Liam wasn’t sure if it was because of how he was feeling before stepping through the portal or if his luck had finally stopped, but the second his body fully emerged through the portal, he felt a rush of bile race up and spew out from his mouth. This surprised everyone who was in front of him, making the jump forward trying not to get anything on them.
After they had gotten out of range they swiftly turned around and looked at Liam. Before anyone said or did anything Uncle Naro quickly appeared with a bottle of water in hand. He made Liam drink it after he finally stopped. He didn’t realized he was on his knees until he tipped the bottle back to drink the liquid inside. His eyes locked on the others as he drank. As he drank the water he noticed a glimmer in Roman’s and Ariyana’s eyes and frowned as the two gleefully said in unison, “Upchuck roulette strikes again.”
Everyone else in the group stared at them. Uncle Naro and Gimmel, both looked confused as the others burst out in laughter as Liam flipped them the middle finger. He knew it would come back and bite him in the ass, but he hadn’t predicted both Ariyana and Roman to be on the same page.
As the laughter died down and the confusion from the two out of the loop people turned their focus on Liam, Uncle Naro said, “Let’s clean this up and then we can discuss how everything went. If we don’t clean this up we can get into trouble with the guards.”
After a few minutes had passed they all sat outside the building. Liam and the others explained their fights and what they gained from each boss fight. Liam, of course left out his use or even being able to use Lunar Hand. Gimmel was shocked at what he heard and looked excited each fight that was recalled. Uncle Naro had a surprised expression as well, but it was mixed with a thoughtful one as he looked like he was going over things in his fight.
“First off, I want to congratulate you all for getting through the Crab Beach Dungeon,” Uncle Naro started. “The growth you have received will help you for future fights.” He then looked at Roman and said with a smile, “Congratulations on evolving your class into Earthen Pugilist. It might focus more on Earth Magic with your close melee fighting style, but it is a good start to understanding how to utilize elemental magic into your chosen fighting style. The fact that you were able to gain that through a Mystical Trance is even better since it proves you have aptitude with magic.”
Uncle Naro then looked at Liam and said, “I was worried at first seeing your reaction upon stepping through the portal. The instant negative reaction spoke that there was a chance something extremely bad had happened…but after hearing what you accomplished it makes sense.”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked as he stared at Uncle Naro. Even though he looked fine, he still felt like he could throw up again at any moment.
“You are experiencing a phenomenon known as Magical Overuse Exposure,” Uncle Naro started. “It is something that happens when a person goes beyond their magical and physical capabilities. You creating more Hand Type Spells than what you’re capable of as well as pushing them to a point that you are able to wield them easily without any proper knowledge and practice thanks to Battle Zen; it drains and strains both your physical body and your mana pool. It won’t show up as a debuff, but instead is lingers in the body. After some rest you will be fine.”
“I’m sorry. Did you say Battle Zen? Wasn’t what he went through a Battle Trance?” Mercer asked.
Uncle Naro shook his head. “No, what he went through is a Battle Zen, not a Battle Trance.” Uncle Naro then looked at Liam and asked, “Have you received it as an ability now?”
Liam slowly nodded his head before quickly placing a hand over his mouth. The movement of his head nodding almost sent him into another vomiting fit. Everyone swiftly took a step back, just in case.
“What’s the difference?” Mercer asked.
“A Battle Trance is something that will happen when a person is close to achieving something they have been trying to understand or need to understand,” Uncle Naro stated. “A Battle Zen is something that increases a person’s abilities and skills in battle. While both puts then into an out of body-like state, a Battle Trance is a temporary mental state where a person is not fully conscious or in control of themselves. Their focus is more on what the Trance is trying to teach them. While a Battle Zen is a state of calm attentiveness that takes control of a person’s body to guide their actions allowing them to see what they are doing. It places their mind and body into a tranquil state and increases their abilities and skills while in battle.”
Mercer looked amazed at this. He then looked confused about something and asked, “Wait. You said a Battle Trance is something that will happen when a person is close to achieving something they have been trying to understand or need to understand. Are you saying you can’t get it as an ability? I thought I read somewhere that a person can get it as an ability.”
“You can get it as an ability, however, the ability called Battle Trance is something a Trancer can receive as a Class ability,” Uncle Naro stated. “It is more of a support ability that can help train a person than an ability that can be used in battle. It is used to place a person into a trance while training to help them grow. It is ill advised to use it so many times or when a person isn’t close to understanding something. It can hurt them or a person rather than help.”
“It can hurt then than help? What do you mean? If that’s the case then how would they know when to use it?” Mercer asked. “Also, how can someone receive a Battle Zen as an ability then? Is that also a Trancer ability?” Mercer brought a hand up to his chin as he corrected himself, “No, if that was the case then Liam, who isn’t a Trancer, wouldn’t have gotten it.”
Uncle Naro smiled. “A Trancer receives an ability that helps them determine when a person needs the ability used on them. As for the Battle Zen…” Uncle Naro looked at Liam and contemplated for a moment. “One needs to meet certain requirements. One of those requirements is experiencing moments of Battle Zen-like moments a few times. The other is having both your Sub-stat Will Power and Sub-stat Zen at minimum level twenty five. If you do not mind, Liam what are your levels in those two sub-stats?”
Liam stared at Uncle Naro for a few seconds. He wasn’t sure if he should say or not. However, if what he was saying was true then he had already deduced roughly what his levels in the two were and there was no point in hiding it. “After that last fight my level in the Sub-stat Zen reached level twenty five. As for my Sub-stat Willpower…its twenty seven almost twenty eight.”
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Liam noticed a slight reaction from Uncle Naro as Gimmel’s eyes widened. He wasn’t entirely sure why they had both reacted to his answer, but he had a feeling it might have to do with the time frame of his arrival from the Tutorial Area and now. Maybe it was unheard of having Sub-stats that high so quickly, but he still wasn’t sure what the norm was.
Uncle Naro nodded his head as he mumbled to himself about something. After a few seconds he said, “Alright, looks like some adjustments are going to need to be made.” He then looked at Liam and added, “I was going to have you learn more about Hand Type Spells and how to properly utilize them in fights, but since you’ve taken the first step into it already I have no choice but to skip some of the training I had planned for you. It looks like we might have found a proper path for the Crafter Battle Style that might suit you best.”
Curious, Liam asked, “Oh? What is this proper path for the Crafter Battle Style are you talking about?”
“It is something I call the Mana Hand Battle Style,” Uncle Naro replied. “As you experienced it utilizes Mana Hands in fights. We will talk more about it later. However, I must restrict you from using so more than two Hand Type Spells for now until you have better knowledge and experience wielding the ones you currently have.”
“Speaking of Hand Type Spells…I have a question,” Liam stated. Uncle Naro and everyone looked at him for a moment, waiting to hear what he had to say. “When you had us unlock more Fields and Focus Points you said I didn’t have to worry about the other Elemental Focus Points becoming an issue with my path since they won’t be leveled past ten. However, and I am surprised I didn’t think about it before, won’t those Focus Points level past ten each time I use the specific Hand Type Spell?”
Uncle Naro stared at Liam as the others realized what he was asking and looked back at Uncle Naro. Uncle Naro held Liam’s gaze for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and saying, “I will admit that I may have omitted somethings and didn’t tell you everything. Yes, those Focus Points will level as the specified Hand Type Spell levels, but I promise you it won’t affect your growth in a negative manner.”
Liam and Mercer were about to open their mouths but stopped as Uncle Naro raised a hand and continued, “As long as you only focus on those Hand Type spells there won’t be any negative effects. However, if you level any other spells in those Focus Points then there is a chance that you will see some changes.”
“What about my Lightning and Gravity Focus Points?” Liam asked. “I have leveled a few spells in those Focus Points already. Will that negatively affect me down the path you are trying to create for me?”
Uncle Naro thought about it for a long moment. He didn’t say anything as he stood there deep in thought. After a while he shook his head and said, “No. if anything those two might actually help you with certain aspects. Especially with Advanced Crafts. We will talk more about that at a later date. For now we need to send the next group in with Little Gimmel here. Liam, stay out this time so you can rest a bit. Once you are feeling a bit better I will have you work on a couple of things while we wait.”
Liam nodded in understanding as he watched the others leave. For the next few hours Liam took that time to rest up. After he felt better Uncle Naro had him create A Fire Hand, Water Hand, Air Hand, and a Plant Hand. After he finished creating those, Artem and the others had finished running the Stoney Crab Beach Dungeon again with Gimmel. After a short break Uncle Naro replaced Ariyana with Liam and had them take on the Light Blue mixed with Light Yellow colored dungeon called The Crackling Eyrie.
This dungeon was full of flightless birds with Lightning Magic. The first set of creature they had to fight were Kiwi looking birds called Sparking Kiwi that sparked every other second, making them hard to deal with without the proper equipment to prevent getting shocked. The second set of creatures were called Aquatic Rail. They were slightly bigger than the kiwi monsters that stood around knee height to Liam and shot blasts of water at them.
The final creature, the dungeon boss, was something called Thunder Blast Grebes. To Liam it looked like a mixture of a swan and a goose with the top feathers sticking up in a mohawk like fashion. Its attacks ranged from sending out small waves of water when it flapped its wings towards them instead of away. It also shot a mixture of water and lightning at them in a gun like fashion making them either have to rely on Artem’s shield or their agility and speed Sub-stats.
During his time in this dungeon, Liam focused using his meat cleaver tool weapon and switched between using his Lightning Hand, Earth Hand, Gravity Hand, and Plant Hand. Thanks to using those he was able to get his Weapon Skill- Cleaver to level ten and gained the chance to start dual wielding the tool weapon. His Plant Hand reached level four, his Earth Hand, Lightning Hand, and Gravity Hand level eight. Even his levels in Mana Control and Manipulation in those respective elements had leveled up a few times.
The loot they had gained wasn’t much and none of them were interested in them. They had chosen to sell it later. After leaving the dungeon Uncle Naro took Liam out of the group and had the others run it again with Ariyana taking his place. This time being out of the group Uncle Naro had him use his Mobile Crafter Class ability and forge a couple of hammers, meat cleavers, and pickaxes so he could get better at making them. After he was finishing making three of each of them the party had reemerged from the dungeon.
The day was slowly coming to an end and they still needed to finish the quests they had picked up. The last things they needed to do in order to complete the quests were in the final dungeon they had yet to enter. It was a Free Roam style dungeon like the Goblin Forest Green Dungeon back on Cashat Port. Thanks to it being a Free Roam dungeon they weren’t restricted on the size of their party.
In that Free Roam dungeon they hunted down and harvested Aqua Wolf pelts, feathers from Windy Roc birds, and gathered the requested herbs. While moving through the small forest like area near the beach, Liam spent some time cutting down some trees to collect the wood for the Tree Logging quest. Thanks to that he was able to raise his Lumber Jack Gathering Craft as well as his Lumberjack Proficiency skill up to level nine.
After leaving the Free Roam dungeon, Uncle Naro stood waiting for them with a massive grin. A burnt orangish red color peered through the open door filling the entire room telling them that the sun was starting to set. Even though they had picked these quests up earlier that day, they weren’t entirely sure if they were going to finish them in time. Looking at Uncle Naro’s smile they could tell he was happy that they were able to do it and that he had no doubt in them completing the quests.
“Let’s go turn these quests in and then clean up before dinner,” Uncle Naro stated. “We’ll need to go to bed early tonight since we have to head out at first light.” He then turned around and headed for the door.
Liam and the others made their way towards it. Small groups of people were coming in and out as they made their way towards. Before reaching the door a group of five people wearing cloaks over their heads walked past the group. As the last person made their way past Liam, a strange feeling washed over him, sending shivers down his spine.
Liam, confused with what was going on, stopped, and slowly turned to look at the group. To his surprise, the last person who had passed him was doing the same thing. Liam’s eyes focused on the facial features within the hood. When his eyes fully took in this person’s features, his body tensed, and he gritted his teeth. It was a Demon-kin.