Chapter 39 — Those Who Survive and Carry On (Part II)

Available abilities (choose one):

Flurry of Blows (DEX)

Rage Strike (STR)

Pain Resistance (WIL)

War Shout (CHA)

Gauge Your Enemy (PER)

Toren felt heavy disappointment upon seeing his choices. He had hoped for something to build his Profession around. None of these were that.

Of the two new choices, [War Shout] was reliant on one of his worst attributes. The likely synergy with [Intimidate] might be why it was offered, and he could see the benefits of an ability that supported his allies while weakening his enemies… but unless he raised his Charisma would it even be effective?

Or, was he looking at it wrong? If using the ability gave him a way to increase his Charisma without having to spend attribute upgrade points…? Then maybe he could evolve it in a direction that was dependent on a different attribute? Turn it into an expression of his Willpower? Maybe?

Not a terrible direction, he supposed.

The other new choice, [Flurry of Blows], was likely unlocked by his desperate fight against the [Assassin]. Starting out at gold rarity, it couldn’t be as weak or simple as its name implied, but short-term it didn’t feel like it gave him anything new that he couldn’t do on his own with [Combat Awareness] and [Burning Blood].

Longer-term, mana applying additive impact to each hit and improved piercing for attacks landing on the same location had potential to provide ways to fight against tier-2 opponents and opponents with defensive Abilities. As a [Hunter], the [Mana Manipulation] unlock required to evolve the Ability in that direction would have made such thinking frivolous, but [Control Blood] might well be the bridge to finally achieving external mana manipulation.

Still… were fast attacks with his fists or whatever weapon he was using really enough for the Ability to be gold rarity? He must be missing something.

Wait.

Whatever weapon he was using?

Toren again tried to get a feel of the Ability’s specifics.

Could it actually be that simple? That the Ability wasn’t restricted to small or light weapons? If it worked the same with heavier weapons…

Between [Burning Blood]’s active strength increase, further increasing his Strength with attribute upgrade points, and the obscene weight that he would already be able to wield, that… that could be tremendously strong!

Visions of stone-crushing blows raining down like rapid-fire meteors filling his head, Toren had to fully engage his impressive Willpower to stop himself from making the selection on the spot.

He couldn’t be hasty here. The next choice wouldn’t be until level 10, and if evolving the selected level 5 Ability was the goal, he needed to at least cursorily reevaluate the passed over choices before deciding.

And so, with a calming of his thoughts, he did.

[Pain Resistance] was still a pointless waste of a slot. Evolving the Ability would be a terrible experience, too. Maybe if he could turn it into a passive that used pain to restore mana? Even then, [Burning Blood]’s passive effect already let him do something similar. Better would be to raise his proficiency with the [Pain Tolerance] Skill, and save the slot for something more useful.

As for [Gauge Your Enemy], his proficiency with [Mana Sensing] made using the bronze-rarity Ability for determining enemy strength mostly redundant. That said, knowing an enemy’s strength and gaining a feel for an enemy’s Abilities and Skills were two different things. Evolving [Gauge Your Enemy] into a hybrid intuition and information Ability had good potential to save him from being surprised and improve his long-term survivability.

If he went that direction, he’d be exchanging an immediate upgrade in fighting strength for being able to better target and respond to strengths and weaknesses. He could see synergy with [Combat Awareness] eventually providing a sort of combat foresight.

There was merit to the idea. Finesse versus power. The downside was that it would leave him more reliant on enchanted weapons to damage Tier-2 opponents.

[Rage Strike], though currently duplicated by [Burning Blood], should be evolvable into a [Berserker] equivalent of [Mana Strike] once he unlocked [Mana Manipulation], letting him damage tier-2 opponents with non-enchanted weapons by coating his attacks with mana.

If not for [Burning Blood]’s active effect, selecting [Rage Strike] before getting [Flurry of Blows] would make a lot of sense. For him, he would gain more spending that time directly evolving [Flurry of Blows].

Sellim’s advice about always improving your strengths also applied here. It was funny in a way. He had spent so much of his [Hunter] training and choices on staying safe and avoiding injury by killing his targets from a distance, and yet, here he was jumping into an Ability choice making smashing things up close his greatest strength.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Select [Flurry of Blows]?

Yes.

Synergy with [Combat Awareness] detected. Ability [Flurry of Blows] upgraded.

[Flurry of Blows] (Rank 1, Proficiency: Low)

Make a rapid series of strikes.

Active:

Perception of time dilates and momentum of held weapons is reduced as necessary to facilitate rapid strikes. Accuracy when targeting a struck location is increased.

Time dilation!

This was way better than an Ability that would simply make him strike faster!

The increasing penetration and blow strength weren’t available at the current rank and proficiency, but even so, the reason for the Ability being gold rarity was obvious now.

Toren was ecstatic. This was an Ability he could build a Profession around! Dilated perception, speed, power, and accuracy. Even if he didn’t evolve it into a generalized combat state, the future Abilities it should unlock…!

No, he shouldn’t let his gaze look too far to the future when his focus needed to be on the now.

His choices made, it was time to learn how the others and his stead were fairing. Toren tried to get up and clothe himself. The sudden movement brought on a brief dizziness but it quickly passed.

Checking under the bandages, the skin was pale but healed, so he swapped those for short clothes and a simple outfit from his pack before pushing aside the cloth covering the way and joining Emina who was resting at the table in the common room, nursing a cup of tea.

“Things are well?” Toren asked as he sat on a stool opposite.

“Well enough with Kota staying to help keep the lizards and worse away,” Emina reported, resignation in her voice as she got up to retrieve a cup and pour tea for Toren. “I’m glad to see you awake. The [Enchanter] came while you were recovering. We paid him extra to teach us the [Mana Transfer] Skill so we could recharge the claim stakes.”

No doubt why the barrier array was still active. Surprisingly, the woman didn’t look as defeated as her tone suggested, and an expression Toren would characterize as ‘tempered hope’ briefly graced the woman’s face when, through the window, she caught sight of Kota helping the girls train.

“How long was I out of it for?”

Emina pushed the gently steaming cup his way. “Laiya watched over you for the past three days.”

So, it was Laiya. Probably for the best. No way Warnel would have done it, and getting taken care of by Warnel’s wife would’ve been more than awkward.

Three days gone. They were still cutting it close for harvesting the tavi fruit and getting back to Farharbor in time to pay their tenday obligations. But with the Raptor rental only half a day away, they should be okay.

Toren glanced at the debt seal inked around his wrist. It was still black.

~~~

『Name: Toren of Theravos

Race: Human

Age: 20

Profession 1: Level 5 Burningblood Berserker (700/10000)

Mana: 72/72

Strength: 16

Constitution: 13

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 12

Wisdom: 12

Intellect: 8

Will Power: 18

Perception 15

Appearance: 8

Charisma: 8

Luck: 10

Attribute Upgrade Points: 4

Traits:

Sacrificial Guardian

Abilities:

Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Mid

Control Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

Flurry of Blows (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

Ability Upgrade Points: 4

Profession Skills:

Pain Tolerance 5

Severe Wound Recovery 5

Berserker Knife Arts 1

Spear 9

Club 8

Focus Rage 3

Combat Awareness 3

Intimidate 2

Skills:

Theravos Language (Speaking) 15

Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10

Religion 10

Meditation 5

Bone Strengthening 3

Hunting 20

Butchering 13

Archery 19

Stealth 18

Arithmetic 4

Foraging 16

Tree Felling 6

Running 12

Mana Sensing 14

Danger Sensing 1

Wound Binding 8』