Chapter 25 Poison Mastery

Name: Luca

Affiliation: Fire Nation ....

Attributes: Strength 10, Dexterity 9 Constitution 11, Chi 895, Perception 14, Spirit Chi: 1,112

Fatigue: 38/100

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Personal Perks: Density Shifting, Permanent Chi Absorption, Chi Manipulation: 186,

Mastered abilities: Stealth: 16, Blademanship: 16, Hand To Hand Combat: 13, Poison Mastery: 17, Disguise:16, Tool Creation: 15, Marksmanship: 16, Lock picking: 15, Earth Kingdom Culture: 16, Interrogation: 17, Battle Instinct: 14, Evasion and Escape: 16, Regeneration: 10

Assignable Achievement Points (AP): .....

Status: Otherworlder/ Rebel (spy)(Fugitive on the run)

....

Spirit Chi, from 1294 to 1,112. Almost two hundred points of it was expended since the prison rig. Thirty plus on the riverboat prior to his departure.

Luca, however, didn't feel distressed. As compared to Density shifting, this was simply a world of difference. Its usefulness allowed him to attack and boosted his versatility, allowing him to better adapt to complex situations instead of just going right through them.

Not that he didn't like the latter, but .....

Walking through the forests of the earth kingdom, Luca took a look at his stat panel. And contrary to his expectations, there was nothing new apart from the decrease in the spirit chi stat.

For him, it was a bit surprising. He had expected his skill repertoire to be updated due to his discovery of the new usage of Chi, if anything.

Perhaps something akin to a — Chi Slash — or -Enhancement mode — or something similar with an apt description written underneath.

- Chi Slash -

Condense Chi onto a weapon of your choice and release it to create an energy slash.

Cost .....

....

- Chi Enhancement -

Concentrate Spirit Chi on any desired area of a body to receive a certain level of physical enhancement.

Cost: Spirit Chi. ....

....

Something like these.

Turns out he was thinking too much.

The stat panel didn't budge at all, neither did it give a reason why. But Luca could probably make a few reasoned guesses.

Perhaps, the Panel with no sentience couldn't update newly mastered skills. Considering his Chi and Spirit Chi stat got updated regularly, that was an uncertain speculation just too far off.

Or perhaps he had too little mastery, hence no change.

But the one that had the most plausibility was the possibility that he hadn't mastered anything worthy of being considered as a skill.

Didn't this mean the same thing as too little mastery? No, it didn't.

After taking a good look at his stat panel and the mastered skills, then making a comparison, Luca could be sure that the panel didn't consider his usage of Chi to enhance his attacks and physique a skill at all.

- Blademanship: 16 -

Your knowledge on the use of bladed weapons is extensive due to tutoring from a grandmaster swordsman. Your skill level ranks you as an expert in use of all sword weapons, knives, spears, and others.

- Subskill: Dual wielding -

You can utilize two different weapons on each hand at once. Lethality will increase or decrease depending on the weapons being used.

.....

- Hand To Hand Combat: 13 -

Your ability to fight without weapons is judged to be at the Proficient Level. You are better than most but nowhere near the best.

— Note. Skill level is externally affected by physical stats and battle instinct Skill level — ....

- Marksmanship: 16 -

You have spent time practicing with the greatest archers the Fire Nation has ever had. With a bow and arrow, you can be considered a very talented archer, capable of hitting a target within Eighty to Ninety meters with high accuracy. All projectile-based weapons are ranked at the Expert level.

- Subskill: Hawkeye -

You are not as good as the actual Avenger Hero Hawkeye, but your ability to see objects far away is not what ordinary people can match.

...

Luca read through all the skills and came to the conclusion that depending on the number, each skill would have different ratings.

Novice, Proficient, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster.

Novice skills started at a standard of ten to eleven points. Anything below that wasn't qualified to be considered a skill on the panel.

Twelve to fourteen were regarded as Proficient. Fifteen, Sixteen, classified into Expert Level.

Seventeen, Eighteen, Master.

Nineteen, Grandmaster.

As for above that, Luca didn't know if it even had a ranking. As from what he could deduce, few people would ever make it to eighteen points in any skill throughout their lifetime.

For any skill, there was practically no one in existence that could exceed twenty, and those who reached twenty could be counted on one hand.

Looking at his Blademanship that ranked sixteen, Luca deduced that a swordsman on the level of Piandao would probably have about eighteen points in his weapon mastery.

As for his Marksmanship..... He had no pride there either. Not when visual monsters like the Yuyan Archers existed.

The hand-to-hand combat skill left him looking unsightly. However, this one couldn't be helped. Time at Capital Prison had caused his physical stats to degenerate to the level of an average male. Some even lower.

If he didn't use Spirit Chi or his sword and competed solely on physical fights, Luca wouldn't even be a match for an earthbender who didn't use bending.

That alongside the fact that the Fire Nation didn't promote Hand to Hand Combat classes much.

A large part of the nation's combat power stemmed from their bending ability, which was more advanced than the other four nations.

From Luca's memory, he could remember that the Fire Nation had different Firebending styles, named mostly after Sozin, Azulon, and other Fire Lords who had improved on the art of Firebending over and over throughout the centuries.

'Even Ozai had a Firebending stance named after him after he became firelord. Ozai style, I believe ...'.

This was precisely why the Fire Nation could wage a war against the world and still be on the winning side despite being outnumbered by Earth kingdom forces. That alongside their industrial network that was ahead of the other nations and the fact that the Earth Kingdom wasn't unified.

On the contrary, non benders all had the unified combat techniques that granted them basic self-defense capabilities, as non benders all used weapons.

Compared to other non benders in the Fire Army, Luca's Hand to Hand Combat wasn't poor. Quite the contrary, he could be considered the cream of the crop.

Against Earth kingdom soldiers, however ..... Yeah, he was at best above average.

No country could truly be the best in every area. It seemed that even the Fire Nation had deficiencies when it came to training their soldiers.

All this brought Luca back to the original point. If the listing of Mastered skills was based on rank, then what rank would a Chi Slash and body enhancement be given?

Could it even be given a rank at all?

No, it couldn't.

Because it wasn't a skill at all. At best, a move with the output and lethality depending on how much Chi he infused into his attack or through his body. (I don't want to mention it now as it is not of much significance to this arc, but I feel the need to point out that the use of Chi and Spirit Chi to strengthen the body or create a non attribute attack has a limit. It doesn't mean that an endless supply of Spirit Chi would make him capable of lifting mountains with ease. The human body has a limit and is still Mortal. The MC will not become Superman)

Of course, there was a limit. Just like in the Naruto Verse, having more chakra than everyone else doesn't make you stronger. (Unless of course, you are a tailed beast)

There was no proper way to rank that, hence the lack of a skill level.

"Sigh .....".

Precisely two days had passed since he abandoned the riverboat to wander into the Earth Kingdom Forests. After all, the waterway he sailed on was connected directly to the Mo Ce Sea just past Mining Village.

If anyone wanted to follow him, it would be easy to pursue. Hence, he had been walking for the two days with little breaks in between while making full use of his Evasion and Escape skill to make sure his tracks were well covered.

Since then, his walk had never ceased with his study of the status panel reminding him that this wasn't a gaming system of any kind.

With slight hope, Luca had thoroughly examined this panel before him one more time. As a result, the result was still the same.

It was fine that there was no experience bar for attribute points and skill points, Luca discovered that he didn't even have the basic proficiency perk that came with most systems.

So basically, there was no way to grind his skills to higher levels in a short time with repetitive practice actions.

If not, Luca would have found a place to camp out and spent time grinding skills like a gamer would.

Now, after walking for so long, Luca would have doubted he was in the wrong region if not for the map and the certainty of the information he had gotten from the warden before he left.

As a chaotic region that housed multiple factions who without a doubt were all hostile to himself, he had expected to encounter something soon after he ventured into the jungle.

Sneak attacks, ambushes, traps, or fire nation camps. His wariness of the unknown was what prompted his constant motion with little rest in-between.

However, nothing had happened yet. Forget about a village or Fire Nation encampment, he hadn't even come across a single soul.

Humans and animals included.

The deeper he went into the woods, the more he discovered that Fauna life was scarce. Not even a small squirrel reared its head out of a hole in a tree.

However, just because he couldn't see them didn't mean he was unable to find traces.

Luca had discovered traces of Fire Nation in the area through several scorched trees alongside traces of animal hunting. From the looks of it, the reason why this part of the forest was devoid of any activity was due to increased Animal hunts to make sure the soldiers of the army didn't starve to death.

Honestly, he had no idea what was up ahead of him or what exactly he might run into.

After all, the situation in this region was constantly changing. Apart from some fixed areas which recorded the general area of the largest Fire Nation camps and rebel activity area, the rest of the vast land was regarded as a war zone where friend or foe could pop up at any time.

Small-scale battles weren't scarce in the slightest.

So without any clear indications on the map, Luca could only continue journeying southeast with nothing but a destination in mind, a brand new Longsword strapped to his waist and a large bag slung across his shoulder that held rations, a map, a compass, some plants he had picked up during his walk and a few other things alongside several hidden weapons.

To cope with his extensive journey, Luca had taken advantage of the Warden's obedience to ask for anything he thought could be of use.

Due to the limited speed of a riverboat, a few rations were in order. However, he didn't ask for too much in order not to expose something wrong.

Hence, he hadn't eaten the rations but conserved them. Instead, surviving on fruits and berries he had identified in the forest.

- Poison Mastery: 17 points -

One of the two highest skills in your repertoire. Your knowledge and understanding of plants, herbs, and all Flora are enough to make you a master herbalist. With more specialized training and your feeble understanding of medicine from your past life, you could become a skilled physician capable of curing ailments and pioneering the road to modern medicine. Unfortunately, your extensive knowledge is heavily skewed to the darker, more toxic poison instead of medicine. You are a poison master with a little ability to save a life with your skills and greater ability to end it.

.....

Alongside Interrogation which was also at seventeen points, it was the highest level skill he had. Poison Mastery.

Through this, he was able to identify plants and fruits in the forest which were edible.

Unlike a certain old Dragon Of The West, he wouldn't get poison rash due to eating the wrong plant.

Of course, this was simply a great benefit. No, the real boon this brought was based on those plants that weren't suitable for consumption and were the exact opposite.

'… Poisons, potions, poultices, here I come ….'.

With a plan in mind, Luca had stored several dangerous, poisonous or outright harmful plant species he had identified into the bag on his back for future purposes.

And after walking for two days, he had gotten quite an amount.

'This is probably where the division gets all their poison batches from ….'. Luca couldn't help but think this way as this place was quite abundant in poisonous materials.

Venom Ivy, Nightshade Lotus, scorpion lily, dreadroot, white jade bush (the one that poisoned iroh after he drank it for tea)...

All in two days. Yet happiness also came with its own problems.

Feeling the weight on his back, a slight frown appeared on his otherwise expressionless face.

Although constitution was the highest physical stat he possessed, it wasn't outstanding in any way.

After lugging so much for such a long distance, he was already feeling stressed from the load. A few more hours of persistence, and he was sure he would develop back aches.

At the moment, Luca dearly missed the Komodo Rhino he had ridden before being kidnapped by Zuko. He had no idea how much long he would need to walk and missed the convenience.

'Oh how I wish I could have exchanged for a storage space during my perk selection'. Now he knew why those systems usually came with their own portable spaces.

Honestly, it was exasperating having to carry so much around everywhere he walked.

The main characters would have fainted from exhaustion before they ever got anything done.

Luca had already given up on taking too much and was now very selective due to overall weight.

Pushing a tree branch out of the way, he walked through a clearing towards the other end. Raising his head up, he could see a small mountain range a great distance away.

Luca doubted he would reach it before nightfall.

Boom! It happened then.

The earth suddenly rumbled as a cloud of dust rolled up from three different directions.

Luca, who was observing the sky to make sure he wasn't being tailed by monitoring birds felt a chill run up his spine.

Battle Instinct, Perception....

With a quick sweep, he saw the earth rushing towards like a landslide.

But ..... Since when did land slide uphill?

Spirit Chi -10

Despite perceiving the attack, Luca knew that he would never be able to react in time before it reached him, and he wasn't going to bet his life on what would happen.

In the fire moment, spirit chi reacted, flowing throughout his body in the span of half a second.

Stats: — Dexterity 9 - (18) Constitution 11 (16)

His agility and physical durability increased greatly as he kicked off against the ground and leaped backwards.

Bang! The area he previously stood on a second ago caved in as three large earth spikes ejected from the floor piercing close to where he previously stood.

His feet touched the ground once again, but Luca didn't stop. Instead, he retreated backwards, jumping four meters each time as his hand reached for the sword on his back.

Thud!

His feet impacted firmly on the floor as Luca gazed into the distance with narrowed eyes.

'So the ambush finally came, huh?'

The dust had barely settled when several figures emerged from their hiding spots.

They leaped into the air, their feet causing a resounding impact when touching the floor. Each one of them wore heavy clothing and stood with their arms outstretched.

'I know those uniforms …'. Luca recognized them the moment they emerged. Just like the Fire Nation, the earth kingdom military also had its uniform.

Colored green, brown and sometimes Khaki yellow. And unlike the rebel militia led by Tyro, these guys wore the standard uniform of the earth kingdom. They even had the hat to prove it.

"Now what do we have here.....". As the soldiers stood facing Luca, a calm deep voice came from the distance.

Another Earth Kingdom soldier emerged from the woods with the same headgear that looked like the conical rice hat that was popular to Asians and usually seen in Kung fu movies.

Luca remembered that crane from the Kung Fu Panda franchise wore something with similar resemblance. It wasn't the same though, but it was sure damn close.

The sides of his face, head, and neck were wrapped in the earth kingdom uniform leaving only his face, beard, hands, and feet exposed.

This man led the group. A military captain within Earth kingdom ranks.

He looked at the place where their attack was dodged, his expression bordering a light frown.

"..... You're quite the agile one, aren't you?"

Shiing!

The sword on Luca's back was drawn out slightly to display a part of a gleaming silver blade.

.....

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