Chapter 308: Pods
[Quest Received]
[Surging Madness Control (Common)]
[Your Madness Control has reached the Legendary Mastery Realm all on its own, your
Madness allowing you to peak toward an unprecedented Realm that exists beyond its normal Bounds. Grasp this chance to enhance yourself]
[Fragmented Reward Requirements]
[>Create an FFF- <Madness Control> Skill]
[Common Reward Requirements]
[>Create an FFF <Madness Control> Skill]
Sylas blinked. His first thought was... How was creating an FFF Skill supposed to be a Common Quest? He didn't even have a single skill of that rank. That just felt like a ridiculous ask. His second thought was... How was he supposed to create a Skill?
'A Template, maybe?'
Sylas' mind drifted to a treasure-type that Alex had introduced him to. But he dismissed that. Unless there was a Profession known for creating skills, it was doubtful that a Template would work.
'If I recall correctly, <Madness Control> was initially created through the fusion of several Skills. <Little Madness>, <Middle Madness>, and <Big Madness>... Do I need to fuse it again? How do I do that?'
Sylas stood lost in thought for a long while until he was struck with something else.
'The reason the Quest triggered should also be a clue...'
This wasn't just a matter of <Madness Control> reaching Legendary Mastery. It was also about why it had, and that was obviously related to Sylas controlling his body to a greater degree. Sylas thought deeper and recalled several things.
[Little Madness (Skill)]
[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone, however it is nothing to you. Use the Madness to increase your power]
[+200% Constitution]
[+100% Strength]
[Middle Madness (Skill)]
[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone, however it is nothing to you. Use the Madness to increase your speed]
[+200% Speed]
[+100% Dexterity]
[Big Madness (Skill)]
[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone, however it is nothing to you. Use the Madness to increase your strength]
[+300% Strength]
Now that he thought about it, the boosts he got from those three Madness Skills were absolutely insane. Comparatively speaking, <Madness Control> seemed to be lacking greatly. Unfortunately, he didn't have <Basic Scouting> back then, so he had no idea what the Grades for these skills were supposed to be. But as far as he knew, even an FFF+ Skill should be hard- pressed to give a 100% to raw stats, let alone 300% like these skills did. Going back and recontextualizing everything, Sylas couldn't help but wonder...
Had he gotten screwed over with the fusion? Or was this maybe the chance to remedy that?
'Still, these three should definitely be a clue...'
Sylas slotted this matter away. He would just have to take things one step at a time. However, he did already have an idea about how things would go.
If the Arctic Emperor Cobra was any indication, then beyond FFF+, there should be Bronze. In that case, could it be that <Little Madness> and the other skills were actually above the FFF+ Grade?
That was possible, and it made one wonder... just what kind of Dungeon was the Slithering Madness Dungeon to hand out such rewards, and how much potential did <Madness Control> have to need such powerful skills to fuse together to create it?
'Wait-.' Sylas' eyes widened again. <Madness Control> wasn't the only skill he got in the Slithering Madness Dungeon, he also got <Maddened Enlightenment>. In fact... hadn't he "created" <Maddened Enlightenment> himself? He didn't receive it from a reward, nor was it a fusion, he had...
'I grasped it from my Madness Comprehension...'
That was when it all came together for Sylas. The secret to all of this should be in elevating his Madness further. Clenching his fists, his gaze flashed with understanding. Sylas pulled out the Sperm Whale Den once again, locked onto his next target, and surged forward.
...
Sylas completely lost himself in battle. He didn't seem to know fatigue at all. If he wasn't fighting, then he was eating the pre-cooked meat he had made before setting out. His body, whether for food or battle, seemed to not know satiation.
In truth, if he had to summarize the experience in just a word it would be...
Fulfilling.
He had never had so much fun before. At some unknown time, there was even a light smile that curled his lips. The more he enjoyed it, the faster his battles seemed to go. He should have been growing more tired, but instead, he became sharper, his body became more refined, and he could even feel himself growing in size.
It had only been half a day by this point, but he seemed to have made the equivalent progress a dedicated newbie gym-goer could only make in three months. The power of his stats, the high-Level meat, and his deep understanding of his Physical stats all came to a head.
Sylas didn't believe it would be an exaggeration to say that in this dedicated training period, his combat effectiveness had grown by almost two times. By the time only half the day had passed, Sylas had already defeated nine of his ten targets. He was currently locked in combat with the tenth and final one.
This time, it wasn't a Sperm Whale. But the Den said that the type and affinity was correct, so Sylas jumped into battle without hesitation... But truthfully, most wouldn't make such a
decision.
[Bottlenose Dolphin (FFF+)]
[Level: 6]
[Physical: 210]
[Mental: 197]
[Will: 131]
The problem weren't the stats, though, they were very powerful as well. The main issue was that Sylas wasn't a marine biologist, and he also wasn't aware that dolphins were extremely social creatures that lived in pods of up to... 100.
He hadn't even been aware that dolphins could appear here. His target had been alone when
the battle first began, but the moment it felt like things were going south, it let out a series of high-pitched clicking noises, and suddenly, Sylas found himself drowned by water bullets
from all directions.