[LitF] 15. Skills & Horse Stance (Patreon)

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Graham placed the storage safe on the wooden table and inputted the password. The cube's edges shone slightly, and the knight pushed his arm into it—or rather, into the spatial fold connected to the safe.

His hand and arm disappeared as if he was using his own spatial storage. A moment later, he pulled a Graham-sized wooden crate from the safe, placed it on the floor, and opened the lid, revealing countless skill crystals the size of a child's fist.

They looked like unblemished glass and came in six colors: red, green, yellow, blue, white, and black. They had at least two colors, up to four, mixed like clouds with blurred boundaries.

Arthur was impressed. He had never seen so many skill crystals in the same place before.

"What do you know about skills, milord?" Graham asked.

"Huh," was all his answer.

He only knew Fate gave people skill stones. He bet the man was about to explain much more than that, so there was no reason to share his ignorance. It was faster to just listen.

"Skills are a surrender to Fate, my prince. You allow Fate to use your body to do something for you. Some skills automate tasks for you, motions and actions, with little to no input on your part. Others make you stronger in specific ways. Whatever the case, they are convenient and often make life easier."

He grabbed three of the spheres from the crate and placed them on the table. They were all half-white, and the other half was red, yellow, or green.

"Skills are separated into three activation types: passive, weighted, and active." He raised the half-green crystal. "Green is for passive. Passive skills can be triggered and will keep affecting you while they are on. They provide bonuses and advantages without requiring a conscious effort from you or a price to pay. For instance, they can make you more resistant to mental manipulation, improve your skin's defenses, or even make your eyes glow."

"Like my mother's," Arthur pointed out. "And vampires."

"Yes and no, Your Highness. Her Majesty and vampires have glowing eyes due to their mana-sensitive biology. Just because a skill does something doesn't mean the same can't be done another way.

"In fact, some scholars believe that Fate takes inspiration from creatures throughout the universe for some skills. Some achievements have quotes from people from different worlds, which proves there's intelligent life out there, not only monsters and dungeons."

The prince nodded. He had noticed that in the D-tier Monster Gazer achievement.

Graham lowered the half-green crystal and picked up the half-red one. "Red is for active, Prince Boria. Active skills do something instantly or for a fixed period and have cooldown time before they can be used again. For instance, an active skill might let you go beyond the limits of your strength for a brief moment. Then, you'll have to wait many minutes before you can use that skill again."

Arthur squinted his eyes. "I guess their effects are more pronounced than passive skills? Because they are constrained by time?"

The knight nodded. "Usually yes, milord. Passive skills tend to be the least powerful." He lifted the last crystal. "Finally, yellow is for weighted. Weighted skills place a burden, a weight, on you. You sacrifice your stats in exchange for something while using that skill. My flaming fist is a weighted skill. I temporarily exchange mana points for a flame that won't hurt me but makes my punches more destructive."

Arthur was excited about finally finding out about that. So that wasn't an enchanted item like he had thought!

"How does that work? Can you pick the stat? The element? Wait, aren't awakeners limited to a single element? You said yours is space."

Graham put the skill crystal down. "My prince, have you ever wondered why knights become grand knights upon reaching level 50? One of the things that makes level 50 awakeners valuable is that your unlock an indirect element on that level. You can't use it directly, but some skills can. It's not a real secret but also not freely discussed outside certain circles."

"So you have two elements?!"

"Yes and no, Your Highness. I can only use my primary element, space, when doing magic. And only the indirect element, fire, can be used on skills. We also can't pick the indirect element; it's randomly assigned to us by Fate."

"What if I'm not level 50 yet and try to learn a skill like your flaming fist?"

"You still can part of the advantages, Prince Boria, like a stronger punch. However, you don't get the elemental advantages. No flames or great heat. You also won't even be able to see information about the secondary element on the skill crystal's window."

Graham stored two of the crystals away and put three others on the table. This time, they were all half-red, and the other half was white, black, or blue.

"As for picking which stat a weighted skill uses, sire, that's impossible. Also, I said the skill uses mana points, not a specific stat. All three stats in the mana category are temporarily lowered. The stat category you sacrifice is the one the skill is linked to, which you can see from the crystal's color. Each skill is linked to up to all three categories, and the sum of the category's stat points determines how strong the skill is." He touched the crystals one by one. "Black means body, white means mind, and blue means mana."

Arthur nodded. That color system was easy enough to memorize.

To sum it up: three activation types, active red, passive green, and weighted yellow; three stat categories, black body, white mind, and blue mana.

The knight then left only the half-black, half-red crystal on the table and swapped the others for a half-black, half-yellow. In other words, an active body skill crystal and a weighted body one.

He gestured towards them. "Go ahead, milord. Touch them, but don't learn them yet."

The prince complied and got two windows.

「 Skill: Firm Fingers

Type: Weighted

Category: Body

Your fingers gain an extra grip. 」

「 Skill: Self-Healing Surge

Type: Active

Category: Body

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Improves your healing speed. 」

"What are your thoughts on these skills, my prince?"

Arthur thought for a second before replying, "The first feels very underwhelming and costly, and the second sounds like magic. Also... Wouldn't Self-Healing Surge work better as a passive or weighted skill?"

In the stories, many spells only worked for a set period before dissipating. Arthur knew little about spellcasting except that it had to do with pushing mana into the correct pattern to have the desired effect.

"All skills are spells done by Fate, Your Highness. There's always some mana appearing from nowhere and making them work. Scholarly, magic is what everyone else but Fate does. When Fate does it, it's an intervention, like the skill crystals that are randomly gifted for killing monsters or the treasure boxes for killing bosses. Skills are the most common intervention.

"The most significant difference between Fate's intervention and an awakener's spell is that the former has no element. Skills use the same mana we absorb from the world, but we can't use it without pulling it into ourselves, which makes it elemental. Nevertheless, this system more than pays off because we can have a good affinity with an element.

"Those who haven't picked an element yet can theoretically copy those spells, but not in reality. The Fated Races' affinity with pure mana is abysmal, and we can do next to nothing with it. Enchantments use pure mana, which is also why enchanting is such a lacking art. Spatial storage artifacts and my grand knight armor have about the best enchantments possible. Conversely, alchemy uses elemental ingredients, which are more convenient to deal with but are limited by availability instead.

"So you see, there is no substitute for a powerful and experienced awakener. We are irreplaceable."

That was Arthur's first time hearing such things about enchanting and alchemy. In hindsight, however, the potion he had drank to prevent this dungeon from overflowing did feel much more potent than any enchantment he had ever seen.

Graham continued, "But you did well noticing the main issue with skills, my prince: they are too varied and seem to follow no pattern. Skills can affect all corners of life, from sleeping to flying, cooking to dancing, and survival to killing.

"The first skill, Firm Fingers, is very situational and too far from our needs, so it feels underwhelming. The second skill, Self-Healing Surge, might indeed work as a weighted skill instead. If fact, there is a very similar skill that is weighted.

"You can probably already imagine how tricky that makes things, but this is an important subject. Therefore, let us discuss basic math and a few statistics to go deeper.

"The Golden Kingdom has at least 300 legal dungeons at any time. They are delved daily, 20 times each on average. They also have 25 floors on average. That is an average of 150,000 bosses dead every day. On average, you get a skill crystal for every ten bosses you kill, so 15,000 crystals every day, not counting average monsters. That means 450,000 crystals every month, or 5.4 million every year. Our kingdom has 9 million people, and one in every hundred is an awakener.

"So, you might think there are enough crystals for those 90,000 to pick from, right? If evenly distributed, each one could get 60 crystals every year.

"You would be wrong.

"Three activation types and up to three stat categories in each type; twenty-one different activation type and category combinations for skills of all kinds. Fate's rewards are random; statistically, you'll find one skill crystal that matches your build in every two thousand crystals you get.

"As if that wasn't bad enough, you can also upgrade your skills by using more crystals.

"Whenever you get a skill, it starts at F-tier. You can improve it to E-tier by absorbing three new skill crystals containing the exact same skill. That number doubles for each tier. Six crystals for D-tier, twelve for C, twenty-four for B, forty-eight to A, and ninety-six for S. Imagine 190 skill crystals to go from not knowing a skill to getting it to S-tier. Even bad skills can become great at S-tier if used creatively, but more importantly, using that many crystals of a good skill, like my flaming fist, would be lunacy. It's much better to keep it at a lower tier and spread it among more warriors.

"Fortunately for me, you can also use skill crystals containing different skills to upgrade another. It requires double the crystals and only works if they are of the same activation and categories. That's much easier than finding the same skill repeatedly, especially for the more expensive ones. However, it also increases the cost and lowers the availability of worse skills. The less fortunate awakeners often find themselves with free skill slots until they get strong or influential enough.

"So, of course, whoever has the means wants to acquire as many crystals as possible, regardless of how good the actual skills are. Some crystals are acquired already with a goal in mind for the skill it contains. Others just lay around until they might be needed.

"Those 5.4 million crystals that are found in our kingdom every year? Less than one percent sees the light of day in a public store. All others are hoarded by those in power and exchanged in private deals."

Arthur was awed by all that but chose to smile and make a jab, "You sound like a revolutionary, Graham."

The man hadn't expected that and made a silent pause before chuckling. "Quite the opposite, Prince Boria. My goal is to give you context."

The prince's smile slowly died after the man talked about context. A single glance at the big crater full of crystals and the storage safe was enough for him to guess what was coming.

Graham continued, "In the storage safe His Royal Majesty gave me, there are enough crystals to teach you over 100 carefully curated skills for both paths you could've taken. They are also enough to get 10 of them to the S tier and the others to A. I want you to understand, sire, how incredible an opportunity you were given. His Royal Majesty's coffers were almost emptied. He bet everything on you."

Then, the man kneeled like Arthur used to kneel to his father: right knee to the ground, left arm and hand relaxed, left hand resting on the left knee, and a lowered head.

"Do not let it all go to waste, milord. I beg of you."

Arthur said nothing for a very long time. Then, he took a deep breath and stood up. "I swear to Fate."

The man immediately released Arthur from his vow, as the prince knew he would.

Yet, he had sworn anyway. It had been important for him to speak those words aloud and feel the mana setting into his soul, even if they weren't binding. Not Fate-binding, at least.

He would heed them anyway.

On his honor.

= - = - =

"Open your skills window, milord," Graham said as he stood up.

「 Skills

Body: 0/7

Mind: 0/3

Mana: 0/8 」

"Eighteen slots?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, Your Highness. You gain a skill slot for every one hundred stat points in a category."

The knight then pulled a small wooden cabinet from the storage safe. It was nowhere as heavy as the crate, and he left it on the table.

It had six drawers, and he pulled one of the two in the middle first. It revealed twenty carefully stored skill crystals, like jewels. Those twenty were half-white, meaning they were from the mind category, and labeled.

The one on the top-left corner was half-green, passive, and had "Mind Resistance" written on it. Graham picked it up and gave it to Arthur using both hands, almost ritualistically.

"This is one of the most expensive skills in existence, Prince Boria. No one wants to become someone's puppet, those with power the least. Wars have been fought for less. This is the first one you'll take to S-tier."

The prince took the crystal and got a window.

「 Skill: Mind Resistance

Type: Passive

Category: Mind

Gives your mind a better resistance against external factors. 」

The description's wording was interesting: external factors. It subtly suggested his own mind could change itself, but nothing else would be accepted.

Arthur willed Fate to let him learn the skill, and the crystal faded away into mana that soon dispersed in the air. Fate didn't need to use the actual sphere on the skill-giving process itself; it was only a key to make Fate give him the related skill.

The window's content changed to also tell him the skill's current tier, F. More importantly, he felt a pang of pain in his brain, followed by abnormal pressure, and then..

...peace.

The overwhelming, constant desire he had had for a while because of his vitality disappeared. The smell he suddenly noticed in the air was amazing and reminded him of Sophie, but it didn't make him crazy for her.

Arthur had never felt so much in control of himself.

"Wow," he whispered.

Graham overturned the big crater and pointed at the hundreds of rolling crystals on the floor. "These are disposable crystals, my prince. Find the matching crystals and take your first skill to the S tier before we move on."

While Arthur was still awestruck by the new sensation and only looking at the crystals, the man took yet another crater from the storage safe and also threw the crystals inside on the floor.

That would take a while.

= - = - =

Soon enough, Arthur had ten S-tier skills to his name. He had started with the mind category.

「 Skill: Mind Resistance

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Mind

Gives your mind a better resistance against external factors. 」

He saw the need and wisdom in having the mind resistance skill. The prince hadn't felt as threatened by Sophie because of Graham's presence, but how terrifying would it be to find a vampire while alone somewhere? He couldn't even imagine.

「 Skill: Psychic Shield

Tier: S

Type: Active

Category: Mind

Duration: 8 minutes

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Creates a shield around you. 」

Increasing a skill's tier visibly improved things like duration and cooldown on the skill's window, but almost as importantly, it improved the stats-points-to-effectiveness ratio.

In other words, a skill's power had to do with the related stat points, the more, the merrier. Improving a skill from F- to E-tier made each point twice as effective when used by the skill. D-tier made it three times as good as the F-tier. C-tier, four times, and so on. That's what made improving a skill's tier so desirable.

Arthur had tested the psychic shield at F-tier, and it created a skin-tight, thin mana layer—Fate's mana, not his—that barely blocked any air he blew on his skin. It wasn't that the skill was terrible; rather, his mind stats were too low.

At S-tier, however, the skill created an oval mana barrier one foot away from his skin and, according to Graham, could resist a short bow's arrow. It would only get better as his stats improved.

Still, he felt it was an underwhelming skill, just like his last S-tier mind skill.

「 Skill: Telekinesis

Tier: S

Type: Weighted

Category: Mind

Cost: 3 points per second

Lets you physically manipulate objects around you with your mind. 」

Graham insisted to Arthur that both skills made sense.

The prince would become a mage, and his opponents could make it harder for him to use magic while in an area or even block his movements from a distance. However, blocking someone from their skills required physical contact. Nothing could stop Fate's intervention when it was called, either; Fate's spells would always activate and could only be blocked or dispelled afterward.

The psychic shield and the telekinesis were secondary defensive layers. The former would help him block attacks, and the latter would make it possible for him to escape even if his limbs were out of commission. And since Arthur would be a mage specialized in the mind, it would be a waste not to make good use of his mind stats.

What bothered him the most was the knight's comment on telekinesis. "Awakeners unlock a new trait when a stat reaches 1,000 points. The strength trait is a superior version of telekinesis called Strength Beyond Self. Your Highness will have to do with it instead."

That made it feel like such a waste of a good S-tier skill!

As if that wasn't enough, there were also the body skills.

「 Skill: Improved Physical Resistance

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Body

Improves your body's overall physical resistance. 」

「 Skill: Improved Self-Healing

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Body

Improves your healing speed. 」

「 Skill: Improved Substance Resistance

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Body

Improves your resistance against foreign substances in your body. 」

Passive skills were already weaker than others, and any passive skill that touched an area affected by a stat or trait—which always had "improved" in the name—had the worst stat-points-to-effectiveness ratio of all.

Bringing those three skills to the S-tier made Arthur's strength and vitality only around three times as good in resisting physical impacts, healing, and protecting him from foreign substances! To add insult to injury, it didn't improve those stats' traits, either!

It felt like such a waste!

"Your survival must come before anything else, milord," the knight had insisted. "The dead can't help anyone, much less assist anyone with a war."

Then, came the three mana skills.

「 Skill: Elemental Mana Control

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Mana

Lets you control your mana better. 」

「 Skill: Improved Mana Pool

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Mana

Improves how much mana you can store. 」

「 Skill: Improved Mana Reach

Tier: S

Type: Passive

Category: Mana

Improves how far the mana under your control can reach. 」

Graham perfectly summed up his build. "Sire, as a mage, the most important thing to you is guaranteeing you can use your magic. Anything else pales in comparison. They are your first line of defense, and anything else is only in place in case your magic fail."

Arthur would become a mind specialist mage. If his magic failed him, his mind became his second line of defense. But if even that failed, the third line of defense, his body, was so weak—for an awakener—that it made more sense to improve his physical resistance and regeneration instead of giving him any more situational skill.

"Mana control and reach will be the basis of your fighting style, milord," Graham had insisted. "These skills are of utmost importance."

At least the mana control skill was good. Great, even.

Arthur could control mana like never before...

...which was absolutely useless for the current him.

"Spells require mana control, Prince Boria," Graham had insisted. "These three skills are the foundations of what will become the strongest mage the world has ever seen."

Well, Arthur would have to wait to see it, too.

The last of his ten S-tier skills followed the same logic.

「 Skill: Improved Mana Absorption

Tier: S

Activation: Passive

Category: Mana

Improves how fast you absorb mana. 」

No flaming fist or something as interesting for him.

Speaking of interesting, Arthur had gotten three achievements in total.

「 Achievement: Skilled

Tier: F

Reward: +3 stat points

You learned your first skill!

You can feel your power cursing through your veins, but that doesn't make you arrogant. You understand that all help is valuable and see nothing wrong with having Fate itself assist you in your pursuit of it. 」

「 Achievement: Jack of All Trades

Tier: B

Reward: +48 stat points

You learned three skills of each category!

Mastering a trade sounds better than it is. If you can breathe well but never learn how to hold your breath, you will never swim. If you can perceive details like a master but never learns how to close your eyes, you will never sleep. You understand the same logic applies to the rest of your life and will let you reach a grander fate. 」

「 Achievement: Skill Hoarder

Tier: D

Reward: +12 stat points

You learned ten skills!

Humbleness becomes power as you accept Fate's assistance over and over again. Your destiny gets warped by an external force that changes your fundamental existence. How is a sword different from a skill? You will reach a grander fate, no matter what tool you must use. 」

And so, after all was done, Arthur found himself standing underwhelmed before Graham.

"What now?" he asked.

"Now, sire, eight A-tier skills to fill the remaining slots; four body ones, four mana-related."

「 Skill: Improved Speed

Tier: A

Activation: Passive

Category: Body

Improves your speed. 」

"At first, this skill will only help keep you safe, sire. You'll have the ability to get out of danger faster than your agility suggests. Later, when you have enough mind stats to maintain conscious thought at such high speeds, it'll also assist in your physical combat capabilities."

「 Skill: Self-Healing Surge

Tier: A

Type: Active

Category: Body

Duration: 6 minutes

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Improves your healing speed. 」

"We talked about this skill before, my prince. Although it's an active skill, it's also not as good as others because it directly affects a stat. It might still be a life-saver. If you get hurt and your improved passive healing isn't enough to save you, this will hopefully do. Don't worry, you won't get any other healing skill."

「 Skill: Elasticity

Tier: A

Activation: Passive

Category: Body

Lets your body bend when it should break. 」

"Once we start training, having a body capable of movements you never imagined possible will be a great advantage, milord."

「 Skill: Mighty Roar

Tier: A

Activation: Active

Category: Body

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Lets you roar mightily. 」

"Might roar is the last body skill you'll gain for a while, my prince, until we improve your vitality again. It's a sound-based attack. Strong enemies will have defenses against it, but even they can be surprised, especially if also dealing with your magic and Telekinesis. Weaker enemies might be killed in a single roar if they are close enough."

That was the second most exciting of all skills Arthur had learned. The most exciting one was the last of the four A-tier mana skills.

「 Skill: Improved Mana Sensitivity

Tier: A

Activation: Passive

Category: Mana

Improves your mana sensitivity. 」

「 Skill: Improved Mana Resistance

Tier: A

Activation: Passive

Category: Mana

Improves your resistance to ill effects of mana. 」

The first two A-tier mana skills merely improved stuff affected by his stats.

「 Skill: Mana Shield

Tier: A

Activation: Weighted

Category: Mana

Cost: 5 points per second

Creates a mana shield around you. 」

"The mana shield skill isn't as good as a proper elemental shield, Prince Boria. However, not only might you eventually find yourself incapable of using magic, but you might also not have the attention to spare on your defenses. This is the last of the redundant defensive abilities you'll get."

「 Skill: Mana Sight

Tier: A

Activation: Passive

Category: Mana

Lets you see mana. 」

And that was a good skill.

Seeing mana in the air and inside people was breathtaking.

Pure mana flowed like a slow river everywhere, ethereal blue liquid filling the entire environment and moving in currents in all directions. Graham's mana was purple and shone, just like Arthur's gray mana. The knight had way much more mana than the prince.

The light didn't hurt Arthur's eyes or mind, but seeing a superimposed humanoid purple figure inside Graham's armor was positively weird.

"Should I turn it off when I'm not using it for anything?" the prince asked.

"No, Prince Boria. In fact, I greatly recommend against ever turning any passive skills off."

"Not even mind resistance?" he asked, surprised. "Won't it make me incapable of feeling emotions?"

"No, my prince. Mind resistance is also expensive because of how amazing it is. It doesn't mute the feedback you receive from your nerves; pain is crucial for anyone to know to avoid danger. It also doesn't prevent you from learning and growing as a person. Lastly, you're not immune to any chemicals your brain determines to be good for you. Vitality was forcing your body to produce chemicals your mind didn't see as needed; that's why the skill helped you with that. You can still feel all your emotions as usual."

Arthur nodded. As always, that made perfect sense—just as he guessed the answer to his next question would.

"Shouldn't mana sight have to do with my perception instead of my mana stats?"

"Well noticed, sire. When a skill's category overlaps with another, Fate either makes it take two slots or picks one, usually the most relevant one. In mana sight's case, it doesn't change your biology. It adds a kind of lens to your irises. Here, you can see it for yourself." He took a small hand mirror from his spatial storage and offered it to Arthur.

The prince took it and saw the tightly compressed blue mana construct glued to his eyes.

He strangely couldn't feel it, and guessed—and the knight confirmed—that one couldn't feel any pure mana directly under Fate's control.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel the mana in your body that came from all his passive skills. Likewise, he had never felt any mana when any boss reward appeared.

The lens on his eyes had the most mana he could see anywhere. The energy was tightly packed and looked like hundreds of tiny symbols on top of each other in three layers. It was a properly structured spell rather than a magic prehension.

"It reminds me of the circle and symbols on a temporary portal," he commented, then frowned. "Wait, if enchantments aren't elemental, how do storage safes and portals work?"

"I'll postpone that answer until a later date of your training, milord. On His Royal Majesty's orders."

Arthur rolled his eyes. Almost anything related to magic beyond what he had already learned—prehension—stopped at the wall erected by his father. He also wanted to know why Fate would use spells instead of prehension but didn't even try to ask.

"What now?" the prince repeated the question.

"Now, Your Highness, put the remaining crystals back in one of the craters," Graham said while storing the drawer back into the storage safe. "Use your telekinesis while making a nail float. Once you're done, I'll teach you how to fight."

The prince complied excitedly.

The nail had been left back at the door, proof of how awestruck by Sophie he had been. That he hadn't even noticed he was not making it float was further evidence of how distracted everything after had made him.

He felt his connection to it, made it float, then used his telekinesis.

The skill made use of an entirely new "mental limb." Connecting to metal was like making it part of himself, but telekinesis was an invisible mental hand. Well, not invisible to him; Arthur could see Fate's mana materialize from nowhere, tightly concentrated in a formless sheet, doing his bidding.

At first, he only picked one crystal at a time with that new limb, which he could instinctively use. Then, assisted by his mana sight, he saw how the formless mass of mana could easily stretch and hold more than one thing. He couldn't divide it but could grab seven crystals at a time. Any more than that, and the skill just broke.

The weirdest part was the weighted skill's cost. Arthur could literally feel his mind becoming slower and dumber as the seconds passed. While he placed crystals on the crater, the world lost color, and—

Overwhelming desire filled him, and he started running towards the house. To Sophie. He needed—

Arthur came back to himself standing a couple feet away from the house's door. Graham was behind him, holding him by the arms.

"Weighted skills can be dangerous, Your Highness. You must be careful. Your mind resistance skill might be S-tier, but it still depends on your mind stats. The skill won't be strong enough to protect you from external influence if you have too few points. Always remember that."

Arthur grunted.

That only made the strength trait even better; it didn't cost any stats to activate, like his telekinesis skill.

Strangely, he felt his mind stats improving even now that he was back to himself.

"What's going on with my mind stats?" he asked as the knight let go of him.

"You're feeling your stat points returning to you, Prince Boria. When you deactivate a weighted skill, your stats don't immediately return to you; they slowly return over time. However, unlike a cooldown, you can still activate the skill again during that period. At F-tier, you'll have to wait as long as you kept the weighted skill active to get your stat points back. At S-tier, you must wait a little less than a third of the time."

The prince frowned. "I don't recall deactivating the skill, though?"

"Weighted skills automatically deactivate when you no longer have the points to maintain them, my prince."

Arthur's frown deepened. He should've guessed that. Why hadn't he?

The obvious answer came to him seconds later: his mind stats were still low and getting back.

A few moments later, he felt his stats were all back. He took a deep breath and asked, "This was another demonstration, right?"

"Indeed, sire. A harmless but necessary one. You must still fill the crater, but be mindful of your stats. If you pay attention to it, which is admittedly harder to do while your mind is also focused on keeping the nail afloat, you can feel the mind resistance skill about to get unable to protect you. When you do, take a rest until your stats return."

Arthur nodded and did as told.

He found that feeling the mind resistance skill about to break was almost as weird as everything else. The power of skills was based on his current stats, not how high his points were when he wasn't using a weighted skill. He felt his mind resistance getting less and less effective until it strained under some external influence. It was like an invisible layer constantly growing thinner and getting pushed inwards until it was one step away from breaking.

He failed to find the proper moment to stop twice but eventually understood his current limits. He then had to adapt to new limits; Graham told him to add the extra 63 points from the achievements into wisdom.

Finally, he collected the last of the spare crystals, which Graham stored back in the storage safe.

Then, the knight opened his legs and flexed them while holding his close fists to his waist, a stance he had seen many warriors take.

"You weren't wrong, milord. Your skills are indeed not as flashy as some can be. However, put two warriors with the same stats on the field, an experienced war veteran without skills and a fresh recruit with the best S-tier skills he can think of. The experienced one will win nine out of ten times.

"Therefore, for the next two months, you'll learn to take utmost advantage of your body stats, lacking as they are. Then, we'll test them on the field against the weakest monsters in this dungeon. Your physical combat abilities will be your last line of defense, so they must be the first thing you learn. Your mind stats won't let you forget anything, but more importantly, you'll also build muscle memory for the day you need to use what you learn.

"This is called the horse stance. Copy me."

[A/N: Things will progress significantly faster from the next chapter onward.]

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