Reading through the skills that the centaurette guild clerk had brought him, Eldrian found one that he liked far and above the most. Its flashiness felt to him like it was the most practical and not just a show of power.
"Flaming snake strike - Fotias," Eldrian mumbled, reading through the skills description and how it was used.
'A feint that causes the fire to spring at the enemy like the strike of a viper, and then a thrust aimed below the flames, hidden. Ideally confusing the enemy of where the strike is truly going to be. And if the fire isn't blocked it will also burn the face. That sounds quite good.'
Nodding, Eldrian thanked those at the guild for their help. As he was about to leave the centaurette stepped forward, confused that he was already leaving.
"Yes?" Eldrian looked at her, confused in return.
"Are you only taking the one?" She asked, they had brought over more than twenty spear-related skills for him to look into. Of course, this was only possible due to their network with all the other guilds and associations in the city.
The adventures guild was certainly the best place to go if one wanted to look at everything or something random. They might not have the higher Tier stuff, but below Tier 5 they would have basically everything.
"For now, yes," Eldrian replied. He did not believe that he would be able to master more than one skill in what remained of the day. After all, tomorrow he suspected he would need to do something to actually reach the next Tier.
Else, it made no sense that there had been this delay since making his mana network. Eldrian's only problem was that he still did not know what this would be. He hoped that when the counter reached 100%, the system would guide him. Or at least give him a hint.
His intuition told him that something was going to happen. He could only wait and see, if it turned out he could not reach Tier 5 then the letter he had sent Pelaros should ensure that the mission is not delayed further.
The centaurette paused, seeming reluctant to say what was on her mind. After Eldrian told her to go ahead she asked, "Why are you so badly dressed?"
Looking down, Eldrian stifled a laugh as he recalled that his breastplate had broken and since then he hadn't replaced it. The rest of his armor was not in great shape either, but they still functioned at the very least.
Seeing his embarrassed look, she quickly offered, "Then, why don't you take one of the spares we have here."
"Shouldn't I pay for it?" Eldrian asked, naturally he now better understood the first clerk's reluctance. Eldrian's appearance was not that of a count. He appeared more like an impoverished soldier. Thus it was normal to assume he should not be in contact with the city's mayor.
Though, Eldrian being an elf should still be a giveaway. However, there were a few other players of the elven race, just not High Elves. So unless you could tell the difference it was not that clear an indication of who Eldrian was.
Shaking her head no, she explained, "The Mayor recently called for a state of emergency. With this, all those capable of fighting must join the army. In return, everyone can take a full set of equipment at their level after signing up."
'When did Pelaros do this?' Eldrian wondered, he suspected it had something to do with the refugees. Likely, they also had to join. If they did, the city might be able to form an army close to what they had had before the siege. Though they would still be lacking personnel above Tier 5.
"Alright, lead the way." Eldrian saw no reason to not take one. While he might not be able to get one as great as Chelona, having something protecting his vitals was important.
After a bit of a search, he indeed found one that could be considered Chelona's equal, though its abilities were very different from Chelona's. Due to the system Pelaros had installed a person could only claim an item of their Tier at the highest.
Due to this Eldrian could peruse Tier 4 equipment and luckily there are not that many people at Tier 4. Besides, normally if a person was at this Tier they would have their own equipment. The collection of the city was after all the old equipment of their dead.
[Tier 4 Magical Breastplate (Mofyla)]
[Armor: 36]
[Magical Armor: 42]
[Passive ability - Hearty: Decreases the stain of strenuous activities.]
'Vague...'
[Activable ability - Gale: Summons a fierce wind, capable of tearing trees apart. Lasts three seconds.]
[Cost: 80MP | Cooldown: 30 seconds]
'Kind of like Kyma, but from the description sounds like it will be continuous. Cost also about double, it might be useable to stun the ghoul or give me time to gain distance.' However, it was the next ability that made Eldrian really like the breastplate.
[Activable ability - Bloom: Increases the user's stamina and health regeneration by 20%. Increases agility by 10%. Lasts 1 minute.]
[Cost: 80MP | Cooldown: 15 minutes]
'It's like Anthos and the other spells, but with a bonus of increasing my speed. The 10% isn't much and isn't permanent, but it will make a difference. Especially if I can stack that with agility Augment and Sosta's ability.'
Taking the breastplate to test just this, Eldrian couldn't help but smile. Currently, the 10% wasn't that effective as he was weakened and still only Tier 4, but it would become more useful once he reached Tier 5. And more importantly, he found that could indeed stack all these boosts.
'With them all, I can increase my agility temporarily by over a hundred. But it won't last for long, Agility Augment only increases it by 30 for a minute same as Mofyla's bloom, but Sosta's 40 only lasts 10 seconds.'
'Regardless, this might just bring me close enough to the ghoul's speed to be able to lure it without too much danger. And [Gale] will be most useful.'
Eldrian had tested it on himself, finding that he could almost not move against the wind created when cast. Though, of course this would not stop anyone from moving with the wind, but it could certainly help him make some space between him and an enemy.
Lighter enemies like goblins might be blown away by it, it felt truly useful.
Thanking the girl for her help, Eldrian next made a stop by his mansion.
"Lord Eldrian, I did not expect to see you today." Brazan greeted upon seeing Eldrian.
"Do you know where the dwarves stored the reaver parts?"
"Yes, the storeroom was not large enough so we also emptied a few rooms. The storeroom has the carapaces and legs. In the guest rooms are the fangs and other valuable parts." Brazan said, not offering to lead Eldrian since after all, it was his mansion.
"How's your training coming?" Eldrian asked after a few steps, remembering that he had not guided Brazan a lot. Only telling him to look into fire and fire magic separately, to search for the difference.
"I'm still attempting to grasp the difference between a fire of nature, and a fire of the elements. I've found a number of differences, but I still can't quite feel the difference."
Eldrian nodded, that was indeed the hard part. Pausing, he concentrated for a while to find the right combination of fire, air, and light to produce lightning. It zapped between his fingers, causing a weird sensation but not hurting too much.
"This might help you. What do you think is the difference between this and lightning produced by storms?" Eldrian asked, pushing a lot more mana into it and sending a lighting strike to the ground.
"Strength?" Brazan replied, looking at the place where the lightning had connected with the ground.
Eldrian chuckled but did not say anything, waiting for Brazan to notice that the ground was not scorched. While it could be construed that his lightning was too weak, Eldrian had thrown a good fifty mana into it. If it had been a fireball the entire area would now be flames.
Brazan slowly made the connection, first wondering what this had to do with fire and then trying to recall the aftermath of a thunderstorm he had witnessed as a child.
Lightning- back then he had believed that it was the ultimate form of fire. Faster than the eye could see, hotter than molten metal, destructive enough to bring down buildings or trees alike with little effort.
Yet, Eldrian's just now had scorched hardly any of the grass, less than a handful had lost their green luster. It was more like it had simply disappeared into the ground as if it had never been.
"Why did it not burn the grass?" Brazan asked, confused about how this could be.
"Mana taking the form is not the same as the original. Fire is essentially just heat causing a chemical reaction known as oxidation in most common situations. Lightning on the other hand is the discharge of electrically charged-" Eldrian stopped himself, realizing that his words would mean nothing to Brazan.
"Suffice to say that lightning is not the same as fire. It is not a collection of heat, but rather something more similar to when you rub a carpet when wearing wool. That rubbing creates a charge and this charge creates heat in nature, but this heat is lacking when we summon the spell. We have only-"
Eldrian paused as he gained a flash of inspiration.
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