"The experience orbs have exceeded one hundred, but the next Beast Roar in the Beast Roar Path—[Beast Roar: Whisper of Life]—doesn't seem like it can deal with the magic source."
Allen put away the heart skill book of the Beast Roar Path and flipped to his personal panel.
He stared at nearly twenty skills, carefully contemplating.
[Ding! Consumed one special skill point. Your skill: Monster Hunt LV3 has been upgraded to Monster Hunt LV4]
[Name: Monster Hunt]
[Type: Special Skill]
[Level: LV4]
[Active Effect: Consumes 250 (+100) stamina, gathers spirit to enter Monster Hunt state for 250 (+100) seconds. After the conditions are met, it delivers a fatal strike (guaranteed to kill a monster).]
LV4 Additional Effect: Consumes an additional 250 mana, and when switching between two (+1) targets, the progress of Monster Hunt is calculated separately for each.
"Time extended, additional targets without losing progress..."
"Not bad!"
For a long time, when using [Monster Hunt] against multiple enemies, how to prevent instinctively switching attention, which caused progress to reset, had always been a major issue.
Now, the added effect greatly enhanced Allen's power.
More importantly, tonight's target, Vilgefortz, if he doesn't summon other monsters, will be a perfect match for the two targets.
The skills noted in the Monster Hunt manual generally add one special effect for each level increase.
[Monster Hunt LV4—LV6]should increase stamina consumption by 100, Monster Hunt's duration by 100 seconds, and mana consumption by 100, as well as 1 additional target switch.
So, for tonight, this should be enough. Any further upgrades would be a waste.
After all, special skill upgrades don't transmit as much information as regular skills, so they don't affect combat much.
The Monster Hunt time is short, but a temporary boost would be enough.
The remaining two special skill points should be saved for unexpected needs. Next, he turned his attention to his regular skills.
"107 experience orbs, 111 small experience orbs—giving 101,800 experience. Sounds like a lot, but upgrading a skill from LV6 to LV7 costs 50,000 experience, LV5 to LV6 costs 20,000. Some compromise is needed..."
Allen pondered, his mind scrolling through the personal panel.
"Well... for the Sign of Heliotrop, I need to upgrade LV3's defense against magic attacks. I hope it triggers a useful special effect... Sign of Axii, Igni, Magic Trap, and the LV4 Yrden's range increase won't help much... The Quinn Shield is versatile, but upgrading from LV6 to LV7 is too expensive..."
"It's a relief that the Battle Roar doesn't need upgrading."
"Compared to the Wolf School two-handed sword, the Cat School's two-handed sword specializing in human assassination is clearly more important. But to upgrade, it would cost at least 70,000 experience to go from LV5 to LV7, so that'll be put aside."
"Ice Spear and Mudslide are useless... Blink LV4 is enough. Besides, spatial skills are sensitive, and a monster hunter like me who even gets dizzy entering a teleport portal can't learn them. It's better not to use them unless absolutely necessary..."
Allen's eyes shifted uncertainly as he touched his chest.
"To summarize, what's worth upgrading now are the LV3 Sign of Heliotrop and the LV5 Cat School two-handed sword..."
His thoughts shifted.
[Ding! Consumed 50 small experience orbs and 2 experience orbs. Your skill: Heliotrop Sign LV3 has been upgraded to Heliotrop Sign LV4 (0/10000)]
Unlike [Monster Hunt], upgrading the Heliotrop Sign involved a flood of training information pouring into his mind. However, Allen quickly absorbed it, familiar with the process.
[Name: Heliotrop]
[Type: Sign]
[Level: LV4]
[Active Effect: Continuously consumes mana to defend against magic attacks.]
LV4 Additional Effect: Mirror Shield: Forms a magic shield that deflects elemental spells, with a very small chance to reflect damage.
A single elemental shield...
Allen thought for a moment and, focusing his magic, crossed his hands to quickly form the Heliotrop Sign.
A faint purple transparent spherical shield formed at his feet and rapidly closed over his head.
At the same time, a silver-purple light flickered over Allen's body.
It felt as though his body had been coated with a silver layer tinged with purple impurities.
Sensing the changes around him, Allen froze for a moment, his flowing magic halting for an instant.
The faint purple spherical shield instantly dissipated, but the silver-purple layer still shimmered.
"It's similar to Quinn's shield," Allen realized. "Against Vilgefortz, who excels in close combat, I won't need to maintain the seal. This is useful!"
"But the single-use shield is still too little."
Thinking briefly, he had originally planned to spend 30,000 experience to upgrade two levels. However, after careful consideration, he gritted his teeth, and 70 experience orbs disappeared from his inventory in an instant.
With the Alghouls and blizzards, a brute-force approach was enough. If he couldn't break through, even if the Cat School two-handed sword reached LV7, with new special effects and moves, it might not be useful.
[Ding! Consumed 70 experience orbs. Your skill: Heliotrop Sign LV4 has been upgraded to Heliotrop Sign LV7 (0/100,000)]
"Ha~"
At the moment of confirming the upgrade, an overwhelming amount of information surged like a tsunami, stirring his brain.
The magic coursing through him seemed to riot, penetrating every magic vein in his body, transforming it.
After a while, Allen snapped back to reality, his mind recovering from the disorienting impact. Without thinking, he channeled his magic.
The previous sluggishness vanished, and his magic veins seemed to expand by a factor of two.
[Name: Heliotrop]
[Type: Sign]
[Level: LV7]
[Active Effect: Continuously consumes mana to defend against magic attacks.]
LV4 Additional Effect: Mirror Shield: Forms three layers (+2) of a magic shield that deflects elemental spells, with a medium chance to reflect damage.
LV7 Additional Effect: Divine Wall: Forms a solid mental wall to block foreign mental intrusion (if a mind-reading skill is detected, the wall can be broken, causing a mental shock).
"Wow! This is a divine skill!"
Upon reading the LV7 effect, Allen immediately knew that this was the right bet.
"Three layers of single-use shields with a medium chance of reflecting damage, and a mental wall that blocks mind-reading, with the added ability to cause a mental shock..."
"This is practically the natural enemy of mages!"
Allen's mind rapidly simulated several ways to use the Heliotrop Sign. After the dizziness from the rapid upgrades subsided.
[Ding! Consumed 20 experience orbs. Your skill: Cat School Two-Handed Sword LV5 has been upgraded to Cat School Two-Handed Sword LV6 (0/50,000)]
[Ding! Your level has reached 55, and you have earned 1 special skill point]
[Name: Cat School Two-Handed Sword]
[Type: Swordsmanship]
[Level: LV6]
[Effect: Focuses on attack frequency, body stability, balance, and some assassination techniques with fast attack speed.]
LV4 Additional Technique: Wrist Stab: Uses the strength of the wrist to quickly change the direction of the sword tip, sacrificing very little (original—sacrifices a small amount) power and speed.
Countless fast attack techniques and the weaknesses of human-shaped creatures flashed through his mind.
Bones, ligaments, muscles...
A warm, unknown energy enveloped the limbs and bones,
Quickly enhancing the body's flexibility and balance.
Hoo~
Allen exhaled a deep breath, rapidly adapting to the changes in his body.
The Witcher felt like he was becoming more and more like a wild cat in every aspect.
[Experience Orb: Experience Orb15 (-92), Small Experience Orb61 (-50)]
With the remaining experience points, Allen decided not to hold back.
[Ding! Consumed Small Experience Orb50, Experience Orb2. Your skill: Igni Sign LV3 has upgraded to Igni Sign LV4 (0/10000)]
[Ding! Consumed Experience Orb13. Your skill: Aard Sign LV3 has upgraded to Aard Sign LV5 (0/20000)]
[Name: Igni]
[Type: Sign]
[Level: LV4]
[Active Effect: Releases a burst of flames in a specified direction, burning enemies.]
[LV4 Additional Effect: Armor Melt: Igni Sign's damage will permanently weaken the enemy's armor.]
[Name: Aard]
[Type: Sign]
[Level: LV5]
[Active Effect: Releases a mental energy shockwave in a specified direction, destabilizing enemies and exposing their flaws.]
[LV5 Additional Effect: Long Range Aard: Aard Sign's release range increases by 2 yards.]
Allen spent fifteen experience orbs and fifty small experience orbs to upgrade the Aard Sign from LV3 to LV5 and the Igni Sign from LV3 to LV4.
Allen was instantly left with almost nothing—only eleven small experience orbs and a mere 150 experience points.
"Beast Roar: Berserk, Heliotrop Sign, Cat-Wolf Dual-School Swordsmanship, North Wind, Alghoul Decoction, Blizzard, Cat's Eye, Balmur, Nightshade..."
"I refuse to believe that after all these upgrades, I can't even defeat a young version of Vigofortz!"
A low growl full of fury, and Allen's eyes were bloodshot, with his sclera fully visible.
Hoo~
Taking another deep breath to calm his raging emotions, Allen finally used a purification spirit of the Cyclopean Wraith.
The familiar bone-chilling cold, the familiar spiritual body floating, and the familiar fear of soul freezing...
[Name: Allen]
[Level: 50]
[Health: 100%, Stamina: 640/640, Mana: 780/780]
[Attributes: Strength 70 (+1), Agility 61, Constitution 63 (-1), Perception 77 (+2), Mysticism 79 (+1)]
[Affinity: Water 16 (Magic Source: Water 6%) (+1), Earth 12 (Magic Source: Earth 2%) (+1), Wind 10 (Magic Source: Wind 0%) (+1), Fire 7 (+1), Space 2]
"Only three more points, and all four elemental affinities will reach magic source status."
After dressing and familiarizing himself with his enhanced body, Allen took out an empty crystal bottle, filled it with the remaining Cyclopean Wraith's purification spirit, and headed towards Vesemir's room.
"Once Vesemir uses up the Cyclopean Wraith's purification spirit, it'll be time to deal with Vigofortz..."
-------------------------
Creek~
The door to Vesemir's room was not fully closed.
Allen barely stepped inside, one foot still outside, when he heard Vesemir's voice.
"Allen, are you really planning to follow that damn male witch's instructions and wait until tomorrow noon to save the little ones?" Vesemir, who seemed to have been meditating on the floor, quickly stood up when he saw Allen entering.
"Of course, we're going tonight," Allen paused, "What's the matter?"
They didn't discuss the Artefact compression that compresses the human body, causing significant damage to the organs of the target.
The male sorcerers couldn't see in the dark, but the Witcher had low-light vision and Cat's Eye potion. They couldn't afford to miss the huge advantage of nighttime.
Vesemir helplessly shook his head, pointing to a crystal bottle on the table containing twenty doses of silver-gray wraith purification spirits.
"Then I can't take that potion," Vesemir said.
"The first potion you gave me worked too well. Before you came, I had just started to stabilize the perception that suddenly surged..."
Allen froze, giving the Witcher Master an appraisal.
[Name: Vesemir]
[Attributes: Strength 53, Agility 63 (+5), Constitution 68 (-1), Perception 84 (+14), Mysticism 53 (+10)]
It wasn't that Vesemir had forgotten that, unlike regular Witchers, he needed time to adjust to the sudden increase in his attributes.
Allen left to return to his own room, intending to give Vesemir the time he needed to adapt.
Perception and Mysticism, unlike Strength, Agility, and Constitution, were more difficult to digest for the body. Moreover, Vesemir's perception talent was already high, and his attributes were strong.
With fourteen points in Perception, logically, there shouldn't be such a strong reaction. Even with the demon spirit purification spirit that could enhance perception by ten points, the adjustment period shouldn't be too long, at most half an hour.
"And I can feel that my reaction time and my mutated organs' ability to store and control mana have also improved, but my body adapted quickly."
"However, Perception seems..."
Vesemir paused, seemingly reflecting on the changes in his body.
"It seems that it's about to reach some kind of limit," he opened his eyes, absentmindedly touching his Ghilna Silver Sword. "It's like the sword is becoming heavier, tougher, and sharper, but the scabbard is almost unable to contain it."
Allen looked at the silver sword in the scabbard, deep in thought.
Vesemir took the crystal bottle filled with purification spirits. "If this potion is to enhance... uh... like you often say... strength and constitution, I should be able to drink it."
"No, that's also for enhancing perception..." Allen quickly replied, taking back the Cyclopean Wraith's purification spirit from his inventory.
He hadn't been paying attention earlier.
If Vesemir were to drink both the wraith purification spirit and the Cyclopean Wraith's purification spirit, his Perception attribute would solidly exceed one hundred points.
"Could it be that Vesemir feels he's reached his limit because his Perception attribute has reached 100 points?" Allen pondered.
"Is there any limit for attributes to exceed 100 points? Do all attributes need to be evenly increased?"
Then, another thought crossed his mind. "What happens if attributes exceed 100 points..."
Wait!
Mary's Strength, Agility, and Constitution were all under twenty, but her Perception was as high as 76, and Mysticism even reached 81...
Since Lady Vera and the Aretuza Sorceress Academy had no way to train her other attributes, it was clear that there's no need for all attributes to increase evenly to exceed the limits.
Also...
Has Lady Vera surpassed 100 in Perception and Mysticism?
"Then there's no helping it." Vesemir sighed, glancing at the crystal bottle, cutting off Allen's train of thought. "Since that's the case, shall we head out now?"
Allen nodded, ready to use his tracking skill.
"By the way, Allen, did you brew that potion yourself?"
"Well... kind of!" Allen replied.
"That's impressive..." Vesemir clicked his tongue. "Really remarkable!"
.....
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
345. Ambushing Vilgefortz.
346. Is the Name Deserved or Not?
347. Intense Battle.
348. The Surge of Primal Chaos.
349. Elder Blood and the Miracle Child's source.