We parted ways and my eyes landed on a statue of a big man with a gigantic axe on his back, I looked at the book and surprisingly it opened and showed me it's description
[Burst]
Gives you an explosive boost in the next attack
Boosts your attack by 100% - 200% Early mastery
Boosts your attack by 200% - 350% Middle Mastery
Boosts your attack by 350% - 600% Mastered!
Cooldown: 30 seconds
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OP this is an OP skill, so without any delay, I quickly took the book in my arms when suddenly the eyes of the statue glowed and a magic circle appeared underneath my feet... when I looked around I was now on top of a steep mountain, Infront of was the statue wielding it's axe.It charged at me and when he was near me he jumped up and swung down his gigantic axe at me, I dodged to the side and after he swung it I saw the axe glow red, was that [Burst]?.
when it smashed the ground it formed a deep slash, it gave me the feeling of cleaving the mountain into half, this gave me the chills. It raised it's axe and started rushing at me, I very well know that all I can do is dodge, hit and run while infusing my blades with [fireball] causing it to burn.
forget about blocking him, a single hit from him would cut me in half. He jumped up and raised his axe, this move again? I moved to the sides but this time he didn't swing his axe, his foot glowed red and he stomped the ground.
The ground he stomped formed a deep crevice and the shockwave threw me off the mountain, I managed to Infuse [Earth wall] on both my blades and stabbed one on the cliff wall causing an earth wall to pop out from the cliff wall becoming my footing and using the other blade I infused with [Earth wall] I stabbed it on the ground forming and [Earth wall] that pushed me up reaching the peak. The statue was surprised that I got back quickly and using that chance I used [Ice Bind] freezing him all the way to his shoulders.
I took this chance to infuse my blades with [Earth hammer] increasing the weight of my blades and afterward I cast [smash], A direct hit, the [Ice bind] was broken and he supported himself with his axe.But before I could deliver the finishing blow, the statue roared, going to its berserk state. The sudden burst of aura pushed me a bit backward. It then looked at me, picked up his gigantic axe and dashed towards me.
"Crap his speed also went up!" [Lyan]
I cursed as I barely jumped back to evade his swing, he wasted no time dashed towards me again, I managed to cast [mud pit] on the ground where I was standing before jumping back again to evade his strike.
When the axe was swung down it was like hitting water, due to the force instead of making a deep hole, half his body was instantly swallowed by the mud pit.
Afterwards, I pointed my blade at the statue and used [Ice Giant's strike], A magic circle appeared beside me and what came out was a Giant's arm covered in fur.
It formed a fist and headed for the statue, the statue had no proper footing so it couldn't evade only helplessly watching as it was pushed off the mountain by the giant hand. After hearing a loud thud I was sent back to the statues and noticed the statue I fought laid on the ground broken.
I checked how much time I had used in fighting the statue and was surprised to see that I only fought the statue for 15 mins when I was sure that I fought for at least half an hour. I shook my head, no use thinking about it I better look for 2 more Skill books.
I quickly took the [Burst] skill book and held it on my chest, the book vanished and a new stream of information popped up in my mind and taught me how to use [Boost] Afterwards I started looking for the next skill book I was going to take.
The 2nd skill book that caught my interest was held by that of a ninja, I looked at its content
[Vanish]
Causes the user to become invisible and grants bonus critical strike on the next attack and grants bonus 50% bonus movement speed
60% critical strike - Early Mastery
75% critical strike - Middle Mastery
100% critical strike - Mastered!
Duration 60 seconds
Cooldown 70 seconds
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This skill would do well if used along with [boost]
After pondering about it for awhile I finally decided to take the skill.
I was once again teleported when I took the skill book but when I looked around I was now in a dark forest. The ninja in front me started dashing forward and threw a few shurikens, I dodged it by running sideways while carefully observing the ninja.
I don't know when or how but the ninja was suddenly wrapped up in clouds of black smoke before disappearing. I raised my vigilance to the max, while occasionally looking behind me to check whether the ninja will pop out or not.
*snap* I heard a twig snap on my left side so without even checking I used [Ice Bind], the ground instantly froze but the ninja managed to jump up to evade it and aimed an axe kick on my head. I jumped back, aimed my blade to where I once stood and cast another [Ice Bind]. I evaded the kick and the ninja successfully fell into my trap, his body except for the head was completely frozen. Using this chance I infused [lightning strike] on my blades and used [smash].
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It was a clean hit but.. *poof* the ninja turned into a log, wtf?! Is this the substituting technique I keep seeing in that certain anime?. My thoughts were disrupted when I felt a kick on my back, it didn't stop there after I was kicked I was then punched in the stomach.
I finally managed to regain my wits and slashed at the ninja in front of me. The ninja jumped back and in a puff of smoke vanished, this is bad if this continues I'll be treated as a punching bag by that asshole.
"He can vanish but so can his shadow?"
Is what I thought before sending fireballs on the trees turning the dark forest into a crimson red sea if flames. I managed to catch a glimpse of something dark move behind me, so I jumped forwards before infusing [lightning strike] on my blade, turning back and slashing at the spot where I once stood. Luckily enough the ninja was paralyzed and couldn't move a muscle so taking this chance I used [smash] infused with [earth hammer strike] and finally crushed the ninja.
I was teleported back inside the pyramid. I checked the time left, and had approximately 20 minutes before we were going to be transported back, I used 5 minutes to rest and learned the skill [vanish], I started roaming around looking for the last skill that catches my eyes while looking for Arachne but so far found nothing.
I only had less than ten minutes left when I arrived at the center and saw an imposing knight's statue. It was covered in a full body armor and even though his face was covered by the helmet you can notice a yellowish glow where his eyes are supposed to be. My curiosity was piqued and took a look at the skill he had to offer
[Limit Break]
Overcomes the limitation of the human body. Skill cooldowns are reduced, skill effects and damage are increased and finally grants bonus speed, and strength.
Early mastery:
Skill cooldowns are reduced by 10%
skill effects and damage are increased by 10%
bonus speed, and strength by 10%
Middle Mastery:
Skill cooldowns are reduced by 20%
skill effects and damage are increased by 20%
bonus speed, and strength by 20%
Mastered
Skill cooldowns are reduced by 30%
skill effects and damage are increased by 30%
bonus speed, and strength by 30%
Duration 10 seconds
Warning! After use, the user will experience a backlash corresponding to the level of mastery, the higher the mastery the stronger the backlash. Please only use this as a last resort.
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This skill...although it has quite a strong has a backlash... I can keep this as my last resort I have no interest in the other skills anyway so I'll take this...
The moment I touched the skill book, I was transported to what seems to be an old Roman Colosseum.
"Welcome young warrior"[???]
the knight statue talked, that's a first.
"I know, 'how can a statue talk ' is what is youre thinking correct? Before I died I left a piece of my soul in a statue of me" [Knight]
"Then... Respected old knight, may I please know your name? " [Lyan]
"My name is Raguel" [Raguel]
"This young warrior is called Lyan" [Lyan]
"Lyan... Good kid. If you want my skill then you'll have to take me down, are you prepared? " [Raguel]
"More than ever" [Lyan]
"Oh, a little heads up this Colosseum is my domain, you're not allowed to cast any skills. You cannot escape you can only strike, dodge, and charge" [Raguel]
"What?! " [Lyan]
"Ok, GO! "[Raguel]
when the words left his mouth, my body charged forwards.
"Tch guess I'll just have to bite the bullet, old man I'm taking you down! "[Lyan]
I roared as I brandished both my blades and struck Raguel
"Haha that's it, kid, give me your best shot! "[Raguel]
He blocked both my blades with his shield and hit my chest with the hilt of his sword, afterward he sent me flying with a kick
"Only this much?!, even a goblin strikes harder than you"[Raguel]
I ignored his insults and rushed back to him. He tried to hit me with his sword but I managed to dodge it, moved to his side and hit my blades on his shoulder and arm. He held his shield and tried to bash me with it but I jumped and swung down both the blades with all my strength but he parried it with shield and sent flying with another kick.
"Try again" [Raguel]
he said in a mocking voice
He's starting to get on my nerves...
I picked myself up and rushed at him again. I gathered all my strength in my right arm and swung my blade down on him, he tried to block it but upon impact, my blade flew out of my hand and his shield also came off, both of our hands were shivering in pain.
"Haha nice strike I give it an 8" [Raguel]
"Are you sure you want to distract yourself" [Lyan]
I answered while attacking him with the other blade that I held. Both of us was striking at each other, my blade against his broadsword. After a few minutes, my body was riddled with wounds, he was also in no better shape as his body was full cracks.
"Good fight kid but... You have no strength left to fight let alone dodge... " [Raguel]
it is true that I can't dodge. he raised his leg and kicked me on my chest
"this is where it... Huh? " [Raguel]
He was expecting me to be sent flying by his kick but I managed to hold onto his foot.
"Who said anything about dodging?! "[Lyan]
I pulled his leg forwards causing him to lose his balance and do a front split. He unconsciously touched his crotch and said with an amazed voice
"how did that hurt?! " [Raguel]
I held my blade with both my hand, mustering up all my strength to raise it up.
"That skill book is mine! " [Lyan]
I roared like a villain and swung down my blade breaking Raguel into pieces... From the broken pieces floated out a blue energy ball?? Well it doesn't seem to be solid so energy ball was the right word
"Haha good fight kid" [Raguel]
the voice of Raguel came from the energy ball.
"Old man you don't show mercy " [Lyan]
I supported myself with my blade
"Hahaha.. But kid seriously this skill... Only use it as a last resort... The reason I died 900 years ago was due to the backlash of this skill"[Raguel]
Raguel warned me
"Don't worry old man" [Lyan]
this was the only reply I could give.
"Haaah go on kid, my time is up" [Raguel]
Raguel gave a long sigh before vanishing. Not long after I was teleported back to the temple. I looked around and was surprised to see that I was the last one to return and everyone was wounded but was not as much as me. Seeing my appearance Arachne rushed to my side and supported me, her face full of worry and grief. I could only smile at her as she supported me back and asked for Ms. Lucia to cast Healing magic.
"I'm sorry Arachne if I could I would've healed everyone already but we are still within the magic array, and all magic will be nullified within the array" [Ms.Lucia]
Ms. Lucia shook her head helplessly. Arachne was crestfallen, she bit her lips and carefully laid me down. Aurora and Rona came over holding a lot of bandages, Chris who looked like a mummy from head to stomach was being supported by Reina who had a pained expression also slowly came over. Arachne carefully took off my top..
"Arachne, please... Our friends are watching... "[Lyan]
I say as I struggled to hide my chest like a pure maiden
"Honestly Master!! "[Arachne]
Arachne was so embarrassed her face beet red, Ms. Lucia took out a potion and spread it all over my body causing me writhe out in pain like a slug that was bathed in salt. Reina, Chris, Aurora, and Rona was struggling to hold in their laughter while the old man was already on his knees holding his stomach.
After I was patched up, Arachne supported me up and walked towards the exit. Seeing our group struggle Ricard, Butch, and Lisa kept mocking us. Old man Zephyrus was clearly displeased with their actions.
"At least all members of their group had managed to take a skill back or two and that cheeky kid actually took 3 skills back" [Zephyrus]
Everyone understood how difficult the trials were so after hearing how many skills we managed to take made them shut their mouth. Ms. Lucia stared at me..
"I got lucky"[Lyan]
I said while laughing dryly
"That's getting old"[Ms.Lucia]
It was silent the entire journey returning back to the academy from the restricted area. When we arrived at the entrance of the restricted area we saw 3 teachers along with a young girl with silvery white hair and when she turned around my body froze....