Chapter 70

  After learning the Tremor Force Body Tempering skill, everyone was incredibly grateful to Ska’dur. They thanked him repeatedly before leaving. Soon, only Keith, Markus, and Ska’dur remained in the clearing.

  Keith spoke first, “So I heard you guys beat the doppelganger challenge. What’d you get?”

  “Growth-type equipment,” Ska’dur answered, withdrawing a pair of gauntlets from his inventory to show Keith. “It takes up the weapon and glove slot.”

  Markus took out a greatsword. “I acquired a growth-type equipment as well.”

  “What a coincidence!” Keith grinned and revealed his Robes of the Manaborne.

  Markus and Ska’dur glanced at each other in astonishment.

  Ska’dur gave Keith a thumbs up, “Nice job, lad.”

  “I truly didn’t expect this…” Markus sighed, proud that Keith faced a doppelganger and won.

  For a few minutes, the three of them inspected each other’s growth-type equipment, marveling at their unique abilities. Ska’dur’s gauntlets had an ability that allowed him to convert his physical attack power into elemental attacks. As for Markus, his greatsword could increase its weight.

  Thinking briefly, Keith asked Ska’dur, “Uncle, have you attempted using tremor force on a spell like Fireball?”

  “I did. Fireball’s internal structure couldn’t handle it and broke down. It was the same for every other spell I tried,” Ska’dur explained with a shake of his head.

  Keith fell silent.

  He felt there was potential to fuse tremor force into spells to increase their lethality, though it seemed like some research was required.

  I have so many things to do but not enough time. If only I had my own time-accelerated Pocket Dimension, Keith thought.

  Turning to Markus, Keith inquired, “Are you renting out time-accelerated Pocket Dimensions by chance?”

  “It’s on the agenda,” Markus revealed. “Even though we’re increasing our production of Mana Reactors, they have too many applications. Every department has been begging for them. It’s annoying.”

  “What kinda timeframe are you thinking?” Keith wondered.

  Markus thought for a moment. “For renting them out… at least six months from now.”

  “That’s not too bad,” Keith nodded, growing expectant.

  Just then, Ska’dur looked at Keith, “Lad, I heard your sister has a rare healing innate gift.”

  Keith grimaced as he explained, “Yeah, any damage she does instead heals, including damage over time effects. The problem is the pain you receive from her attacks is magnified countless times over. Last time, I was instantly knocked unconscious.”

  “Young Elora has been very helpful the past month,” Markus added. “It takes her just a few minutes to fully heal a whole infirmary.”

  “Oh?” Ska’dur appeared delighted.

  Keith glanced at Ska’dur in surprise. “You can’t be thinking of using her to speed up your Tremor Force Body Tempering skill, right?”

  “That I am,” Ska’dur chuckled.

  Keith knew Ska’dur wouldn’t be laughing later.

  Wearing a mischievous smile, he said, “I’ll send her a message on your behalf.”

  A few more minutes of discussion later, the three separated and Keith returned home.

  He added the Tremor Force Body Tempering skill to his development plan before going to bed.

  From that day on, Keith’s schedule fell into a routine.

  In the morning, he’d meditate and train his Mana Vision, trying to attain Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth Manipulation. After that, he’d defend the Blockade, giving half his experience toward Robes of the Manaborne. When the battle ended, he’d learn under the various tutors he hired to teach him how to handle weapons other than a sword. Following the tutoring sessions, he’d return home and do one round of Tremor Force Body Tempering.

  During all that, his clone remained locked away in Frisk’s time-accelerated Pocket Dimension, researching skills and leveling his array crafting kill.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Keith’s efforts were constantly rewarded – his skills improved, his level increased, and his stats rose with every passing day. It was a fulfilling and addicting lifestyle.

  Just like that, two months passed in the blink of an eye.

  Inside Keith’s home, in the backyard, he sat cross-legged.

  His body continuously trembled, rupturing the ground he sat on.

  Ten minutes later, blood covered him from head to toe.

  Eventually, the trembling stopped, and Keith cleaned himself with a Cleanliness Ring.

  He sighed. It’s getting harder to increase my stats with the Tremor Force Body Tempering skill. The only way to continue is to raise the vibration frequency, which depends on my Mana Manipulation skill. In any case, I’ve already gained a few thousand stats. It did its job.

  Keith inspected his status and was pleased by what he saw.

  [Keith Walker]

  Level: 754

  Age: 25

  Titles: Celestial Adventurer, Celestial Dungeon Conquerer, +20 others

  Health: 412,000 -> 1,409,000

  Mana: 951,000 -> 2,830,000

  Strength: 11,432 -> 14,232

  Agility: 11,879 -> 14,011

  Intelligence: 17,781 -> 18,552

  Vitality: 12,499 -> 15,411

  Endurance: 12,345 -> 15,294

  Skills: Freedom, Quickdraw, +265 others

  Keith mentally summarized his gains over the past two months.

  For one, he found a celestial grade monster and solo-killed it, netting him the upgraded adventurer title.

  Title: Celestial Grade Adventurer

  Description: Increases the effectiveness of all primary stats by 20%.

  As for upgrading it to the last grade, Keith figured he had no chance. Till now, the only transcendent grade monster he knew of was Tyranus. Monsters at that grade were too rare. Keith accepted reality and didn’t dwell on it.

  Keith’s clone had also been hard at work.

  In two months, it had researched 6 skills to level 1,000 – namely, Magic Missile, Mana Barrier, Ice Wall, Cold Snap, Cluster Bomb, and Ice Arrow. They were all skills with low grades.

  As a reward for leveling two more skills to level 1,000, the System evolved Keith’s innate gift again. It upgraded his Rift Simulator function, allowing him to use three Rifts at the same time.

  The next evolution opportunity required Keith to level ten skills to level 1,000.

  He still needed to max out six more skills before that happened.

  To take advantage of the improved Rift Simulator, Keith sought out Wes, Adventurer Academy’s headmaster, and gave him enough divine grade materials to create three divine grade Rifts, which Keith promptly collected.

  For the past month, Keith’s virtual clones had been grinding 24/7 in the divine grade Rifts. They acquired gold, divine grade materials, divine grade skill gems, and rarely, elixirs. With Keith’s terrifying attack power, which his virtual clones inherited, the three divine grade Rifts provided significant passive income. It was so much that Keith regretted having neglected the Rift Simulator function for so long.

  Keith’s tutoring sessions had also been going well.

  Just like the first time, Adeiv contracted expert’s talents to Keith so that he could progress faster. He now had a plethora of Mastery skills. All the training had vastly increased Arsenal of the Desert’s lethality.

  When Keith initially created his development plan, leveling Stone Skin was one of his priorities.

  (Mythic, Skill) Stone Skin

  Description: Passively raises your resistance to physical and magical attacks. Scales based on skill level.

  Coincidentally, using the Tremor Force Body Tempering skill synergized greatly with Stone Skin. In a short two months, Keith attained a level in Stone Skin that took others years to reach. It was now level 414. At that level, he was pretty much immune to attacks from people under level 300.

  For a time, Keith wondered whether he should use his celestial grade upgrade token on Stone Skin instead of Mana Barrier. In the end, he still wanted to upgrade Mana Barrier. After all, he was a mage, and he had way more mana to work with than most people.

  And so, Keith used the invaluable celestial grade upgrade token on Mana Barrier, transforming it from a rare grade skill into a celestial grade one. Under the effects of Keith’s transcendent grade Mana Body, it went one grade further and reached transcendent grade.

  The description of the skill didn’t change much, though it did drop in level to level 400.

  When activated, Keith discovered that the Mana Barrier fused into his skin, flesh, blood, and bones, covering him in multiple layers. He counted no less than a hundred layers, each stacked on top of each other.

  Keith tested Mana Barrier’s new defensive capabilities and learned something shocking.

  It could actually block a Laegur Beam array head-on.

  The beam chewed through a dozen layers, breaking through Keith’s skin at most.

  The mana consumed to block the beam didn’t break 100,000.

  Overall, the skill vastly improved Keith’s defenses, leaving him very satisfied.

  At the Blockade, Keith gained two things in abundance – experience and event points.

  Robes of the Manaborne was now level 703 and officially divine grade.

  It also came with a new skill.

  (Skill Fusion)

  Description: Temporarily combine two skills to create a new effect.

  Note 1: This skill has a long cooldown.

  Note 2: Some skills are incompatible with each other.

  Regarding event points, although a majority of Keith’s points went toward investing in the three new Rifts Wes created, he was still about 70% of the way toward purchasing a Skyship. Even if it didn’t unlock a new function, it would still give a considerable amount of Collection Value.

  Finally, Keith’s progress on Mana Vision had reached a roadblock.

  He could acutely sense the various elements in the air, yet he had no way to control them. Keith knew he was missing something crucial. To break through the bottleneck, Keith planned on consuming the divine grade herb he’d spent three months growing in his Farm Simulator.

  (Divine, Herb) Rainbow Pearl Grass

  Description: Consumption temporarily raises comprehension ability by a significant amount. Repeated use reduces effectiveness.

  The herb finished growing a week ago.

  Since then, Keith had Adeiv ask around, inquiring whether there were any known potion recipes involving the Rainbow Pearl Grass. Unfortunately, there were none, so Keith had to make do with consuming it raw.

  For the past few days, Keith adjusted his state of mind, and he was now ready to give it a shot. Sitting cross-legged in his living room, Keith tossed the Rainbow Pearl Grass into his mouth. Like magic, it melted into liquid, which he promptly swallowed. The taste was somewhat sweet.

  Closing his eyes, Keith focused his senses.