Chapter 379: Fragnt of the Axe
Zac felt bad about leaving while people were still barely able to get to their feet, but he followed Alyn's advice. He lastly went over to check in on his sister, and he was relieved to see that she was fine as well. In fact, she might be even better off than himself as she was still able to spread her Dao in the area around the Dao House.
Only then did he return to his courtyard with brisk steps. He felt a bit muddled the whole way back, as though he was dreaming. Zac knew he had warned everyone of the dangers involved, but he truly hadn't expected anyone to get hurt, much less get killed. He could only endeavor to etch this lesson in his heart so that sothing like this would not repeat itself.
The arrays around his place flitted to life as he sat down on a padded mat with a sigh. He wanted to imdiately go over his gains, but a wave of exhaustion hit him the mont he sat down, and he imdiately fell into a dreamless slumber.
Zac opened his eyes again, only to see that four hours had passed in the blink of an eye. The nap had made him feel noticeably better, with only a small headache remaining. He hadnt felt comfortable going over his gains while his people lay dead right in front of him, but he couldnt wait any longer and opened up his Dao Screen.
Dao
Stage
Effect
Fragnt of the Axe
Early
All attributes
10, Strength
110, Dexterity
80, Endurance
15. Effectiveness of Strength
5%.
Seed of Trees
Peak
Endurance
20, Vitality
90, Intelligence
5, Wisdom
5.
Seed pf Hardness
Peak
Endurance
100, Wisdom
20.
Seed of Sanctuary
Peak
Endurance
50, Intelligence
20, Wisdom
50.
Seed of Rot
Peak
Endurance
5, Vitality
45 Intelligence
25, Wisdom
45.
Zac slowly read through the changes, but he was truthfully a bit disappointed with the result. Fusing two Dao seeds into a fragnt had only increased the total attributes gained from 240 to 275. He knew that he had attained almost no "new" insight compared to upgrading a single Dao seed, but he had still thought that he would get more when evolving from a Seed to a Fragnt.
Of course, he had to rember that if things progressed the way it did with a seed, where the number of attributes given doubled every ti it progressed, it would still rack up to a lot. A Fragnt would end up giving 2 200 attribute points at a peak mastery, which was a huge number even in the E-Grade.
He hadn't gained a Title by forming a Fragnt either, sothing he had pretty much thought was a done deal. Then again, if there was a 'first in world'-title like all his other Progenitor titles, then it had likely already gone to Abbot Everlasting Peace. And the general reward for gaining a Dao Fragnt might simply be the fact he now had access to Epic classes.
The good part was that he actually gained all attributes from the Fragnt, which ant that his luck got boosted as well. And if the pattern kept going as it did with the seeds, then he might end up with a huge boost to Luck by the ti the seeds reached Peak. However, if he was being honest with himself he hoped that he wouldn't gain any more Luck from his Dao Seeds.
One of his unique advantages was his huge pool of Luck, where he had almost ten tis the amount compared to most people. It had allowed him to survive countless dangers, and often turn the tables on his enemies. That advantage would quickly get eroded if one had an easy-to-access source of the special attribute.
He also got a boost of effectiveness for his main Strength, and that in of itself might turn into a trendous boost if the number kept increasing as the Fragnt evolved. What if he got a 25% boost or sothing at the peak? The value from that was far higher than static increases, especially with his already large number of High-Tiered Titles.
Then again, he knew that the true benefit of a Dao Fragnt wasnt the attributes it awarded. It was just a bonus that the System tacked on. The true benefit ca from the huge boost in fighting power. That was doubly true for soone like Zac who was a bit lacking in his control departnt and who could only use one Dao at the ti.
The Seed of Hardness hadnt provided any surprises, even though he had tried to skew the results in his favor. When he pondered on the final upgrade he focused on the rebounding effect of hardness. He imagined creating a body so sturdy that people hurt themselves when they attacked him and thought that he might get so strength that way.
But it still simply doubled down on the Endurance, pushing his highest attribute to even more ridiculous heights. Luckily he had still a lot of room for improvent before he hit his limit. He had already asked Ogras about it recently, and it turned out that the next limit usually lay around 2500 attribute points for humanoids.
But it also ant that he would have to evolve his race as quickly as possible since he was already halfway there. It was only a matter of ti before he reached 2 500 Endurance with the increased gains in E-Grade.
The Seed of Rot had a surprising change in the attributes it provided, but not overly so. Alea had been on his mind a lot lately, and the way she fought had influenced his insights. He already knew that Aleas highest attribute was Intelligence, closely followed by Vitality, and that was reflected by the gains in his Seed of Rot.
He was especially happy with the extra 45 points in Vitality since the Tower was a 100-day climb. Having a great regenerative ability would be a huge boon. If he could cut down his rest-ti to a third, then he would have a lot more ti to spend on the harder floors at the top of the tower. He soon closed the Dao nu and opened his skill nu next to take a look at his new Skill.
Hatchetman's Spirit - Proficiency: Early. Oneness with nature. Upgradeable.
He wasn't sure what oneness with nature ant, but he guessed it was so sort of boosting skill. He knew that Ogras received the skill that turned him into a winged shadow demon was sothing he got at level 75, and he hoped he got sothing similar.
Even though he was a bit tempted to activate it right now he chose to wait until he visited Mystic Island. Even if he had a hint of what the skill entailed he couldnt be sure, and he didnt want to accidentally blow up his courtyard.
There was one final thing that he wanted to do before heading out, and he eagerly walked over toward the Nexus Node. He had kept himself in check all this ti, but now that he possessed a Dao Fragnt he couldnt stop himself from checking out his options to evolve.
He had already confird from multiple people that he could simply skip evolving even if he activated the Node. Zac walked over to the huge hovering crystal with eagerness in his eyes, but his face fell after touching the crystal to begin the process.
There was no response.
He kept trying to activate his the Node to display his choices, but no matter how many tis he tried there was simply nothing available for him. He swapped through the other systems, such as the skill shop, to see if the crystal was on the fritz, but it worked just fine. It was hard to believe, but it looked like Zac truly wasnt able to evolve at this point even if he wanted to.
Zac couldnt believe that there was not a single option for him to evolve even after having gained the Fragnt of the Axe. Hatchetman was only Rare, and he had already gained the prerequisite Dao for an Epic class. He had a slew of titles and accomplishnt under his belt as well, and it felt ludicrous that the system wouldnt deem him worthy after all he had done.
Swallowing his burgeoning anger he rapidly tried to think of any reason why he could be stuck like this, and he could only imagine there being two reasons. The first was his skills. Only two of his skills had reached the peak, while the rest were between Early and High mastery. Not even Axe Mastery was at peak proficiency, which might an that the System didnt consider him ready to evolve.
The other possibility was that so issues had arisen due to his special situation. His duplicity Core was still F-Grade, which ant it wasnt good enough to accommodate E-Grade classes. This was sothing that had worried him for so ti, but no matter where he looked into the matter he couldnt find any clues.
Or perhaps he needed to evolve both classes at the sa ti, which was impossible since his other side was only at level 73?
Zacs eyes lit up with hope at the idea as he left the building housing the Nexus Node. He couldnt do anything about the issues of his skills or his Duplicity Core in the short run, but he could easily grind levels with his Undying Bulwark class.
He quickly headed over to TulSarath, the town the TirEmarel Clan founded before their Incursion ended. The town felt a bit desolate since a large contingent of people left along with the forr slaves being freed. But by now there were quite a few humans and a couple of Ishiate who walked the streets as Zac arrived.
So had chosen to stay behind after getting liberated, and even more had returned over the past weeks. Life outside was extrely chaotic and dangerous, and many chose to work for the aliens rather than getting eaten by so beasts. Zac shook his head at the irony as he entered Veranas mansion.
I hear sothing big took place in Port Atwood, Verana said with a light voice from her seat in a garden when she saw Zac being led over by a maid.
Nothing too major, Zac said. I found a trinket containing stored Origin Dao, and we released it.
Its good to see you are fine, she said with a staid deanor. What brings you over today?
I am planning to hit a couple of more Incursions over the next days, I could use your support, Zac said.
Unfortunately were not able to help this ti around, Verana said without hesitation. My people are exhausted, and I fear another round of battle will cause too many casualties for us to bear. If we keep fighting with this intensity there will be no Tal-Eladar left on this planet in a hundred years. We need to rest and recoup before we can discuss joint battles again.
Zac silently looked at Verana in an effort to figure out her thoughts, and she returned the stare in kind. It was pretty obvious she was angry with him and refused to help out as payback, even if that ant losing out on staking a claim on another Incursions resources.
Rember, you asked us to stay behind as a trading partner, not as part of your army, Verana added, ending the prolonged silence.
Zac slowly nodded in agreent.
Its fine. But dont forget why you, in particular, chose to stay behind. Are you already tired of moving forward? Zac said as he turned to leave.
Verana didnt answer, and only silently watched him leave.
Not having the help of the Tal-Eladar was a bit of a setback, especially now that all the elites of his force were down for the count for the ti being. The only reason he hadn't needed to order his Army to completely retreat was the fact that their lines were bolstered by the huge army of the Underworld Council.
Only nine councilors were currently on the surface, with four staying behind to keep the situation in the Underworld stable. But those nine were enough to stabilize the battlefield, perhaps even more than his three demon generals.
Besides, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that the Tal-Eladar refused to help him this ti around. He had used [Hunger] while fighting alongside the beastmasters, as only two of them knew of the true identity of Mr. Black.
Now that they werent around he could freely use [Veruns Bite] to fight, allowing him to take full advantage of his new Fragnt. He was pretty sure that the Fragnt would still work when using a sword, but the effect would be greatly diminished.
He did consider bringing a couple of the demon soldiers or Valkyries along, but he eventually decided against that as well. There would be a lot of casualties if he brought soldiers without powerful generals to hold down the fort, and all of them needed to rest for a couple of days.
Eventually, he arrived at the most logical conclusion. He would go back to his roots and close a couple of incursions on his own. He got everything ready before he headed over to Westfort as Mr. Black. He needed soone to guide him to the hidden outposts next to the incursions so he commandeered one of the Marshalls who worked for the intelligence departnt.
Just 30 minutes later the scenery was flashing past him as he utilized [Loamwalker] to run through the wilderness.
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