Chapter 374: Mutant
[Chilling Scythe Mutant (FF+) (Skill)] (Legendary Mastery)
[Damage: 250]
[Special Damage: 100/sec for 5 seconds]
[Special Effect: Speed -50% for 5 seconds]
[Attribute: Ice-Poison]
Sylas built this Skill by modifying the skill's circulation pattern based on his understanding of the Slow Ice-Poison Rune. There was much more overlap between this skill and Slow than there was between it and Freeze, so it was the obvious path to take.
But he didn't expect that it would have such a large effect on the overall strength of the skill. Not only did its attack power almost double, its Special Damage almost guaranteed that most opponents he came across would die within five seconds.
Of course, they could still use a counter Skill, or a skill that dispelled Special Effects, but something told Sylas that it wouldn't be nearly as easy to do now as it had been in the past.
Sylas had traded for his own Countering Skill before he left Guiz City, so now he was much more aware of their limitations and what might hold them back.
However, Sylas knew that this wasn't the matter he should be focused on right now. What kind of changes could he make to his other Ice-Poison Skills?
The moment he had this thought, he turned his attention to his strongest Skill: <Arctic King's Domain>. Unfortunately, he was immediately stonewalled.
The Skill was too complicated, and it felt that his Legendary Mastery of it was just a farce. Not only did it take him several seconds to cast unlike the others, but it had so many layers that Sylas knew he could just as easily weaken it as he could strengthen it.
'It would take me at least three days to succeed... I can't afford to waste that time, not yet...'
Three days felt like a short time, but to Sylas who was on a timer not just for himself, but for Cassarae and his own family as well, it was too much to invest. He had to find a balance between improvement and time taken or else he would lose everything.
'<Arctic Howl>, however...'
Just like <Chilling Scythe> was perfect for his Slow Ice-Poison Rune, <Arctic Howl> was absolutely made for his Freeze Ice-Poison Rune.
Hours later, Sylas had a result that he was very happy with.
[Arctic Howl Mutant (FF+) (Skill)] (Legendary Mastery)
[Defense: 1000]
[Special Effect: Freeze attack in space for a moment. Limit: 1500 Attack.]
[Attribute: Ice-Poison]
He gained an extra 300 Defense, and a Special Effect on top of that. Meaning, even if he ran into an attack too powerful for his Defense to top or block, he would gain an extra split second of time to react so long as he deployed <Arctic Howl Mutant> fast enough.
If he one day found enough time to improve <Arctic King's Domain> like he wanted, he wondered just how much more powerful would it become?
However, these improvements to his Skills didn't come without a cost. They took a bit longer to cast, about half a second instead of near instantaneously like before. That could definitely be a problem in a tight situation, but that was still the least of his worries.
The main issue was that it put more pressure on his mind because he wasn't just casting a Skill, he was controlling Runes at the same time. If not for him comprehending Rune Soul and improving his Wisdom so much, the former Sylas would have been exhausted after casting it
once.
But now, there was yet another thing draining his mind.
Still, Sylas checked through his other skills to see if there was anything that he could easily improve, but he didn't find anything. Unfortunately, this method only worked with compatible Skills that fit into an Ice-Poison mold. Without it, he would be recreating a whole new skill from scratch, and that would take even longer to accomplish than improving <Arctic King's Domain>.
'Hold on...'
Sylas' gaze flashed. There was still <Psychedelic Punch>. Right now, he could only use it twice in battle, and it came at the cost of his arms. It was a powerful skill, especially considering its grade... but wasn't that only because his Visualization was so powerful?
Would it be possible for him to use a Rune as a Visualization instead and weaken the backlash? Then he would be able to use this skill more often, though it would certainly be weaker. He could hold off on using his Serpentes Beast Totem as a Visualization for when he really had his back against the wall.
Right now, his only Ice-Poison attack was <Chilling Scythe> as his affinity was better made for control Skills and defensive Skills. But...
'It is possible.' Sylas' gaze flashed. 'But it's not straightforward. A Rune alone isn't enough, I need to give it form and substance, and that requires using Basic Aetherflow. But once I do...'
Sylas punched out incredibly slowly, a complex ice-blue Rune appearing before his fist. A frosty energy rippled from his knuckles and the space around his arm crackled as though the very water vapor was being frozen over in real time.
'Hm...'
Sylas pulled back his punch before he unleashed it.
It definitely worked, increasing his Strength by about 50% or so. Compared to the well over 100% of his Beast Totem Visualization, this was much smaller. But the backlash on him was
much less nonetheless.
Unfortunately, his Ice-Poison really wasn't designed to attack. He could feel it resisting him and fighting back against his attempts at attack.
It just didn't work.
If he tried to use this attack in battle, much of the strength would dissipate because it had the tendency to want to become an area-of-effect attack. So, although there was a 50% boost, the Effectiveness plummeted and would ultimately make it weaker than his normal punch.
It wasn't worth the Aether.
'I feel like there's still potential here, but it would take more studying. I can't finish this in a single sitting either. It might just be better to find a more suitable technique.'
After he had this thought, Sylas stood.
It was time to take a bit of a risk and see what he could find deeper into Arctic King Bear and Arctic King Cobra territory.