Chapter 360: Mastering a skill

Vivian did her best to try and explain, but trying to explain how something feels is never easy. This however did not discourage Eldrian. After listening he would attempt to execute the skill and focus on the feeling she tried to explain.

Each time finding something more. However, by the end of the day he still had no success. Luckily, no one was looking for him and Vivian was still recovering. As such he continued to train day upon day. 

Managing to master the skill on the third. Spinning around gracefully like the wind, Eldrian did not stop moving until he ran out of stamina. Falling to the ground when he finally did, completely exhausted. Vivian wide-eyed, having no words. 

"You succeeded?" She mumbled questioningly after the moment of wonder had passed. 

According to the manual, the skill was a four-part movement. The first being an upward strike as one had the spear in one hand, followed by a downward strike as you took it with two, spinning around, and then two quick sweeping attacks. 

Eldrian instead had managed to keep the attack going, continuously. Keeping up the grace of a dancer with each attack, spinning to build more momentum with each cycle as the spear moved from one hand to the other to both. 

"Yeah," Eldrian replied with a wide smile. He was not yet sure where he would be able to use the skill. It was too pretty, it felt more like a performance piece than a combat skill. However, he felt it was truly a good skill if he could master it. 

Looking at the system notification Eldrian's smile grew even more. 

[Player has mastered the skill Flowing Winds]

[Flowing Winds, (Skill, Mastered)]

[Tier 2, Rank 2]

[Four quick strikes, with the momentum from each adding more strength to the following strikes. Increasing each consecutive hit's damage by 5%.]

[Base Damage Boost: 6]

[Cost: 24 MP & 36 SP]

[Cooldown: 3 seconds]

[Execution time: 0.8 seconds]

[Damage(if all 4 hits land): 390]

'Well, that is almost never going to happen,' Eldrian thought as he read the total damage. Getting all hits to land would be near impossible against the enemies he normally faced. Eldrian felt the skill would help him far more against a mob than a single target. 

With that in mind he stood up and executed it again, this time focusing on how the skill increases his speed at certain points and how his mana flowed through him to support the increase. 

"Now!" Eldrian shouted, springing into action, his spear flying upward, followed by a quick downwards motion. Instead of just spinning, this time he stepped back as he spun. Focusing the second part of the skill on another area completely. Once the two sweeping attacks were done, Eldrian did not stop. 

Instead, he kept his mana flowing as it had been. Spinning and stepping again as he struck at another area. Continuing this again, this time for just a few seconds, before being forced to stop as his stamina ran out again. 

Heaving for breath, Eldrian's smile grew even more. He was finally realizing how to control his mana actively inside of him. For the moment, him trying to repeat it outside of the skill was useless, but he hoped that soon he would be able to move as he wanted. 

Taking a seat next to Vivian, he looked at his new total stats thanks to reaching Tier 2 in melee too. Happy by the small increase, despite how small it was. The increase in HP was the biggest bonus from reaching the higher Tier. 

[Haru's Statistics:]

[Level: 28]

[Hidden Class: Protector Tier 3]

[Normal Class: Magic Tier 3]

[Avatar Affinity: 100%]

[Attributes:]

[Constitution: 186] [was 176]

[Strength: 176] [was 166]

[Agility: 271] [was 266]

[Spirit: 192] [No change]

[Intelligence: 225] [No change]

[0 free attributes]

[Stats:]

[HP: 279] [was 238]

[Mana: 651] [No change]

[Stamina: 349] [was 317]

[Attack (With Aoidos): 63] [was 59]

'I am becoming quite beefy,' Eldrian thought as he stared at his HP, nearly 300. Unfortunately, he knew it was still not much. A single vital hit and he would still die. The thought was quite terrifying, making the usefulness of HP almost null. 

'Only thing it is good for is to counter poisons and the like.' Eldrian thought, realizing that for most fights HP had been meaningless. He either killed his opponent by getting at their heart, neck, or head. Or they got him by the same approach. 

The only place where HP was important was against monsters with seemingly not vitals and when dealing with attacks like venom or poison. This held true even for healing someone. If the damage was no healed, then the increase in health meant little more than a few more seconds.

After a moment of reflection, Eldrian looked at the damage of the skill in a new light, it being completely meaningless to him. What he appreciated instead was the speed of execution. 

Aoidos, with Eldrian's current agility had an attack speed of 3.3. Meaning he could land 3 full attacks in 1 second. However, the entire skill would be completed in less than a second. 

'It might still be good against an opponent. However, I do not want to use it recklessly. Stopping the flow is not easy once I start it. Maybe I should practice with that?' 

Eldrian did just that for the rest of the day, receiving headache after headache as he forcefully stopped his movement and mana flow. The backlash was never nice, but with more and more attempts he came to find ways to lessen them. 

As night fell his final attempt gave a shocking result. 

Spinning around Eldrian turned what would normally be a slash into a thrust. As he moved he also summoned all his mana and focused it in the thrust. A gust of wind following the thrust and sending the nearby tree leaves flying. 

"What did you just do?" Vivian stood up in shock and moved closer to observe. She had been reading the manual while Eldrian practiced, finding that the techniques would truly benefit her too. 

Her attention had been robbed when she felt the air being stirred. 

Scratting his head, Eldrian looked at the nearby branches, some of which had even snapped and were now dangling by just a piece of bark holding it together. 

"I attempted to let my mana out before the end. So I focused it all in one direction."

Hearing his reply Vivian tilted her head and laughed. His reply was one which she would never be able to follow. However, the more she saw Eldrian managing to bring in what he knew about spells to skills, the more she wanted to learn how to do it too. 

"Do you know how crazy that is?" She asked, having never heard of someone managing to turn a technique skill into a burst skill. 

Naturally, Eldrian shook his head as he sat down to cope with his fatigue. Having racked up quite a bit in his efforts to master the skill. As he sat down he also saw a shocking notification. 

[Player has truly mastered the skill Flowing Winds.]

[Rank 3 reached.]

'How the hell did I figure it out with a skill before a spell?' Eldrian wondered in true confusion as he and Vivian talked. Eldrian trying to figure out what the difference between the two was and Vivian on how he had managed to do it. 

Leaving what Rank 3 meant for later. 

...

"What about the dwarves of Ganalin?" Farest asked as he looked over the map. Their situation was more stable, but still bleak. They had to give up on stopping the undead's reinforcements, but they had managed to secure the line. 

"They have their own worries. The subterranean has also been stirring." Pelaros replied, again sporting more wounds. Not even having bothered to change out of his tattered armor and clothes for the meeting. "What about the Vampire Lord? Have we confirmed his location?"

"We have, however, there is a sea of undead between us and him. Trying to attack them is suicide." Talastos replied, wishing that he could take a more active role in the fighting. As the only Tier 10 however, his safety and more specifically him being ready for battle was more important than helping out. 

They could not afford him being tired when the Vampire Lord decides to make its move. 

"And the demons, what about them? Have they come in force?" Farest asked, hoping to get a negative response. His prayers answered as Itireae responded. 

"They have not, however... Instead of coming in numbers, they have sent only Tier 8 and above demons. Mneme has spotted a total of 29 thus far."

Silence followed as everyone failed to comprehend why such a strong force would come. Especially why they would not come with a horde following them. 

"Do you think they came separately, hoping to not be discovered?" Pelaros asked, unsure what they were supposed to do at this point. 

In total, they only had around 15 Tier 8's on their side. Most of whom were beyond tired, much like he was. 

"Doubtful, they did not move quietly nor did they attempt to hide from being discovered," Itireae replied, shaking her head as she herself worried about the cause. She had kept from them that it was 29 who she had not dealt with. 

When she had found them alone, or in a pair only, she had gone down with Mneme and dealt with them. Most had not been able to dodge her arrows, those who had were quickly torn apart by Mneme's claws. 

In total, she had likely killed over fifty already. However, she dared not attempt this when they were in groups of 5 or more. While she was confident of killing them, she was not confident Mneme would not be hurt. It was something she was not willing to risk. 

She would not let her dearest friend lose even one feather.

Slamming the table in frustration, Farest asked, "What about the other legions. Surely they must be close."