After confirming everything was ok, Lariel ignored everything happening around him and focused on his notifications. More specifically, on the important notifications. He ignored the level-ups of both his class and his skills.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Will of God!
Will of God: Your will is powerful enough to affect your surroundings, just like the one of a God. Someone has used this skill on you, and your high Willpower and desire to grow allowed you to answer it with your own will. Enforce your will upon others by creating a wave of force carrying your desire. The power and range of your will increase with skill level. Skill cooldown decreases with skill level. Current cooldown: 1 month.
*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Mana Barrier, you have gained +5 Int, +1 Free Stat.
*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Running, you have gained +5 End, +2 Agi.
*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Dodge, you have gained +5 Agi, +3 Dex.
*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Advanced skill-related milestone in Spear Mastery, you have gained +15 Dex, +10 Str, +5 Agi, End.
Advanced Spear Mastery: You have reached a new threshold. You have broken the barrier to Advanced rank. Your skill becomes more engraved in you. You level it faster, and you become one with the weapon, knowing by instinct how to use it to the best of your abilities. Any injuries caused by your spear cause slightly more damage. You have a slight chance of stealing health from the opponents you injure. Your spear can now break the barrier of the possible. Perform one theoretically impossible attack once every one week. Cooldown decreases with skill level.
Congratulations! For reaching level 25 in your Class 'Seeker of Power', you are now presented with two options. Be aware: Both options can be chosen without interfering with one another.
You may evolve your class using a class chooser.
You may condense your skills. Condensing your skills will diminish the number of skills you have, but will be an increase in power compared to not having them condensed. The condensed skills and the skills to be condensed will be chosen automatically.
After reading everything twice, he came to a couple of realizations.
The skill that the Warlord had used was the same he had gained, and his Unbreakable Will very likely played a big part in helping him overcome its effects. His own wave of force was his will responding to the Warlord's will.
That part was almost obvious if you read the notifications.
The next part was his opportunity to 'Perform one theoretically impossible attack once every one week' as the notification said.
What bothered him was the fact that the barrier of what was possible was not specific. What could he do with this opportunity? What if the theoretically impossible attack only applied to his limits and someone else could do it just normally. The Advanced reward came with many doubts, but also with many stats bonuses.
The third important thing was the options presented to him after achieving level 25 in his class. He immediately discarded the option to upgrade it. He would wait for level 50 so that he could gain better options to choose from.
The condensing part was welcome. He had many skills that he did not use, so he hoped this new option got him more power while maintaining his fighting style.
He glanced around and saw that his roommates were still recovering, so he went for it. He focused on that part of the notification and was prompted with another notification.
Do you wish to condense your skills?
Warning: You may lose some of your current skills.
That warning was kind of unnecessary since he already knew that, but still, knowing that he might lose some of his most important skills caused a little bit of doubt over the decision.
With a touch of Unbreakable Will helping, he confirmed his choice and was instantly rewarded with another bundle of notifications.
Condensing Initiated.
Calculating optimal condensing options...
Calculating...
Initiating Condensing Process...
Adjusting Condensed options to better fit the individual's class.
Unbreakable Will and Will of God are condensing...
Skills condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Unbreakable Will of The God of Power Level 11!
Unbreakable Will of The God of Power: You possess the power to shape others with your will. Your will is as unbreakable as the one of a God. Enforce your Willpower upon others by creating a wave of force carrying your desire. The power and range of your will increase with skill level. Skill cooldown decreases with skill level. Current cooldown: 1 week.
Basic Bow Mastery, Basic Sword Mastery, Basic Mace Mastery, Basic Axe Mastery, Basic Dagger Mastery, Intermediate Weapon Proficiency, Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency, and Basic Shield Mastery are condensing...
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Skills condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Basic General Fighting Mastery Level 18!
Basic General Fighting Mastery: You are a master of everything. You have learned how to use a variety of weapons to an acceptable degree. You are able to Master almost everything used for fighting. While fighting, your mastery of the weapon you are using is equal to the level of this skill.
Advanced Spear Mastery, Spear Crack, Spear Swipe, and Intermediate Powerful Thrust are condensing...
Skills condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Bearer of Gungir's Power Level 46!
Bearer of Gungir's Power: Once a Spear of Great Power belonged to a God. Its name was Gungir's and it was said to be able to evoke thunder upon the will of the user. Now, that power belongs to you. The art of Spearmenship is deeply engraved into your soul, and as such, any injuries caused by your spear cause slightly more damage, and your spear can now break the barrier of the possible. You have a slight chance of stealing health from the opponents you injure. Perform one theoretically impossible attack, and summon Thunder upon your target once every one week. Cooldown decreases with skill level.
Mana Bolt and Mana Arrow Level are condensing...
Skills Condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Mana Shot Level 35!
Mana Shot: Shoot a condensed projectile of Mana. Density, Power, Trajectory, and Shape depend on the shooter's will. The range of personalization options increases with skill level.
Magic Empowerment and Power Surge are Condensing...
Skills Condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Power Spike Level 15!
Power Spike: Increase the power of a skill exponentially. Allocate several stats temporarily to increase your power.
Increase in power, number of allocatable stats, and duration of skill increase with skill level. Cooldown decreases with skill level. Current power increase: 50%. Current number of allocatable stats: 10. Duration of Skill: 5 minutes. Current cooldown: 1 week.
Stamina Drain, Mana Drain, and Health Drain are condensing...
Skills Condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Power Absorption Level 24!
Power Absorption: Absorb part of the total resources of something you kill. If any of your resources are full once you kill something, you can create Liquid Power worth that amount of resources that can then be transferred to any of your resources in case of need. The number of resources absorbed increases with skill level. Current percentage of absorbed resources: 2%.
Intermediate Physical Fitness, Intermediate Dodge, Intermediate Running, and Sprint are condensing...
Skills Condensed.
*Ding* Obtained the skill: Intermediate Corporeal Expertise Level 57!
Intermediate Corporeal Expertise: You have accomplished great harmony between mind and body, and now, your body improves to become more resilient in every way, dropping the overall stamina cost of all skills by 5%. Your body can now break the barrier of what is possible. Reinforce your body to be 500% more powerful for 5 seconds every week. Skill duration limit and stamina reduction increase with skill level. Cooldown decreases with skill level.
Searching for Condensing Options...
No Options were found.
Condensing completed.
And just like that, it was over. The condensing process was not painful in any way, albeit a little bit uncomfortable to feel your body change to better fit the skills. Lariel had lost 25 skills in just under 1 minute but gained 7 new promising ones.
It was sad to see all his hard work disappear like that in one quick sweep, but the truth be told, he had also gained about half of those skills in less than 72 hours. The one that cost him the most to see disappear was Advanced Spear Mastery because he had just gotten it to advanced, but Bearer of Gungir's Power was interesting in every possible way. Apparently, he could now summon thunder and still had that impossible attack thingy, so it was an obvious improvement.
Intermediate Corporeal Expertise was also extremely interesting. Apparently, he could now reinforce his body to become 500% more powerful, whatever that meant, and also had a permanent Stamina cost reduction. Which was perfect for fights like the one he had just had.
He looked at his Status to try and gauge everything that had happened in these last minutes since the fight had begun.
Status:
Money: 34 silver, 71 coppers
Name: Lariel
Class: [Rogue (Seeker Of Power)]
Level: 27
Health: 806/1175 (Regen: 1.17/sec)
Stamina: 596/2116 (Regen: 2.38/sec)
Mana: 258/2384 (Regen: 2.42/sec)
Strength: 50
Vitality: 78
Endurance: 95
Dexterity: 58
Agility: 72
Intelligence: 90
Willpower: 67
Perception: 45
Free Stats: 24
Bonus Stats per level: +2 End, Int | +1 Will, Per, Vit | +5 Free Stats | (12 Total Stats)
Current Liquid Power: 0
Bonus skill learning/leveling speed: +13.5% +10%
Skills: (702 Total Skill Levels)
General (76):
Butcher Level 29 | Identification Level 24 | Unbreakable Will of The God of Power Level 11 | Reading Level 7 | Perfect Timing Level 4 | LifeGuard Level 1
Weapon Related (64):
Bearer of Gungir's Power Level 46
Basic General Fighting Mastery Level 18
Physical Attacks (46):
Heavy Blow Level 46
Spells (194):
Intermediate Rock Bullet Level 57 | Intermediate Mana Barrier Level 52 | Wind Blast Level 35 | Mana Shot Level 35 | Power Spike Level 15
Miscellaneous:
-Magic (166):
Intermediate Mana Manipulation Level 63 | Wind Control Level 48 | Mana Sense Level 31 | Power Absorption Level 24
Physical (139):
Intermediate Corporeal Expertise Level 57 | Sneaking Level 45 | Perception Ball Lvl 37
Resistances (17):
Basic Earth Resistance 9 | Basic Poison Resistance 8
His Status was looking a lot cleaner now with all of those skills gone. One thing that immediately found its way under Lariel's scrutiny was that he still continued with his 10% skill learning and leveling speed bonus from his 1000 skill levels milestone, despite having only 700 now. This probably just proved that when you reached the milestones, they stayed there forever. This also lead to Lariel believing that when he eventually arrived at 1000 skill levels he would receive nothing since he already had that reward.
Putting all this aside, he again glanced around to see if everyone was already up or not, and found a mouth slightly open Helen staring at him from the side.
Just... staring.
It was quite weird actually to be the target of someone's stare like that, so Lariel looked away and found The Three Generals talking to each other.
The Three Generals was a name that he decided to give to the trio of powerful individuals that lead the nine-person party. Ivan, Kan, and Ezekiel. The three were the most promising out of the nine and were sure to reach great heights.
After a couple seconds, Kan lifted his eyes from the conversation, and his gaze met with Lariel's. Kan signed to Lariel for him to go over, and Lariel did him the favor.
When he arrived, Kan was the first to talk.
"Thanks," was what he said, followed by the other two.
Lariel gave it no importance and made the question everyone was probably asking themselves now.
"So, what now?" was the question.