Chapter 129
The new skill was sohow different than any other skill Ajax had learned. So far skills have been broken up into two categories: active and passive. Active skills like his [Judge Threat], [Piercing Shot] and even [Mana Syphon] could be used on demand for a cost, be it stamina mana or just focus. Passive skills on the other hand just improved his ability to do sothing, be it [Sword] mana aspects or even [Berserker].
[Berserker Style] was inherently different in more than one way. First and foremost, unlike most other skills he gained a small amount of knowledge on how the skill works, usually he would have to experint with different things to see if anything changes.
Secondly the skill did have the influence of passive skills as it improved sothing he did and cost nothing to work. It also ca with a toggle on whether he wanted it active or not. The small insight into the [Berserker Style] he gained made it very easy to see why it would be sothing he wouldn’t want running all the ti.
Unlike normal passive skills this one worked by overwriting his usual fighting style with new muscle mory that would react to match. Much to his chagrin, even with just a cursory knowledge of the style it was clear why it was only Uncommon in rarity.
The berserker fighting style focused on the ntality of ‘the best defense is a good offense’. Actively charging and accepting minor blows in exchange for inflicting larger ones was not sothing sustainable even if it did have its uses.
Gaining the skill also had also made Ajax realize why he found himself inferior when compared to the two nobles in terms of lee combat, they clearly also had a style skill.
“What are you doing?” Nelly whispered to him.
“What do you an?” Ajax answered confused.
“I can tell that you usually have a mana skill working, perpetually when on the second floor but it also flares up in combat. This isn’t that, you still have that but now you are also doing sothing else. You should be resting and letting your mana regenerate.” she chastised him.
This was the first ti that the team had been pushed this far so until now Nelly didn’t have any reason to suspect Ajax’s constant use of [Mana Syphon] not to ntion that he was actively using his newly learned healing magic to stop the bleeding of his cuts.
“It’s sothing I picked up since our last delve.” he answered . “I can now do so minor healing even if it’s nothing compared to an actual healer. I should be able to stop my bleeding in another thirty seconds or so.”
Ajax wasn’t too keen on spreading the fact that he had even a small healing potential since he knew just how desired such a thing was. Not to ntion that using it on other people was still untested, he had no idea how it would work when used on a higher leveled individual who wasn’t infused with his mana as a base. Despite that, it didn’t even take him a split second to share it in order to cover [Mana Syphon], he trusted his team quite a lot now but the existence of a legendary skill was sothing so valuable that he couldn’t see all of them resisting temptation.
“You have healing abilities?” She now sounded a bit outraged given that this was a major piece of information and could very much change the actions of the team in an ergency.
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“You what?” Jones’ tone very much resembled Nelly’s. She hadn't whispered that last question and now the entire team was throwing him so displeased looks. The two nobles on the other hand both had an awestruck expression as they looked at Ajax.
“It’s not sothing that is sufficiently developed.” Ajax answered.
“What does that an?” the resident mage with an upcoming healer child asked.
“It’s pretty obvious that I am using a more unique style of magic.” he answered thinking of how to keep so mystique over everything. “ Its healing magic isn’t sothing I was taught, however.”
He conveniently left out the fact that he hadn’t been taught anything else either and had been making it up as he went along. It would seem much more plausible to have soone who imparted the beginning of the style and that he was now looking into expanding it in the absence of his teacher.
“I have been testing it but so far I only tested it on low level animals, that and myself but I don’t know how it would react to soone of a similar power to
who doesn’t have my mana as a base,” he explained. “ not to ntion that so far anything besides so simple muscle and skin restoration is either out of my ability or cos with side effects.”
“What does that an?” Nelly pressed on before she realized how she acted and retreated. “Just an example, no need to get into it too deeply.”
“Alright.” Ajax accepted that. “I have a sowhat efficient way of dealing with large amounts of blood loss, at least temporarily by replacing the blood. It does co at a cost, as far as I could tell the first two pints of blood don’t have any obvious downsides but after that bones beco more and more brittle. To the point that a boar's standing bodyweight was enough to break all four of its legs.”
“It doesn’t sound like sothing you should be using at all then.” Jones said after a mont of quiet where everyone took in the information.
“It has its uses. The side effect can be healed back by a regular healer.” he explained.
“I see.” Jones said and after a few more monts of silence that felt like an eternity to Ajax he gave his decision on the matter. “As you progress with this, I don’t expect you to share anything with us besides just how much you can do for us should we need it. We’ll also keep our mouths shut about it”
His gaze spanned the rest of the team after that last sentence. With the discussion brought to an end the team split into two. The more injured and exhausted mbers gathered in the center of the now empty den while the rest went to work on excavating the high quality marble deposits they found.
All in all the gains from this delve were much smaller than their previous one. While they did manage to get quite a few more mana cores due to the higher number of monsters present they were looking at a quarter if not a fifth of the value of their trip through the desert.
“Mind if I ask you a question?” Ajax approached Jaclyn.
“Sure?” Jaclyn was confused as to what it could be that the mysterious prodigy could ask but did rember that he seed to be constantly asking questions about anything not related to monsters or dungeon environnts.
“Both you and your brother seem to have a much better flow when it cos to lee combat than either
or anyone else on the team.” he started.
Jaclyn beca at once more guarded. It wasn’t that style skills were that much of a secret, but because of the amount of training and teaching they took it was sothing that set the nobles apart. It was a good thing that she could mask her reaction to the question with the heaving breaths she was taking after mining inside a dungeon with more than ten levels on her.
“After that last fight, I seem to have been given a hint as to why. Is there anything you can tell
about [Berserker Style]?” Ajax thought this was one of his best chances to ask soone about this since they had a binding deal in place not to share anything they learned about him.
“You an you gained…” she trailed off. “In this case I think I can tell you a bit.”
“Style skills are more ti consuming to gain, I am guessing that this isn;t the first ti you lunged headfirst in a race of who can kill the other first.” she shook her head slightly thinking of the implication of gaining such a style without a teacher. “Unlike most other skills affinity has a much lower connection to gaining these skills. They are gained by continued training and instruction from soone who already has the skill.”
“Is it bad that I have one?” he asked then rephrased the question. “Is it dangerous for
to be known to have one?”
“That would depend, but [Berserker Style] is actually more of a boon.” she said. “It is a more niche style but docunted and certainly not new. All it would an for you is an increase in value for any noble family looking to take you in since you can teach it to others.”
“If it is already known, wouldn't they already have it?” he asked.
“While that is true of most of the Uncommon styles when talking about families at the viscount level or higher [Berserker Style] is one of the few that tends to die out due to the styles inherent weakness.” she explained.
After finishing in collecting anything of worth and having to split the load to a few more mbers due to the weight of the trees from the first floor and the mined marble the team activated the obelisk.
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