CH 37

“We bought it….the [Smoldering Fang of Madness].”

While walking outside I grasped the Skill Book tightly with one hand, and with the other I held my head.

I ended up with a huge debt towards Luce.

“I’m telling you it’s fine, so it should be fine! I already said this before, but I owe Elma-san a lot too! It’s a present, a present! This even strengthens our party overall, so it’s a plus for me too; you don’t need to pay me back for this…. You bought me the Iron Piercer too, didn’t you, Elma-san? For me who hasn’t done anything yet at that point!”

“The amount of money each represents is a lot different….”

Luce’s Iron Piercer was bought for 800 thousand gold.

In contrast, this [Smoldering Fang of Madness] was 50 million gold.

It’s on an entirely different level.

“But that was because it was necessary for fighting the Golden Ranas, and I knew it would return the investment right away…..”

“Won’t that Skill Tree return the investment too?”

“Well, yeah…it will. I can safely say that.”

So far I only used my game knowledge about the monsters to put myself in advantageous situations and act as efficiently as possible.

I could not make use of the abilities that made my Class the strongest in Magic World at all so far.

The Heavy Knight’s forte is not the [Rampart Reversal], nor the [Shadow Stomp].

A Heavy Knight with a completed build does not act like a tank.

The reason for that is because in Magic World, a Heavy Knight with the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] was far the best damage dealer.

In Magic World, that kind of character build was nicknamed Lunatic Knight, or Human Shaped Savage Dragon.

“To be honest, I wanted to get the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] no matter what. I’m really grateful to you. I will make sure to pay you back for this favor with my actions.”

I grasped the Skill Book tightly.

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〈Skill Book〉《Smoldering Fang of Madness》

【Market Value: 30 000 000 gold】

Allows the acquisition of the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] Skill Tree.

The user of this Skill Tree shan’t be approached.

Even the Grim Reaper will not approach the one who’s rampage keeps dragging their broken body forward, keeps moving their torn tail, knowing no end.

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I expected to get this much later.

I was able to obtain this thanks to Luce’s kindness and trust.

I have to repay her for sure.

“Well….I would like to use it right now; are you okay with that, Luce? Just having it on me makes me worry about it getting stolen or something.”

This single item represents 50 million gold by itself.

Even more, if I were to put a value on this [Smoldering Fang of Madness] myself, then it would be a lot higher than 50 million gold.

I absolutely don’t want to lose it. I would like to use it up as soon as possible.

“Of course I don’t mind! By all means, do it! But, is it really that strong? That…[Smoldering Fang of Madness]. When I look at the description of that item, I can’t help but feel a bit anxious. Will you be fine? Won’t it have some kind of strange demerit….?”

“There are no problems with how powerful it is. With enough Skill Points it will show its worth right away.”

With the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] Skill Tree, you are able to get Skills that allow you to fight by putting your life on the line.

At first glance the Heavy Knight would be a bad fit for it, but with it you can in time improve the stability aspect and bring the damage output of the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] to ridiculous levels.

“Then I will use it right now.”

I put my mana into the Skill Book.

The Skill Book lit up and my Status opened by itself on the Skill Tree tab.

I reached out to touch my Status.

In general, you can have only three Skill Trees.

To acquire another Skill Tree, you have to erase one first.

In that case all the Skill Points you put in that Skill Tree will also be erased and won’t be refunded.

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 13］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[27/100]

〈Defense UP〉[0/50]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

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“The one I will be erasing is the [Defense Up].”

As a basic rule, you shouldn’t put any points into Skill Trees that only increase stats, since your stats will increase simply by leveling up anyway.

This might seem obvious, but Skills are only useful when you can use them in a particular battle.

The [Defense UP] was erased from the display and the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] showed up in its stead.

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 13］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[27/100]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

〈Smoldering Fang of Madness〉[0/70]

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At the same time, the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] Skill Book fell apart into particles of light and disappeared.

“Y-yesss, I finally got the [Smoldering Fang of Madness]! Look, Luce! Thanks to Luce, I was able to get this!”

“….didn’t you say that you shouldn’t carelessly show any part of your Status to other people, Elma-san? Ehehe, but seeing Elma-san being so happy makes me happy too somehow. Will you put your leftover Skill Points into [Smoldering Fang of Madness] right away?”

“I would like to do that too, but the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] has something of a combo requisite to it. If I don’t get another Skill first, then it would be too risky to use, so [Vow of the Heavy Armor] first.”

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 6］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[34/100]【＋7】

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

I remember exactly how many points I need to put in to get what Skill.

With the [Defense UP] Skill Tree gone, I won’t need to worry about it now.

Putting points into [Vow of the Heavy Armor] won’t end up being a mistake.

Where I put the 【6】 remaining points will depend on where we are going hunting next.

【With [Vow of the Heavy Armor] reaching [34/50], you have gained the Normal Skill [Life Shield].】

Nice, I got it.

The [Life Shield] is a particularly useful Skill among the ones the Heavy Knight can have.

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〈Life Shield〉【Normal Skill】

It takes 20% of your maximum HP to activate.

A shield with the same durability as the HP deducted covers the entire body.

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Simply by reading this it might seem a little pointless, but unless the opponent has a significantly higher Attack, any strike will be stopped at the cost of the shield breaking.

If you see it as being able to survive any attack with only a 20% loss in HP, then it’s a cheap bargain. This will be good insurance.

Furthermore, if I manage to secure some method of restoring my HP, then it would in effect mean a 20% increase in my HP.

Only, it’s a non-attributed use of magic, so it takes quite a bit of MP.

It takes 【8】MP to activate in the beginning, then it slowly takes another 【2】 every minute.

Once used you need to wait some time before being able to use it again too, so it’s not a Skill that you can casually spam whenever you want.