Chapter 256: Awakened
[1200 GTs bonus]
…
[Basilisk King]
[Status: Healthy; Subtle Mentality]
[Loyalty: 3/10]
—
[King’s Bind (FFF-) (Skill)]
[The gaze of a Basilisk King is supreme. Freeze, mere mortal]
[Cost: 5 Aether Unit per second]
[Limit: Decided by every 10% gap in the average of Will and Charisma]
—
[King’s Shift (FFF-) (Skill)]
[Laws of the world do not bind the Basilisk King. Bend to my whims, be suppressed beneath my Will]
[Cost: 5 Aether Unit]
[Limit: 1000 Physical]
—
[King’s Shield (FFF-) (Skill)]
[You are unworthy to even touch the Basilisk King. My defenses are unmatched]
[Cost: 5 Aether Unit]
[Defense: 1000]
—
The changes were quite shocking. It seemed that the Basilisk King’s Skills had changed along with its Grade, each one more than doubling in strength. But the cost was that each one of these Skills now cost five times more to cast just a single time.
The only one that hadn’t seemed to change at all was <King’s Bind>. Or, rather, it almost seemed to have regressed.
It gave in return the exact same limits, but now it cost five times more. However, Sylas didn’t dismiss it off-hand.
He had been in several battles now where his <Astral Bind> was dismissed by others. In fact, in his battle with Azrael, even <King’s Bind> had been outright dismissed.
If he was correct, then it should be the case that this higher Grade of Skill was more capable of outright ignoring binding Skill counters. Maybe, if he used this version of <King’s Bind> against Azrael, he wouldn’t be able to counter it.
Another shocking matter was that these Skills were considered to be at the Fragmented Mastery stage. That meant that they still had a lot of room to grow.
Sylas remembered that the FF+ version of <King’s Shield> only had 400 Defense, but after he increased his Mastery over it, it increased to 600. But now it started at 1000 for Fragmented Mastery. If he increased its Mastery now, it would be even more exaggerated.
Now this was definitely a life-saving trump card, but he was also aware that he likely couldn’t use it so freely in battle. The more Aether a Skill cost, and the lower the Mastery, the more time it would take to successfully cast. As such, Sylas’ best bet was to save a combination that he was comfortable with in the Stabilizing Bracelet.
‘I hope that the Stabilizing Bracelet can handle it…’
The bracelet was only a Bronze item. Now that Sylas thought about it, that should mean that it had a limit to the kind of Skills that it could handle. It definitely wasn’t without limits.
—
[Stabilizing Bracelet (Bronze)]
[Level: 8]
[Ability: Store; Evolve]
[Store three Skills to be deployed at any time to a Bronze Mastery plus a <1%> boost per Level]
[Limit: XXX]
[Skills Charged]
>[ — ]
>[ — ]
>[ — ]
[Charge: 0/3]
[Level Up Requirement: <9 Common> Genes]
[Durability: 9/10]
—
‘Hm?’
Sylas tried using his new scouting Skill on the bracelet to see if he could get new information, and he could indeed see that there was a new line. But he couldn’t see exactly what it was.
After some thought, he fused Madness into the Skill and tried again.
[Limit: XXX]
It remained the same.
Sylas was taken aback. He couldn’t help but wonder what about this limit had to be hidden.
This limit should refer to what the bracelet was capable of withstanding, but he couldn’t quite understand why his scouting Skill wasn’t able to unearth those secrets.
And unfortunately, the Basilisk King was in a dormant state, so he couldn’t test to see whether the Skills would work. Just when he was planning on packing up and leaving, he thought of something else.
‘No, I’ll wait. With the Hibernation Realm, the recovery of the Basilisk King is improved by 6400%, an insane amount. That means injuries that would normally take two months to recover would not even take a single day.’
This, of course, wasn’t just for injuries; it should mean mental recovery, and also refer to this slumber as well. That meant that in just a few hours at most, the Basilisk King should be back to 100%.
Sylas didn’t know it now, but in the future, of all the abilities of his Legendary Path, the Hibernation Realm would without a doubt become the absolute most useful.
What level of Beast Taming could one reach when what should have taken months to years of evolution could be shortened to just a few days?
…
As expected, it didn’t even take the Basilisk King an hour. In half an hour, Sylas sensed that it was awake once more. So, he summoned it.
The Basilisk King was still small compared to the other BOSS creatures that Sylas had ever seen. It was five meters from end to end, and when it raised its head to face the world, it stood at about eye level with Sylas.
Its eyes had a deeper golden hue than before, and though the golden glow between its scales had vanished, its black scales had a more beautiful, healthy, and shiny luster to them.
Staring into its eyes, Sylas felt a pressure and dignity coming from it. He realized then that it should be the case that the Basilisk King’s Voice of a King Gene Talent had grown more powerful as well.
—
[Voice of a King (Gene Talent)]
[A Gene Talent capable of cooling the mind and increasing the Effectiveness of Will and Charisma. Your Charisma activates Passively, and those around you with weaker Will are pulled into your orbit. Your Skills and stats are more Effective]
—
Sylas couldn’t help but wonder why it was that the Basilisk King’s Level didn’t increase, but for now, he wouldn’t worry about it. So long as it could improve… that was the most important part. Plus, he had a pretty good idea of how to help it improve further.
—
[Quest Received]
[Sorrow of the Basilisk King (Silver)]
[A King without a Kingdom. The Basilisk is a fallen creature; from where? No one knows. Maybe even They have forgotten Their former glory. You have met a Basilisk whose pride has been shattered and whose Will has been torn asunder. Remind this Basilisk King of who He is.]
[Silver Reward Requirements]
[>Awaken the Pride of the Basilisk King]