บท 141: Pick a box

Michael lets out a breath as he finishes examining the list, deep in thought over what to pick. All of these heroes were useful in one way or another, though, some with severe drawbacks. He was currently leaning towards, Anti-Mage, Legion Commander, Lina, and Winter Wyvern. Each had powerful abilities and an abundance of knowledge to learn from.

Anti-Mage with martial skills and arts based solely around defeating mages and magic users.

Legion Commander with war tactics, leadership, and other useful skills that would be used when leading an army, such as logistics, not to mention her skills with a glaive.

Lina, who possesses mastery over fire magic and likely many other types of magic.

And Winter Wyvern, a powerful ice mage with a vast collection of knowledge under her.

It must be mentioned, that while Michael needed to tailor his picks to his current world, eventually he'd be able to sit back and just learn from his spirits... But for now, it was better to be a warrior on a farm, than a farmer at war.

He gnaws on his thumbs fingernail as he finally comes to a decision... His recent failure to kill Baron Jargkon due to Prince Wales had annoyed him more than he'd like to admit, so, magic resistance was far too tempting to resist.

Finally, he presses Anti-Mage and watches as the book flashes with light and rapidly flips over to Anti-Mage's new page. On it was a picture depicting the man, Anti-Mage. He was bald aside from the short purple mohawk atop his head, his face held many dark tattoo-like markings and his eyes certainly weren't human. Their sclera was a dull purple, and his pupil was a brightly glowing purple orb. He was tall, thin yet muscular with tanned skin, wearing purple robes that looked suited for combat. lastly, in his hands he held two strange curved blades that glowed blue, Michael knew he wouldn't be able to use them without his Gandaflr runes, as they weren't anything like any weapon he'd used before.

Strangely though, Anti-Mage wasn't alone in this picture. He appeared to be standing over a girl with crossed arms as she tried in vain to meditate. She was garbed similarly to him, but with lighter-looking robes and sandals instead of his boots. She had long purple hair that was cut short at the sides of her head, similar facial tattoos to Anti-Mage. All in all, a sexier female version of the regular Anti-Mage...

The scene itself depicted the two atop some kind of mountain temple, with a vast, rather beautiful scenery being visible from the nearby door.

Michael wasn't really sure why both were included as the hero, nor was he sure who this girl was. But regardless, he wouldn't be complaining about having a pretty face to teach him... Regardless, he focuses on the abilities the hero grants him.

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Spirit : Anti-Mage

Level : 2

Abilities :

Mental Fortitude (Rank 1) : Grants resistance to mental attacks that gets stronger when against magic.

Mana Break (Rank 0) : Burns the mana of any target struck, dealing damage to them based on how much mana is burned.

Blink (Rank 0) : Short Range but fast teleportation. Less range when unable to see location.

Counter Spell (Rank 1) : Provides passive magic resistance, can be activated to form a shield for a short time that blocks and reflects any single target spells cast towards user.

Mana Void (Rank 0) : Attacks an enemy and deals damage to them and their surroundings based on how much mana they are missing.

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Michael grins and instantly puts points into Mental Fortitude and Counter Spell, not willing to risk Sheffield using the Ring of Andvari on him again. With both combined, he should be able to resist whatever effects it might have.

He was pretty happy with the abilities to be honest, and even Blink, which he thought would be redundant with Riki's Blink Strike seemed useful. Blink Strike, from what he could observe, had a longer range but couldn't be used without a visible target, unlike Blink.

He wondered if he'd be deemed an 'enemy of god' if he used Mana Break on someone to drain their 'oh-so-precious magic'.

Once he was done smirking at the hero in his book, he turns and looks at his own status that he hadn't gotten the chance to properly check yet.

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Name : Michael Hunt

Rank : Hero

Stats :

Strength : 15 > 16

Agility : 30.6 > 35.1

Intelligence : 16 > 18

Abilities :

[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.

[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.

[Basic Mana Manipulation] : Allows user more control over his magic, spells, and some abilities. Mana efficiency and control of power is increased.

[Pain Tolerence] : Allows user to endure great amounts of pain with little to no negative effects as a result.

Affinities :

[Lesser Water Affinity], [Lesser Fire Affinity], [Lesser Lightning Afffinity], [Lesser Darkness Affinity]

Spirits :

Commoner Tier :

Shadow Shaman : Lvl MAX

Slark : Lvl MAX

Riki : Lvl 18 > MAX

Hero Tier :

Anti-Mage : Lvl 2

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Flashback end :

Unfortunately, despite gaining these new abilities, hadn't yet had the chance to actually use them. Mental Fortitude wasn't really something he could use, and neither was Counter Spell. He had wanted to ask Ralf and Tiffania to cast spells at him of course, until he realised that any spell would be deflected right back at them.

He did have Tiffania cast a low powered Erase spell on him though, and whether it was because of his magic resistance, Mental Fortitude, or because the spell was too weak, he wasn't affected by it at all. Tiffania wasn't willing to up the strength of her spell however, leaving them at an impasse on what they could test.