abcnovels
Chapter 76 - Buying Skills
Chapter 76 - Buying Skills
A ray of raw, red mana shot through the Hell Knight’s only eye. It instantly turned everything it touched into plasma. A long depression appeared on the floor as Keirth glanced toward Jake.
The speed of the ray was too fast and Jake knew he couldn’t dodge it. He quickly stretched his right hand in front of him and used [Dark Fire].
A ball of black flame came to life in front of Jake, eating the surrounding air. The red ray almost immediately hit the flame and pierced through it.
Jake gasped as the ray burned his palm. He did not panic and simultaneously used [Minor Regeneration] and the movement he learned from [Phantom Scythe Mastery].
He also didn’t stop using [Dark Fire]. Jake turned into a dark, phantasmal figure as he used his immense speed to get away from the Hell Knight’s line of attack.
Using more mana, he made the dark fire larger. It turned into a roaring sphere of pitch black darkness, eating away the red ray of mana shot by the Hell Knight.
Ting!
Jake rotated his scythe with his other hand and blocked the lizardman warrior’s spear.
”Blessings From Hell!”
”Fireball!”
Irene and the priestesses were again using their combo attack. Jake moved around a lot while cutting the fireballs with his scythe. As a unique weapon, its durability was really high.
The weapon could stand most of the damage coming from 1st or 2nd Circle spells. Any ability that wasn’t at least of the Rare grade had little effect on it.
Whoosh!
Jake pulled the goblin shaman again using Demonic Grasp and finished it with a punch. He then targeted the Hell Knight in a match of brute force. Right now, even this giant was not a match for him.
Learning [Phantom Scythe Mastery], Jake realized how crude the Hell Knight’s [Heavy Swordsmanship] skill was. If he and Keirth fought using no magical abilities and only weapons, Jake could easily overpower the latter.
After dealing with one 3rd Circle opponent, he looked at the other.
Jake had forbidden Irene from using her unique skill [Black Lightning Field] because it would do too much damage. He was having a test match, so there was no need to mess up the insides of his dungeon.
Against her, the orcs, lizardmen, golems and the priestesses, Jake began using [Blood Control] more and more. He learned how to temporarily stop one’s heart. Jake also learned that against opponents who did not have instant regenerative abilities, he could injure them and quickly bleed them out using [Blood Control].
After much time passed, Jake defeated all of his servants. He realized where he was the best and where he was lacking in terms of combat potential.
Leaving the golems to patch the damage done to the surroundings, Jake went to the lower floors. Irene, Perry, Numa, and Mary followed him. They were exhausted from the battle and wanted some rest as well.
On the 18th floor, Jake was pacing near the underground river. It brought a lot of fresh air which this dungeon needed. The air from the pores in the walls was not enough.
Jake could actually survive without air if there was enough mana but the others could not. In a way, he was no different from the monsters.
”Currently, I am lacking in the defense and attack aspect,” Jake concluded after some thinking.
His understanding of melee battles might differ from others. But because he used to play video games a lot back on earth, Jake had six aspects which he paid attention to. Those were Movement, Control, Attack, Defense, Perception and Health.
He was the best in the control aspect with skills like Demonic Grasp, Enchantment, Blood Control, Degeneration Halo, etc. His movement was also nice because he had Flight. Perception was covered by Magipathy, and for health he had Minor Regeneration which was soon going to upgrade.
Jake only had two skills to give actual damage. Those were Dark Fire and Explosion. As for defense, he had none.
”I should have bought some skills for defending myself…” Jake muttered as he opened the shop.
After he unlocked another sin, the system shop was restocked, so there were many things to buy.
He currently had about 30,000 points left. The earlier fight had given him 4,000 Evil Points from the Sin of Pride. Most of it came when he won the battle. Defeating others boosted Jake’s pride, and that gave him points.
‘Let’s see… These all look nice but…’ Jake idly scrolled through the [Abilities], clicking only the skills which were of Superior grade or higher. He had no need for common and uncommon skills.
[Lagnath’s Shield]
[Storm Defense]
[Earth Wall]
Most of the rare grade abilities were now priced at 5,000 points or higher. Jake acutely noted how the system increased prices the more sins he unlocked. Previously, even the unique skill Flight had not cost him 5,000.
”Oh, there is mana barrier!”
Jake clicked on it and looked at the stats.
[Skill: Mana Barrier]
[Grade: Rare (High)]
[Description: Creates a shield of the user’s mana to fend off any kind of physical or energy attack. Its usage depends on the user. The more mana spent, the better the barrier.]
[Requirements: 200+ MANA, 250+ INT]
[Cost: 6,999 Evil Points]
After reading the description, Jake thought for some time. It was a good skill, straight to the point. However, because it treated every attack the same, it had no speciality.
Jake didn’t buy it for now and kept looking.
[Name: Sphere of Darkness]
[Grade: Unique (Low)]
[Description: In the absence of sunlight, the surrounding mana would form a black sphere able to fend off any type of attack. A manaless person can also use this ability. It will not work if sunlight touches the user’s body. Other forms of light are ineffective.]
[Requirements: 300+ INT]
[Usage cost: 1 Will/min]
[Cost: 9,999 Evil Points]
That did not seem very appealing, except for the fact that it could block ‘any’ type of attack. Jake knew he, being a creature of evil alignment, was especially vulnerable to holy attacks.
A simple [Purify Evil] from a 1st Circle Priest could give him pain for 2 days. If a bishop or a paladin hit him with some fancier attack, it was possible to instantly injure him.
‘I think I’ll buy this… Despite its limitations, it is necessary,’ Jake thought. Him not having to use his own mana was great.
After buying that, Jake bought two rare grade skills. Both were attack-type abilities. [Shadow Spear] and [Icicle Rain]. They cost him 6,000 each.
After he was done, Jake started learning them one by one.