❮ ◈ ❯

You have learned Magical Damage Resistance!

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Magical Damage Resistance (Lv.3): A skill gained after the body has endured enough damage for it to develop a resistance against it.

Effect: Reduces incoming magical damage by a percentage equal to the skill’s level.

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You have learned Physical Damage Resistance!

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Physical Damage Resistance (Lv.3): A skill gained after the body has endured enough damage for it to develop a resistance against it.

Effect: Reduces incoming physical damage by a percentage equal to the skill’s level.

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Ireful Shell has leveled up!

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna looked at those virtual boxes and huffed as he lied on the ground exhausted. His whole body was sore and bruised and even his clothes had been burned in some places. He had also tuned out the voices triggered by his Ireful Shell and that had ultimately increased its level.

Pronos was to his side at his maximum size with his tongue sticking out. He grunted and sat up to see Gray standing innocently in front of him.

“Nice, I love people with talent. You raised both skills to level 3 in just an hour,” he said with a grin. “It usually takes a lot more time but it seems even your body resilience is inhuman.”

“…I’ll get you for this one day, Clown.”

Gray laughed and Rakna grunted before changing the clothes he was wearing with a brand-new set from inside his spatial ring. “Is this training over now?”

“Hmm, I’d say so, yes.”

“I see,” Rakna replied blandly and took out two potions; one green and one red, and drank them at once. Gray blinked in surprise at his actions but Rakna ignored him and stood up. He stretched his revigorated body and released his Aura to practice it a little bit.

“What are you doing?” The clown tilted his head in confusion.

“Your training might be over, but mine isn’t,” Rakna said blandly and made a cold energy bow with Star Make. “Interface… I’ll call you Trii. Place a square, unmoving target twenty meters away.

|| How large? ||

“Human-sized.”

|| Acknowledged. ||

Once the interface registered the command, a square target similar to one for archery appeared floating in the distance. Rakna faced the roof with his right palm and a swirl of cold energy surged out. He closed his eyes and focused on the shape of the construct.

Gray watched confusedly from the side along with Pronos. After a moment, a four-edged sword modeled to be an arrow was condensed by the cold energy and the clown frowned. ‘That is the spell he used against the golem. But… it seems different.’

Rakna breathed in and out before nocking the sword-arrow onto the energy bow. He pulled the string and aimed at the target before whispering one word, “Dáinsleif.”

The projectile was launched at high speed and reached the target equally as fast. Gray squinted his cybernetic eyes and observed it happening in slow motion. When the tip of Dáinsleif touched the target, it easily embedded itself inside but what happened next was unforeseen.

Unlike the first time, it didn’t explode. Instead, the four edges composing the bladed arrow split off from each other in a burst of energy and rotated at the same time. The target was shredded to pieces as the blades spun toward the walls of the room but disappeared into particles before they could touch them.

Rakna lowered his bow which was releasing small trails of cold energy and nodded at the result of his magic. It was accompanied by an update to Dáinsleif.

❮ ◈ ❯

Mana Control has leveled up!

Cold Star Magic has leveled!

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The Sub-Spell Dáinsleif has been updated.

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Dáinsleif – Revised (T.7): The user summons a bladed arrow with four edges and a feather-shaped handle made out of raw Cold Energy. It can be used with a bow made of the same energy or a normal one strong enough to resist the strain.

Once shot, the arrow will momentarily possess an outstanding sharpness capable of piercing most materials. Then, the projectile will split into four blades that will shot out from a miniature reversed cold energy explosion. These blades will rotate at high speed as they are shot and will shred anything they go through.

It is possible for the user to make the blades explode instead of letting them disperse but the mana cost will increase. After revision; the cost has been considerably reduced.

First Cost: 30% of the Host’s mana pool. (Soul Core Correction: 14%)

Second Cost: 50% of the Host’s mana pool. (Soul Core Correction: 34%)

First Attack: User’s Magic Attack multiplied by 3.

Second Attack: User’s Magic Attack multiplied by 5.

Unconditional Aspect: The attack will be increased by 2 for each additional mana point infused other than the initial cost. Note that this might lead to instability.

Cooldown: 1h

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna read the new description and was overall quite satisfied. He guessed that some spells just wouldn’t allow a cost other than a percentage. “Hey, Clown, are spells that cost a percentage of the mana pool common?”

Gray blinked at him. “Did you just modify a spell that the System had already recorded on your first try?” He asked but it was in a tone that suggested that he already knew. He looked up and wondered where he had gone wrong in life.

“Clown.”

“Yes, yes… It’s common. At least, every spell that gives you a multiplier to your magic attack has a cost in percentage,” the cyborg said then mused. “Hm, it’s true that I haven’t explained this to you yet. Let me tell you of the categorization of spells.”

“Tier 10 to Tier 8 spells are considered beginner to intermediate spells. Most of these have a flat mana cost. Tier 7 to Tier 5 spells are considered advanced spells. A lot of them have percentage costs and they’re the ones Hosts use the most generally. Tier 4 and Tier 3 spells are referred to as first-class. The rarity shots up for these. Their cost type varies honestly. I’ve heard of spells in this category that can do things like lift storms capable of destroying cities.”

“Then, we have Tier 2 and Tier 1 spells. These are… well, they’re called transcendent and divine spells respectively. Tier 2 spells comprise things like summoning a gate to hell. Tier 1 spells are in the realm of god; resurrection among others is one of them.”

Rakna scowled. “Resurrection?”

“Yes. Though, resurrection only is possible for a certain amount of time after death. There exist undead raising spells, however. They are located in the advanced section for the most part.”

“What about Tier 0?”

“Tier 0?” Gray cocked his head to the side. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“Oh. Then forget I said anything.”

“Yeah, right. As if I could,” the clown deadpanned instantly and shrugged. “But whatever. It's your secret. Our guild doesn’t mind that or we would have disbanded ages ago.”

Rakna snorted and looked at the mana he had left. He could try to revise Gungnir as well but he didn’t have the same kind of inspiration as he had with Dáinsleif. For the latter, he had gotten the idea of reform it so it would split apart and he felt like revising a spell wouldn’t work without at least a similar idea.

“Little guy, we’re leaving,” he told Pronos who was playing around with a gold and green aura around him. He had been even faster than Rakna to unlock it. To be exact, internal force had come to him a lot faster.

He hissed in response when he heard his name and quickly turned back into a small snake before jumping on Rakna’s shoulder while powering off his aura.

“I guess that means you’re done for the day?” Gray asked as they both headed to the exit.

“Yes. I’m going to eat something and go to sleep now,” Rakna said as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. “If I stay awake much longer, it’ll get annoying.”

Gray grew confused at his statement but didn’t comment on it. When they were about to head down the stairs of the Pavilion, the clown struck his own hand, “Oh, I almost forgot. Here.”

❮ ◈ ❯

Gray Whisles has sent you a Friend Request.

Do you accept?

Yes/No

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna furrowed his eyebrows at that. “What does it do concretely?”

“Well, friends can, enter the Pavilion’s floors together, access private messages, access the other’s location through a request, and they can also request the System to teleport them to the other as long as they have an item for it and that they both accept it,” Gray listed while counting fingers.

“…and you didn’t tell me about this before because?”

“I forgot.”

“Then ‘almost’ has nothing to do in your sentence,” Rakna retorted as he selected yes.

“You’re right,” Gray laughed as they stepped through the Filter Dimension and ended up in the populated hall of the Pavilion. “In any case, I will be staying in Black Steel for a few days so if you need my help for anything, just contact me.”

Rakna nodded and separated from him at the entrance of the Pavilion. He made a call with his HL and his three friends responded. Allan had already come back and they were apparently all at a café waiting for him.

They gave him the name and Alexa led him to it, updating the map he had of the Black Steel at the same time. When he arrived, the café in itself was pretty normal, even by Earth’s standards, and the moment he entered, he spotted his group right away. They were chatting with four other people that he also recognized.

“I see you’re all doing well,” Rakna said as he approached their table and they turned toward him.

“Ah, good to see you too, Xiorra,” Leis, accompanied by Leia, Gantt, and Dan, replied to him with a good-natured smile.

“Sup,” Leia said and the two other men just nodded at him.

“You were in the Pavilion for a long time, did something happen?” Flavia asked as he sat down at their table.

“Not really. Gray was there and we decided to train for a bit.”

“Ah, yes. Our guilds should also be holding a training soon,” Allan remarked. “They announced it in the Guild Chat. What did you learn with the clown?”

“Hm,” Rakna mused as he selected what he wanted to order on a tablet placed in the center of the table. “They’re going to give you more details about the System, then probably help you awaken a few essential skills. You’ll see in time.”

“Hey, isn’t that little guy smaller than before?” Leis commented as she saw Pronos eagerly jump out from under Sonata and land on the table to order something to eat as well.

“You’re right, quite different actually,” Dan complemented.

Pronos seemed to understand them and he jumped off the table. He activated his Gigantism and turned python-sized in a few seconds before coiling on himself and lying his threatening head on the table.

They all opened their eyes wide in shock at the display. “He got a pill from the shop that made him learn a size-modulation skill. He can grow or shrink whenever he wants now,” Rakna said as a waitress brought an entire strawberry pie to him.

“Speaking of skills,” he added and three cards appeared in his hand, he threw two of them to Flavia and one to Allan. “Flavia; those are Jade Rouse and Wind Incision. And Allan, if you don’t have it yet, learn Scan.”

The two of them dazedly looked at the cards in their hands.

“Also, Nyx, here. Items I don’t need,” Rakna opened Item Box and exchanged the blue items he had kept. There were a few interesting ones for both magical users and close combat fighters. When Nyx saw the content of the exchange, she pursed her lips.

She went over every item before accepting the exchange, since she didn’t have Item Box and would not be able to do so afterward, and grew more impressed with each one.

“If you don’t need some of them, sell them or give them to Leis,” Rakna said and stood up from his seat, catching everyone’s attention and forcing them to look at his empty plate.

‘How did you eat that pie so fast?!’ They thought unanimously.

Pronos similarly gobbled up everything he had ordered and swallowed before turning into a small snake. That had been a very odd sight for everyone there.

“I’m going to sleep now. I’ll be at the same hotel as yesterday. Accept this too,” Rakna continued to talk without letting them react and sent them all a friend request that they numbly accepted.

“Good luck with your training,” he wished with a tone as stale as always.

The group was left in silence before Allan smacked his lips together, “Welp, can I see those items?”