Chapter 158 - 158

Cain fails the book of Offense Basics a total of nine times, all with the bonus success chance before the system has mercy on him. 

[Inscription Successful]

[Inscription Improved: Basic 2]

[Book of Offense Basics: Dark Elven Blade Forms] has been created

[Skill Learned] Open details to see available attack combinations. 

There's a low, middle and high strike, plus a dashing strike and a retreating strike for each combination included in the offense basics. Learning them lets Cain clearly see that there's an advanced form of each as well as dozens of possible combinations available, but from another book, possibly two if the flowing combos and transitions aren't in the advanced offense book. 

But even just with this, he's way ahead of where he was. Cain selects one single skill to see what they look like. 

[Scimitar and Short Spear: Dashing Strike] 1MP deals 150 percent base damage. Allows use of [Flow: Repeated Stab] [Not Known] 

Well, that's not much damage, 50 percent more than knowing nothing at all, but it's something. Cain takes a Scimitar and Short Spear from the training weapon racks in the room and steps out into the middle of the green and Grey checkered floor to test the new skill. 

Holding the weapons now feels natural in his hands, the Scimitar in the right, spear in his left hand. The knowledge of what he needs to do to successfully attack flows into his mind as he assumes a combat stance and he moves forward, extending the spear in a crisp strike in front of him. He can see how that could easily be repeated, but without the additional skill, he would be repeating this one attack over and over, and the draw back, place and slide of the technique would make it slower than he is certain should be possible. 

For an hour he practices the basics of Scimitar and Short Spear before calling it a night and hoping tomorrow doesn't bring as many failures. There's a lot of books to learn, and he really doesn't want to spend ages in here just copying ancient techniques, though that might be inevitable. 

Next on the list is [Parry]. If he can attack and defend he's at least got the most essential of essentials down, should the old Elf decide he's sick of having someone in his Library. 

[Inscription Successful] 

[Inscription Improved: Basic 3]

[Skill Learned: Parry - Dark Elven Blade Forms] 

See, first try, that's how it's supposed to go. 

[Dual Wield] Rank 2 of 3 Unlocked. [Parry] may be used without interrupting an attack combination. 

That's great, fantastic, mind boggling, only Cain doesn't know any attack combinations. They're in the Advanced Offense book. He will have to get the old man to find it for him once all these basics are done. But he's on a roll now, and it's time to try the Defensive Footwork Skill. Then Blade Aura, and the last book will be Cloud Dancing, which has got a fancy purple cover, trimmed in gold that intimidates Cain. He's planning to get his inscription up as high as humanly possible before attempting that one. 

[Inscription Insufficient 20 percent chance of success] 

[Inscription Failed: Try Again] Y/N

[Inscription Improved: Basic 4]

Well, at least he got an Inscription gain out of his failure. 

Guild Chat is lively today, after a day of mostly quiet as everyone explored. Laura found a shop that didn't look damaged at all by the passage of time and it turned out to be a tailors shop. No books or patterns were left behind, but a huge number of Party Dresses and Gentleman's Suits were. They're available in both the silk of Dark Elf fashion and the tiny sizes and Steampunk bronze and leather of Gnome Fashion, so they suspect this was either a high society shop, or a rental facility for petitioners visiting the King. The castle is just up the road, and there are a number of formerly exquisite hotels nearby, so it could be either. 

They've loaded a number of outfits into the Guild Bank, insisting Cain try on a Suit and let them know how it looks. They're tagged as a costume item, so they're usable by anyone, and Cain picks two from the Guild Bank. 

"What do you think Drazzit, white first or black first?" Cain asks the closest thing they have to an expert. The clones of the Dark Elven Cleric he has Summoned as a Supporter. The cleric runs a coal black hand through her curly white hair thoughtfully as she makes her decision, playing with her hair as if it will help in the answer. 

"White First, with a black shirt. Then the reverse." She nods, satisfied with her choice.

As with all equipped items, the fit is perfect, but this suit is pure luxury and so comfortable to wear. It even comes with matching shoes and a matching flat cap that feels like rough woven silk and not wool. It probably is, given the distinct lack of sheep in the Dark Elven cities.

Even the bespoke suits that the billionaires back home wore have nothing on this outfit, Cain feels truly classy. He sees pairs of silk gloves in the Guild Bank and adds one of them to the outfit, black to match his shirt. 

"Well, what do you think? Is it enough to impress the ladies?" He smiles at Drazzit who makes an exaggerated fanning gesture at her collar. 

"Very nice. Switch that cap for a tophat and add a Spiderweb cloak and you'd be every woman's dream Groom." She assures him. 

A top hat and a spider web cloak over a white suit is their marriage outfit for grooms? That's different. But it would probably look great, even though he's twice the size of any Elf. Cain switches to the black outfit with a white shirt and gloves, giving a spin for Drazzit to see all of him. 

"This isn't bad, more like a businessman. You look very elegant, but I like the white one better." She says, looking him over carefully. 

"White would be hard to keep clean while I work, so I think I'll keep the black one on for now, it's just too comfortable to change back out of so soon." Cain tells her, sending both of their impressions in Guild Chat. 

Kone is in full agreement, thinking that he would indeed look better in white, but Misha is reserving judgements until she sees it firsthand, worried that he might just look like some cheesy wannabe pimp in a white suit.

Since they're all costumes, and will fit anyone with an interface, Kone goes for a dark brown leather suit and heavy boots with bronze accessories, a matching tophat with goggles as a hat band and a bright orange shirt. Cain can't help but laugh at the mental image her description brings, the thought of her adolescent 145cm tall self and her perpetually innocent face in the Steampunk look is far more amusing than it should be. The Brown leather should go well with her tanned complexion and Dark hair though.

But her next announcement, that she thinks they've found a gun shop, almost makes him fail his inscription. 

The Gnomes have great technology, but could they have made actual guns to replace any magical ability they were lacking? Kone has wanted pistols since the very first outfit she tried on after joining the Guild made her look like a gunslinger. 

[Best of luck. Keep us updated.] Cain sends before getting back to his work. 

Two more tries were enough to get [Defensive Footwork: Dark Elven Blade Forms] copied and learned. He even got an upgrade to [Inscription: Basic 5]

Combined with everything else he's learned, the Footwork let's Cain glide effortlessly around the training area. 

[Defensive Footwork: Dark Elven Blade Forms] Passive. Allows free movement while defending using a specified weapon combination. Requires [Parry] [Dual Wield] [Offense Basics] 

"That's incredibly smooth. How high is your Dexterity?" Drazzit asks curiously as she watched him practice with various weapon combinations, trying to find the one he likes best. 

"125 right now, but I've got some extra points from my recent level increases I could spend. I've been saving them until I get my next skill unlocked, in case I don't meet all the requirements." Cain explains. 

"That's a lot higher than I expected. But you're a broken class anyhow, so I shouldn't be surprised that you've got the agility of the finest of rogues." She shrugs off the surprise of his answer with a straight face. 

Blade Aura is a short book to copy, but he has little luck with it, failing his first five attempts. It was definitely worth it though, the Blade Aura is much like the Oath Breakers area attack skill.

[Blade Aura I: Dark Elven Blade Forms] 5MP per second. Deals 10 percent of melee damage to all enemy targets within (Users Level/10) meters. Causes [Intimidate] effect. 

[Intimidate] Causes enemies within Blade Aura area of effect to suffer a 10 percent reduction in attack speed. 

Only one book remains to copy now out of the introductory set that the caretaker of this place left for him. [Cloud Dancing]. From the name it should be some sort of movement skill, but Cain won't get the details until he manages to successfully copy and learn it. 

[Insufficient Inscription: Base 5 Percent Chance of Success Applied] 

While Cain is struggling to complete his work the mood is completely different over at the tailors shop where most of the group has gathered.. Nemu has found a set of Dark Elven playing cards and their copies of Drazzit are teaching the Companions the finer points of their favorite card game, a 7 card variation of poker.