Apart from the enormous experience increases, they also received a bountiful harvest from monster drops. The monsters mowed down by the vanguard troops were substantial. Almost all of the players never stopped picking up the loots as the soldiers mowed down the monsters.
Even after being divided between the twenty-five of them, each player still received 26 gold coins and 59 silver coins. Jack now had 116 gold coins. There were also numerous common and uncommon equipment, ingredients, materials, and trophy loots which they divided equally. Sadly, no rare grade items though. The trophy loots themselves might fetch more coins when they turned the loots to the Hunters Association.
Regarding equipped weapons and armors, none in the party was using any common grade equipment anymore, all wore at least uncommon equipment.
They also gained Mana Cores which none of them knew what they were for, including Jack, since Peniel was still not telling. They still divided these cores equally though. Each of them received 58 mana cores. Jack’s stock was now 80 mana cores.
All in all, everyone was glad that Jack had invited them into this expedition.
For Jack himself, his Cooking and Blacksmith auxiliary skill had also received improvements. As he was cooking and repairing durabilities for almost half the players. A few others helped as well, but Jack did most of them. The others just thought of him as a workaholic, but it was because he felt he had neglected these auxiliary skills for some time.
With the help of his Hard-working Achiever title, His Cooking skill increased to Advanced Apprentice. His Blacksmith skill still needed a little more points to increase. After the long days of continuously in a party, Jack’s Leadership and Teamwork skill had also increased to Intermediate Apprentice. Now he could form a party with a maximum of thirty members.
There was, however, a surprising increase in another of his auxiliary skill, the Diplomacy skill, which increased to Intermediate Apprentice. These social auxiliary skills did not inform players when they gained proficiency, so he never knew if any of it was improving, just like his Leadership and Teamwork skill. Jack asked Peniel about it and she explained that this Diplomacy skill was increased by interacting with the natives. Jack had been communicating frequently with Captain Salem and the other NPC soldiers during the journey. This must have been what contributed to the increase.
He also asked Peniel what effect a high-grade Diplomacy had. The Fairy informed him that an increase in Diplomacy skill would increase the rewards from quests and could also affect a native’s reaction to some extent.
Jack did not neglect to increase the proficiencies of his battle skills as well. He could not use many of his melee skills because he could not engage in a direct battle with those high-level monsters, but he was still free to use his Mage skills from a distance. As a result, his Energy Bolts and Heightened State had increased to the second star, while his Arcane Turbulence had increased to its first star. The first star of the Arcane Turbulence added a 10% increase on the area of effect of the spell. The spell now covered an area with a radius of 6.6 meters.
He had also continuously been using his Flash Step skill even though it was not needed. His constant shifting of positions due to the skill even caused some soldiers to complain, as it distracted them. Due to his diligent training, this Flash Step skill had upgraded to its first star. The star increased the effect of the afterimage left behind after the skill activation. The afterimage was now a more clear image compared to its previous blurry one, increasing the chance for the enemy to be deceived.
Yet, the most abundant reward was the soul points. The other gains were divided equally amongst the party, but the souls were all monopolized by him. Too bad the Container of Souls’ scope of effect was not large enough to cover all three vanguard troops, but the souls reap by the center wing was already very large.
The total soul points he had reaped within these eleven days were 86200 souls. It was enough to upgrade the advanced class 8 times or the basic class 86 times! After much thought, he decided to use them to strengthen his basic classes first.
He used 68000 souls to fully level up his Parry, Swing, Mana Bullet, Magic Shield, and Energy Bolts to level 20.
Parry, level 20/20 (Trigger skill, require melee weapon), star: 2
Damage received is reduced by 90% when the attack is blocked using a weapon
Swing, level 20/20 (Active skill, melee, require melee weapon), star: 2
Deal 220% physical damage to all enemies in a fan shape directly in front of the player
Stamina consumed: 25
Cooldown: 10 seconds cooldown
Mana bullet, level 20/20 (Active skill, range, require magic weapon), star: 2
Deal 400% magic damage
Range: 12 meters
Mana consumed: 24
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Magic Shield, level 20/20 (Active skill, melee, require magic weapon), star: 2
Create a shield in front of the equipped magic weapon. Serve as a shield with defense affected by intelligence stat.
Mana consumed: 3 each second
Energy Bolts, level 20/20 (Active skill, range, require magic weapon), star: 2
Create 8 homing magic bolts that deals 160% magic damage for each bolt
Range: 15 meters
Mana consumed: 30
Cooldown: 54 seconds
All the skills provided clear information on the increased effect of the level, except for Magic Shield, but Jack assumed his Magic Shield should be better at defense at his max level now. Too bad there was no more hidden reward like the last time when he received a Title after max-leveling his Power Strike skill.
He still had 18,000 soul points left. He was divided on upgrading the Natural Body Recovery or the Heightened State skill. After some thought, he used 8000 souls to level up the Heightened State skill. This skill provided him more assistance during a battle compared to Natural Body Recovery which only took effect after a battle was over.
Heightened State, level 11/20 (Active skill), star: 2
Increase mana regeneration by 60%
decrease skill cooldown by 24%
Duration: 4 minutes 40 seconds
Cooldown: 10 minutes
The remaining 10,000 souls left he intended to use for one advanced skill. He was just about to use them for his Sword of Light skill when Peniel interrupted him, “use it to level up your Body Double skill one more time.”
“Why? Leveling up that skill only increases its duration. Another one-minute duration is not too useful. I wanted to power up my Sword of Light.”
“Just do it, trust me,” Peniel insisted.
Jack did trust the fairy, so he did as she asked.
Body Double, level 10/20 (Active skill), star: 1
Create two copies of self, cannot attack, cannot be attacked.
Can switch place with original body, copies will be destroyed after activating second switching.
Duration: 14 minutes
Cooldown: 1 hour
Mana: 50
‘Two copies?’ Jack asked after reading the description.
“Yes, every ten levels will add another copy,” Peniel replied. “So if you max this spell. You will have three copies which you can switch around with. If you can max its stars as well, you can switch around those three copies a lot of times. This will confuse your opponents immensely. Now you understand why I asked you to pick this spell in the past, right?”
‘Yes, yes. You were certainly correct to do that. Did I thank you before for asking me to get this spell?’
“No, you did not.”
‘Well, thank you!’
“Hmph, damn right you should!” Peniel exclaimed.
When the main army arrived, Commander Quintus instructed the army to build a camp outside of the town. There were not enough lodgings to accommodate the entire soldiers of the expedition. Only the Duke and his top retinues would stay inside the town. The commander informed them to take this time to rest, they would depart again in two days. The Commander also advised them that it might take at least another five days more of travel before they reached the Temple of Divine Squall which was their destination.
The Duke invited Jack and the other players to follow him into the town. The town’s gate was manned by many soldiers that performed rigorous checkings. Jack assumed this town was not open to the public. They might not be able to enter it if they came by themselves.
Inside the town, it was not as crowded and lively as the capital. In fact, it was rather tranquil. Most of the occupants were soldiers. This town was like a big military base. There were only a handful of hawkers and most of what they sold were primary necessities.
The other players asked if they could check out the town. Commander Quintus let them go but warned them that several areas were restricted. These areas usually had soldiers guarding them, the commander asked them to pay attention, and not to cause any trouble. There was an inn near the town gate they just passed, the Commander told them to stay there for the night. The accommodation had been paid for by the Duke.
Jack was about to excuse himself to follow his friends when the Commander asked him to follow. He had no choice but to comply.
