A lesson of skill

The next morning he woke up with the light shining from the big windows towards the harbor. The workers could already be heard form the docks and even the first ship bells rang signaling them leaving the port.

Next to him lay the busty women he had spent the night with. Donning his armor and picking up all of his stuff he went to the door. He would have left a tip for all he had learned and experienced last night, but he had no idea just how much Tharynn had paid. And Jay doubted he even had enough money on him to pay a fitting tip.

As he reached the door he heard a light rustling from behind him.

"If you're in the city again, I'd be happy if you come by. I'll tell Velena to not charge you... Have a safe trip, big guy..." E.

Leaving the infatuated beauty behind while stating he hoped to meet again, he left the room and went down to the lobby. Tharynn was already there, waiting for him with an admiring gaze.

Wishing each other a good morning they left the building and went to the stables where they took their horses.

On their way Jay fetched some rations for breakfast as Tharynn seemingly had spent all the money the last night. He even got a slight discount without much haggling. They rode the same way back to the Mages Quarter they came from.

As the two reached the tower and went to meet Andomar, the once so proud High Sorcerer stated he only found little to the quality of mana used on the totems. It had not been made by human hands, but he couldn't get more of it in this short time. The Master enchanter Kitta Theocritus at the tower of azura might help them, he stated with a downhearted voice.

Tharynn and Jay took the totem and left the tower thanking High Sorcerer Andomar. As they mounted their horses, the two rode to the fort for report. Again he was left outside as the Adjutant went in.

This time he felt like he was being watched as he held their horses reigns next to the wall of the fort.

As much as he looked around and searched for the culprit he couldn't spot the one. Only a couple of minutes later, Tharynn reappeared and they finally left the city. It had been a very interesting and productive trip for Jay to say the least, but now he thrived even more to test his skills.

As they had passed the Gate Tharynn began to inquire. He had been exceptionally silent the whole morning contrary to the day before.

"Say, what the hell was that last night? I mean... Just how long did you go at it? And... HOW?!?" T.

Scratching the back of his head, Jay shook his shoulders. He couldn't simply state that he copied Elishkas skills and went from zero to hero in nightly affairs. Though of course that was exactly what he had done. And he didn't feel ashamed one bit as the woman before him had deserved someone skilled.

After telling it may had been a lucky night due to his youth or something and brushing it off, they talked for a while. Jay even told him he had gone for the mage job which Tharynn congratulated him for. It was one of the rarer Jobs as only few qualified.

On their further way back he checked the skills he had learned and was surprised. The moment he concentrated on them they revealed abilities to use and test out.

__________

Skills:

Basic:

(Common)

-enables to talk, read and write Common

[Night vision]

-enables colorless vision in total darkness

[Camping LVL 1]

-Rest outside well

[Hunting LVL 1]

-enhances damage against animals by 20%

(Tracking LVL1)

-allows to easily track targets lower than your Level

Lumbering [LVL 2]

-proficiency with Axes risen: Damage +20%

[Trickery LVL 1]

(Pickpocket LVL 1)

[Night skills LVL5]

-enhances pleasure given by 70%

(All night long LVL3)

-you can go on 3 Times without pause after 1st Climax

(Sexual Stamina LVL2)

-enhances the sexual stamina by 100%

(Lubed)

[Haggling LVL3]

(Overcharge LVL2)

(Discount LVL1)

-get a discount of 5% on each purchase

[Alcohol tolerance LVL1]

Physical:

[Sword LvL 1]

(Slash LVL1)

[Two-handed Axe LvL 2]

(Cleave LVL1)

[Dagger LvL 3]

(Stab LVL 3)

(Piercing LVL2)

[Bow LVL 2]

-enhances the damage done with bows by 40%

(Aimed Shot LVL 1)

(Double-strafe LVL1)

[Thrown LVL 2]

(Throwing LVL2)

[One-handed Mace LVL 2]

(Crushing Blow LVL1)

[Shield LVL 1]

(Shield Bash LVL 1)

[Parcours LVL 1]

Magic:

[Reflect Magic]

-reflects all magic at the cost of 10% of that magic

[Chant shortening LVL 2]

-shortens a chant by 24%

[Mana Control LVL 1]

-accelerates the distribution and acquisition of Mana

[Fire magic LVL 2]

-fire spells cost 10% less mana

(Fireball LVL 2)

-cast a Fireball dealing high damage

has a chance to inflame the target

[Air magic LVL 2]

-air spells get cast 18% faster

(Lightning Strike LVL 1)

-charge lightning on a target dealing consecutive damage

has a chance to electrocute the target

(Chain Lightning LVL 1)

-cast lightning on a target and jump on dealing lessening damage

has a chance to electrocute the targets

[Earth magic LVL 2]

(Stone Shards LVL 1)

-hurl stone pebbles towards a target with high speed

(Earth Wall LVL 1)

[Arcane Magic LVL 1]

(Arcane Missiles LVL 1)

[Light Magic LVL 4]

-Healing spells enhanced by 40%

(Heal LVL2)

-accelerates the healing of a target by 200%

(Instant Heal LVL1)

-heal a target visibly for high Mana consumption

(Barrier LVL1)

(Great Heal LVL 1)

[Shadow magic LVL 1]

(Shadow Bolt LVL 1)

-hurl a shadowbolt towards a target devouring energy

Special:

[Analyze LVL 2]

???

[Multijob LVL 1]

-set a second job

[?ia???las Blessing]

-rep?a??d ?kin??i? may ?a?? ??? co??any ??ore y?u

__________

He hadn't noticed they already reached Gold Creek while checking his Skills. Most of them held abilities he could use and even set on his quick-slots. This would make fighting a lot more efficient though he had to test it out. For some of the new abilities, he had not been able to set them on the slots. Jays guess was them being passive skills but he had to confirm later.

It was impossible to get further information as his system revealed only descriptions of the skills, abilities and sub categories he had already used. The one thing he had learned the last night was that his integration only worked capped. The higher the skill level the longer it took to get it fully integrated and he could only gain the highest skill level his target had.

Somehow he kept himself from checking how the skills he got the last night were triggered. He had used two of them during his last encounter as his info-box had shown him. Seemingly the action was counted as combat as no notifications had popped up.

They rode through the town directly towards the garrison. To Jays delight Alexis and Mia had already been there waiting for his return. After reporting their findings and efforts it was decided that Tharynn would bring the totem to the Tower Andomar had mentioned. As it was located not too far from the garrison, only two days away, he would go there with a escort to deliver it. What they had learned until now was that those magic objects had been crafted, but not by a human and of a special material. The dark-wood used for some endorsements on the totems came from the north. Further inquiry would be necessary and Alexis was asked to leave to travel with the second totem from Arathor to allied cities in search for clues. She would leave after they got informed from the main base the moment their examinations were finished.

After they left the garrison the group of three went to the inn and had lunch.

Jay recounted most of the things that happened in the capital. He plappered about how they rode through different districts, his first contact with a dwarf and his impressions of the Mages District.

They talked about there living different races and the districts being so different. When Mia asked where they had lodged he tried to divert the topic.

With the one grinning and the other one blushing fiercely the women threw each other a knowing glance.

He was sure they knew. His bet was them knowing about it even before he got to the brothel. Hanging his head he muttered a barely audible "Sorry" while Mia and Alexis started to giggle.

After finishing their meal, Mia went back to work and Alexis took Jay to another training session. She had him make up for the days he had slacked off, so the weights got doubled and he had to get through in half the time. But before that she formed a party with him again and he received the 'Heroic Company' buff. When he asked her about it she flinched a little but promised to tell him about it when the time had come.

For the rest of the day they went back to him slaughtering Murlocs. Alexis had to stop him after five encampments in fear of thinning out the population too much.

As he had wanted to test them out he tried a lot of skills while they were hunting. With barrages of (Arcane Missiles) he eradicated the first groups he encountered in no time. Without elemental attunement the attacks were pretty weak and not that cost effective. On the good side they were easy to cast and with his chant shortening practically instant even without setting them on a quick-slot.

After he tested them for quite some time he learned how to get the missiles homing.

With the first camp void of life he checked his status and finally found a description for Arcane magic and Arcane Missiles. As he had guessed it was magic based on pure mana with the traits he already noticed.

Alexis asked him to use his sword and fists from then on as she couldn't help him with his magic anyways. Jay had spent a good part of his mana while testing his new magic and gladly gripped his sword.

The group of Murlocs that spotted him next has had only seconds more to live. After dispatching of them with no more than three swings of his sword he got an idea he had to test.

He had already felt his proficiency with the sword had risen remarkably even with just his [Sword LVL1]. And that happened while wielding the great sword. From this he got his idea he was going to test next.

Rushing towards the next group he brandished his great-sword and concentrated on the skill he wanted to use as only a few steps distance was left. Feeling a little power leaving him he performed a powerful swing sideways from the upper right to the lower left. Leaving a light afterglow the (Slash) he just performed diagonally split three Murlocs.

Dispatching of the two remaining monsters with normal slashes he looked at his status again. What he learned from this single action was a lot.

First was, (Slash) was possible with more than just a normal sword. If that applied to different weapon categories or if the same worked for other martial skills he had jet to find out.

Second was the energy he had just used was not mana. For a short moment he felt slightly weakened but regained the strength back again fast. He had too look into that and may be tweak his HUD again if he could display this energy.

The descriptions explained what he had felt: [Sword LVL 1] rose the proficiency with all swords by 10% and (Slash LVL1) enabled a attack boosted by inner energy to 200% with any edged weapon.

As much as he had used his new beloved skill, it didn't rise one bit. Nor had he gained a single base level, but he went up to level three in both Jobs. This gave his status quite some boost and he learned that the leveling of jobs was faster than with the base level.

After he had just eradicated the fourth encampment he received a welcomed notification. The forced unbinding of the Bag of holding had finished. With this his inventory was accessible again. As he hadn't told Alexis of his inventory and he couldn't open the bag inside he decided to leave it for later.

On the way back Alexis had explained to him that abilities can only level up with their corresponding martial skill. So if he wanted to level up (Slash) he would have to either use a one handed sword or get the [Greatsword] skill. This was apparently knowledge one learned in schools or from family members, as Alexis explained further. While somehow sounding proud she went on and stated that abilities can be gotten and categorized by more than one skill. (Slash) was one of those as it could be gotten from nearly every skill for a weapon with a cutting edge on different levels. It would always show once in skill lists where it appeared first, if he would ever get to the point to reach D-rank or more as an Adventurer, was the last thing she said.

The "though that's bound to happen too soon..." she muttered to herself was of course heard by his sharp ears.