Chapter 494 - Go big or go home (Patreon)

Sofia gave the Midenicite catalyst to Cinthia. “I insist, please take it. Not only did you help in finding me even when you had lost your memories, but you also performed worse than the rest of us in the last trial, so we have to help you keep up the pace!”

“H- hey! I did not perform that badly… But I’ll take it, then. Thank you,” Cinthia finally conceded after refusing the catalyst two times. 

“You did well,” Saria consoled the orc girl, “we’re just all crazy. You managed the bonus task too, not everyone even got there. I know I didn’t.”

“Wait, you didn’t?” Sofia repeated, looking at her sister like she had heard something nonsensical.

“No, I was too busy hunting a Deepwater Drake for months, so I missed out on the task. Got a great signature skill with that keystone though. I regret nothing!”

“Should we do a quick roundup of how everyone did?” Astelia suggested, since they were all reunited already. Sun and Erredis were still talking back in the castle, so the current group were only the trial-takers and Everelle.

“Great idea,” Sofia agreed, “Should I go first or last?”

“Sister, let us brag a bit before you steal all the attention,” Saria quipped, but she had been playing with Sofia’s light hair for a while now, so it was clear her attention was already stolen.

“I’m fine with going last, you all know the broad lines already anyway… Then how about Alith goes first, I’m curious about how she did this time. She had a revenge to take on the trials since the ranking spire.”

Alith stopped admiring the craftsmanship on the diamond catalyst Erredis had made and looked up to the group, “Me first? Sure thing… Well. You know I wagered a special essence like Sofia, right? So… The heart just flew through the trial on its own, basically, I spent all my damn time chasing after it and killing whatever got in the way, pretty much. It was a fucking tiring year…”

“That does sound tiring,” Astelia commented, “did it just fly randomly?”

Alith shook her head, “No, it guided me through the trial, really. I didn’t have to think, only keep up with the pace. It guided me through the bonus task in the first week, took me through dungeons with the shortest paths, tracked down monsters to get the best possible imprints…”

Saria was impressed, “That sounds great, said like that, I almost wish I had wagered the same thing, I might have finished the bonus task too.”

“No,” Alith answered, a look of dread on her face, “you really don’t want that. It was hell. Yes it guided me, but the heart… It also attracted the monsters. Hordes of them. Always,” Alith shuddered at the memories, “Night was the worst. I still see the Sunless chasing me when I close my eyes…”

“Sorry,” Everelle apologized, although she had nothing to do with it.

Alith’s countenance changed in an instant, she was back to her normal lively self, “You don’t have to be, I’m just playing it up a bit. It was bad but I’m hard to catch, especially since I got the bonus task reward early. I asked for a way to increase my stamina regeneration, and that allowed me to really go all out with my specialization. I also collected plenty of interesting plants on Cerberus so I’m pretty happy with this last year!”

“What about your keystone?” Sofia asked, since she already knew that Alith also had an SSS rank heart.

“Killed a mountain elemental, like a giant sprite, kind of? Just have a look at what Clint made with it,” Alith said, opening a system window for all to see.

[Will of the mountain lady]: /SSS rank Signature Skill/

This lady is done waiting, she is coming for you.

Stats other than your mana cannot be lowered for 250 (Class level) seconds. 

Cooldown: unalterable 30 minutes.

“Stats other than your mana…” Sofia read out loud.

“Does that mean you become immortal for the duration of the skill?” Astelia asked.

“My health won’t go down, so yes. But it’s even better than that! If I activate short term stat boosts before activating the skill, they will last until the end of it!” Alith explained with a wide smile, an array of potion flasks appearing in her hands held between each fingers.

“That means it also works with skills like Pareth’s sanctified grounds… That’s really really good, but doesn’t it make your specialization useless while you activate it?” Sofia observed.

“You’re not totally right, Sof, it gives me time to regenerate my stamina so in a way it does help, even if yeah the specialization itself is not very useful anymore while this is active. I can’t be twice immune to damage…”

The conversation quickly devolved from there, and instead of telling each other tales of their trials like they had wanted to originally, they just compared signature skills like it was a competition to see who had the best one. 

Along with Alith’s, Saria’s skill was equally simple in its usage.

[Draconic riptides]: /SSS rank Signature Skill/

It all starts from the ebb. How exhilarating must it be, to swim against the current.

Activate along any directional attack to create pressured water ‘riptides’ of similar power and shape, striking in the opposite direction with a slight delay.

Mana cost : 0.5% Max mana + 1000.

Cooldown : 0.5s

Saria quickly demonstrated, striking a bone pillar that Sofia summoned for her, as she threw a right hook at the pillar, a fist of water followed from the left half a second later, finishing to destroy the half broken bone cylinder.

“In dragon form it copies the trajectories of all five of my claws for the cost of a single cast, it’s also pretty generous about what a directional attack is, basically anything works except lunging attacks straight ahead,” she explained to the crowd.  

Next was Cinthia, who did not have a keystone, but still had an interesting skill nonetheless.

[Hype train]: /S rank Signature Skill/

IT HAS NEVER BEEN SO HIGH!

Strike forward with a blast of divine energy borrowing the domains of your viewers to inflict additional effects.

Mana cost : Current mana + essence tokens (Spent tokens cannot exceed Number of viewers * 10000).

Damage (approx): Mana cost * (Number of viewers + (essence token/10000))

Cooldown : 24 hours.

It sounded a bit complex at first but everyone quickly agreed that it was a good skill when Cinthia explained that not only was the attack itself almost invisible, it also had no channeling time. That meant that at any time during a fight Cinthia could empty her entire mana pool for a surprise deadly attack. More Recessed also tended to watch her whenever she was fighting, so the synergy with her class worked out well.

“Oh, is it my turn?” Ihuarah exclaimed when everyone looked at him, “There is not much to be shown, I am afraid. While I did, in fact, go out of my way to get a Keystone imprint from a Chimera, this new mana heart only served to better accommodate my old magicks, much to the displeasure of a certain God.”

“So you already had something like a signature spell, shadowman?” Alith asked him.

“Indeed. Although the process of creating such a spell was a much different ordeal back then. Said skill has been renamed [Shields of the weave] by the system, its basic principle is that of weaving a single continuous thread of cursed mana into a protective barrier like so,” he explained to the group, demonstrating as he spoke. He waved a finger around, leaving a visible trail of mana behind, and as he went, the thread folded upon itself until it became a floating sheet of cursed mana hovering in front of Ihuarah, connected to him by the end of the thread.

“It is fairly tough, long lasting, does repair by itself a little over time if not completely destroyed, and most importantly, I am capable of maintaining many of them at the same time,” he continued explaining while everyone but Everelle observed his creation. 

“He can hold about twenty of them at once,” she commented.

“That is right,” Ihuarah confirmed, “However, I was able to handle hundreds during my prime. The time will come again.”

“I’m sure it will,” Everelle said, grabbing his right arm from behind, “Is the Vampire lady next, then?”

“Well… I… Alright, here…” Astelia said, looking away as she displayed her signature skill’s description to the group. 

[Moon Titan]: /SSS rank Signature Skill/

Always going above and beyond, a titanic body to host your titanic will.

Strong gravity magic will help surround yourself with whatever matter is available nearby to create the body of a titan.

The titan may be up to 1250 ((class level x (class level/100)) x 2) meters tall.

The titan counts as your body for the purpose of using magic and receiving boosts.

The titan counts as an external armor for the purpose of receiving damage.

The titan does not consume stamina.

The titan will crumble when its body integrity is too low or you run out of mana.

Mana cost : base mana regeneration per second.

Cooldown : 1 month.

“What the fuck did you kill, Asty?!” Alith asked, wide eyed.

“J- Just a big Sunless…”