"It has doubled."
Looking at the new value with satisfaction, Eldric nodded in relief. He didn't know how powerful the beasts in the trial were. But, according to the teacher, if he could have value above [10] then he can cause them damage.
Looking at the value which was almost three times the required number, he was sure of hunting the beasts.
"Let's just see how long I can use the skill before growing tired."
Even though he was feeling somewhat tired, Eldric knew this wasn't his limit. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his fist back and threw another punch while using the skill.
However, compared to hitting it in the chest like the previous time, he hit the dummy in the face, just around its eyes and nose.
[35]
Looking at the new value that has gone up again, he nodded in understanding. It seems like hitting weak points will increase the damage that one can deal.
Eldric didn't stop after this but kept trying the skill repeatedly. It wasn't until he had used this skill ten times that he was completely exhausted. Eldric even tried using the last bit of his strength to activate the ability, but to his dismay, the skill failed to activate.
"So, ten is the limit?"
Lying on the ground panting, Eldric felt like every part of his body was filled with pain. Getting up with great difficulty, he took a bath before lying on his bed, completely exhausted.
"Come to think of it... I didn't see her today." Thinking about the annoying little girl constantly floating beside him, Eldric looked around for a moment.
It wasn't the first time that something like this happened. There were days when she would just vanish completely, making Eldric doubt whether she truly left or not.
"Forget it." Shaking his head, Eldric looked at the panel in front of him silently. Now that he had gained some basic knowledge and tested his strength and skill, it was time for him to explore the other functions of the panel.
Looking at the auction house, which was just another panel with numerous tabs including 'Equipment', 'Consumables', 'Materials'... and so on, Eldric narrowed his eyes for a moment.
In his previous life, he had played a lot of online games and the window in front of his wasn't any different than theirs. Looking at the top of the screen, there was even a search option, and at the bottom of the screen was his current balance of fifty tokens.
Thinking about the two materials required to evolve his skill, Eldric didn't hesitate before searching for the first item, 'Fang of the Blue Wolf'.
When he first learned about these two items, Eldric even thought about visiting the other sections of the city in hopes of finding them. But now that there was an even better option in front of him without him needing to go anywhere, he was more than happy.
As for the matter of using tokens to buy the materials, he never cared about it in the first place.
Before Eldric could even blink, the search results were displayed in front of him.
"What the..."
Looking at the long list of a Blue Wolf's fang, he went completely silent.
Even though he had expected to find this material in the auction, he didn't expect to find this much.
Rows upon rows of the same item were displayed on the screen. Scrolling down, Eldric didn't even know how long the list was. And not only the item was in numerous quantities, but the cost was also as low as (11 Tokens). Almost all of them were priced at this number.
Looking at his balance, Eldric did not even hesitate before directly purchasing the one in his sight.
As soon as Eldric purchased the item, there was an additional mail icon at the top of his panel.
Clicking on it, Eldric saw the icon of a long pointed tooth.
As soon as Eldric touched it, a new message suddenly popped up.
[Recieve the item?]
[Yes] [No]
Clicking 'Yes', Eldric saw the screen in front of him flicker before a tooth fell out from there.
"Well, that was fast?" Looking at the item, he exhaled a mouthful of air before picking it up. After looking at it for a while, Eldric didn't find anything useful, so he just placed it beside him and looked at the screen once again.
"Let's hope the next item is not too expensive." Praying in his heart, Eldric searched for 'Dusk Flower', and just like the fang, there were numerous results with the price being fixed at (11 Tokens).
Without hesitation, he bought it and soon enough, he was holding a normal yellow flower in his hand which seemed to have no fragrance.
"Let's see just how good this skill evolution is."
Even though Eldric was tired he still closed the auction house and brought up his panel.
[Name: Eldric Stormborne]
[Profession: Brawler]
[Vitality: 1]
[Power: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Skills: Fierce Strike]
Touching the skill, he looked at the new window.
[Fierce Strike: Strike with great power, causing massive damage.] +
Without any hesitation, he touched the '+' icon behind the skill and the moment he did it, a new msg popped up.
[Whether to evolve?]
Eldric didn't even think before selecting 'yes' and the second he did that, the two materials placed in front of him vanished into the thin air.
On the screen, the property of the skill changed and with it, Eldric felt a warm current flowing throughout his body.
[Swift Strike: Strike with great power and speed, causing massive damage.] +
Eldric didn't immediately stand up to test his new skill but kept lying on the bed. He was already dead tired and it was going to be a long time before he used his skill.
"Let's see just how much can I evolve it." Since he had already evolved it once, Eldric was feeling even more excited than before.
Touching the '+' behind the skill, he soon saw a new window, displaying the materials needed to evolve it further.
[1 x Fang of the Red Wolf, 1 x Dawn Flower]
Searching for the two items in the auction, Eldric soon sighed helplessly. Not because the two items were expensive, but because he was a little bit short of tokens to buy them.
The price for both of the items was (15 Tokens), and at this moment, Eldric's balance was (28 Tokens) after spending on the previous items.
"Where do I get two more tokens?"
Thinking about how he only needed two more tokens, Eldric almost pulled out his hair in frustration.
"I need to think of ways to get more tokens first." Eldric tried to think of ways, but he just couldn't come up with any.
To earn tokens, he needed to sell something. And other than the worn-out clothes and poor furniture, he had nothing.
"Do I need to hunt outside the city?" The first thought that came to his mind was to sell items obtained from hunting. As soon as this idea came to him, Eldric changed his position from lying to sitting and reached out for the notebook near him.
After carefully searching for a while, he finally found what he was looking for.
"Outside the city of Aetheria, the most common monsters found are the Wild Boars and Swift Rabbits. Wild Boar's heart is the most precious thing that could be sold.
The swift rabbit's meat too can be sold for a good price."
As soon as Eldric read it, he nodded with satisfaction.
"I can try to hunt them and sell them in the auction."
Thinking about it, be couldn't help but let out a smile. Though this was a time-consuming and difficult task, he was sure he could do it.
Thinking about it, he opened the auction to check the prices of the Boar's heart and Rabbit's meat. But the moment he did it, his expression went dark.
(11 Tokens).
Both items had the value of eleven tokens, but this wasn't the thing that caused such a change in his expression.
The number of these two items listed on the auction made him grit his teeth in anger and lose any idea of going outside to hunt for them by himself.
Eldric kept scrolling for five minutes but still didn't see the end of the list. There were just too many of them listed.
"Forget it, try to find other ways."
Even if he did manage to kill the beasts outside, there was no way he was going to make money off of them.
Eldric just closed the panel in front of him and went to sleep.
.
.
By the time he woke up, it was already night.
After eating his dinner, Eldric headed back home and silently looked at the wooden dummy in front of him.
Now that he had recovered his strength, it was time to see how different his new skill was.
Taking a deep breath, Eldric stood in front of the dummy and raised his right hand. Clenching it, he activated his skill. And the moment he did it, he felt something completely different compared to before.
Before there was a feeling of heaviness every time he tried to use the skill. Not only did he need to concentrate all his strength on one hand, he also needed to put all his effort and attention into it, leaving no room for any other action.
But now...
Looking at his right hand which was as light as a feather, Eldric swung it toward the dummy.
"Tack... Tack... Tack..."
In just one second, there were three small sounds before three continuous values popped above the dummy.
[41]
[41]
[41]
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric didn't stop but kept on hitting the dummy in front of him.
One second passed...
Two seconds passed...
It wasn't until five seconds passed that the feeling of lightness disappeared from Eldric's hands and a numbing sensation overtook his entire body.
It felt like his entire body was receiving small electrical shocks.
But thankfully this sensation wasn't too strong. It was at a level where he could simply ignore it.
Eldric tried to use his ability once again, but the moment he tried, the numbing sensation grew stronger, almost to the point of him trembling with weakness.
Helplessly, he could only stop.
"Can I use the pre-evolution form of this skill?"
As soon as this thought came, Eldric clenched his fist, thinking about using that skill, but even after waiting and thinking about it, there did not seem to be any changes in his hand.
"Interesting." Eldric wasn't disappointed but surprised.
He thought that after using his evolved skill, he could use his pre-evolved version of the skill, thus gaining two abilities. But it seems like he thought too much.
Helplessly, he could only wait patiently for the numbing sensation in his body to pass away.
And sure enough, it didn't take long. As soon as three minutes passed, the numbing sensation in his body disappeared completely as if it was never there.
Stretching his body, Eldric used the skill again and began to test his limits.
.
.
.
In the morning when he woke up from his sleep, Eldric finally had an answer to his question.
Unlike the pre-evolved skill which could only be used ten times, this newly evolved skill could be used as many times as he wanted.
The only limiting factors are time and his stamina.
But even with this, Eldric was able to use the skill more than fifty times last night. And that is after considering that he was already feeling weak after using the previous skill ten times.
"Well, this certainly changes a lot of things." With a smile, Eldric put on his school robe and made his way toward that day's class.