I couldn't help but smile. I even broke my own rule just to confirm this. But I doubted anyone else would have been able to contain themselves if they were in my position. I was only checking a single thing in my status, but as we walked cross-country to the nearest city, it brought endless joy to my heart.
Tier 4: Experience Siphon (C)
"If you keep smiling that much, you have to tell us what makes you so happy?" Harren commented lightly.
I considered telling him and the rest of the team.
Stormy and Sam were sitting on the shoulders of the war mech like Ozy rested on my shoulder pauldron.
The war mech's shoulder pauldrons were normally detached, but could attach to provide seats for people traveling on the war mech. It was another modification the dwarves had made. There were seats at the back as well, allowing up to four people to ride on the outside, but Harren and I preferred walking.
Not that the war mech scared me, but I was a front-line fighter, not a caster. I needed to be ready when we moved as a team to counter threats. Although an attack was highly unlikely, we still needed to be careful. The surrounding region of the College was still dealing with the aftermath of the eruption, the College's fall, the land sinking into the ocean, and lots of ash.
The College repurposed the magical carriage that would have transported the war mech to help during the emergency reconstruction.
That April could get all the fuel she could before our departure was already a minor miracle.
Sticking around wouldn't have accomplished anything. We weren't strong enough, and we didn't have the right skills. Leaving while the College sorted out the mess was the best option.
The chance of someone causing trouble was much higher now.
"Legend Xanatos cursed me as a child, which is why my mother was quite upset with him. The curse skill degraded a tier, which means he was killed, but isn't completely dead," I said.
"Killed but not dead? How would that even work?" Harren asked.
"Dark skills, very dark skills. They don't call themselves the Dark Cabal because they bring happiness and joy," Stormy said with a scoff from her elevated position.
"If the curse skill is now tier 4, you could look into a System Priest for getting it removed," Harren suggested.
"Maybe. But that will be later."
I might not rush to get rid of it. I had soul skills to learn, and if I could use one to track down Xanatos permanently and end him, I wouldn't complain.
There was a grudge between us.
Unless he was truly dead, I would always be discontent, like how my mother had a grudge against the dungeon itself.
All those skill levels enraged me.
"So that is why you wear that bracelet. I was wondering," April said.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Experience blocker. I am only level 20," I replied.
Everyone stared at me.
"What? Impossible. I am level 40, and you keep up with me," Harren said.
"A curse skill to siphon experience and what he said at the graduation event… He was stealing your skill experience, your skill levels, and you still took first?" Stormy said in shock.
"Yes," I replied with hatred leaking into my voice.
"If your mother were still alive, I would ask her if I could change my last name and get adopted," Harren joked.
It was a crass joke, but it lightened the mood a bit.
"Even with a handicap, you still beat Windshell. I am going to gloat so much when we meet up in the future," Stormy said.
"Really?" I asked with a touch of exasperation.
"It is an Elven thing. Making fun of others' failures after they put in effort is quite common among elves of the same generation. And she is particularly stuck up."
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"Won't that just increase tensions and hatred?"
"Maybe, but it will be at least a decade before I see her again. Once we are done with our descent, I will return home to make fun of her."
"Brutal. And here I thought you elves were calm and collected," Harren said.
"Most of my people are cold emotionally. It's the training we undergo at a young age to completely master our emotions."
"Should I be worried?" Harren asked.
"Not really. It is something Elves have been doing forever. It helps with learning and other things, but it is minor. The downsides are a greater disconnect with other races."
"But not you?" I asked.
"My father believed in a different approach. He is a bit more unorthodox. I still had to learn intensely, but there was less emotional suppression and control and more of a reward and punishment system. Windshell is probably getting yelled at for her failure by her family," Stormy said with happiness.
"There are signs of a major fight up ahead, but no sign of combatants or active conflict
," April said.We all paused in our discussion but kept advancing.
"By the System, what happened here?" Harren muttered as we cleared a low hill on the road.
I couldn't help but agree with him as we saw the devastation.
The plants had grown, twisted, withered, and there were spikes pointing upwards, out of the ground.
"Someone poisoned the spikes. Most of the plants are also poisoned, even if they are dead," I said.
Sam pointed out something he saw. "A scrap of cloth."
I carefully advanced to where he pointed and picked it up before returning. "Gold and silver. Nothing I can make out on it."
"We should clear the path and rebuild the road. It will help anyone following us. April, can you handle the fire? The other end of the road is over there. We will go straight towards it," Stormy said.
Sam held his hand out, and I gave him the piece of high-quality ripped cloth.
"Yes, off my shoulders." Both Stormy and Sam got off. She pulled a weapon from her side. It was the new one, the Fire Aura Blast, or FAB. "FAB firing."
There was a whoosh as a jet of white fiery flame shot outwards, burning a line through the withered plants.
April quickly cut off the flame, and it charred the dead plants away.
"Stone Road," Stormy used a spell, raising up a stone road out of the ground.
The team advanced, and they both repeated the action six more times.
A slightly elevated stone road made its way through the battle site. I had been using Fireball to clear away the plants on either side of the road after we passed by.
If possible, I did not need to let those things grow near the road.
"It's part of a combat robe," Sam said as we continued moving along the road. "Very high-end. Platinum threading, not silver."
"What?" I looked over in surprise that I had made a mistake.
"It is a platinum alloy, to be more precise, and I recognize it. There are some individuals with distinct appearances that I can replicate their appearance to scare others away if needed. This appears to be part of the cloak of a legendary bounty hunting team called the Relentless," he said.
"So, they had a battle here. Likely against Legend Xanatos, but did they survive?" I asked.
"Maybe? They might have killed the legend or died."
"But there were no corpses, no other signs," Stormy said.
"Corpse consuming skills on death. It is not something most talk about, but some legends prefer to keep everything about themselves, and legacies hidden," Harren said.
"Speaking from experience?" Stormy asked.
"Yes. The Axefall family has its secrets just like all of you do," he replied.
"They were likely using more esoteric skills, not elemental spell skills. The poison spikes and withered poisoned plants are a clear sign of that," I replied.
"Plant skills, subpar in terms of combat utility and easily countered with fire," Stormy said like it offended her that anyone used plant magic.
"Problems with plant skills?" I asked.
"They aren't good combat skills. They have powerful utility, but the Mana cost to damage dealt is not good. That is why people primarily use elemental spell skills. The advantage of weird skills is that they are unknown. But a solid Lightning Beam is better 99 times out of 100. And for that one time when you are facing something with lightning immunity, then you can use another element," Stormy said.
"I am more interested in how he avoided all those attacks at the graduation. He was using skills. You were clearly affected," Sam said, and I nodded.
"My Mana just locked in place and my body stopped moving. Any ideas for good counters?" I asked.
I was warming up to this team, since it wasn't just me trying to come up with ideas or knowledge.
"Mana Stilling, Mana Rebound, and Mana Lock are all tier 5 skills. Once your stats reach 100, such direct target skills struggle to take hold. You could still think?" Stormy asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Then your Mind stat is over 100, but the rest are lagging. If you go to the 16th layer, you need to watch out for single-target skills like that or when fighting an Abnormal. Otherwise, you might succumb to such a skill with no resistance."
"No resistance skills?" I asked.
"It is like a curse skill, but since it doesn't linger, you can't see it as a curse skill. Such things bypass your defenses and directly target you unless your stats can repel the initial attack. That is why curse skills are rarely useful in combat," she explained.
I seriously considered using my free stat points but held off.
"I should have backed you then," Harren said.
"No one was expecting an attack, and I rushed forward on my own," I replied.
"Still, people won't forget that you made a move while they hesitated," he said.
"Maybe one day when we are all legends," Sam added.
"I should start bringing The Indomitable to social functions," April joked, and we could only imagine the war mech looming over a social event.
"If there is ever a second, they could dance. Now that would be a sight," Harren said with a chuckle. It was an amusing thought.
As we went along a bend in the road, a glance back showed a cloud of darkness in the distance, over where the College was. It would take days for the ash to precipitate out of the air. The entire land was a complete mess, but if anyone could rebuild after what Xanatos did, it would be the Professors at the College of Advancement.
One day I would come back, and it would be interesting to see how much the place had changed and improved. I honestly couldn't believe most of the students and staff survived such an event, even if they were injured. It showed that the Professors and Dean knew what they were doing.