Why were Skills needed? To ask in more detail: anyone could throw a normal punch, so why go out of the way to learn Skills like [Straight Punch] and [Jab]?
The answer was to better exert Power.
Human muscles could not exert one hundred percent of their Power at all times. No matter how terrifying the Power, only a small fraction could be unleashed in most situations. Skills were the keys to unlocking these limits.
Generally speaking, a Strength Value of 100 could deal 90 points of damage, but after using a Skill, it could deal 100 to 120 points of damage.
[Strangulation E]: Using this Skill amplified Power by 1.2 times. Only with this and the Nun’s support had he successfully snapped the Nemean Lion King’s neck.
The Nemean Lion King’s body turned to dust and vanished, leaving a massive Lion Skin in Blaze’s hands. He casually draped the Lion Skin over his shoulders and opened his Blessing.
[Honor Points: 61/1000]
It was still too early to lift the Armor’s Curse, but he hadn’t expected [Nature Affinity] to already change into [Natural Guidance]. Evidently, the Nemean Lion King had provided a massive amount of special Experience Value.
"Hmm?" Next to the Monkey Hand in the inventory, there was something he hadn’t seen before—a black stone dotted with tiny points of light.
[Star Fragments]
[The light from late summer and early autumn guides the inner potential and soul of a Human.]
[Use: Yes/No]
Blaze chose to use it without much thought. The stone shattered, and a dim light entered his body.
[Acquired: Constellation Power F]
"No feeling at all?" Blaze clenched his fists. His body Attributes showed no Transformation, and this Constellation Power Skill didn’t display any Effect.
It was as if the only use of this Skill was to free up a slot in the inventory.
"Forget it, freeing up a slot is good enough."
"Um... thank you for lending a helping hand this time." The Spear Knight, the captain of the trio, came over to greet him, speaking much more frankly than before.
"Let’s team up again in the future."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Spear Knight was amused by his own words. He didn’t know what had happened to turn the Black Beast Knight, who was supposed to be a regional boss, into a friendly, roaming NPC who helped players. However, his words made it sound as if he was treating the Black Beast Knight like a friendly player he had bumped into by chance.
"I’ll post about you becoming a friendly NPC on the community forums. You won’t have to worry about being attacked by people anymore." The Precept Monk scratched the back of his head.
"Um... in a month, I have a concert in Crete City. Do you want to come and watch?" The Nun blushed deeply, stammering as she held out a ticket to Blaze with both hands.
[Epidaurus Theater Admission Ticket]
After Blaze accepted it, the Nun immediately covered her face and ran away shyly. After a few steps, she turned into transparent blocks and disappeared.
She had actually logged off directly.
The Spear Knight and the Precept Monk exchanged a glance.
She had just given a regional boss a Teleportation Scroll that could send him directly to a gathering place where thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of defenseless players would congregate.
The Spear Knight winked playfully, while the Precept Monk crossed his arms and shook his head helplessly.
At that moment, the Spear Knight noticed that the Black Beast Knight was still in their party.
The Black Beast Knight had only joined the party because the Nun was in danger, triggering the friendly NPC’s emergency countermeasure. Now that the Nun was offline... A sudden thought struck him, and he asked Blaze, "Could you accompany us and grind for a little while longer?"
Blaze thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. Although he didn’t know what "grind" meant, it was quite nice to continue defeating Monsters as a team. Even though the Experience Value would be split equally, the efficiency would be much higher in return.
All three of them had Professions that could serve as both meat shields and damage dealers, so everyone simply needed to swing the weapons in their hands with all their might.
[Over here...]
Blaze heard the voice again. This time, it was clearer, and he could distinctly see a faint trail of guidance formed by specks of light.
The [Natural Guidance State] allowed him to clearly pinpoint the locations of the Titan Hybrids.
Blaze waved at the Spear Knight and the Precept Monk before taking the lead and breaking into a run. This time, they weren’t beside the dangerous Hundred-Womb Ganges, but deep in the forest. However, their enemies weren’t monkey hybrids, but a flock of Cannibal Sheep—a flock of sheep walking upright.
These weren’t goatmen, but sheep trembling as they maintained a Human standing posture. Even Blaze, clad in his Armor, felt a momentary chill. However, it quickly vanished because the Spear Knight and the Precept Monk went Berserk.
"Cannibal Sheep? This is practically a massive gift bag of Experience Value!"
"I’m going to max out my Knight class today and change my Profession to Heretic Judge!"
Blaze, the Spear Knight, and the Precept Monk slaughtered Titan Hybrids for the entire night. It wasn’t until the Sun rose that they realized they hadn’t rested all night.
"I... I feel like I’m in great condition, except my footsteps are a bit unsteady."
"I can still grind—"
The Precept Monk let out a loud shout before his body turned into virtual blocks and vanished.
Blaze was used to this sight. Foreigners couldn’t exist in this world for long periods. If they stayed continuously for too long, they would be forcibly expelled. It was said that the disappearing Foreigners were resting in another world.
"Damn it, I’m about to be forced offline too! Damn minor protection protocol!" The Spear Knight forcefully scratched his head and shouted unwillingly.
When facing enemies other than the Nemean Lion, the Black Beast Knight could instantly kill all of them in a single strike. Grinding with the Black Beast Knight was so thrilling that he couldn’t bear to log off and leave the party.
Seeing that the Spear Knight was also about to disappear, Blaze hurriedly patted his pockets.
It was the second day, and the Copper Coins had reappeared.
Blaze walked over to the Spear Knight, opened his hand, and handed the three Copper Coins to him.
"What’s this?" The Spear Knight picked up the three Copper Coins. Before he had time to ask, the system displayed a red warning for time expiration.
"Ah! Wait! Ah!"
The Spear Knight also turned into virtual blocks and vanished, leaving Blaze alone in the vast forest.
Blaze shrugged and opened his Blessing to check the results of his hard work throughout the night.
[Blaze / Black Beast]
Level: 35 (8)
Profession: Soul Suppressing Knight (Incomplete) Level 5 / Great Sword Master Level 15 / Fighting Master Level 10 / Hunter Level 5
Power: 125
Agility: 95
Intelligence: 56
Faith: 100
Skill
*Lethal Execution? / Butterfly Dance D / Bee Sting Fist D / Strangulation E / Danger Perception C / Forest Blessing D / Constellation Power F
Magic: ???
Equipment
Weapon: Long-Twisted Glory (Great Sword)
Head: None
Upper Body: None
Waist: None
Lower Body: None
Accessory: ???
The inventory was also packed to the brim. The Cannibal Sheep’s eyeballs, fur, and bones were all materials that Blaze couldn’t use, but they could serve as rewards to thank the Foreigners for their help.
The most useful item was still the Lion Skin obtained from defeating the Nemean Lion King. It could be decorated on the Armor, and its Effect was to block 12 instances of Pierce and Slash damage.
Blaze scrolled through the inventory. There were quite a few materials inside that had been obtained without any notification when defeating Monsters. These materials were all clustered around the Monkey Hand.
The Natural Guidance State brought by the [Forest Blessing] allowed him to hear the voice increasingly clearly, requesting him to head to a place called the Golden Tree Sea. Undoubtedly, he had already fulfilled the conditions to meet the Ancient Race.
"Hmm?" Blaze’s finger paused. He had scrolled to the very bottom of the inventory, where there lay a fruit—the fruit Marika had tossed to him.
[Fruit of Svartalfheim]
[Consuming it grants the Wisdom originally belonging to the Dwarves, but you will suffer the Curse of the One-Eyed Deity as a result.]