Chapter 359: A few days flying past

"I mean it should have been obvious considering all the organizational guilds they have. They just don't call themselves guilds as we do." Elizabeth stated, it was quite obvious in hindsight. 

"True, they normally call themselves mercenary groups. But they have the same classification as our guilds. Why do they not call themselves guilds though?" Nikki added, this part confusing everyone. 

They would not even always call themselves a mercenary group, sometimes they call themselves an adventurer group, other times explorers, other times an expedition, other times monster hunters, and certainly more. Yet they were all just guilds, or at least they were treated similarly. 

...

Eldrian return trip was mostly uneventful. After having set himself a waypoint in Kynigo he headed back. On the way continuing to practice with the armor and spells. His return taking him an entire day due to this. 

Naturally, he did log out and join the rest for their PVP matches. Needing to apologize for having missed a few again. 

Each time he logged in or out he also had to meditate. Eldrian quickly got used to this, considering it almost like a morning shower. A way to refresh himself and clear his mind. 

On his return, he was not sought out by any of the others. Most were constantly fighting on the front lines, and while Eldrian thought of rushing out to help, he stopped himself. 

When he passed through Pyknos Fort again he had learned that all from Phallos had been sent to the front lines. As such he instead did his best to find Vivian, managing this on the second day after his return. 

Staying near her sickbed he did his best o help her. Though, unfortunately, his spells of healing were too weak to do much. As such he placed his focus on learning Tier 2 and Tier 3 healing. The former he managed in just an hour. The latter however took much more time. 

Like Anthise it felt like Therapeia needed something more than just mana and the spell module. It took Eldrian a day to figure it out. Somehow he had to send a bit of his will with the spell. Directing its healing to a specific part of the person.

What made this hard to learn was that adding his will was a requirement. Instead of being something he normally added after learning how to cast the spell statically. 

Once he managed to learn the spell he would visit Vivian each day and cast it on her. Talking and joking while he did and staying by her side till she fell asleep again. 

Each day she grew much better, regaining her normal color by the end of the seventh. By that time Eldrian had learned Velona Pagetou too. The Tier 2 variant of Frost Needle. The spell creating three icicles that moved as one. 

Not too useful but a good addition to his repertoire. 

With a waypoint set, he could go back to the city at ease. Once he had confirmed that Vivian was truly recovering he had made a return visit and gone to Myropsis to ask for a few more spells. 

She was more than willing to simply give them to him as long as he gave her some advice on how to move forward. While Eldrian had been hesitant due to Pelaros's warning, in the end he had decided to fulfill her wish. 

Most of it had gone over her head, but Eldrian had shared one clue with her. 

"I was wrong about the magic abyss before."

"What do you mean?" She had asked in confusion. 

"We had thought it was a way to directly access a spell but, actually it is far more and far less at the same time."

"That makes no sense."

"I know. The advice I have for you is to continue trying to control your own mana, and when attempting to case a spell enchase it with your will. Encase it with mageia."

"Why?"

"It might allow you to also enter the magic abyss as I do. Once you manage that you might be able to understand that controlling a spell is about bypassing the spell module."

Myropsis had shaken her head in confusion, bypassing a spell module made no sense to her. Yet it was the only way to get past static casting as far as Eldrian knew.

Eldrian still relied on spell modules himself, but only for the initial cast. Once the spell was active he would forget about the module and focus on the mana sustaining it. However, this was not an easy thing to accomplish.

And with Myropsis's years of experience with magic she struggled to understand what Eldrian meant. Not to mention she only recently managed to fully follow her mana. Controlling it was still a bit away from her grasp. 

"Are you ever going to take a break?" Vivian asked, a blanket tightly hugging her. Having exited the tent and seen Eldrian practicing just a short distance away. 

"How can I? I still can't even participate in the war properly."

Vivian sighed and said no more. She knew what he meant, she had thought she would be able to do much more. Getting thrown like a ragdoll by a single undead had truly shattered her pride. 

"While you are here, can you help me with this skill?" Eldrian asked, having completely failed in learning a Tier 2 skill even up to now. 

After receiving a nod he started the execution. The skill was called Flowing Winds, it was one of the rewards Pelaros had managed to deliver to Eldrian. Unfortunately, they were not able to get someone to train him personally, with all people above Tier 5 basically never getting any sleep. 

Executing the move to the T, Eldrian did all the book required of him. His technique seemed flawless, his mana was there and the skill module was envisioned in his arms and legs as indicated. 

Tier 2 skills were certainly a step up from Tier 1, but it also required far more focus. So much that Eldrian had wondered how the hell players could have managed it. Only to learn that they had to learn far fewer things and the execution even needed only be half-assed. 

Adding onto the fact that this was an advanced skill, in fact, the entire manual he was trying to memorize was meant for people above Tier 5 to go back to and improve their technique. 

"What skill is it?" Vivian asked, unable to find any fault at first glance. Giving her the manual Eldrian opened it one the specific skill. 

"Grigora Spear Movements? Why this manual?"

"You know I favor speed above all else, and these are all focused on speed and graceful movements."

Nodding Vivian had to agree that speed was indeed important, again recalling how she barely managed to react to the Flaming Reanimate's attacked. "But that means these skills all far harder to learn, have you tried doing them in slow motion?"

"No? Why?"

"Because grace comes from being able to do something at any speed. You need to be able to fully regulate how your entire body moves. Try it."

Eldrian did just that, for the rest of the day focusing solely on the skill. Obviously, there were easier skills he could go and learn, simple body enhancement skills only had one skill module he had to memorize.

Eldrian however did not wish to learn them. As soon as he had seen the Grigora techniques he had fallen in love. Unlike other skills, they do not even need magic to be possible. Magic simply increases the speed and grace of movements. At least that is what he took from the manual. 

After his twentieth fail, Eldrian sighed as sweat freely flowed down his back. "Why is doing it slowly so much harder?"

"The better question is, why the hell are you keeping the skill modules active while learning?" Vivian countered, having wondered why Eldrian seemed so tired after each attempt. While Eldrian's hidden class kept her from viewing his flowing mana, she could still see his mana gathering when preparing to cast a spell or skill. 

"Because I think I am onto something."

"Oh?"

Nodding Eldrian attempted it again, feeling a twitch through his entire body this time. "Yes!" He shouted in joy, confusing Vivian who saw him fail again. 

"Haru, what are you trying?"

Smiling Eldrian did not reply and attempted it again. Feeling the twitch for longer this time as he slowly went through the moves. At the end, he sat down and gasped for air. 

"What on earth are you doing?" Vivian asked as she stood up and sat next to him, hugging her blanket tight as the cold autumn wind chilled her frail injured body. 

"You know how I can cast spells in a unique way?" Eldrian said, casting and toying with Floga as he said this. 

"Of course, if you use magic you can even beat me without trouble."

"Well, I have been wondering why I can't do the same with skills."

After a moment of stunned silence, Vivian asked, "Have you figure it out?"

"Not yet, but I am close. The last two attempts I could feel my mana stirring. The thing is, skills and spells are massively different. Vivian, what does a skill feel like for you?"

"It depends on the type of skill."

Nodding Eldrian asked what types there were. "There are activation and passive boost-, activation technique-, and activation burst skills."

"The boost is like Drive?"

"Yes, once activated it gives you a boost in some attribute or even a few. Passive is similar but it continually drains your stamina and mana to continually give you the boost."

"Then the activation must be like this one I am trying to learn and double strike."

"Yes, burst skills are the ones people favor the most. They look fancy and strong, but more often than not they do not do much." Thinking back to how useless her skills had been against the Flaming Reanimate Vivian truly felt that they had been useless. Not realizing that the unique undead was immune to fire and that was why her spells had been useless. 

"Then what does each feel like to you?" Eldrian asked after giving her some time to sort through her emotions. Her voice had carried enough spite to cripple someone if words could cripple.