Becoming a Proud Hat Owner

After the deed was done, I saw the hat. That really cool hat was calling to me. Now I knew that taking that hat was a bad idea.

While it was not the most recognizable hat, it was enough to potentially get recognized and with that came all kinds of trouble.

I knew it was the wrong choice, but it was the first thing I had ever wanted. Everything else was another's dream. Another's path. Another's life.

Did I want to be someone who abandoned his desire just to avoid risk? Did I want to be someone who risked his life for an admittedly cool hat?

At the end of the day, it just came down to this, I wanted that hat.

After I picked the hat up it turned white with an orange splotch.

<Acquired Regalia: The Painter's Hat>

"What once was a hat has now ascended by a blank slate finally having some color"

Provides an increase corresponding to desire and freewill in magical damage, magic stat, and user's natural instincts

After that experience I just wanted to go home and sleep. I had a long day full of mentally and emotionally stressful tasks.

When I got back to the church, I took a nap until Hestia got home.

We then had dinner and I got my status updated.

<Stat Growth Calculated>

<Skill Evolution in Progress: Berserker>

<Through Primal Understanding, Spell Gained: Fire Bolt>

"Simple. Cheap. Effective."

Shoots a bolt of fire mana that deals low mystical damage at a low cost

<Through Primal Understanding, Spell Gained: Barrier>

"A shield against all that seeks to harm you"

Produces a mystical barrier that protects against all attacks from enemies at a similar power level for a high mana cost per second.

<<Status>>

<Lv.1>

<Stats>

Strength: C 625

Endurance: C 625

Dexterity: C 625

Agility: C 625

Magic: C 625

<Magic>

Take Over(Monster)

• Apex Goblin

<Skills>

Weakest Link

Berserker

Primal Understanding

• Combat:

o Apex Goblin

• Magic:

o Goblin Shaman

o Fire Bolt

o Barrier

<Equipment>

The Devil's Right Hand

The Angel's Left Hand

The Painter's Hat

I spent the next couple of days training my new spells, fire bolt and barrier. I discovered that the shaman was an unimaginative and very restricted idiot. Which he was probably designed to be seeing as you have to outsmart it.

As it turns out his version of the fire bolt spell can be a gatling gun if you have enough mana and seeing as the shaman gets it's mana from the dungeon, thus it's unending. They can also curve with enough skill. While I'm not skilled enough or have enough mana to truly take advantage of either of those properties.

It also seems that the barrier does not have to center on the user and is fairly malleable. This means that with enough mana and skill I can shape the battlefield around me. I can also turn mana into physical damage via projectiles, which is fairly rare for a spell.

At the end of my training, I could create shield all around me and launch them at enemies. I could also slightly curve my fire bolts and launch them fairly rapidly for a limited time or control a single bolt with relative precision.

These spells could bridge major gaps in my style which were defense and ranged combat, both mystical and physical. I just had to incorporate them into my style. This took another week to truly become proficient in my new style.

My new style involved several factors, both new and old.

My beastly berserker sword style that mainly involved hard slow strikes full of wrath, its main weakness is that it leaves me full of openings and can't hit fast opponents. This can be covered by selecting the right time to use it and using shields to cover my openings. Its main advantage is its effectiveness towards slow defense-oriented enemies.

My precise and controlled sword style that mainly involves fast and precise strikes focused on weak points, its main weakness was that certain enemies don't have weak points and focus on defense. To those enemies no matter how precise or how numerous the strikes are, they are useless without being backed by power. Its main advantage is its effectiveness towards fast and attack-oriented enemies.

These two styles complement each other and one day I will be able to merge them into one style.

The part of my new style concerning fire bolts involves opening fights with them. I also can use them at close range during melee fights and to take care of ranged enemies.

The part of my new style concerning barriers is to cover openings and block ranged attacks. I can also launch them to push enemies back or to deal ranged physical damage.

The only thing left to do is to test and refine the style in combat and I have a great idea who are going to be my first test subjects, the kobolds.