Chapter 213 (1/2)
Randidly smiled, even though he now only had 6 hours to gain 14 levels. Also, the second line made him roll his eyes.
Congratulations! Your own personal skill has been created. You have created the skill Flexibility of the White Hunters ® Lvl 1. Due to proceeding to a different Cohort than your home planet to create the skill, all bonuses associated with the record of creating a Rare skill are lost.
So it seemed that the System still refused to reward him for creating skills while here. But still, this was a flexibility skill that he needed. It was an added benefit that it was at the Rare rarity, as well. Which was, in a way, a double edge sword, because it would make it that much more difficult to level. But Randidly didn’t mind so much. If that was the cost of his power, so be it.
Immediately, Randidly launched into training for his skill, moving rapidly, pushing his body to the limits of his flexibility. He activated Haste and Empower to cram more movements into a shorter amount of time. Again, Randidly tried to ignore the stares as his movements switched from silly looking to so fast they left after images, but he didn’t have any choice. Although this was meant to be a bonus round, it was clear that if he didn’t attain the requisite skill level, he would lose his chance to participate.
Right around the 3 hour mark, Randidly had raised the level of his new skill to 10. But in his heart, he wasn’t sure if this was fast enough. Those final 5 levels would be the most difficult. He had two options, in his mind. The first was to spend a little more time watching the being in his soul skill, getting a little extra image for his training. On the other hand…
Randidly’s gaze slid over to Tertet. Without a doubt, a battle right now would increase his rate of improvement. No one else was fighting each other, but there hadn’t been any additional rules added by the bearded man, so it likely was allowed. Perhaps even encouraged, so the spear users would thin each other out.
Still, Randidly didn’t want to totally transform into the type of person who would destroy others for sport. His lessons in the prison still made Randidly uneasy, as they didn’t entirely make sense. Shal seemed to have a very selective sense of righteousness.
But as his gaze lingered on Tertet, Tertet glanced up, and their gazes locked. Tertet’s eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth. He drew his two spears and began to stroll towards Randidly, that powerful spirit of hunger roaring around him.
Inwardly, Randidly rolled his eyes, but raised his own spear and walked towards Tertet. Truly, sometimes things were so simple that they made you feel foolish for over thinking them.
“To think you actually made it.” Tertet hissed, spinning his spears slowly. “I wouldn’t have thought your physical specs were enough to survive that challenge. But I suppose you simply relied on your magic, didn’t you?”
Tertet’s tone attracted the attention of some of the nearby spear users, but Randidly didn’t bother answering. Instead, he began to rush forward, being extremely mindful of his ability to use his body, maintaining the flexibility in his joints. Seeing that his statement didn’t seem to have any effect on Randidly, Tertet’s face turned serious.
Afterall, although he mocked him for it, Randidly’s spells had left a profound effect on the man. Their power was such that they should not be underestimated. If he had known that Randidly planned on fighting without relying on such things, he probably would have laughed. After all, their time in the preliminaries was a short while ago. At most, one could stay in a dungeon for around 6 months before the risk of Aether Starvation was too high to reasonably ignore. And although you might be able to safely eke out another few weeks, how much improvement could you gain in that time? Was it worth the chance that your body ran out of fuel, leaving you unable to continue?
The two figures rushed towards one another, and their spears smashed together. The strange unpredictable strikes were just as powerful, if not more so, than Randidly remembered, but Tertet wasn’t the only one that improved. In fact…
“What!” Tertet gasped, leaping backwards after a single exchange of blows. Although his strike was clearly more powerful, what was most disturbing was that the other man had dispersed all of the force of it without shifting his stance at all. They were much, much closer to evenly matched than they had been in the past. Tertet had assumed he could force the Ghosthound to use spells and discredit him; he had not expected that his opponent would have such a jump in strength.
“How-” Tertet began to ask, but Randidly unleashed a slash at the other man, forcing him to grit his teeth and block. Then, twisting, Randidly unleashed another strike, not using any particular skill, but twisting his body with increasing speed, relying on elasticity and flexibility to empower and quicken his strikes. And it was working, to a small degree. His attacks were certainly sharper, and more rhythmic.
That, combined with the shock of Randidly’s change, sent Tertet reeling, and he couldn’t seem to recover his feet as he was pushed farther and farther backwards. Finally, Randidly used his larger spear to smash Tertet backwards, smashing him into another man.
Most of the spear users had gathered, curious, but just watching to relieve their own boredom. However, after Randidly smashed his opponent to the side, he stood tall and glanced around. Almost instinctively, several of those spear users who met his gaze felt something tingling in their chest, driving them towards this posturing individual.
A few raised their spears, the joy of battle lust coloring their features. Randidly grinned.
3 hours later, a panting and bloody group of spear users, including Randidly, passed the second preliminary round, and would be entered into the wider tournament. 76 people had passed, and with the 100 that were chosen by the powerful Styles, these final 176 people would participate in the tournament.
After Randidly had begun fighting random spear users, basically all of the remaining people joined in, throwing themselves into battle in order to hone themselves a bit before the finals. After all, a lot of these people had just received the Flexibility skill, and needed to learn how to use it in order to fight more effectively in the actual tournament. In addition, the plethora of Styles represented in the preliminary would give them a taste of dealing with attacks they didn’t recognize. All in all, it turned out to be an extremely valuable time to fight.
Randidly, as he walked back through the streets, watching all the passing civilians who talked about the exciting tournament that would start in two days time, was most excited about his new Lvl 17 Skill, Flexibility of the White Hunters.
In addition to those 16 PP, he had also gained 3 Lvls in Phantom Onslaught, 4 in Battle Intent, 2 in Meditation and The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil, 3 in Spear Mastery, 2 in Footwork of the Spear Phantom, 1 in Haste, Empower, and Second Wind, and 2 in Stalemate Breaker, which Randidly was able to use to a pretty profound effect when he used it.
Still, Stalemate Breaker currently left him extremely underpowered immediately afterwards, which was difficult to justify, considering how small of a boost it currently was. But still, it was a skill that would grow more valuable the more he put into it. Randidly poured his 40 PP into the Initiate of Ash I Path, which netted him nothing, but almost finished it, but did get another notification that brought him a significant amount of Joy.
Congratulations! Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Murderous Cold upon you. Perception +3, Reaction +6. Agility +3. Range of Hearing and Vision permanently expanded by 1%. +6 Free stats.
Randidly scratched his head. Range of hearing and vision expanded…? Did that mean he would eventually be able to hear dog whistles, and see ultraviolet light…?
Then he shrugged. What was more interesting was that this blessing gave much more stats than the last one, but didn’t have the huge regeneration bonus the other provided. Still, it was interesting, and good to know that all of this PP was going to a good use. His 6 free stats went to Intelligence, which was beginning to fall behind his other offensive stats.
Randidly then looked at his improved stats and skills.