We had stopped for the day.
Our team had been in the dungeon for over a week. There had been a lot of rotation in team formations, but it was working out somehow.
There had been no life-or-death moments, thankfully. Everyone was capable enough and got their chance to shine.
Tonight, I was on watch for half the night and split the other half with Sam.
While it was unlikely anything would show up during the night, it was just common sense to have someone sit up.
Even if it was boring, it was necessary in case an Abnormal or other people showed up.
It was also a good time to read or work quietly on one's skills. I pulled out my mother's book she had left me, her legacy. Until now, I had not looked at it.
My son Justin, if you are reading this, then you have met whatever expectation I set for you. If you haven't or it is someone else, then there are no words to express my disappointment. Just know that only through unrelenting determination have I reached the heights that I have.
That was just like my mother. I couldn't help but smile. Even when she was dead, she was still telling me to work harder in her own way.
My legacy consists not of spellblade skills, including my tier 6 skill Dawnbreaker Destruction. Learning them would not help you survive or surpass me like my true legacy. When I was a young girl and monsters killed my family, it was there, at the moment of life and death, that I learned the strongest skill.
While many would not consider it a real skill, I have heard of no one else with this skill. I consider the ultimate skill. With it, I could survive in the dungeon for decades, even against monsters far more powerful than myself, going far deeper than many would consider sane or reasonable.
I fought Champions far beyond my level. Pushing my experience gain to heights that many would not even believe. That is how I gained so many levels so quickly. Where others have spent centuries, I gambled with my life constantly. Never retreating, never giving up, never even considering the concept of surrender.
The only reason I finally gave up on my original descent was because of my equipment and to improve my skills. I was already powerful, but that was when I learned the skills necessary to become a spellblade. Before that point, I had clawed and fought my way through the dungeon, learning skills from the monsters, scavenging what I could from the dungeon itself.
I couldn't wait to see what skill had led my mother to greatness. I kept reading with eager anticipation.
The skill was Stillness. A tier 1 skill. One that many would deem worthless if they ever got it. But it was the key skill I focused on. After maximizing Empowered Stillness, I gained the tier 4 skill Mana Stillness.
Monsters ultimately track Mana. While they can use other senses, Mana is how higher-level monsters track. There are other supporting skills I got to conceal myself in other ways. Many would say that I was the strongest spellblade, but in reality, I am the strongest stealth specialist.
My eyes went wide at this revelation. It shocked me to my core, just as it would everyone else.
I never enjoyed hiding or sneaking around. But winning is more important than anything else. And I won my son. I won.
Could she still be alive? For a moment I felt a bit of hope, but that was impossible. There was no way she had been hiding in the dungeon for years. That was absurd, but that didn't stop me from reading more.
Stillness, at its basest concept is to still everything about yourself. At the higher tiers, this becomes increasingly dangerous. Stopping your breathing, your Mana, your heart, even your thinking. Everything that could be sensed you remove. It is a skill combination that I don't use lightly, but it is my true legacy and one that will keep you alive when all else fails.
Unfortunately, the first skill is the hardest to get. Stillness is not a skill people regularly pick up. Even if you do nothing and don't move, you aren't truly still. It isn't something you can use Mana to replicate either. You could consider Stillness a hidden tier 1 skill.
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A legacy tier 1 skill. Ignorant people would think that a tier 4, 5, or even 6 skills would be better.
But it wasn't.
Often, those skills didn't have a proper foundation. I knew that my mother's high-tier skills were a combination of spell skills, runes, and Mana control skills.
I was already working on such skills.
But a Tier 1 one skill that wasn't commonly known was far more valuable. It would allow me to build a foundation for the more advanced skills in the skill chain.
That I had never even heard of such a skill even in passing showed how valuable it truly was.
I have thought long and hard about how best to gain the skill. And the only method is a genuine life or death situation. There is no other method. Your body needs to react instinctively. While I had considered abandoning you in the dungeon in the hopes you would learn it, I could not. My heart was weak.
Now that you are older, the skill will be far more difficult to get. You must be as still as possible, suppressing everything about yourself. Mana, thought, breathing, and heartbeat.
If you succeed, you will get the skill. If you fail, you will die. That pressure will allow you to gain the skill. But I would not dare tell you to risk your life. You are my precious son, and no matter what, I love and support you.
I know that you have completed the assignment I gave you. If you have, place your hand on the cover book and say the following: 'I will never forget.' There is only one chance at this, so don't block the effect.
I closed the book and hesitated for a moment.
If it were anyone but my mother, I wouldn't dare to do this. I placed my hand on the cover of the book.
"I will never forget."
From the book, I felt a surge of Mana. I didn't resist whatever the effect was.
My hand sank into the front cover of the book, and I felt something under my hand.
I grabbed the hard object that seemed to have some paper tied to it and pulled my hand out.
The Mana that had briefly surged was gone.
In my hand, I held an Alchemical Crystal Phial with a scroll of paper tied to the side.
I untied the piece of paper and began reading it.
This is my legacy, my son. At a substantial cost, I extracted the skill of Stillness from an Abnormal I found. I would never let you risk your life foolishly. I know you will one day surpass me. Take it with confidence and know that I will always support you with my love.
My eyes grew moist. Even after all this time, my mother was still giving me things to help me advance.
A truly priceless gift.
A hidden tier 1 skill that was the foundation of the greatest legacy ever to exist. The legacy that allowed Elena to become a Supreme Legend.
Taking a deep breath, I put the piece of paper inside the book and set them on the folding table to my side.
Everyone was still asleep, and there were no disturbances.
I uncorked the crystal phial and gulped Alchemical Mixture.
I felt the impact on my soul immediately and allowed the skill to settle.
My soul shifted, and I felt a pain across my entire body.
It was going right through my Pain Immunity.
I clenched my fists and endured.
My soul settled down a few seconds later, but I felt an ache across my body.
I didn't have to move if I didn't want to.
My heart seemed to freeze and even my Mana grinding to a halt.
It lasted only for a moment before my blood surged.
My body ached some more.
It wasn't a simple skill.
Stillness was something incredibly unique. No wonder it wasn't a common skill.
Anyone could sit and meditate or run, but this was something far simpler and far more profound.
Stillness was becoming still in a way that there was no difference between a person and the background.
Of course, there were things like heat and being present physically, but there was something greater about this skill I didn't fully grasp.
I knew it was greater with how my entire soul had twisted slightly and my body was still in pain.
Without the Alchemically extracted skill, I would never learn this kind of skill naturally.
My mother, in fear and desperation as a young girl, had unlocked it long ago.
She had told me about the death of her family, but I hadn't realized it had started her on her path to greatness in more than one way.
No wonder she seemed so conflicted about her past.
She had gained something incredibly powerful, something that allowed her to become a Supreme Legend, but it had also cost my mother her family.
I put the crystal phial away in my spatial pouch.
Checking the book again, the next bit of content talked about how to train other skills to complement Stillness.
I don't need to worry about that right now.
I needed to get this skill to tier 4, Mana Stillness.
Other skills did not allow one to practice stillness.
That my mother had kept such a secret from everyone was shocking.
I didn't know how old she was, but she had been the youngest of the Supreme Legends, though she supposedly had the highest combat power out of all of them.
The Mathemancer and The Librarian had retired from their adventuring once they had become Supreme Legends.
Only Blood Gore remained fighting monsters, but he was weaker than my mother from what I had picked up.
It was shocking and incredibly scary that my mother considered herself a stealth specialist, not a spellblade.
I had always looked up to her overwhelming power.
And while that was true, there was an entirely new dimension to her.
But if she said this skill was important and left an Alchemically prepared copy for me, I wouldn't doubt it.
I would train the skill and its supporting skills.
Just one more thing on my list of skills to train and maximize.
It didn't seem so overwhelming as it had before, knowing that my mother believed in me.