Next Zac wanted to check out the Dao seed. Soon he managed to open a new screen in the system.
It didnt have a lot of information, just a list in the sa manner as the titles.
[Dao seed of Heaviness Early. Strength 10, Endurance 5]
While the nu or information wasnt very spectacular, the stat bonuses were quite good. As Zacs main stats were Strength and Endurance this seeds bonus was a perfect gift. Perhaps a reason why he learned the Dao seed so smoothly was due to this.
It also made him understand the importance of Dao to the system. He just gained a seed of the Dao of Heaviness, and it was only an early seed. Both things indicated that he had just taken the first steps to understand this concept, but it already gave a boost worth a few levels.
What would it give if he managed to improve it to a higher level, like the Late stage? And what happened if it stopped being a seed and turned into the real thing? The boost it gave would likely be astonishing.
Zac felt that the seed and the fractal in his mind were sohow connected. He gained it while trying to emulate the powerful feeling in that axe swing after all. He once again turned his sight inward and gazed upon the axe fractal again.
He couldnt tell exactly how, but he sensed that the pattern of the fractal sohow subtly changed. It also no longer seed inert as it was before, but emitted an aura that gave Zac the familiar sense of weight and intractability.
It was the sa sense of heaviness that he sowhat managed to instill into his swings while trying to emulate the axe-man. Now that he could contrast it to the aura in the illusion, he understood that the Dao of Heaviness was only part of the whole picture, and the suffocating aura of the axe was sothing far greater.
Still, it was a step in the right direction. His seed was only at the early stage. There surely were ways to improve upon it, and perhaps soday his axe aura, or Dao, might be as mighty as the one he saw.
Now that the fractal felt active again, he once more tried to circulate cosmic energy through it. This ti it actually worked, and the fractal lit up.
Suddenly his vision changed, and fractals started appearing. So shone up like glowing footprints in the ground, and others were lights forming arcs and trajectories around him. The lights seed to have no effect on its surroundings, not lighting the ground or trees up in the slightest. Furthermore, when Zac moved his head the lights moved with him and slightly adjusted. aning it ca from the system in the sa manner as his different nus.
It felt like he was wearing augnted-reality goggles, giving him an extra layer of reality that only he could see. At least he assud only he could see the lights and the nus, as they only seed to respond and change in reaction to Zacs movents and commands.
He tried to touch the fractals that ford the trajectories, but it was like trying to touch a rainbow. Furthermore, as he moved his hand the lights adjusted and moved as well. After adjusting to his new vision he tried stepping on the glowing footprints and moving his body according to the illuminated trajectories. He found himself swinging his axe in a slanted upwards motion. The movent felt smooth and natural, and it felt like he was able to bring the full force of almost his whole body into the swing.
He kept following the glowing instructions and found himself performing a multitude of attacks. There were not only normal swings, but every part of the axe was used. From the butt of the haft to the spike on the back-side of the head, everything was used in an array of thods to maim and kill enemies. It even showed how to use the rest of his body, such as grabbing with his off-hand, footwork and tackles.
It couldnt be said that the fractals in the air taught him actual Skills, but rather basic guidance on how to properly move and handle an axe.
Every strike had one thing in common, it contained the mass and intractability of his Dao. It made him realize many aspects of his weapon of choice as well. An axe differed from a sword in that it was balanced toward the head, whereas a sword was closer to the handle. This gave an axe a higher forward montum and higher destructive power.
To master the axe he should focus on the part where it excelled, aning this power and forcefulness. Its disadvantage was that it wasnt as flexible as a sword was. The bladed area was also far shorter with an axe, so so precision was needed for a killing strike. At least until he could swing his axe in the fantastical manner of the man in the vision.
Zac kept going through various motions as he moved toward the camp. He was entranced by the beautiful simplicity in the moves, and the power they managed to bring out.
Suddenly he stumbled and fell down, shocked to notice that he was completely and utterly drained. He hadnt completely recovered his energy from his vision earlier, and it seed like using the axe fractal consud large amounts of cosmic energy.
At least Zac finally felt he had figured out how the [Axe Mastery] skill worked. It wasnt what he expected, but he was still very happy with the result.
He initially thought he would get a bonus to stats similar to the Demon Slayer title, like bonus stats while wielding an axe, and perhaps generally get imparted so knowledge about axes. The reality actually trumped his expectations, and the rewards were twofold.
The first part was the vision, which Zac now was certain was showed to him so that he could plant his Dao Seed. The other part was this guidance system that could help him improve his form and fighting abilities. It might have been more convenient if the System cramd his head full of these things, making him master these aspects imdiately.
Perhaps that wasnt possible, as it was related to the Dao. Or perhaps the system didnt want to just hand things out willy-nilly. The guidance system was a god given in any case as Zac had missed the tutorial and sorely needed so guidance.
Of the two he felt the Dao-vision was the most valuable. One might be able to gain those seeds by themselves by ditating or being an expert on a subject, but Zacs intuition told him that it wasnt that easy. Otherwise, he wouldnt have been the third, but the 3rd millionth, to attain a Dao Seed. The world was full of experts, after all.
He decided on the spot to use the ti he earlier spent on cutting wood on practicing his axe-form in the future. That ti would be freed up as soon as he finished the second class quest in any case.
Zac sat down to recuperate and devoured so at from his pouch, before continuing back ho. It was dark when he returned to camp, as usual, this ti due to his new skill rather than grinding monsters all waking hours.
Still, he couldnt rest, as he was too excited about what his other skill would be like. He started cutting wood in a furious speed, lumber flying left and right. After roughly 90 minutes he slowed down and caught his breath. He was only 10 swings away from finishing the quest for the [Chop] skill, and he wanted to be in rested condition just in case.
He drank a mouthful of water and steadied his breath before once again hefting his axe and swinging the 10 final strikes.
This ti cosmic energy didnt enter his mind, but information. This ti the impartnt was akin to when he bought [Eye of Discernnt] from the Nexus Crystal. Zac was a bit disappointed that he wouldnt get another vision that could give him another Dao seed or the like, but he knew that was a rare opportunity he gained.
The skill was another fractal, and the usage was similar to the identification skill. It needed him to circulate cosmic energy through his energy pathways in a specific manner, then imagining it entering this fractal. The difference was that while [Eye of Discernnt] placed the fractals inside his eyes, the new one was on the top of his right hand. It wasnt a physical manifestation, rather it superimposed itself on his pathways.
This was different from his eye skill, which was isolated fractals in his eyes. The [Chop] skills fractal seed to actually rge with his Class-pathways. It didnt look out of place or ssy, but it felt as a missing piece of a puzzle was added.
When Zac rewrote his pathways there were many parts that looked blurry and missing. It seed that from his new skill that they were slots for his skills. Maybe even other skills, like [Steps of Gaia] that he was eyeing in the store, could be slotted into his pathway gaps.
He tried doing the sa with his ocular skill, but it was a closed circuit fractal, giving no opportunity to integrate with his pathways. The axe mastery fractal was in an enclosed space in his mind, and he had no way to connect it to his pathways either. Unfortunately, he lacked any more skills to experint with. He actually had enough Nexus Coins to buy the cheapest skills by now, but he didnt want to burn his hard earned cash for an experint.
He wasnt sure what benefits there were to slotting it into his pathways compared to simply having them like his identification skill. He would have to test it and find out.
Even though it was late at night he couldnt wait, too eager to find out the effects of his new skill. Even if he realized it would be nothing like the great spells he saw in the vision, he had already fought against soone with an impressive skill. It was the demon leader with the great sword, whose furniture now adorned his campsite.
The black arcs of lightning had almost gotten him killed a few tis. From the simple na of his own skill he realized that it might not be as extravagant though. But he did get it from a rare class after all, so it shouldnt be useless.
He planned to try out the skill by using it a few tis, then finding a demon beast to test it on, so he left his camp in search for a decent target.
As he walked so ways from the camp he made a new discovery. A skill screen had been added to his various prompts. It hadnt been there when he bought the identification skill, which is why it had taken him all day before trying it. He surmised it mustve activated when he got his class skills.
Normal Skills
Eye of Discernnt - Proficiency: - . A glimpse into the unknown. Upgradeable
Class Skill
Axe Mastery - Proficiency: Early. The seed of Dao is planted. Upgradeable
Chop - Proficiency: Early. There is greatness in simplicity.
The screen showed scant information, but it did give Zac a few answers to things he had been wondering about. The class skills seed to have proficiency, and both were at early stage. His Dao seed was at early stage as well, and he guessed that if he progressed in [Axe Mastery], the seed might follow.
[Chop] would likely simply get stronger if the proficiency increased. His identification skill had no proficiency, and it seed that it wouldnt get stronger. He had wondered about whether he could improve his skill and get more information about enemies, or even be able to identify items.
It was, however, upgradeable. He saw no hint of the requirents, but it was good to know that he could improve the skill into a better one. [Chop] wasnt upgradeable, which was a bit disappointing. He could only hope the description was true, that there was greatness in simplicity.
If he went by his knowledge from video gas, then hed likely need to raise proficiency to the max before sohow upgrading [Axe Mastery] into a higher tiered skill. As that option wasnt available for [Eye of Discernnt], he could only hope to find out so clues at a later date.
Of course, even if he wouldnt be able to upgrade [Chop] hed still try to max out its proficiency. Who knew if the System would reward a Title, or new class quests if he did. The system did like it when people put in effort, after all.
Reviews
All reviews (0)