Chapter 16 – Capture: Backyard Dungeon (2)
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I swiped through the skill list in Dungeon Seekers. It displayed a silly amount of skills. And I got the skills I had marked with a star to signal myself that I was planning to acquire them later on.
Each time I pressed the Learn button, my heart rate went up significantly and I felt power surging through my whole body.
Using the points I earned on the first floor, I bought four skills.
- 『Magic Swordsmanship: One』 15 SP （30 SP）
- 『Banner of Revolt』 20 SP （40 SP）
- 『Tactics: One』 25 SP （50 SP）
- 『Mana Manipulation』 50 SP
First off, this one:
Passive Skill
『Magic Swordsmanship: One』
You acquire the technique to fight with a magic sword. Each time you learn an extended skill, this skill will become more refined.
This magic swordsmanship skill cost me half the usually necessary SP thanks to the effect of the title 『Magic Sword Wielder』, the skill I became able to learn beforehand. Originally I intended to grab 『Swordsmanship: One』, but magic swordsmanship seemed somewhat stronger and since I thought it’d match my current combat style, I went with this skill.
In reality, I feel like it has allowed me to precisely grasp the abilities of Dragon Eater as a magic sword which I had been using randomly until now.
Passive Skill
『Banner of Revolt』
It eases your grasp of the battle situation in few-versus-many-constellations. It largely enhances your own abilities when facing an enemy while being numerically inferior.
When you hoist a weapon of the flag type, this skill will apply its effect to all your allies. Also, in case you hoist up a sword weapon, it will apply the effect to all your allies in the same way.
This skill had its necessary SP limited by the title 『Usurpator』. I don’t know about the future, but at present I think I’ll mostly dive into dungeons by myself. If I consider that, this skill will basically enhance me constantly, so it should be quite useful. Its ability to apply the effect to all allies seems rather difficult to use with a sword, though.
Passive Skill
『Tactics: One』
You acquire strategic and tactical teachings focused on Hand-to-Hand combat. Each time you learn an extended skill, this skill will become more refined.
The third skill was 『Tactics: One』. In short, it was a skill about obtaining knowledge related to the way of fighting. I think it’ll tell me what to do in certain situations. It’s a skill assisting me with my judgment in regards to battle.
For an instant I felt like it might overlap with 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』, but contrary to a direct combat skill like 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』, 『Tactics: One』 seems like it’ll grant me tactical knowledge and differentiation. If you hear the skill’s name, The Art of War immediately crosses your mind, but in the past warriors sometimes were called tacticians as well.
And lastly…
Passive Skill
『Mana Manipulation』
You gain the power to control the mana inside your body.
I’ve been curious about it for a while now due to the boost and the necessary SP being 50, but I was able to guess that the feeling, which I got when I used Dragon Eater earlier and could only describe as energy earlier, might have actually been mana. As such, this skill helps me with using that mysterious energy…mana.
I only understood it after obtaining this skill, but 『Barrier Coating』 seems to consist of mana.
Ever since I started Dungeon Seekers, my physical abilities have increased so much that they left human boundaries, but this was triggered by my levels going up. And the leveling…although that’s just my own speculation…is very likely nothing more than an increase of the mana one possesses. Moreover, even the strengthening of my physical abilities probably took place because of my mana.
By securing a method to control that mana, I’ll be able to draw out more mana than my level grants me for a short period of time, and I’ll become able to boost specific parts of my body like enhancing my leg strength or brute strength.
Those four are the skills I acquired this time around.
I think many people would notice it at a glance, but all the skills I got this time are passive skills. I pondered whether I should get another active skill besides 『Hidden Style – Dragon Eater』, but going by my rich yet short combat experience, I trusted my own principle and followed through on the acquisition.
The principle guiding me is the idea that my opponent must be dumbstruck by the powers I chose.
What do I mean?
Let’s think about it for a moment. We’ll assume I chose a fairly powerful active skill for example. It’d be very easy to use, I might be able to slay many monsters with it, and most players might not be able to deal with it. However, I’d always fear that a truly strong, formidable opponent would be capable of easily dealing with that active skill since it always uses the same motions and functions, even if you can customize it to a certain extent.
Also, other players will obviously be able to obtain the same skill as well, if I can get it, so it’s quite possible that people will find out how to counter that technique efficiently. And since I cannot exclude the possibility of me having to fight other players again, this would be a fatal flaw for me.
In other words, I shouldn’t get any active skills, except for rare ones like 『Hidden Style – Dragon Eater』. I’ll obtain passive skills which grant me a high grade of freedom. This might lead to my way of fighting becoming quite complex, but it’ll remain flexible enough to adapt to new situations.
It’s unthinkable for me to obtain an active skill, if I take into account that I might have to face monsters or players, who invalidate that active skill, one day. Active skills are abilities that don’t require their users to use their head. They’re dangerous shortcuts.
Based on that, I made a gamble. I decided to use all my points on passive skills, which are considered to be waste, without knowing whether my own idea about this is true or wrong. Without diversifying my risk by investing points in either branch, I went all-in on the passive skills.
Thanks to the effect of 『Hidden Style User』, the necessary SP has been lowered, and in the worst case, the passive skills will also serve as adjustments. So it’s no problem.
Just when I was about to turn off my smartphone and put it away into my pocket, after reviewing the skills I got, I noticed a pop-up displayed on my skill list.
“『Optimize』 has become possible…? What’s that about?”
Spotting that new button called 『Optimize』, I felt confused. I didn’t see any explanation about something like an optimization in the manual, so I don’t have the slightest idea what it might actually entail.
For the time being, I pressed the Information button, checking out the details.
『?』 for Optimize
It’s one of the three skill customization types: 『Advance – Optimize – Evolve』. Optimize allows to combine several skills or titles into a single skill. It’s possible to discover entirely new skills through optimization.
“So fuckin’ sly…damn!”
I got pissed at the management for not having included such important information in the manual from the very start. I fully checked the manual once more to make sure, but just as I thought, it wasn’t written in there.
Once I pressed on the new entry 『Optimize』, a certain screen appeared.
『Tactics: One』 + 『Mana Manipulation』 = 『???』
“As always, it’s totally like a social game…”
A combination for Optimize was shown to me as I groaned while staring at the smartphone. But, I feel like it’s usually beneficial for the player to go ahead with such a function, if it appears in this sort of game.
When I tapped on the Combination suggestion, it asked me 『Do you wish to optimize these skills?』. I pressed YES in response.
Thereupon, a small clip of a skill being fused with another skill started to play back, just like in many other social games, and soon it flashed a big 『HUGE SUCCESS!』 on the screen. Next, the new skill was displayed in the window.
Passive Skill
『Magic Tactics: One』
You have learned mana manipulation and you have learned tactical and strategic teachings with the existence of mana as a prerequisite. Each time you acquire an advanced skill, the functions of Magic Tactics will be refined.
At the same time of me acquiring the skill, new knowledge streamed into my head…my soul. This is…
This skill, which teaches tactics based on the existence of mana as prerequisite, is completely different from what 『Tactics: One』 taught me. Or to be more precise, I felt like I picked up strategic thinking and the way of sword fights through 『Tactics: One』 while staying within the bounds of common sense, but 『Magic Tactics: One』 blows all of that away as it taught me new, crazy and unthinkable ways of fighting while taking the existence of an absurd power like mana for granted.
If I fought against an enemy with mana while relying on 『Tactics: One』, I might have been in deep shit…
Skills possess the three paths of 『Advance – Optimize – Evolve』. So it seems smart to consider my way of fighting and skill acquisition based on this fact.
The second floor was a cave with the ground having seemingly been plastered. I perceived a huge number of enemies bustling around ahead of where the sun wouldn’t reach.
At that time, my 『Intuition』 suddenly triggered towards my back, where I didn’t sense anyone, for some reason, so I looked back right away.
“…?”
I stared closely at the area behind me, but could only see ant roads continuing all over. I guess it being just my imagination actually exists as well. My intuition has never been wrong so far, though.
Focusing myself on the task ahead once more, I took a breath and shook my shoulders. Without any fear, I stepped forward while holding Dragon Eater in my hand, heading deeper inside the anthill.
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