I looked at the flashing notifications and was able to confirm what Aphrodite had just said.
* * *
Congratulations. You have advanced to level 61.
You have 5 skills ready for upgrade.
You have unlocked 1 skill.
At that moment, I didn’t even care about whatever else might still be happening beneath our walls. Our mana field had kept us safe from four titanic golems packed with enemies. I was sure it would hold against any further small skirmishes that could potentially take place.
I pulled up the newly unlocked skill and marveled at its beauty.
* * *
Name: A Grade Mastery
Level: 1
Type: Passive
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 0
Power: 0
Range: Self
Precondition: None.
Description: The utilization of A-Grade weapons, armor, and accessories are now permitted by the Dark Energy without any penalties attached to their use.
* * *
At fucking last, I was able to use A-grade weapons. The armor and accessories would be good too, but it was the weapon that I'd need in order to exact my vengeance against my father. Which made me realize…
"Hephaestus, does this mean you can craft the weapon now?" I asked in the guild chat.
"There’s nothing I'd like to do more right now," he said.
"Okay. Ares, make sure we're not in any further danger, and then let's all meet at the guild core."
"The rest of us should come to you?" Aphrodite said.
"Yes, and fast if you want time to check your skills," I replied, ignoring the hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I reckon our people will soon be upon us, demanding a feast."
Following my own advice, I pulled up the first of the five skills I had available for upgrade.
* * *
Name: Maelstrom of Steel
Level: 24
Type: Active
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 61
Power: 1774
Range: Melee
Precondition: Only usable with spears, lances, and polearms.
Description: A swinging attack that can strike multiple enemies at once. Mana envelops the spear in the wielder’s hands, making it spin extremely fast around its axis. The combination of magical spinning and the 360-degree rotation by the wielder delivers a devastating attack on up to five enemies, ignoring shield defense bonuses.
* * *
Getting an upgraded version of this skill now didn’t matter as much to me as it used to, specifically because I’d mostly used it for XPing. And like Ares said, I wasn’t planning on going XPing again for quite some time now. We’d just hit the goal of getting to level sixty-one and unlocking A-grade equipment. I didn’t see any point to XPing again for the foreseeable future.
Still, it wasn't like it would be useless in our fight against Cronus, or more specifically in reaching him in the first place, so it was good to see it grow in power. The next skill was something I was happier to see upgraded.
* * *
Name: Spear of the Thunder God
Level: 24
Type: Active
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 88
Power: 1349
Range: Melee
Precondition: Only usable with spears, lances, and polearms.
Description: The magnificence of the thunder god materializes as a shining orb of electricity around the weapon’s blade. Upon contact with an enemy the electric field envelops them before crushing their bodies with terrible force and frying their insides. Affected creatures may become stunned for 7 seconds and the attack ignores shield defense bonuses.
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* * *
With only a four-MP increase in what was needed to trigger it, the skill had increased more than fifty points in power. Considering its power played a role both in the damage output and in the chance of its stunning effect landing, I couldn't have been happier to see such a big gain.
The rest of the skills that were ready for upgrade were all passive, but over the years of my training and fighting, I had come to appreciate those most of all. While everything else might fail if I ran out of MP, passive skills were a constant that made planning and strategizing in battles possible.
The first of the three I had available was one I didn’t really take advantage of, since I used heavy armor instead.
* * *
Name: Light Armor Mastery
Level: 37
Type: Passive
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 0
Power: 0
Range: Self
Precondition: Only active when wearing light armor.
Description: Continuous use of light armor will increase its efficiency both in terms of defensive abilities as well as flexibility and agility. Physical Defense is increased by 56.6 and Evasion is increased by 6 while wearing light armor.
* * *
It wasn't much of an upgrade, but at least I knew that since I would be transitioning to A-grade equipment soon, I still had the option to switch to light armor if I chose to. I wasn't planning to do that, of course, but if the materials we had or the enchantments available to us were significantly better with light armor, I might consider it. Either way, it was good to have the option.
The next one was something I was more comfortable with, and the one I'd like to stick with if possible.
* * *
Name: Heavy Armor Mastery
Level: 37
Type: Passive
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 0
Power: 0
Range: Self
Precondition: Only active when wearing heavy armor.
Description: Continuous use of heavy armor has increased its efficiency in terms of defensive abilities. Physical Defense is increased by 55 while wearing heavy armor.
* * *
A nice, round bonus to my base defense was something I’d never thought possible. Neither had I ever thought I'd upgrade any kind of mastery skills at such a high level but here we were. As a matter of fact, I would never have grown this strong if I wasn't put in this dire situation.
If my father hadn’t tried to murder me, I'd still be wasting my life away through daily drinking and whoring. Really, I'd probably still do these things even if he’d tried to murder me, had it not been for him devouring my brothers and sister. That was something I simply could not let go of.
I guessed that there was something profoundly motivating in the fire of vengeance and slowly brewing kettle of spite. I wanted him dead, and I'd push through anything to see it happen. We were closer to it now than ever.
Trying to avoid these thoughts utterly possessing me and throwing me down a spiral of not thinking clearly, I pushed them aside and pulled up the last upgrade of my new level.
* * *
Name: Lance, Spear, and Polearm Mastery
Level: 32
Type: Passive
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 0
Power: 0
Range: Self
Precondition: Only active when wielding a lance, spear, or any type of polearm weapon.
Description: Fighting with weapons that have larger reach than the typical longsword comes easily, enabling attacks with a bigger range as well as sweeping strikes. Physical Attack is increased by 82.7 when using a polearm weapon.
* * *
This was definitely the most important upgrade, aside from the A-grade mastery. It was vital that my attacks were able to penetrate his defenses, even in his awakened form. And the spear was the weapon I was best trained with. Whatever magical crafting Hephaestus would do, he had to do it within the confines of a spear.
Ares was the first to join me at the guild core, his clothes and face completely covered in blood. I wasn't sure how he was able to get himself in such a mess since we we’d all been protected by the mana field, save for the moments that Artemis and I had left it to kill the general.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he said, and sat next to me. "I had to get a little taste of the battle myself. I'm not used to staying behind the walls."
"So you jumped into the fray as they retreated?" I asked.
"There were still a lot of stubborn ones trying to bring our walls down with battering rams or throwing explosives."
"There’s no way they’d be able to cause any damage to the walls with such crude tactics."
"I know!" Ares exclaimed. "That's what I told them."
"So how did you end up all covered in blood?"
"I didn't tell them with my words," he said with a smirk, touching the pommels of his swords that were now resting in their scabbards. "I used these."
"You just can't help yourself, can you?" I asked, and he simply shrugged. "Aphrodite can clean you up with that little spell of hers, I guess."
"I know what my sister can do, but I'd rather stay like this until I can clean myself properly. This is a natural part of war. I don't want to just wash it away."
I knew he was very weird when it came to anything related to battles and war, so I didn't disagree with him out loud. If he was fine with blood and gore drying all over his armor, who was I to tell him off? He was the god of war after all.
"Alright. Did you check your skills already? Get anything good?"
"I got a few upgrades to my passives, a couple of upgrades on active offensive skills, and one that I think you and Artemis will surely appreciate."
"What will I appreciate?" Artemis asked.
We turned to see the rest of our group approaching us.
"It's just unbelievable that we had a flawless victory!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "The only deaths we suffered were on the ships that flanked Cronus's troops, but our priests were able to bring them back while they were retreating."
"This will be a battle remembered for all of eternity," Ares said with pride.
"Don't you want to go wash yourself?" Aphrodite asked her brother, wrinkling her nose at the sight of him.
"Do I disgust you, sister? Does the sight of war disgust you?"
"I'm not easily disgusted. But that doesn't change the fact that you are disgusting. We have followers and refugees that look up to us."
"What better image to portray as the god of war than one drenched in the blood our enemies?" Ares said, standing up and opening his arms with pride.
"One that didn't need to even lift a finger in order to win a battle?" Aphrodite suggested. "We need our people to think it was them that ultimately won this battle. With the help of our city's defenses, of course, but that is also part of who they are now. It's not the time to stroke your own ego, brother."
"I don’t blame you for seeing things differently, but I’m only retreating now because I’ve got blood in my boots and I hate the wet feeling between my toes," Ares said with a wide grin.
"Before you leave," I said, reaching out to stop him, "you said you had a skill upgrade we would appreciate."
"Indeed I did," he said, and sent us the skill prompt. "Take a look for yourselves."
* * *
Name: War and Torture
Level: 2
Type: Active
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 73
Power: -
Range: 700 inches
Precondition: Only usable with dual swords.
Description: The frequencies of the swords’ blades grinding against each other accelerates the mana channels responsible for the perception of the user and their party members. Affected creatures can see the weaknesses in their enemies’ defenses and use that information to their advantage. Increases Physical Critical Damage by 38% for 5 minutes.