"Should I upgrade my combat skills or should I just upgrade my planter skills?" This was the question that was troubling him the most.
Right now, his strength has already reached its limit. And excluding those giant beasts who were anomalies, Eldric never came across a beast that could pose a threat to him.
But this was also due to the fact that he mainly hunted the Green Bulls and nothing else. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that he was invincible on the same level. Who knows what types of beasts were out there?
So, he could either choose to make his skills absurdity powerful and aim to become an invincible existence in the first evolution stage or... He could improve his Gardener's ability and explore more about it. After all, the scrolls that those outlaws used were still fresh in his memory.
Eldric thought for a long time, but he just couldn't make up his mind. Both paths were equally attractive to him.
In the end, he closed the panel, stood up, and headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Looking at the Green Bull's Meat and blood in his inventory, he thought for a while before deciding not to use them. Primarily because he didn't know how to cook it. And he certainly wasn't in the mood to experiment with it at that time.
After preparing dinner and leaving some in front of Aria's door, he headed back to his room and thought for a while before deciding to take another lesson.
His first lesson was about all the basic knowledge and he was hoping to gain answers about the further evolution process and Life Profession this time around.
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"Welcome." Greeted by the same young boy, Eldric didn't waste time on the introduction and directly stated his purpose of wanting to take a class.
"Sure." The boy didn't seem to remember him, after all, there were countless people he had to deal with every day. Who would remember the face of someone so ordinary?
"There is a professor present here right now. If you aren't busy, I can arrange for your class right now."
As soon as the boy said this, Eldric immediately agreed. Following the boy, he soon reached the second floor in front of the familiar room where he had been last time.
"Please." After signling Eldric to enter, the young boy took his leave.
"...."
"Oh my!" As soon as Eldric opened the room, a startled voice sounded in his ears.
Looking at the person in front of him, Eldric was stunned.
"Ellina?"
Who could it be other than the familiar professor?
"Eh!?
Already on the basis of the first name, are we?"
There was a tinge of playfulness in her voice as she looked at Eldric while lying on the chair lazily.
"....." Eldric didn't know how to answer her, so he just stood there in silence while constantly looking at her.
"Ugh... You are so stiff." Shaking her head in disappointment, she pointed to the chair in front of her, signaling him to take a seat, and began to speak.
"I didn't think you would be able to earn fifty tokens this soon."
"I just got lucky," Eldric replied rather calmly. To him, earning fifty tokens was a piece of cake now. Thinking about how he made two thousand tokens in a single day, he couldn't help but feel proud of himself.
"I wish I was as lucky as you." Ellina's eyes seemed lost as she muttered those words.
"But still... I can understand that you weren't able to join a university. But why won't you join a faction?"
"How would you know whether I have joined a faction or not?" This time, it was Eldric who asked the question. For a moment he couldn't help but wonder whether this woman could see his information.
"Hehehe..." Hearing this childish question, Ellina couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Because you wouldn't be here if you had joined a faction.
After all, they provide lessons at half the cost."
Eldric didn't think about it too much. Even if they provided the lessons for free, he wouldn't join any factions. He wanted to explore this world by himself as a free man. He didn't want to be bound by something or someone.
For him, joining any faction means losing your freedom. As for how true this was... He didn't want to waste his time finding out.
"I have some questions." Cutting to the chase, Eldric directly stated his purpose. Previously he had to leave early due to the lack of time. He didn't want the same thing to repeat so he began to ask his questions.
"Can you tell me everything about the second evolution? How does one achieve it and what are the requirements?"
This was what Eldric wanted to know the most. He could evolve his skills anytime he wanted to after earning tokens, but the matter of evolution was something his future depended on. It was his long-term goal... He couldn't be clueless about it.
Ellina who was smiling a moment ago finally had a serious expression on her face. She looked at Eldric for a long time before opening her mouth to speak.
"Like I said the previous time... One needs to fulfill two conditions before they can go through the second evolution.
The first condition is to have five points in all the attributes.
The second condition is to merge with the essence of a beast and create your own skill."
Eldric thought for a while... He could understand maximizing the attributes, but what the hell was essence? He still hadn't seen any beast drop it. He searched for it in the auction house too, but no result.
"Can you explain in detail please?" When he said this sentence, he meant about the Essence, but to Ellina, it sounded like he wanted to know how to increase his stats.
"Now listen carefully..." As soon as she said this, the atmosphere in the room became solemn.
"The first and the most important step is to increase your stats, and there are a number of ways to do it.
The first step is to buy a potion."
Listening to her, Eldric wanted to stop her. He already had already increased his stats to the limits, so there was no need for him to know about it.
But after thinking for a while, he decided against it. No matter how trivial the information might seem to him, it would still broaden his horizon.
"Now this is where you should focus your priorities. Increasing a single attribute is akin to climbing heaven.
Take any potion from the auction. Even the best one gives only a five percent chance to increase a random attribute by one. And it costs more than one hundred tokens.
Now imagine how many people are able to afford these potions. Even if one works tirelessly for a month, one can only afford a single potion.
And with a five percent chance of increasing a single attribute... How long do you think it would take one to hit the limit of five?
Even for University students, it takes more than four years to hit this mark. And that is because of everything the university provides them.
Now... Let us suppose you get extremely lucky and are able to hit the limit of five attributes in just three years.
And that is when you will hit the second wall for evolution.
You see... The human body by itself is not capable of getting stronger infinitely. We humans hit our limit just after we awaken.
It is going through an evolution and being blessed by the world are we able to improve ourselves even further.
But this blessing is one time only. Thus, humans hit the limit once again after reaching the peak of the First Evolution.
And to go further... We can only look for other ways. And that way is to merge with the essence of the evolved beasts and create your own skill as a testament to your will.
This skill is like a bridge... Letting you walk further on the path of evolution."
Speaking till here, Ellina took a short pause.
Eldric on the other hand was still processing what he had just listened to. Because he was able to purchase the potions directly from the Nightmare shop with a guaranteed increase in attributes, he never cared about how others increased theirs.
But now, listening to Ellina, he understood the immense difference between others and himself.
But what he didn't expect was the time it takes one to reach the limit. He always thought that it would take others a maximum of six months... He didn't realize it would take anywhere from three years to more than a decade.
"And then comes the hellish difficulty of creating the skill.
For ordinary professions, they need to create just one skill.
Those with rare needs to create two skills.
The epic profession needs three skills.
And mythical and above needs four skills.
Basically, one needs to create the same number of skills they get after their awakening."
"This is why it takes a long time for those geniuses to go through the second evolution.
And this creates a paradox.
Those with rare and above professions can not go through their evolution due to the difficulty of creating skills and those with ordinary professions can't even afford the resources to hit their maximum limit.
Hence... This balance of power where no one gets more powerful easily."
The more Eldric listened to her, the more he realized how wise his decision of not giving up the nightmare difficulty was.
Had he just completed the Hell difficulty, he would have been struggling now to increase his points instead of focusing on the path of Evolution.
"Even in the city of Aetheria where you live, there are less than five people who have gone through a second Evolution."
Speaking till here, she gazed deeply at Eldric.
"Do you now realize how difficult it is?"
"As for your question of what Essence is and how to get it... There is a rather simple process.
Don't accept any mission and directly choose to enter any map.
Once you stand in front of the portal, you will be asked whether you want the beasts to drop materials or Essence. Just choose Essence.
Remember... This option will only appear if you teleport through the Zone instead of going there personally, hopping from city to city."
After speaking this, Ellina glanced at Eldric with a seductive smile once again.
"So... Do you have any other questions?"
Completely disregarding the changes in her expression, Eldric thought for a while. Now that he already knew everything about the Second Evolution, the only thing he needed to know was the life profession.
With this in mind, he took a deep breath and asked his question.
"I want to know more about Life Profession and their roles as well as abilities."