway Skill, which would enable him to gain another Advanced skill once he reached Journeyman Rank.