章節 71: Being Recognized

Once Valyr had woken up once more to greet a new day, the sun's rays had already pierced through his windows, prompting a light frown to appear on his face as he sat up, scratching his back before getting out of bed to do a light stretch.

While doing the stretches, Valyr was surprised to find out that other than a bit of soreness in some areas, his body felt limber. Recalling what he had done during his first day in the village, which rendered him incapable of moving if not for the pain relief pills he bought, he could not help but be astonished. After all, the magnitude of things he had done yesterday during the monster tide was tens, if not hundreds of times more strenuous than what he did back then.

Chalking up his body's greater endurance towards his higher stats, he then went about his morning routine, putting on a set of casual clothes once he had gotten out of the shower. After that, he affixed his wooden spear on his back, ready to head out and do what he needed to do. However, just before he could open the door, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, prompting him to grab the vials of blood Tristan gave him before pocketing them.

With that, he made his way to the cafeteria, a light smile on his face as he decided to take a look at the skills he had obtained the previous night.

Ding!

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[Deft Hands] (Level 1/10)

Rarity: Common

A skill that allows the user to temporarily increase their dexterity for a short amount of time. Increases the user's DEX stat by 10% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Cost: 50 MP

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[Robust Arms] (Level 1/10)

A skill that allows the user to temporarily increase their strength for a short amount of time. Increases the user's STR stat by 10% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Cost: 50 MP

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'At its current state, it's only useful in certain situations where I need to deal a bit more damage.' Reading through the descriptions of the two skills he had bought for his Rank 1 class, Valyr could not help but wonder how these skills allowed him to obtain the variant blacksmith class he wanted. 'I guess leveling them up would allow me to find out the reason why the variant class needs it?'

'Anyways, I'll save that for later.' With that in mind, he closed the two screens before him, commanding the system to bring up the description of the skill he had gotten from Damian for free.

Ding!

With a smile, he read through its description, feeling a hint of nostalgia from it as he recalled all of the memories he had in his previous life with the Special Skill. 'It'll be a while until I can reach its former glory, but I'm definitely glad to have found this earlier than later.'

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[Serpent Spear Combat Style] (Level 1/10)

Rarity: Common+

There are various ways to wield the spear. Some wield the spear as if it was an extension of their arms, focusing on the simplicity of the spear to show its greatest power. Some wield the spear as is, focusing on amplifying the benefits of wielding the spear to its greatest limit. Then, there are those who wield the spear as if it was a living creature, turning into a far more lethal weapon than the other two.

This skill teaches the user the Serpent Spear combat style, a style of spear wielding that focuses on the idea that the spear is a serpent, an elusive predator that kills its prey in one swift strike. The style consists of 5 moves, 1 defensive and 4 offensive, with each move being more lethal than the previous.

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"To think the first move is already as destructive as [Strong Pierce]," Valyr could not help but say with a chuckle, trying to recall whether the first move already had that much power at the start. After all, he had unlocked a couple advancements in the Technology Tree's Combat section, so there was a chance it could have been upgraded by the tree, just like [Strong Pierce]. Thinking about it for a bit more, he decided to place the thought at the back of his head for now.

Closing up the screen in front of him, he then continued on his way to the cafeteria, ordering a light breakfast as he soon sat on a vacant table, eating his breakfast in silence. While eating, he could not help but notice that only a few people aside from him were awake at the moment, prompting him to think that most of those who participated in the monster tide were still sound asleep, dead tired from the multiple waves they had to deal with.

"Now that I think about it, this is the first skill I've gotten with a plus modifier," he muttered to himself, continuing to eat his breakfast as he wondered if there were any other skills with a plus modifier that he wanted and was easy to obtain in the near future.

Although it may not seem like much, skills that had a plus modifier on them meant that they were considerably stronger than skills of the same grade, their strength being closer to the grade above it rather than the one below it. Aside from that, skills with plus modifiers all had the ability to evolve to the next grade, considering that the wielder of the skill found the right method to upgrade it.

"I think I should be able to find the upgrade requirement for this skill once I ascend to Rank 1." Now finished with his breakfast, Valyr gave the tray back to the cafeteria workers and thanked them before leaving the premises, heading out of the barracks to make his way to the smithy.

Unsurprisingly, with his reputation in the village now at max, including the fact that he had a village legend revolving around him, a lot of the people in the village went out of their way to greet him. In response, Valyr greeted them back, flashing a smile or two at people while waving at them. Though, while that was happening, he inwardly sighed at the current situation, pondering whether to take a more secluded route next time.

'Then again, the monster tide just finished yesterday. People will eventually forget about it. Just gotta give it some time.' Repeating that thought in his mind over and over to think better of the situation, he eventually arrived at the smithy, closing the door behind him as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Well then. To think the Tidebreaker would personally make an appearance in my smithy." However, just as Valyr thought he was safe from the effects brought about by his title, Tristan stood up from his seat and looked back at Valyr, deciding to tease the man.

"So, you're gonna do it that way, huh? Well, two can play that game." Unfortunately for Tristan, his joke quickly backfired, with Valyr hastily turning around to leave the smithy. "Guess I'll just head outside the village and check the effects of the blood on the spear myself."

"Wait, wait, wait! I was just kidding!" Naturally, with how enamored he was with Valyr's spear, Tristan utilized the entirety of his AGI and stopped Valyr from even taking a single step out of the smithy. With a bitter smile on his face, he said to Valyr, "It was just a joke, jeez."

"Have you ever experienced the feeling of having people follow your every move just because you did something amazing once? That's what I'm feeling right now, and not gonna lie, I hate it." Trying his best not to lash out at the man behind him, Valyr turned around and explained to Tristan what he felt at the moment.

"Alright, alright. That was my mistake. I'll stop." Hearing Valyr's words, Tristan went ahead and apologized, distancing himself from the former as he made his way back to the anvil. As he sat down, he turned to look at Valyr. "But just so you know, Damian and I have gone through what you're going through right now. In fact, Damian's opinion on it is more or less similar to what you think of it."

"As for me… I relished in the feeling of being recognized. I bathed in it. It's a great feeling, that's for sure." Saying those words, Tristan extended his arms out and looked up at the ceiling as he lightly closed his eyes, reminiscing of a time when people cheered out his name.

"Alright, narcissist. Enough monologuing for now. It's time for me to keep my part of the promise." Sadly for Tristan, Valyr wasn't having any of it, unfurling the fabric tying his wooden spear as he grabbed the latter. Then, making his way to where Tristan was, he placed the spear on the floor before retrieving a vial of the Lesser Tidemother's blood out of his pocket, raising it up in front of the latter.

"Let's see what happens when the two mix, shall we?"