HPDBC Chapter 48 – Skills Go Up.
Chapter 48 – Skills Go Up.
Chapter 48 – Skills Go Up.
Congratulations Basic Swordsmanship has evolved into Swordsmanship
Swordsmanship L1
Passive Skills
An upgraded version of Basic Swordsmanship, this skill is required to unlock more advanced sword-related abilities. It reduces the resource usage (such as stamina or mana) for lesser sword-related active skills.
“That’s interesting, it lowers the use of stamina and MP on active skills?”
Rusty looked at the new skill description he received with a certain glint in his visor. While he did not have a stamina stat like many other living beings, he did have mana. It was his only battle resource, which he needed to watch carefully; once it was reduced to zero, he would fall into a state of slumber. If what this skill implied was true, then any active skills he used while holding a sword would cost fewer Magic Points.
However, his focus was not on the skill description but on what had just happened. One of his basic passive skills had actually turned into something new. His guides had mentioned something like this, but they weren’t quite sure if he would be capable of it. Rusty was an irregular dungeon monster who shouldn’t have been able to heighten his level or acquire new skills without the dungeon heart’s help. The dungeon created all the monsters and redistributed their stats, not the monsters themselves.
Now it was clear that his skill could reach new heights but there were also some limitations. From what his guides had told, the skill upgrades were determined by his form and level. It was possible that to gain an even more advanced version of this passive skill, he would need to evolve into a monster of D rank. It would probably take a while until he could confirm this new knowledge and before that there were other things he needed to check.
First he needed to confirm if the new passive skill actually did what the description said. While holding his bronze sword, he performed a basic power slash that had also begun reaching a higher point and perhaps would ascend to a higher tier skill. His weapon glowed red and slashed forward with increased speed.
“It does work!”
Previously, the power slash skill had consumed five points of his MP; now, it only cost three points. This meant there was a flat reduction of at least forty percent to his active skills, complementing his passive swordsmanship skill. This was not all he noticed; with the ascension of the skill came additional boons besides the lowered mana cost.
“It feels a lot lighter than before...”
Rusty held his sword and could tell that his movements had become sharper than before. It was as if his eyes had been opened, and he now realized how many unnecessary movements he had been performing during his attacks. Before, each sword swing had been planned but slightly awkward. Now, every movement flowed more naturally, almost as if the sword was becoming an extension of his arm. He practiced a few more swings, confirming the increase in his precision and speed.
“I wonder how it will feel if I reach advanced swordsmanship or eventually master the skill fully...”
This was just the tip of the iceberg, and his guides had mentioned the sequence to him beforehand. Soon after came advanced skills, then expert, master, and even grandmaster. There was still a lot he could improve, and he had multiple skills to train. With the help of this tactic, it was possible to do this at a record pace, but he was still working on a tough schedule.
He wanted to descend further down and start leveling, but he also recognized the importance of his skills. Stats weren’t everything, a lesson he learned after facing off against that adventurer leader. With the help of his Basic Elemental Charge skill, he was able to fend him off. Under normal circumstances, the man would have likely emerged victorious, given his more advanced skills and probably higher level. Yet, one skill managed to turn the tide of battle, making Rusty quickly realize that skills were just as crucial as his main level and stats.
“I don’t have any passive skills regulating Elemental Charge and Discharge though, so I won’t be able to lower how much MP it uses...”
When leveling active skills, they would usually just increase in power, or the area they covered would become wider. This held true for his Basic Elemental Charge skill as well, which, once leveled up, would affect everything further from the item he charged up. Gaining forty percent more time with the skill active would have been much better than just intensifying it. However, he wasn't sure what would happen once an active skill had been upgraded. The tactic of using it to slay each of the living armor monsters was working, albeit not as quickly as with the passive skills.
Rusty continued with leveling up his passive skills along with his active ones, focusing on power slash and thrust the most. He was systematically luring in more living armors, even deciding to try multiple ones at once. With both shields and his body being hit from all directions, his defensive skills were being leveled quite fast and soon they also started advancing to the next tier of power.
Congratulations Basic Shield Proficiency has reached the maximum level.
Congratulations the requirements to upgrade Basic Shield Proficiency have been met.
Congratulations Basic Shield Proficiency has evolved into Shield Proficiency
Shield Proficiency L1
All his passive weapon skills had been upgraded to higher-tier ones. It was clear that basic skills were F-rank, and fighting F-Plus living armor opponents allowed them to level up quickly. To repeat such a feat, he would need to do the same with E-rank monsters, something he hoped to confront soon. His main goal was to damage the dungeon and force the heart to banish him. To his surprise, this week of grinding not only allowed him to gain skill levels but also seemed to affect the temple area where he had made his temporary lair. The relentless battles and accumulation of defeated living armors had altered the environment.
“The number of bronze armors has decreased, there should be twice as many...”
The number of his lesser counterparts had decreased by at least half. It seemed that killing them and taking their bodies for spare parts had put some type of toll on the dungeon. Rusty wasn’t sure, but this dungeon might have required the monsters' bodies to be returned; otherwise, it would eventually run out of resources to recreate them. While adventurers sometimes took monsters or their body parts with them, it was not to the extent Rusty had done. His game-like storage space was quite vast and did not have the limits his stash tab did.
There was a limit of ninety-nine for each body part of the living armor but that didn’t stop him from gathering more. He could use his SP to turn those body parts into bronze ingots after reaching the limit. This was apparently enough to start affecting this place and either the dungeon was running out of resources, or it identified that something was wrong and decided to halt monster production in this area to lower its losses.
“Either way, this is a good start.”
It was time to move on with his current quest. All his skills had increased, and his time on the sixth floor was coming to an end. He had no idea how deep this dungeon went, and Alexander couldn’t tell either. Alexander mentioned that the tenth level was usually significant, but he would need to reach it first to confirm this. Thus, with a full inventory of bronze, he headed towards the seventh floor, which brought another change to the dungeon.
“This one looks... a lot different...”
Rusty had to take a moment to look around as a thick mist had gathered in this area. He had never seen anything like this before in the dungeon, and the space was also quite vast. His first steps caused him to sink into the ground, making his sabatons quite dirty. In the distance, he heard strange monster sounds, which some people would describe as toad croaks.
“There are no corridors here?”
It was a giant swamp, with it spreading out in all directions. The dense fog made it difficult to see far out and the ground was covered in mud. This place was not like the other floors and it would probably be a lot harder to hide himself from adventurers.
Rusty moved cautiously, each step squelching in the soft ground. The fog was thick, reducing his visibility to only a few meters ahead. The croaks and calls of amphibious monsters echoed eerily around him. He approached a few strange sightings, which turned out to be tall, dark trees with no leaves. In the distance, he spotted green lights, which, upon further examination, turned out to be structures similar to the temples he had seen on the higher levels.
Groans of monsters resounded from these strange structures that reminded him of the lesser undead zombies from the second floor. There seemed to be many of them surrounding this strange structure. The green lights revealed themselves to be some sort of magically enchanted braziers. They were around this area which for some reason was missing a lot of fog. It was as if the flames were pushing the mist away.
“That one looks different than the others...”
Classification:
Diseased Zombie L5 F+
Type:
Undead/Humanoid
Classification:
Diseased High-Zombie L2 E-
Type:
Undead/Humanoid
Among the diseased zombies that were still F-rank monsters, stood one that was different. Its body was larger with more muscular limbs and its movements were swifter. It was the first time Rusty had encountered a proper E-rank monster and it was an undead zombie type, something that he probably had an affinity for.
“I suppose, this is where it starts...”
While hiding behind one of the large swamp trees, Rusty scanned his surroundings to ensure no other monsters or adventurers were nearby. Soon, he equipped his shield and longsword; it was time to conquer this floor as he had the one before. Perhaps if he could continue slaying multiple monsters, the dungeon would need to react to his presence and eventually reject his existence.