Chapter 1165 – Prep Grinding 6 – Skill Updates


    John was poking the coin-sized remains of Ruhrszatch’s energy with his finger. It felt slippery, like oiled skin, and sapped heat from him. It was difficult to say whether it was round, flat, or something in between.


    Several times, he poked it. This was one of the many actions he would have heavily advised against, if this had been a real environment. From breaking the seal to now putting himself in direct combat with the core of the corrupting influence, there were a lot of bad decisions in the narrative. A narrative was all it was, however, as long as it stayed in here. Which was why he was wary of the loot.


    “Let’s see what we got and call it a day,” John announced and looked for the chest. When he found that it had spawned outside the boss arena, over where Lorelei stood, he raised an eyebrow. ‘Boss goes out asking for a stronger vessel, leaves an altar behind, loot spawns outside the boss arena... yeah, this is setting up a secret boss of some variety,’ he thought as he walked over.


    He also had a choice to consider.


    More Loot was out by default. The group was rarely, if ever, looking for items. That being said, Corrupted Arsenal was attractive for two reasons. Number one was that there was a single item John was looking for – something that could have filled his empty Right-Hand Equipment Slot. Anything good that went there would be a power increase and the Loottable of the Fallen Vessel specifically mentioned a ring and a claw. The second reason why the choice was enticing was that it existed in the first place. It was the first time something beyond More Loot and More Power was on the table.


    ‘If I was a game designer, why would I do that?’ John asked himself and glanced over to the dormant altar. ‘Maybe they get upgraded or cleansed after the secret boss? Bit of an archaic design decision to create a system like that without hints, but I don’t know why else this would be on the ticket. Those items have to be special in some way, otherwise there’d be no reason to give a guaranteed way to acquire them.’


    The mystery enticed John and he drummed his fingers on the lid of the chest. It remained closed until he made his choice, which was annoying because the contents could have influenced what he picked. Which was also why Gaia had implemented that lock, he reckoned.


    ‘More Power is obviously the best choice. I really need the SEP,’ John told himself. Skill Evolution Points were about half the reason why he stuck to the Raid despite the bad yield on Experience Points. He needed at least two to finally evolve Mana Chain into Chains of Babylon and Arcana Strike into Skyfall.


    As much as the Corrupted Arsenal choice tempted him, with his aversion to introducing void items to his Equipment and the fact that More Power presented him with what he actually came for, it was clear what he had to pick.


    John checked the GP Store while he was at it. He hadn’t used it in forever and perhaps it was time to finally spend some of the points that had been building up.


    ‘...Gaia really wants me to get one of the Corrupted Arsenal items,’ he thought. ‘Or at least let me have the chance to get one.’ He also noted that the previous choice to buy Guild Perks was gone. A reasonable change, given that the mechanic had run its course. In its stead there was an option to buy a permanent mana increase for the Guild Hall. That could come in handy at some point, despite its hefty price-tag. ‘Maybe I should buy some Skill Points,’ John considered.


    He kept that at the back of his mind, while finally pushing the lid of the chest and reaching inside. The items they had been awarded manifested in his hands one after the other.@@ons, there were two Corrupted Mithril-Steel Ingots, one Corrupted Ohmior Gauntlet, and one Ohmior Armour Instructions. The corrupted items had flowery descriptions that basically read as ‘WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH IF WISDOM UNDER 100’.


    “Would have never said anything else,” John chuckled. “You definitely aren’t growing into the maid role or anything.”


    “Shut it, Mast- dammit!”


    The Gamer kept laughing to himself while he moved to the spacious bathroom on the ground floor. Competing with his Palace was impossible for a spawned-in mansion, but the polished red granite floor and mirror-covered walls did put up a valiant effort to compete. It all had a very pre-enlightenment era style to it, as if the room belonged in Versailles. A massive bathtub was lowered into the ground, just about large enough to fit the entire harem inside its heart-shaped form.


    It was already filled to the rim with water. Nathalia stepped over the edge, a hand-width higher than the floor, and into the still liquid. Spilling over the edge, water flowed into a drain that surrounded the tub, while the dragoness stood in wait for her lover. John followed swiftly, causing yet more echoes of splatter to bounce around the room.


    The Gamer grabbed Nathalia’s left hand and pulled her down with him. Together, they got comfortable in the point of the heart-shape. Lips and tongues met in deep caress, as they started to make up for the time they had lost today. The rest of the harem soon spilled into the bath and the usual ensued.


    About two hours, a change of water, a scrumptious meal, and general frolicking later, a tired Gamer lingered on a couch and used his Skill Evolution Points to finally get the upgraded Skills that he had unlocked a while ago.


    An astoundingly good Skill Evolution, worthy of the Class Level it had taken to get it. Having the Mana Chains anchored not to himself, the Unstable Arcana, or his Extension made them incredibly more effective at restraining enemies. Speed, damage, sturdiness and range were all also higher than before. That it could travel the entirety of the distance between its spawn and its maximum range in less than a second made it an impressively reliable projectile – as long as his aim was true.


    Unstable Arcana was obviously affected by this change. Every pulse of that attack launched a Mana Chain. Each of these would come with their own anchor that could spawn in the ten-metre radius around the main spell.


    It was good to see that these things were properly updated.


    Arcana Strike had always been a good tool, but there had been a critical weakness to it that had made it unwieldy in most situations: its cost was always all of John’s current mana. Skyfall did not have the same issue, which was half of the reason why John had wanted it. The other half was general improvement.


    Skyfall still filled the same niche as Arcana Strike. It was a big, slow, massively destructive spell that John could use to brute force something. It did also have a drawback though. Arcana Strike, once launched, sat up above until John wanted to launch it. Skyfall was set the moment he used it. All he could do afterwards was cancel it with Interrupt Cast, refunding 50% of the cost. He held out hope that a future Perk would restore that utility.


    He had one more SEP available and no target that seemed worthwhile to use it on. There was Arc Lance and Unstable Arcana, both of which he was completely happy with in their current iteration. Over at the Passive Skills, Fencing and Kickboxing offered themselves, which was new. If John was a betting boy, he could unlock new Techniques that way. He had absolutely no interest in doing so, however. The few that he had were enough to reliably activate Arcane Rejuvenation, consuming the stacks he built up on enemies to restore his mana.


    Interface was the most attractive option. The basic technomancy spell had become a convenience in most of his life, allowing him to direct nearby electronics after he had touched them. He was still fairly limited in its usage, only having a single avatar in the electronic world, and held back by the tether range. Improving that further doubtlessly would increase its utility. The Skill had little in terms of combat use, but neither had Master Stud and he had never regretted the long path it had taken his various sex Skills to their current state.


    Only problem with Interface was that it wasn’t currently maxed out. Skill Evolutions were best kept until that point. So that was what John decided to do: hold out until either Interface reached 100 or, maybe, Starforger presented him with another attractive Skill Evolution.


    Before John closed his windows for the day, he checked on Artificial Spirit. ‘That’ll reach 50 overnight,’ he reasoned, looking at the almost full bar. ‘I should buy another 50 Skill Points, then I can do two Perks and new Skills for all four of them. Plus, the Reset Perk might let me cope with the abhorrent mana cost...’


    He nodded to himself, that was what he would do tomorrow.