Chapter 119 - Skills And Spells (Part 2)
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nKnowing that ice was a hybrid element helped Eldrian a great deal. He no longer had to rely solely on following along as the mana changed little by little with each cast. He could skip most of this by forcefully mixing darkness mana into the spell.
nEldrian naturally failed often with this attempt. He was trying to take a short cut. Getting the mana signature feelings from casting Tier 0 spells and then trying to 'tell' the spell to mix them. He could not control mana in any raw form yet and to use this roundabout way.
nIt took a few hours before Eldrian actually managed to accomplish the shortcut. Most often nothing happened. With his first success, it sent a backlash against him. This was the first time Eldrian actually received backlash from failing to cast a spell. Luckily it was not severe, having simply caused him to shiver as an extreme cold had spread through him.
nThis did not last nearly as long as when Eldrian had trained through the Magic Crystal, allowing him to easily move past it. Not even worth mentioning. For other players this might have been quite discouraging.
nToo much darkness. Eldrian reasoned as he trembled. The mana had felt far too cold, not at all like what he had aimed for. While shivering a smile grew as Eldrian realized that this method could really work.
nHe continued on this path for the rest of the day, asking Old Sword to cast Frost Needle for him every other hour. Eldrian would touch the spell after Old Sword cast it, trying to find the right temperature through such a crude method.
nSomehow Eldrian actually managed to cut some corners thanks to Old Swords's help.
n'My last cast was close, but a bit too warm. More darkness!' Eldrian talked to himself as he felt the piece of ice up and down.
nOld Sword gave him a weird look. He had never heard of someone learning a spell by touching someone else's spell. The look on Eldrian's face also did not make it seem normal at all. 'Is he alright?' Old Sword wondered as he saw Eldrian's strange grin growing larger.
nFinally, Eldrian managed to cast the spell correctly, almost killing his horse in the process. Frost Needle had an ingrained velocity which was why the spell would launch the ice forward when cast. Eldrian had not even suspected that something like that would happen. All spells he had cast before did not have inherent movement.
nIt had gone in the direction of Eldrian's eyes, which was naturally in front of him. His horse's head often bobbing up into few. Luckily the horse's head had moved back down in time, but its ear had paid the price for having an idiot on its back.
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"You do learn really fast.
" Old Sword commented as he looked at Eldrian and his horse -whose ear now had a hole in it and was bleeding. Old Sword was shocked when he had seen the piece of ice move past his vision.
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"Soothe your horse!
" Old Sword shouted when he saw Eldrian was lost in thought. The horse was on edge and looking to bolt.
nComing back to reality Eldrian quickly rubbed the horse's neck and cast Anthizo on it. The spell immediately calming the animal. Eldrian having no idea just how close he was to getting thrown to the ground.
nAfter making sure that the horse would not throw him off Eldrian returned to his thoughts. So spells have inherent speed in it. Is that how players control it, they aim and then let loose. That makes sense, but dang is that inefficient. Eldrian worked through his thoughts, finding that he had to master this basic aiming before he could even move on to true control.
nOther than this minor incident, the rest of the day went by in relative normalcy. Eldrian casting spells to practice and analyzing what he could improve.
nHis first few following successful casts of Frost Needle shot in more or less a random direction. Eldrian only able to determine this direction by the way he was facing. With each cast he got more used to how the spell was cast and could concentrate more on controlling the spell instead.
nIt was the most he struggled in this, having to fight the spell's inherit want to move. He also had to ensure he would not hurt someone while at it too.
nBy night, after having set up camp and eaten, Eldrian sat outside the tent. Thinking about why he was struggling so much in keeping the spell still. Is it due to the flow of mana in the spell module? Eldrian wondered, trying to link it with when he experimented on the effect of this mana flow.
nWith Nidia he could let the water rotate by letting the mana flow a certain way. Then logically this meant this spell's module would send out the spell at maximum speed. Since all the mana was directed towards the point of the module.
nEldrian had also gotten recognition from the system for learning Frost Needle.
nFrost Needle, Tier 1, rank 0
nFrost needle is an ice-based spell. Forming a small needle-like piece of ice, which will be rapidly shot forward as soon as casting is done.
nSpell Damage: 9
nMagic Damage: 13.9
nCost 20 mana
nNo cast cooldown
n0.5 Cast time
nEldrian found that the spell did little damage, but this was only when he compared it to Grace. His double-headed spear. When compared to nonmagical weapons the spell did really good damage. Then there was also the fact that Eldrian could improve the damage even more when using a staff or wand.
nEldrian also remembered this, taking out the staff he had looted long ago during the first mission. How good are you? He asked himself, quickly finding that it was not good.
nIs it because it is not a magic grade staff? Eldrian wondered, looking at the pitiful 5% damage increase it would give him. It would also require him to cast through the staff which made this even worse for Eldrian. He wanted to use his spells while in combat, he might consider using a staff if he was far or had protection between him and the target. He did not want to fight with a staff.
nStaffs are useless. Eldrian determined as he stored it back into his inventory, planning to sell it to players when he had time.
nEldrian continued to travel in this manner, during which he would practice magic while traveling, conversing with Old Sword when he found a good topic to talk about. During the breaks in travel, like at night, Eldrian would instead practice fighting.
nOld Sword would spar with him every other day, while teaching Eldrian on the days they did not spar. Due to this Eldrian quickly felt himself growing stronger.
nWhat Old Sword would teach Eldrian skills and how to use them most effectively. Eldrian missed most of the later since it was hard enough for him to just use skills. With time he got more used to it, which was when Old Sword hammered on the time delay skills would cause him to have.
nThis was due to the effort it took him to actually use a skill, needing to call its skill module and control his mana. It felt more difficult than spells, mostly because he would stop when casting spells. With skills he had to continue moving.
nThis training continued for almost a week, Eldrian having learned six skills in total under Old Sword. Having also spent the time to learn the healing spell, Thera, which he had bought at the academy.
nThera (Spell)
nTier 1, rank 0
nA simple healing spell, feeding the patient with energy to heal a specific wound.
nCan bring a severe wound under control, stopping bleeding. Will completely heal mild wounds.
nSpell Heal: 12HP
nHeal: 21.1HP {With bonuses}
nCost 16 mana
nNo cast cooldown
n0.2 Cast time
nEldrian felt much better having a true healing spell under his belt, surprised by the amount of healing it actually would do. While it was not near enough for Eldrian to be able to fight continuously, it would allow him to heal almost to full.
nEldrian was more curious about how much this heal would do to a broken arm or leg. Wondering if he would be able to keep himself physically able. This was what he hoped for most, HP was far less important to him.
nThe skills Eldrian had learned were mostly general use type skills. Like a small constant increase in speed or strength. Or the inverse and an explosive amount of increase for one or two attacks.
nEldrian had only learned one weapon-related skill called Double Strike. He had truly struggled to learn this skill. It did not have a word of power. Instead it was triggered by intent and mana, he had to trigger its activation by actually attacking in a set way.
nWhen used correctly, the spell would give Eldrian a large increase in speed. Unfortunately he was currently unable to really control this and would just let the skill finish the process for him. It would deliver two quick strikes in under a second.
nDouble Strike, (Skill)
nTier 1, rank 0
nTwo quick strikes (Thrusts with a spear) delivered with almost no pause.
nWeapon Damage Boost: 2
nIncreases damage dealt by 10% on seconds strike, 30% if this strike lands on the same place as the first strike.
nCost 8MP & 16SP *1)
nNo cooldown
n0.2 Cast time
nReading through the skill's details Eldrian had realized why players would prefer weapon-related skills to general skills. The explosive increase in agility or strength could certainly be useful in certain locations. But it was still a far cry from this skill's raw potential.
nEldrian even doubted if he would use the constant boost skills, the loss of regen was simply too much of a cost for such a slight increase.
n*1) MP is mana points. SP stamina points.
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