Jack then proceeded to teach him the battle skills and how to allocate the points. When Domon tested one of the skills by striking a large rock with Power Strike and watched it cracked, Jack could see the fascination in his grandfather's eyes. 'see, now you feel the thrill of gaming,' Jack said in his heart.
"A very convenient way of delivering an attack. It just needs a thought. Too effortless. Fei, you must not let this diminish your technique, this…"
"Yes, yes, I will brush up on my martial arts. Didn't I ask you to teach me already? I must say, I am pretty impressed that you managed to survive all this time without utilizing your battle skills."
"Hah, you think your gramps can be taken down that easily?"
"No, but still, if you want to progress in this world, you need to level up and collect more battle skills. Tomorrow, I will go to take the trial of my elite classes. After that, I will help you grind monsters to level up.."
"Um, actually. I advise you to take the test later," Peniel said.
Jack looked at her puzzlingly, "why?"
"Originally I wanted to let you experience the test yourself first, but I must say, if you take the test now, your chance of passing is not too high."
"Really? Even with my exceptional gears, attributes, and battle skills?" Jack asked.
"Although each class' trial is different, there are some underlying similarities. For the melee class in which Blade Dance falls under, you will not be using your gears. You will be given standard gears and all your battle skills are neutralized, so you can only perform standard attacks. That way, one can only depend on his personal expertise. Your dual-class attributes will give you some advantage. But even with them, I say you still have a chance of failing. Elite class trials are much harder than the advanced class, not everyone can make it through. Ones with average ability usually wait until they were very high-level and stocked up enough attributes to stand a chance."
"But it's not impossible, right? I should still give it a try. Failing will just be reduced by one level or being barred for several days, correct?" Jack asked.
"That's true, that's why I didn't say anything before as I wanted to just let you give it a try. However, unlike the advanced class, passing the trial of the elite class on your first try will give you an extra boon. I suggest you try your best to increase the chance of succeeding before you attempt the trial. And at this moment, there is already a way for you to increase the chance of passing."
"Really? What is that way?"
"Mana sensing. And if you can master the-whatever style your gramps taught you just now…"
"It's Formless Flowing Sword style," Domon reminded.
"… yes, that style. If you can master it, you should have a sure chance."
Jack gave it a thought. Since Peniel said it's best if he could pass the trial on his first try, then he should try his best to do that. But as his grandfather said, learning to sense mana might take a long time. He was not willing to wait that long and let his level be stagnant until he acquired the ability to sense mana. He bet he was already behind the others now in terms of level. If only he had more time.
More time…?
A thought came to him. After some pondering, he asked Peniel, "Can Pandora carries another person on her? Will that person be burnt by her flame?"
"If it was someone you give permission to, then she can take one passenger with you. Why suddenly asked about that?"
Jack grinned, "we are going back to the Valley of Tempus."
Peniel was about to ask why, but then she also realized. "You want to utilize the time difference down there to practice?"
"Yes. I've spent enough time gathering exp for that Lightning God Blessing, I can't waste more time. Since there is such a magical place down there that distorts time, might as well use it."
"But there will be that shadows creature constantly appearing. You will end up leveling more."
"Not really, we will leave the shadows for him," Jack said as he pointed to his grandfather. Domon was rather puzzled about their conversations, but he didn't interrupt them. "That way, I can train and he can grind to level up. Hitting two birds with one stone. Ain't that outstanding?"
"Hm, I guess that can work. But we still don't know much about the valley. There might be some other rules we are not aware of. We need to be careful down there."
"Don't worry, we will just run up with Pandora again if anything crazy happens. But before leaving to the Valley tomorrow, we still need to visit the city first."
"Why?"
"To upgrade his equipment," Jack said and pointed to his grandfather again. "Although he was now wearing all rare grade equipment, they are all still low level, I should increase them all to level 29, the limit in which he can wear. That way, he will be able to grind better. Too bad my mobile blacksmith tools are lousy grade, otherwise we can go directly to the valley."
"Blacksmith tools?" This time Domon interrupted. "Is it like a small hammer and anvil?"
"Yes," Jack answered, looking at his grandfather.
"I have such tools in my magic pocket as well."
'Can you please stop with the magic pocket already?' Jack thought as he said, "I also have one set, but as I said it's a lousy grade, the one that we need is…"
He stopped speaking when he saw the one taken out by his grandfather were slightly larger and much better looking. His monocle also marked it with a yellow color. He used inspect on them.
Master hammer (rare Blacksmith tool)
Combined with a mobile anvil, allowed for Blacksmithing process without a forge
Master mobile anvil (rare Blacksmith tool)
Combined with a hammer, allowed for Blacksmithing process without a forge
Success rate increased by 30%
"Whe–where did you get this?" Jack stammered.
"It dropped from one of the creatures I defeated," Domon replied with a shrug. "You just take it if you like it so much. I have no use of it anyway."
"Well, guess there is no need to visit the city then," Peniel commented.
Jack nodded. "Okay. Gramps, take off your armors. I'm going to level them up first."
"First, you asked me to wear them. Now, you want me to take them off. Make up your mind already," Domon said.
"Just give them to me first. I will make them stronger so you can benefit from them more."
Jack then started setting up the anvil and hammer with his grandfather's armors and started working. He had stored up plenty of iron ores and steel ores since he came back from the expedition and had been using the Transformation Prism to fuse the excess one to better grades, so he had no shortage of ores for upgrading. Domon watched his grandson worked while he chatted with him to catch up on the lost time between them.
In the midst of their chats, Domon thought of something and said, "since you know so much about this world's rules. What is a talent?"
"Why? Do you hear a voice in your head that said you get one?" Jack asked back.
"As a matter of fact, yes. Not so long ago. After I finished teaching you the mana sensing and Formless Flowing Sword style."
"Really, what is your talent called?"
"It's called Instructor. What does it do?"
"I'm not sure. Try looking into your status window, there should be a section called talents."
Jack saw his grandfather stared into the air, he must be opening his status window. His arms were going up and down as if working with an imaginary screen. Jack was fighting to hold down his giggle again. His gramps was still not used to working with the status window with only his mind. He couldn't imagine how comical it would be if his grandfather had chosen a magician class and tried to draw the runes of a spell formation. Perhaps he would be like a conductor in a concert.
From his grandfather's expression, it appeared that he had found the section he was looking for. After a while, he said, "it said here that Instructor gives me 10% wisdom and every… I don't know what's the correct way to say this word with three capital letters…"
"NPC?" Jack made a guess.
"Yes, what is that?"
"Non-player character."
Domon tried to understand Jack's words for a while but then decided not to. He continued, "it said that each of these NPCs under my command will have their battle skills increase by one level. Oh! I forgot already if I don't see it here. I also got a talent the last time I built this hut."
😉