Calm Before the Storm
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the very moment he arrived at the area he was usually at when he allocated his stats, Jean hastily sat down and opened up his specific stat screen to allocate his stats in the same manner. After that, just as he was about to head back to where his mother and father were in the Azure Forest, a holographic screen appeared after he closed his specific stat screen. At first, he thought that it was just the usual holographic screen he got that informed him about the improvement in his stats, but after he read the last line on the screen, he could not help but be slightly startled.
'2 points have been allocated to Vitality. The Vitality stat is now at 26 points.'
'2 points have been allocated to Strength. The Strength stat is now at 26 points.'
'4 points have been allocated to Agility. The Agility stat is now at 50 points.'
'Congratulations for achieving 50 points in Agility! The skill [Speed Demon] has been given to you.'
"Eh?" Although he expected that this was a holographic screen that told him of his improvement, he did not expect that he would actually obtain a skill at this time. He knew that one would obtain a Status Skill if one allocated enough points to a certain stat since his mother told him earlier. He could not help but wonder if Agility was a special stat since the first Status Skill popped up at 50 points. With that thought in mind, he decided to ask his parents later.
"For now, what does this [Speed Demon] do?" Jean could not help but mutter to himself as he closed the holographic screen. He pondered as to how he would open up the description of the skill since he did not obtain an answer from his father earlier this morning. Not long after, a thought popped up in his mind, making him sigh as he said to himself, "Ah, right. I could always ask the system."
"System, how do I check skill descriptions?" Jean asked in a soft voice, to which the system hastily replied not long after with a holographic screen. On it, the words 'To check skill descriptions, just say the word 'Identify' and the name of the skill after it' were written.
"Just as dad said earlier, the system's commands are pretty intuitive," Jean muttered after reading up on what he had to do. Closing the holographic screen that appeared as a reply to his question, Jean then softly said, "Identify [Speed Demon]."
Whoosh!
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[Speed Demon]
MP Cost: 20 MP
Cooldown: 10 minutes
A skill obtained by those who have an innately high Agility stat, or those who have trained their Agility to a great level. This skill allows the user to push their Agility to a greater level, allowing them to show greater feats of speed.
> Increases movement and attack speed by 15% for 2 minutes
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"Hoh?" Jean's eyebrows were raised as he read up on the description of the skill he had obtained. In his mind, this skill would allow him to show the advantages of an Assassin class even further, dodging attacks without a problem while unleashing multiple hits in a short span of time. "Hmm…I guess I can use this while fighting against the Wolf King. I should probably tell mom and dad about this before we fight against it."
"Now that I think about it…" Just as he was about to stand up in satisfaction from the skill he had received, a thought popped up in his mind, prompting to stay seated as he muttered, "Identify [Keen Reflexes]."
Ever since he had obtained the skill from the start of his adventure of the World Net, other than knowing that it's a passive skill, he did not actually know what it does. 'Since I'm still outside the Azure Forest, why not take the chance to check what it does?' was the thought he had in mind.
Whoosh!
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[Keen Reflexes]
Those who become Assassins have reflexes that surpass normal people, allowing them to retaliate at the most unlikely situation, as well as attack at vital spots that might be impossible for normal people to hit.
> Increases critical rate by 5% and critical damage by 10% (Stacks beyond the limit of these stats)
> Gives the user a small (2%) chance to retaliate against an enemy attack (Chance to retaliate increases with an increase in the Dexterity stat)
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"What?! Isn't this broken?" After finally finding out what his first skill could do, he could not help but think up of ways to bolster the power of such a passive skill. He took the increase in critical rate and critical damage as a small bonus, but the fact that he had a chance to retaliate against attacks from enemies was what made him want to put some focus on this skill. Add in the fact that he could actually increase the chances of him successfully retaliating by increasing his Dexterity stat? Closing the holographic screen, Jean was contemplating about allocating his stats to Dexterity from now on until he reached the limit.
Eventually, he decided that he would think about it later after the boss fight since he could get something from it that could possibly change his mind. Not only that, he decided to craft the 4 Starter+ grade rings right now while he was still outside the Azure Forest so the three of them could head towards the Wolf King without going off on a tangent.
Opening up the party screen, he then proceeded to chat with his parents regarding the Wolf Spine Rings, as well as the Wolf Fur they obtained, asking them to send it to him so he could equip himself with Starter+ rings. Not long after, Jean obtained a notification that he had obtained 2 Wolf Spine Rings, which brought his total number of rings to 5, as well as a notification that he had obtained 4 Wolf Fur since one of his rings, which was already equipped, was already at Starter+ grade.
A few minutes later, Jean had successfully equipped himself with 5 [Chiseled Spine Rings], arousing his curiosity to check out his current general stats. And so, while he headed back to where his mother and father was at the Azure Forest, he opened up his general stat screen, slightly surprised at how much his Attack stat had increased.
Whoosh!
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Tenebris (Cleaner Rank)
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Level 9 (1882/6498)
Class: Assassin
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HP: 350/350
MP: 66/66
Attack: 58 (+15) (69-77)
Defense: 19 (+25)
Movement Speed: 53 (20 m/s)
Attack Speed: 53 (10 hps)
Range of Vision: 50 meters
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"A +15 Attack modifier…" Jean could not help but mutter before asking himself, "Is it because of the 4 rings I equipped?"
With that in mind, he then closed his general stat screen, opening up the list of equipment he currently had equipped after asking the system how to open it.
Whoosh!
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Equipment:
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Weapon: Silver Wolf Fang (Atk+5, STR+3)
Helmet: Reinforced Skull Helmet (Def+3, VIT+2)
Chestplate: Reinforced Ribcage Chestplate (Def+4, END+2)
Arm Guards: Padded Rabbit Kneecaps (Def+3, END+1)
Leggings: Refined Fur Leggings (Def +4, VIT+2)
Boots: Refined Fur Boots (Def +5, AGI+2)
Cape: Wolf Rabbit Hide (Def+3, END+1, VIT+1)
Necklace: Wolf Pendant (Def+3, STR+1, AGI+1)
Ring: Chiseled Spine Ring x 5 (Atk +10, END+5)
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Jean noticed that the boosts the equipments gave to his stats were listed beside the names of equipment, making him wonder as to whether the same thing would happen if he had equipment of greater rarities equipped. In the end, he decided that it was a useless thought, placing it at the back of his mind as he eventually arrived where his father and mother were, who looked at him with a light smile as he arrived.
"You took quite a while," John could not help but say with a small chuckle.
"Well I upgraded the rings before I arrived here," Jean said as response to his father before adding, "My attack has increased quite a bit thanks to it."
"Alright, save the banter for later." Seeing that John and Jean might continue their conversation, Jane interrupted the thoughts of the two, saying, "We should go ahead and move nearer to the Wolf King."
Fortunately for her, the two of them did not have any complaints, nodding their heads before they started to move towards the Wolf King. Along the way, while they were running to where the Wolf King resided, Jean could not help but look at his parents and say, "Mom, dad, while I was allocating my stats, I obtained a Status Skill."
"Oh?" John raised his eyebrows in curiosity as he looked at his son and asked, "What kind of Status Skill?"
While telling his father to look at the terrain in front of him, he responded, "It's a Status Skill that increases my movement and attack speed for a limited amount of time. I think it increases my advantages as an Assassin class."
"With such a build like yours, it does seem like that." This time, Jane was the one who responded before adding, "We'll have to talk with each other about their roles in the fight later, so knowing that you have this skill is quite a good thing."
After that, the three proceeded to head towards the Wolf King's area in silence, only taking a few minutes this time to arrive. The three of them stopped near the Wolf King's territory, letting out sighs of relief after seeing that the Wolf King was still in slumber. They sat down on the ground in a circular formation, with Jane saying to the two of them, "So, we're up against the Wolf King.
Although I and John could go ahead and kill the Wolf King without a problem, we still have to let our son experience what it feels like fighting against the Wolf King with a party."
"That does not mean we can't hasten the speed though," Jane continued with a smile on her face. Not long after, John looked at Jane and asked, "So…am I going to act as a tank as usual?"
"Since you have [Mass Aggravation], it would make sense for you to be one," Jane responded before adding, "Not only that, you can even deal damage while tanking since you have Class Skills that boost your damage output anyway."
"Uh…" While listening to his parents talk to one another, Jean decided to interrupt and ask, "Uh…wouldn't it be more helpful for me to know what skills and spells you two have? You two wouldn't have a problem with me since I only have a single skill, and it's only a miscellaneous skill. But what if you two used a skill that would reflect the attack of the enemy which I could retaliate with or whatnot?"
"Ah." John and Jane uttered at the same time, with Jane looking at her son with an apologetic expression on her face before saying, "You're right. We're sorry, Jean. It's just that we're so used to working together that we usually ignore the other members of the party we join, only taking ourselves into consideration. I hope you understand."
"Mm, I understand. No need to apologize, mom," Jean said before adding, "So let's introduce the skills we have, shall we?"
"I'll start first," John responded to his son's words before continuing, "Since Jean has not partied up with other people, I'll tell him all of the Class Skills a Warrior at the peak level of Cleaner would have. Us Warriors have [Primal Roar], [Heightened Offense], [Heightened Defense], [Great Strike], [Grand Sweep], and [Warrior's Pride]. I'll tell you about what these skills do while we're fighting, but their names alone would give you enough of an idea of what those skills do."
"I also have 2 General Skills, [Mass Aggravation] and [Weapon Throw]. I also have 3 Status Skills due to my high Strength and Defense stat, but they're all passive skills so no need to know about them." After that, Jean nodded to his father's words, before looking at his mother.
Noticing that the attention of the two was focused on her, Jane started talking about her skills. "The Class Skills a Mage has are mostly focused on enhancing the damage of the spells they have, except for one skill. This Class Skill is [Mana Zone], a skill that increases the maximum mana everyone can hold for a limited amount of time. As for the spells I have, two of them are offensive, another two are supportive, and the final one is defensive. The offensive ones I have are [Flame Bolt] and [Ardent Field], with the former being my main method of attack and the latter being an ultimate move of sorts."
She then continued, "The supportive spells I have are [Raging Flame] and [Flame Bind], with the former increasing the Attack stat of all party members for a limited amount of time, and the latter decreasing the defense of the enemy. My defensive spell is [Flame Shield]. Just as the name implies, I can cast a shield made out of flames to anyone that needs them."
"I also have 4 Status Skills and a single General Skill, the General Skill being [Lesser Heal]. I don't really have anything to say about it." Jane let out a sigh after saying all of that. Seeing that her son had a look of satisfaction on his face, Jane let out a light smile as she said, "With that out of the way, let's talk about roles."
"John, you'll be the tank of our party, as well as the main damage dealer since you'll be holding the aggro of the Wolf King," Jane looked at John, to which John nodded before saying, "Expected that that would be the case. Make sure you heal me in time, okay?"
"Don't worry, hon." Jane flashed a smile in response. She then looked at Jean and said, "Since you're still at a low level, I think the role of initiator would suit you."
"Initiator?" Jean could not help but ask.
"You'll be the first one to attack the Wolf King, attracting its aggro for a short amount of time until the tank gets all of his buffs up," Jane explained to Jean in response. She then added, "With your movement speed, that wouldn't be much of a problem for you, right?"
"Yeah, no problem." Jean nodded before asking, "After initiating, can I go ahead and deal as much damage as I can to the Wolf King?"
"You'll need to have the damage counter screen up always, but yes, you can," Jane replied to Jean's question before adding, "Just make sure to not deal as much damage as your dad since he's holding the aggro."
"Got it." Jean nodded, his expression filled with excitement.
"As for me, I'll be the debuffer of the party," Jane said to the two of them before adding, "I will also attack every once in a while, as well as heal."
After that, Jane then stood up before holding onto her staff, which was on the ground a while ago while sitting. John then stood up after her, grabbing the silver axe behind his back, licking his lips in anticipation. Of course, Jean followed, gripping the silver wolf fang tightly after equipping it.
The three of them looked at each other with confident and excited smiles on their faces before heading towards the territory of the Wolf King.
Their fight against the Wolf King will finally begin!