Chapter 102 – The First Semester

Level: 1 Experience: BLOCKED

Healing: 430/430 Stamina: 440/440 Mana: 260/260

Class: Tier 0, Child(Blue)

Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition(+10%), Increased Learning Speed(+10%), Increased Stat Gain(+10%), Increased Physical Gain(+10%), Increased Mental Gain(+10%)

Vitality: 43 ()

Endurance: 44 (+1)

Strength: 34 (+1)

Agility: 42 (+1)

Perception: 31 ()

Mind: 105 (+7)

Magic: 26 (+1)

Focus: 47 (+2)

Free Points: 0

Tier 1(22)(14+): Light Armor(100), Dwarven Etiquette(100), Eldarin Etiquette(89+14), Shield Skills(80+5), Speech(75+25), Drawing Skills(70), Pulse Strike(67), Cleaning Skills(52+2), Bow Skills(52), Combat Tactics(51+1), Pugilist Skills(50), Sweet Tooth(40+15), Driving(39), Axe Skills(46+12), Dancing Skills(38), Deflection(40+10), Cooking Skills(30+8), Dagger Skills(29), Stealth(25), Throw(25), Medium Armor(25+5), Wrestling Skills(21)

Tier 2(54)(2+): Mana Sense(100), Danger Sense(100), Focused Breathing(87+3), Focused Running(80+16), System Sense(79+1), Algebra(68+8), Focused Toughness(63+2), Focused Meditation(60+7), Soul Sense(62+1), Darkness Vision(56), Geometry(55+5), Trap Detection(40), Speed Reading(40

Tier 3(54)(1+): Empowered Will(100+1), Soul Resistance(92+1), Poison Resistance(72+7), Fear Resistance(61), Healing Resistance(60+5), Eldarin Runes(40), Fire Resistance(27), Lightning Resistance(26), Mana Manipulation(24+6), Empowered Writing(20), Cold Resistance(20), Soul Strike(20), Skill Control(17+1), Arcane Resistance(16), Physical Resistance(13+1), System Control(6+1), Alchemy(5), Social Resistance(5+1)

Tier 4(8): Soul Link(23+3), Pain Immunity(5)

Tier 5(-): Experience Siphon(C)

Equipment

Gloves: Gloves of Processing(T2) (Blocks Mana T2 and Below)

Boots: Armored Boots(T1) (Basic Equipment)

Head: Armored Helmet(T1) (Basic Equipment)

Class: Tier 1, Young Winged Serpent(Orange)

Effect: Alchemy Skill Growth(+50%), Alchemic Skill Power(+100%)

Vitality: 105 ()

Endurance: 35 ()

Strength: 52 ()

Agility: 84 ()

Perception: 38 ()

Mind: 96 ()

Magic: 85 ()

Focus: 45 ()

Free Points: 0

T1: Bite(87)

T2: Toxic Breath(47), Alchemic Vision(32)

T3: Alchemy(40), Poison Insight(22), Fire Insight (8), Cold Insight(8), Arcane Insight(8), Spatial Insight(7), Soul Insight(2)

T4: Soul Link(23), Flight(20), Alchemic Bounded Field(12)

I filled out the skill sheets for both myself and Ozy. Part of the agreement with the College to keep him here and to buy skills for him was that I had to give them his status sheet. Healer Melon looked over my status sheets with a careful eye.

“I gained 426 skill levels, so quite good,” I said.

“Your Mind stat has gone way up. Which is also a good thing. At 76%, which is far from Meldor’s threshold. That is good, very good.”

“My subconscious was also protecting me, with how close I came several times,” I replied.

“Foolishness, Justin. Anyways, the worst of the danger is past,” he said with a relieved look and then frowned. “But there is another issue.”

“What?” I asked.

“That armband. Limiting your experience gain. Having a child class will hurt you going forward. While your soul is held together with your stats and resistance skill, not getting a tier 1 class will cause complications with your growth,” he said.

“What kind of complications?” I asked.

“Increased chance of deformities as you grow older. Anyone can reach level 20 with crafting experience. I know you don’t want to gain levels, but the risk is too high how, especially with tier 4 skills and your age,” he explained.

“But my mother didn’t say anything,” I pointed out. I was hesitating since I didn’t want the person who cursed me to get experience off of me, and I wanted to see how far I could go.

“Unlike Meldor’s Threshold, the effects would be more gradual. We are just at the start of when this could become an issue. The armband has to come off and you need to reach level 20 for your first class. Which perfectly aligns with the two week break at the end of this semester,” Healer Melon pointed out.

I looked at the bracelet on my arm that was blocking out experience. “I just thought people couldn’t resist gaining levels,” I replied.

“There is that. You can replace it after you get your first class if you want. But you must get your first class. Healer’s orders,” he replied and I nodded slowly at this. While I was doing better with my classes, they were still a struggle. Adding free stats would help with that. “You don’t have to add the free stat points when you level, if you can resist.”

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“Are you reading my mind?” I muttered in complaint. Ozy looked up at me, but I sent him thoughts of relaxation, so he calmed down.

“No, but everyone thinks the same thing. The longer you can resist using your free stat points, the easier it is to train them up yourself,” Healer Melon said what I already knew. But was repeating information to remind me what my mother would want me to do, what was best for me. In this case, unlike the pet and all the Alchemical products, she would be absolutely right. I stroked Ozy’s body as I remained calm and communicated that feeling through our bond.

I would need to continue Speech next semester to maximize out the skill. While it wasn’t my favorite, my father taught the class, and he would only be here at the College for this year. Poison Sense overlapped with other skills like Danger Sense and Soul Sense. It wasn’t a bad skill, but it wasn’t a great skill. At least I would be better at detecting the effects of poisons.

Mana Manipulation had gone up slightly. But it still had a long way to go before the skill was maximized. Looking at Ozy’s stats was much more interesting. He had 540 stat points to my 372. It wasn’t a surprise since he was a monster with high degree of potential and level 27. Monsters had a cap on their maximum level and could gain experience from consuming Mana, even if they didn’t have a specific consumption skill.

While people liked to talk about having unlimited potential, reaching such a high level was completely out of reach. Even my mother was over level 150, but she wasn’t even close to level 200 from what she had told me.

Unlike a person, Ozy’s skill list was much more condensed. All those insight skills were incredibly powerful along with Alchemical Bounded Field. It would allow him to directly alter volumes of space around himself for attack and defense.

“I will need to train with Ozy, to get him used to combat and get his first skill,” I said.

“The dungeon would be the perfect opportunity for the two of you. You need to level up and it would be a good training opportunity,” Healer Melon said.

“I am concerned about his size, but it should be fine, I think,” I said.

“I wouldn’t worry. He won’t gain that many levels in the upper layers of the dungeon. At most you are looking at him going from arm length to body length. And you won’t be down there that long. Still reasonable in size to fit indoors and travel with you,” Healer Melon replied.

“Just annoyed at the thought of someone getting some of my experience,” I replied. I considered the soul skill book my mother had left me. The College routinely checked skills and I didn’t have the time to split my focus further. Learning soul skills came with a certain stigma and I wanted to place first. While I was confident I could place first, I couldn’t do that while not counting certain skills and splitting my focus. My ego and hubris wasn’t that large.

Windshell Gossimer wouldn’t let me rest easy in first place at the College. I could easily gain 20 levels myself even if I lost a portion of my experience in the dungeon. Also, with my mother gone, it would be a good way to make the Dark Cabal hesitate before coming after me during the next several years.

When I focused on soul skills, I wanted them to my only focus and I would hide out deep in the dungeon after graduation for a long time. Working on improving them and breaking the curse skill.

“I guess we should head down to Genoa’s dungeon entry passage today, after I submit my skill sheets. No need to wait around to see if I place first,” I said.

“That sounds like a good plan. We can avoid other students who might be planning to head down. While unlikely, you could be targeted,” Healer Melon said.

“I guess I should look at the College’s store to find a replacement bracelet for when I hit level 20 and to replace my rings,” I said while looking at the one my mother had given me. My thoughts went to her, and I hoped she would return.

We hadn’t parted on the best of terms, and I was worried about her. No one ever returned from a final descent, hence the name. Ozy nudged me with his snoot and I gave him some head scratches. He really was quite sensitive to my mood.

If I did get my resistances high enough, he could create effects centered around me, providing me a makeshift combat aura. It would be dangerous, but it could have some powerful synergy. The skill that should be worked on most right now with Ozy was Flight.

Spell skills were named that way since they used Mana in an active manner and created some kind of complex effect with that Mana. They were their own category like passive, crafting, aura, and resistance skills. Distance and power impacted the Mana cost of the spell skills.

Leveling up spell skills made them more Mana efficient and expanded the range and possible power one could place into the spell skill. It was his main movement skill and his ability to dodge was dependent on that skill. I needed him to survive first and foremost. I needed him to be able to retreat and position himself properly in combat.

I was good enough to cover myself, not both of us. A pet shouldn’t be a liability, but a boon. That was why he needed to be able to dodge while in combat. His other skills would naturally come in time as he got more experience fighting other monsters. I would have to make sure to temper his fighting instincts.

If I did have to fight other people, they would target Ozy first. As a support teammate he was the clear target to take down instead of me. Always target the support casters first was a lesson I knew. A support caster could offer a multiplicative effect in combat. With Flight Ozy should be able to stay out of danger.

I carefully adjusted Ozy and got up. I picked up the status sheets and straightened them out. “I will grab my sword, since we are heading out after this,” I told Healer Melon who gave me a nod. After equipping my sword, I didn’t put it in my spatial storage, I left with Healer Melon.

I repeated the same process I had three months ago, handing in my skill sheets and having several skills checked to make sure I wasn’t lying about them leveling up. I handed in Ozy’s skill sheets as well, but the College wasn’t going to double check his skills.

As for equipment, that could wait until I graduated. I would speak to my father about getting a proper set of tier 3 equipment at my graduation. While he had only promised me a sword, I was hopeful I could squeeze some extra items from him if I graduated in first place.

We made our way to the elevator after the skill check. Getting inside, a staff member set the destination for the ground. Once we cleared the mountain, a glass window had been set onto two sides of the elevator, giving an impressive view out the side. Instead of a pillar of stone around the elevator, it had transitioned into metal scaffolding.

I could see work being down on the underside of the College, shoring up the rock with metal bracing. Probably to ensure the entire structure didn’t break apart if there was a hard impact for some reason. Also, the separation from the mountain had left the bottom of the College quite jagged. The risk of something falling was high, which would have created political issues if the College was dropping chunks all over the place it was staying at.

While I wasn’t part of the crafting courses, the College had a very large crafting discipline, and a large portion of students came to the College to study crafting. While the College was quite big, it wasn’t lacking talents that could work on making the underside just as impressive as the top of the College.

“Still crazy that something that big can float,” Healer Melon said.

“I know. The fact it can maintain such a state without falling is what really gets me. That has to require sustained runic arrays. The Mana cost must be horrendous, but The Mathemancer had to have found some clever trick, to keep the costs low,” I said.

“Something about using its own weight, at least that is what I heard,” the staff member operating the elevator said.

“That would be interesting. And explain why there aren’t flying dwarven carriages. It is a size issue,” I replied. It also didn’t escape my notice that were retractable hatches being built into the bottom of the College, possibly for weapons or people to stand on platforms and cast downwards.

Without a Supreme Legend as the Dean, increasing the defenses was not a bad idea to help protect the place from a large scale attack.