Polearm Mastery

Nate looked at the familiar status screen of Zenith Online and saw the name of the Crown Prince Alexander displayed boldly on the screen, as well as the attributes of the prince.

"This seems to be the attributes of this Alexander guy." Nate muttered as he observed the attributes of the crown prince.

"He is incredibly weak!" Nate concluded disdainfully.

According to 'Zenith Online' standards, the crown prince was genuinely too weak. Even though Nate was only an average professional gamer, he was immensely knowledgeable about the game's power standards.

"His statistics are all poor. He is even more mundane than I am!" As he viewed Alexander's game statistics, Nate murmured in a particularly obnoxious manner.

Nate remained extremely curious about how the 'Zenith Online' game panel appeared here, but he was unable to come to a logical conclusion. In the end, he decided to surpress his curiosity and turned back his attention to the stats of his new physique.

"According to the rules of Zenith Online, each level up comes with 5 attribute points, and after level 10 the number of attribute points granted increases with each level up"

"That means once I level up past level 10, I will receive more attribute points." Nate pondered.

"Weird. This status screen appears to be missing Zenith Online's essential inventory and shop features. Does that imply that this is not the actual status screen but an imitation?" Nate reexamined the screen and then murmured softly.

Suddenly as if it was reading his mind, as if reading his mind, the high-tech status screen displaying Alexander's statistics vanished, and a new status screen with different data appeared in front of Nate.

Inventory: [Locked]

Shop: [Locked]

Appraisal: [Locked]

Skills: [Polearm Mastery] [Sword Mastery] [Ranged Weapons Mastery]

Nate was stunned by the abrupt change in the status screen, but he quickly composed himself. The status window in front of him was the second status window for Zenith Online players. Ultimately, it contained three essential components that every player required.

The Inventory, which was used to store game items, accessories, weapons, and armors; the Shop, which sold a variety of melee and ranged weapons of both low and high class; potions such as health potions, stamina potions, buff potions, etc.; and the Skill Shop, which sold vital skills to the players.

As for the appraisal, Nate didn't think too much of it now. It was primarily used to appraise items and precious minerals that could not be identified in-game, and while it was extremely useful for non-combat classes such as Alchemists, Blacksmiths, and Runesmiths, it was of little use to combat classes.

However the Inventory, Shop and Appraisal were currently greyed out now, a sign that they were locked and according to the rules of Zenith Online, it would not be accessible until Alexander was at level 10.

The only available option in this current status screen was the skill shop menu that had only three skills displayed at the moment. Of course, the more Alexander levels up, the more skills that will be available for his use.

There was only one question that was gnawing at the back of Alexander's head.

How on earth was he supposed to level up?

He was sure that the universe he transmigrated to did not have the maps needed for him to level up, and he most definitely wasn't in a game, so how was he supposed to level up?

Unfortunately, no matter how much he thought about it, he could not find any plausible answer to his question.

Alexander sighed, and thought of his stats once more. As soon as he did so, the status screen containing the skill shop vanished, and his statistics reappeared.

Gamer: Alexander

Class: Warrior

Level: 1

Experience: 0%

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 10

Endurance: 10

Skill Points: 10

Attribute Points: 20 <New!>

Health: 100%

Two dark red buttons appeared in front of Alexander, and they pointed towards a new panel that wasn't there previously. The new panel was labelled 'Attribute Points' and it granted him 20 attribute points.

Alexander, an experienced professional gamer, distributed his twenty attribute points without delay. He added 10 to his strength, bringing it to 20, and added 10 to his agility, also bringing it to 20.

As soon as he did that, a sense of euphoria engulfed his body, and he almost let out a delighted moan. The sensation lasted only three seconds, and he heaved a sigh of regret as soon as the euphoria left his body.

It didn't take Alexander more than a minute to notice the effects of the increased strength and agility in his body. His entire body was bursting with natural strength, and he felt he could easily lift objects weighing more than a hundred pounds with his bare hands back on Earth!

As if to test his hypothesis, Alexander promptly surveyed the opulent palace, and his eyes quickly landed on the armor he wore to fight the invading forces at the castle walls earlier. Even though the armor was disassembled and neatly arranged, it was still evident at a glance that, when assembled, it was immensely heavy. Alexander pondered how the previous owner of this body was able to move while wearing such heavy armor and having such poor stats.

Alongside the armor was a black, one-meter-tall shield that appeared to be extremely weighty. Alexander did not know the precise weight, but he estimated it to be greater than fifty pounds.

Alexander, empowered by the attribute of enhancing his strength, extended his arms and raised the shield. The shield, which weighed more than fifty pounds, was as light as a book in his hands, to his pleasant surprise!

Still basking the pleasure of his overwhelming strength, Alexander swung the shield around in different manners, completely showcasing inhuman strength.

After he had his fill of swinging the shield around, he dropped the heavy shield to the ground, and changed his focus to his agility.

Just as he could feel the immense strength he had, he could also sense his body's increased agility. His ability to change body direction with a single thought was considerably enhanced, as were his reaction time and reflexes. If he had been this agile during the battle at the castle walls, he would have easily eluded the hurling spear and remained unhurt.

Alexander moved his body in different directions, trying to get accustomed to his improved agility while swinging the heavy shield in his hands. Only after he had gotten a feel for his improved strength and agility did he let go of the shield in his hands albeit unwillingly.

"So this is the feeling of power." Alexander mused as he let go of the shield in his hands.

"I wonder what level this power belongs to in this strange universe." Alexander thought deeply.

He then thought of the status screen with the skill shop, and immediately the skill shop appeared.

Alexander was unsure of how to allocate his 10 skill points among the three available skills. After lengthy consideration, he decided to invest them in [Polearm Mastery].

According to his personal experience as a pro gamer in different online games, [Polearm Mastery] was the best skill he could spend his skill points on.

While [Sword Mastery] was a very good option, usage of swords would require him to be in very close range of his enemy. It was a close combat weapon, and it wouldn't be sufficient for all forms of combat, so he declined.

As for [Ranged Mastery], it required him to be far away from his opponents to unleash true damage. While it was great in ranged combat, it was extremely weak in melee combat. The moment his enemy appeared close to him, his chances of surviving would drop drastically. He just appeared in this world, therefore he didn't want to leave immediately.

[Polearm Mastery] was his only viable option. He could use it effectively in melee combat and, if he so desired, in ranged combat as well. It was extraordinarily well-balanced, with no exploitable weaknesses.

After spending the ten skill points on [Polearm Mastery], the [Polearm Mastery] panel lit up and a green light flashed twice. It was the indication that the skill had leveled up. At the same time, a series of knowledge appeared in Alexander's mind. It was techniques of how to proficiently use any polearm weapon. It was as if Alexander had been using polearm weapons for tens of years.

Alexander summoned the [Polearm Mastery] panel and saw that it was level 2 now. He reckoned that by the time he put more skill points into [Polearm Mastery], his techniques with polearm weapons would greatly increase.