Pemilihan skill Jake untuk kelasnya di level 120 telah memicu banyak hal. Mulai dari obrolan soal perbudakan, skill baru yang bisa Jake coba, wawasan tentang perkembangannya sendiri, hingga satu aspek penting lainnya. Sistem secara tersirat menyuruhnya untuk mulai mencari cara menggunakan afinitas-arcane miliknya dengan lebih dari sekadar mana.
Semakin dalam ia menjelajahi dungeon Undergrowth, ia mulai sedikit berlatih menggunakannya di sela-sela pertarungan. Ia memiliki cukup banyak skill yang menggunakan stamina, dan ia memilih untuk menggunakannya terlebih dahulu alih-alih mencoba bereksperimen dengan gerakan bebas. Sihir? Ia bahkan tidak tahu apa sebutan untuk manipulasi stamina tanpa skill.
Saat itulah ia teringat... ia sebelumnya pernah mencoba menggunakan campuran stamina dan mana dalam sebuah skill yang telah ia tingkatkan, tempat ia membuat kedua energi tersebut berpadu. Saat ia meningkatkan Anak Panah Pembelah, ia melakukannya dengan memadukan kedua energi itu untuk membelah anak panah tersebut. Stamina berfungsi sebagai tubuh fisik anak panah, sedangkan mana berfungsi sebagai sihir bawaan dari anak panah itu.
Ditambah dengan bantuan sistem dalam meningkatkan skill setelah ia berada di jalur yang benar, peningkatannya bahkan tidak memakan waktu sehari. Namun, Jake tidak melanjutkan uji coba setelah itu. Yah, sejujurnya, bukan berarti ia punya banyak kesempatan. Kongres Dunia dan kemudian maraton crafting miliknya terjadi tidak lama setelah terakhir kali ia meningkatkan skill menggunakan stamina. Ia hanya butuh pengingat untuk terus mengerjakannya.
Tentu saja, tidak satupun dari energi tersebut yang berjenis afinitas-arcane, tetapi afinitas-arcane miliknya berkaitan erat dengan mana murni, jadi itu bisa dijadikan sebagai dasar.
Jake mulai mempertimbangkan semua skillnya dari ujung ke ujung... dan menemukan cukup banyak skill yang menggunakan stamina. Tembakan Sakti adalah yang paling jelas... namun bagaimana ia bisa mengintegrasikan afinitas-arcane miliknya ke dalam bagian stamina dari skill tersebut?
Bagian stamina dari skill itu adalah stamina yang bergerak di dalam tubuhnya. Tembakan Sakti Terinfus, Tanda Pemburu Arcane yang Serakah... keduanya menggunakan energi arcane atau campuran mana dan stamina di luar tubuh. Terakhir, Shadow Vault juga menggunakan campuran, tetapi yang satu itu jujur terlalu rumit untuk dipelajari Jake dalam waktu dekat.
Bagaimanapun, Tembakan Sakti menggunakan stamina di bagian atas tubuhnya dengan mana arcane di luar tubuh, memperkuat busur serta mengalir sebagai arus di atas tubuhnya. Ia menggunakan stamina di dalam tubuh dan paling dekat dengan kulitnya untuk memastikan mana arcane-nya yang destruktif tidak melukai dirinya sendiri, sekaligus membuat seluruh tubuh bagian atasnya menjadi lebih kuat saat ia menarik tali busur dan mengisi daya anak panah.
Sementara itu, busur tersebut diinfusi dengan mana ber-afinitas arcane yang stabil. Hal ini membuat Jake berpikir lebih dalam... jenis efek apa yang akan diciptakan oleh afinitas-arcane miliknya saat digunakan bersama stamina di dalam tubuhnya? Apakah itu memang dibuat untuk digunakan di dalam tubuh, ataukah lebih cocok digunakan di luar?
Penghalang Mana tentu saja berada di luar tubuhnya. Gelombang Arcane juga berada di luar, meskipun energi itu meletus dari dalam dirinya. Tapi... ia tidak benar-benar tahu apakah energi tempat ia meletus sepenuhnya ber-afinitas arcane. Mungkin hanya bagian mana dari energi itu saja yang ber-afinitas arcane, mengingat skill tersebut menggunakan mana dan stamina.
Afinitas-arcane Jake memiliki dua aspek: stabilitas dan kehancuran. Bersama-sama, afinitasnya berpusat pada kehancuran yang stabil, dengan kedua ekstrem selalu membawa sedikit efek dari sisi lainnya. Panah peledak harus sangat destruktif tetapi tetap cukup stabil agar tidak langsung meledak begitu saja, sementara panah yang stabil harus sangat tangguh tetapi tetap mampu menimbulkan kerusakan di luar sekadar menembus musuh secara murni. Jika itu hanyalah panah fisik biasa, maka itu tidak akan layak menyandang afinitas-arcane, bukan?
Mengerahkan afinitas-arcane di luar tubuh tidaklah begitu rumit, tetapi sejauh ini satu-satunya hal yang ia lakukan adalah menggunakan mana... kecuali Tanda barunya. Tanda tersebut mengonsumsi stamina saat ia menempatkannya pada target. Bahkan energi arcane yang meledak di dalam tubuh musuh-musuhnya tidak mengandung mana sama sekali, melainkan sejenis energi afinitas-arcane lainnya. Sebagian dari energi itu jelas merupakan stamina dengan afinitas-arcane... tetapi yang dilakukannya hanyalah memberikan kerusakan secara langsung ke health pool musuhnya... dan Jake masih ragu apakah itu adalah keistimewaan dari afinitas-arcane miliknya yang memang bisa melakukannya, ataukah itu sekadar sesuatu yang dimungkinkan oleh Tanda tersebut melalui bantuan sistem.
Semua ini mengarah pada pertanyaan mutlak: apakah mungkin menggunakan afinitas-arcane untuk membuat dirinya lebih kuat secara internal? Secara teoretis, mungkin saja... tapi apakah ia benar-benar akan mengambil risiko untuk bereksperimen?
Dengan stamina normal, Jake pernah meledakkan lebih dari satu anggota tubuhnya akibat eksperimen... apa yang akan terjadi jika ia mencoba melakukannya dengan stamina yang jauh lebih kuat dan memiliki kecenderungan untuk meledak besar? Tentu, ia bisa menggunakan versi yang stabil... tapi apakah itu akan lebih baik daripada stamina biasa? Tidak, ia 100% membutuhkan campurannya. Jake merasa saat ini bukanlah waktu yang tepat untuk hal itu. Sebagai gantinya, ia akan fokus pada afinitas-arcane untuk serangan eksternal untuk saat ini.
Satu-satunya masalah adalah... ia sebenarnya hanya memiliki Anak Panah Pembelah untuk itu... atau mungkin skill senjata dasarnya? Tidak, skill itu tidak terlalu bisa digunakan. Semua ini berarti Jake menunda eksplorasi stamina yang dicampur dengan afinitas-arcane untuk saat ini, dan memilih untuk fokus membersihkan dungeon Deepdweller. Semoga saja, ia bisa mendapatkan skill atau inspirasi di masa depan yang dapat membawanya melangkah lebih jauh.
Ia sangat menyadari bahwa ada satu opsi lagi untuk semacam skill aura stamina. Untuk meniru Aspiring Blade of Nature atau bahkan Nest Watcher di masa lalu, karena skill itu tampaknya hanya menggunakan gerakan fisik. Sekali lagi, ia menemui kendala bahwa ia tidak tahu bagaimana cara melakukannya dengan benar. Sebagian dirinya juga percaya bahwa aura-aura ini hanyalah curahan energi dari dalam tubuh—stamina juga disebut sebagai energi internal karena suatu alasan.
Jaga segala sesuatunya tetap sederhana... dan hadapi kerumitan seiring berjalannya waktu, pikir Jake saat ia mengepakkan sayapnya dan terbang melintasi Undergrowth, memungut herba di sana-sini, memburu kelompok berburu yang kebetulan ditemuinya, dan mencari desa berikutnya.
Desa-desa runtuh di hadapannya satu per satu, dan ia bertarung melawan lebih banyak varian seiring langkahnya yang semakin dekat dengan apa yang ia yakini sebagai ujung dungeon—dan Jantung Undergrowth.
*‘DING!’ Kelas: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] telah mencapai level 125 - Poin statistik dialokasikan, +10 poin bebas*
*‘DING!’ Ras: [Manusia (D)] telah mencapai level 116 - Poin statistik dialokasikan, +15 poin bebas*
*‘DING!’ Kelas: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] telah mencapai level 126 - Poin statistik dialokasikan, +10 poin bebas*
Sejak memasuki dungeon, lebih dari dua minggu telah berlalu dengan cepat—bagaimanapun juga, setiap pertarungan memakan waktu cukup lama, dan penjelajahannya terhadap dungeon serta skillnya sendiri tidak terlalu membantu kecepatannya. Setelah desa terakhir diubah menjadi lubang gosong penuh energi arcane, ia akhirnya menemukan sesuatu yang baru. Jake telah menyadari bahwa dungeon tersebut mulai perlahan menyempit kembali dan menjadi semakin sempit saat ia menjelajah ke dalam setelah tanda sekitar 500 kilometer.
Itu terjadi di sekitar jarak 1200 kilometer. Perjalanan itu tiba-tiba berakhir di sebuah tembok besar—tembok yang 100% buatan. Tembok itu dibangun, dan Jake meragukan itu dibuat oleh para Deepdweller. Tidak, ini adalah semacam bangunan kuno yang dibuat oleh peradaban lain.
Seluruh tembok tersebut memiliki tinggi lebih dari satu kilometer dan lebar lebih dari 5 kilometer, memotong seluruh jalur lebih lanjut ke dalam Undergrowth. Jake mencoba meletakkan tangannya di atasnya, dan seketika ia tahu... sama sekali tidak ada cara sialan baginya untuk menghancurkannya.
Namun, ia memiliki satu cara curang. Dengan Sphere of Perception miliknya, ia melihat bahwa seluruh ketebalan tembok itu hampir mencapai 100 meter, tetapi itu tetap berarti ia bisa melihat beberapa ratus meter ke sisi sebaliknya. Di sana, ia melihat apa yang tampak seperti jaringan akar yang masif... semuanya tampak berkumpul menuju satu area di luar jangkauannya.
Jake mengintai sepanjang dinding tersebut sampai ia melihat sebuah celah—dan satu sosok tunggal duduk di depannya, tampak sedang bermeditasi.
Sosok itu adalah seorang Deepdweller yang tingginya sekitar empat meter, dan tidak membawa senjata yang terlihat. Segala sesuatu tentang makhluk itu, selain ukurannya, membuatnya tampak cukup normal, karena ia bahkan tidak terlihat begitu kekar, tetapi Jake bisa merasakan bahwa ini adalah makhluk terkuat yang pernah ia lihat di seluruh dungeon ini.
[Deepdweller Heartwarden – lvl 162]
Jake sekarang bisa Mengidentifikasinya... dan levelnya 12 tingkat di atas entitas terkuat kedua yang pernah ia lihat—sebagai catatan, dengan keberhasilan Identifikasi ini, Jake menyimpulkan bahwa ia kini hanya bisa melihat level musuh yang levelnya maksimal 40% di atas levelnya sendiri sejak mencapai grade-D.
Dungeon ini telah memberikan pengalaman yang bagus, tetapi sedikit kekurangan dalam hal sensasi ketegangan. Mungkin Sang Heartwarden bisa memberikannya pertarungan yang seru.
Lelaki tua itu menangkis pedang wanita muda dengan mudah saat wanita itu meluncur di atas tanah untuk menyerang kembali. Pedangnya tampak terbelah menjadi puluhan bilah saat pedang bayangan menghujani ke bawah. Namun, dengan satu sapuan tunggal, semua bilah pedang itu lenyap, dan wanita muda tersebut terpelanting terpental jauh, mendarat di tanah—tangannya yang memegang pedang tampak gemetar.
Jake’s skill selection for his class at level 120 had led to many things. A talk about slavery, a new skill for Jake to experiment with, insight into his own progress, and one more significant aspect. The system more or less telling him to start looking into using his arcane-affinity with more than mana.
As he went deeper and deeper into the Undergrowth dungeon, he began doing a bit of practice with it throughout some of his fights. He had quite a few skills that used stamina, and he went with those first instead of trying to free-form stuff. Magic? He wasn’t even sure what skill-less manipulation of stamina was called.
That is when he remembered… he already had tried using a mix of stamina and mana before in a skill he had upgraded where he made the energies mix. When he upgraded Splitting Arrow, he did by fusing the two energies to split the arrows. Stamina would function as the physical bodies of the arrows, while the mana would function as the inherent magic of the arrows.
Coupled with the system assistance in upgrading skills once he was on the right track, upgrading it hadn’t even taken a day. Yet Jake hadn’t kept testing after that. Well, to be perfectly fair, it wasn’t like he had many chances to. The World Congress and then his crafting marathon came shortly after the last time he upgraded a skill with stamina. He had just needed a reminder to keep working on it.
Of course, neither of those energies had been arcane-affinity, but his arcane-affinity was closely related to pure mana, after all, so it could serve as a base.
Jake began considering all his skills from one end to the other… and found quite a few he used stamina with. Arcane Powershot was the most obvious one... but how would he integrate his arcane-affinity into the stamina portion of that?
The stamina portion of that skill was the stamina moving inside his body. Enhanced Splitting Arrow, Mark of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter… both used either arcane energy or mixed mana and stamina outside the body. Finally, Shadow Vault also used a mix, but that one was honestly just too weird for Jake to study in the short term.
Anyway, Arcane Powershot used stamina in his upper body with arcane mana outside of it, enhancing the bow and as currents running over his body. He used stamina inside his body and closest to his skin to make sure his own destructive arcane mana didn’t harm him while making his entire upper body stronger as he drew the string and charged the arrow.
Meanwhile, the bow was infused with stable arcane-affinity mana. Which made Jake consider more deeply… what kind of effect would his arcane-affinity even create when used with stamina inside his body? Was it even made to be used inside his body, or was it more suited for using it outside?
The Arcane Barrier was, of course, outside of his body. The Arcane Wave was outside, too, even if it did erupt from within him. But… he didn’t truly know if the energy it erupted with would all be arcane-affinity. Maybe it was just the mana-part of it that was, as the skill used both mana and stamina.
Jake’s arcane-affinity had two parts to it: stability and destruction. Together his affinity was all about stable destruction, with both extremes always carrying a bit of the effect from the other. An explosive arrow needed to be highly destructive but still stable enough not just to blow up right away, while a stable arrow needed to be extremely tough but still able to deal damage outside of just purely piercing enemies. If it were just purely a physical arrow, it wouldn’t really be worthy of the arcane-affinity now, would it?
Mobilizing his arcane-affinity outside the body wasn’t that complicated, but so far, all he really did it with was using mana… except for his new Mark. The Mark consumed stamina to use when he placed it on targets. Even the arcane energy that exploded within his foes contained no mana at all but was some other kind of arcane-affinity energy. A part of it was clearly stamina with an arcane-affinity… but all it did was deal damage directly to the health pool of his enemy… and Jake was still unsure if that was something special about his arcane-affinity that it could do that, or if it was just something the Mark made possible through system assistance.
This all led to the ultimate question: was it even possible to use his arcane-affinity to make himself stronger internally? Theoretically, perhaps… but was he really going to risk experimenting?
With normal stamina, Jake had blown off more than one limb with his experimenting… what would happen if he tried to do so with even more potent stamina that had a tendency to go big boom? Sure, he could use the stable version… but would that even be better than normal stamina? No, he would 100% need a mix. Jake felt like now wasn’t the time for that quite yet. Instead, he would focus on the arcane-affinity on external attacks for now.
The only issue was… he only really had the Splitting Arrow for that… or maybe his basic weapons skills? No, they weren’t really useable. All of this meant that Jake shelved the exploration of stamina mixed with arcane-affinity for now as he instead focused on clearing the Deepdweller dungeon. Hopefully, he could get a skill or some inspiration in the future that could push him further.
He was fully aware that was also one more option for stamina – some kind of aura skill. To mimic the Aspiring Blade of Nature or even the Nest Watcher back in the day, as it seemed to only use physical moves. Once more, he reached the issue that he didn’t know how to properly do that. A part of him also believed these auras were just outpouring of energy from inside the body – stamina was also called inner energy for a reason.
Keep things simple… and take the complications as they come , Jake thought as he flapped his wings and flew through the Undergrowth, picking up herbs here and there, hunting down the occasional hunting party, and searching for the next village.
Villages fell before him one by one, and he fought more and more variants as he got closer and closer to what he believed was the end of the dungeon – and the Heart of the Undergrowth.
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 125 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 116 - Stat points allocated, +15 free points*
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 126 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*
Since entering the dungeon, more than two weeks had quickly passed – each fight took a while, after all, and his exploration of both the dungeon and his own skills hadn’t exactly helped his speed either. After the last village had been turned into a scorching hole of arcane energy, he finally reached something new. Jake had noticed that the dungeon had begun slowly closing in on itself again and became narrower and narrower as he traveled in after about the 500-kilometer mark.
It was at around 1200 kilometers. It suddenly ended in a large wall - a wall that was 100% artificial. It was constructed, and Jake doubted it had been by the Deepdwellers. No, this was some kind of ancient construct made by some other civilization.
The entire wall was more than a kilometer tall and had a width of more than 5 kilometers, cutting off the entire path further into the Undergrowth. Jake tried to lay his hand upon it, and instantly he knew… there was no fucking way he could break it.
He did have one cheat, though. With his Sphere of Perception, he saw that the entire wall was nearly 100 meters thick, but that still meant he could see a couple of hundred meters of the other side. There, he saw what looked like a massive net of vines.. all looking like they congregated towards one area outside his range.
Jake scouted along the length of the wall until he saw an opening – and a single figure sitting in front of it, appearing to be in meditation.
It was a Deepdweller that was around four meters tall, and it carried no visible weapon. Everything about it besides its size made it look rather normal, as it didn’t even appear that bulky, but Jake could feel this was the strongest creature he had yet to see in the entire dungeon.
[Deepdweller Heartwarden – lvl 162]
Jake could now Identify it… and its level was 12 levels above the second-strongest entity he had seen – sidenote, Jake with this successful Identify, concluded he could now only see the level of foes with a level 40% above his own since reaching D-grade.
He smiled. The dungeon had been good experience but had been a bit lacking in the excitement department. Maybe the Heartwarden could give him a good fight.
The old man blocked the sword of the young woman effortlessly as she slid across the ground to strike again. Her sword appeared to split into dozens as phantom blades rained down. Yet with a single swipe, all the blades disappeared, and the young woman was knocked flying away, landing on the ground – her hand holding the sword shaking.
“Your blade is restless. What is bothering you, my child?” Miyamoto asked his great grand-daughter.
Her name was Reika, and she was the youngest of the main family clan, meaning she was his youngest direct descendent, which had resulted in quite a bit of doting from all parts of the family. She did have four older siblings, so not much pressure had ever been put on her, meaning she had always pursued her passions over everything else.
Before he had become immobile, she had always come by to watch him practice with his sword and had chosen to pick it up herself. Her family had disapproved at first as it was not something they believed a young girl should spend her time on, but when she had proven her talent, they all relented. That the old patriarch had also liked that she did it sure wasn’t a detriment either.
After the system, the young woman – who had turned 25 just a few days ago – had been one of the outstanding surprises of the clan. She had not been in the same tutorial as Miyamoto himself but had instead entered with many university students as she had been to a meeting with her Ph.D. adviser at the time of the integration. Another thing she had been stubborn about, having chosen to study chemistry and not economy or business management as most of her siblings.
In her tutorial, she had completely taken charge and managed to excel above all expectations, and returned to the clan as the second-strongest member of the entire clan. She had helped claim other Pylons but had not entered the World Congress as Miyamoto saw no reason to tip their hand and make everyone aware that the Noboru Clan had so many powerful members. This was also the reason why they didn’t bring any other D-grades than him despite having two others at the time.
“I still don’t understand… why send me? I am not a negotiator, much less a diplomat. Even if you wish for someone to learn about his alchemical prowess, I do not see how it wouldn’t be preferential only to send a small regiment of non-combatants and diplomats. Sending my companions and me could also possibly be interpreted as an unintended show of force and worsen relations,” Reika tried to argue.
His great-granddaughter was not only a supremely talented swordsman – she was also their most talented alchemist. Miyamoto regretted not bringing her to the World Congress as he wished he had made her meet the Hunter from Haven.
“This will not solely be political, but a chance for you to learn. Your approach to alchemy is one of modern thought, while Lord Thayne of Haven has knowledge of an entirely different path. One of ancientness handed down from an entity above our comprehension. I believe he has much to teach you, not only about alchemy,” Miyamoto explained with a fatherly smile.
Her tutorial had included plenty of ways to attain and progress the alchemy profession. Miyamoto couldn’t help but find it coincidental that an entire faculty of natural sciences students found themselves in a tutorial with the alchemy profession freely available. Moreover, the tutorial had been sponsored by an alchemy-related god, which was possibly why it was organized.
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