I didn't indulge in sparring often, especially now that I needed to get as many skill levels as possible. But I needed a distraction after the bad news Healer Melon had given me. My progress in my skills was stagnating.
A sparring match costs six gold for an hour session. Payment was made to an independent healer, who also served as a referee, as well as for a legend's time. Ozy wasn't taking part, since that would be too great a risk. Alchemical Bounded Field was an incredibly powerful spell skill with how versatile it was. The risk of an accident wasn't worth the risk.
"Ready?" Legend Breakwater asked me.
"Yes," I replied and brought up my reforged Beginner's Blade. I rushed forward at the man as he leveled a glaive at me. It was a long pole with a plate at the end. Sweeping motions were better for it than jabs, though it could be used as a spear.
We rapidly exchanged blows, Legend Breakwater easily matching me. He did a perfect job of keeping his distance from me while deflecting my blows. The occasional slash got through, forcing me to back off, and I took some light scrapes on my heavy armor.
"Vibration Blade!" I used my Tier 4 spell skill. My Beginner's Blade shook rapidly, numbing my hands. The force of the spell skill was almost too much. A Tier 4 skill was no joke.
"Ward! My blade hit a shield angled to the side. "Lightning Beam!"
"Ward!" I kept up Vibration Blade at the same time as I blocked the spell skill my opponent had unleashed. The Lightning Beam struck me, and my Ward shattered. It was strong, but my Ward had reduced the power enough that my body hadn't locked up. That was thanks to my Lightning Resistance, which I could feel countering the effects of the hostile Mana.
My blade struck his glaive, and he let his weapon fall away. I stepped forward.
"Repulsion Aura!"
My opponent stepped back as I was too slow to land a blow. I let my Vibration Blade spell skill end. "Fireball! Fireball!"I used the spell skill twice in rapid succession.
"Water Wall!" Water instantly condensed out of the air and the fireballs impacted and created a cloud of steam. My mouth and eyes felt slightly dry from the water being sucked out of the air for the spell skill.
My Danger Sense alerted me to an issue, and I saw a gathering of Mana with Mana Vision.
"Ward." I mentally anchored the spell skill to the front of my blade. The blast of water struck, and I angled my blade, deflecting the high-pressure torrent.
"Light Orb!" I put an enormous chunk of my remaining Mana into the spell skill and sent it hurtling toward the Water Beam. Rushing forward, I swung my blade, and Legend Breakwater countered with his glaive despite having his head surrounded by my Light Orb.
My spell skill was disrupted a second later, and he could open his eyes as we continued to exchange a series of rapid blows.
The spell skills came less frequently for the next half an hour. I was low on Mana and Legend Breakwater wasn't trying to crush me instantly. With twenty minutes until the end of the session, the watching Healer blew a sharp whistle, and we both stopped attacking each other.
"You were quite aggressive today. Nice spell combinations," Legend Breakwater said easily while I was breathing heavily.
Even with Empowered Breathing, it was tough to manage it properly in such high-intensity combat. That would lead to lower Mana regeneration and combat ability. It's how a fight could snowball.
Not that I would have had a chance if the Legend had gone all out. It was a good reminder of how far I still had to go. With around four times my stats, I was completely outclassed, not even taking skills into consideration.
That was why I could go all out without having to worry about dealing a fatal blow. Sparring was safer with a strong mismatch, rather than against equally matched opponents. With a mismatch, the stronger side could control the pace and danger of the fight, while the other person could go all out.
I didn't use Soul Strike of course. It was a friendly spar, and we both had to let the other know what spell skills we would actively target the person with. We did that during our first spar. Defensive and passive skills didn't count. This was done for safety reasons and for the Healer to evaluate if a spar had gone out of control and call a stop to it.
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"Thanks, I have been working on Multi-Casting," I replied, and the legend nodded.
"It shows. Your timing was excellent. The biggest issue you face right now is just all-around improvement and pressure to hone your skills to higher levels. Your overall fighting sensibility is solid. No major gaps or mistakes. But as always, if this wasn't a spar, go easy on the spell skills. You will lose too much Mana otherwise."
Reserves were one of the biggest concerns for professional adventurers. It wasn't the first fight that killed a person, but the hundredth. Their points didn't regenerate as fast as before as they became tired and worn out from their descent. If there were a difficulty spike, they wouldn't be able to handle the situation as if they were fresh, leading to a mistake in judgement.
"What about my Focused Sword Skill? I have been trying to breakthrough level 80 for a while."
"You would need to spar daily for at least a month or get pressured in the dungeon. You have reached a skill level where only practical experience will push you further. That is why weapon skills aren't taught that much at the College."
"And anchoring Ward to my sword?"
This legend was skilled, but I had to ask him questions in the remaining time, otherwise he wouldn't share his insight on the spar. He would point out major mistakes, but he wouldn't go into detail unless pressed.
"Slightly risky. You angled your spell skill correctly to deflect most of the force, and you have experience with Vibration Blade. However, if the attack comes at the wrong angle or with more force than you expect, you could lose your weapon. Especially in trying to deflect a spell skill with an angled Ward. There is more surface area that you use. While it prevents the spell skill from breaking, it also redirects more force to you."
One of my rings canceled a fourth of the force applied to me. The effect worked best on my hands, which is why I will use Vibration Blade with my low stats and Ward to deflect like I had. But even with my ring, it was still good advice to be careful about anchoring a defensive skill to my sword.
"Any spell skills you recommend?"
"No. Your versatility is already quite good. You would do better mastering them to reduce the Mana cost and to get more power out of them. Better to have five to ten spell skills you are proficient at than a hundred you barely know. Mana Combat is a tier 3 skill; if you don't have it, consider it."
I had felt that skill occasionally brush up against my soul during spars, but I had held off. I didn't have enough space in my soul to take on that support skill now. In time I would, and it would hopefully level quickly. But I hadn't been practicing Mana Combat enough to make it worthwhile taking it right now. I wouldn't get an enormous boost to level gain like I was getting for Multi-Casting.
"As for my off-hand, I didn't use a shield, but kept it free for my sword, spells, and possibly tags."
"It is reasonable. But I would seriously consider a shield until you get to the 16th layer in the dungeon. Don't use tags in dungeon combat. The risk of a monster with some kind of special skill that could accidentally set them off is too high, or even the environment. The Mana gets denser the deeper you go."
My mother had explained that for spell skills, the deeper one went, the easier it was to practice them. Everything else being equal, Mana would regenerate quicker than on the surface. Practicing against monsters was better just from that than practicing on the surface.
The Mathemancer should have considered building the College inside the Dungeon. It would have been a lot more interesting and better for skill training, but I guess there were safety considerations. Just escorting all the students through the dungeon would be a logistical nightmare, let alone all the food needed. The Last Bastion was already present on the 20th layer as a place for high-level craftsmen to work out of. Still, it was an amusing, if slightly morbid, thought.
"Thank you, Legend Breakwater," I said, and the man nodded.
"Keep working hard, and I will call you Legend one day," he replied with a smile. Of all the Legends I had sparred with at the College, he was one of the best. That was why I had paid for a session with him today to help me unwind.
Mental skills were nice, but sparring got my blood pumping and helped to clear my mind for a reset. Xanatos and his cursed skill still enraged me, but I would have to deal with it. It wasn't the end of the world or even my life.
My mother had offset the negative consequences of the cursed skill. Wishing things were different wouldn't accomplish anything. I returned to my dorm room.
After a shower and a change of clothes, I made my way out to the sitting room where Healer Melon had gotten dinner for both of us.
"Have fun?"
"Enough. It was a good way to clear my head."
"Multi-Casting is going well?"
"As well as it can be. Either I will take first or I won't. Worrying about that won't help."
"I am glad you haven't fallen apart. A lot of people would be despairing their fate."
"I have put too much work into my skills to fall apart now," I said with determination and sat down. Healer Melon moved the covers over our meals. "Thanks for grabbing a meal. I know I wasted time sparring."
"It isn't a problem. I know you are under a lot of pressure right now, and I made things worse."
"It isn't your fault. Better to know than not to. At least my skill-leveling speed should pick up once I fix the problem."
"Figure out what you are going to do?" Healer Melon asked.
"I'll just keep working on my skills for a while. That is the best option. The spar was a good reminder that I don't have the level or abilities to face a Legend. Are stats affected?"
"No, they shouldn't be affected. Stats are a restructuring of your Mana inside your soul, not an increase in density like gaining levels would be."
"Good. I can work on my stats as well in the dungeon. I have another 15 years before I need to worry about getting another class. Enough time to get money for another soul fruit, a red one, and to work on improving my class and stats."
"The next class up is less urgent. I would say 50 should be the latest. But if you get tier 5 skills, then you need to class up sooner."
"Yes. I understand. Any other health advice?"
"Nothing comes to mind. You know everything I have warned you about multiple times."